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Submitted by mischa on 18 May, 2006 - 11:17pm.
I delivered this speech today at the Eyes Wide Open rally at school. Check it out.
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I've been asked to speak on behalf of the GCC Justice Coalition. The Justice Coalition is made up of several clubs here on campus that have joined together to voice their opposition to the Iraq war and other objectionable U.S. policies. Justice Coalition members [please raise your hands] have worked really hard to bring this event to you today, and this is why.
We stand for peace and justice, and we stand for democracy. We stand for the kind of peace and justice that flows from a desire to preserve the life and dignity of each and every one of us, and the kind of democracy that comes from a basic respect for the sovereignty of all peoples on earth.
You cannot have real peace, justice, or democracy without truth. And truth has been all but absent from the picture of the world the Bush regime has painted for the American people. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Saddam did not have ties to Al-Qaeda. The Administration denied the use of torture until photographic evidence was brought to light.
It's been a little over three years since the invasion of Iraq began, in March of 2003, and almost exactly three years since Bush said Mission Accomplished. Now, here we are, in 2006, wondering exactly what Mission was Accomplished. What is this Mission, for which nearly 2500 American soldiers have been killed, over 20,000 more injured, uncounted more have come home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or sick from Depleted Uranium, and over 100,000 Iraqis have been killed. All this – for what? For what have all these lives have been sacrificed?
Submitted by mischa on 8 May, 2006 - 2:03pm.
I am an American citizen. I am the only citizen by birthright in my family, for whom it took 10+ years to be allowed into this country legally (and we were some of the more fortunate ones - some have never been able to come here, others came over as "TNTs" (Filipino immigrants who illegally overstay their visas) because they had to find work and send money home, continue medical care, etc).
I was damn proud this past Monday to stand shoulder to shoulder with other families like mine who have struggled and are struggling to build a whole new life here, whose invisible labor makes our "citizen" lives *that* much easier.
This massive movement for immigrant rights, which took most people on the left and the right by surprise, was not simply a spontaneous reaction to the punitive Sensenbrenner/King Bill (HR 4437), but has been gestating quietly on the sidelines of an increasingly paranoid, reactionary yet contested political climate.
Submitted by mischa on 30 March, 2006 - 11:20pm.
Over the past two years or so - nationwide and especially in California and Arizona - there has been an unprecedented attack in motion upon undocumented immigrants. Groups like the Minutemen and Save Our State are harassing and quite literally killing people trying to cross the border. The draconian Sensenbrenner Bill has passed the House of Representatives and is working its way through the Senate, a bill which, among other things, would criminalize priests and Good Samaritans as aggravated felons, and give local cops the added authority and duties of immigration enforcement, allowing them to apprehend anyone who "looks" like an undocumented immigrant).
A number of heated counter-demonstrations between the SOS and the California Minutemen (who have been picketing day labor centers across the Southland) and various immigrant rights/anti-racist groups have been taking place, including one in Laguna Beach where a group of neo-Nazis showed up in full regalia, and also in Garden Grove, where a Minuteman attempted to run over some protesters. Even the racists in my own San Fernando Valley community have come out in small but attention-grabbing numbers, joining the SOS at recent Home Depot protests, bearing signs with such phrases as "Americans made America great, Mexicans made Mexico great....to Leave.”
Pressure is building. People are getting nastier. The stakes are incredibly high. And on the streets of Los Angeles, during this time of unseasonable cold, the "sleeping giant" of Latino and immigrant communities has begun to awake.
Aerial View (photo: Los Angeles Times)
In contrast to the 20-40 people who have usually attended SOS/Minutemen rallies, between 500,000 and ONE MILLION people marched on the streets of Los Angeles on March 25 to protest anti-immigrant actions and legislation, in particular the Sensenbrenner/King Bill (HR 4437). This enormous statement made by Latino and immigrant communities was also one of the largest demonstrations for any cause in U.S. history, closing down twenty-six blocks of Downtown LA. Solidarity demonstrations also took place across the country – a rally of 300,000 had been held the week before in Chicago, 20,000 in Phoenix, 50,000 in Denver (the largest demonstration in that city’s history), and even in Jim Sensenbrenner’s home state of Wisconsin, 10,000 took to the streets in Milwaukee in a protest named “A Day Without Latinos.”
la gran marcha del pueblo - the mass march of the people
It was (and continues to be) a struggle that reaches far beyond the usual "choir," into the homes, hearts and wallets of the "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Only a few times in my life have I ever felt so proud - profoundly, throughout my body - in myself, my immigrant heritage, and of my city...and never have I felt such faith and pride in the ability of ordinary people to stand up and fight against injustice.
This is my personal experience at the Los Angeles demonstration of March 25, one of the biggest and most life-changing days of my life.
Submitted by mischa on 30 March, 2006 - 10:26pm.
After a long hiatus (and some site downtime), i'm back and will hopefully be posting actual essays and stuff more often.
Been very busy, but it's been a productive busy. More to come...
( categories: )
Submitted by mischa on 19 March, 2006 - 11:14pm.
WALKOUT.
wow. I'm amazed not only by the film itself (an inspiring ode to organizing, and a dramatization of one of the lesser-known Chicano chapters of the civil rights movement), but at the stunning relevance of its premiere NOW - actually, specifically, this week - at this particular moment in history.
First, some context.
Over the past two years or so, nationwide and especially in California, there has been in motion an unprecedented attack upon undocumented immigrants. Groups like the Minutemen and Save Our State are harassing and quite literally killing people trying to cross the border. The (this word is so overused but sadly appropriate) draconian Sensenbrenner Bill (full text in pdf here: HR 4437) is working its way through Congress (which would criminalize as aggravated felons people like priests who leave water in the desert so people crossing it wouldn't, well, die, and give local cops the added authority and duties of immigration enforcement, allowing them to apprehend anyone who "looks" like an illegal immigrant - ya, all together now, can we say racial profiling?).
To say there's racial tension in the air is a gross understatement. A number of pretty heated counter-demonstrations between the SOS/Minutemen (who were picketing day labor centers) and various immigrant rights/anti-racist groups have been taking place all over the area, including one in Laguna Beach where the neo-Nazis showed up in full regalia, and the time in Garden Grove where a minuteman tried to run over some protesters. Even the racist fuckwads in my own hometown have come out to play, bearing signs with such respectful phrases as "Americans made America great, Mexicans made Mexico great....To Leave" on them (and that wasn't the worst of it...don't even get me started).
Pressure is building. People are getting nastier. The stakes are incredibly high for a whole lot of people. And on the streets of Los Angeles, during this time of unseasonable cold, people are beginning to take notice. A group of assholes, emboldened by fellow assholes in power, have begun to attack "aliens," "invaders," "wetbacks" - many among them forgetting so soon how their Irish and Italian forefathers and foremothers were similarly treated for essentially the same thing. In response to all this, the "sleeping giant" of Latino and immigrant communities is starting to wake up.
Submitted by mischa on 17 September, 2005 - 8:22pm.
please read - an excellent summation of where we are at and where we NEED to go, to save ourselves. CNN Spanish called it the "most original speech" of the summit.
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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=46000
Text of Speech by President Hugo Chavez
at UN General Assembly
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Unofficial English translation by Néstor Sánchez
Edited by NY Transfer News
Your Excellencies, friends, good afternoon:
The original purpose of this meeting has been completely distorted. The imposed center of debate has been a so-called reform process that overshadows the most urgent issues, what the peoples of the world claim with urgency: the adoption of measures that deal with the real problems that block and sabotage the efforts made by our countries for real development and life.
Five years after the Millennium Summit, the harsh reality is that the great majority of estimated goals- which were very modest indeed- will not be met.
We pretended reducing by half the 842 million hungry people by the year 2015. At the current rate that goal will be achieved by the year 2215. Who in this audience will be there to celebrate it? That is only if the human race is able to survive the destruction that threats our natural
environment.
We had claimed the aspiration of achieving universal primary education by the year 2015. At the current rate that goal will be reached after the year 2100. Let us prepare, then, to celebrate it.
Friends of the world, this takes us to a sad conclusion: The United Nations has exhausted its model, and it is not all about reform. The 21st century demands deep changes that will only be possible if a new organization is founded. This UN does not work. We have to say it. It is the truth.
These transformations -- the ones Venezuela is referring to -- have, according to us, two phases: The immediate phase and the aspiration phase, a utopia. The first is framed by the agreements that were signed in the old system. We do not run away from them. We even bring concrete proposals in that model for the short term. But the dream of an ever-lasting world peace, the dream of a world not [abased] by hunger, disease, illiteracy, extreme necessity, needs -- apart from roots -- to spread its wings to fly. We need to spread our wings and fly.
Submitted by mischa on 10 September, 2005 - 10:09pm.
Stan Goff on Katrina and Iraq - a good read on the hurricane, connections to the war in Iraq, and the historical legacy of Black oppression in the South that has led up to this very moment.
The really cool part of this long, but substantive, piece is its conclusion:
I can’t help but think...of the barefoot boy in New Orleans going through the garbage heap, and about the September 24th mobilization against the war in Iraq. When Dr. King was gunned down, three years after Malcolm X was assassinated, he had been planning a massive Poor People’s March for Washington DC. No one will ever convince me that this plan and his assassination were not connected.
Right now, while the nature of this system is exposed in its ruthless inhumanity, may be the time to revisit this internationalism and to finish what King started.
A new Camp Casey has sprung up on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, this time to provide relief. Some of the same Iraq veterans and military families who were set up as sacrifices on the altar of Imperialism are now moving to assist the latest victims of Imperial attack.
Perhaps this will not be the flap of the butterfly’s wings that will create that decisive destabilization. We can’t know.
But my fantasy is… and it is just that… my fantasy is that those people across the country who are mobilizing to demonstrate against the war in Washington DC on September 24th — and who have watched this whole horrific colonial drama unfold around Katrina — will organize hundreds of buses to drop by Camp Casey - Lake Ponchartrain, and pick up as many of these refugees as possible. Adopt them to DC. Share food and water. Bring tents and cots. Assist with diapers and medicine…
And build a giant displaced persons camp on the Mall in DC. King’s Poor People’s Campaign redux. This is where tens of thousands of refugees and their supporters can stand directly before the seat of power, and say, “What in the fuck are you going to do now?”
They could not get away with throwing a grieving mother out of a roadside ditch in Crawford, and they will not be able to displace the displaced on the Mall if we determine to stay. African America will not tolerate it. Many of us will not tolerate it.
The slogan is already there. “End the occupations. Self-determination.”
(if you'd like to donate to the Camp Casey hurricane relief contingent in Covington, LA, go here.)
Submitted by mischa on 8 September, 2005 - 9:46pm.
Project Censored: The Ten most Important News Stories Ignored by the Mainstream Media last year.
The List:
1. Bush Administration Moves to Eliminate Open Government
One year ago, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., released an 81-page analysis of how the administration has administered the country's major open government laws. His report found that the feds consistently "narrowed the scope and application" of the Freedom of Information Act, the Presidential Records Act and other key public-information legislation, while expanding laws blocking access to certain records--even creating new categories of "protected" information and exempting entire departments from public scrutiny.
Source: "New Report Details Bush Administration Secrecy" press release, Karen Lightfoot, Government Reform Minority Office, posted on http://www.commondreams.org, Sept. 14, 2004.
2. Media Coverage Fails on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death Toll
Les Roberts, an investigator with the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, conducted a rigorous inquiry into pre- and post-invasion mortality in Iraq, sneaking into Iraq by lying flat on the bed of an SUV and training observers on the scene. The results were published in the Lancet, a prestigious peer-reviewed British medical journal, on Oct. 29, 2004--just four days prior to the U.S. presidential elections. Roberts and his team (including researchers from Columbia University and from Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad) concluded that "the death toll associated with the invasion and occupation of Iraq is probably about 100,000 people, and may be much higher."
Sources: "The Invasion of Fallujah: A Study in the Subversion of Truth," Mary Trotochaud and Rick McDowell, Peacework, Dec. 2004-Jan. 2005; "US Media Applauds Destruction of Fallujah," David Walsh, http://www.wsws.org (World Socialist Web site), Nov. 17, 2004; "Fallujah Refugees Tell of Life and Death in the Kill Zone," Dahr Jamail, New Standard, Dec. 3, 2004; "Mortality before and after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq," Les Roberts, Riyadh Lafta, Richard Garfield, Jamal Khudhairi and Gilbert Burnham, Lancet, Oct. 29, 2004; "The War in Iraq: Civilian Casualties, Political Responsibilities," Richard Horton, Lancet, Oct. 29, 2004; "Lost Count," Lila Guterman, Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 4, 2005; "CNN to Al Jazeera: Why Report Civilian Deaths?," Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, April 15, 2004, and Asheville Global Report, April 22-28, 2004.
3. Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage
Bush prevailed by 3 million votes--despite exit polls that clearly projected John Kerry winning by a margin of 5 million.
The 8-million-vote discrepancy was well beyond the poll's recognized, less-than-1-percent margin of error. And when Freeman and Mitteldorf analyzed the data collected by the two companies that conducted the polls, they found concrete evidence of potential fraud in the official count.
Sources: "A Corrupt Election," Steve Freeman and Josh Mitteldorf, In These Times, Feb. 15, 2005; "Jim Crow Returns to the Voting Booth, Greg Palast and Rev. Jesse Jackson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 26, 2005; "How a Republican Election Supervisor Manipulated the 2004 Central Ohio Vote," Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, http://www.freepress.org, Nov. 23, 2004.
4. Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In
Bush celebrated the occasion [Saddam Hussein's capture] by privately signing into law the Intelligence Authorization Act--a controversial expansion of the PATRIOT Act that included items culled from the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003," a draft proposal that had been shelved due to a public outcry after being leaked.
Sources: "PATRIOT Act's Reach Expanded Despite Part Being Struck Down," Nikki Swartz, Information Management Journal, March/April 2004; "Grave New World," Anna Samson Miranda, LiP, Winter 2004; "Where Big Brother Snoops on Americans 24/7," Teresa Hampton and Doug Thompson, http://www.capitolhillblue.com, June 7, 2004.
READ MORE!
Submitted by mischa on 2 September, 2005 - 2:07pm.
jesus. what can I say.
First I was concerned. then by monday I was shocked. by Tuesday, i was nailed to the floor. by today, the fucking RAGE is overwhelming.
I cannot even begin to imagine what the Mississippi and Louisiana Guardsmen in Baghdad and Fallujah and Sadr City are thinking. Those men and women that don't even know why the fuck they are halfway across the world when they could be HOME, doing the JOBS they signed up for, to help save their own FAMILIES.
I cannot help but think about the fact that the majority of those left to die in the Superdome and Convention center are overwhelmingly poor and/or black. That three days and a storm was all it took to make an American city look like Haiti.
I cannot help but know, in that bad place deep in my gut, what repercussions this disaster will have on our country, our economy, our people, and the world.
I cannot even say what I want to do to Bush right now. For now, I'll leave that to God.
Submitted by mischa on 4 August, 2005 - 9:44pm.
So, Southern California's Long Hot Summer Of Racial Tension continues apace, as the latest Save Our State/Minutemen protest in Laguna Beach brought out some (no shit, fer real) neo-Nazis this time:
More here, and from LA Indymedia here and here.
SOS claims they're not affiliated with the National Vanguard or Stormfront neo-nazi groups, but that doesn't seem to stop them from standing shoulder-to-shoulder in unity against the so-called "Mexican vermin" and the "cesspools" of immigrant communities in CA (quote from their website). Not only that, a few moderate SOS-ers have left the organization because of the seemingly cozy relationship SOS has to those groups.
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