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7 Responses to “Undocumented Students Arrested at Arizona Protest”
“Paddy wagon whisking away” the protesters? Hmmm. How embellished is that? These courageous students are certainly taking a bold stand and putting the authorities on the defensive. Dream Act or not, this type of direct action puts the state in quite a bureaucratic conundrum, especially with such publicity. Noting that 65K “illegal” students (who came here as children) graduate in the US suggests the elite need to humanely deal with that stripe of “alien,” and a concurrent rationale for dealing with Others more harshly (i.e. a child is innocently brought here by her parents and deserves amnesty whereas an adult “alien” intends to break the law and should be deported).
The Arizona bill has the potential to more deeply and broadly polarize society around what appears–with unemployment so high– to be an increasingly emotional issue. While neocons are outright racist dogs, many social “liberals,” while acknowledging the bill goes too far, seem to want the law followed. Hopefully there will be more of this type of organized resistance. I only wonder why it doesn’t occurn in other spheres, such as insurance companies which are literally killing machines.
But I digress. The issue of immigration is only getting sharper and further exposes how murderous this system is. And let’s not forget that immigration and refugee concerns are sharpening up globally. Look at the Iraqi refugees! Yankee plunder is a fulcrum for catapulting swaths of humanity to unwanted corners throughout the planet. Trusting that most readers get that “it’s imperialism, stupid,” how can we best leverage this showdown?
Kasama is doing a good service using the internet as a fulcrum to tell many stories of the immigrant experience and not losing sight of imperialism being the principle issue. It would be good if more people could contribute internationally somehow.
This is a huge development. Like the four Black college students who sat in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina on Feb. 1, 1960 these courageous young undocumented women and men are directly challenging a legal system that people into castes. Their action is a moral challenge to every single self-styled progressive in the country to take up the cause and to ask what sort of risks we are willing to endure to end this system. I know that civil disobedience actions are being organized in other cities across the country. We should do everything we can to support and spread these actions.
Tellnolies, I agree that this act has the potential to evolve into something greater, and in fact it must evolve into something greater, something beyond protests at the ballpark, if we are to have hope of seeing anything approaching a humane outcome for immigrants. I was extremely moved by these courageous students who we must rally behind while the right and the msm pillories them, and while the liberals do nothing while saying things like “oh, how awful”.
I was at a ballpark protest last night in south Florida. Maybe 75 people demonstrating against SB 1070 and the specter of such a law coming here – one strong gubernatorial candidate, AG Bill McCollum now favors an SB 1070 type law – also sending a message to move the 2011 All Star game out of Arizona. And that’s all fine.
But what we need to see is a building toward the kind of mass protests that we saw on May Day of 2006. In Florida, this is particularly difficult as the unions are weak and the entrenched strength of the right-wing Cubans has yet to be seriously challenged. Posada Carriles, undisturbed, marched the streets of Miami not two months ago with the Ladies in White and Gloria Estefan by his side. In Chicago, NY, CA, Washington, wherever!, I hope this movement is being built.
Here, workers need to be appealed to directly, bypassing their compromised leaders who didn’t (imo) do their part for last night’s action. While a handful of workers – AFL-CIO, SEIU, UNITE/HERE – came to the march yesterday, their turnout was very small relative to the gravity of this issue. A wonderful sight was the contingent of about a dozen from Coalition of Immokalee Workers who drove 100 miles to join the group. CIW hadn’t even been mentioned in the literature about the action but they had the biggest contingent of all.
But also pointing up the need for a mass grassroots response to SB 1070 and an emboldened right wing which seems to flout its racism more blatantly as each day passes, CIW earlier yesterday hosted in their Immokalee office Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis who provided some sweet rhetoric on her boss’s commitment to oppressed farmworkers. Obama apparently thinks that photo op’s are a fair substitute for an aggressive response to racism and for progressive immigration legislation (not that we can expect anything but weak legislation from him, if any).
I think this is a situation where the dialectical relationship between advanced and mass forms of action is really clear. Civil Disobedience actions like this have the power to radically shift how the question of immigrant rights is framed in many peoples minds. They also open up space for people to engage in less risky form of action and create an imperative to join in — “if those kids are willing to risk deportation, how can I refuse to march in the street.”
I would hope that every self-proclaimed revolutionary organization is sending cadres to Arizona to work on this issue and support developing mass struggle.
There are plans for a national convergence on Phoenix Ariona next week, with a cultural festival Friday May 28th, a march to the state capitol Sat. May 29th, and a meeting on Sunday, May 30th to plan further nationwide actions. More info at the following lonk, and some great posters. Spread the word! Open borders now! No more deportations. Abolish ICE!
lunita said
“Paddy wagon whisking away” the protesters? Hmmm. How embellished is that? These courageous students are certainly taking a bold stand and putting the authorities on the defensive. Dream Act or not, this type of direct action puts the state in quite a bureaucratic conundrum, especially with such publicity. Noting that 65K “illegal” students (who came here as children) graduate in the US suggests the elite need to humanely deal with that stripe of “alien,” and a concurrent rationale for dealing with Others more harshly (i.e. a child is innocently brought here by her parents and deserves amnesty whereas an adult “alien” intends to break the law and should be deported).
The Arizona bill has the potential to more deeply and broadly polarize society around what appears–with unemployment so high– to be an increasingly emotional issue. While neocons are outright racist dogs, many social “liberals,” while acknowledging the bill goes too far, seem to want the law followed. Hopefully there will be more of this type of organized resistance. I only wonder why it doesn’t occurn in other spheres, such as insurance companies which are literally killing machines.
But I digress. The issue of immigration is only getting sharper and further exposes how murderous this system is. And let’s not forget that immigration and refugee concerns are sharpening up globally. Look at the Iraqi refugees! Yankee plunder is a fulcrum for catapulting swaths of humanity to unwanted corners throughout the planet. Trusting that most readers get that “it’s imperialism, stupid,” how can we best leverage this showdown?
Lunita
Andre C said
Kasama is doing a good service using the internet as a fulcrum to tell many stories of the immigrant experience and not losing sight of imperialism being the principle issue. It would be good if more people could contribute internationally somehow.
tellnolies said
This is a huge development. Like the four Black college students who sat in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina on Feb. 1, 1960 these courageous young undocumented women and men are directly challenging a legal system that people into castes. Their action is a moral challenge to every single self-styled progressive in the country to take up the cause and to ask what sort of risks we are willing to endure to end this system. I know that civil disobedience actions are being organized in other cities across the country. We should do everything we can to support and spread these actions.
redwein said
Tellnolies, I agree that this act has the potential to evolve into something greater, and in fact it must evolve into something greater, something beyond protests at the ballpark, if we are to have hope of seeing anything approaching a humane outcome for immigrants. I was extremely moved by these courageous students who we must rally behind while the right and the msm pillories them, and while the liberals do nothing while saying things like “oh, how awful”.
I was at a ballpark protest last night in south Florida. Maybe 75 people demonstrating against SB 1070 and the specter of such a law coming here – one strong gubernatorial candidate, AG Bill McCollum now favors an SB 1070 type law – also sending a message to move the 2011 All Star game out of Arizona. And that’s all fine.
But what we need to see is a building toward the kind of mass protests that we saw on May Day of 2006. In Florida, this is particularly difficult as the unions are weak and the entrenched strength of the right-wing Cubans has yet to be seriously challenged. Posada Carriles, undisturbed, marched the streets of Miami not two months ago with the Ladies in White and Gloria Estefan by his side. In Chicago, NY, CA, Washington, wherever!, I hope this movement is being built.
Here, workers need to be appealed to directly, bypassing their compromised leaders who didn’t (imo) do their part for last night’s action. While a handful of workers – AFL-CIO, SEIU, UNITE/HERE – came to the march yesterday, their turnout was very small relative to the gravity of this issue. A wonderful sight was the contingent of about a dozen from Coalition of Immokalee Workers who drove 100 miles to join the group. CIW hadn’t even been mentioned in the literature about the action but they had the biggest contingent of all.
But also pointing up the need for a mass grassroots response to SB 1070 and an emboldened right wing which seems to flout its racism more blatantly as each day passes, CIW earlier yesterday hosted in their Immokalee office Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis who provided some sweet rhetoric on her boss’s commitment to oppressed farmworkers. Obama apparently thinks that photo op’s are a fair substitute for an aggressive response to racism and for progressive immigration legislation (not that we can expect anything but weak legislation from him, if any).
tellnolies said
I think this is a situation where the dialectical relationship between advanced and mass forms of action is really clear. Civil Disobedience actions like this have the power to radically shift how the question of immigrant rights is framed in many peoples minds. They also open up space for people to engage in less risky form of action and create an imperative to join in — “if those kids are willing to risk deportation, how can I refuse to march in the street.”
David_D said
I would hope that every self-proclaimed revolutionary organization is sending cadres to Arizona to work on this issue and support developing mass struggle.
observer said
There are plans for a national convergence on Phoenix Ariona next week, with a cultural festival Friday May 28th, a march to the state capitol Sat. May 29th, and a meeting on Sunday, May 30th to plan further nationwide actions. More info at the following lonk, and some great posters. Spread the word! Open borders now! No more deportations. Abolish ICE!
http://altoarizona.com/events.html#stopthehate