| UNIFY AND FOCUS OUR MOVEMENT NOW ! Emma Lozano, presidente Pueblo sin Fronteras Elvira Arellano, presidente La Familia Latina Unida Most of us gathered here are united on the positions we believe in, but we are not united, and we are not disciplined, on the point of struggle, the message we want to deliver to our people and to the nation. There is a difference when the news accounts report on smaller turn-outs in divided marches and when the news accounts report on the unity of all sectors of our community in massive turn outs. The difference is between victory and defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Sin Fronteras has worked to develop two different coalitions: the popular coalition and the legislative coalition. We believed that the popular coalition, which mobilized the undocumented and the Latino community, was necessary to bring the legislative coalition to take and win the maximum gain in this current battle over reform of the law. We also recognized that the struggle does not stop with the passage of a new law, as the Black Liberation struggle did not stop with the passage of the civil rights act, but that the legislative coalition was necessary because our people wanted and needed immediate relief from the attack on their dignity and standard of living. The popular coalition has made great gains. We have shown that we are not only for protecting the rights of the undocumented but we are struggling for Latinos to become a voice for justice for all of Latin America. We have supported self-determination and opposed assimilation into this nation's individualistic, imperialistic values. We have taught that our people did not come here because of the American Dream but because of what the American nightmare did to our countries of origin. We have asserted that our demand to be here and to be fully enfranchised here is a right not a privilige and a destiny of our people to transform this nation. Our popular coalition made the legislative coalition we helped to build successful. We created unity with the Latino citizen community and mobilized that unity in massive unity and made immigration a Latino issue which made the Latino vote our most powerful weapon. Our popular coalition created unity between the Latino and African American community that the legislative, self-interest coalition could not have done. Our popular coalition brought the militancy of resistance and sanctuary in the faith community and forced the religious community to come forward in the legislative struggle. Most important, our popular coalition has brought the issue of family unity to the forefront of legislative struggle which has become the main point of struggle in the current and final phase of the legislative fight. We did all this in spite of our divisions and individualism and disrespect which ran counter to the unity and love of our people, a unity and love that saved our leadership from self-destruction. What is our current legislative reality? It is clear that we have only three alternatives. The first alternative is that no law passes by August. This means we will have three years of raids and deportations and separations of families. We will have three years of no-match firings that will affect millions of our people because of the new system of social security verification and sanctions already in place. We will have three years of militarization of the border and unchecked right wing vigilante and local law enforcement violence against our people. Our people do not want this alternative. We should not be willing to accept this alternative for them. The second alternative is the White House Senate Republican Alternative which will surface in the next two weeks. It accepts a slow legalization (8 + 5) for individual workers but rejects family unity legalization and family reunification. It promotes a beefed up guest worker program but denies legal rights to the workers and denies the right to have their families with them. It is an apartheid anti-family system of temporary labor.. We must struggle against this alternative because our people do not want it. It attacks their rights, their humanity, their dignity and the empowerment of Latinos to change this nation for those who are in it and for the benefit of our people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It also militarizes our borders and criminalizes the millions who will not be legalized. The third alternative is the compromise worked out between the democrats who support us and the White house before the white house broke the deal. It includes a guest worker program, which has the support of the majority of the Congress. It includes criminalization of those left here without papers after legalization. It includes militarization of the border – which is already approved by Congress and has the support of two thirds of the Congress. It is wrapped in the rhetoric of assimilation and places blame on the undocumented and takes no responsibility for the racist, exploitative system of undocumented labor this nation has run for its own benefit or the terrible damage this nation has done to the peoples of the south. The third alternative also will legalize almost all of undocumented and their families and provide for the security, dignity and empowerment of millions of our people so that we can continue the struggle in the years to come. These are our three legislative alternatives. We have developed peoples legislation in the past and even got it introduced into congress. That time is over. The struggle for those principles is not over, it has just begun. But now we have only these three alternatives to choose from. What the people want and need in the next three months is clear. Our popular coalition must unify, put aside individual agendas and deliver the legislative, narrow self-interest coalition we have caused to be built and made effective for our people. What are the points of struggle we must unify around: FAMILY UNITY: This is the main difference between the democratic and republican alternatives. It is also the main weakness of the republicans with their own base. It separates the religious right from the racist right. The republican base is for family values but is divided as to whether this includes family values for brown families. They say with Justice Kennedy that "respect for live requires the nation to respect and protect the bond of love between a mother and her child, but demand the separation of Elvira and Saul Arellano. They oppose divorce and abortion but demand the separation of millions of brown families and the abandonment of millions of brown children The democrats compromise too far on family unity and family reunification. We want the inclusion of the Serrano bill. We want families not to be excluded because of previous charges that relate only to unauthorized entry or work.. Our demand is simple: not one family separated, not one child left behind. Our message of attack is simple: the republicans are anti-family and their proposed system of labor is racist. Our lever of power is simple: Latinos will not vote for republicans. – or democrats that do not vote with us. We will vote against all republicans and will run independent candidates against democrats who oppose us. GUEST WORKER PROGRAM The guest worker program is a reality we must face if we are to ahieve legalization. We must whittle it down this year and eliminate it in years to come. We must join with the African American community in demanding that employers seek new hires from the massive ex-offender populaton before they can authorize guest workers. We must demand the right of family unity for guest workers and a path to citizenship. CIVIL RIGHTS, CRIMINALIZATION AND MILITARIZATION OF THE BORDER. We can weaken some of the provisions in the Flake-Gutierrez compromise in the House Judiciary committee. This is already going to happen because of the make-up of the judiciary committee. Then it will be up to the house/senate conference committee to negotiate it. What we must understand is that the administration already has the power to do these things and has the support of the Congress to do these things. We cannot stop them in the next three months, but we can build a struggle among the people by organizing our resistance over the next three years. THE FOCUS OF OUR STRUGGLE IS THE DIGNITY AND UNITY OF THE FAMILY, TO EXPOSE THE REPUBLICANS IN THEIR OWN CONTRADICTIONS AND TO PUT BACKBONE INTO THE DEMOCRATS. WE SHOULD THROW OUR WEIGHT AND THE WEIGHT OF THE LATINO VOTE BEHIND THE STRIVE ACT FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE. AND WE SHOULD COMMIT HERE TO CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE FROM THE GRASSROOTS UNTIL WE ACHIEVE FINAL VICTORY ! WE SHOULD PREPARE TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON IN JUNE IN RESPONSE TO THE BILL THAT PASSES THE SENATE SO THAT THE HOUSE RESPONSE IS STRONG AND THE HOUSE IS STRENGTHENED IN THE CONFERENCE NEGOTIATION. We had the most successful march in the nation in Chicago on May Day. It was difficult to achieve unity. The legislative coalition – the unions, the Catholic hierarchy, the funded organizations – they did not oppose us but they did not mobilize. We did it from the grassroots. We had differences of opinion and differences of personalities and differences of political agendas. Some people think that fighting for their position of leadership is more important than fighting for our people. Some people think it is more important to let small white led leftist organizations confuse our message than it is to let the undocumented speak for themselves and to bring our Latino Elected officials into our popular coalition in spite of the fac that some of our brothers want to use the struggle for the own political ambitions. But we persevered because the people made us persevere. We had the unity the people demanded: Stop the Raids, Deportations and Separation of Families; Not One Family Separated, Not One Child Left Behind,; Legalization para Todos! The people we serve have only three alternatives. We must fight for the best of these three for the next three months. "No Bill" is unacceptable to our people and unproductive for our struggle. The Republican Bill is an attack on our families and our people's future. We must throw our full unified weight behind the third alternative and try to make it better. Those who cannot must be disciplined and confine themselves to attacking only ther first two alternatives: "No Bill" and "Republican anti-family Bill" And we must be committed to continue the struggle after the bill is passed. And we must restore the love and faith and unity of our people to the leaders who are here gathered. This is the position of Pueblo Sin Fronteras/La Familia Latina Unida. This is the position of Elvira Arellano whose faith and defiance and and humility and commitment to the people inspire has inspired all of us to serve our people and not use our people. | |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
 | Centro Sin Fronteras: 2300 S. Blue Island Chicago, IL 60623 Main: (773)523-8261 Fax: (773)523-8109 Main@somosunpueblo.com |  | DONATE ABOUT US JOIN US |  | |||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Come Together and Create!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka:Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story.
Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Be for real! Love La Raza Cosmca! Venceremos!