Mon, April 12, 2010 1:57:54 PM
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From: javier rodriguez ~ bajolamiradejavier@yahoo.com
by Javier Rodriguez, Isabel Rodriguez, William Torres, Antonio Rodriguez, Don Justin Jones
We are today in the last stage in a 24-year old struggle to obtain just and humane comprehensive immigration reform. The present moves are concentrated in assuring the placing of a proposed Senate bill on the floor of Congress and also breaking the deadlock created by the Republicans on even a minimal debate on the bill. In other words, the contradiction which began the minute former Republican President Ronald Reagan signed the 1986 IRCA Law, which left out an estimated 2.5 million out of the amnesty process, may soon come to a resolution. What the reform will contain will be further analyzed. Nevertheless, the recent 200,000 people March for America-Change Takes Courage on Washington D.C. held on March 21, amongst other things, clearly signaled the movement is once again on the offensive.
The protest was a sight to behold, setting off powerful feelings at seeing the momentum of grass roots power now building up in the country in the epic fight for immigrant empowerment. Make no mistake, it was a politically mature crowd. And I speculate the majority came from DC and surrounding areas with giant delegations from New York and Chicago respectably at ten and eight thousand a piece. It was multicultural but overwhelmingly Latino, working class, young, college students, African Americans, Asians and many other ethnic groups. It also it included the undocumented who by the tens of thousands crossed cities and states, -risking it all- “se las jugo”. On Javier’s flight back to Los Angeles he sat next to an Guatemalan immigrant whom three days after was observed in the news defiantly declaring, “I marched in Washington and I am undocumented”. Let us convey that as some of the principal leaders in the making of the Los Angeles record breaking 1.7 million mega demonstration of March 25, 2006 and also co-directing the National Great American Boycott, which closed cities and many industries in the country on May 1st of the same year which also successfully defeated the infamous Sensenbrenner BiIl, the gathering in the capitol, the political center of the American empire, was a magnificent display of the strength and power of the people on the streets.
Although the popular event was held during the same week that national attention and the media centered on the health reform issue, the political pressure brought forth by the organizing campaign at the end had several critical results. It set in motion the set of events that placed us at the door of the legislative debate. At the start of the week a national delegation of immigrant rights leaders met with President Obama, who then later that day had a discussion with key Senators Schumer and Graham. On Friday March 19 the two senators published an op-ed article in the Washington Post, with a four pillar framework setting their general perspective on the upcoming reform bill to be introduced in April in the senate. Additionally, in a precedent-setting move, Obama addressed the marchers through a taped video, declaring his belief that change emanates from the people on the streets as well as his unequivocal support for the framework. Of course in the House, both the framework and the bill introduced by Cong. Luis Gutierrez in late 2009, exhibit a deeper approach to overhauling the dysfunctional immigration system.
But more significantly, the march brought back into the national consciousness the importance of taking the streets as a primary means for social change. However, since the birth of this movement in 1968, the principal characteristic that differentiates this historic mobilization is the fact that it was conceived, convened and coordinated in the beltway as part of a multifaceted national plan of action, directed also by a national coordinating body. Furthermore, the young leadership in this struggle set the mood for the next round of massive events. On stage, during the Capitol Mall rally, with a powerful sound system and three giant screens that creatively captivated the audience for three hours or so, Ali Noorani -the Pakistani- American and national director of the 652 member umbrella coalition, Reform Immigration FOR America (RIFA), made the call for the May 1st 2010 national mobilizations.
As in 2006, the spring of the immigrant, the momentum has begun to build. As of this writing the national lobbying and organizing has continued. On April 10, in cities from coast to coast, once more thousands rallied and loudly continued the demand that immigration reform take place this year. The largest event with 6,000 people reported in the New York Times, was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, the embattled home state of Senate leader Harry Reid, an immigration reform supporter. More revealing though is Dallas, where on April 10, 2006 , 500,000 people exploded against HR4437. The Mega March Coalition there has officially made the call for another massive protest on May Day with the goal of mobilizing 100,000 people. Significantly, in a recent interview, acclaimed Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes incisively told the TELEMUNDO Network, “If the 12 million undocumented immigrants stop work for a week they will break the back of the US economy.” We will add that with respect to immigration reform, a protest of this magnitude on the part of the immigrant population, would bring the country to its knees.
Work in Washington continued after the march on the 21st. On Monday March 22, hundreds of enthusiastic and adrenalin charged activists flooded congressional halls to lobby legislators and at midday, in a clever and bold move, close to a hundred people, Javier included, staged a loud and raucous sit-in at the National Republican Party headquarters. Accompanied by demonstrators, making their demands known outside under the rain, the delegation demanded a meeting between RIFA and the Republican leadership to discuss their cooperation on the immigration issue. As was mentioned before by Javier in a February 17 article, “This reform process as a whole has already entered the massive and irreversible galvanization that apparently is about to produce the coveted goal, the big prize, immigration reform”. We can assure you at this moment John Tanton, the extreme right wing ideologue and founder of the anti- immigrant network FAIR , the Federation for American Immigration Reform, with all its millions in its treasury, knows he is in a losing cause.
Different from 2009, nationally the political landscape is set for Saturday May 1st. The indicators all point to a massive round of mega marches in the hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of demonstrators in many cities in the United States. There is an exception though in Los Angeles. After recently breaking the gridlock of division, the four major coalitions came together on Wednesday March 31 and designed a provisional plan of work, pledging to hold one unified march in downtown LA. Unfortunately however, in the following days the coalition was inexplicably and unilaterally dismantled. For the sake of the immigrant community, there is still time to responsibly rehabilitate the process of unity so LA may proudly once again regain its rightful stature as the birth place of this movement.
Javier Rodriguez is a political and media strategist, Atty. Isabel Rodriguez is an activist and writer now at Claremont College, William Torres is a boxing promoter, Atty. Antonio Rodriguez specializes in civil rights and police brutality law, and Atty. Don Jones is a tenant rights veteran in Pasadena now fighting a freeway extension and a third eviction process against the State of California. All of the signees were fundamental in the building of the mega marches in 2006 and have been members of the March 25 Coalition.
Information at bajolamiradejavier@yahoo.com, gtorres66@hotmail.com, camarada@socal.rr.com
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