Molly Todd explores the long-standing sister-cities relationship that brought together progressive activists in the United States and rural activists in El Salvador. The civil war in El Salvador, originating in the early 1970s and intensifying in the 1980s, displaced a significant portion of the country's population, mostly in rural areas. In the mid 1980s, a repopulation movement emerged, with the goal of the displaced returning to their abandoned communities. With encouragement and assistance from the country's largest politico-military organization, the Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), rural activists in refugee camps developed links to US activists and together established the sister cities program, the first one linking Madison, Wisconsin, with Arcatao, in the department of Chalatenango.
According to Todd, this sistering network was not only novel but also helped to dismantle the authoritarian system in El Salvador by pressuring both the Salvadoran state and the US government. Moreover, while the peace accords that ended the war in 1992 dealt mostly with democratization rather than the socioeconomic roots of the war, activists in El Salvador and the United States were able to push for progressive changes in health, education, and mining operations, in what Todd describes as a grassroots process for creating a better, more just El Salvador.
To make her case, Todd uses secondary sources as well as archives from the network of progressive organizations that comprised the US-El Salvador sister-cities network that sprouted in the United States and in El Salvador in the 1980s, though pointing out that the documentation in El Salvador, as might be expected, is much less available. Todd begins by examining the origins of the sister-cities network, pointing out that Salvadorans in the United States were instrumental in encouraging US activists to organize on behalf of the human and political crisis in El Salvador. Although the sistering relation was unequal because activists in the US had more resources, Salvadorans were instrumental in the process. A key goal of the sistering project was to raise awareness in the United States about the humanitarian crisis in El Salvador and the role of the US government in that crisis, prompting US citizens to take action.
Todd then moves on to show that these efforts at raising the consciousness of US citizens paid off: a great deal of pressure on the Salvadoran state and Washington allowed displaced peasants to return to their communities and take on a greater political role in their communities. The second half of the book moves to the postwar era, though Todd argues that the sistering movement that emerged during the war had a definitive impact on the peace negotiations as well as post-conflict El Salvador. Grassroots organizing in both the United States and El Salvador helped to undermine the Salvadoran authoritarian structures and the ensuing political structures. Moreover, the sistering movement also helped to change Salvadoran social and economic structures.
This well-researched and well-written book is the first attempt to examine the transnational relationship that emerged between cities in the United States and countries in Central America, mostly Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, in the 1980s. More importantly, the book attempts to show that this transnational social movement not only led to important political and socioeconomic changes, but also had the potential to create a more just and participatory society. At the same time, Todd acknowledges the difficulties that these groups encountered, pointing out that the journey toward peace and justice is a long-term and difficult process.
This book will be of interest to anyone interested in international human rights, social movements, grassroots organizing, progressive politics, and El Salvador.
