Let’s make a toast, but don’t drink yet

Thursday felt like time for a toast for America’s largest social movement, the folks fighting for immigrant rights. With the news that the Obama administration would review many of its pending 300,000 deportation cases and allow some of those with no “criminal” record to stay, you could literally hear the cries of joy jumping out of Facebook updates, twitter feeds, cafecito spots (I live in Miami), college campuses, and even a detention center or two.

After over two years of pressuring the Obama administration to use its executive power to stop tearing apart immigrant families and communities; after hunger strikes, 1000 mile walks, and mass arrests, after multiple insistences from the Administration that it didn’t have that authority, after multiple cover-ups by the administration of how many people they were deporting that had done nothing wrong, it seems like the Administration is finally listening. And while there are tears of joy, and sighs of relief, there is also plenty of healthy skepticism. After all, we have an Administration that has cried (falsely), “we only deport dangerous criminals!” more than that boy who cried wolf.

So the questions remain.

Who is going to be carrying out this new case-by-case review? Is it going to be the ICE agents whose union doesn’t want to use its discretionary power and calls this a  “back door amnesty?” What is their incentive to review cases fairly?

And when the administration says that they will focus on “criminals”, what do they mean? Isn’t immigration policy the same set of laws that famously calls people “aggravated felons” for things that are neither aggravated nor felonies? Isn’t ICE the same agency that deported thousands of suspected “terrorists” after 9/11 that were never really terrorists? And don’t ICE’s “worst of the worst” categories include a Baptist pastor with a 16 year old conviction from when he was homeless, a Gulf War Veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who was arrested for marijuana possession after his wife died, and a 36-year-old youth community worker who helps young people stay away from the mistakes he made as a 16 year old? If the Administration is really turning over a new leaf, does that mean ICE is turning over a new leaf?

And then there is what the Obama Administration still refuses to do. It still refuses to create enforceable standards for how it treats immigrants in detention so that they don’t die in custody. The administration still refuses to reign in the deputized powers it gives to bad sheriffs with long lists of civil rights complaints like the real-life Boss-Hog, Joe Arpaio. The Administration still refuses to call of its “creepy” Secure Communities program, which is looking more and more like the first step of a science fiction-like national database that may one day include everyone.

But the Administration is also failing to take the lead in pushing common sense legislation that will begin to fix the broken immigration system while everyone waits for the mythical grand compromise. For one, the best way to ensure the case-by-case reviews o f immigration cases is done right is to give immigration judges back the discretion they need (and lost in 1996) instead of pushing ICE employees to exercise the discretion many of them seem to not want (that they gained over a decade ago).

But lets not rain on the parade. This is no doubt a victory. Afterall, it seems like there are only a few constituencies of non-millionaires that have gotten any significant demand from the administration: the LGBT movement, the Tea Party, and the immigrant rights movement to name a few. And the tie that binds these movements together (for better or worse) is that they fought like hell and refused to just “let the President do his job.”

So let there be a toast. A toast to democracy-in-action and the thousands of squeaky wheels that provided the vehicle to demand more oil. A toast that remembers those families that new policies may never help, the ones that have already been separated and torn apart. And a toast to the hope that regular people are pushing the Administration to finally have enough courage to make real change.

Yep, its time for a toast…but don’t drink the juice yet.

Welcome back to Fast Forum!  We pick a hot topic and ask 3 – 6 organizers from across the country to weigh in. Our hope is to draw out new ideas and to encourage new voices to take a stab at the freshest challenges facing our community. This month we asked B Loewe, Communications Director from the National Day Labor Organizing Network, to reach out to organizers in the migrants rights movement to comment ont he state of the movement in light of recent legislative victories and defeats.

_____________________________________________________________________

Unite Against Attacks

-Voces de la Frontera – Milwaukee, WI

Where is the fight for migrant justice in your state?

Immigrant rights organizations like ours have united in an unprecedented manner with labor unions, education unions, and other groups in opposition to the recent attacks on all public workers in Wisconsin.

Currently, we are strategizing against an Arizona-style anti-immigrant bill, AB-173, which Wisconsin law enforcement officers to confirm the immigration status of anyone charged with a crime or civil violation (which can include violations as small as jaywalking) if there is “reasonable suspicion”.  Voces and our allies have been mobilizing against this since last fall, when it was first announced.  AB-173 is now headed to the Homeland Security Committee.  We now need national support in continuing to fight it.  For more info on how to help, visit vdlf.org.

In addition, state budget signed by Governor Scott Walker has just eliminated in-state tuition for undocumented students- a victory that had been hard-won in 2009. Although it was claimed to be done as a means to reduce spending, the amount of undocumented students that applied for in-state tuition was so few that its’ financial impact was irrelevant in the budget.

What are the factors that have lead to the situation you are in in your state?

The Republican majority that took over both Wisconsin’s House and Senate has created a political environment which has made it acceptable to make grievous offenses against immigrants and workers across the state.  The economic situation of Wisconsin has provided these officials and lawmakers such as Governor Scott Walker a convenient excuse to use immigrants as scapegoats, as is the case with the elimination of in-state tuition for undocumented students.

What are the next steps for organizing in your state for migrant rights? What strategies and tactics are you excited by and seeing success with?

The recent budget signed by the governor, which targets not only immigrant students, but all of the middle and working class, has brought unprecedented alliances between various groups including immigrants and Latino workers, and students and organized labor.

This collaboration could not be more visible than in this year’s May Day march, which had a theme of “Solidarity for Immigrant and Worker Rights’ which drew nearly 100,000 people and including National AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka.

Prior to the state budget being passed, we organized a non-violent civil disobedience action at the Joint Finance Committee meeting on education, in an effort to stall the vote which would remove in-state tuition for undocumented students.  Community leaders from around the state participated, including members of the school board, the faith community, and public teachers.  The action drew attention to the need for those opposed to the budget to escalate strategies to defend immigrant and worker rights.

_____________________________________________________________________

Right to Remain: Congress of Day Laborers fight back in New Orleans

- Congress of Day Laborers

Immigrants in New Orleans are living in a state of siege. On day labor corners, immigration agents are arriving camouflaged as contractors to pick up undocumented immigrants and fill quotas. At worksites, police and immigrants agents are collaborating to resolve labor disputes on behalf of employers, criminalizing the very workers who courageously come forward to report violations of labor law. On the streets, traffic tickets, broken tail-lights and just being Latino lead to detention and deportation. In the apartment complexes, where immigrant families live with the constant precipice of eviction, law enforcement agents have conducted home invasions, pulling residents out of beds and showers in violation of their constitutional rights.

 In all of these ways, the criminal justice system’s anti-immigrant strategy denies the community access to justice, humiliates the community’s efforts to gain dignity, and severely destabilizes all efforts to put down roots and achieve economic and cultural permanence. Incarceration directly removes immigrant community leaders from their communities in the United States and chills actions by threatening retaliatory arrests and deportations against immigrant leadership. The de-humanizing identity assigned by the criminal justice system impedes immigrant communities’ ability to even search for and build power. And as the immigrant community is pushed farther and farther into isolation and hiding, the criminal justice system further compounds their cumulative disadvantage by separating them from democratic institutions which should help build community and power—schools, community organizations, etc. In effect, the immigrant community is sentenced to remain temporary, unstable and in crisis.

In New Orleans, Louisiana, the fight against the criminal justice system is the Congress of Day Laborer’s fight for the Right to Remain in a city they now call home. As a membership organization, in deep alliance with the African American community, the Congress of Day Laborers is organizing for “the right to remain” in New Orleans, the right to hold control over their political future in Louisiana, and their right not to be defined by their relationship to the criminal justice system. In a state where the criminal justice system has historically driven the political economy of race and the politics of marginalization, the Congress of Day Laborers is a vehicle for the immigrant community to turn the tide on immigration enforcement so that it can expand democracy and live out its dreams.

In order to do this, the Congress of Day Laborers has built grassroots immigrant leadership, strong campaigns, a social movement around the issues of anti-immigrant enforcement and the attacks of the criminal justice system. In the future we hope to create permanent progressive infrastructure for immigrants, so that immigrants can build the institutional power necessary to change the political conditions that allow the criminal justice system to flourish.

_____________________________________________________________________

Tod@s Somos Arizona y Georgia:

Rebuilding the Social Movement, Turning the Tide

- Cesar Lopez, Tierra y Libertad Organization

The passage of SB1070 in Arizona 2010 was a jolt to many in the migrant and social justice movements. In Arizona we see SB1070 as a mass statewide institutionalization of the already existing local/federal laws and culture of hate and greed that has led us to 1070. This legislation has led to mass mobilizations and deep organizing strategy evaluation state and nationwide. This evaluation has led to tough truths on what effective organizing is and has recharged the grassroots to work on rebuilding the social justice movement through deep sustained base-building work in Arizona and throughout the country. The last decades focus of the Migrant Rights movement on solutions coming from Washington, DC have have not only been ineffective, they have moved the people’s movement further from justice and taken away the voice of the grassroots migrants fighting for dignity and equality.

In 2011, Arizona has seen a large flow of continuing hate legislation. Every year and legislative session we see our communities come under attack by a higher intensity war of attrition. Attacks to further restrict the movement of migrants and make life impossible to live. This year we saw bills targeting the prohibition of emergency services for migrants by hospitals and clinic staff, bills that would require teachers and school principals to report migrant children and their families and the building hate in 2011 around another 2010 law HB2287 that aims to shut out cultural and ethnic education for Arizona children in all schools. Also, for more than a decade the Southern Arizona desert has been a graveyard for our migrant brothers and sisters walking into this country in harsh summer and winter climates. Their is a continued build up of militarization through checkpoints, 287G and local related laws, greedy privatized prisons for migrants, a massive border patrol and military presence, a rebuilding by the Obama administration of the border wall, and the existence of paramilitary organizations/anti-migrant militias all of which threaten the peace and fragile social fabric of border communities as well the violation of the sovereignty of the Tohono O’odham Nation people. On the border we see as a result of programs like the federal Secure Communities the mass deportation of migrants from around the country. Here we see the next phase of family separation that leaves our communities in desperation.

How does this culture of hate and destructful legislation exist. The polarization of Arizona communities has been building for decades. There are many factors that have led us to where we are. Over the past several decades conservative voters and activists from other parts of the country have migrated to Arizona in droves. This has led to a voting base that is active and makes and environment where hate and this type of legislation are a part of everyday life. As a result of this we see that Arizona is the first state to ban drivers licenses for migrants in the nineties. Another factor is the federal government’s continued focus on the criminalization of migrants. This has been a strong factor that has led to the culture of hate to build in Arizona. The criminalization of migrants at the federal level is has given permission for this to exist in Arizona.

Arizona 2011 is not all hate bad policy. We have also been called into action to rebuild our social justice movement using effective grassroots organizing. The community resistance to HB2281 from teachers, youth and elders has been strong and inspiring in Arizona and the country. The statewide We Will Not Comply with SB1070 July and August actions are still talked about and evaluated in our communities. Many groups have strengthened their focus to organizing that empowers migrants to raise their voice and be the leaders of this movement. To empower migrants to be go beyond mobilization and into deep organizing of the Barrios to build power from the ground up. This organizing has looked like deep organizing in the Barrio to build Barrio Defense Comites. Their is lots of beautiful organizing work continuing and being born all over Arizona. TYLO in Southside Tucson is working on building two sustained Barrio Comites as well as incorporating youth, education, organizing capacity building and food and economic sustainability as part of our Comite work. Through grassroots organizing we empower migrants to recognize their role and responsibility as leaders and we are rebuilding not only the migrant and social justice movement, but weaving stronger together the fragile social fabric that keeps our Barrios together.

Many sectors are seen working together, figuring our growing pains and collaborations and building to launch effective campaigns. The strength of the migrant justice movement has propelled many other sectors into action, rebuilding and reorganization. The diferent secotrs of the social justice movement realize that we are in together in the same fight and that we must be realistic about where our movement is at and where it can be. All of us together can build a social justice movement that will fight and dare to win!

Come visit us and other organizations in Tucson, AZ. Share with us your skills and capacity and learn about our work. Keep your hearts, ears and eyes open for news from organizing for justice in Geogia and the kickoff of Georgia Human Rights Summer.

Check out this article: http://altopolimigra.com/2011/07/01/being-part-of-this-movement-is-something-beautiful-georgia-summer-of-human-rights/

Nos vemos en los Barrios! cesar lopez is a community organizer with Tierra Y Libertad Organization in the Southside hoods of Tucson, AZ.

_____________________________________________________________________

Taking the Dream Home

- Casa de Maryland

The fight for us in MD within the migrant rights movement is similar to that of the entire nation… we are pushing back on hostile enforcement policies that are separating countless families and threatening to devastate our communities.  In the face of this, our organization in partnership with our community and local other organizations decided to push forward with a piece of pro-immigration legislation in the shape of an in-state tuition bill (SB167) or the “MD DREAM Act”.

After having experienced the disappointing failure of the Federal DREAM Act, due to political games and lack of courage on the part of elected officials, we continued the fight to provide better access to higher education to students regardless of immigration status in Maryland. We recognized that through local tangible victories we can to strengthen our communities and mobilize countless youth in our state for any future revolutionary movements.

The factors that led to the need for such a laws are blatantly obvious. This can be seen in the disparity in the quality of primary education (K-12) and the available access to higher education among communities of color, immigrant communities in particular, from county to county. This was caused by the increasing attacks on precious resources for students from non-English speaking communities in our public schools and an prevalence of anti-immigrant rhetoric and lawsuits against institutions that support the higher education of low income immigrant students.

Recognizing that the national dialogue on immigration related issues have turned so sour, our youth needed and wanted to prove that not all states are like Arizona and Georgia. We wanted to prove that there is still hope and that this country is still a place where people can dream. We knew that if Maryland became the 10^th state to stand up for fair access to higher education, we would show the country and the world that equality is not something that you beg for it is something that is deserved and demanded. Here in Maryland we are proving that Arizona and Georgia are wrong; our communities are hardworking, intelligent, and that deserve and demand equality and justice.

We WON! Maryland indeed became the 10th state to pass an in-state tuition law and send a clear message across the nation that we embrace equality for our immigrant families and their children.

It was a hard fight that lasted over 10 years!

Our victory was described by political analysts and journalists as an amazing combination and balance of legislative strategy and grassroots organizing (first time students had such a visible presence and involvement which directly affected legislators).

Undocumented students from across Maryland took the risk and spoke about their stories and became protagonists of their own struggle!

Through this process students not only empowered themselves, but also politically transformed themselves into a strong united voice. This gives them the chance to begin identifying other areas in their lives they wanted to change; like fighting “Secure Communities” which in our state, under the guise of gang prevention is targeting our youth.

Unfortunately, the fight for just laws are never easy, and it has now been made harder through the launching of a referendum initiative lead by some of the most hateful, racist, extremist anti-immigrant (right wing) groups, and legislative leaders of Maryland residents. They are attempting to undermine the democratic legislative process that rightfully expressed the will of our citizens by bringing the law to a ballot vote. It is sad to say that the Maryland Board of Elections recently certified the necessary signatures to move the Maryland DREAM Act ever closer to a ballot.

Thursday, June 30th marked the beginning of our efforts to launch a massive education campaign to dispel the lies and misinformation being spread about the MD DREAM Act.

We are increasing our media communication and our voter registration so we can continue to defend and fight for our students and our community.

I’m excited about new and creative ways we can educate our communities and Maryland’s registered voters about this issue (street theaters, youth PSA’s, etc). I’m excited to see how we make connections between the varieties of issues arising in our state; I’m excited to see students bridging the gap on the immigrants’ rights movement and collectively fight for human rights under a broad umbrella and not as a single issue. I’m excited to witness the breaking of chains of guilt, fear, and shame attached to one’s immigration status that weigh students down and discourage them from reaching their potential.

In summary I’m looking forward to taking it to the streets!

_____________________________________________________________________

Building a “Multi-” Movement

-Kentucky Jobs with Justice

Where is the fight for migrant justice in your state?

The fight in Kentucky includes building a movement that is multiethnic, multigenerational, multilingual, multiracial and fully inclusive of the broad spectrum of immigrants in Kentucky.  It is a fight that calls us to bring together the traditional civil rights movements and the new wave of social justice activism that is mutually respectful and beneficial.  Geographically and geopolitically, the fight for migrant justice in our state has to reach across political boundaries, it has to reach across the rural and urban expanse and it has to reach across mountains and rivers.  Hopefully, we can connect to groups in the southeast that are doing some good work around bridging the urban/rural divide.

What are the factors that have lead to the situation you are in your state?

In Kentucky, some of the factors that have gotten us to the point of being much more intentional in our work around comprehensive and progressive immigration reform are the changing demographics in our state, the legislative attacks on immigrants and the economic impact of the migrant population.  Louisville, Kentucky has been a federal destination city for immigrants and refugees for nearly 40 years.  With both the 2000 and 2010 Census, our entire state has seen a growth (in some places more than 100%) in immigrant populations in our state which means that there is a visible change in the political and social fabric of Kentucky.

And like many states in the South, Kentucky succumbed to the growing tide of legislative attacks against immigrants by introducing an Arizona copycat bill during our general assembly in January.  The bill passed the Senate, but because we responded quickly and have a strong history of community organizing in some of our larger cities, we were able to defeat the legislation in our house of representatives.  We defeated the bill because we were able to highlight the economic impact from the fiscal note to the fact that many of the employees in our horse industry are migrants – an industry that would crumble if we were not able to host the Kentucky Derby.

What are the next steps for organizing in your state for migrant rights?

Our next steps include continuing to build a strong state network that is ready to halt attempts to legislate hate against immigrants when our general assembly reconvenes in January 2012, supporting the Kentucky DREAM Coalition and being in solidarity with other states in the southeast so that the organizing moves beyond our state borders and becomes a coordinated and strategic regional fight.

Besides creating a toolkit on building strong statewide immigration movements, we are partnering with SEIRN to support direct action in our region as it relates to immigrant rights, being more intentional in engaging with young people in this work, lifting up the work of the “People, Not Profiles” campaign to push back against Secure Communities (Lexington has already signed an agreement) and we are researching and assessing curriculum of “Freedom Institute” models already in place in KY to use as a way to develop the next generation of social justice activists.

We are helping to get the word out about the candlelight vigils in Alabama to oppose HB56 and we are sending a crew to Georgia to fight back against HB87.  At Kentucky Jobs with Justice we believe in being there for someone else’s fight as well as our own – it’s about solidarity.

What strategies and tactics are you excited by and seeing success with?

It is exciting to see traditional civil rights groups in Alabama speaking with such strength in opposition to that states Arizona copycat.  We are excited that the South East Immigrant Rights Network is rebuilding and reengaging groups in the region.  And we are moved by the undocumented youth across the country who are undocumented and unafraid and who are leading their own efforts to pass the DREAM Act.

_____________________________________________________________________

Awakened and Activated

- Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights

What are the factors that have lead to the situation you are in your state?

The newest phase of the immigrant community began arriving in 1996 when the boosters of the Olympics sent a call out for workers to complete construction of all the facilities.  Word was passed along that those who arrived to build would have no worries about immigration enforcement during the construction period. Thousands arrived and after the Olympics were completed moved into agriculture, textile, poultry, and residential construction industries.

However in 2001, the attack on the twin towers transformed the image of immigrants into a national threat once again.  With that as a pretext we began witnessing a new right-wing anti-immigrant movement that quickly moved legislation. In 2002, one couldn’t get a driver’s license without a social security number any more. But Georgia’s immigrant history can be divided before and after 2006 when SB 529 and other bills passed barring students from in-state tuition, introducing e-verify, ending access to English language programs for the undocumented and more.

Yet that same year, the national immigration debate gave new life to the immigrant rights movement that we see today.

What are the next steps for organizing in your state for migrant rights? What strategies and tactics are you excited by and seeing success with?

The passage of HB 87 has created a window where every day people are awakened and activated.  Therefore reinforcing base-level organizing so that the comites populares are self-sufficient with consciousness, skills, and strategy is the highest priority.  25,000 people attended the July 2^nd march in downtown Atlanta from all over Georgia and the region.  We are running community leadership skills to support those people in continuing the work in their own neighborhoods and becoming their own leaders.

We will continue mobilizing and creating public demonstrations of our strength and our vision for an inclusive Georgia instead of one that criminalizes.

Finally, we’re organizing the business community into “buyspots” or tiendas del pueblo that pledge to visibly oppose HB 87, refuse to donate to those who voted for it, and pledge to support the movement.  More than 200 of those stores closed on our Day Without Immigrants the first day HB 87 went into effect.

_____________________________________________________________________

The Politics of Coming Out

Where is the fight for migrant justice in your state?

We are also focusing on local legislation that can help improve the lives of immigrant communities. The IL Dream Act, for example, passed both houses and is to be signed by the Governor at the end of July. The bill makes institutional changes that open up opportunities for undocumented students in the state, but it will also be important to watch how the legislation is enacted. Issues to watch will include whether undocumented students are included in the ‘Dream Commission’, and some of the specific qualifications for who gets access to the resources this bill provides.

Additionally, we know that many of our peers and our family members continue to be deported. At a national level undocumented youth are well organized, and have been able to pressure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into deferring dozens of deportation cases through public campaigns. But just last week my sister was talking about visiting a young person in deportation proceedings, who having a criminal background had little chance of a pardon from an immigration judge, and whose case would have been hard to fight publicly. Even after the IL governor Patt Quinn has refused to collaborate with Secure Communities programs, our work in the immigrant community tells us that undocumented families, workers, and students are still finding their way to the deportation lists. Every time we win the case of an undocumented young person, our community knows that there are hundreds of others being deported and criminalized. So we continue to organize small, individual campaigns with limited resources (most of us are volunteers and undocumented), while advocating for a repeal of Secure Communities and an end to deportations by the Obama administration.

What are the factors that have lead to the situation you are in in your state?

The lack of immigrant rights legislation at a federal level has led local communities and legislators attempting to address the issue through policy and mobilization. In Illinois, specifically Chicago, we are approaching this with a long history of immigrant rights activism, both at the grassroots and at the grass-tops. In experience, Illinois began to distinguish itself from the rest of the country in 2006, when we held one of the first mass immigrant rights marches on March 10th. The work that IYJL has done over the last year and a half, from organizing the “National Coming Out of the Shadows” to our participation in various civil disobediences, stands on the shoulders this kind of local and national social justice organizing.

A bit more recently we have also been good at creating alliances across movements. Last year when the national movement was split between supporting Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) and the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act we were able to work with groups on both sides of the issues towards a common goal (for the most part). Today we continue this collaboration, most recently focusing this strength in addressing secure communities and the IL Dream Act. Another important example has been the work done by LGBTQ organizations, which have attempted to address issues of queer immigration at least since 2006. Although there is a lot of work to be done against homophobia and xenophobia in the immigrant and LGBTQ communities respectively we continue to see strong, formal alliances between the groups, and projects that are attempting to address the issue, where none existed before.

Lastly, undocumented youth all over the country have shown amazing strength, intelligence and conviction in the fight for immigrant rights, but I wanted to give a special shout out to those in Illinois. Over the last two years we have organized at least 4 public “Coming Out of the Shadows” rallies in the city and suburbs, where 8-10 young people tell their stories at each event. This year states like Georgia, Indiana, and Oregon are having their first ‘coming out’ events, some modeled after the work we have done here, and others escalating into civil disobedience. On this point, it is worth mentioning that in the last year 11 undocumented youth from Illinois have participated actions of civil disobedience in Arizona, Washington D.C., and Georgia. I think we get bragging rights for the state with the most undocumented youth who have gotten arrested for immigrant rights.

What are the next steps for organizing in your state for migrant rights? What strategies and tactics are you excited by and seeing success with?

I believe that in order for social change to happen we need to have a multiplicity of tactics, all supporting each other, but I want to say a few words about the strategy of ‘coming out’. To ‘come out of the shadows’ has come to mean an organized and targeted strategy of telling our stories as undocumented people and allies, to advance the fight for immigrant rights. Ever since that Spring in 2010 we have attempted to push the boundaries of what it means to belong in the Untied States, and to call this country our home – as a juxtaposition to the way the government criminalizes us and our families. The arrests and civil disobediences are part of that, but it is important to say that ‘coming out’ also has a powerful personal effect (Coming Out: A How To Guide). For me being able to say that I’m undocumented out loud, and being able to chose the risks that I take in regards to my life and my status, has been an incredibly empowering experience. Since I came out, I have seen hundreds of other young people find their voice, and begin to come to terms with their experience. It is important to say that it is a risky tactic to take on, and one that only undocumented people can chose for themselves- informed, supported, and organized, but with no pressure from others either way. And for me the best chance we have to fight for our rights as immigrant youth is when we are out, and are able to say that we are undocumented, unafraid, and unapologetic about the pursuit of our rights.

We came to Arizona from the copper mines in Cananea.  Recruiters came to Mexico trying to find people who would come work.  We came in wagons, there was nothing here..nothing!  They dropped people off from place to place.  Our job was to clear the desert.  And look at it now!   – Antonia Franco

I remember a childhood of listening to the stories of my elders, sitting at a kitchen table with thick mugs filled with more milk than coffee. There was my Nana Tonia, who came in the early 1920’s with her family from Sonora, México. My Tata Emilio’s eyes would gleam as he spoke, describing the orchard trees along South Mountain and Baseline Road, the ranches, the farms all around. He loved to point out how much things used to cost in the early days, break down what it cost to feed his family and pay the rent and match that to the wages he made as a janitor, a musician and a groundskeeper.

Stories like theirs constitute the backbone of the history of the state of Arizona. Their labor helped build the foundation upon which the 5^th largest city of the United States operates upon today.  And I wonder, what would they think about what is happening in Arizona now, days after the passage of the nation’s harshest anti-immigrant law?

In the Arizona of today, you can get charged with smuggling – yourself.

In the Arizona of today, the chain gangs of the Jim Crow era are alive and well.

In the Arizona of today, undocumented students are forced to pay triple tuition for a college education.

And, after the signing of Senate Bill 1070, police can stop and question you because you look illegal.

Arizona – a state built by the hands of many people, of many colors and many languages – has taken another step in the wrong direction. Since 2005, almost 6,000 immigration-related bills have been introduced in the state legislature; many have passed with examples noted above. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has made it his personal mission to hunt migrants in the community and humiliate inmates in county jails. Check points are scattered throughout the state.  Others have begun to follow this example, as day laborers have been attacked as they wait for work on street corners.  Last summer, nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father were shot and killed in their home; three members of the Minutemen Militia have been arrested and charged for the crime.

The state government has been converted into a legislative laboratory and thus represents an epicenter of the anti-immigrant movement. And as a result, a veil of fear and terror has been laid upon the population.  Daily routines have become a risk.  A child going to school has to wonder whether she will see her mother or father when she comes home.  A quick trip to the store requires heavy good byes reserved for long journeys.  I was in Arizona the week SB1070 was signed into law and I heard stories of pregnant women coming in to community centers to ask if it was safe to go to the hospital to give birth.  The answer was, “No.”

The struggles around immigration are among the defining civil and human rights issues of our time, and Arizona has become the new Alabama.  Governor Jan Brewer made the choice to stand on the wrong side of history last week.  In exchange for votes she has solidified her place in history alongside segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace.  Wallace clung to the institution of racial segregation in the South, defending it by arguing for state’s rights over the federal government.  Governor Brewer and Republican politicians in Arizona will echo this argument, a general strategy of the Right wing under an Obama Administration, which emerged in the health care debates this year.

In a state nearing bankruptcy, with exploding foreclosures and growing unemployment, elected officials have chosen to target the state’s most vulnerable population instead of develop serious solutions to the state’s problems.  In this time of economic instability, people are increasingly fearful and uncertain of how things can get better.  The rhetoric behind bills like SB1070 is reckless and irresponsible, as they paint a narrative that blames immigrants for all the nations ills.  But there is a silver lining that comes from characters like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, legislation like SB1070 and politicians like State Senator Russell Pearce: they wake the people up. Because of SB 1070 the nation has turned its eyes upon Arizona. Now, the question becomes: Will the resistance multiply, or will the hate?

Ya Basta! Enough is Enough

Something tells me that if Antonia and Emilio were here to witness this, they would say: “Esto no se va quedar aqui!” Translation: It ain’t gonna go down like that!

On the Sunday after the passage of the bill, thousands of people gathered to demonstrate at the state capital. Long after the official program had ended and the media had left, hundreds of people stayed and continued to march.  And there on the lawn of the capital, one man approached longtime organizer, Salvador Reza, and said: “The speeches are done. We need to talk for real now. What are we going to do?” A conversation unfolded, and the crowd grew to 200 people. In this spontaneous meeting, people gave testimony and made passionate calls to organize boycotts, to vote, to resist in any way possible.  One man said: “What more can they do to us?  I stand to lose everything, everything I’ve built here.  We have nothing left but to fight.”

SB1070 and the reactionary politic it represents do not represent the sentiment of all Arizonans.  And it’s showing.  Outrage and fear is growing into resistance and organizing – on the streets, in the schools and in the neighborhoods.  People don’t want another Jim Crow, or even a Juan Crow for that matter.  Student walkouts are in motion united by the rally cry, ‘Don’t Hate! Educate!’, bullhorn caravans cruise through the barrios, people are donning new t-shirts branded with the slogan ‘Legalize Arizona!’ People who have never been active are finding ways to do something. DJs are organizing cultural events.  Unity building across Latino and African American communities is happening.  Even my sister in law has been inspired to organize the parents and children of my nephew’s little league.  (yes!)

The battleground has emerged.  The latest invention from the legislative laboratory of Arizona foreshadows immigration enforcement in the U.S. if we don’t turn the tide.  This law must not only be stopped legally, it must be rejected in the court of public opinion.  Compañer@s, we have a window of opportunity – NOW.

Millions of people across the country are outraged – it spans across color, age, religion, and income level.  We have an opportunity to transcend the tangled web of legislations to ask ourselves the basic questions of what kind of communities we want to have, what kind of country this should be.  Now is the time to tell our stories, to state the alternative solution and most importantly, to create the arena for action- action that will turn the tide on immigration enforcement, as well as immigration reform.

We cannot allow the Arizona legislature to lead immigration policy in the United States. The enforcement of immigration policy is the sole function of the federal government, not local police.  Just as states cannot declare war or sign treaties, they are not to enforce federal immigration policy.  The stories of people in Arizona are the same stories that can be heard across the country.  Todos Somos Arizona. We are all Arizona.

SB1070 is set to be implemented in 90 days.  In that time, we will defeat this law and advance the agenda of justice for civil and human rights.  We are on the right side, now, we just have to make history.

Here’s how you can join the fight:

• Demand that Obama Administration take decisive action to defend civil rights in Arizona and assert that local police are not to enforce federal immigration policy.
• Donate to groups in Arizona who are on the frontlines of this battle!
• On May Day and beyond take the Todos Somos Arizona/We are all Arizona message and promote the demand for federal intervention in Arizona.
• Take action in your city: push for your local government to pass resolutions against 1070, to boycott Arizona, organize direct actions on the criminalization of immigrant communities.
• Come to Arizona on May 29^th, for a mass direct action to “Stop the Hate.”

For more information and updates, please go to www.altoarizona.com

Marisa is the Lead Organizer with the Right to the City Alliance, a national alliance of grassroots organizations working for urban justice. Prior to working at Right to the City, Marisa worked as an organizer at POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) in San Francisco where she focused on building the Women Worker’s Project. Marisa was one of the authors of Towards Land, Work and Power: Charting a Path of Resistance to U.S.-led Imperialism. Marisa also worked briefly with Domestic Workers United in New York City.

Interviewed by Sushma Sheth

These are dramatic times politically, socially, and economically.  What do you think are the most significant shifts happening right now, and how do they change the context of our work?

I think that the most significant shift is the intersection between the new media and Obama. I do not mean his election itself, but his campaign that became a symbol for a changing terrain.

Obama’s campaign surfaced what was already in play.  It uncovered race relations in the United States and the status of leadership within black communities.  The campaign symbolized the changing of the guard from the old civil rights establishment in the black community to a generation of black people who benefited from the civil rights revolution in the US. Obama represents this new black middle class that came up from the achievements of the civil rights establishment, but with a different worldview.

His campaign also symbolized a growing coalition. It brought together different segments of society suffering under the Bush Regime and the stolen election. There has always been talk of the “net-roots”, mostly the white middle class who had careers in silicon valley and became politically active through both the Bush’s stolen election and the falling economy. The anti-Bush stuff was their reaction to it.  Obama’s campaign brought those folks, black people and young communities of color a new leadership.

His leadership brought a lot of things to the surface: it’s not the 60s anymore. People from the 60s took for granted that post-WWII, all the imperialist nations economies were weakened.  That opened space for communist and revolutionary forces to start having liberation.  We have gone through a process now where a lot of people who thought that this was the solution are now stale. We are coming up in the world now, where we have to deal with this.  We do not have revolutions jumping off in front of us everyday.  The socialist project, in the eyes of many worldwide, has been discredited.  The old model does not work.

We are coming out asking what are the new solutions?  We are in a stage of experimentation.

There is all this rave about new media, but the key thing about it is its democratic nature.  Old media was built for “from one to many” and in new media its about “from many to many”.  A large scale or numbers of people can communicate with each other much more easily than in the post. We think about in Karl Marx’s time, it took weeks or months to get the word about something from one country to the next (Us to Europe).  Now, no matter where you are there are so many communications devices so that is instantaneous.  Time has effectively shrunk. What does that mean for us?  How does this change human beings? I think we are just in the middle of this.   The new media was produced by capitalism, the main mode of production.  The left has not comprehended how to change society and use new media as a liberatory project and not something that just seeks to make a profit.

During the immigrant marches that re-sparked May Day in the US a few years ago, a lot of young Latino folks were using MySpace.com to organize spontaneous walkouts on mass scales.  People find difficulty in organizing people in this day and age and yet you have all these examples of people self-organizing.  People are using new media technology but in a very organic way because new media has become such a part of their life.

Can we communicate our stories effectively to people? Which of youtube, myspace, Facebook all these social networking and peer to peer networks can we use to communicate more effectively our reasoning and our thoughts and make it a priority to expand the left as we know it.

New communication and new media allow us to share stories and deliver our narrative and which challenges the current hegemonic order and create counter-hegemony, as discussed by Antonio Gramsci.

There are a number of new opportunities for organizing presented by the new Obama administration and the economic crisis.  What are the key interventions that the community organizing sector should make in this moment? Are there particular contributions that left organizers should make in this process?

The key interventions right now should be:

FOLLOW OBAMA. What is the most progressive out of what he is doing, even if its limited. What are the loopholes where we can intervene?  Personally, I’ve been following Obama’s approach to service.  In the US, we do not have a clear national identity.  In just about every other country there is a full national identity. In what Obama refers to in his speeches, he seems to think that service is one way we can start to develop that national identity.  In a lot of ways, this is like nation-building.  (And people can argue with me on this!)  Service is an easy way to get people involved in organizing. They are one step away.  A person involved in service obviously cares about an issue or cause and is willing to do service around it. This is not that far from connecting them to Mao’s line on mass line and “serve the people” and connect that sentiment to organizing projects. Obama has set up a government site for service to connect service projects nationwide.  I am trying to get people to connect into this as a means of recruiting new, young people. We can connect them to organizing in general, as well as to the Left.  Its an open opportunity, an experiment.

WE NEED TO CREATE NEW MAJORITIES. There is no Left in this country.  When I say there is no Left is this country, there is no phenomenon or force that has impact on a societal scale and identifies with principles we call “left”.  There is nothing like that exists like that here, much less a large section of society that abide by these principles. There are only a few scattered individuals in reality. There maybe more people who can benefit from this, but are not aware or are caught up in their lives. We need to grow our forces in general as well as grow the left.  We need to think about how to do this in the US context.  We need to build new majorities. We can learn some things from the Obama campaign.  Obama created a new “we” – a new force, call it a coalition or alliance.  He created a new foundation of people, who in many cases were not active. My mother is from Barbados and recently got her citizenship.  She’s been in the country since 1968. She voted for the first time, not just because he was black. It obviously excited her, but there was an excitement to vote.  His campaign made people feel they were part of something bigger, part of a movement.  We talk about this, but he did it on such a massive scale.  What can we learn from this? How can we build a left? How can we build new majority? In what ways to storytelling, new media, and technology intersect with that?

USE NEW MEDIA TO AMPLIFY WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE MOVING.  What are the key projects we are engaging in? What are the political projects we are engaging in? Organizing projects? How can we see these media tools and technologies as amplifying or adding to what we are already doing? In my studies, I find that these technologies do not create social networks.  They only amplify connections that are real or networks that already exist.  Offline, we should learn how to build day-to-day connections to everyday working people. How do we build social networks with people?  I am not saying anything new. Churches, mosques, etc already do this. They are deeply entrenched in people’s lives. How do we translate this in a secular sense of the left.  Also, there is a religious left and (how do we) translate this into a emanicipatory project. These tools are only helpful if they are amplifying something that is already real.  How does developing relationships affect people’s connection to ideas?  There is a quote from Amilcar Cabral – people do not fight for ideas in the sky, they fight for real things. They fight for real, material things.  It does not matter if you come talking about “revolution etc. etc.” but the question is “how will I feed my family? Find work? Life a sustainable life?”

RE-ENGINEER DIRECT ACTION. There are actions around the world where people use GPS and Google Maps that helps decentralize the power that the state has. So many of these things, funny enough, that capitalism developed we can now leverage to use again elite power.

What are old strategies that our sector should turn away from? Which new tools and ideas are you now experimenting with?

A lot of stuff is old now.  First of all, there is something about Left culture where we are quick to polarize; where in some cases, it may not be the case.  You definitely want to polarize you and your allies from the elite powers that be.   The Left has taken this to be cannibalistic towards itself.  One small difference within different sects of the Left is polarized – we set a pole, only one of us can be right, and we battle to the death. It has helped kick-in sectarianism. We need to relook at how to have serious political debates and disagreements and not be at war with each other.  We can co-exist with different ideologies within the left. The truth will come out in practice. In my organizing work, it was not a concern to me what someone’s ideology to me.  At least it was not my primary concerns (we are progressive, revolutionary, etc.) , but when we finally put stuff in practice and we see what works and what does not.  Ideology cannot be primary.  I am not saying it is not important.  But that cannot be the only factor – how can we negotiate, debate and struggle together?

Second, we cannot continue newspaper selling. A lot of sectarian groups call themselves Left but do not represent Left forces.  They are very alienating to everyday people.  They develop a culture of talking down to people.  We are “above and away from the masses.”  “We come down and bring you the truth.”  This needs to stop.

There is outside knowledge as well as people’s knowledge from their everyday experience (Paolo Friere approach).  We need to combine the two.  Instead, I think you see one or the other.  That there is only people’s everyday experiencial knowledge and you cannot go beyond that or there is only this outside knowledge and we need to bring them the truth.  There has to be a combination, a dialectic, and come to a real emancipatory project.

Third, a lot of the tactics we use have gotten old, like marching and so on. We need understand the current conditions and which tactics and strategies need to flow from our analysis of current conditions.  We have a lazy period of non-studying or non-analysis studying and we are relying on a lot of tactics from the past. We are stuck in the 60s. The civil rights establishment is stuck in the 60s and the left is stuck in the 60s in this country.  We are not recognizing in front of our face what is new, what is different. How do we move forward, study it, move on, and make an assessment and concretize some gains? We rely on a march or a protest, and people do not come out to that. What will pull people out? What do people connect to?  At one point, marching was new and came out of new conditions.  It was part of the Industrial Revolution where people were coming into cities. There could be a debate now – should we leverage gains from the state or build alternatives? Or a combination of both?  This depends on the objective conditions.

Finally, we need some serious study. The left is lazy and does not engage in study. There are pockets of people trying to do that now. This project itself is an attempt to do that.

What is inspiring you these days?

Two things are inspiring me right now. They may not be typical of the left – or at least at first glance, they do not appear to be “left.”

THE ARTIST MIA: If you read her interviews, she talks about how people cannot define her genre. The reality is, she’s produced her own genre. She talks about her experience growing up in a third world country, but more growing up in refugee camps. And then, she talks about moving to the first world and having to live and cope with all this hybridity. Through technology and new media, the world is really connected.  When you are an immigrant or refugee, you are at the intersection of this.  She wanted to find a way through her music, through her art, to connect. The world is not longer in these distinct silos. This fact really comes out in her music. When you are an immigrant kid, she talks about how, “you do not know what is cool.” You might rock a Michael Jackson t-shirt and some stone-washed jeans. You are this mismatch of things, these excesses of the first-world that get dumped on the third-world.  Through mass media, for the most part, the first world used to produce what is “cool”. But with everything as connected as it is now, everyone is sharing. Third world, refugee kids are producing what is up. Her music and message reflect this. Some of her lyrics have revolutionary content.  But often people complain that all of her music is not revolutionary, that sometimes it is just about dancing or sometimes  too difficult to follow what she is saying! But what I have learnt from her is that we have been transfixed on narrow concept of political art. Some of us believe that when there is a revolutionary era, then all songs will have revolutionary lyrics, quoting from the Communist Manifesto. But is this what moves people?  Maybe you can have a song, where they lyrics talk about dancing and partying, but the feeling and effect of the song is more revolutionary. Can a song make people feel something or bring change in people’s lives?  Though her lyrics are often political, her fans concentrate on how she blends sounds from Aborigine people in Australia, to folks in Sri Lanka to folks in Jamaica. The sounds come together and become a way to connect people around the world. The song could be about dancing, but people recognize the sounds and start connecting to one another. It makes me think about how are we, as the Left, connecting people? It makes me question how we think about culture, music and what we think is revolutionary.

THE DANCE CREW CRAZE: Dance crews have popped up in the US as well as internationally.  Sean Paul came up at the same time that new dances came out in Jamaica. These spread across the Caribbean and through the Diaspora spread to the US, UK and around the world. At the same time, there are dances that come up in hip-hop songs. But the hip-hop artists are not making them up. They are going to the hood where kids are doing this organically in LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit and Harlem. This is very self-organized and organic. What’s amazing is that these kids now have jobs. They are now artists, they teach dances, they tour, and they perform in videos. They are part of the industry now. This is happening in an era where people really question the potential of these young kids.  Statistically, the prison population goes up for young black children and unemployment rises for young black men.   And yet, these young black kids are creating jobs for themselves.  Robin D. G. Kelly talks about people creating jobs out of play. Work out of play. All of these groups organize themselves, dance and have created an international network of dancers.  I like looking at the self-organization of the under-class, if you can call them that. The working class is self-organizing through culture.  How can we tap into this as a model and help them reach their full, emancipatory potential?

Any closing thoughts?

A lot of what I have been discussing can be traced back to Gramsci.  It’s all about hegemony.  In the US, we live in an advanced capitalist society. We cannot use pure force to effect change. Therefore, the question becomes: How are we going to have a revolution here? How do we create counter-hegemonic culture?

We need to be more effective in telling our stories and understand how stories affect people. How does the left design a left narrative?  This was the key thing that Obama figure out. After Bush, the country was divided.

Sometimes we are closer to crisis than we realize. Elites in this country have an understanding of how close we are to crisis, more than we. Maybe some feared another civil war given the country is so divided on so many issues.  Obama was concerned about division. To get elected, he needs a 51% majority.  For this to possible, he needed to build unity. He used a story, he retold the narrative of the US to build the unity he needed to win.

His new narrative: The US is an unfinished project.  He asked people to look at the founding fathers, and then the civil war. He marveled at US innovation and reminded us all that we are lucky to be here.  He took some truths of American mythology and created new myths with a more progressive feature.

The question for us is: Can we do this? Can we create a left myth that is more revolutionary?