via Fernando Lopez for No Papers No Fear – Ride for Justice / Flickr)” width=”637″ height=”424″ />“No Papers No Fear, Dignity is Here”: Denver, Colorado, August 2, 2012. (Photo: via Fernando Lopez for No Papers No Fear – Ride for Justice / Flickr)
UPDATE: The National Day Labor Organizing Network predicts that by April the Obama Administration will have deported two million people. NDLON is calling for a national day of action April 5 under the banner “2 Million 2 Many!”
A few years ago I was giving “Know Your Rights” workshops for young immigrants in Maryland. They told me story after story about run-ins with police and immigration officers, who were regularly detaining and deporting their friends and family.
All I could offer was some hope they could protect themselves with their right to remain silent.
Today, young immigrants are taking brave steps to do more than protect themselves as individuals. They are calling out the whole broken immigration system, demanding to keep families together, putting themselves at risk for the cause.
Organized labor could learn a thing or two.
Out of the Shadows…
In 2010, young undocumented immigrants held a rally in Chicago’s Federal Plaza. Staring down the local immigration office, eight “came out” as “undocumented and unafraid.”
Teenagers and young adults took the stage one by one. “I refuse to think of what another ten years of frustration, sadness, and fear will feel like,” one said. “My name is Reyna, and I am undocumented.”
The action hit a nerve, inspiring similar events around the country, including a “No Papers No Fear” bus that traveled the South carrying immigrants speaking out. The ride ended with civil disobedience at the Democratic National Convention, where 10 were arrested.
This March, Chicago’s Immigrant Youth Justice League celebrated its fourth annual “Coming Out of the Shadows Day.”
The daring act has put undocumented immigrants in a political spotlight. It has allowed young people to take the lead, demanding that politicians listen.
Similar “coming outs” have led to successes in some union campaigns. When supposedly hated public sector workers in Wisconsin rallied in 2011, the community was quick to support them. Fast food workers demanding a decent wage have gotten wide support, too.
…And Into the Streets
“Coming out” isn’t the only inspiring action immigrant activists are taking. They’re putting direct action behind their big demand.
The term “direct action” has been diluted over time, often referring to anything more active than lobbying. But immigrant youth are using direct action in the traditional sense: taking action that stops business as usual, creates a crisis, and demands change.
Under the slogan “Not One More,” immigrants calling for President Obama to end record-high deportations have locked down immigration offices and deportation facilities. They have blockaded and chained themselves to deportation buses.
Immigrants in detention facilities have waged hunger strikes calling for a stop to deportations, which now average more than 1,000 every day.
And after their organizing won a policy directive that defers the possibility of deportation for some, immigrant youth are pioneering an incredibly daring strategy: getting themselves arrested on purpose to infiltrate detention centers, gather and publicize the stories of other detainees, and organize from within.
These forceful actions say better than any speech that the prized “pathway to citizenship” is not enough.
There’s a reason the labor movement came up with the adage “direct action gets the goods.” In New York, when 40 angry Cablevision workers jammed into the vice president’s office over a firing, the worker was rehired the next day.
When the CEO of Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn threatened to close the hospital, nurses occupied his office, refusing to leave. The CEO was fired and the hospital remains open.
Last year a lackluster immigration reform bill, which didn’t even address the flood of deportations, got stalled in Congress. Rather than follow the bill, I’m keeping my eyes on the young activists dreaming big and making demands.
As far as I can see, they’re the ones who could changes the lives of millions.
Meet Reyna and other members of the Immigrant Youth Justice League, Cablevision activists, and nurses from Interfaith Medical Center at the Labor Notes Conference.
UPDATE: The National Day Labor Organizing Network predicts that by April the Obama Administration will have deported two million people. NDLON is calling for a national day of action April 5 under the banner “2 Million 2 Many!”
A few years ago I was giving “Know Your Rights” workshops for young immigrants in Maryland. They told me story after story about run-ins with police and immigration officers, who were regularly detaining and deporting their friends and family.
All I could offer was some hope they could protect themselves with their right to remain silent.
Today, young immigrants are taking brave steps to do more than protect themselves as individuals. They are calling out the whole broken immigration system, demanding to keep families together, putting themselves at risk for the cause.
Organized labor could learn a thing or two.
OUT OF THE SHADOWS…
In 2010, young undocumented immigrants held a rally in Chicago’s Federal Plaza. Staring down the local immigration office, eight “came out” as “undocumented and unafraid.”
Teenagers and young adults took the stage one by one. “I refuse to think of what another ten years of frustration, sadness, and fear will feel like,” one said. “My name is Reyna, and I am undocumented.”
The action hit a nerve, inspiring similar events around the country, including a “No Papers No Fear” bus that traveled the South carrying immigrants speaking out. The ride ended with civil disobedience at the Democratic National Convention, where 10 were arrested.
This March, Chicago’s Immigrant Youth Justice League celebrated its fourth annual “Coming Out of the Shadows Day.”
The daring act has put undocumented immigrants in a political spotlight. It has allowed young people to take the lead, demanding that politicians listen.
Similar “coming outs” have led to successes in some union campaigns. When supposedly hated public sector workers in Wisconsin rallied in 2011, the community was quick to support them. Fast food workers demanding a decent wage have gotten wide support, too.
…AND INTO THE STREETS
“Coming out” isn’t the only inspiring action immigrant activists are taking. They’re putting direct action behind their big demand.
The term “direct action” has been diluted over time, often referring to anything more active than lobbying. But immigrant youth are using direct action in the traditional sense: taking action that stops business as usual, creates a crisis, and demands change.
Under the slogan “Not One More,” immigrants calling for President Obama to end record-high deportations have locked down immigration offices and deportation facilities. They have blockaded and chained themselves to deportation buses.
Immigrants in detention facilities have waged hunger strikes calling for a stop to deportations, which now average more than 1,000 every day.
And after their organizing won a policy directive that defers the possibility of deportation for some, immigrant youth are pioneering an incredibly daring strategy: getting themselves arrested on purpose to infiltrate detention centers, gather and publicize the stories of other detainees, and organize from within.
These forceful actions say better than any speech that the prized “pathway to citizenship” is not enough.
There’s a reason the labor movement came up with the adage “direct action gets the goods.” In New York, when 40 angry Cablevision workers jammed into the vice president’s office over a firing, the worker was rehired the next day.
When the CEO of Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn threatened to close the hospital, nurses occupied his office, refusing to leave. The CEO was fired and the hospital remains open.
Last year a lackluster immigration reform bill, which didn’t even address the flood of deportations, got stalled in Congress. Rather than follow the bill, I’m keeping my eyes on the young activists dreaming big and making demands.
As far as I can see, they’re the ones who could changes the lives of millions.
Meet Reyna and other members of the Immigrant Youth Justice League, Cablevision activists, and nurses from Interfaith Medical Center at the Labor Notes Conference.
– See more at: https://labornotes.org/blogs/2014/03/no-papers-no-fear#sthash.wzMoJAve.dpuf
UPDATE: The National Day Labor Organizing Network predicts that by April the Obama Administration will have deported two million people. NDLON is calling for a national day of action April 5 under the banner “2 Million 2 Many!”
A few years ago I was giving “Know Your Rights” workshops for young immigrants in Maryland. They told me story after story about run-ins with police and immigration officers, who were regularly detaining and deporting their friends and family.
All I could offer was some hope they could protect themselves with their right to remain silent.
Today, young immigrants are taking brave steps to do more than protect themselves as individuals. They are calling out the whole broken immigration system, demanding to keep families together, putting themselves at risk for the cause.
Organized labor could learn a thing or two.
OUT OF THE SHADOWS…
In 2010, young undocumented immigrants held a rally in Chicago’s Federal Plaza. Staring down the local immigration office, eight “came out” as “undocumented and unafraid.”
Teenagers and young adults took the stage one by one. “I refuse to think of what another ten years of frustration, sadness, and fear will feel like,” one said. “My name is Reyna, and I am undocumented.”
The action hit a nerve, inspiring similar events around the country, including a “No Papers No Fear” bus that traveled the South carrying immigrants speaking out. The ride ended with civil disobedience at the Democratic National Convention, where 10 were arrested.
This March, Chicago’s Immigrant Youth Justice League celebrated its fourth annual “Coming Out of the Shadows Day.”
The daring act has put undocumented immigrants in a political spotlight. It has allowed young people to take the lead, demanding that politicians listen.
Similar “coming outs” have led to successes in some union campaigns. When supposedly hated public sector workers in Wisconsin rallied in 2011, the community was quick to support them. Fast food workers demanding a decent wage have gotten wide support, too.
…AND INTO THE STREETS
“Coming out” isn’t the only inspiring action immigrant activists are taking. They’re putting direct action behind their big demand.
The term “direct action” has been diluted over time, often referring to anything more active than lobbying. But immigrant youth are using direct action in the traditional sense: taking action that stops business as usual, creates a crisis, and demands change.
Under the slogan “Not One More,” immigrants calling for President Obama to end record-high deportations have locked down immigration offices and deportation facilities. They have blockaded and chained themselves to deportation buses.
Immigrants in detention facilities have waged hunger strikes calling for a stop to deportations, which now average more than 1,000 every day.
And after their organizing won a policy directive that defers the possibility of deportation for some, immigrant youth are pioneering an incredibly daring strategy: getting themselves arrested on purpose to infiltrate detention centers, gather and publicize the stories of other detainees, and organize from within.
These forceful actions say better than any speech that the prized “pathway to citizenship” is not enough.
There’s a reason the labor movement came up with the adage “direct action gets the goods.” In New York, when 40 angry Cablevision workers jammed into the vice president’s office over a firing, the worker was rehired the next day.
When the CEO of Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn threatened to close the hospital, nurses occupied his office, refusing to leave. The CEO was fired and the hospital remains open.
Last year a lackluster immigration reform bill, which didn’t even address the flood of deportations, got stalled in Congress. Rather than follow the bill, I’m keeping my eyes on the young activists dreaming big and making demands.
As far as I can see, they’re the ones who could changes the lives of millions.
Meet Reyna and other members of the Immigrant Youth Justice League, Cablevision activists, and nurses from Interfaith Medical Center at the Labor Notes Conference.
– See more at: https://labornotes.org/blogs/2014/03/no-papers-no-fear#sthash.wzMoJAve.dpuf
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy