BlogHer - May 1st General Strike and Boycott/ 1 May Paro General - Comments

Other May Day Workers Marches

mobilejones — Mon, 01 May 2006 22:03:24 -0500

Debi Jones
Contributing Editor, Blogging and Social Media
Feed your mobile jones

Hundreds Arrested in

mobilejones — Mon, 01 May 2006 21:55:58 -0500

Hundreds Arrested in Nationwide Immigration Crackdown
From Reuters
10:27 AM PDT, April 20, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Almost 1,200 illegal immigrants and seven current or former managers at a Netherlands-based firm that hired them were arrested as part of a national crackdown, U.S. authorities said today.

Ga. Illegal Hires Case Pends in Supreme Court

All Things Considered, April 4, 2006 · This month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether a suit against Mohawk Industries, a large carpet manufacturer, should be allowed to proceed. Plaintiffs say Mohawk hires illegal immigrants at its north Georgia plants, which depresses wages in the region.

Mohawk says it checks all employees for work papers, but many have fake documents that are hard to detect.

To help you get started.

Debi Jones
Contributing Editor, Blogging and Social Media
Feed your mobile jones

Employers

Pam — Mon, 01 May 2006 19:53:24 -0500

I'm just tuning in to this issue so admittedly, I'm a bit behind. (Yes, I've been living under a rock. Seriously.) I have seen press about the workers and their prosecution, but I just haven't seen much about prosecution of employers for hiring those workers.

Off to Google I go.

Nerd's Eye View

photos of the march

Liz Henry — Mon, 01 May 2006 19:34:51 -0500

and non-immigrants like me.

So, my photos of the march are here:
Sí se puede!

But a flickr search or two gets you great photos from all over!

-----------------
Liz Henry
lizzard@bookmaniac.net
Badgermama - personal & mommyblog
http://liz-henry.blogspot.com

I thought this strike wouldn't affect me much.

debra roby — Mon, 01 May 2006 17:03:36 -0500

It's Monday. I'll be walking the dogs and packing for a trip. Most I'll be buying is bag of dog food for the boarder. Except that my one tire is a little low. Gee, it's got a nail in it! Can't get it fixed because Big "O" has nobody to fix it, but they do put enough air in it to get the dogs to the park and PetSmart.

The "check engine" light went on at park. Did I mention that I usually get my car serviced at big "o"?? I can't call them for an appointment because they closed after lunch.

sigh. I woke up this morning thinking my only inconvienence would be the traffic jam on the freeway from a mudslide.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Simple Still Life

Not everyone marching is an illegal

Liz Rizzo — Mon, 01 May 2006 15:53:55 -0500

I would imagine these shutdowns are also because legal immigrants are also marching.

Korean Americans on "Day without an immigrant"

Lisa Stone — Mon, 01 May 2006 14:22:31 -0500

Fresh out of the gate, newcomer Kimchi Mamas blogs about "A Day without An Immigrant" from a fresh perspective by blogger Nina:

Living in Los Angeles, the immigration debate has been the hot topic at almost every gathering I've been to over the past month. In one way or another, this issue impacts everyone I know. It's easy to think that this is just a Latino issue. But it's not. Our local public radio station recently interviewed one of the Korean Americans behind the most recent protest. They were mobilizing local churches, senior citizens groups, and students to protest alongside other immigrant groups, including Latinos...

More here.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Just someone with opinions

media girl — Mon, 01 May 2006 12:21:20 -0500

I use my name where it counts -- at the voting booth. Otherwise, what difference does it make to you, really?

--
MediaGirl

Why?

media girl — Mon, 01 May 2006 12:20:05 -0500

US employers who are willing to take advantage of cheap labor that illegals make possible is something that should be tracked and punished.

I've yet to see any reason why. Maybe it's the law that makes them illegal that's the problem.

And if the cheap labor itself is a problem, then maybe the minimum wage laws need to be revisited and updated. Lord knows that that is long overdue!

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MediaGirl

Nice MediaGirl! Read these too...

Lisa Stone — Mon, 01 May 2006 10:53:46 -0500

What a beautiful piece of writing. And, I would add, economic stress exacerbates these not-so-hidden racial stresses. (Ever read "Carry Me Home," by Diane McWhorter? I recommend it.)

Chris Nolan wrote a fantastic piece on this issue last week: Yo No Say: You Don't Either.

Also, here are some (unreviewed) links I just received from Liza Sabater's Culturekitchen newsletter -- haven't checked them out because the links are slow; I'm betting she's getting a boatload of traffic:

Today, all across the United States, Americans are staying home from work and school or shutting down their businesses in in solidarity with Day without an immigrant strike. Since no one can tell if you are a perra on the internets, take this as an open invitation to join our multilingual political bachata. You write in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Hebrew, Arabic? We want them all!

What else should I be reading? Would love all ya'll's recommendations. Thanks.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

That part of discussion

mobilejones — Mon, 01 May 2006 09:48:10 -0500

That part of discussion isn't AWOL. It's been covered and discussed in many quarters. Noting the companies that do shut down is important information as my first comment to this thread illustrated.

US employers who are willing to take advantage of cheap labor that illegals make possible is something that should be tracked and punished.

Debi Jones
Contributing Editor, Blogging and Social Media
Feed your mobile jones

Race is the cheap argument

mobilejones — Mon, 01 May 2006 09:43:13 -0500

You might want to tell the folks of "You don't speak for me" that they are racists.

Members of "You Don't Speak for Me" include a cross section of the Hispanic American community: lawyers, doctors, teachers, scientists, former government and military officials, who are immigrants and children of immigrants, such as: Pete Nunez (former Assistant Secretary of Treasury, & U.S. Attorney for San Diego), Col. Al Rodriguez, Ret., a highly decorated war veteran, Claudia Spencer, Ogla Robles, Rosa Candaleria, Mariann S. Davis, Esq. and more...

Where is the courage of your conviction? Why are you anonymous? Who are you MediaGirl?

Debi Jones
Contributing Editor, Blogging and Social Media
Feed your mobile jones

What about the employers?

Pam — Mon, 01 May 2006 09:30:28 -0500

I'm struggling with trying to understand a peripheral issue - though I am open to hearing that it's beside the point. Can someone please explain to me why "we" are not also going after employers of illegal immigrants? From my local paper this morning:

Some big businesses are shutting down operations, corporate spokesmen said: Six of 14 Perdue Farms plants will close; Gallo Wines in Sonoma, Calif., is giving its 150 employees the day off; Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat producer, will shut five of its nine beef plants and four of six pork plants.

If our gov't is so key to crack down on these workers, could they not penalize the folks who are so eager to employ them? We're not talking Modest Joe's House Painting here, we're talking TYSON FOODS.

Understand this is not my position. In my attempt to grasp the underlying issues, it seems to me this critical component of the illegal worker discussion is AWOL.

Nerd's Eye View

We're not even talking about Jean Valjean

media girl — Mon, 01 May 2006 09:07:31 -0500

He stole a loaf of bread, and was imprisoned for 19 years as a thief.

These illegal immigrants are not stealing bread, they're working to buy bread. What's "illegal" about them is not what they do -- which we pay them to do, I might add -- but that we cannot admit that we have done this.

Sure, Mexico is incredibly corrupt. Is that their responsibility? Is Dick Cheney's graft your responsibility? Is that really the problem here? Let's face it: While Canada's border was open for all these years, and made more restrictive only years after 9/11, Mexico's border has been officially closed -- with underfunded and ineffective enforcement, but "closed" nonetheless. Do we lay that at the feet of a corrupt government? Do we lay a corrupt police state at the feet of their peasants?

Or do we admit that this country -- our country -- has a big problem with race?

Does anyone really believe that we'd be having this discussion if these illegal immigrants were white? This is part of a long, rich tradition in the Republican Party -- blame poor black women, blame poor Hispanics, blame all Arabs for all our problems.

Meanwhile, who seems to be managing to keep doing better and better? The ruling classes in the mega-corporation boardrooms, who also happen to be running the government. (Gotta love that revolving door.)

This whole issue is a made-up effort by the right wing to pander to the worst impulses of their base constituents, appealing to their racism, their xenophobia, their fear. Nativism is nothing new in America. But those times have never been our nation's proudest moments.

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MediaGirl

What would I do?

mobilejones — Mon, 01 May 2006 01:59:14 -0500

My country is struggling with corruption, war and a disregard for the laws that have until recently allowed peoples to join in forming a union which respects the law. The country is headed by leadership that has done much damage. This issue is a tactic in societial and voter disharmony.

The Republicans benefit at the ballot box when the nation is divided. So they've carelessly set us opposed to one another with the use of moral, ethical and social issues. They've create conflict for the purpose of disunity in the opposition party and left those conflicts unresolved to simmer and stew. The potential for chaos is building. I'm worried about my country. There is so much attention placed upon those things which separate us that it's becoming more difficult to recall what unites us.

Issues used to divide us and prevent us from uniting on the more critical national issues like the shifting economy, the environment and war are easy enough to list.

1)Abortion
2)Religion
3)Gay Marriage
4)Illegal immigration

Our divison allowed Bush a second term. Playing the country like an instrument, Republican strategists have called to issue our beliefs, set them in conflict and walked away. Dangerous business if you ask me.

As to criminality, coming here is not where the illegal behavior ends for those who start illegally. Those coming for work must purchase forged documents, commit fraud and/or falisfy documents themselves to work illegally. So it's not a simple matter of merely crossing the border. Any of those acts would land you and I in jail. Further, 30% of the US prison population came to the US illegally. You want to break the law? Go ahead. Just be prepared for the consequences, such as, losing your job, being deported or maybe going to jail.

I'm terribly disappointed in US citizens who don't realize that rewarding illegal behavior is against the fundamentals of a nation state founded on the principle of law. How do you explain to the immigrants who have waited sometimes for 10 years to come to the US legally that some can break the law and come ahead of them? A friend of mine waited 7 years to enter the US legally from Lebanon.

As for responsibility, we have the responsibility to hold our law makers accountable for policy. The citizens of the US are not required to bribe or otherwise pay off the citizens of another country who have chosen to abdicate their own responsibilities and flee here.

You suggest that "we" in the US should be responsible and change our own country for those who have not been responsible and changed their own countries. Mexico is corrupt. That explains the plight of its citizens more than the policies of the US which have included forgiveness of debt and the $50 Billion in the 1990s to stablize the peso. Those loans were paid back in full.

To suggest that the US is wholely responsible for Mexico's woes is merely inaccurate. And such a focus is to play handily the Republican game of distraction.

Debi Jones
Contributing Editor, Blogging and Social Media
Feed your mobile jones

May 1st General Strike and Boycott/ 1 May Paro General

Liz Henry — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 18:24:51 -0500

Contributing Editor Liz Henry also blogs at Composite and Badgermama.

I'll be taking the train up to the march and rally in San Francisco next Monday for the international Great American Boycott and General Strike to protest HR 4437. I like the slogan from May Day in the Bay!: "On May 1st we are all undocumented." In other words, if you're not "undocumented", act in solidarity and leave your ID at home.

In my town on the SF peninsula, the schools are begging parents not to keep their kids out of school. They sent a letter home (in English and Spanish) talking about the importance of education. Several schools in the district, though, are closing down completely on May 1. I'm probably going to keep my son out of school and bring him to the Civic Center rally - fighting for civil rights is a good thing to add to his education.

Nationally, there is a movement to be inclusive of all immigrants, but around here the entire rally and strike is very much framed as a Latin America/U.S. issue. Gaba en San Pancho brought my attention to a good article by Lakele on immigration: Por un mundo sin fronteras.

Coco suggests not having Starbucks but "puras Coronas". I guess the point is to stock up on the Coronas beforehand since in theory you can't buy them on Monday! La guera loca blogs about the recent arrests of immigrants in Virginia, and the rumors flying in her town. Many people in Mexico

and other countries won't be buying American products on May 1st.

(crossposted at other magazine)