Join the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign on August 17th, 2002 in Washington DC
to support Reparations for the African American communities in the United
States!!
On Saturday August 17th, 2002 millions will rally to Washington DC to
support the African-American Reparations movement.
It is time that the ancestors of the slaves that built this country be
given the economic reparations they deserve to build schools and hospitals.
For decades, the solidarity between Latin@s and African-Americans has
strengthened both our movements for social justice and freedom.
We must stand together again in Washington DC on Saturday
August 17th, 2002!!
Join the ProLibertad for Reparations Contingent!! Contact ProLibertad for a
bus ticket today (only $20-30 round trip), we've got tickets on the Mumia
Coalition Buses!!
Call us at 718-601-4751, 212-927-9065, or email ProLibertad@...
________________________________________________________________________
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign is making a public call to all
organizations to endorse our Freedom Challenge!! ProLibertad has
committeditself to raise $10,000 for Mumia Abu Jamal's Legal Defense!!
Join our challenge, by raising money and attending our FREEDOM CELEBRATION
ON SATURDAY AUGUST 24TH, 2002!!
If you are interested in ENDORSING the Freedom Celebration and the Challenge
to raise $10,000, then please call 212-927-9065 or email
ProLibertad@... to add your organization to our list!! Please pass
the word along!!
_______________________________________________________________________ Take
the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign to Free Puerto Rican Political
Prisoners Challenge!! We have committed to Raise $10,000 for Mumia's Legal
Defense Fund.
How much can you raise? FREEDOM is possible we can do this!! Bring your $5,
$50, $500, Checks payable to the National Black United Fund/For Mumia's
Legal Defense Fund Join the Freedom Celebration!!
MUMIA WILL BE FREE!* MUSIC * POETRY *FOOD!! Invited Guests* Rosemari Mealy *
Amina Baraka * Zayid Mohammed * Sandra
Rodriquez * * Safiya Bukhari * Yerba Buena
Open mike if time permits Saturday, August 24, 4pm to 8pm
St. Mary's Church 521 West 126 St. Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue
Donation $10/Dinner $5. For More Information:
ProLibertad 212-927-9065 ProLibertad.org
Free Mumia Abu Jamal Coalition 212-330-8029 Freemumia.com
______________________________________________________________________
Situation of Robert Rabin and Hiram Lozada in the Federal Prison,
Guaynabo, PR
On Thursday, July 18 around 6 PM, Prisoners for Peace in Vieques Robert
(Bob) Rabin and Attorney Hiram Lozada, President of the Human Rights
Committee of the Puerto Rico Lawyer's Guild, were transferred - without any
explanation or notice - from Unit 1A (minimum security) to Unit 1B, which
has more restrictions such as limiting visits to one afternoon per week,
only for immediate family members. Rabin has been denied the right to make
telephone calls - not even to his mother, who resides in Boston. It should
be noted that recently these two men - who are completing sentences of six
(Rabin) and four (Lozada) months for the misdemeanor offence of entering the
bombing range in Vieques to halt the bombing last April - publicly denounced
a series of violations of the prisoners' rights.
We call on all who are committed to peace and human rights to communicate
with theprison, in order to express concern for the well-being of our
prisoners for peace in Vieques.
Telephone calls and faxed letters maybe sent to the official in charge of
prisoners' issues: Attorney Alma López, Tel:(787)749-4480;
Fax:(787)775-7824.
_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
Demand Justice for the Women and Families of Ciudad Juarez
Date: 8/14/2002 2:37:48 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: pazvic@...
Demand Justice for the Women and Families of Ciudad Juarez
Since 1993 more than 320 young women have been abducted,
raped and murdered in the Mexican border city of Juarez.
Despite the number of victims and the audacity of the
killers, authorities have failed to stop the killings or
jail the murderers. A culture of violence against women
reigns in Juarez.
Today, August 14th, a procession of mothers of the victims
of this violence has been organized by The Women in Black
Art Project and New York artist Coco Fusco to raise
awareness about the 800 women who have been murdered or
"disappeared" in and around Ciudad Juarez, State of
Chihuahua, Mexico, over the past decade.
The mothers from Mexico, the costumed Women in Black
figures and other participants will walk in silence to the
offices of the OAS' Interamerican Commission on Human
Rights several blocks away.
The mothers will deliver a letter to the Commission
Chairperson of the Interamerican Commission on Human
Rights urging that body to intervene on behalf of the
families of the murdered and missing women. To date, the
local, state and federal government in Mexico have not
responded to the crisis in Juarez.
YOU CAN SUPPORT the demand for justice in Juarez women in
four special ways:
1) Fax a letter of solidarity with the families of victims
to the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (see
sample letter at the bottom of this note.) Cut and paste
the letter onto a page, sign it, and fax to: 202.458.3992
or 202.458.6215
2) Sign on to an on-line petition in support of the
families:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/JUAREZ/petition.html
3) The Electronic Disturbance Theater will launch a
virtual sit-in against the Organization of American States
and the government of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico on
August 14 in solidarity with the families of the
disappeared and murdered young women of Juarez. Click to:
http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html to take part.
4) Watch TV! Señorita Extraviada, a 70-minute documentary
about the women in Juarez and their struggle for justice
will screen on PBS stations on August 20 at 10pm.
To learn more about activities in support of the families
of the murdered and missing women, log on to
http://www.geocities.com/pornuestrashijas. To learn more
about The Women in Black Art Project log on to:
www.artwomen.org/current.htm
The Women in Black Art Project, which is part of the
international feminist peace movement active in 30
countries, has been conducting vigils since March, 2002,
to raise awareness of the worldwide pandemic of violence
against women, and the exacerbating effect of wars and
other conflicts effect on this pandemic.
LETTER IN SUPPORT OF MAY OUR DAUGHTERS RETURN HOME
Fax to:
Organization of American States
Human Right Comission
202.458.3992 or 202.458.6215
August 14, 2002
We, the undersigned, join the members of the Mexican
organization, MAY OUR DAUGHTERS RETURN HOME, to call on
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Mexican
government, and human rights activists worldwide to use
all measures possible to bring an end to the violence in
Juarez, México, that has resulted in nearly 300 deaths and
500 disappearances of young women since 1993.
We also take note that the murdered and disappeared young
women of Juarez are also victims of the negligence of
their local, state and federal government, in that to this
day, no adequate response to this tragic violence has been
made by Mexican politicians or law enforcement. We also
note that law enforcement in Juarez has actually attempted
to repress the efforts of those in Juarez who are
organizing protests in solidarity with MAY OUR DAUGHTERS
RETURN HOME.
Finally, we also want to make known that the murdered and
disappeared young women of Juarez lived and worked in
highly unsafe conditions without proper public services.
Many of them worked in maquiladoras, or assembly plants,
owned by multinational corporations that pay no taxes to
the Mexican government. The maquila industry currently is
being used by 70% of the labor intensive Fortune 500
companies expanding between 10% and 20% per year and
currently accounts for over 3,107 businesses employing
over 1,056,284 persons with an annual business volume in
excess of $37 billion of inputs and supplies of which 98%
is of U.S. origin. About 90% of the maquilas are located
along the US- Mexico border with over one third
concentrated in Juarez.
There are currently 340 maquiladoras in Juarez that employ
over 220,000 people. Among them are many American
companies such as Ford, Alcoa, General Motors, DuPont, and
Contico. These corporations do not provide any protection
to their largely female workforce when employees are
travelling to and from work, very often in the middle of
the night. We request that these multinational entities
that are reaping millions of dollars in the state of
Chihuahua to provide financial assistance for the
insurance of public safety. We call these companies to
assist the Mexican government and human rights
organizations and to stop the killings of these innocent
women once and for all.
ActionLA
Summer Youth-Immigrants Unite! Culture Festival
Youth & Immigrants United, We'll Never be Defeated!
Sunday, August 18 4:00 PM - 10:30 PM
Lafayette Senior Citizens Center
625 S. Lafayette Park Pl, Los Angeles
$5:00/person (no one will be turn away for lack of funds)
For MOre Information, Please Call: (626)695-3405
Action LA is proud to announce on August 18 we will sponsor a music, teach-in, cultural festival where youth activists and immigrant worker communities of the Macarthur Park-Korean Town area are invited to participate. They join hand-to-hand to express solidarity with each other's struggles, such as: immigrant rights, sweatshops, police brutality, schools not jails and affordable housing. We'll declare: Youth & Immigrants United, We'll Never be Defeated!
The Festival includes: music performance, spoken words, workshops, art exhibit, community cooking and tabling. The proceeding will benefit ActionLA-Arts in Action computer room, Community Internet Access Project and KPFK-Asian-Pacific Islander Radio Collective.
Co-Sponsors of the event includes: Arts in ActionLA, Wise-Up LA, Sol Foundation, Los Angeles CISPES, KYCC and OCRC. Detail programs as follows:
Workshops:
Victor Narro, executive director of LA Sweatshop Watch, Orange County Residence Council, REACH, Arts in Action, AACTT, Los Angeles Independent Media Center and Alianca Indigena y Fronteras.
Music Performance:
Balagtasan Collective, El Nuevo Sol, Aztlan Underearth, Over the Counter Intelligence, 2Mex, Jupitersciples, SoRiMoDum, J. Lee from Resist and Exist, Shin-B, Bambu and DJ Denkym
Community Tabling:
ChangeLinks, Libero Revolution, Young Communist League, Youth Approach for Development & Cooperation (YADC), Queer Youth of Color for Community Action (QYCCA), Young Communist League (YCL), Alianca Indigena y Fronteras, and more...
=============================================================
Schedule of the Event:
(a) Theater Big Room:
5:00-5:30 PM: Victor Narro-Sweatshop LA: immigrant Know Your Rights
5:30-6:00 PM: OCRC: the INS substation in Anaheim Police Station
(and possible youth speaker from CARECEN or Wise-Up about you issues)
(b) Child Care Room (next to the stage):
5:00 - 5:30 PM: HERE/Africa Alive: Cross-Border Solidarity
5:30 - 6:00 PM: Alianca Indigena y Fronteras: film on US-Mexico Border
(c) Child Care Room (next to the Theater Room, maybe out door if too hot):
5:00 - 5:30 PM: REACH: Long Beach INS Immigrant Busts
6:00 - 6:15 PM: Over the Counter Intelligence
6:20 - 6:30 PM: Shin-B & DJ Denkym
6:35 - 6:50 PM: SoRiMoDum & J. Lee
6:55 - 7:15 PM: Aztlan Unearthed
7:00 PM: Arts in Action workshop will be over at outdoor.
7:15 - 7:55 PM: Food Break provide from FLB, and Second Workshop Block: Arts and Media (40 mim)
(a) Theater Big Room:
7:15 PM - 7:55 PM: AACTT: youth performance on social issues
(b) Child Care Room (next to the stage):
7:15 PM - 7:45 PM: LA Independent Media Center
8:00 - 9:00 PM: At the big room, a community dialogue section with pop-up topics (of those who want to take a break from the music and eat free food)
Hi, there.
Discrimination in the workplace still exists, and we
should continue to challenge and address it. California
is considering a simple tool we can use to help us
make progress in understanding and responding to it:
more information. Help California take steps to increase
the amount of information people have about fairness
in the workplace. Take this action today.
http://ga1.org/campaign/ab1309?rk=a11S1lp1zd1NW
***********************************
Powered by GetActive Software, Inc.
The Leader in Online Campaigns
http://www.getactive.com
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----- Forwarded message from michaelallencoffey <coffey_michael@...> ---
--
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 16:47:46 -0000
From: michaelallencoffey <coffey_michael@...>
Reply-To: STARS-UCNuclearFree@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [STARS-UCNuclearFree] support for young women activists
To: STARS-UCNuclearFree@yahoogroups.com
Third Wave Foundation Offers Support to Young Women
Activists and Their Organizations
Deadline: October 1 and April 1, annually
The Third Wave Foundation provides resources through a
variety of programs to support the cutting-edge work of
young women activists.
The foundation's grantmaking provides direct financial
support to young women activists and the organizations
they lead. The foundation accepts proposals for projects
that benefit, target, are devised by, and led by women
between the ages of 15 and 30, with an emphasis on
low-income women, differently abled women, women of color,
and lesbian and bisexual women. Grants are offered in the following
areas:
The Reproductive Rights Fund supports activities that
directly expand young women's rights and access to repro- ductive
health care and education. The Fund awards grants to support the
training of new abortion providers and increase access to
reproductive healthcare services in underserved areas. In the
absence of such programs, the Fund also provides emergency grants
for abortion procedures, covering portions of medical costs and/or
travel. (Emergency grants are considered on an ongoing and
immediate basis.)
The Organizing and Advocacy Fund supports organizing and activism
work that exists to challenge sexism, racism, homophobia, economic
injustice, and other forms of oppres- sion. Grants are provided for
both specific projects and general operating support.
The Scholarship Program is available to all full-time or part-time
students age 30 and under who are enrolled in, or have been accepted
to, an accredited university, college, vocational/technical school,
or community college. The primary criterion for funding is financial
need. Within the scholarship program, the Woodlake Fund provides
scholarships for young women of color who prioritize social justice
and the work done in the spirit of justice and equality over
academic performance and who integrate social justice into all areas
of their lives. Students applying for grants should also be involved
as activists, artists, or cultural workers working on issues such
as racism, homophobia, sexism, or other forms of inequality.
Scholarships range in amount from $1,000 and $5,000 each.
The foundation also is offering a special fund through the
end of 2002 to provide support to young women working
toward social justice in the political and social aftermath
of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Funding
is available for activist work that broadens the range of responses
to the 9/11 tragedy. (Proposals for the September 11th Emergency
Fund must be received before the last Monday of each month.)
For complete application guidelines, see the Third Wave Foundation
Web site.
RFP Link: http://www.thirdwavefoundation.org/default.htm
For additional RFPs in Women, visit:
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_women.jhtml
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
STARS-UCNuclearFree-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
----- End forwarded message -----
FNS: Thirty-One Women Murdered in Nuevo Laredo Since 1993
Tue, 20 Aug 2002 3:57:20 PM Eastern Standard Time
Frontera <frontera@...
An article in the Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Mañana reports that 31 women have
been murdered in that city since 1993. Approximately 44% of the murders were
preceded by rape and approximately 31% of the murders were committed by spouses
or lovers, according to state police statistics.
The El Mañana article stated that most of those women that had been raped and
murdered had been raped by more than one man. The newspaper also reported it was
"generally" prostitutes that are raped and murdered although no numbers or
percentages were given.
Eight Nuevo Laredo women have been murdered by their spouses since 1993 and, in
two of the cases, husbands committed suicide after killing their wives. One
woman was murdered by a lesbian partner, the article said.
Three women were murdered with their male partners who were linked to drug
trafficking.
In 1997, only one woman was murdered in Nuevo Laredo. In 1998, seven women were
murdered there. 1999 saw eight more femicides, the same as the year 2000. In
2001, five women were murdered. So far this year, two women have been murdered
in Nuevo Laredo.
The official population of Nuevo Laredo in 2000 was 310,915.
Source: El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo), August 18, 2002. Article by Juan Edgardo
Rodríguez.
--
Frontera NorteSur
On-line news coverage of the US-Mexico border
To see our site or subscribe for free to our daily news service go to:
http://frontera.nmsu.edu
FNS: Fifteen of Eight Hundred Méxicali Cops Fail Drug Test
Date: 8/28/2002 2:10:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: frontera@...
Yesterday, August 27, Frontera NorteSur reported that approximately one sixth of the Reynosa, Tamaulipas police force was fired for failing drug tests or for not showing up to take the tests. While this is a remarkable number of law-enforcement officers testing positive for drugs--98 of them were fired--drug use among police in Baja California appears to be much lower.
So far, after testing city police officers from Méxicali and San Felipe, 15 of 800 officers failed drug tests. All of the officers that tested positive were examined again with more specialized tests. Later, six of the fifteen were fired after traces of marijuana and/or cocaine were found in their systems. The other nine officers tested positive for using amphetamines and their cases are being evaluated individually since some kinds of amphetamines can be legally used in the treatment of health problems.
The six police officers that were fired for cocaine and marijuana use were added to local and national data bases that will prohibit them from working in law enforcement throughout Mexico. This ban extends to private security agencies as well.
Remaining to be tested are 400 other city police officers from the Méxicali region. The tests extend to all member of law enforcement including commanders, chiefs and officials. The exams are a permanent aspect of Méxicali law enforcement and will be continued in the future.
Source: La Crónica (Méxicali), August 21, 2002. Article by Carlos Alvarez.
--
Frontera NorteSur
On-line news coverage of the US-Mexico border
To see our site or subscribe for free to our daily news service go to:
http://frontera.nmsu.edu
Escalation of Hostilities in Chiapas: Urgent call for international action!
Date: 8/31/02 12:28:54 AM Pacific Daylight Time
from: mexiconews@... list.
Friends,
We bring you this report about the recent escalation of hostilities in
Chiapas including the dispatch of more soldiers of the Mexican Army to
the conflicted Selva Lacandona (Lacondon Jungle) region.
Representatives of over 30 human rights organizations in Chiapas are
responding to the increase of of hostilities, confrontations, harassment
and assassinations in indigenous communities. On August 28 two human
rights accompaniment and observation caravans left San Cristóbal de Las
Casas, Chiapas for the municipalities of Ricardo Flores Magon, San
Miguel and Olga Isabel to investigate the current situation in the
region. We will continue to bring you updates.
In this update please find:
1) Background information and current reports
2) Action YOU can take
3) Press Communique issued by on August 27, 2002 by human rights
organizations in Chiapas
4) Conflicts in Chiapas signal lack of dialogue, AFP - 8/30/2002
For more information please contact Carleen at
carleen@....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
1) Background information and current reports
In the last two weeks, the conflict in Chiapas has escalated,
culminating in confrontations, forced displacement and the murders of 3
Zapatistas. The Human Rights Center 'Fray Bartolome de las Casas'
reports that the number dead is 5. Old paramilitary groups have
reactivated, while others, like the OPDIC, have appeared publicly for
the first time. The paramilitaries’ actions have been complimented by
the deployment of hundreds of additional Mexican soldiers throughout
the “canyon†region of Chiapas. The Mexican Army has advanced its
positions throughout the conflict zone, establishing new check points
and bases, ensuring the movement of paramilitary groups. Several
Zapatista communities have fled because of paramilitary violence, while
others are currently occupied by the Mexican army. This latest round of
displacement occurred on the heals of the United Nations
Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons, Dr. Francis M. Deng's
visit to Chiapas.
The appearance and reactivation of paramilitary groups is reminiscent to
the conditions of fall 1997, prior to the massacre at Acteal. These
actions represent an escalation not yet witnessed during the Fox
administration and mark a new stage of counter-insurgency warfare
against Zapatista communities. Coincidently, the recent wave of violence
has occurred primarily in and around the Montes Azules Biosphere
Reserve. The predominately Zapatista communities located Montes Azules
have been accused of environmental crimes and are under threat of
"relocation."
These recent events seriously threaten the fragile peace process in
Chiapas, which has been hindered since the passage of the Indigenous
Rights and Culture counter-reform law in 2001. Continued paramilitary
and military violence will only exacerbate the already tense situation.
Human rights groups in Mexico are calling on the Mexican government to
take urgent steps demilitarize indigenous communities and to punish and
dismantle paramilitary groups before the peace process can resume.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
2) Action YOU can take
--- Travel to Chiapas and volunteer as a human rights observer: Global
Exchange continues to facilitate for Human Rights Observers to
participate in 'Peace Camps' in Chiapas. The communities need human
rights observers in all of the communities listed above. For more
information about applying as a Human Rights Observer, please visit:
<http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/mexico/volunteers.html> or
write to mexico@...
--- Contact the Mexican government and express your concern for the
peace process in Chiapas: Fax, call and email the Mexican embassy in
your state/country. More information and sample text is below.
--- Donate to local communities in Chiapas: As a result of the recent
paramilitary violence and military occupation, several indigenous
communities have been forced from their communities, and lack both food
and medicine. Local organizations are coordinating collections for food,
medicine and clothing to be delivered to the newly displaced
communities. If you would like to make a financial donation to support
this process, please contact Global Exchange’s Mexico program for more
information (email mexico@... or call 415.255.7296 x 239)
To contact the Mexican government call, email, fax or write to your
local Mexican embassy. In Washington DC you can reach the Embassy at:
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, t. (202) 728 -
1600, e. mexembusa@.... For a directory of consulates in the
United States visit:
http://www.embassyofmexico.org/english/consulados/listofconsulates.htm
You can use the text below as guidelines for your message to the Mexican
government. Shortly we will post a fax action on the Global Exchange
site. In the meantime your action is needed to pressure the Mexican
government, the Governor of Chiapas and the Supreme Court to intervene
in the escalating situation in Chiapas. Human rights organizations in
Chiapas have complied this list of demands:
To President Vicente Fox
We call on President Fox, as commander and chief of the Mexican Armed
Forces, to halt all military actions in Chiapas, considering that the
Law for Dialog and Reconciliation is still in force. The increased
militarization only contributes to the deterioration and radicalization
of the conflict in Chiapas, further distancing the possibility of true
peace in the state. We also call for President Fox to testify on the
military strategy initiated during the last 15 days, deploying hundreds
of additional soldiers to the conflict zone. Finally, we call on
President Fox to take the necessary measures so that soldiers who commit
human rights violations be punished.
To the Chiapas State government of Pablo Salazar
To Governor of Chiapas Pablo Salazar
We call on Governor Salazar to investigate the Organization for the
Defense of Indigenous and Farmers Rights (OPDIC) and its leader Pedro
Chulin, as well as other known paramilitaries organizations. These
groups have, and continue to operate with absolute impunity. We call
Governor Salazar to prioritize the investigation into the murder of Jose
Lopez Santiz, former inhabitant of the community 6 de agosto,
municipality of Altamirano. Lopez Santiz' murder, as well as the
homicides in the community of Amaytik, continue in the shadow of
impunity.
To the Supreme Court
We call on the Supreme Court to recognize the rights of Indigenous
Peoples as an integral component to true peace. We ask that the Court
emit a favorable ruling with respect to the Constitutional appeals
process against the Indigenous Rights and Culture counter-reform bill,
as an unmistakable example of their vote for peace.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
3) Press Communique issued by on August 27, 2002 by human rights groups
in Chiapas
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas,
August 27, 2002
PRESS COMMUNIQUE
URGENT CALL!
To Organizations
To the People of Mexico
To National and International Civil Society
The below-signed organizations are making a call for urgent
mobilization, because of the intensification of the war climate - the
confrontations, harassment and assassinations in indigenous communities,
which have taken place during the month of August in:
San Antonio Escobar, Quexil, Palestina, La Culebra, Arroyo Granizo,
Chamizal Ach'lum, Monte Li'bano, Taniperlas Ejido, Censo, Santa Elena,
Monte Li'bano Ejido, Lacando'n and Santo Domingo, Reforma K'an Akil,
Yocnabil, Pamala', Nuevo Guadalupe, 6 de Agosto Nuevo Centro de
Poblacio'n, El Salvador Poblado. Communities surrounding and included
within the Autonomous Municipalities of Ricardo Flores Mago'n, 17 de
Noviembre, Francisco Go'mez, San Pedro Polho', Francisco Villa, Primero
de Enero, Olga Isabel, Che Guevara, Vicente Guerrero, Miguel Hidalgo,
Lucio Caba~as and San Manuel.
It is in these areas where the paramilitaries have reactivated their
actions, in full and open provocation against the Autonomous
Municipalities, laying siege to communities, blocking accesses,
attacking and assassinating EZLN members, authorities and support bases,
under the repeated cover of the Mexican Army, which is openly occupying
these indigenous territories. Except for Polho', all of the rest are in
the coveted Selva Lacandona. These incidents have caused the forced
displacement of entire families, under conditions of food shortage,
precarious sanitary conditions and their being uprooted from their
communities.
By agreement of the signatory organizations, we respectfully and
fraternally are calling on you to:
1. Initiate a campaign of denuncias regarding these events.
2. Organize, on an urgent basis, a caravan to Chiapas for the
observation and accompaniment of the affected communities.
3. To collect foods and medicine for the affected communities.
We are providing you with ENLACE CIVIL's information as a contact in
order to coordinate with us regarding the requested Caravan:
enlacecivil@..., telephone: (011) 52 (967) 678-2104
Sincerely,
Education for Peace Collective (CEPAZ), K'inal Antzetik, Community
Defenders Network, Enlace Civil, Center for Political Analysis and
Social and Economic Research (CAPISE), Council of Organizations of
Indigenous Traditional Doctors and Midwives of Chiapas (COMPITCH), Fray
Bartolome' de las Casas Human Rights Center, Miguel Agusti'n Pro Jua'rez
Human Rights Center, Center for Economic and Political Research for
Community Action (CIEPAC), CEDIAC, Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada Human
Rights Center, Global Exchange, Commission for Community Reconciliation
(CORECO), Training and Development A.C. (FOCA), Los Altos Regional
Coordinator for Civil Society in Resistance, "Luna Creciente" Cultural
Space, Community Communication Promoters A.C., "All Rights for All"
Network of Human Rights Civil Organizations, Fray Francisco de Victoria
Human Rights Center O.P.A.C., "Oscar Arnulfo Romero" Solidarity
Committee. Social Development for Indigenous Mexicans (DESMI),
Appropriate Technology Exchange (ITA), Chiapas Civic Alliance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
4) Conflicts in Chiapas signal lack of dialogue
AFP - 8/30/2002
Recurring conflicts between rival groups in the southernmost state of
Chiapas that this week killed three people highlight the consequences of
the lack of dialogue between the federal government and the Zapatista
guerillas, local sources say.
The most recent violence occurred in the "autonomous municipalities" of
Ocosingo and Altamirano, independently governed areas set up by
Zapatista rebels after the1994 indigenous uprising.
In regard increased tensions in the region, the leader of the
organization for Indigenous Communities, Porfirio Encino, said Zapatista
support bases had "hardened their position as part of their resistance
strategy." He claimed the recently set up rebel checkpoints around
Zapatista communities are a source of friction among regional
inhabitants, not all of whom are Zapatista followers.
Local priest, Gonzalo Ituarte, blamed the "incredible deterioration" in
the socio-political situation in southeastern Chiapas as a reaction to
the closing of political means of negotiation.
An Indigenous Rights Bill passed in Congress last year was met with
hostility by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) who claimed
it did not meet their demands for increased autonomy and land rights. A
1996 accord, which was signed by both the government and the Zapatista
rebels, has yet to be fulfilled.
The polarization and tensions that in recent months have affected jungle
communities in Chiapas, provoked a recent warning from Felipe Arizmendi,
the Bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, the main site of the 1994
rebel uprising:
"The seed of hate and violence has been sown in many hearts, which makes
us fear that, at any moment, we could see the repetition of such
terrible events as that of Acteal," he said. In Dec. 1997, 45 Indians
were murdered in the highland village of Acteal by paramilitaries.
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Peace, No War!
War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate!
Please visit our global antiwar information, resource site:
www.PeaceNoWar.net
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This position is available in San Diego.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Julie Monroe jamonroe@...
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 11:51 AM
Subject: [LALS] San Diego Justice for Janitors Campaign Research Position
San Diego Justice for Janitors Campaign Research
SEIU Building Services Division
The Service Employees International Union, the nation's fastest growing labor
organization with more than 1.5 million members, seeks
campaign-oriented researchers to support the Building Service Division's Justice
for Janitors/security officers campaigns.
Justice for Janitors and the security officer organizing campaigns are exciting
national drives to win significant wage gains,
health insurance, full-time work and organizing rights for low-wage building
service workers. This position is available in San
Diego.
Description
The Campaign Researcher will work as a member of the research center team,
together with organizing leads, to develop and
implement corporate, legal, legislative, and regulatory strategies and tactics
to advance
organizing and bargaining goals. Work will include tracking real estate trends,
key real estate players; doing industry, company and
individual research. Competitive salary; excellent benefits. Send resume,
writing samples and list of references. Women and persons
of color encouraged to apply. SEIU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action
employer.
· Requirements
· Enthusiastic commitment to building a strong building service union.
· Strong commitment to progressive social change and activist experience.
· Strong technical research skills and ability to apply research to
strategic organizing campaigns.
· Experience in participating in strategic/corporate campaigns in support
of organizing and/or bargaining.
· Excellent writing ability; experience with a variety of computer-based
research tools and good quantitative skills.
· Excellent political and internal organizational skills.
· Ability to work well under tight deadlines and in a team environment.
· Ability to speak Spanish a plus.
Send cover letter and resume to:
SEIU 1877 Attn: Eddie Iny
1247 W. 7th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Or send by email to: eddieiny@...
=========================================================================
[LALS] is an email announcement only list, announcing UCLA Labor Center events,
local actions, local events, and job openings.
To suscribe to [LALS], send an email with a message in the body, "subscribe
LA-LABOR FirstName LastName" to the following address:
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The Peace & Freedom Party needs to raise its registration to 86,212 to get back
on the California ballot. We are currently engaged
in an expensive, protracted campaign to regain ballot status that would then
fund us all to speak out on y/our issues. Register with
the party that speaks for you/us, wants you/us to run for office, and wants
you/us to speak for us all in our communities. See our
materials at our site: http://www.peaceandfreedom.org
This message, so far , is for California voters, only. So far voters are U.S.
citizens who will be at least 18 years old by the date
of the next election. If they've had a felony conviction they can register once
the sentence/parole has been completed. (We need to
get the rights of all interested parties such that they ALL be able to vote.)
The current registration form does not include Peace and Freedom Party. Where
asked for your party, check "Other" and enter "Peace
and Freedom" in the space provided. You can fill in the on-line voter
registration form. It will be mailed to you for your signature
by the Secretary of State's office. Be sure to sign it and send it in when you
receive it in the mail.
CA DRIVER'S LICENSE OR CA ID CARD NUMBER: No person shall be denied the right to
register because of his or her failure to furnish a
California driver's license or California Identification card number. (Optional)
ADDRESS: Homeless people can register; give a detailed description of the
location of their sleeping/cooking/sitting/etc. site and
on the line asking to what address to send mail, give an address such as a
shelter or any location that agrees to receive voter's
mail.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "quiet is the absence of noise, but peace
requires the presence of justice."
First they came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t
a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t
a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was left to speak up.
Pastor Martin Niemoeller, Nazi Germany
Since the founding of La Resistencia in 1987, my efforts, like many of you
over the years, have been focused on opposing and resisting the attacks coming
down on mainly Mexicano and other Latino immigrants, particularly in the
Southwest but increasingly throughout the country. These have included the
militarization of the border, police and migra brutality, cutoff and denial
of social services, denial of political asylum, denial of work authorization,
and the raids, roundups and deportations.
However, in the post 911 U.S.A., we face the biggest threat to immigrant
rights of our lifetime. Let us be blunt. If the people are not able to mobilize
many more to resist and stop the repression against Muslim, Arab, and South
Asian immigrants and prevent the government from laying the foundation for
horrendous repression against all immigrants and the rest of us, there will
be no immigrant rights movement. That is the hard reality. I urge everyone
in the immigrant rights movement, as you carry out your present activities,
to find the ways to link whatever struggles in which you are involved with
the movement to stop the repression against Muslim, Arab and South Asian
immigrants. For example, as you carry out your present activities, stand
in solidarity by wearing the blue triangle with the names of those who have
disappeared at the hands of the government. Together, we must act. If we
do not defend those who first come under attack, then we will be much weaker
down the road as the government moves forward to attack and repress other
communities. On the other hand, if we do link all these struggles together,
we will make the movement to stop all attacks against all immigrants much
more powerful
The U.S. government seized on the tragic events of September 11 and moved
swiftly to ram through a wide array of assaults against Muslim, Arab and
South Asian immigrants. We have seen raids, roundups, disappearances, indefinite
detentions without charges, official racial profiling, the denial of access
to family and attorneys, charges based on secret evidence, trials before
military tribunals, threats of the death penalty based on secret evidence
and more. In the legal arena, the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act was rushed through
Congress. Under just one of its many outrageous provisions, any non-citizen
immigrant, documented or undocumented, can be held indefinitely without charges
merely on the Attorney General’s certification that the person is a suspected
terrorist or threat to national security. Now, any time immigrants come
together to organize they face an official policy of surveillance, infiltration
of their organizations, sneak and peek break-ins, wiretaps, e-mail surveillance,
threats of indefinite detention and deportation.
Please, excuse me if I am speaking to the choir but I think these are some
major questions that many more people need to confront. Pastor Martin Niemoellers
famous quotation is the most relevant it has ever been in our life times,
except first they are coming for the Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants.
The authorities are giving us a taste of what they have in store for those
who don't follow the program. The people must quickly move to stop these
assaults. In this light, the Niemoeller quotation is well worth pondering:
Can anyone seriously believe that other immigrants are not far behind in
being targets of these attacks? Ashcroft is talking about establishing camps
to hold American citizens without charges or redress. Already, Yaser Esam
Hamdi, an American citizen, is being held without charges in a Navy brig
in Norfolk, Virginia, with the justification that he is an enemy combatant.
The government is laying the foundation for all encompassing repression that
will produce horrific results if we do not act now. Recently, a member of
the U.S. Civil Rights Commission floated out the possibility of the mass
roundup and internment of Arabs and Muslims. When prominent attorneys such
as Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, charges
that the U.S. is in danger of becoming a police state, we should heed the
warning.
Believe me, I understand that all those who dream of a better world have
their hands full these days. In today’s climate, it is all the more important
to persevere in the many struggles around amnesty/legalization, the Social
Security no match letters, placing water stations in the desert, drivers’
licenses for the undocumented, social services for all immigrants, border
militarization, access to higher education for undocumented youth, police
and migra brutality against immigrants and the many other fronts of struggle.
But I think this is a cutting edge question that has great implications for
the future of all of us. What kind of society will this be if they are able
to establish these precedents of indefinite detention, ethnic profiling,
torture and secret military tribunals? More immediately, what will this
mean for the millions of immigrants who have been driven here from around
the globe? Can we call ourselves an immigrant rights movement if we do not
take this repression head on, much, much more forcefully, if we do not do
something about those being dragged from their beds in the middle of the
night?
To be sure, the government is hell bent on establishing this whole repressive
apparatus. Without a determined fight, the government is not about to give
up its attacks against Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants. There is
a very strong analogy between the demonization, round up and internment of
Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants during World War II and what is
happening today. Before the war, J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI,
reported that this community represented no internal security threat in the
event of war. But yet, 110,000 were put in concentration camps despite the
fact that not one single person in this community was ever charged with any
crime of “disloyalty.” Before the war, there had been a significant anti-war
movement. The government needed to manufacture “an enemy within” and internal
threat so as to create a fear and hysteria where people would go along with
whatever measures the government wanted.
Today, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants are being sacrificed to once
again manufacture “an enemy within” to scare people into accepting unprecedented
domestic repression and the outlawing of dissent as well as an unending international
war against terrorism. The government is attacking them to justify, get
people to accept, and put in place: roundups, indefinite detentions without
charges, official racial and religious profiling, secret military tribunals,
threats to use the death penalty, trials based on secret evidence, and all
the rest. They are being attacked to justify whatever the government wants
to do. We must take Ashcroft, Cheney, Bush and the rest at their word.
They have told us that this will last our lifetime, that this is the new
normalcy. There is nothing in the PATRIOT Act that limits it to Muslim,
Arabs and South Asians. It will not stop here.
In the aftermath of 911, in different ways, many have begun to step forward
to oppose this repression. Attorneys and civil liberties organizations have
been sounding the alarm. Lawsuits have been filed. In local areas, people
have found the ways to stand with and in some cases physically protect those
who have come under attack. Marches, rallies, demonstrations and forums
have been organized by many. The February 20 National Day of Solidarity
with Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Immigrants was marked with activities
in over 30 cities. Several thousand wore the blue triangle with the names
of those who have disappeared at the hands of the U.S. government in a show
of solidarity. In New York, local activists are holding demonstrations at
the detention center. The National Summit to Stop Repression Against Muslim,
Arab and South Asian Immigrants was held on May 18 and 19, in Dearborn, Michigan,
which formed the Blue Triangle Network (see note below). A September 1 rally
to defend the Constitutional rights of immigrants and citizens will be held
in Washington, DC.
Important beginning steps have been taken. But much, much more must be done.
We can and must find the ways to build unity and cooperation and defeat this
wave of repression.
En la resistencia,
Travis Morales
Note on the May 18 and 19 National Summit to Stop Repression Against Muslim,
Arab and South Asian Immigrants
Over the course of the two day meeting, nearly 60 people took part. A number
of organizations were represented, including: American Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, American Muslim Council, Arab
American Institute, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services,
Asians for Jericho/Mumia, Committee Against the U.$. Empire, Committee for
the Political Resurrection of Detroit, Houston Coalition for Justice Not
War, La Resistencia, La Resistencia Youth & Student Network, Muslim American
Society-Political Action Committee, National Lawyers Guild [Chicago and Detroit
Chapters], October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and
the Criminalization of a Generation Youth & Student Network, Refuse and
Resist!, Refuse and Resist! Youth and Student Network, Revolutionary Communist
Party, Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, Solidarity USA, South Asians
against Police Brutality & Racism, the Street Wall Journal, Tri-City
Peace Action and the Triangle Foundation. Beginning plans were made to oppose
this wave of repression and build unity and cooperation among all those who
are stepping forward in this struggle. The following mission statement that
was adopted.
Blue Triangle Network Mission Statement
First they came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t
a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t
a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was left to speak up.
Pastor Martin Niemoeller, Nazi Germany
Since September 11, 2001, in the name of the war against terrorism, vicious
attacks have been launched against the basic human rights of Muslims, Arabs
and South Asians in the United States from the highest levels of government.
Insisting that national security is at risk, the government has launched
a wide scale assault on constitutional rights and civil liberties. In order
to defend these violated human and constitutional rights, this network dedicates
itself to mobilizing the broadest number of people to challenge and oppose
this repression. We do not accept the racial profiling, erosion of civil
liberties, roundups, indefinite detentions, secret charges, secret evidence,
secret military tribunals and demonizing of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians
and others based upon where they were born, the language that they speak,
the color of their skin or the religion that they practice. This time they
are coming for the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants who are the first
targets in this wave of repression. This network has been organized by a
broad cross section of organizations, communities and individuals, both people
who have stepped forward to stand with those targeted by this repression
and people from the targeted communities themselves. We have a diversity
of political perspectives, religious beliefs, and ethnic and racial backgrounds,
but we are united in our determination. We are standing up and taking action.
FNS: The End of Baja's "El Pueblito" Prison
Date: 8/30/02 1:07:58 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: frontera@... (Frontera)
by Greg Bloom, FNS Editor
Established in 1956 and known for its extreme levels of corruption, the
Tijuana-area, model-prison-turned-law-enforcement nightmare known as El
Pueblito was effectively destroyed on August 20, 2002, according to
federal and Baja California officials. On that day, approximately 2,000
law-enforcement officers stormed the facility to transfer many prisoners
to other institutions, evict entire families that lived at El Pueblito
and begin the destruction of hundreds of homes and businesses that had
been built in the prison patio. In the days following the physical,
social and economic dismantling of El Pueblito, the Baja press published
story after story about the prison which had risen to levels of both
fame and infamy throughout Mexico.
One article described rules posted at the gate to El Pueblito:
The introduction of drugs is prohibited
Report any abuse by prisoners
Visits are on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays
Offering or giving bribes to guards is prohibited
The signs were sources of great humor to visitors, all of whom knew that
drugs were sold openly from stores inside the prison, inmates
controlled the facility, and people could visit anytime they wanted but
they had to pay the guards.
In an editorial for the Tijuana newspaper Frontera, Mario Ortiz
Villacorta Lacave described attending El Pueblito's opening ceremonies
with his father, a journalist. Perhaps indicative of what was to come,
the facility's first prisoner was a uniformed police officer. Only a boy
at the time, Ortiz remembered that the joking policeman got inside a
cell and closed the door. Unfortunately, the door became stuck and a
locksmith had to be called to release the man. Thus, from its very
inception, El Pueblito was both a real and a metaphorical prison from
which administrators and other law-enforcement officials needed almost
half a century to escape.
Background
Built as a new experiment in corrections, El Pueblito permitted inmates'
families to join them in prison. It was hoped that readjustment to the
outside world would be helped by keeping inmates close to their
relatives. At night, couples would share a cell with eight or ten other
male prisoners. In the morning, children would get up, dress and leave
the prison to go to school. At the time of the August, 2002 raid there
were 324 women and children living among the nearly 6,000 prisoners.
El Pueblito also had other aspects which made it less like a prison and
more like the outside world. Indeed, its very name came from the little
town of stores and homes that was raised over the years in the prison's
patio. By the end, El Pueblito had approximately 150 stores that "sold
practically everything anyone might want," according to one law
enforcement official.
Among the items sold at the stores were drugs. While anything could be
obtained, heroin, cocaine and marijuana were some of the most-frequently
used drugs and different individuals ran minicartels inside the prison
for each substance. The drug business alone was estimated to be half of
the facility's US$80,000 a day economy.
Restaurants located in El Pueblito made available tacos, pizza, chicken,
hamburgers, juice and more. Other stores rented videos and phones. There
were barbershops and even a bar.
With so many luxuries and freedoms it is easy to imagine El Pueblito as
a prisoners' paradise. However, such an impression is far from the truth
in a world where only those with money and/or connections could enjoy El
Pueblito's niceties. Inmates without economic resources reportedly slept
outside in both the heat of summer and the cold of winter.
In his editorial, Ortiz mentioned that instead of reforming inmates, El
Pueblito was actually known as "la universidad del crimen," Crime
University. Ortiz also alleged that after committing crimes in public,
criminals would hide inside El Pueblito.
Like most prisons, El Pueblito had its share of violence. However, at El
Pueblito, this violence extended beyond inmates and guards to prison
directors. In 1978 the murder of prison director Salvador González and
assistant director Jesús Domínguez Cobos led to a forceful crackdown on
organized crime in the facility. However, its effects were not permanent
and violence at El Pueblito was cyclical in nature according to one
observer.
Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights also called El Pueblito
the worst prison in the country due to overcrowding and the disparity in
conditions between wealthy and poor inmates.
Businesses, Homes and Investments Destroyed
Jacinta Ibáñez, a woman that owned a taco stand in the prison, was not
happy that her establishment was demolished to make way for an addition
to the prison that will house 800 prisoners. Ibáñez used the money she
made from selling tacos to support her husband and children.
Like towns in the outside world, El Pueblito also had a real estate
market that inmates and families looked at as investments. Houses built
of cardboard, tin or brick belonged to prisoners and were bought, sold
and rented. To rent a space as wide as a mattress in one of the
courtyard's houses cost US$50 per week (in a country where the minimum
wage is approximately US$4 per day).
An article in the Ciudad Juárez newspaper, El Diario, quoted the mother
of one prisoner as saying that she gave her son US$7,000 to buy a
two-room shelter. When that building was torn down, she lost her
investment, she said.
Marina Ramos, who lived in prison with her husband in a room with a
refrigerator and a few beds, said that her house was more than a home.
It was going to be what financed their life after prison. Ramos and her
husband had hoped to sell the space for US$4,500. However, the
destruction of the prison interior's buildings also meant that they too
had lost their investment.
The Raid
Beginning at 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 20, units from the Mexican
Army began arriving at El Pueblito and checking vehicles in the area.
They also blocked the passage of unofficial vehicles and eventually no
private citizens were allowed to enter or leave the neighborhood in
which the prison is located.
By 2:00 a.m., more than 2,000 federal and state law-enforcement and army
people had gathered around El Pueblito including a special forces unit.
At that time, operation "Tornado" commenced and the assembled forces
stormed the prison looking quickly for organized-crime leaders and the
prison's most dangerous inmates. Only twenty minutes later these men
were being taken away from the prison to be put on airplanes that would
divide them among three maximum-security, federal prisons throughout
Mexico.
The operation's only hitch was that busses did not show up on time to
help transfer prisoners to the state's new El Hongo facility near
Tecate. Although 1,988 prisoners had been handcuffed by 3:00 a.m. in
order to help with their safe transfer to El Hongo, at 3:30 a.m. there
was still no way to move them there. What had happened was that the
busses were being held outside the prison by army units that had been
told not to let anyone through. When communications broke down and the
vehicles never arrived, the operation commander had trailers brought in
and the inmates were loaded on to those.
By 2:00 p.m., some prisoners still at El Pueblito were beginning to
experience the physical symptoms of drug withdrawal. In other parts of
the prison, officials were going through inmates possessions like TVs
and CD copiers. In the patio, construction machinery had been brought in
and some 700 homes and stores, in place since the 70s, were destroyed.
Also, throughout the course of the day, women and children that had been
living in El Pueblito (officially called the Centro de Readaptación
Social de la Mesa) were taken from the facility. Nearly half of them had
no other place to go and they were taken to a city building that had
been set up as a homeless shelter.
One woman told a reporter that she had no idea what she was going to do
now that her home had been destroyed. Furthermore, she did not even know
if her husband had been left at El Pueblito or taken to El Hongo.
El Hongo
By August 26, complaints about El Hongo were already making their way
into the press. Sandra Selene Castro, who had gone to see her cousin
there, complained that she was not allowed to bring in any food but had
to buy it inside instead. This is because El Hongo is a serious attempt
by Baja officials to have a drug-free prison.
In order to achieve drug-free status, El Hongo will only accept
prisoners that are not drug users. Drug-sensing machines, drug-detecting
dogs and prohibitions on the entrance of food, jewelry and other goods
are all in place to help insure that no illegal drugs enter the
facility.
El Hongo is considered by BC officials to be a high-technology facility.
Prisoners will wear bracelets with bar codes on them so that their
movements can be tracked throughout the facility. Cameras and movement
sensors are also incorporated into El Hongo's design.
Inmates will have access to televisions as long as they use headphones.
However, TVs brought to the prison will be disassembled to make sure
that they do not contain any dangerous or illegal materials.
El Hongo has 72 cells for conjugal visits and another 72 solitary cells
for prisoners that are considered highly dangerous.
While inmates may not like the recent changes, the Baja press's
editorials are all unanimous that the state's worst experiment in law
enforcement is thankfully behind it.
Sources: Notimex, Martín Borchardt, El Diario (Cd. Juárez), Frontera
(Tijuana), August 20-26, 2002.
--
Frontera NorteSur
On-line news coverage of the US-Mexico border
To see our site or subscribe for free to our daily news service go to:
http://frontera.nmsu.edu
Immigrant Group Calls for Boycott
By DEBORAH KONG
.c The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A coalition of Mexican immigrants has called for a
boycott of Wells Fargo banks to support Mexican laborers who claim money is
owed to them for working on American farms and railroads more than 50 years
ago.
Members of the Council of Presidents of Mexican Federations of Los Angeles
also protested in front of a bank in downtown Los Angeles Thursday. They
urged people not to sign up for new accounts with the bank, and to close
current accounts.
Wells Fargo, which was responsible for transferring workers' withheld wages
to a Mexican bank, could owe the workers millions in back wages, said
Guadalupe Gomez, president of the council.
``They need to tell the people where their money went,'' said Martha Jimenez,
a spokeswoman for one of the groups, the Zacatecas Federation. ``We need to
get the documentation.''
A Wells Fargo spokesman said the bank fulfilled its obligations.
``We believe we completely fulfilled our responsibility to transfer the
money,'' Wells Fargo spokesman Larry Haeg said Thursday. ``We never held the
savings account or checks of any individual braceros.''
The workers include more than 300,000 Mexicans who came to the United States
between 1942 and 1949 to harvest crops and maintain railroad tracks as guest
workers. Called ``braceros,'' after the Spanish word for arm, they came to
this country under an agreement between the United States and Mexico aimed at
filling labor shortages caused by World War II.
Under the agreement, 10 percent of each worker's wage was to be withheld and
transferred, via U.S. and Mexican banks, to individual savings funds set up
for each bracero. But many braceros said they never received that money when
they returned to Mexico.
The workers filed a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco in March 2001
seeking repayment of the money deducted from their paychecks, plus interest.
They did not specify the amount owed but advocates estimated it at $500
million.
The council kicked off the boycott by setting fire to Wells Fargo debit cards
in front of the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles Wednesday night after
hearing that a judge rejected the lawsuit by the workers.
U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer wrote that he did ``not doubt that
many braceros never received savings fund withholdings to which they were
entitled. The Court is sympathetic to the braceros situation.''
But Breyer concluded in a ruling lawyers received Wednesday that the braceros
were not entitled to any relief from the Mexican or American governments, or
Wells Fargo in a United States court of law.
08/29/02 22:41 EDT
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Friends,
Below is a great article about Borderhack! that just came out in
a new Independent San Diego weekly called San Diego City Beat. There are
some pictures available on the web relating to the story at
www.sdcitybeat.com. La lucha continua,
Dan, La Resistencia San Diego
Separation Anxiety: Divided families offer poignant backdrop for third
annual ‘Borderhack’
by Kelly Davis
With his velvet half-size top hat and nubby purple sweater vest a few
sizes too big, he could be a poet or a ringmaster in some sort of
working-class circus. A group of 15 or so young bohemians, political
activists and curious passers-by are gathered around him, listening as he
lectures, seminar-style, about culture versus commerce, reclaiming public
space, resisting corporate dominance. He speaks gently, his talk peppered
with highbrow references: memes, semiotic violence, Dadaism.
“We’re immersed in an environment where commerce controls what happens
and what we do,†he says. The group nods in agreement.
He’s mid-way through a discussion of the 1960s French Situationist
movement, drawing upon their “the more you consume, the less you live,â€
ideology, when a short, stocky 40-ish Latina woman in a pink flowered
dress sidles past him. At her side is a pudgy girl not much older than
12, a pink bandana tied around her hair. A minute later the two are
followed by what the observer assumes is the other half of the family—a
Latino man wearing dress pants and a white collared shirt (father) and a
young boy in a striped t-shirt and jeans (son).
“… there’s an energy coming at us from consumer culture and corporate
media; it’s attacking our ability to think clearly,†says the poet to his
audience.
The woman, man, boy and girl wind their way up a dusty path and approach
the 15-foot high chain-link fence that sits a few yards beyond the poet
and his group. Their side is dust, overgrown weeds and rocks; the other
side of the fence, a well-manicured lawn, freshly cut, recently watered,
part of San Diego’s Border Field State Park (christened “Friendship Parkâ€
in 1971 by then-first lady Pat Nixon).
On the park side another family has gathered—a young woman with a baby
stroller, a man and two small children. The two groups talk, animated,
bodies pressed up against the fence, fingers wrapped around the openings
in the linked wires. The older woman in pink passes sugared fruit candy
to the children on the other side.
“… the way the art world is building, fusing a culture to resist,†the
poet continues.
Everything he’s saying is interesting, enlightening, intellectually
appealing, but it can’t compete with what’s going on a few yards to his
right—a strikingly real moment that, for those of us who traverse freely
across borders, socks you right in the throat.
The woman in pink, her husband, son and daughter are from Mexico City;
the family on the other side of the fence lives in the U.S. The young
woman on the U.S. side is the daughter of the woman in pink and the man
in the dress pants, and she’s the older sister of the pink-bandana girl
and the striped-shirt boy. Her children are the grandchildren, the niece
and nephew of the family on the other side. And this is the first time
they’ve had a reunion of this sort; the first time the daughter has seen
her family in six years.
The mother explains to the reporter that they’ve come from Mexico City
for a weeklong visit to Tijuana. Before leaving home they had made plans
to meet with their daughter at this location, at this day and time. “This
is the only way we can see each other,†the mother explains. They are too
much of a flight risk to get visas—poor Mexican citizens, especially
those with relatives who have preceded them to the U.S., have no reason
to stay in their homeland, say immigration officials. As for those who
have migrated to the U.S., many of them lack the documentation (or harbor
too much of a fear of INS corruption) that would allow them to return to
Mexico to visit family.
The mother reaches her fingers through the fence, signaling for her
daughter to bring the baby closer, and for the first time, she gives her
granddaughter a kiss. Despite the fence, the toddler giggles, delighted,
and pushes her baby-fat cheek even closer to her grandmother’s lips. The
two families will remain at that spot for the next three hours, catching
up on all they’ve missed. The men on both sides will wander off to get
food or a drink of water for their families; the children will sit down
and shade their eyes from the sun, but the mother and daughter stay
standing, talking the entire time until they part ways at 3 p.m.
“This is the new Berlin wall, separating families,†says the daughter
about the fence that’s wedged itself between her and her mother.
-
It’s become a one-sided border, immigrant-rights activists argue, open to
the transport of goods and commerce but closed to people—especially to
those who derive no benefit from the free exchange.
San Diego County’s economy is roughly 20 times that of Tijuana’s, a fact
that wouldn’t matter much—one’s a municipality of a slow-developing
nation, the other contains the sixth-largest city in the U.S.—except for
the proximity of the two.
Its own government’s long history of incompetence and corruption is no
doubt to blame for the conditions in Mexico, but so too is U.S. policy.
NAFTA has dealt a blow not only to the entire Mexican economy but also to
Tijuana’s once-thriving maquiladora industry (also known as the Mexican
Border Industrialization Program). Simply put, maquiladoras are
international offshore manufacturing plants for which necessary parts,
machinery and raw materials are allowed to be imported and the final
products exported duty-free and tax-free for the maquiladoras’ corporate
owners. Despite low wages and poor working conditions, the plants have
become default employment options for an unskilled Mexican workforce.
However, as of Jan. 1, 2001, under NAFTA rules, only maquiladora plants
owned by companies from NAFTA-member countries (the U.S., Canada and
Mexico) get the tax kickbacks. Additionally, plants, regardless of
origin, that might rely on imported foreign-made parts and equipment must
pay tariffs on those imports. What it all results in is a mess of
compliance rules overburdening an already volatile system and because of
this in the past year alone, 50,000 maquiladora workers in Tijuana have
been laid off.
Mexico’s leaders should have seen this coming, some say, and invested in
better infrastructure and kept up with technology that would allow them
to compete in the world markets. It’s somewhat of a moot point, however,
and sharing a border with a first-world country has only underscored
Mexico’s poverty, especially when it comes to Tijuana.
Third-world Tijuana is pushing up against its first world neighbor, quite
literally. More than 2 million people—double 1990 estimates—inhabit
Tijuana, most of them filling up the steep canyons and valleys that
provide a natural barrier between countries. But what this critical mass
is really pushing up against is an unyielding fortress.
The chain-link fence that once separated the two countries was replaced
in the early ’90s with a stronger, steel matting fence that stretched
into the Pacific Ocean—out to a point where the strong current makes
swimming around the fence dangerous. 1994 introduced Operation Gatekeeper
to the San Diego-Tijuana border, which doubled the number of Border
Patrol agents and in doing so resulted in a skyrocketing number of
complaints of racial profiling and police abuse. Since its inception,
immigrants-rights people attribute more than 2,000 migrant deaths—70 in
June of this year alone—to Operation Gatekeeper, which activists say
forces migrants into border-region mountains and deserts where they are
exposed to extreme weather conditions.
In addition to imposed military force, plans for a second border fence to
supplement the rust-mottled original fence are in the works despite
protest from environmentalists who say that the additional fence will
imperil the ecologically sensitive areas it’ll bisect. The new fence is
expected to cost around $1 million per mile, essentially creating a
no-man’s land between fences. In theory, the reasons for the additional
fencing seem pretty clear: to reduce high-level drug smuggling and
international crime. The reality is that drug smugglers are far too
sophisticated to be kept back by a steel fence.
“The powers that be want us to see the border as a danger or a threat
over which we have a firm upper hand,†says Ben Weinstein, who works with
La Resistencia, a Houston-based immigrants-rights organization that also
has a San Diego office. “NAFTA and Operation Gatekeeper began at the same
time, trapping people in a place where they are forced to work for wages
one-eighth what they are [in San Diego].â€
But, adds Weinstein, U.S. elected officials never tell their constituents
about Mexico’s social realities. “Instead it’s all about protecting our
children from drugs and terrorism.â€
-
For the third year in a row, Luis Rosales has organized Tijuana’s
Borderhack, the only Latin American version of similar peaceful border
protests that have taken place throughout Europe since 1998. He, along
with the help of friends and supporters, have set up camp at what’s
perhaps the best location for this sort of thing—“friendship circle,†a
round slab of concrete sitting half on U.S. territory, the other half in
Tijuana. Cutting through the circle’s midsection is the chain-link fence
that runs the length of Friendship Park, the only “see-through†portion
of the border fence, save for a handful of cut-aways in the rusted steel
matting that comprises the rest of the barrier.
It’s at this spot where Mrs. Nixon stood 31 years ago to dedicate the
area and adjoining park. “I hope,†Nixon said, glancing at the fence
separating the space, “there won’t be a fence here too long.â€
Rosales and fellow organizers Fran Ilich and Daniel Moreno were born in
Tijuana. “The border has been a big part of our lives since we were
kids,†Rosales explains in slow, precise English, “but we didn’t fully
understand the problems that arise from it.â€
As teenagers, he and Ilich developed a growing sense of awareness of what
was going on in their city, the “duality of life†between their country
and its neighbor. They began self-publishing print media that focused on
the theme of border crossings, literally and ideologically, and in trying
to find other ways to get their message across, they stumbled upon
Borderhack, the first incarnation of which was held in summer of 1998 in
Rothenburg, Germany to protest Central European migration policy.
The term “Borderhack†is a play on words, Rosales said. On one hand
there’s the divisive notion of “hackâ€â€”the slogan “delete the border†is a
manifest of the event’s utmost goal. The second meaning taps into
cyber-culture lingo. (Rosales, who spends most of his time as a medical
intern at the Tijuana state hospital, admits he “hacked†into a local
phone system the night before so participants could communicate online
with supporters worldwide.)
“The metaphor of ‘hacking,’†Rosales explains, “is learning all you can
about a system and learning to fix it in one way or another. It’s trying
to see the border from different ways, different aspects.â€
Tijuana’s Borderhack is a three-day event that draws people from around
the world—there’s a large contingent that caravanned from Northern
California, bringing with them several donated computers that they plan
to leave for use by a Tijuana-based nonprofit. A smattering of other
languages and accents reveal world travelers who are passing through,
getting a sense of what this other part of America is like. A gentleman
from Nicaragua and a young man from Austria converse freely in Spanish,
the former clearly delighted by the opportunity to educate his new
friend.
If they can put up with the sweeping spotlights and occasional fly-overs
by military aircraft, participants are welcome to camp out on the Playas
de Tijuana beachfront, just down a slight rocky incline from where
Rosales and his crew have set up computers, information tables and tarps.
The tents are pushed up against the iron rods and rusted steel that jut
out of the sand. “Alto Guardian,†a warning aimed at people thinking
about trespassing, is spray-painted on the fence along with painted
outlines of people climbing the measured curves of the wall. Someone
points out that the wall on the other side has been kept rust- and
graffiti-free and that the white folks who walk along the sand have no
idea that the other side is so ugly.
Prior to the event, Rosales sent out a general invitation for interested
parties to make presentations at Borderhack—the poet, actually a San
Francisco artist named Pod, was one person who took up Rosales’ offer,
putting together a presentation on “culture jammingâ€â€”resisting corporate
media through innovative exchange of ideas between independent groups and
organizations.
Rosales’ goal was to find creative ways to address border-related issues.
The festival kicked off with a group of University of California, San
Diego students who put together a series of digital art projects.
Rosales’ favorite, he said, was a video game that puts the player in the
place of a Mexican immigrant attempting to cross the border, find a job
in the U.S. and send money back to family in Mexico.
“[Borderhack] is not about telling people what to do or how to think,â€
says Rosales. “We’re going to give you all the information in different
forms of media, and you can decide for yourself.â€
This year some technical glitches have prevented the festival from being
as multi-media as Rosales would have liked—the first year he won
sponsorship from an Internet company who pitched a “freedom through the
internet†campaign; Rosales convinced the company that the event’s theme
of breaking down borders was a perfect match. It was a one-time only
thing, however. “Companies turn away from anything to do with the word
‘hack’ or anything that’s against the U.S.,†he explained.
-
A three-panel cardboard display is about as high-tech as they get, but
Rosales knows that La Resistencia will put on a good show. “It’s always
interesting to see a group of Americans challenging their own citizens,â€
he says of the organization that’s represented at Borderhack by a
contingent of San Diego activists.
“I won’t be a snitch for the INS†reads a button on Aida Reyes’ brimmed
hat. Reyes and Dan Kaufman, both of La Resistencia, do tag-team
interpreting for a crowd that’s grown to 40 or 50 people, Spanish and
English speakers equally represented.
Reyes leads off in English, speaking in measured cadence, fueled by
charisma that comes from channeling frustration into voice. “Our
immigrant brothers and sisters, everyday more and more are finding it a
necessity to cross the border, exposing themselves to the danger of the
border patrol officer,†she announces. “You have the extreme cold of the
winter in the mountains, dehydration in the summer. Before the wall went
up, migrants had the opportunity to cross and find the most difficult
work,†she says, referring to the 1942-64 Bracero program through which
Mexican immigrants were brought over to the U.S. to supplement the World
War II and post-World War II agricultural labor force. “They were
exploited in those jobs,†she says, “but at least they were able to find
opportunities.
“It’s not like they wanted to get up and leave their families,†she adds.
“We’re going to expose the abuses that take place at the border, the
migrants being forced into Arizona given the augmentation of the San
Diego border patrol,†explains Reyes.
Using the hacked-into phone line and phone tap hooked into a P.A. system,
which is nothing more than a Fender amp, Rosales puts in a call to Rick
Ufford-Chase from Samaritan Patrols a nonprofit human rights organization
based in Tucson, Arizona, that provides medical care, food and water to
migrants making their way through the Arizona desert.
Ufford-Chase explains that they found two more bodies that morning, just
west of Tucson where it’s not uncommon for temperatures to reach 115
degrees. It’s something he chooses not to discuss further, talking
instead about a recent dilemma that’s drawn media attention to his group.
While on patrol with a newspaper reporter in mid-July, they came upon a
couple that had crossed the border with a coyote—an immigrant
smuggler—but had become separated from him. Too ill for onsite medical
care, Ufford-Chase and his group took the couple to a Tucson church where
they could recuperate and seek medical care with no fear of deportation.
The reporter, however, wanting to generate a hook for her story, called
up the border patrol and informed them of what was going on. “She wanted
to find out what would happen when the two sides came face to face,†said
Ufford-Chase.
The couple was faced with two options—leave the medical facility
immediately and continue through the desert or turn themselves in to the
border patrol. Ufford-Chase said he urged them to choose the latter.
Under the law, Ufford-Chase said, Samaritan Patrol isn’t doing anything
illegal. The medical assistance they provide is considered humanitarian
aid and is therefore perfectly legal and, he said, Samaritan Patrol is
open about everything they do, a must in a state where there are groups
who that regularly round up migrants and turn them over to the border
patrol. Or take matters into their own hands and kill the people they
find.
“Was it a mistake to let a journalist come along?†asks a Borderhack
participant.
“She wrote an article that was very supportive [of our work],â€
Ufford-Chase explained. The couple may not have reached their goal, but
perhaps positive press in an area skeptical of migrants was a necessary
trade-off.
-
“Don’t listen only to what the activists say,†Rosales cautions the
reporter. “Listen to the people—it’s important to hear the testimony of
people living here.
This, he says pointing to Friendship Circle and to the fence that
stretches out into the ocean, “is the corner of the world, where it
starts and where it ends.â€
Visuals, perhaps, are more powerful than words could ever be. A couple of
hours after the family from Mexico City had departed, an elderly
gentleman stands in the same spot, waiting. He’s tall, gangly, his arms
and hands covered in a layer of dry skin.
Shortly, a woman in her 30s makes her way across the park lawn and
approaches the man at the fence. He says his name is Pedro Martinez and
his daughter’s is Anna. He’s traveled 48 hours on a bus from Vera Cruz, a
poverty-stricken town in southeastern Mexico, to see Anna for the first
time in 14 years. She’s brought him tacos that she slips through the
gate, attracting attention from a nearby border patrol agent who summons
three additional patrol vans to the area.
The father-daughter reunion is far less lively than the one that took
place earlier in the day—perhaps Pedro Martinez is tired from his trip;
perhaps too much time and space are between him and his daughter.
Daniel Moreno watches from a few yards away. He explains that the two
family reunions on one day were no coincidence but something that happens
far too often.
“You come here to see your family through a fence,†he says.
SAT 9/7 in Bklyn: Labor Solidarity with Immigrant Detainees
Date: 9/5/2002 4:18:23 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: nicajg@...
1. SAT 9/7: March in Brooklyn: Labor Solidarity with Immigrant Detainees
2. Take Action: Get MDC Detainees Out of Solitary Confinement
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. SAT 9/7: March in Brooklyn: Labor Solidarity with Immigrant Detainees
Labor March in Solidarity with Immigrant Workers and Detainees
On Saturday, September 7, join trade unionists and social justice groups of
all nationalities in a march for immigrants' and workers' rights:
Assemble: 10:30 a.m. sharp -- 9th St/5th Ave. in Brooklyn (N/R to 9th St; F
to 4th Ave.)
March: 11 a.m. sharp -- along 5th Avenue to 29th St
Rally: 12 noon -- Metropolitan Detention Center, 29th St/3rd Ave. (N/R to
25th St at 4th Ave. if coming by train)
Confirmed speakers include a detainee family member, the well-known
cartoonist and Afghan war correspondent Ted Rall; a postal worker speaking
on the TIPS program; two WTC survivors speaking about why they personally
oppose the war and the detentions.
Arab, South Asian, and Muslim immigrants are still being detained and
deported en masse in the name of "national security." Homeland Security
workers are denied union rights. Immigrant workers are cheated out of just
wages and benefits. Refugees are denied asylum and Latinos crossing the
Southwest border are dying.
The government still refuses to release the names of the detainees or the
charges against them, despite court orders to do so. None of the thousands
of immigrant detainees rounded up after September 11 have been charged
with terrorist acts. Many of the detainees have been denied due process
and adequate access to legal counsel. On August 14, Human Rights Watch
published an in-depth report ( http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/us911/ )
that confirms Amnesty International's earlier findings: many of the
detainees have suffered inhumane conditions of confinement, including
beatings, psychological terror, and prolonged isolation.
After a year in solitary confinement, two men at the Metropolitan
Detention Center recently pleaded guilty to minor white-collar crimes.
They have been sentenced to an additional year in the Special Housing
Unit, with no relief in sight. A third man, also in solitary since
September 12, is expected to suffer the same fate [see action alert
below]. None of these detainees have been linked to terrorism. All are
working-class Muslim immigrants from South Asia and the Middle East.
To endorse and support, contact Justice For Detainees, 718-482-3157
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Take Action: Get MDC Detainees Out of Solitary Confinement
WHY ARE THESE MEN STILL IN SOLITARY?
Ayub Ali Kahn, Mohammed Azmath, and Ehab Elmaghraby have been in solitary
confinement in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) for nearly a
year, with no immediate relief in sight. Are they violent criminals? No.
Have they been linked to terrorism? No. Are they Muslims? Yes.
In the weeks after September 11, 2001, the Immigration and Naturalization
Service detained nearly 1200 Arab, South Asian, and Muslim immigrants
around the country. Many of the men in that initial roundup were sent to
the MDC, a maximum-security federal prison in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. One by
one they have been transferred from solitary to the general prison
population, returned to the community, or deported-all but these three men.
There they sit in their 5-by-8-foot cells, with nothing to read but the
Koran and an occasional newspaper. Their cells are lit 24 hours a day.
Their windows are painted white. "Recreation" consists of standing alone in
a small cell for half an hour a day. They get one 15-minute personal call a
month. Sometimes the guards wake them up during the night for no reason,
adding terror to the uncertainty of their situation.
Elmagrahby and Khan have pleaded guilty to minor white-collar crimes.
Azmath is expected to do the same shortly. None of these men have been
connected to terrorism in any way despite months of FBI interrogation.
Elmagrahby's lawyer says that he is "a polite, gentle man, in no way
violent," yet he is shackled hand and foot whenever he leaves his cell. He
recently got a letter from his sister in Egypt, who reported that his
father was gravely ill in the hospital and his mother was "crying, crying
all the time." His sister begged him to call home, but the warden refuses
to allow him an additional social call until next month. Ehab is growing
despondent and says that the only thing that keeps him from suicide is his
faith..
Mohamed Azmath and Ayub Khan (Gul Shah) worked as news vendors in the
Newark train station. They both had box cutters in their possession when
they were profiled and arrested the day after the attacks on the World
Trade Center. Like Ehab, they have been interrogated repeatedly by the FBI
and spent nearly a year in solitary confine-
ment. They have been cursed and threatened, thrown into walls, and told by
guards they would be killed in jail.
Amnesty International notes the increasing use of solitary confinement in
U.S. prisons. Solitary confinement is a violation of international
conventions, and cruel and unusual punishment by any moral standard. Human
beings are social animals, and prolonged isolation often results in
psychological breakdown. Prisoners become suicidal, acutely depressed, and
mentally unstable.
Retribution is not justice. We must fight to get these men out of solitary
confinement and into the general prison population. We must end this
nightmare of secret detentions. We must free the MDC 3.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP THESE MEN
Call, write, or fax these people. Tell them to immediately transfer Ayub
Ali Kahn, Mohammed Azmath, and Ehab Elmaghraby out of solitary confinement
and into the general population of the Metropolitan Detention Center. End
this unjust confinement now.
Write to:
Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First St.,
NW, Washington, DC 20534, Tel: 202-307-3198
Senator Hillary Clinton, 780 Third Avenue, Suite 2601, New York, NY 10017,
Tel: 212-688-6262, Fax: 212-688-7444
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, 2241 Rayburn House Office Bldg, Washington,
DC 20515-2104, Tel: 718-599-3658;
202-225-2361, Fax: 202-226-0327
Warden Michael Zenk, MDC, 80 29th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232, Tel:
718-840-4200, Fax: 718-840-5005
Bureau of Prisons, Northeast Regional Office, U.S. Custom House, 7th Floor,
2nd and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106, Tel:
215-521-7300, Fax: 215-521-7476
Send copies to JusticeForDetainees@...
For more information, contact JusticeForDetainees@... or 718-482-3157.
=============================================================
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10,000 FARM WORKERS MARCH ON SACRAMENTO
Date: 9/5/2002 12:13:21 AM Pacific Daylight Time
10,000 farm workers march on state capital
By Bill Hackwell
Sacramento, Calif.
In a sea of waving, red union flags, 10,000 United Farm Workers members and supporters arrived at the steps of the California capitol building Aug. 25 to press their demands for legislation protecting union contracts.
Their arrival in Sacramento was the culmination of an historic march that retraced the route of UFW founder Cesar Chavez, who led a 165-mile farm workers' march from Merced in 1966. That march launched the UFW's long legacy of struggle and brought attention to the poverty conditions faced by the mainly-immigrant workers in the fields.
This year's march, led by UFW President Arturo Rodriguez and union co-founder Dolores Huerta, focused on a single demand to a single person. Marchers demanded that Democratic Gov. Gray Davis sign bill SB 1736 into law.
The bill wouldn't cost the state anything. It would simply force the corporate growers--who profit off the labor of California's poorest workers--to negotiate in good faith with the UFW. It would also allow the union to ask an arbitrator to impose a binding settlement in case of stalled contract talks between farm workers and growers.
Since the inception of the UFW, the growers have refused to sign hundreds of negotiated contracts because there was no enforcement.
Taken separately, California has the fifth-largest economy in the world. The agricultural industry contributes $27 billion yearly to it. Yet farm workers continue to do backbreaking work in hot, chemical-saturated fields for low pay and few benefits.
About 75 percent of California farm workers still earn less than $10,000 per year, and 90 percent have no health benefits, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The growers--through their lobbying group, the Western Growers Association--claim that the law would devastate the struggling agricultural industry. Meanwhile, the growers donated over $150,000 to Davis' reelection campaign as the bill worked its way through the legislature.
Davis will soon have to decide where he stands: with the growers who are lining his pockets or with the farm workers massing at his door.
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First they came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was left to speak up. Pastor Martin Niemoeller, Nazi Germany
Since the founding of La Resistencia in 1987, my efforts, like many of you over the years, have been focused on opposing and resisting the attacks coming down on mainly Mexicano and other Latino immigrants, particularly in the Southwest but increasingly throughout the country. These have included the militarization of the border, police and migra brutality, cutoff and denial of social services, denial of political asylum, denial of work authorization, and the raids, roundups and deportations.
However, in the post 911 U.S.A., we face the biggest threat to immigrant rights of our lifetime. Let us be blunt. If the people are not able to mobilize many more to resist and stop the repression against Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants and prevent the government from laying the foundation for horrendous repression against all immigrants and the rest of us, there will be no immigrant rights movement. That is the hard reality. I urge everyone in the immigrant rights movement, as you carry out your present activities, to find the ways to link whatever struggles in which you are involved with the movement to stop the repression against Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants. For example, as you carry out your present activities, stand in solidarity by wearing the blue triangle with the names of those who have disappeared at the hands of the government. Together, we must act. If we do not defend those who first come under attack, then we will be much weaker down the road as the government moves forward to attack and repress other communities. On the other hand, if we do link all these struggles together, we will make the movement to stop all attacks against all immigrants much more powerful
The U.S. government seized on the tragic events of September 11 and moved swiftly to ram through a wide array of assaults against Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants. We have seen raids, roundups, disappearances, indefinite detentions without charges, official racial profiling, the denial of access to family and attorneys, charges based on secret evidence, trials before military tribunals, threats of the death penalty based on secret evidence and more. In the legal arena, the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act was rushed through Congress. Under just one of its many outrageous provisions, any non-citizen immigrant, documented or undocumented, can be held indefinitely without charges merely on the Attorney General’s certification that the person is a suspected terrorist or threat to national security. Now, any time immigrants come together to organize they face an official policy of surveillance, infiltration of their organizations, sneak and peek break-ins, wiretaps, e-mail surveillance, threats of indefinite detention and deportation.
Please, excuse me if I am speaking to the choir but I think these are some major questions that many more people need to confront. Pastor Martin Niemoellers famous quotation is the most relevant it has ever been in our life times, except first they are coming for the Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants. The authorities are giving us a taste of what they have in store for those who don't follow the program. The people must quickly move to stop these assaults. In this light, the Niemoeller quotation is well worth pondering:
Can anyone seriously believe that other immigrants are not far behind in being targets of these attacks? Ashcroft is talking about establishing camps to hold American citizens without charges or redress. Already, Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen, is being held without charges in a Navy brig in Norfolk, Virginia, with the justification that he is an enemy combatant. The government is laying the foundation for all encompassing repression that will produce horrific results if we do not act now. Recently, a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission floated out the possibility of the mass roundup and internment of Arabs and Muslims. When prominent attorneys such as Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, charges that the U.S. is in danger of becoming a police state, we should heed the warning.
Believe me, I understand that all those who dream of a better world have their hands full these days. In today’s climate, it is all the more important to persevere in the many struggles around amnesty/legalization, the Social Security no match letters, placing water stations in the desert, drivers’ licenses for the undocumented, social services for all immigrants, border militarization, access to higher education for undocumented youth, police and migra brutality against immigrants and the many other fronts of struggle. But I think this is a cutting edge question that has great implications for the future of all of us. What kind of society will this be if they are able to establish these precedents of indefinite detention, ethnic profiling, torture and secret military tribunals? More immediately, what will this mean for the millions of immigrants who have been driven here from around the globe? Can we call ourselves an immigrant rights movement if we do not take this repression head on, much, much more forcefully, if we do not do something about those being dragged from their beds in the middle of the night?
To be sure, the government is hell bent on establishing this whole repressive apparatus. Without a determined fight, the government is not about to give up its attacks against Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants. There is a very strong analogy between the demonization, round up and internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants during World War II and what is happening today. Before the war, J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI, reported that this community represented no internal security threat in the event of war. But yet, 110,000 were put in concentration camps despite the fact that not one single person in this community was ever charged with any crime of “disloyalty.” Before the war, there had been a significant anti-war movement. The government needed to manufacture “an enemy within” and internal threat so as to create a fear and hysteria where people would go along with whatever measures the government wanted.
Today, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants are being sacrificed to once again manufacture “an enemy within” to scare people into accepting unprecedented domestic repression and the outlawing of dissent as well as an unending international war against terrorism. The government is attacking them to justify, get people to accept, and put in place: roundups, indefinite detentions without charges, official racial and religious profiling, secret military tribunals, threats to use the death penalty, trials based on secret evidence, and all the rest. They are being attacked to justify whatever the government wants to do. We must take Ashcroft, Cheney, Bush and the rest at their word. They have told us that this will last our lifetime, that this is the new normalcy. There is nothing in the PATRIOT Act that limits it to Muslim, Arabs and South Asians. It will not stop here.
In the aftermath of 911, in different ways, many have begun to step forward to oppose this repression. Attorneys and civil liberties organizations have been sounding the alarm. Lawsuits have been filed. In local areas, people have found the ways to stand with and in some cases physically protect those who have come under attack. Marches, rallies, demonstrations and forums have been organized by many. The February 20 National Day of Solidarity with Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Immigrants was marked with activities in over 30 cities. Several thousand wore the blue triangle with the names of those who have disappeared at the hands of the U.S. government in a show of solidarity. In New York, local activists are holding demonstrations at the detention center. The National Summit to Stop Repression Against Muslim, Arab and South Asian Immigrants was held on May 18 and 19, in Dearborn, Michigan, which formed the Blue Triangle Network (see note below). A September 1 rally to defend the Constitutional rights of immigrants and citizens will be held in Washington, DC.
Important beginning steps have been taken. But much, much more must be done. We can and must find the ways to build unity and cooperation and defeat this wave of repression.
En la resistencia, Travis Morales
Note on the May 18 and 19 National Summit to Stop Repression Against Muslim, Arab and South Asian Immigrants
Over the course of the two day meeting, nearly 60 people took part. A number of organizations were represented, including: American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, American Muslim Council, Arab American Institute, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, Asians for Jericho/Mumia, Committee Against the U.$. Empire, Committee for the Political Resurrection of Detroit, Houston Coalition for Justice Not War, La Resistencia, La Resistencia Youth & Student Network, Muslim American Society-Political Action Committee, National Lawyers Guild [Chicago and Detroit Chapters], October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation Youth & Student Network, Refuse and Resist!, Refuse and Resist! Youth and Student Network, Revolutionary Communist Party, Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, Solidarity USA, South Asians against Police Brutality & Racism, the Street Wall Journal, Tri-City Peace Action and the Triangle Foundation. Beginning plans were made to oppose this wave of repression and build unity and cooperation among all those who are stepping forward in this struggle. The following mission statement that was adopted.
Blue Triangle Network Mission Statement
First they came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was left to speak up. Pastor Martin Niemoeller, Nazi Germany
Since September 11, 2001, in the name of the war against terrorism, vicious attacks have been launched against the basic human rights of Muslims, Arabs and South Asians in the United States from the highest levels of government. Insisting that national security is at risk, the government has launched a wide scale assault on constitutional rights and civil liberties. In order to defend these violated human and constitutional rights, this network dedicates itself to mobilizing the broadest number of people to challenge and oppose this repression. We do not accept the racial profiling, erosion of civil liberties, roundups, indefinite detentions, secret charges, secret evidence, secret military tribunals and demonizing of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and others based upon where they were born, the language that they speak, the color of their skin or the religion that they practice. This time they are coming for the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants who are the first targets in this wave of repression. This network has been organized by a broad cross section of organizations, communities and individuals, both people who have stepped forward to stand with those targeted by this repression and people from the targeted communities themselves. We have a diversity of political perspectives, religious beliefs, and ethnic and racial backgrounds, but we are united in our determination. We are standing up and taking action.
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: Click Here
We received this yesterday from the Latino Union in
Chicago
. They requested that it be forwarded around the country.
Chicago
activist Julieta Bolivar faces expulsion from the country (aka voluntary
departure) after being seized by the notorious Pennsylvania State Police
and handed over to the Migra -- because of being in a car with a flat tire.
Arturo Moreno and Mariano Granados are still in jail. To oppose the detention
of these activists is to resist the effort to chill the political activity
of immigrants in this country.
[There should be a Spanish version of this information coming.]
-Don; Revolution Books, Chicago
TAKE ACTION!
Protest Racial Profiling and Harassment of Latino Immigrant Travelers
in Pennsylvania
On Aug. 14, 2002
, nine Latino worker activists from Chicago
were driving
through Pennsylvania
on their way to a regional day labor conference in
Brooklyn,
New York, when their van got a flat tire in
MercerCounty (near
the Ohio border
in western Pennsylvania). As
they were changing the tire,
an officer of the Pennsylvania State Police arrived and demanded
immigration documents from all the passengers. The activists showed him
driver licenses and other forms of identification but said the officer had
no right to demand immigration documents. The officer insisted he needed
to see the passengers' "green cards."
The officer arrested three of the activists and handed them over to the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Two of the activists, Arturo
Moreno and
Mariano Granados, were detained by the INS and taken to
York
County
Jail in southeastern Pennsylvania
. Another, Julieta Bolivar, was
released after signing a "voluntary departure" form; she and the others
went on to participate in the conference, organized by the National
Network for Day Laborers. Julieta Bolivar is now back home in
Chicago
awaiting a hearing in immigration court. Arturo Moreno and Mariano
Granados are still being held at York County Jail.
The National Network for Day Laborers is calling for a mass demonstration
outside York County Jail on
Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002, at 9am
, to protest
the unjust arrest and detention of immigrant workers. The jail is located
at 3400 Concord Road, York, PA17402
, near the corner of Mt. Zion Road
(route 24) just off highway US-30 (near Interstates 83 & 76) in
York
County, Pennsylvania
(about 2 hours west of Philadelphia
).
Supporters of civil rights are also urged to call or fax the
Pennsylvania
State Police in Mercer, PA (phone 724-662-6162, fax 724-662-6169) to
protest their use of racial profiling against travelers. Tell them: the
state police has no business asking travelers for immigration documents,
especially when officers are singling people out for this treatment based
on racial profiling.
For more information, contact Jose Landaverde, Executive Director of the
Latino Union of
Chicago, at (773) 398-4023 or
[NY contact:]
Jane Guskin
Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI)
Coalicion para los Derechos Humanos de los Inmigrantes
From: Coalicion de Derechos Humanos
[mailto:coalicion@...]
Subject: Response to vigilante action at Wal-Mart in
Douglas
Greetings to all,
We here at Derechos Humanos/Alianza Indígena are deeply
disturbed by a recent report of vigilante activity in
Douglas, Arizona. It seems that the Barnetts are finding
new ways to express their contempt for the law. We
received word that four individuals were detained at
Wal-Mart by the Barnetts. Two men were handcuffed to a
bench and their wives detained (but not handcuffed) as
well, while Border Patrol was called.
Pasted below is the text of the letter that Derechos
Humanos/Alianza Indígena has drafted, demanding that the
Cochise County Attorney, Chris Roll, take action. We urge
all organizations and individuals who are as outraged at
this as we are to make their opinions be known to the
Cochise County Attorney, Attorney General, and the media.
It is imperative to the struggle for justice to stamp out
illegal actions like the ones being committed by the
Barnetts and other vigilante groups.
In solidarity,
Coalición de Derechos Humanos/Alianza Indígena Sin
Fronteras
www.derechoshumanosaz.net
*******************
Chris Roll, Cochise County Attorney:
CC: Janet Napolitano, Arizona Attorney General;
U.S. Attorney’s Office;
Southern Arizona media
To Whom It May Concern:
As a human rights organization, Coalición de Derechos
Humanos/Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras is deeply concerned
about a recent report of vigilante activity at the Wal-Mart
in Douglas, Arizona. We are requesting
that the Cochise County Attorney look into this matter, as
it is in blatant violation of state law.
The account given to us is that vigilantes are doing
“citizen arrests.” It is reported that two individuals
were handcuffed to a bench and their wives
detained at Wal-Mart while the Border Patrol was called.
The Border Patrol apparently informed one individual that
citizen arrests are permitted.
According to state law, a person is not allowed to detain
or arrest anyone unless a felony or a misdemeanor that
consists of a breach of the peace is being committed in his
or her presence. The behavior of these vigilante
groups is dangerous and unjust, and is in violation of
Arizona state statutes, specifically ARS Section 13-1303.
The misinformation given by the Border Patrol that such
vigilante behavior is permitted is not only
irresponsible, as it encourages racism, but also completely
inappropriate.
Several local police departments have made it very clear
that they have no intention of enforcing immigration law;
how then, can it be permitted that citizens take up the
task? And to do so at a local Wal-Mart, frequented by
families and children, will only instill more hostility and
fear into an already suffering community.
We demand that the Cochise County Attorney’s office
investigate this matter. Such disregard for the law, public
safety, and decency must not go unchecked. It is
imperative that these individuals understand that, under
law, they do not have the right to act in this manner, and
we, as concerned citizens, will not tolerate it in our
communities.
Sincerely,
Jose Matus, Director
Coalición de Derechos Humanos/Alianza Indígena Sin
Fronteras
***********************
=====
"LET ME SAY AT THE RISK OF SEEMING RIDICULOUS, THAT THE TRUE REVOLUTIONARY IS
MOTIVATED BY GREAT FEELINGS OF LOVE" -Che Guevara
__________________________________________________
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Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes
http://finance.yahoo.com
FNS: Some Tijuana Beauty Shops Put Health at Serious Risk
Date: 9/10/2002 11:27:37 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: frontera@... Dr. Héctor Guillermo Lino Ortiz, president of the College of Plastic, Esthetic and Reconstructive Surgeons, has seen four cases so far this year in which people have been injured by cosmetologists, he told the Tijuana newspaper Frontera (no relationship to FNS). The College also has on record a total of 140 cases in which people have needed medical attention after having been hurt by procedures performed at beauty shops.
Of the cases he has been involved with, Lino said that one of the worst dealt with a woman that had an unidentified, oily, silicon-like substance injected into her legs to make them look fuller. The substance, foreign to the body, started to dry the woman's skin and pool at her ankles. When the woman finally went for medical help, her legs were already so blistered and damaged that both legs had to be amputated.
In another case, a woman let a beauty salon inject an unknown substance into her breasts to increase their size. The woman experienced discomfort from the procedure and went to Lino. The doctor operated and found pools of greenish-brown liquid under the woman's skin. He removed the substance and damaged skin and eventually performed reconstructive surgery.
Irma Guerra de Betanzos, a registered cosmetologist for 28 years in Tijuana, said that unlicensed workers in her field are putting people at risk. She personally has seen people infected with Hepatitis C by unclean machines that are used to permanently tattoo eyebrows on to women's faces.
In one case last week, a woman that went to see Guerra had skin hanging from her face because of a "peeling" procedure someone had performed on her. Guerra immediately sent the woman to a dermatologist who helped the woman recover.
Guerra and other registered cosmetologists are organizing in Tijuana to see that the government cracks down on unregulated workers in the field.
Another problem, according to Guerra, is that pharmaceutical companies are selling material to cosmetologists that should only be in doctors' hands. Source: Frontera (Tijuana), September 10, 2002. Article by Luis Adolfo San. -- Frontera NorteSur On-line news coverage of the US-Mexico border To see our site or subscribe for free to our daily news service go to: http://frontera.nmsu.edu
*To Translate this page to Arabic, please visit ajeeb.com:
http://tarjim.ajeeb.com/ajeeb/default.asp?lang=1
*To Translate this page to French, Spanish, German, Italian or Portuguese, please visit Systran:
http://www.systransoft.com/
Battling HIV on the Border
Date: 9/6/2002 12:02:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: americas@...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CROSSBORDER UPDATER | September 6, 2002
c o n t e n t s :
Maquiladoras, Policymakers Should Fight Migrants' HIV-AIDS | commentary by Jacqueline Munalula Musiitwa
Distributed by the IRC's Americas Program ~ A New World of Ideas, Analysis, and Policy Options. For more information, visit http://www.americaspolicy.org or read the footer of this message. To report problems, email americas@...
MAQUILADORAS, POLICYMAKERS SHOULD FIGHT MIGRANTS' HIV-AIDS
With the issue of HIV-AIDS prevention and care figuring high on the agenda of the recent UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, border activists are calling for area employers and politicians to help stem the pandemic in the migrant community
By Jacqueline Munalula Musiitwa | September 6, 2002
Considering the correlation between the rise of HIV-AIDS in U.S.-Mexico border industrial areas and rural Mexican communities from which migrants to these urban employment magnets hail, public health advocates are calling on employers and policymakers on both sides of the binational boundary to promote preventative measures.
The backdrop for the HIV-AIDS epidemic in border cities and migrant hometowns is a scene of sharp inequality in resource distribution, of population growth without sufficient infrastructure development, and of a paucity of the social services necessary to prevent overcrowding, crime, and the spread of disease.
Read the full commentary:
http://www.americaspolicy.org/commentary/2002/0209aids.html
CROSSBORDER UPDATER
distributed by the Americas Program of the Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC)
"A New World of Ideas, Analysis and Policy Options"
Editors: George Kourous, Americas Program Director | Talli Nauman, Americas Program Editor-at-Large
For more information about the Americas Program and the Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC), visit http://www.americaspolicy.org/.
Please note that because our audience is largely an international, bilingual one we include announcements of new Spanish-only content or new Spanish-language translations of previously published English-language content in the CROSSBORDER UPDATER. At the same time, the layout is designed so that those who read only English can easily locate items of interest in their language of preference.
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SUPPORT THE AMERICAS PROGRAM
Please consider supporting the IRC's Americas Program. Although we make our make our information freely available on the Internet, we need financial support to cover our staff time and expenses. Increasingly, we depend on you and other individual donors to sustain our work. Call (505) 842-8288 or visit http://www.americaspolicy.org/join.html to support the Americas Program today.
Noah's Anchorage YMCA -- Isla Vista Teen Center
Isla Vista, CA
Wanted: Program Coordinator for after-school program for at-risk youth; Monday-
Friday, 30 hours per week; plan and supervise educational, recreational,
cultural and leadership activities for 6th-12th graders. Experience, B.A.,
bilingual Spanish/English strongly preferred. Pay negotiable depending on
experience. To apply or for more information, call Marya Torrez at
(805)685-9170 or fax resume to (805)685-9814.
Please forward this announcement to anyone who may be interested.
The INS and Border Patrol hosting open house on TRIPLE BORDER FENCE.
Date: 9/11/02 9:10:33 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: snapp_cook@... (snapp_cook)
On Thursday, September 12 from 4:00-8:00 p.m. the INS and US border
patrol will be hosting an open house to discuss the environmental
impact of the triple fence project. According to them, "The purpose
of the open house is to inform the public of the decisions that have
been made at this stage of the EIS [Environmental Impact
Statement]."
The event will be held at the Sports Park Recreational Center in IB
located at 425 Imperial Beach Blvd. Please come to ask crucial
questions of the border patrol and express your concern. Individuals
from local environmental, human rights, and cultural heritage
organizations will be present as well to answer questions and raise
issues about the impact the project will have on people,
archaeological resources, and the environment.
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT CONCERNED PEOPLE EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS AT THIS
MEETING!
To get to the sports center take I-5 S to Coronado Ave. Go west on
Coronado. It will turn into Imperial Beach Blvd. Turn left on 4th.
The sports center is located at 4th and Imperial Beach Blvd.
**for a map use this link:
http://www.sdimc.org/webcast/front.php3?article_id=2318&group=webcast
Floria Man Pleads Guilty to Slavery
.c The Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A man who forced Mexican girls and women to work
as prostitutes until they paid off smuggling debts pleaded guilty to federal
slavery charges, prosecutors said.
Hugo Cadena-Sosa and members of his family were charged in 1998 with
conspiring to lure immigrants to Florida and the Carolinas with promises of
good jobs and better lives, then holding them as sexual slaves in brothels
until they paid a $2,000 smuggling fee, according to prosecutors.
Cadena-Sosa had fled to Mexico but was arrested for illegal re-entry into the
United States in May. He entered the plea Thursday in U.S. District Court in
West Palm Beach.
Cadena-Sosa faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000
fine.
Seven other defendants have pleaded guilty to civil rights conspiracy charges
and are serving sentences of up to 10 years in prison.
09/14/02 00:32 EDT
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign is urging all supporters of the struggle
for the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners, Vieques and Puerto Rico to join us
on Saturday October 26th at St. Mary's Church 521 w126th St. between
Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue at 10am for the VIEQUES WALK-A-THON!!
ProLibertad is organizing an Oscar Lopez Rivera Contingent to the Vieques
WALK-A-THON in solidarity with the people of Vieques, their valiant struggle
to remove the US Navy from Vieques and with Oscar Lopez Rivera, who ran a
500 mile marathon for Vieques behind the walls of his prison, YOU CAN NEVER
JAIL OR REPRESS THE SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY BORICUA!!
Join the Vieques WALK-A-THON and join the Oscar Lopez Rivera Contingent!!
Contact ProLibertad@... to join the Oscar Lopez Rivera contingent
and To register as a walker, to make a monetary pledge, to work as a
volunteer or to have your organization become a sponsor, please
contact:(718)601-4901 (212)348-8004 gee.lee@..., gerena339@...
Sponsorers:
Fundacion Andres Figueroa Cordero
Todo Nueva York Con Vieques
Vieques Support Campaign
ProLibertad
Iglesia Evangelica Espanola
Junta NY-Partido Nacionalista-PR
Iglesia San Romero De Las Americas
IFCO-Pastors For Peace
H.O.L.A., Hoftra Organization of Latin Americans
David Sanes Rodriguez Brigade
Local 1199/SEIU
A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)
The Bronx Greens
International Action Center
Judy Sheridan, NYS Nurses Association
_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign urges folks to take a look at the following
activities and the Fasting Preparation guide prepared by Esperanza Martell
of ProLibertad.
FREE THE PUERTO RICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS!!
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign
www.ProLibertad.org
ProLibertad@...
Bronx 718-601-4751
New York 212-927-9065
New Jersey 201-435-3244
________________________________________________________________________
El Grito de Lares!! STOP THE BOMBING OF VIEQUES!!
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 23RD, 2002 RALLY FOR THE END OF US NAVY'S BOMBINGS OF
VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO!!
On the 134th Anniversary of "el Grito de Lares" come join us in the
continuing struggle to end the bombings in Vieques, Puerto Rico!! 63 years
of ritualistic navall bombings on the island of Vieques. These obsolete
military maneuvers violate the human rights of the Viequenses by destroying
their environment, their health, and their very lives!!
Location: Dag Hammaskjold Plaza (by the United Nations) 47th Streets between
1st and 2nd Avenues!!
10am-5pm
For more information contact Vincente Panama Alba at 646-772-1321 or
ViequesBrigade@... David Sanes Rodriguez for Peace and Justice in
Vieques
________________________________________________________________________
Vieques Fast for Justice
Preparing for the Fast
It is recommended to gradually change your diet several days before the
fast.
Day 5 Eliminate all oils and stimulants (coffee, sugar, chocolate,
alcohol, drugs)
Day 4 Eliminate all animal protein: fish, chicken, red meat, dairy
(cheese, milk)
Day 3 Eliminate all nuts, beans and grains (breads, pasta, rice, corn,
wheat,etc.)
Day 2 Eliminate all vegetables and fruits
Day 1 Eliminate all juices, if you are fasting on water only.
Important rules to follow while
preparing for, during and after the fast.
1. See a doctor before beginning a requires Fast.
2. Overeating is to be avoided at all times, chew your food well and
slowly.
3. Drink 8 glasses of water daily and one gallon of distilled water during
Fast.
4. Drink herbal tea to warm up (peppermint, camomile, or rose hips). p
5. Sip water with lemon juice and honey if you feel dizzy or chills.
6. Take a herbal laxative or enema if you get a head ache.
7. Exercise daily, less strenuous during Fast.
8. Dry brush and shower daily (hot then cold to stimulate the
circulation).
9. Brush your teeth at least 3 times a day.
10. Rest, keep warm and sun yourself every day.
11. Meditate, read, write, listen to music and get a massage.
12. Think positively, surround yourself with beauty and nurturing people.
13. Fast a day at a time, remember why you are fasting at all times.
Breaking the Fast
"Any fool can start a fast, it takes a wise person to break one".
To break the fast it is recommended that you gradually increase your
food intake working backwards from Day 1 (see above). Breaking the fast
takes half the number of days as you were fasting. If fasting 8 days, it
will take 4 days or 12 meals to break your fast. Take your time and work
your way back to cooked and hard to digest foods "SLOWLY". Hard to digest
foods are: grains, beans, potatoes, meats, oils and fried foods. For
healthy eating: a) Stay away from stimulants, red meats and fried foods.
b) Eat plenty of organic fruits and vegetables ( steamed, raw and juiced )
and drink
plenty of water daily.
_________________________________________________________________
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FNS: Las Memorias--A Tijuana Home for AIDS Patients
Date: 9/20/2002 3:16:29 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: frontera@...
Las Memorias is a home in the outskirts of Tijuana that attends to AIDS patients that are terminally ill, have no economic resources or no families to take care of them. Founded four years ago, Las Memorias has attended to 600 people--half of whom have died, according to director Antonio Granillo Montes. Currently, the facility is home to 20 people.
José Inés Domínguez
One of the patients living in Las Memorias is José Inés Domínguez, age 42. When a reporter from the Tijuana newspaper Frontera went to visit the home, Domínguez was sitting in a chair where staff had put him by the building's entrance. "If I could get out of this seat, I'd go to the beach, I like the ocean very much, the whisper of the waves--but this is impossible," said Domínguez.
Domínguez learned that he was HIV positive in 1999. Now, he has lost so much weight that he says he can no longer recognize himself.
In his chair, he moves with difficulty and there is an IV in his arm. Throughout the morning, other patients come up and talk to him although his breath is barely strong enough to let him breathe and his voice is weak.
Six people have died in the last months, and sadness and uncertainty spreads among the residents with each loss, says Granillo, the home's director.
"I don't know how much time I have here, what I'm waiting for is God's will to be done, I'm tired of suffering," says Domínguez.
Granillo said that besides suffering from the disease, residents must also confront the rejection of people that are afraid of AIDS.
Domínguez's case is typical in this respect. When family members in Tijuana found out he had the disease, they no longer wanted contact with him. "I have an aunt and her family in the Libertad neighborhood, but they don't know where I am, if I'm alive or dead," he says.
Before getting sick, Domínguez worked as a cook and he loves food. "If I could, I'd get in the kitchen and prepare a huge bowl of mole and a huge bowl of rice, and I'd invite all my friends from Las Memorias to eat until they were stuffed because, without them, I would have died a long time ago," states Domínguez.
Oscar Sánchez Sánchez
One of the things that makes life better for Las Memorias residents is that the stronger patients help those that are more progressed in their illness. Oscar Sánchez Sánchez, age 41, who has been at the home for three months, says he sleeps lightly now because he is always looking out for others. He'll help people move, get to the bathroom, or even just cover them with a blanket if they are too weak to do so themselves.
"If I see that someone is really bad, I watch over them all night, in case something happens," says Sánchez. "I never thought that I would help another adult change their clothes or their diaper."
Domínguez is obviously grateful for the help of residents like Sánchez, "I'm sick of suffering, I'm sick of everything that has happened to me in recent years. The only thing I have is the beauty of this home and knowing that people here have opened their hearts to me unconditionally."
According to the newspaper Frontera (no relationship to FNS), more than 150,000 Mexicans are infected with HIV. Baja California, which has only about 3% of Mexico's total population, has the third-highest number of AIDS cases nationally. In the last three months, forty new cases of HIV were identified in the state.
Source: Frontera (Tijuana), September 16, 2002. Article by Patricia Blake.
-- Frontera NorteSur On-line news coverage of the US-Mexico border To see our site or subscribe for free to our daily news service go to: http://frontera.nmsu.edu
[americas] Citizen Action Profile: Resisting the PPP | Spanish version
Date: 9/20/2002 2:47:35 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: americas@...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CROSSBORDER UPDATER | September 20, 2002
c o n t e n t s :
Resistencia Ciudadana al Plan Puebla-Panamá | perfil de acción ciudadana por Wendy Call
Distributed by the IRC's Americas Program ~ A New World of Ideas, Analysis, and Policy Options. Note that this service includes announcements of new content in both Spanish and English. For more information, visit http://www.americaspolicy.org or read the footer of this message. To report problems, email americas@...
Resistencia Ciudadana al Plan Puebla-Panama
Ha surgido un dinámico movimiento civil transfronterizo en México y América Central en oposición al Plan Puebla-Panamá (PPP), un programa de desarrollo industrial promovido por el gobierno de México y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. En el lapso de poco más de un año, el movimiento ha logrado poner el PPP bajo el escrutinio del público, tanto de los países involucrados como a nivel internacional.
por Wendy Call | septiembre de 2002
Al igual que el mismo PPP, el movimiento que se opone a él es complicado, multifacético e incluso contradictorio. Si bien han surgido impresionantes (aunque informales e incompletas) redes de comunicación entre ONG, organizaciones pro derechos indígenas, cooperativas, sindicatos, grupos femeniles y organizaciones ambientalistas en México y América Central que se organizan en relación con el PPP, estas redes no necesariamente comparten una misma agenda.
Pero a pesar de que las preocupaciones concretas varían de un lugar a otro, existe una demanda fundamental común: a las personas que serán afectadas por los proyectos del PPP se les debe informar de manera cabal e incorporarlas plenamente en el proceso de planeación.
Los esfuerzos educativos de la sociedad civil son aún incipientes, pero centenares de reuniones regionales y locales han informado a miles, o quizá a decenas de miles, de personas sobre los detalles básicos del PPP. El gobierno de México presentó formalmente el Plan Puebla-Panamá a los medios el 12 de marzo de 2001. Exactamente dos meses después, la sociedad civil sostuvo su primera reunión internacional sobre el plan, en Tapachula, Chiapas, para discutir sus impactos potenciales. Actualmente, los miembros del movimiento de confrontación con el PPP no solamente comparten información sino que también coordinan sus estrategias para oponerse a él y comparan notas respecto a modelos de desarrollo alternativos.
Lee el perfil completo:
http://www.americaspolicy.org/commentary/2002/0209sympathy.html
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FNS: Juárez Businesses Want to Remove Memorial Cross at Downtown Bridge
Date: 9/23/2002 12:22:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: frontera@...
A group of business owners with establishments on Juárez Avenue want to remove a memorial to the approximately 90 young women and girls that have been killed in rape-murders in Ciudad. Juárez since 1993. The memorial, which includes an eight-foot-high, wooden cross on a pink background imbedded with nails each holding in place a piece of material with a victim's name on it, is located at the end of Avenida Juárez, just in front of the toll booths where motorists pay to cross the Santa Fe bridge (also called the Paso del Norte bridge) into El Paso, Texas.
In a letter to city government, the Asociación de Empresarios y Profesionistas de la Avenida Juárez (Juárez Avenue Business Owners and Professionals Association) asked that the cross be removed because "it is a horrible image in terms of tourism." However, the association did request that the cross be removed "with the greatest respect possible toward the victims' families" so as not to increase their pain and suffering.
The cross was installed on March 13, 2002 after a group of women marched approximately 200 miles from Chihuahua City to Ciudad Juárez to demand the resolution of the rape-murder cases and to ask for justice for the victims and their families. The arrival of the group was marked by violence when the marchers were received by a politically motivated crowd of counter-protestors.
The Avenida Juárez association also proposed to the city that a committee be formed to save the Cd. Juárez tourist zone which is filled with businesses that cater to visitors from El Paso and other nearby parts of Texas and New Mexico The businesses are comprised of bars, pharmacies, money exchanges, dance clubs, restaurants, and liquor stores.
The association also wants city police that are stationed in the area to be bilingual so that they can assist tourists with any problems they might have.
The September 9 letter to the mayor from the Avenida Juárez group also suggested restricting weekend vehicle traffic on the avenue. This would
create a pedestrian mall on the street during weekends.
The association also wants the city to extend the sale of alcohol by two hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Source: El Diario, September 23, 2002. Article by Rocío Gallegos.
Frontera NorteSur On-line news coverage of the US-Mexico border To see our site or subscribe for free to our daily news service go to: http://frontera.nmsu.edu
Freedom to Julio & Beatriz (Baja California)
Date: 9/17/2002 10:17:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Globalifobicas
FREEDOM TO JULIO SANDOVAL AND BEATRIZ CHAVEZ
Beatriz Chavez and Julio Sandoval are two organizers from Baja California who have been held in jail for nine and sixteen months respectively. They are being punished for heading up a group of indigenous farm workers who desesperately needed a place to live. Please read the following letter and report and send them to the officers of the Mexican and Baja California government listed below.
Globalifobicas and Globalifobicos of the Californias
Representative of Baja California government in Mexico City, Rafael Felipe
Quiroz,
(rquiroz@...)
Baja California General Secretary, Bernardo Borbón Vilches,
(borbon@...)
Baja California Attorney General, Antonio Willehado Martínez,
(amartinez@...)
Ensenada Municipal President, Jorge Catalán Sosa:
jcatalan@...)
Citizens-Assistance Office of Mexican Government, Laura Carrera Lugo:
(ciudadano@..., radio@...)
A broad group of people from both Mexico and the U.S. are learning about the legal case and imprionment of Julio Sandoval and Beatriz Chavez. Julio and Beatriz are coming to be known as Baja California's political prisioners. We are sending you a report published in the newspaper LA Weekly. As you will read, the article describes the degree of corruption and injustice involved in this case of political repression. Julio and Beatriz are prisoners of conscience - this is what organizations such as Amnesty International are finding out. Please read the following report, and, before ignoring it, remember that hundreds, perhaps thousands of people are also reading and thinking about it.
Sincerely,
Globalifóbicos y Globalifóbicas de las Californias
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Build a House, Go to Jail"
"Two Baja laborers led land invasions with their poor neighbors and brought down the wrath of a government intent on enforcing rules that protect the rich"
MANEADERO, BAJA CALIFORNIA -- Every morning, the phone rings in the Sandoval house in Cañon Buenavista. Julio Sandoval is making his daily call from the prison in Ensenada, 20 miles away, where he has been held since December.
His adult daughter Florentina sits at a cable-spool table talking to her dad, while Julio's toddler grandson Jonathan practices his new skill of walking on the dirt floor. Over the phone, Julio gives his daughter instructions to pass on to his lawyer, and Florentina tells him the news from home.
Meanwhile, Julio's wife, Juana, heats tortillas on a stove set up on cinder blocks, connected by a rubber hose to a big methane bottle the family has to fill twice a month. The one-room house, dim even at midday, is divided down the middle by a yellow blanket, screening off the area where the family sleeps.
The Sandoval residence, built of plywood, is better than many in Cañon Buenavista. "Some of us live in cardboard houses, and cook on wood fires, a very dangerous combination," Julio notes in an interview over his home phone, in a call arranged by the family. An exterior wall of his own house still shows charred marks from a fire that burned down the home next door.
These poverty-stricken residences scattered over a desert hillside hardly seem much of a threat to anyone, yet they are the reason that Julio Sandoval has been in prison for nine months, for helping migrant workers in Baja California settle in homes like these. Another housing activist, Beatriz Chavez, a well-known leader of similar efforts farther south down the Baja peninsula, has been in prison since May of 2001.
Their crime is an offense unique to Baja -- despojo agravado. Despojo, according to Tijuana attorney Jose Peñaflor, "means using land or water belonging to someone else, without their authorization, in a furtive manner." This offense is on the books throughout Mexico. But in Baja the legislature created a new, more serious charge a few years ago -- despojo agravado -- the crime of leading or instigating others in commiting despojo.
The law is directed against communities created by land invasions, and especially at the people who lead them. It's really a political offense. "The government is afraid of the poor sections of the population, especially the migrant indigenous people from Oaxaca, and wants control over them," said Beatriz Chavez, over the phone from the Cereso prison. "They think their only way to ensure control is by throwing the leaders of social movements among them into prison."
For months the two cases have wound slowly through the state's court system, and Chavez and Sandoval now await sentencing. Rumor has it that the judge is preparing to give them five years apiece. Baja California authorities wouldn't permit a reporter to enter prison facilities to talk to the jailed activists, nor would they make any public statements themselves.
THOUSANDS OF INDIGENOUS FAMILIES come north every year from Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, to work for Baja's large landowners. Families like the Castanedas and the Caneloses own thousands of hectares of land, and form partnerships with U.S. corporations to grow and export tomatoes, strawberries and other row crops. In the late fall and early spring, almost all the cilantro and green onions in Los Angeles supermarkets come from the Baja communities of Maneadero, San Quintin and the Mexicali Valley.
Most Oaxacan migrants remain farm workers, although some families, like Sandoval's, have taken a step up from the fields, selling goods to tourists on the street. It's easier, year-round work, with a higher income. Every day, after the morning call from prison, Sandoval's wife and daughter pack Florentina's three kids into an old pickup and leave for Ensenada. There they spend the day in front of waterfront fish-taco stands, selling tourists the wool shoulder bags Juana weaves at night, and jewelry and craftware made by neighbors. Before his imprisonment, Julio Sandoval made his living in the street as well.
Cañon Buenavista was created in two separate land invasions by rural workers from the ranches of Maneadero, the agricultural valley just south of Ensenada. The first was led by Benito Garcia, a charismatic, controversial figure, who led agricultural strikes two decades ago, but was accused later of misusing money and power. In the 1980s, he organized farm workers in the Maneadero Valley, who were then as now living in labor camps or even sleeping by the roadside, to occupy 50 hectares on a desert hillside south of town.
The state government bought out the supposed landowners, many of whom had questionable claims to title, and then resold the land to the occupiers through an agency called the Immobiliaria Estatal. Julio Sandoval arrived in Cañon Buenavista in 1990 and built a home for his family. Sandoval had led a similar land invasion in San Quintin to organize a community of Triqui farm workers.
At Cañon Buenavista, Sandoval first got into trouble with the state authorities when he began telling residents not to make payments on their lots. He had discovered that in 1973 the federal government declared that tens of thousands of hectares in northern Baja, including the land Cañon Buenavista sits on, were government property. Sandoval appealed to the government to clarify who really owned the land. Under the constitution before the mid-1990s, Mexican citizens would have been entitled to settle and build homes on unused federal property.
Sandoval's payment boycott received a lot of support because Immobiliaria Estatal has developed a nasty reputation in Baja's poor barrios. With every increase in inflation, the state agency has raised the monthly mortgage payments and even retroactively increased the loan amount owed by farm workers who are buying their land. Thus, the cost of a farm worker's lot keeps going up, even though the original purchase agreement was for a lower price. Many families never get out of debt. But if Cañon Buenavista land belonged to the federal government, residents wouldn't have to make payments.
The ownership issue remains unresolved. This is typical for land claims in Mexico, where agrarian-reform laws were used to redistribute land to poor farmers for decades, but where multiple owners now often claim the same piece of property.
THAT CONFUSION WAS THE PRETEXT used to imprison Beatriz Chavez.
In the San Quintin Valley, four hours south of Tijuana, indigenous farm workers began settling on land belonging to the Ejido Graciano Sanchez in the early 1990s. Ejidos are farm communities, originally set up by Mexico's land reforms of the late 1930s. During that era, President Lazaro Cardenas expropriated the haciendas belonging to large landholders, creating ejidos of small farmers who then held the land in common.
All that changed in 1992, when President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, a champion of the North American Free Trade Agreement, changed Article 27 of the constitution. He privatized the ejido land, making it the property of individual families, who could then buy and sell it.
In Graciano Sanchez, where Oaxacan migrants were desperate for land to settle and build homes, the ejido began selling lots for houses. The same lot was often sold to two and even three different people. No services of light or water were provided.
Chavez organized the residents. "I urged people who had receipts for a lot to occupy other pieces of land. That was my crime," she recalls. "We occupied the land on December 7, 1997, and set up a tent encampment." Police dragged Chavez away from a sit-in at a government office, beat her and jailed her. Her spine was injured, requiring surgery.
Over the next two years, she organized residents to force authorities to give them electricity and water connections. Meanwhile, the fight over conflicting claims of ownership was suspended, and residents thought the government would eventually negotiate a solution. In May of last year, however, state police swooped down on the community and arrested Chavez again. This time, instead of spending just a few days in jail, authorities charged her with despojo agravado and have held her without bail ever since.
The pressure of land hunger in Baja grows every year, as more families migrate from the south. Sandoval, a Triqui, was especially interested in finding more land for Mixtec and Triqui farm workers. In May of 2000, he led landless migrants in Maneadero in taking direct action to find a place to build homes.
Esther Murrillo was part of a group of 20 families who occupied 78 hectares in the hills surrounding Cañon Buenavista. They chose May 1, the international workers' holiday still celebrated in Mexico, as the day for their action.
"There were only 30 of us at first, and the police surrounded us," she remembers. "They said they were going to burn the houses we built, but 20 of us stayed up and watched all night. We had our children inside, and we were afraid of what might happen to them. But we were all calm, and wouldn't move, so there were no physical confrontations. At first there were 40 houses, and a week later, 50. Now there are about 500. But for a long time the police kept coming every night to scare us."
As a result of the new land invasion, Cañon Buenavista's total population grew to 2,700 families -- about 10,000 people. Fourteen hundred families live in the older section, about 40 percent of whom are indigenous. Of the 1,300 families in the new settlement, however, 1,000 come from Mixtec and Triqui towns in Oaxaca.
Murrillo took part in the invasion because, making 50 to 70 pesos ($5 to $7) a day in the fields and working only during the harvest season, she had no money to pay rent or buy land. "We're poor. So what should we do?" she asks. Once they occupied the land, however, Murrillo and her fellow residents were in for a surprise. "This was just a hillside covered with weeds, full of snakes and tarantulas, and we cleaned it all up," she says. "But then, after we'd done the work, a lot of supposed owners suddenly appeared."
Before 1994, there is no public record of any private owners. That year, however, the highly politicized Baja California labor board transferred the land to Pedro Corral Castro from his brother. No evidence was ever presented that his brother actually owned the land. Corral then offered it to people associated with the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). After Sandoval and other residents occupied the 78 hectares, those associates then asked authorities to charge Sandoval with despojo and despojo agravado.
Julio Sandoval, who is represented by a lawyer from the National Indigenous Institute, was first arrested in May of 2000, not long after the occupation. That time he was held for four days. Then, on December 11, 2001, the police came again. "They surrounded our house at 11 p.m.," says Florentina. "Then they came inside, at first saying they were chasing a robber, and then saying they were inspecting the pipes. But they had rifles at the ready." They found Sandoval sitting in his house, and took him in for good this time. Arrest warrants are still out for 17 others, including his son, but authorities are making little effort to pick them up.
One respected scholar believes the Baja government is manipulating different parts of its political opposition against one another -- in this case, the PRD and the indigenous group led by Julio Sandoval, said Tiburcio Perez-Castro, professor of education at the National Pedagogical University (the first Mixtec to hold that position).
THERE ARE POWERFUL REASONS WHY THE Baja California government rules with such a hard hand. As usual, the main one is money.
Until the 1960s, Baja California Norte was a desert state with a small population. The federal government of the 1930s and '40s even gave away land to get people to come and settle, fearing that a low population would tempt the U.S. government to lay claim to it. But in the wake of the end of the bracero program in 1964, maquiladoras (foreign-owned factories) began to proliferate in Tijuana, eventually drawing hundreds of thousands of workers up to the border.
Farther south down the peninsula, in Maneadero and San Quintin, a tiny handful of large growers developed an agro-industrial empire supplying the U.S. market -- maquiladoras of the fields. To bring in their crops, thousands of workers were brought every year from extremely poor indigenous communities in Oaxaca. Wages were kept low to make Baja's strawberries and tomatoes cheaper in L.A. supermarkets. Two years ago, the minimum wage was 37.4 pesos a day (about $4), while a kilo of meat cost 38 pesos in the local market. Wages have barely risen since.
At first, Mixtec and Triqui families returned to Oaxaca at the end of each harvest season, but as years passed, many decided to stay. As the permanent population grew, so did discontent. In 1988, more than a thousand tomato and strawberry pickers struck in San Quintin to raise wages. Big ranchers broke their efforts to form an independent union, however, and the strike's leaders fled to the U.S. In 1998, one local grower, the Canelos family, failed to pay workers for four weeks, and an angry crowd of pickers set fire to their packing shed.
Growers and maquiladora owners, the two most powerful groups in the state, have the same fear and share the same desire. They fear social unrest and want to protect property rights and maintain a climate that encourages investment. When they see land invasions led by indigenous farm workers, they worry not just about the sanctity of property rights on a desert hillside, but that these social movements, if they're not stopped, could easily begin leading to strikes and the forming of unions.
The National Action Party (PAN), which won control in Baja California in 1988, has formed a ruling political coalition of large ranchers, maquiladora owners and company-friendly unions. The same party elected Mexico's new president, Vicente Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, in 2000. While condemning the old PRI party, which ruled Mexico undemocratically for 70 years, the PAN has been even more pro-business.
In the middle of this conflict is a unique institution -- the Baja California Human Rights Prosecutor, created in the democratic upsurge that eventually toppled the former ruling party from power in Baja California. Raul Ramirez, the current prosecutor, was a member of the left opposition PRD until his appointment.
Ramirez faults the government's desire to protect investment above all else as the root of the land conflicts. "The authorities don't care about the poverty of these communities [like Cañon Buenavista], or their social problems like lack of housing or drug addiction. But they are very concerned with the question of the land titles of the large landholders. They want to take care of their investments. So the government uses the law, the police, even the army. They say this provides safety and stability for investors. And they abandon the poor."
Professor Perez-Castro accuses the government of enforcing only those provisions of the law that protect private property. "There's a law guaranteeing people the right to health care, but no one has any," he notes bitterly. "There's a law which protects the right to food, but thousands of people go hungry every day." The Mexican Constitution recognizes the right to housing as well.
The social cost of this policy -- children in the fields -- can be found in Maneadero and San Quintin fields on any given day during the harvest season, says Ramirez. Whole families work together -- children cutting vegetables alongside the adults. Felix, a 12-year-old boy picking cilantro in Maneadero in June, said his parents were making about 70 pesos a day, while he was bringing home half that. "We can't live if we all don't work," he said, in the tone of someone explaining the obvious.
"Work on the big ranches affects children's development," Ramirez counters. "They don't go to school. There are no health services for them. They're exposed to the weather and to chemicals. And the purpose is the exploitation of their labor by ranchers who profit from it. It violates their right to a childhood, their labor rights, their social rights -- everything we value."
Chavez and Sandoval, the jailed activists, see racism in the way indigenous people from the Mixtec and Triqui towns of Oaxaca, who make up the rural work force throughout Baja California, are treated. The state power structure, they say, permits abuses because it sees them as inferior, and targets them for prosecution when they become a threat. "It's a racist attitude," Chavez declares.
Sandoval and Chavez's problem, says Ramirez, is that they just won't shut up about it. "Because they're both leaders who create a lot of noise, the easiest thing for the government is to throw them in jail. Instead of negotiating a solution, they use the police." In Chavez's case especially, the initiative to prosecute seems to come from the government itself. In her hearing before the judge, none of the landowners bringing charges even showed up. "Who's accusing me of taking their land?" she asks. "If there's no accuser, then I shouldn't be going to prison."
Ramirez, the human-rights prosecutor, is sympathetic to Sandoval and Chavez, but while he has the power to investigate and make recommendations, Ramirez has no formal power to press charges or dismiss them.
So in the end, the rule of law itself is in question in Baja California, according to Perez-Castro, "at least insofar as it protects people, especially the poor, in the enforcement of their rights. They pass laws to protect the maquiladoras, so the rule of law exists in that sense," he admits. "But there is a danger to social stability, because it's so one-sided. It's not just indigenous people who suffer from lack of legal protection. Workers do too, and even the middle classes."
For Julio Sandoval, it's even simpler. "They're not looking at the law. They're afraid of us, and all they can do is put us in jail. It's vengeance."
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FNS: BC Human Rights Worker Threatened Over Immigration Case
Date: 9/25/2002 9:38:55 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: frontera@...
An employee of the Baja California Human Rights Office, Lorena Rosas Chávez, has been receiving telephone threats for her investigation of a federal migrant-protection unit, Grupo Beta.
Rosas, who is the head of the Human Rights Office's Program for Migrant and Indigenous Affairs, is examining whether Grupo Beta violated the rights of 35 Central American migrants while they were in the state, according to an article in Méxicali's La Crónica newspaper. The article did not mention when the events between Beta and the migrants occurred.
The head of the BC Human Rights Office, Raúl Ramírez Baena, has requested that the BC Attorney General's Office, the Secretary of Public Security and the Méxicali police protect Rosas because her life is in danger.
Grupo Beta is a federal agency that is charged with protecting migrants from human traffickers, keeping migrants from attempting dangerous crossings into the US, and rescuing migrants in distress.
In Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, for example, Beta has not received local support and only has a few units in that city. Initially, there was some resistance to Beta establishing itself in Cd. Juárez because some people and organizations feared that it would only create a new level of corruption.
In a separate case, the office has also asked city and state law enforcement to protect journalist Roberto Rocabado because of threats made against his life related to his media activity. The office's support of Rocabado is part of its State Program for the Protection of Journalists and Media.
Ramírez also requested that state authorities investigate the threats agains Rocabado.
In 2000, Ramírez wrote two articles for FNS. These are:
The Northern Border and Human Rights
http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/nov00/feat1.html (English translation)
http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/nov00/feat2.html (Spanish original)
La globalización y el salario mínimo
http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/nov00/feat6.html
Source: La Crónica (Méxicali), September 25, 2002.
--
Frontera NorteSur
On-line news coverage of the US-Mexico border
To see our site or subscribe for free to our daily news service go to:
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