La Mujer Obrera, and Sin Fronteras Organizing Project as part of the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas will host the El Paso ‘One Billion Rising: Rising for Justice’. Through traditional danza, poetry, and music we will demand an end to violence against women and girls and rise for justice.
Women along the border have suffered the brunt of economic changes, poverty and violence. El Paso women are rising to demand the protection of our community spaces as vital sources for transformation and the creation of a world free of violence.
La Mujer Obrera is a 31-year-old non-profit organization established by displaced women garment workers to improve the quality of life of low-income Hispanic families and revitalize the former Garment District (Chamizal neighborhood) where many women worked before the loss of 35,000 jobs in that sector. We are demonstrating the capacity of women workers of Mexican heritage to plan and implement an economic development vision for our community based on basic human needs and rooted in dignity, culture, and respect for the earth.
Today, La Mujer Obrera is an internationally acclaimed community-based organization creating cultural and economic development that recognizes Mexican immigrant workers’ heritage and contributions to El Paso. Our efforts to preserve, adapt, and present the diverse historic and living traditions of the Mexican people are integral to fulfilling the most basic needs and uphold the most basic human rights: access to education, work, health, housing and nourishment, the rights to live in peace and participate fully in civil society.
for more information, contact: [email protected]
or call (915) 588-2760
Cemelli de Aztlan, a native El Pasoan, has been engaged in community organizing, social justice advocacy and cultural education throughout her career.
Currently at UTEP in Student Affairs & the Religious Studies Department, where she is developing an Indigenous Spirituality course, scheduled to be taught in Fall 2014. Cemelli also serves as Director of Religious Education at the Universal Unitarian Community of El Paso.
Prior to joining UTEP, Cemelli served as Racial Justice Program Manager at the YWCA of El Paso in 2011-2013, where she conducted presentations and trainings on Civil Rights, Diversity & Cultural Appreciation. In 2009-2011, she served as the Executive Director at the Indigenous Cultures Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to research and preservation of indigenous cultures. Cemelli has also served a year as an AmeriCorps Vista Volunteer.
She currently serves as a board member of Wise Latina International, a non-profit organization educating & empowering women through the arts and volunteers at La Mujer Obrera organizing events and workshops.
Cemelli received her Bachelor of Arts in English & Religion from Concordia University at Austin, and her Master in Divinity with a focus on Women in Religious Studies & Indigenous Religious Studies from Harvard University. And, is the proud mother of two children, Itzea & Ameyalli de Aztlan.
