Strict Arizona Immigration Law Passes

[Crusade]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/13/arizona-immigration-law-p_n_536614.html


"Reasonable suspicion" aka "is Hispanic".


Reporting from Denver
Arizona lawmakers on Tuesday approved what foes and supporters agree is the toughest measure in the country against illegal immigrants, directing local police to determine whether people are in the country legally.

The measure, long sought by opponents of illegal immigration, passed 35 to 21 in the state House of Representatives.

The state Senate passed a similar measure earlier this year, and Republican Gov. Jan Brewer is expected to sign the bill.

The bill's author, State Sen. Russell Pearce, said it simply "takes the handcuffs off of law enforcement and lets them do their job."

But police were deeply divided on the matter, with police unions backing it but the state police chief's association opposing the bill, contending it could erode trust with immigrants who could be potential witnesses.

Immigrant rights groups were horrified, and contended that Arizona would be transformed into a police state.

"It's beyond the pale," said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "It appears to mandate racial profiling."

The bill, known as SB 1070, makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration paperwork in Arizona. It also requires police officers, if they form a "reasonable suspicion" that someone is an illegal immigrant, to determine the person's immigration status.

Currently, officers can inquire about someone's immigration status only if the person is a suspect in another crime. The bill allows officers to avoid the immigration issue if it would be impractical or hinder another investigation.

Citizens can sue to compel police agencies to comply with the law, and no city or agency can formulate a policy directing its workers to ignore the law -- a provision that advocates say prevents so-called sanctuary orders that police not inquire about people's immigration status.

The bill cements the position of Arizona, whose border with Mexico is the most popular point of entry for illegal immigrants into this country, as the state most aggressively using its own laws to fight illegal immigration. In 2006 the state passed a law that would dissolve companies with a pattern of hiring illegal immigrants. Last year it made it a crime for a government worker to give improper benefits to an illegal immigrant.

Mark Krikorian at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that advocates tougher immigration enforcement, said the legislation was a logical extension of the state's previous enforcement efforts.

"It makes sense that they would be the first to do it since they're ground zero for illegal immigration," he said.

Krikorian added that he doubted the law would be used much. "Obviously, their prosecutors aren't going to go out and prosecute every illegal alien," he said. "It gives police and prosecutors another tool should they need it."

Opponents, however, raised the specter of officers untrained in immigration law being required to determine who is in the country legally. They noted that though the bill says race cannot solely be used to form a suspicion about a person's legality, it implicitly allows it to be a factor.

"A lot of U.S. citizens are going to be swept up in the application of this law for something as simple as having an accent and leaving their wallet at home," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.

The ACLU and other groups have vowed to sue to block the bill from taking effect should Brewer sign it. They note that a federal court struck down a New Hampshire law in 2005 that said illegal immigrants were trespassing, declaring that only the federal government has the authority to enforce immigration. Another provision of the Arizona law, which makes day laborers illegal, violates the 1st Amendment, critics contend.

The issue of local enforcement of immigration laws has been especially heated in Arizona, where Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has taken an aggressive stance, conducting sweeps in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods to round up illegal immigrants.

His actions have drawn a civil rights investigation from the Department of Justice but strong praise from Arizonans. Other agencies have argued against Arpaio's stance, saying that they need illegal immigrants to trust them enough to report crimes.

Brewer, a Republican, has not taken a public stance on the bill. She replaced Janet Napolitano, a Democrat who became President Obama's Homeland Security chief last year. Napolitano had vetoed similar bills in the past. Brewer faces a primary challenge next month; most observers expect her to sign the measure.

Some Republicans have privately complained about the bill, which Pearce has been pushing for several years, but were loath to vote against it in an election year. The House was scheduled to approve it last week but the vote was delayed until Tuesday to give sponsors a chance to round up enough votes. It picked up steam after the killing late last month of a rancher on the Arizona side of the Mexican border. Footprints from the crime scene led back to Mexico.

In an impassioned debate Tuesday, both sides relied on legal and moral arguments.

"Illegal immigration brings crime, kidnapping, drugs -- drains our government services," said Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican. "Nobody can stand on the sidelines and not take part in this battle."

Democrats were just as passionate. "This bill, whether we intend it or not, terrorizes the people we profit from," said Rep. Tom Chabin.

[email protected]

latimes.com

[Qayin]

Russell Pearce is a NSM loving piece of shit.
Up against the wall mother fucker!

[Antifa94]

Fucking scum. I hope they all die.
The immigrants will hopefully rebel or riot.

[Tablo]

Social Liberation, Not Anti-Immigration!!!

[GPDP]

Interesting to see Arizona and not Texas be the frontrunner in bigoted anti-immigrant policies.

Did you know I actually get my entire uni education (sans books) paid for here in Texas? I'm sure that has some right-wing schlub foaming at the mouth as I type this.

Anyway, hopefully my fellow undocumented people and their sympathizers in Arizona fight back against this draconian measure.

[chegitz guevara]

Hopefully the American Indians can use this legislation to drive white people off their lands. ;)

[Demogorgon]

As I understand it, that looks more or less identical to the old South African Pass Laws. Essentially people of a certain race will be required to show papers on demand by the police for no reason with serious consequences for failing to do so.

The whole "illegal immigration" debate has gone beyond the pale. It was always economic gobbledygook to claim it was harmful the way some people do, but when it is at the point where apartheid laws are being written into American law more or less intact, you know something has gone seriously wrong.

Obviously the establishment needs a scapegoat to blame for all the worlds problems and as it can't use Jews anymore, it attacks immigrants, but that people are so willing to go along with it, even given the history of the twentieth century is pretty terrifying.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Texas isnt really the crazy state anymore. the craziness is moving farther west. im sure it will hit california at some point.

Arizona is especially known for its Minutemen, Patriot, NSM, WP, and Fascist groups.

"It makes sense that they would be the first to do it since they're ground zero for illegal immigration,"

this provides an attraction for right-wing militias and political groups.

[Raightning]

Anyone who hasn't read about Joe Arpaio really needs to. (http://reidscones.com/prison/arpaio.html) The horrible bullshit that passes for 'justice' in the US, and particularly Arizona, is disgusting.

[¿Que?]

I know petitions are generally ineffective in and of themselves. But I thought I'd pass this on to the revleft people who might be interested in doing something (albeit somewhat insignificant). Click on "Take Action" and you will be taken to an online form.

http://www.altoarizona.com/index.html

EDIT: I'm too late. I think she already signed the bill :(

[Martin Blank]

^^^ She did sign it.

Well, I for one would like to thank the governor and state legislature in Arizona for insuring that the upcoming May 1 immigrant rights demonstrations are going to be fucking huge and full of pissed off workers.

[Red Commissar]

Well, I for one would like to thank the governor and state legislature in Arizona for insuring that the upcoming May 1 immigrant rights demonstrations are going to be fucking huge and full of pissed off workers.

I indeed hope it will.

I'm not sure what's more disgusting really, the fact that this shit was able to pass (it's obvious this was political posturing for the tea baggers... they even passed something saying that Obama had to furnish his birth certificate to be on the ballot come 2012) or that people are going out of their way to defend this piece of shit legislation.

[Martin Blank]

I'm not sure what's more disgusting really, the fact that this shit was able to pass (it's obvious this was political posturing for the tea baggers... they even passed something saying that Obama had to furnish his birth certificate to be on the ballot come 2012) or that people are going out of their way to defend this piece of shit legislation.

I think this new law shows what kind of legislation the Tea Party Nativists will push governments to adopt as they gain strength.

[Red Commissar]

What I find sickening personally is how some people don't generally seem to care about the implications of this bill. Most of them have bad impressions of Mexicans already, and these kind of things just play into their whole "we need to control crime and welfare abuse" mentality they have towards Mexicans.

I would like to see some good arguments against this bill.

[Uppercut]

This really is a loss. I was in Arizona a few years ago and I spoke with many immigrants who were really just good-hearted people looking for ways to make ends meet. This bill isn't exactly going to make their lives any easier....

EDIT: a conservative "friend" of mine actually defended the bill today in school, saying we need to crackdown on illegal immigration and he started listing off a bunch of bullshit reasons why this bill is necessary....damn, I hate this school...

[Flamehero]

This bill is made and signed by out of touch old whites, who fail to see anyone other than themselves for 'good' people. This bill is a back step in equality; no matter your citizenship, we're all from North America, these imaginary boundaries are a stigma to society and won't help anyone.

[Red Commissar]

This really is a loss. I was in Arizona a few years ago and I spoke with many immigrants who were really just good-hearted people looking for ways to make ends meet. This bill isn't exactly going to make their lives any easier....

I like it when these damn fools are so clueless as to how the immigration system works. They think it's easy to come in here legally. Honestly it's obvious they've never had anyone go through the clusterfuck of trying to immigrate into the United States from somewhere outside of Western Europe.

It doesn't help either with the news spamming about border violence from the drug cartels. The two aren't even related but they'll keep pointing out the presence of crime in their communities to push through nonsense like this.


This bill is made and signed by out of touch old whites, who fail to see anyone other than themselves for 'good' people. This bill is a back step in equality; no matter your citizenship, we're all from North America, these imaginary boundaries are a stigma to society and won't help anyone.

When you have this sharp rise in nativism, unfortunately people lose their common sense they so often claim to want.

[Antifa94]

What's really disturbing is that all of my liberal friends have defended this. One even calls himself a socialist. The law institutionalizes racial profiling. The immigrant's reaction will hopefully be that of the blacks in Brixton, Toxteth etc. in 1981, protesting against the Stop and Search laws.

Forgetting the affect that this will have upon immigrants, the law is apartheid incarnate. Legal Hispanics will be subject to harassment and arrest if they don't have their papers on them, thus they're being treated like second-class citizens.

[Jacobinist]

SB 1070 is bullshit. Anyone who supports it are fucking racist or completely ignorant retards.

[Jacobinist]

Alabama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ohsvJHkbY

^ would almost be funny, if it weren't reals. But this is common thread with the tea parties, anti obama, sb 1070 etc.

[The Ben G]

And thus, America enters the middle of its transition towards fascism.

Its sick and unnecessary. How do the American people allow this to happen?

[The Ben G]

Alabama:
B9ohsvJHkbY

^ would almost be funny, if it weren't reals. But this is common thread with the tea parties, anti obama, sb 1070 etc.

I hate these scumbags. I hope he slips in the shower, hits his head, and comes to his senses.

[Robocommie]

I hate these scumbags. I hope he slips in the shower, hits his head, and comes to his senses.

How ironic would it be if, after hitting his head, he finds he can speak 12 languages?

[The Red Next Door]

I read the bill, for my political science class. It have just plain fucking racist written all over the motherfucker, especially with the overuse of alien. In the bill, I had an arguement about this bill with a classmate, and she said i was crazy for saying it, was racist. I was like, you are the fucking crazy one, if you can't see that, this fucking bill is racist. In one part of the bill, it said that whenever someone is let out of prison, ICE must be notify. Now, think about this. America prisons are fill up with not only blacks but Latinos, so just put two together, the fact that the ICE must be notify. Whenever a prisoner is let out and the number of Latinos in the prisons.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Alaska: Sarah Palin

Arizona: SP 1070

Alabama: Tim "im an asshole" James

Anyone have anything for Arkansas?

Also,

How ironic would it be if, after hitting his head, he finds he can speak 12 languages?
Coma = -Croatian, +German. (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/teen-wakes-coma-speaking-fluent-german/story?id=10395859)

maybe it exists for this guy?

[ckaihatsu]

this fucking bill is racist. In one part of the bill, it said that whenever someone is let out of prison, ICE must be notify. Now, think about this. America prisons are fill up with not only blacks but Latinos, so just put two together, the fact that the ICE must be notify. Whenever a prisoner is let out and the number of Latinos in the prisons.


Until Canada's and Britain's economies and populations become like that of Mexico and Central American countries -- it's racist.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Until Canada's and Britain's economies and populations become like that of Mexico and Central American countries -- it's racist.
the way this works though is that it is directly targeting mexican immigrants. or anyone how happens to be the right shade of brown or has the right accent.

i can guarantee you that if the british and canadian economies get fucked like mexico's economy that the citizens that move here wont be targeted.

theres this thing called white privilege that is institutionalized in this country. its systemic.

a bill like SB 1070 would either be repealed or modified to be actually literally racist. anyone could then be arrested and cops arent going to do that. its a waste of time. this current bill is also a waste of time.

[~Spectre]

A U.S. congressman calls for the deportation of American citizens should they be born to illegals:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/28/rep-hunter-deport-us-born-children-illegal-aliens/



“Congressman, would you support the deportation of natural-born American citizens that are the children of illegal aliens?” the questioner asked.
“I would have to, yes,” Hunter responded. “And I’ll tell you why. You know, this is a, it’s a complex issue and it’s, you know, you can look and say, ‘You’re a mean guy. You know, that’s a mean thing to do. That’s not humanitarian.’
“We simply can not afford what we’re doing now. We just can’t afford to do it. California’s going under. How much in debt are we, $20 billion? ...We just can’t afford it. That’s it.
“And we’re not being mean. We’re just saying it takes more than walking across the border to become an American citizen. It’s what’s in our souls, not just walking across the border.”


A U.S. congressmen saying that "we" need to deport the American Citizen children of illegal aliens, presumably because they are part of the reason that we are in so much debt, and because their parents didn't have "what's in our souls".

In review:
- He wants to expel citizens.
- He is blaming national problems on a mostly defenseless minority.
- He is dehumanizing them on a "soul" level.
- He is claiming to do all this in the interest of "we".

[Crux]

Mexico boycotts Arizona. (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0428/Arizona-immigration-law-Will-Mexico-boycotts-cripple-trade)

[ckaihatsu]

Uh-oh.... When both the realms of Finance and Nation have imploded and turned to shit what else is there for the Decision Makers to do but to turn their attention to the *people* them/ourselves...? Until recently they'd fuck up people's lives *indirectly*, through Finance and Nation, but now it's *hands on*, baby...!!!


Chris




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-- Theoretically bad-ass --

[Sendo]

A U.S. congressman calls for the deportation of American citizens should they be born to illegals:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/28/rep-hunter-deport-us-born-children-illegal-aliens/




A U.S. congressmen saying that "we" need to deport the American Citizen children of illegal aliens, presumably because they are part of the reason that we are in so much debt, and because their parents didn't have "what's in our souls".

In review:
- He wants to expel citizens.
- He is blaming national problems on a mostly defenseless minority.
- He is dehumanizing them on a "soul" level.
- He is claiming to do all this in the interest of "we".

This is why I love even simple gestures like Binghamton, NY's mayor installing a war cost ticker in the city. Immigrants don't cost us $1 trillion a year; the Pentagon does. We all know this fact, but we have to repeat it. The mainstream media has buried this fact, but we MUST stress it. I'm shocked at how many "college-educated" people see deficit problems and the first thing they think of is tightening the belt, and using cold rationalism on the poor. Taxing capital gains or pulling out of Iraw and Afghanistan are completely cut off in their minds.

Politics has been so de-politicized, that Marxists come of as crazies tying everything into economics. Michael Parenti said something great once about a revered presidential biography collection book that never once mentioned capitalism.

It is racist, but we won't convert people by making accusations of "you're racist". I think we've got more strength in saying "that's illogical", then "that policy's racist", and finally "YOU are a racist."

[Ligeia]

A U.S. congressmen saying that "we" need to deport the American Citizen children of illegal aliens, presumably because they are part of the reason that we are in so much debt, and because their parents didn't have "what's in our souls".


Someone once told me that there have already been cases like that (but I can't find any article about this).
I don't think it's really surprising.
They also let people shoot into water tanks in the desert which are meant to be for illegal immigrants.
I think someone even proposed to poison a part of the Rio Grande ( so that plants die which are used as hiding places).

Really only blaming problems on "the other" who is some mystical entity with a certain character and static outlook (in culture,religion,work,behaviour,ethics) which is projected on to ethnicity. Like this nobody will try to analyse why there's so much immigration on basis of history and economy, and like this there'll be also no other solutionn in their eyes.("They" being people who let themselves lure into that kind of argumentation.)

[theblackmask]

They also let people shoot into water tanks in the desert which are meant to be for illegal immigrants.

That's murder. I think we need to bring Dick Cheney down to the border...he'll take care of those racist assholes.

[Comrade Gwydion]

Anyone who hasn't read about Joe Arpaio really needs to. (http://reidscones.com/prison/arpaio.html) The horrible bullshit that passes for 'justice' in the US, and particularly Arizona, is disgusting.

What a disgusting man...
What is his current function? He's still sheriff or something else?

[The Ben G]

How ironic would it be if, after hitting his head, he finds he can speak 12 languages?

That would be awesome.

[theblackmask]

What a disgusting man...
What is his current function? He's still sheriff or something else?

He just announced he's running for governor.

[zimmerwald1915]

Don't know if anybody's posted this. I don't agree with the politics of the fourth verse, and the production (not to mention the guy's voice) is, IMHO, kinda bad, but I thought it might lighten the mood a little.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mxrzhbEiXQ&feature=related

[ckaihatsu]

A U.S. congressmen saying that "we" need to deport the American Citizen children of illegal aliens, presumably because they are part of the reason that we are in so much debt, and because their parents didn't have "what's in our souls".


By my estimation this kind of statement / rhetoric puts a person (politician) on the far-right edge of the establishment since they are politically flirting with the religious right, or privileged identity-tribalism.

On this diagram the religious right is even to the right of the imperialists for this reason.


Ideologies & Operations -- Fundamentals

http://i48.tinypic.com/1zxm51g.jpg

[Velkas]

This law is so fucking stupid.

Makes me sad to live in Arizona. And America.

There is little difference between fascism and other types of capitalism/statism. Fascism just lies at the extremes. And this is fascism.

[fredbergen]

http://www.internationalist.org/internationalistlogo.png
May 2010





Full Citizenship Rights for All Immigrants!



Mobilize Workers Against Racist Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law!






http://www.internationalist.org/igmaydaynyca1005.jpg

Internationalist contingent at New York City May Day march from Union Square, 1 May 2010. (Internationalist photo)



Democrats’ “Concept” of Immigration “Reform”: A Police State



The passage of a spectacularly racist immigration law by the Arizona state senate on April 19, and its signing into law by the governor four days later, has provoked a wave of justified outrage across the United States and internationally. Senate Bill 1070 authorizes police to stop people on the street to demand that they produce documents to prove their immigration status. Despite the pious claims by the racist politicians to the contrary, this means blatant “racial profiling” by the cops. In Arizona, anyone who “looks Mexican” is now subject to arrest. The clause in SB 1070 saying police “may not solely consider race, color or national origin” (our emphasis) means that those racist criteria can be a legitimate basis for stopping someone on the street. The Internationalist Group not only denounces Arizona’s racist immigration law, we call for full citizenship rights for all immigrants.

Comparisons are being made, including by the Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, to the racial laws of Nazi Germany, where people were stopped on the street because they “looked Jewish.” Perhaps Arizona police will now practice saying “show your papers” in the same peremptory tone that the Gestapo or German officers in occupied Europe demanded “Papiere zeigen.” And if immigrants (or others) can’t come up with the required documents, “suspects” will be shipped off to concentration camps, and eventually jailed or deported. Other comparisons are being made to South Africa’s infamous “pass laws,” requiring blacks to carry special internal passports, or fugitive slave laws in the pre-Civil War U.S. The comparisons make a point, but the criminalization of immigrants won’t just be a result of the Arizona law. Every day more than 30,000 immigrants are being held in the United States in more than 350 detention centers around the country.

Racist forces around the U.S. are hailing the Arizona law as a model for the kind of anti-immigrant witchhunting they are demanding. The bill’s author, Russell Pearce, hobnobs with well-known neo-Nazis and circulates literature from white supremacist groups. Meanwhile, just about everyone to the left of Adolph Hitler is using the opportunity to pose as a false friend of immigrants by making a few mild criticisms of SB 1070. Mexican president Felipe Calderón wraps himself in the tricolor flag and says the Arizona law “opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination, abuse in applying the law.” Yet the Grupo Beta of the Mexican Army notoriously cooperates with the migra in persecuting immigrants (particularly those from Central America), and the militarization imposed by Calderón is pushing thousands of Mexicans across the border.

Because of President Barack Obama’s description of the racist bill as “misguided,” many immigrants’ rights groups are calling on the federal Justice Department to carry out an “investigation” of whether it will violate civil rights. (The xenophobes say immigrants have no rights.) Others look to the courts to declare the law in violation of the U.S. Constitution, for preempting federal legislation on immigration. Many groups are calling to “boycott Arizona,” now dubbed the “hate state.” Yet not all Arizonans are responsible for this racial-profiling law: at that rate, why not boycott the U.S. as a whole for its racist violence and imperialist wars?

The biggest threat to immigrants is not from right-wing yahoos and immigrant-bashing Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County but from the federal government. The biggest immigrant hunters are not fascist Minuteman vigilantes but the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) police. Under Democrat Obama’s “Homeland Security” chief, former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano, the Justice Department has set (and almost reached) a goal of 400,000 deportations a year, more than double the number in 2006 under Republican George Bush. Already jack-booted black-uniformed migra cops are kicking in apartment doors and arresting anyone they find who can’t provide instant proof of citizenship or legal residency, separating crying U.S.-born children from their foreign-born parents. Hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers are fired because of computer-generated “no match” letters.

Now liberal Democrats led by New York senator Charles Schumer are circulating a 26-page “conceptual framework on immigration.” Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada has vowed to bring immigration reform legislation to the floor “this year.” Like Obama’s professed “commitment” to reform the “broken” immigration system, which he repeated in a video message to the huge (more than 200,000 participants) March 21 immigrants’ rights march in Washington, this is a cruel hoax, a cheap trick to get immigrant and Hispanic votes. The Democrats are not about to pass an immigration law in this mid-term election year when they would face relentless attacks from Republican immigrant haters. More importantly, any “reform” they would pass would be a further attack on immigrants. The Schumer “concept” includes greatly expanding border patrols, increasing the number of ICE police, imposing thousands of dollars of fines on immigrants who seek to legalize their status and introducing a national identification card with biometric data.

For undocumented immigrants, the United States is already a police state, where they have no rights and seek to avoid any contacts with the authorities. The Democratic liberals’ immigration “reform” would turn the country into a police state for everyone.

The Internationalist Group urges immigrants to look not to the capitalist politicians but to the workers movement as their real allies. Although pro-capitalist bureaucrats have often spewed chauvinist poison against Chinese laborers in the 1800s and Latino, African and Asian immigrants today, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants are union members. Moreover, the labor movement as a whole has an interest in seeing that all workers have full and equal rights. We call on unions to take the lead in mobilizing to defend immigrants against racist attacks, which are sharply escalating in recent months. And we fight to defeat U.S. imperialist war abroad and the racist repression “at home” that always accompanies it. In World War II, Japanese Americans were portrayed as the “enemy within,” today Arab, South Asian and Latino immigrants in particular are targeted.


http://www.internationalist.org/whosillegal1004.jpg
IG at April 23 New York City protest as Arizona law was signed by governor. (Internationalist photo)


Immigration laws under capitalism are inherently chauvinist and racist. While national borders will not be eliminated short of socialism, class-conscious workers can and must fight here and now for full citizenship rights for all immigrants. Such laws were among the first introduced by the 1789 French Revolution, which enacted the Rights of Man and made American revolutionary Thomas Paine a citizen; by the 1871 Paris Commune, the first workers government; and by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia led by Lenin and Trotsky. After all, except for Native Americans who were almost wiped out in genocidal violence by white settlers and the federal government, everyone in the U.S. ultimately came from somewhere else. No matter how they got here, documented or undocumented, everyone residing in the United States should have the same rights. Period.

As for Arizona, the entire territory was stolen as booty from the U.S.’ 1848 invasion of Mexico, except for the 1853 “Gadsden Purchase” (more like robbery) of southern Arizona sought by War Secretary Jefferson Davis, the future president of the slaveholders’ Confederacy. Most of the state’s Anglo population could be considered illegal. As the state’s governor was signing SB 1070 into law, the Internationalist Group joined others in demonstrating in New York with our sign declaring: “Who’s Illegal? Return Phoenix and Southern Arizona to a Red Mexico! Navajos, Hopis and Zunis Get the Rest.” (1) ■

1 And let’s not forget the Apaches, particularly the Chiricahuas, who were uniquely held as prisoners of war for 27 years (1886-1913) and dispossessed of their lands in southeastern Arizona and New Mexico.





To contact the Internationalist Group and the League for the Fourth International, send e-mail to: [email protected]

[Saorsa]

If there's one thing I'm prepared to predict for the next ten years, it's that immigration will become one of the biggest political issues in our society, and hopefully one of the biggest areas of our work as communists. The immigrant rights movement is going to be the biggest thing in the States since the black civil rights movement, and there's going to be a lot of social conflict in Europe as well.

As people flee from the Third World, the imperialist governments will tighten their borders and whip up hysteria. Anti-immigrant pogroms will become more frequent... and a militant movement for rights and justice could emerge out of that.

That's my prediction anyway. What are other people's thoughts?

[ckaihatsu]

The immigrant rights movement is going to be the biggest thing in the States since the black civil rights movement,


The two aren't really comparable, in the sense that the backlash against immigrants happens whenever nationalist politics runs into *existential* / self-identity problems resulting from the larger international *economic* crisis of capitalism.

Curiously, in this period -- let's call it 2000 Redux -- there's no shortage of labor *or* capital, so it's *not* like the crisis of the '70s where the U.S. had to financialize its debt from the Vietnam War by going off of the gold standard. At *that* time the U.S. economy suffered a loss of confidence from the markets and interest rates shot up while the economy stalled -- "stagflation".

[ckaihatsu]

But today the country is awash in capital *and* enjoys continuous international confidence in the U.S. dollar as the de facto reserve currency. Even its nascent competitor, the Euro, is now faltering after a strong initial run just by being #2 in the game when the music stopped.

By contrast the post-WWII "modernization" era in the U.S. is long over -- during *that* period there was actual economic growth on the table and the black civil rights movement played out in part as a *cultural* battle on the national stage, while the nation's *rising* self-identity was at stake.

[ckaihatsu]

and there's going to be a lot of social conflict in Europe as well.

As people flee from the Third World, the imperialist governments will tighten their borders and whip up hysteria. Anti-immigrant pogroms will become more frequent... and a militant movement for rights and justice could emerge out of that.

That's my prediction anyway. What are other people's thoughts?


In a period of decline there's nothing to boast about so the nation-state can only resort to pure bullying as a way of attempting to justify its existence.

[Rusty Shackleford]

That's my prediction anyway. What are other people's thoughts?

Immigration seems like it is going to be a HUGE thing in the coming time.

a great way to combat this is to expose yet another contradiction of capitalism. free trade.

Things like NAFTA led to an uprising in Chiapas, and led to the degradation of the mexican economy. many people moved to the US to find work.

Nationalists dont like immigrants, but like capitalism. they are the cause of their own problem. how will the solve it? not by helping the mexican economy, but by terrorizing and repressing an already greatly repressed nationality.

we as communists MUST work to fight against capitalism, national chauvanism, and racism. this is a new vehicle for the movement. Anti SB1070.

[KurtFF8]

Major League Baseball Union Urges Arizona to Repeal Law (http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/3/headlines#2)


On Friday the union representing major league baseball players took the unprecedented step of calling for Arizona to repeal or modify the law. More than a quarter of major league players are foreign-born. 15 teams conduct spring training in Arizona.

Interesting

[Rusty Shackleford]

as you just pointed out Kurt, there is a rather large section of society that would support our stance on this issue. its just a matter of tapping this well before it dries up and becomes solely a liberal issue with half-assed reforms made and major concessions to conservatives.

[KurtFF8]

What's new? ;)

[~Spectre]

If there's one thing I'm prepared to predict for the next ten years, it's that immigration will become one of the biggest political issues in our society, and hopefully one of the biggest areas of our work as communists. The immigrant rights movement is going to be the biggest thing in the States since the black civil rights movement, and there's going to be a lot of social conflict in Europe as well.

As people flee from the Third World, the imperialist governments will tighten their borders and whip up hysteria. Anti-immigrant pogroms will become more frequent... and a militant movement for rights and justice could emerge out of that.

That's my prediction anyway. What are other people's thoughts?

In regards to the States, I'd predict the opposite.

As everyone on this board well knows, the government will respond to the interest of the bourgeoisie, or more crudely the interests of the people with money.

The U.S. ruling class is already used to dealing with this "problem". They've given out amnesty before and they will eventually do it again, while continuing to allow the flow of cheap labor. Their business after all is business.

If you'll notice, the business community has come down pretty hard on this Arizona law. The group in Arizona in an attempt to play a cheap political game has forgotten whom exactly they work for.

The U.S. business community is well aware that part of the challenge facing them is ensuring that people continue to invest in U.S. markets. Anti-immigrant stuff is really bad for this, and the billionaire mayor of New York has written an op-ed to this extent criticizing the Arizona law.

Next comes demographic realities. In a few decades, whites will cease to be the majority in the United States. Sure this loss of status might be used to rile up a section of white Americans, as turning people against each other is an old trick, but the trick loses its utility if you lose the number power behind it.

Rest assured anti-immigrant stuff will pop up, but nothing resembling government backed pogroms, or a civil rights type struggle.

I think, more importantly than who is coming in, Americans will start to fret over what is going out. Outsourcing will probably begin to take a bigger toll on citizenry that's been increasingly more strained over the decades.

[ckaihatsu]

[...]


[...],

This "indignation" is unacceptable. Not only is there *no point* in trying to make a political issue out of a *harmless* symbolic action, but, more than that, it's *embarrassing* to see such "indignance", whether real or feigned, over *nothing*.

I say "nothing" because I hope you realize, upon a bit of further thought, that there *is no* comparison to be made between the U.S. and Mexico. Mexico's economy always has been a *shadow* of the U.S.'s, and continues to be highly dependent on it, as in the form of remittances from laborers here. Immigration of all kinds can be explained by this economic disparity and we see the same dynamic in the economically advanced European countries, too, in respect to the poorer, outlying countries around *them*.

It's in a situation like this one that I would *prefer* to see "big government", *if* it could actually provide needed solutions. Soon after Obama's election the talk was something along the lines of new "New Deal" programs to cut against the rising unemployment and shrinking real economy. That talk had a *very* short lifespan and now there's been nothing further said along those lines while conditions have only worsened. Obviously the Obama Administration is *incapable* of pulling through such reforms, which also explains very nicely why I'm an internationalist revolutionary.

I hope you'll drop this particular line and put your efforts to *real* issues that are far more deserving, like anti-imperialism, energy alternatives, 9-11 Truth, and anything else that has actual political substance.

Thanks.


Chris




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-- Theoretically bad-ass --






> Ya know I love the diversity of our nation and my town, but this sickningly
> misguided group of young people should be returned to their grandparents
> country to live and see just how darn good they have it here! The flagrant
> disrespect disgusts me completly.
> And where were all the "adults" who are ato be in charge at a school?????


> --- On Thu, 5/13/10, [...] wrote:
>
>
>
> From: [...]
> Subject: [...]
> To: [...]
> Date: Thursday, May 13, 2010, 11:17 PM
>
>
>
> ~IN GOD WE TRUST~
>
>
> I guess they already finished their English homework!!!
>
> Montebello High School in California
> You will not see this heart-stopping photo on the front page of the NY
> Times , nor on the lead story of the major news networks.
> The protestors at Montebello High School took the American flag
> off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while p utting up the
> Mexican flag over it. (*See pictures below*)
>
>
>
> I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any
> guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington .. The image of the
> American flag subsumed to another and turned upside down on American soil
> is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail.
>
> Pass this along to every American citizen in your address books and to
> every representative in the state and federal government.. If you choose
> to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation
> to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be
> 'redistributed' to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out
> of the 'fray'. Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared
> when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person
> CAN make a difference.
>
> One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one........ ..
>
> The battle for our secure borders and immigration laws that actually mean
> something, however, hasn't even begun.
>
> If this ticks YOU off...PASS IT ON!
> IF IT DOESN'T IT SHOULD!
>
>
>
>
> I guess they already finished their English homework!!!
>
> Montebello High School in California
> You will not see this heart-stopping photo on the front page of the NY
> Times , nor on the lead story of the major news networks.
> The protestors at Montebello High School took the American flag
> off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while p utting up the
> Mexican flag over it. (*See pictures below*)
>
>
>
> I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any
> guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington .. The image of the
> American flag subsumed to another and turned upside down on American soil
> is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail.
>
> Pass this along to every American citizen in your address books and to
> every representative in the state and federal government.. If you choose
> to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation
> to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be
> 'redistributed' to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out
> of the 'fray'. Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared
> when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person
> CAN make a difference.
>
> One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one........ ..
>
> The battle for our secure borders and immigration laws that actually mean
> something, however, hasn't even begun.
>
> If this ticks YOU off...PASS IT ON!
> IF IT DOESN'T IT SHOULD!
>
>

[ckaihatsu]

FIST calls for ‘Freedom Summer Arizona’ to fight racism & the right

The following statement was issued by the youth group Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST).

Despite all the assurances by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, the recent passing of Senate Bill 1070 is a racist attack against the U.S. working class. SB 1070 — which uses local police forces to question people about their documentation, and criminalizes immigrant workers — smacks of South African apartheid and a host of other repressive laws from U.S. history and elsewhere.

This law comes in a particular political atmosphere: the rise of an ultraright grouping that has been given a national platform by pundits and the media, and has found an opening in the wake of the most profound economic crisis since the 1930s.

The Tea Party movement cannot be seen as divorced from the racist bill passed in Arizona any more than the attacks against immigrant workers can be seen outside the general political atmosphere precipitated by the economic crisis.

Those who would deny undocumented workers their dignity, by forcing this superexploited section of the working class underground, have no criticisms of the capitalist system. It is capitalism that has destroyed the livelihoods of workers around the world — from the austerity budgets forced upon Third-World countries by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank; to neoliberal trade pacts, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, that push farmers off their land. Capitalism unleashes unnatural calamities upon poor workers and the oppressed, forcing them into the so-called developed world.

From Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe, workers are being forced to leave their homelands, risking their lives by crossing dangerous overland routes or choppy seas in small vessels to be able to care for their families.

Fight Imperialism, Stand Together believes that no human being is illegal; that there should be legalization for all undocumented workers; and that the racist apartheid law just passed in Arizona should be fought and that it can be defeated.

The fight has to be viewed as part of a larger fight against the ultraright, anti-woman, racist, anti-LGBT movement personified by the Tea Party and similar ilk. This includes Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has used the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) program, which deputizes local police and sheriff’s officials as immigration authorities, to harass, attack, arrest and drive immigrant workers underground.

A national initiative is needed to beat back this new unjust law in Arizona. This could include something similar to Freedom Summer, which started in 1964 and sent hundreds of volunteers from the North to the South to defend the rights of Southern Black workers.

Already truck drivers have launched a boycott on deliveries to Arizona, and other activists and community members have planned other actions.

By passing the bill, Arizona has made itself the frontline of the fight against the ultraright and for immigrant rights. FIST calls on all forces — youth organizations, radicals, militants, anti-racists and community members — to mobilize for Arizona. Let’s fight and beat back the ultraright and their racist program!

Youth and students, who over the past six months have demonstrated their ability and willingness to struggle, are especially needed. Youth and student organizations should begin making plans to show solidarity with those on the frontlines, and build a coordinated movement that is prepared to take leadership from other students, youth and community activists on the ground in Arizona.

Let’s dedicate ourselves to a massive national campaign that designates this summer as “Freedom Summer Arizona.”

Email: [email protected]

[Red Commissar]

One of the architects of the law, State Senator Russell Pearce, has connections to white supremacists from what I've read.

http://fwix.com/phoenix/share/9f1b4c1dbb/russell_pearces_senate_bill_1070_yet_more_nativist _legislation_outlawing_brown_people_brought_to_us_ by_a_neo-nazi_hugger

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/readypearce.jpg

Pearce (the elderly fellow) with a neo-nazi in the state, JT Ready, during an anti-immigration rally some years ago. Here is JT ready at a NSM rally, second from the right.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/jt5.jpg

[The Vegan Marxist]

http://politicsareover.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/deportteaklanners1.png?w=420&h=700

[ckaihatsu]

SOUTHWEST WORKERS UNION
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
FREEDOM SUMMER: Liberation of Arizona

The Battle for Arizona

National Day of Justice and Action Against 1070 in Arizona, a racist and apartheid law!
May 29th is National Day of Action in Phoenix, Arizona's, capitol building; shut down the illegal governor and 1070 racist law!

Just over 40 years ago, African Americans struggling for freedom and against Jim Crow racism in the South, organized the `Freedom Summer' that SNICC just celebrated a remembrance conference to mark this important watershed in the civil rights movement.

Lets organize the Freedom caravans to liberate Arizona from this hate and racism against Latinos and brown people in general and specifically against Mexicans. We will not abandon our brothers and sisters living in the police state of Arizona, now more than ever they need to know they are not alone.

Arizona, Sonora or what ever we call this land and people, it is clear that historically, the story of origin of many original people of the region starts here in the Chaco and Grand Canyon. The people of the canyon's came out after the glaciers, and went in four directions; the Dine, Hopi, the Aztecs (Mexhica), and northern Ute. Remember that Arizona was Sonora under the Spanish Empire, New Spain, for nearly 300 years. Sonora was free and sovereign as a state under the newly created Mexican United States in 1821. Within 25 years the Sonora territory became a state of northern Mexico, and the southeastern territory of Arizona under the United States expansionist war against Mexico over Texas.

Arizona under the US rule, mirrored the Spanish empire system, in having European-Americans take the place of Spanish Europeans, including government, economy and land included the less privileged, oppressed and landless native peoples, slaves and mestizo populations. Arizona under US rule became `Ground Zero' in the Wars to exterminate the Indigenous peoples, incarcerate them, forced removals and reservation captivity.

The Confederate States of America and their Civil War to preserve the slave plantation system expanded into Texas (Slave Republic annexed in 1845 as slave state), New Mexico (Defeated at the pass), and settled several cities in Southern Arizona. The cities banded to proclaim the territory under the Confederate States of America. The goal was to annex it to the United States as a slave state. Union forces defeated the Confederates but the rebels stayed in their settlements and became the seed of `racist' institutions joined later by John Birch Society and Eugenics groups, finance and population. Arizona became the 48th state! A Republican right wing power base for the Barry Goldwater right wing revolution, is now McCain-Palin base for launching the Republican strategy to win over Obama in the 2012 elections.

Arizona (Sonora) was also the center of resistance and struggles against colonialism and for poor and working class peoples since the arrival of the first Europeans. The struggle of the miners is synonymous with the territory, rich in minerals and metals. Joaquin Murrieta fought against Spanish and later US rule over his native lands. Cochise and Geronimo, Apaches, fought a war against the Spanish and later a ten-year war against the European WASP's invading their lands. The Dine was forced marched out of their homeland by the infamous Kit Carson. The Yaqui were removed by force and sent to plantations in Yucatan. Indigenous people were removed and relocated even as far as Puerto Rico.

The miners in Arizona fought several general strikes in the copper mines of Clifton-Morenci together with the miners of Cananea at the start of the Mexican Social Revolution 100 years ago. In modern times the Phelps-Dodge strike and social movement struggle by workers seeking justice. The movie `Salt of the Earth' demonstrates this struggle vividly. The Flores- Magon movement was strong in Arizona with the miners and the people in Douglass-Bisbee area.
Today ARIZONA is GROUND ZERO of the struggle against COLONIALISM, SLAVERY, and WORKERS RIGHTS, in the struggle for Migrant rights because it encapsulated the historical, and the present reality and struggles into one. From uranium poison, mining operations, to environmental racism, to indigenous sovereignty, to gender and sexual orientation equality, to creating a JUST state and society where we all fit and have rights. Another World is Possible; another US is Necessary, another Detroit is happening…and ANOTHER ARIZONA IS BEING LIBERATED SHAPED BY THE POOR, INDIGENOUS, WORKERS AND PEOPLE WHO STAND FOR LIBERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS!

Contact: [email protected]
Che Lopez
Southwest Workers Union

[ElectricSheep1203]

So im talking with a few people on another board about this, and they are in full support of the buill, and even saying that this bill needs to go through because immigrants are starting to take over. One even uses an example where an american was kicked out of school on Cinco de Mayo for wearing a shirt with the american flag on it. He's going on to say that the immigrants need to learn american values and cultures before they come to the united states.

Another is saying that this bill is only allowing the police to bring up the question of legal residency in the state under "normal procedure". I told him that anything can be considered suspicious, and anyone can be bagged because of this law.

It's my undersatdning that people in support of this bill haven't read it, and aren't fully aware of what this means. Not only will legal immigrants rise up and take a stand, so many illegal workers will either run to hide from the law, be deported, or just straight up not work, that all the businesses won't have anyone to work for them. This will then result in businesses having to shut their doors for some time.

it's also my understanding that if the american government really was concerned about immigration, they'd pour a whole lot more money into the issue, rather than baling out banks and corporations.

[Red Commissar]

It's my undersatdning that people in support of this bill haven't read it, and aren't fully aware of what this means.

I've been seeing those in support of the bill say the same thing about those who are opposing it.

It's though to reason with these people sometimes. For the most part thanks to media and nativist sentiment, as well as confirming bias, they already have a bad impression of immigrant communities in general. They could care less about the legality of this bill.

[brigadista]

does the US have special immigration detention centres like the UK? Or is it immediate deportation?

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/19/arizona-official-threatens-cut-los-angeles-power-payback-boycott/


Noting that a quarter of Los Angeles' electricity comes from Arizona power plants, Pierce threatened to pull the plug if the City Council does not reconsider.
"Doggone it -- if you're going to boycott this candy store ... then don't come in for any of it," Pierce told FoxNews.com.
In the letter, he ridiculed Villaraigosa for saying that the point of the boycott was to "send a message" by severing the "resources and ties" they share.
"I received your message; please receive mine. As a statewide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona's electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the 'resources and ties' we share with the city of Los Angeles," Pierce wrote.



pretty interesting new development.

[ckaihatsu]

[labor_action] US immigration cops (from ICE) can "make people disappear"

date Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 4:52 PM



[With every passing day, the US national security state, spawned by G.W. Bush (if not one of his liberal predecessors) and lovingly tended by "Peace Prize" Obama, grows more and more Orwellian. The existence of secret jails, run by a Federal agency beyond transparency or accountability, is a real threat to every US resident, whether legal or undocumented. From the description in the article published by The Nation (at the URL below), one can see that the surreptitious ICE facilities resemble something out of fascism or Stalinism. We have definitely gone beyond the in-your-face repression typical of McCarthyism or the sixties. How long before ICE starts making members of the miniscule US left disappear? Undoubtedly, we can anticipate more perilous days ahead, courtesy of the pro-repression Obama administration. -- YM]

[From aporrea.org]

The US has secret jails for undocumented immigrants
By Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN) [Caracas]
Published on DEC 24 2009

Caracas, 24 DEC ABN.- This Wednesday, The Nation magazine disclosed the fact that the US government agency ICE (immigration and customs cops) is detaining undocumented immigrants at secret sites inside the US. [The Nation article, in English, is at /www.thenation.com/doc/20100104/stevens>]

In addition to its publicly known field offices and detention centers, ICE is secretly holding people in 186 secret "subfield" offices, according to the magazine, many of them located in commercial or suburban areas.

The magazine highlights the example that in Los Angeles, ICE has detained immigrants in a barely converted storage space, which is hidden in a large downtown federal building.

During a conference that took place last year, James Pendergraph, an ICE official, spoke openly about the skill ICE has in making people disappear.

Pendergraph stated that "If you don't have enough evidence to charge someone criminally but you think he's illegal, we can make him disappear."

Meanwhile, The Nation also states that ICE agents regularly pass themselves off as other people and make use of other types of illegal tricks to arrest long-time US residents without criminal records.

ICE agents impersonate OSHA inspectors, insurance agents and even religious workers.

[brigadista]

interesting - in the uk there are "detention centres"actually prisons and special prisons for women and children

[GreenCommunism]

i still havent had any answer, will people get pulled over based on ethnicity or will they get pulled over because of traffic violation. then police will look into their immigration status. in canada you need identity cards when you're driving, isn't that how they wonder if a person is an illegal immigrant? thats the argument of the republicans.

EDIT: oh i realize i didnt post anything, my bad, i probably started typing and didn't press post reply.

[#FF0000]

i still havent had any answer, will people get pulled over based on ethnicity or will they get pulled over because of traffic violation. then police will look into their immigration status. in canada you need identity cards when you're driving, isn't that how they wonder if a person is an illegal immigrant? thats the argument of the republicans.

EDIT: oh i realize i didnt post anything, my bad, i probably started typing and didn't press post reply.

The second thing you described is how things already were. In fact, that was p. much the only time they could look up your immigration status: when you were already accused of something.

Now they can pretty much just ask you based on "reasonable suspicion"

[GreenCommunism]

but can you get pulled over based on this? people get pulled over for no reason in canada, but i heard that in the usa they can only pull you over if you drive erratically or so. perhaps the law is the same in canada but we simply do not apply our rights.

[Robocommie]

They have to have something called probable cause. Normally this ranges from a broken tail-light, to a traffic violation, or if a car "fits the profile" of a suspect vehicle. Cops can usually come up with a fucking excuse to pull over anyone if they want to hard enough - and it's not like most people know the statutes enough to argue about it with them.

Whether or not having brown skin is enough for probable cause now, under this law, who knows. But it usually is anyway, even without this law.

[GreenCommunism]

They have to have something called probable cause. Normally this ranges from a broken tail-light, to a traffic violation, or if a car "fits the profile" of a suspect vehicle. Cops can usually come up with a fucking excuse to pull over anyone if they want to hard enough - and it's not like most people know the statutes enough to argue about it with them.

Whether or not having brown skin is enough for probable cause now, under this law, who knows. But it usually is anyway, even without this law.

totally,absolutly agree with that. my question is mostly on what key points do things change? reasonable suspicion seems to be the key point, also it criminalize people who do not have their id on them. i thought this was the norm.

[Atlee]

The next stage of the AZ saga continues in AZ Fights Back the website which made national and local news here in Florida: azfightsback (dot) com

[ckaihatsu]

Battleground Arizona: Students Take the Streets for Immigrant Rights and Against Racism
Undocumented students arrested in McCain’s office, held for deportation

By James Jordan

Tucson, AZ - Arizona has seen an explosion of Chicano and Mexicano led student resistance to racist laws and in defense of the right to a quality education. Nowhere is this more evident than in the city of Tucson, which is singled out for attack by racist elements of state government. The struggle has attracted attention across the nation. Since the state House and Senate adopted the anti-immigrant and anti-Latino law, SB1070, thousands of students have walked out of school in protest and there has been a wave of youth-led direct actions.

On May 12, students surrounded the Tucson Unified School District to stop TUSD’s ethnic studies program from being shut down. On May 17, the anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, students from across the country came to occupy the Tucson office of U.S. Senator John McCain to demand passage of the Dream Act, legislation that would give some undocumented students the opportunity to legally pursue higher education. Four of the students were arrested by Tucson police, three of whom were undocumented. After being released from jail, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took the three undocumented students into custody where they are now awaiting deportation.

A human chain of hundreds gathered at a May 12 protest to defend local education from the racist attacks of State Superintendant of Education Tom Horne. Chanting, “Our education is under attack! What do we do? Fight back!” the crowd could be heard blocks away. Those present were mostly Latino, mostly middle and high school students, but with significant multi-ethnic and multi-age support. Students walked out of school, organizing the demonstration in just a couple of hours when they learned that Horne was coming to Tucson. According to some students, he had come “to personally shut down ethnic studies classes.” However, that was one plan Horne had to cancel.

About 400 students walked out in protest. HB2281, which Horne personally authored, is a direct attack on TUSD’s ethnic studies program, which was won through popular struggle over ten years ago. Horne’s law bans ethnic studies and punishes districts in violation of the law by withholding 10% of their budget. TUSD Board member Adelita Grijalva told an April rally, “We have people up there in Phoenix focused on one district…Instead, they should focus on funding the state’s schools!”

TUSD officials had requested Horne’s presence for a private meeting to discuss the new legislation, which goes into effect on Dec. 31. Horne, who is in a primary race for the state’s Attorney General Office, decided to make a statement to the press before leaving for Tucson. In response, TUSD canceled the meeting.

Tucson businessman Raul Aguirre, talking with Fight Back!, compared this legislation with earlier measures such as the English-only bill and bills attacking bilingual education. Addressing the students, Aguirre said, “In a time of a global economy, when people everywhere are talking about getting a global perspective, this is myopic!”

Later that day, around 200 students and allies marched to the state building, where Horne had gone to make yet another public statement. Around 40 people entered and occupied the building, with 15 people arrested before the day was done. Media representatives were physically forced to leave before the arrests were completed, according to videographer Jason Aragones.

HB2281 outlaws programs that are aimed at students of particular ethnicities or that advocate “ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” However, TUSD ethnic studies classes have always been open to and attended by students of any ethnicity. Likewise, students attend and participate in classes ‘individually’ and they are graded ‘individually.’ Revealing the subjective and arbitrary nature of the legislation, its enforcement is left to the State Superintendant’s discretion.

During an interview with CNN later that evening, Horne’s defense of the bill seemed almost paranoid as he denounced the wearing of sunglasses and berets as “revolutionary.” Horne told CNN “…we should be teaching the kids that this is a land of opportunity, and not teach them the downer that they’re oppressed and…they should be angry against their government...I brought in a picture that you might want to show that shows the revolutionary garb that they wore when they protested against my law with masks, sunglasses, berets, brown shirts.”

HB2281 is the first passed of several pending bills that would encode racist measures in Arizona schools. Also under consideration are bills requiring students to prove their citizenship status and for schools to report those without proper documents to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The protests and arrests that took place surrounding Horne’s visit are the latest examples of a growing militancy in the Arizona fight back. Mobilizations exploded with the passage in the state house of SB1070, a law that institutionalizes racial profiling. SB1070 gives state law enforcement authority to detain and investigate anyone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant. In Arizona, that means anyone with brown skin, speaking Spanish. Two days after that vote, the White House carried out a militaristic raid of Latino communities in Arizona by more than 800 ICE agents, with the cooperation of local and state law enforcement. Many local activists saw this as an unspoken endorsement of Arizona’s new policies.

Since then, anti-racist Arizonans have been arrested several times in direct actions, thousands of students have participated in walk-outs and there have been almost daily demonstrations - many days with more than one. On May 7, students, teachers and community members conducted a 24-hour vigil in support of ethnic studies at Tucson High School. Meanwhile, reports came in from the border cities of Nogales and San Luis that on the Mexican side, motorists had shut down the ports of entry in protest. Eyewitnesses say that on the U.S. side, people were getting out of their cars, raising their fists and voices in a show of solidarity.

The four college students arrested on May 17 after the daylong occupation of Senator McCain’s Tucson offices - Lizbeth Mateo, Yahaira Carrillos, Mohammad Abdollahi and Raúl Alcaraz - had ties to Illinois, California, Kansas, Michigan and of course, Arizona. The undocumented protesters, Mateo, Carrillos and Abdollahi are now in custody of ICE. As the students were being taken to jail in a police van, the crowd chanted, “Undocumented! Unafraid!”

Chicano activist César Wolf did a call and response with the crowd:

“Are we going to unite brown people into this movement?”

“Yes!”

“Are we going to unite Mexicans into this movement?”

“Yes!”

“Are we going to unite white people…Asians…our abuelitos…our youth into this movement?”

“Yes!”

Speaking for those arrested, Tanya Unzueta, who has been in the U.S. since the age of ten, said “I am undocumented, living in Chicago. There are four students inside, three of them undocumented. They send a message of love.These students have risked their lives, their education, their freedom. Now it is up to us to make sure they are not forgotten...If they were able to do this, then - what are you going to do?”

As the movement in Arizona grows, supporters across the country are being asked to come to Phoenix on May 29 as part of a national protest against the state’s anti-immigrant laws and to demand an end to federal policies that militarize the border and criminalize undocumented workers. Meanwhile, the summer of 2010 has been declared “Freedom Summer” by several organizations. To learn more about May 29, go to http://altoarizona.com/. Those interested in coming to Southern Arizona to join in solidarity activities this summer can learn more by writing [email protected]

People are also being asked to support the struggle in Arizona by: 1) demanding that the federal government not cooperate with SB1070 and to take quick action to keep it from being implemented, and 2) boycotting Arizona until SB1070 and other anti-immigrant and anti-Latino laws are repealed.

The boycott includes conventions and conferences in Arizona, visits to the state (not including visits to close friends and family or to take part in solidarity actions) and a refusal to patronize the Arizona Diamondbacks, whose owners provide major funding to the Arizona Republican Party and supporters of sb1070.

Sadly, in the midst of these growing mobilizations, another increase is taking place. The number has grown by 60% over last year for undocumented workers dying as they try to cross desert borderlands. Already, the remains of 110 persons have been found. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, over 5000 displaced and undocumented workers have died crossing the US-Mexico desert. They are displaced because of NAFTA provisions that have destroyed rural economies. The situation is worsened by the border’s militarization, forcing workers to cross the most inhospitable and harshest of terrains. (For more information: http://derechoshumanosaz.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=34 .)

If the middle and high school students leading these anti-racist struggles have anything to say about it, these fallen workers will not have died in vain. These students and their allies are organized, fired up and ready for a protracted struggle. Speaking bluntly about “the house that racism has built” one young Chicano activist declared: “We are coming to burn your house down!”


Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

[Obzervi]

The people who wrote this fascist bill should be lined up against the wall.. I can't believe we are dealing with this crap in 2010. We just have to wait for all the old white fucks to die off.

[Atlee]

The people who wrote this fascist bill should be lined up against the wall.. I can't believe we are dealing with this crap in 2010. We just have to wait for all the old white fucks to die off.

Do you have sex to save virginity as well? Saying anything against another race is racism. And to compound the issue you discriminated against age as well. What makes you think you are any better then the enemy when you have just become the enemy upon yourself? Hate begets hate.

[Zapatas Guns]

totally,absolutly agree with that. my question is mostly on what key points do things change? reasonable suspicion seems to be the key point, also it criminalize people who do not have their id on them. i thought this was the norm.


From what I have read of the immigration law, at least in AZ, police need "probable cause" to ask for proof of citizenship.

Ok ...however everyone knows police make up whatever the fuck they want to create that probable cause.

I heard Ann Coulter say probable cause is like if police see like 30 guys in the back of the truck. What a laughable scenario for a beat cop but sure why not it is technically possible.

What if a brown skinned guy drinking horchata and listening to Tejano is pulled over, well I guess that means he must be illegal...yeah Im sure the cops will give him the benefit of the doubt. NOT. All you will hear is "Show me your papers boy!"

Everyone in America knows that whites and blacks are never ever going to be asked for paperwork, which pretty much means it is profiling. Despite whatever the law says. That is how it will be used in practice. That is why it is racist.

[The Vegan Marxist]

Do you have sex to save virginity as well? Saying anything against another race is racism. And to compound the issue you discriminated against age as well. What makes you think you are any better then the enemy when you have just become the enemy upon yourself? Hate begets hate.

Well, technically, he was going against the "old white fucks", which to me implies the right-wing old fucks in washington who's practically leading fascism right in the front doors of America. So technically, since old was place in front of "white fucks", clearly setting a section of the whites, rather than the whites of the entirety, it is not racist, but rather quite correct.

Hell, I'm white, & I tend to find myself saying "Fuck the crackers" lol. I even promote this banner:

http://politicsareover.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/deportteaklanners1.png?w=420&h=700

[Atlee]

Well, technically, he was going against the "old white fucks", which to me implies the right-wing old fucks in washington who's practically leading fascism right in the front doors of America. So technically, since old was place in front of "white fucks", clearly setting a section of the whites, rather than the whites of the entirety, it is not racist, but rather quite correct.

Hell, I'm white, & I tend to find myself saying "Fuck the crackers" lol. I even promote this banner:


There is always the legal test of scientific balance. Exchange those words for 180 degrees of thought. If he wrote "young black niggers" would you still feel the same? I am of the school of thought everyone here would jump all over that as being racist? So explain to all of us how lumping a group together is not racist or otherwise related to stereotyping. Differences of opinion are one thing, but name calling even in the pejorative sense is willfully being hateful and intentionally harmful and does nothing to help our cause. In fact it make us all look bad and disingenuous.

[Atlee]

From what I have read of the immigration law, at least in AZ, police need "probable cause" to ask for proof of citizenship.

Ok ...however everyone knows police make up whatever the fuck they want to create that probable cause.

I heard Ann Coulter say probable cause is like if police see like 30 guys in the back of the truck. What a laughable scenario for a beat cop but sure why not it is technically possible.

What if a brown skinned guy drinking horchata and listening to Tejano is pulled over, well I guess that means he must be illegal...yeah Im sure the cops will give him the benefit of the doubt. NOT. All you will hear is "Show me your papers boy!"

Everyone in America knows that whites and blacks are never ever going to be asked for paperwork, which pretty much means it is profiling. Despite whatever the law says. That is how it will be used in practice. That is why it is racist.

What makes this interesting is the legal test because many legal residents have family across the border who might get picked up in all this. What the law is trying to do first is go after the criminal element i.e. a little girl the other day told Michelle Obama her mother did not have papers (http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/Girl-Outs-Mothers-Citizenship-Status-During-First-Ladys-School-Visit-94268584.html) and this morning on the national news they reported that the mother is safe and will not be deported (http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Feds-Not-Pursuing-After-Girl-Says-Mom-Lacks-Papers-94489344.html). I am waiting to also see what happens with the three illegal students who were arrested the other day. Still no word except they were being deported. There is a hybrid situation too, Mexican children in one town I heard had to cross the border daily to attend school on the USA side. I think it in Ciudad Juarez (http://www.juarez.gob.mx/).

[Robocommie]

Hell, I'm white, & I tend to find myself saying "Fuck the crackers" lol. I even promote this banner:

Hah, I often wondered whether I was the only white guy to call reactionary whites "crackers" as a derogatory term. Good to know I'm not. :D

[Atlee]

Hah, I often wondered whether I was the only white guy to call reactionary whites "crackers" as a derogatory term. Good to know I'm not. :D

There follows are three questions from this that need to be thought out:

1) Are we not emulating the enemy by using their likeness?
2) When we lump any type of people together are we not being anti-social?
3) How is using names, labeling, race, religion helping or hurting the socialist movement?

[Robocommie]

1) Are we not emulating the enemy by using their likeness?Fuck no. In America, whites are the dominant cultural group. It is they who, whether consciously or not, willingly or not, serve as the oppressor, the privileged segment of society. Calling a white man "whitey" or "cracker" is not even near the same to calling a black man a nigger, or a Latino a spic.

I mean, c'mon man. I'm German descended over here. You going to suggest I'm emulating white supremacists by calling other white people "cracker"?


2) When we lump any type of people together are we not being anti-social?Anti-social, I don't know about, but fallacious, yes. Overly broad generalizations are the stuff of fools and child-like sensibilities. That said, you really shouldn't take this too seriously, at least from me.



3) How is using names, labeling, race, religion helping or hurting the socialist movement?And this is the crux of my point, I really don't think you should take something stupid I say in the privacy of my own home or among my friends, said facetiously, as something that can build or damage socialism. It's just talking shit.

I mean look, it's good to question things at every point, but don't read too much into this.

[Atlee]

A parapraxis is something we do in fact need to be actively conscious of, even in our own homes and around comrades. If we are to take the position on the Left then we say, "We are all one" and not cite any color, race, etc otherwise we leave open our flank to being seen as a fallacy for anyone to follow.

I read everything into this. Politics are serious business. Our place and time mean everything and here on an open sight it is more so that we must be aware the Right is calling out hypocrisy in this two way street.

In addition, the mentality that one group "deserves it" is wrongheaded thinking because capital is not "white".

[Agnapostate]

What's struck me as remarkable is the number of rightists who freely admit that they would illegally immigrate into the U.S. or maintain undocumented residency if they had to. They testify to the inadequacy of their moral standards and their legal fetishism with that.

[Robocommie]

A parapraxis is something we do in fact need to be actively conscious of, even in our own homes and around comrades. If we are to take the position on the Left then we say, "We are all one" and not cite any color, race, etc otherwise we leave open our flank to being seen as a fallacy for anyone to follow.

I read everything into this. Politics are serious business. Our place and time mean everything and here on an open sight it is more so that we must be aware the Right is calling out hypocrisy in this two way street.

In addition, the mentality that one group "deserves it" is wrongheaded thinking because capital is not "white".

Whatever you say, man. :rolleyes:

[ckaihatsu]

A parapraxis is something we do in fact need to be actively conscious of, even in our own homes and around comrades. If we are to take the position on the Left then we say, "We are all one"




and not cite any color, race, etc otherwise we leave open our flank to being seen as a fallacy for anyone to follow.


I separated the first part of your statement from the second part because they express two *different* political sentiments. Yes, on the left we *are* all one, in the sense that we recognize a collectivity, or potential collectivity, that surpasses what we *currently* have in society.

Your second part, though, is revealing the bankruptcy of the soft-left orientation because it's turning *inward* towards inner-social-criticizing practice, instead of *outwards* to address *real* political issues like who controls the means of mass production.

Besides, anyone with a brain *should* be able to differentiate between their own "portfolio" of leftist positions, and overall leftist orientation, from that of *another* leftist -- even if the *other* leftist falls short of being the perfect political role model (including by using business-derived terminology like "portfolio").

Certainly we should all strive to be as self-aware as possible about what our *own* practice is, including the use of language, but nit-picking amongst ourselves should not attempt to substitute for actual, *outward*-oriented political practice in the larger world.

[Agnapostate]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-potok/razing-arizona-given-its_b_559205.html


State Sen. Russell Pearce, the principal sponsor of the Arizona legislation, has his own history of hate. In 2006, he forwarded an email to his supporters with a screed taken from the website of the neo-Nazi National Alliance titled "Who Rules America?" (answer: the Jews). The article concluded, "If our race fails to destroy it ['Jewish media control'], it certainly will destroy our race." More recently, Pearce has been photographed hugging J.T. Ready, a Phoenix-area resident who is a member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement.

So there's even more than the association with Ready. Significant support is still coming from Pearce from Stormfront too.

http://www.***************/forum/t682754/

http://www.***************/forum/t331081/

http://www.***************/forum/t704140/

A man is known by the company he keeps and how well he keeps it. It astonishes me that this legislation enjoys such support and defense despite such overt ties of its sponsor to white supremacist elements.

[Atlee]

I separated the first part of your statement from the second part because they express two *different* political sentiments. Yes, on the left we *are* all one, in the sense that we recognize a collectivity, or potential collectivity, that surpasses what we *currently* have in society.

Your second part, though, is revealing the bankruptcy of the soft-left orientation because it's turning *inward* towards inner-social-criticizing practice, instead of *outwards* to address *real* political issues like who controls the means of mass production.

Besides, anyone with a brain *should* be able to differentiate between their own "portfolio" of leftist positions, and overall leftist orientation, from that of *another* leftist -- even if the *other* leftist falls short of being the perfect political role model (including by using business-derived terminology like "portfolio").

Certainly we should all strive to be as self-aware as possible about what our *own* practice is, including the use of language, but nit-picking amongst ourselves should not attempt to substitute for actual, *outward*-oriented political practice in the larger world.

For me I see the Left as a whole even when there are differences because without both wings of socialism the bird of socialism will not fly. I believe there is an awareness, but there are so many opinions that many facts are arbitrary to most on the Left. There needs to be a *unity* group for those who say what they mean to move this movement forward in some manner even when there is divide in other places, but not of our own doing to move past those who do and are willing to divide for personal reason and not Leftist facts.

[Atlee]

Whatever you say, man. :rolleyes:

In other words you would rather make "white" the enemy then to educate them and have influence or more comrades join us? This does not make sense from a revolutionary or reform tactic and is very anti-social even here to me or "white" that might be reading this as they explore their own ideas. "No way man. They hate white folks over on that communist side," I can hear their thoughts now. I have also seen plenty of the propaganda. All this hinges right here. How do we change the dominate culture? How do we not become racist?

[Ocean Seal]

Hopefully the American Indians can use this legislation to drive white people off their lands. ;)
:laugh::laugh:

Simply too good!

[ckaihatsu]

A parapraxis is something we do in fact need to be actively conscious of, even in our own homes and around comrades. If we are to take the position on the Left then we say, "We are all one" and not cite any color, race, etc otherwise we leave open our flank to being seen as a fallacy for anyone to follow.

I read everything into this. Politics are serious business. Our place and time mean everything and here on an open sight it is more so that we must be aware the Right is calling out hypocrisy in this two way street.

In addition, the mentality that one group "deserves it" is wrongheaded thinking because capital is not "white".





Whatever you say, man. :rolleyes:


I don't know which part of what you said Robocommie is dismissing, but I'll venture a guess and say that Robocommie probably thinks you're oversimplifying. Political issues regarding color, race, ethnicity, and past historical treatments cannot just be glossed over, *even if* we agree that the system is currently economic- and capital-driven.

It's *not* a *weakness* on the left to discuss such issues, and we shouldn't shy away from acknowledging diversity and racial / ethnic / cultural differences among ourselves that are the basis of their own sets of legitimate politics within the larger economic, labor-exploitation-based framework of capitalism.

We don't need to fall into the trap of being self-conscious and anxious about how the right views our internal dynamics -- the right is irrelevant to what we do in the first place and they don't even *have* politics per se because they are in a position of privilege in the world as it currently is. The right will *never* have *any* legitimate grounds for making comments about the goings-on within leftist politics simply because it doesn't *concern* them, either inherently or materially. (For the sake of illustration, should slaves on a plantation care what the master thinks about their underground railroads?)





For me I see the Left as a whole even when there are differences because without both wings of socialism the bird of socialism will not fly. I believe there is an awareness, but there are so many opinions that many facts are arbitrary to most on the Left. There needs to be a *unity* group for those who say what they mean to move this movement forward in some manner even when there is divide in other places, but not of our own doing to move past those who do and are willing to divide for personal reason and not Leftist facts.


Hey, I hear ya. What you're describing would be excellently incredible. In the meantime we're still stuck in the *real world* with all of its messiness, including opportunism.

I recall a very good chart that a comrade created not too long ago to illustrate this dynamic -- it's at the following link, and is a guide to the *revolutionary* side of the spectrum, notwithstanding the title:


Reactionaries: a visual guide

http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1662624&postcount=15

[Ligeia]

E-mails to and from Ariz.state Sen. Russell Pearce reveal the immigration enforcement debate may not stop with SB 1070, the controversial immigration law. Pearce, R-Mesa, the author of Arizona’s immigration law, has been writing to some of his constituents about what he plans to accomplish next.
In e-mails obtained by CBS 5, Pearce said he intends to push for a bill that would enable Arizona to no longer grant citizenship to the children of immigrants born on U.S. soil.

Pearce writes in one e-mail: “I also intend to push for an Arizona bill that would refuse to accept or issue a birth certificate that recognizes citizenship to those born to illegal aliens, unless one parent is a citizen.”
...
Pearce said his new idea is not only legal but constitutional. “It’s common sense,” Pearce said. “Again – you can’t break into someone’s country and then expect to be rewarded for that. You can’t do it.”

Source (http://blog.altoarizona.com/blog/2010/05/sen-russell-pearces-emails-reveal-future-plans.html)

[Red Commissar]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-potok/razing-arizona-given-its_b_559205.html



So there's even more than the association with Ready. Significant support is still coming from Pearce from Stormfront too.

http://www.***************/forum/t682754/

http://www.***************/forum/t331081/

http://www.***************/forum/t704140/

A man is known by the company he keeps and how well he keeps it. It astonishes me that this legislation enjoys such support and defense despite such overt ties of its sponsor to white supremacist elements.

It doesn't surprise me. I posted earlier his relation with JT Ready, a white supremacist in the state.

I would be interested in how the acquired that email though.


Source (http://blog.altoarizona.com/blog/2010/05/sen-russell-pearces-emails-reveal-future-plans.html)

Drunk with victory and with no meaningful chastising for what he did, he will move on.