I agree with Alex and tony we need to UNIFY our leadership, Organize & Strategize against the attacks on our communities. (Let's hear what tony herrera has prepared as a plan against the "the end game") Let's Reactivate NAIR!!! It would be great if we could start as Javier & Jorge suggest for electronic coffee on a conference call followed by an actual meeting(in person) in 5-7 weeks from this coming weekend. This way we can formulate concrete actions to be implemented during a 2-3 week period before the presidential elections on November 4, 2008. Let's utilize our voting power as a bargaining chip. I know this is a very ambitious plan, but given the circumstances i see little choice in order to be effective against the attacks on our community. One other major point is that we should be pushing is for making May 1st the national Labor Day here in the US. Since this is of true significance to the labor movement, let's start planning again for May 1st 2009.
Rosendo Delgado -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Alex Gillis Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 10:05 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: dorinda moreno; Jorge Mujica; Tony Herrera; Local/National/Global; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Aztlannet News; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Nativo Lopez Subject: [NAIR_CC:3239] Re: ending the end game: compa, perhaps, another way can be considered in appealing for the attention vied for from the working coalitions and which honors the complexity of the proactive community in responding to the development Hi compañeros! From Immigrnat Workers Union in Madison WI. I agree with much of what it has been said, i think tony herrera as always nail it specially in the sense of urgency, and of couse Jorje and Javier points out what is possible at this moment and the willing to activate all our forces for May Fist 2009. Now, Javier with al my respect, javier said "I think the best and most mature move we can make will be to convene an RSVP meeting of many of the recognized national and regional leaders and coalitions of the nation's immigrant rights movement in a neutral ground. Mexico City could be the site or others...." Well who is going to judge who are the "recognized national and regional leaders and coalitions " and how Mexico City is a neutral ground for 12 million undocuemnted workers most of them holders of low income unprotected jobs!? An follows "It's highly improbable to think we will be successful in creating the unity of a national movement if only one faction makes the call. We are still too parochial and sectarian unless we grow and make the move. [...]" Well, it is time that we start aknowledging that we are different, that we do have different views and interest for the movimiento and that has to be fine becuase as javier says we are not in the hundred of thousands in our membership to be start calling for unilateral national actions. And it is time that we are able to put aside our pasions, past and urgent organizationational and personal needs to focus in what can be done in solidarily unity. The immigrnat workers union would like to propose the following elements to build more efective unity: 1) Reactivate NAIR as a loose network of organizations and activist with the solely goal to coordinate actions like for example May Day 2009, Emergency actiosn in support fo local organzaitons, activist or campaing that need of a national umbrella. 2) To celebrate 4 national NAIR conferences for example Midwest (chicago), east (NYC) , west( LA) and south (Arizona) This conferences should create the "neutral ground". 3) Retake the 10 points of unity: 1) No to anti-immigrant legislation, and the criminalization of the immigrant communities. 2) No to militarization of the border. 3) No to the immigrant detention and deportation. 4) No to the guest worker program. 5) No to employer sanction and "no match" letters. 6) Yes to a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. 7) Yes to speedy family reunification. 8) Yes to civil rights and humane immigration law. 9) Yes to labor rights and living wages for all workers. 10) Yes to the education and LGBT immigrant legislation. 4) to agree in common rules for building unity: a) NAIR will lay out actions, by simple mayority, for its members to volunterally and optionally endorse b) Each organization can use its own analisisye, literature and logo to call for the actions c) Each organization can and should persue its own startegist by itself when colectivally NAIR did not endoerse it. d) Create a system of decision for NAIR. - Census of endorsing organizations that subscribes the ten points of unity - a rep of each organization for national calls and delegates acreditation (thus only voters) - every 1 year thought an electronic vote (like a poll for example) a new coordinating commitee should be created on this basis: - 8 members: 2 by each region (south, mid,east and west) to be elected regionally only by delegates of organaitions in those areas. - 1 member for each national organization (at least in 3 states) - 10 members from national electoral process (electronic poll) - 15 Guess members on voluntary nomination upon commitee aprobal and with out vote. Obviusly all those are just ideas, i hope a good draft to go some other place where everybody feels more confortable. The point is that many activist and we among them, we just can not tolerate more division and more useless "my idea agaisnt your idea" aptitude. It is time to mature and start building agenda colectivilly, NAIR will not be one man idea,project or vision, so why not try to focus in whatever most of us agree on actiosn basis and keep the NAIR as a forum to discuss new ideas an promote them when enought quorum. Belive me, when i say that this is NOT by far the best way to organize our gente in what efectively is going to be an intense open war agisnt the poor and the undocuemtned in this time in history, but to spent one second more trying to convice our hermanos tio lead us is a second that we are not using to build ourown fences against enemy lines. in solidarity and Sincerally! -Alex Gillis- On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 2:25 AM, javier rodriguez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Allow me to humbly enter the discussion. In the present in LA we are involved in a multifaceted effort to create the political conditions to stop a potential ICE raid on a large worksite and we begin the first step on Friday. Nothing major, just the kick off. There is no guarantee of success, but the writing is on the wall, especially with today's move by ICE. I agree with Jorge. It is a political endgame of terror, of fear on our communities and regions nationally. It is to bend the will of the people and its leaders. But in the context of the presidential election, the raids campaign is also focused on motivating their base. In as far as extending the fear to the Latino electorate it may or may not be the case on their part, however, I think the effect will be hugely the opposite. The pressure on the democrats with the Aug 28 National March in the Denver DNC is precisely that, pressure and speculatively speaking, it put us on the path towards May 1, 2009. May 1st may fall in or around the heat of the debate over the reform under an Obama or a McCain presidency. Though I speculate it will be Obama. Regardless the may 1st 2009 national marches will become key in setting the debate or intensifying it. And brother Jorge, responding to your logic, it wasn't the generosity of President Reagan who "gave us IRCA 1986" and the legalization of several millions, it was 18 years of mass struggle, pressure and organization that began in 1968 and it was a partial victory because 2 million plus were left out. The same goes for Obama and the potential executive order to stop the raids and the possible legalization on the millions of our people in 2009. No manches hermano. At a certain point in the process, the recycled bill will be in Congress and the right wing under the direction of their guru and FAIR and its organizations, will point all their cannons on stopping the advance or its approval. Whether the new majority will be able to withstand the right wing lobbying and the hundreds of thousands of emails, faxes and calls, will depend largely on how bruised the right will be after November or how strong will the new majority be. The results in the change in the correlation of forces will be telling. Of course it ill also depend on the strength of our social movement. I think the best and most mature move we can make will be to convene an RSVP meeting of many of the recognized national and regional leaders and coalitions of the nation's immigrant rights movement in a neutral ground. Mexico City could be the site or others.... It's highly improbable to think we will be successful in creating the unity of a national movement if only one faction makes the call. We are still too parochial and sectarian unless we grow and make the move. Remember comrades we do not have, at least not yet, the online organization in the hundreds of thousands to respond politically on call in days. They do. They have had the funds and right wing wisdom to build that part. On the streets and the vote, we have kicked their ass and Tanton knows it. Nothing personal Comrades. Respectfully, Javier Rodriguez I don't have access to some of the group list serves so do me the favor. --- On Mon, 8/25/08, Jorge Mujica <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Jorge Mujica <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [NAIR_CC:3226] Re: ending the end game: compa, perhaps, another way can be considered in appealing for the attention vied for from the working coalitions and which honors the complexity of the proactive community in responding to the development of a To: "dorinda moreno" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Tony Herrera" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Local/National/Global" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Aztlannet News" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Monday, August 25, 2008, 8:05 PM Look at it the other way, compas: Endgame started 5 years ago, and it's supposed to be "the way to get rid of all illegal aliens by 2013". So far, in 5 years, despite the last raids, they have arrested, processed and deported less than 200,000 people, some 1.6 percent of their goal. They would need 60 more years to accomplish their goal. Endgame is more about terrorizing the community than to "wipe us out" and/or expell everybody. We should organize a counter campaign, at local, regional and/or national level, but not necesarilly "protesting in front of ICE offices" (anyone believes that ICE will stop the raids if we proteste in front of them?), but putting pressure directly on the White House. Oh, yeah, I forgot... all Latino activists are busy supporting the Democrats, registering voters and having citizenship workshops becasue, after all, Obama will stop the raids on January 21st, 2009. Let's create a better plan to respond than "emergency calls" and emergency protests. Yes, each case, each worker, each mother detained is a problem and we have to find ways to provide help to their sons and dauthers and so on, and we can do some things locally, but we need some coordinated national action to really put pressure on the office that signed Endgame. Remember this is done by Executive order, not because any law says so... -- Jorge Mujica -- -Alex- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Internet group address: http://groups.google.com/group/ChicagoMayDay To send e-mail: [email protected] To unsuscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
