ATCF raises awareness about conditions of social and economic injustice along the Texas Mexico border, particularly as they affect displaced and disenfranchised communities, and supports community-driven resistance to injustice through transnational solidarity and fair trade. They believe that their environment, communities, and human dignity are sacred and must be respected in the movement for social justice.
Volunteering at any of the educational events, the Women and Fair Trade Festival, or attend a Solidarity Delegation.
The annual Women and Fair Trade Festival invites women's cooperatives to come from all over the world to tell their stories about globalization and to sell their beautiful, handmade items. The sale showcases cooperatives that work at the grassroots level in enabling their communities to prosper and continue their cultural traditions based on weaving, sewing, basketry, ceramics and other local crafts. There are also cultural and educational aspects such as live musical performance, a poetry concert, and or documentary film.
In defiance of the official story about "free" trade agreements — such as NAFTA — Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera takes solidarity delegations to the maquiladora communities three times a year, bringing people from the U.S. who want to see the reality for themselves. A prime outgrowth of "free trade," maquiladoras are foreign-owned, low-wage factories on Mexican soil, manufacturing and assembling goods for export, mostly to the U.S. International agreements exempt them from Mexican tariffs and taxes and in some cases respect for Mexican labor laws.
