What's at stake in the O'odham trial
The prosecution of indigenous peoples'
activists over protests last year brings into sharp relief what kind of Arizona
we want
Roberto Cintli Rodriguez
guardian.co.uk,
Monday 21 February 2011 19.00 GMT
A government
helicopter patrols the O'odham
reservation in the Sonoran desert to deter drugs smugglers, but also
illegal immigrants, hundreds of whom have perished trying to cross the
desert from Mexico to Arizona. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
Arizona is definitely not Egypt, where the UN has estimated that
some 300 pro-democracy activists were killed … neither can Arizona be
compared to Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria, Morocco, Bahrain, or especially
Libya, where hundreds more have been killed in ongoing protests.And
yet, Arizona has been haemorrhaging the past two decades during which
the harsh Sonoran desert has claimed several thousand lives. This has
occurred as a direct result of official US policies, namely the
continued militarisation of the border that results in a deathly "funnel
effect". This is precisely what undergirds Arizona's cultural or
civilisational conflict; it isn't simply about fear and hate, but of
forced migrations and the borderlands as a vast desert cemetery for
those whose footprints did not quite take them to the promise land. All
these deaths are predictable, with mathematical precision: export
genetically modified corn to the south and, in short order, millions of
people, unable to compete with the cheap US-subsidised corn, will
eventually migrate north. Militarily close off crossing paths to the
east and the west and the only place left for crossing is this
godforsaken desert. Just since 2000, in Arizona alone, more than 2,100 human
remains have been recovered. Not to be forgotten is that many of those bodies
recovered show evidence of violence (can we overlook the killings of Raul and
9-year-old Briseña Flores by white supremacists on the border?).The
deaths of thousands is tolerated precisely because human beings – as
part of free trade agreements (Nafta) – are treated as less than human,
never factored into the equation. Couple this with an extreme rightwing state
legislature and we have a perfect storm.This
nation's, and this state's, solution, to this crisis is to further
militarise the border and to criminalise and imprison, via kangaroo
courts (Operation Streamline),
the migrants, particularly in private prisons. The flurry of
anti-Mexican, anti-indigenous and anti-migrant bills has indeed created a
response in Arizona. From May to July, weekly protests erupted
throughout the state, including one with close to 200,000 protesters in
Phoenix. These resulted in mass arrests, from students chaining
themselves to the state capitol, taking over streets or state buildings,
to indigenous activists occupying the Tucson Border Patrol
headquarters.This week, the indigenous activists find themselves
on trial, facing the charges of criminal trespass. The defendants, part
of the O'odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective,
did so to protest the militarisation of the border; this includes the
sending of yet more national guard troops; the efforts to wall the
2,000-mile border and the use of military drone technology.This
radical protest took the nation by surprise because of the narrative
that has been fashioned by far right forces of aliens, brown hordes and
silent invasions. The occupation is deep with symbolism. Who is invading
whom? For indigenous peoples, the militarisation of the border has,
indeed, meant invasion and criminal trespass. And in the case of various
indigenous nations, particularly the O'odham, it has come at a steep
price: the division of their nation; the desecration of sacred lands;
the depopulation of their villages; and their inability to move freely
across their own lands. Their action was taken not in isolation, but in
solidarity with those opposed to the state's repressive legislation.On
23 February, the trial of five members of the O'odham collective will
begin. This will come at a time when the state legislature continues its
path of virtually seceding from the United States (SB 1443) – a bill
that purportedly exempts Arizona from federal laws and another proposal
that would exempt Arizona from international law (SCR 1010). With the ethnic
studies ban coming to a head
– Tucson's school district was given until 18 April to eliminate their
Mexican American studies programme – Arizona is seemingly set for a
state-wide showdown between those who desire to live in the 21st century
and those who would prefer to return to the 19th. This is a reminder
that the Arizona conflict is also about would-be inquisitions and forced
impositions of culture.Unfortunately, the budget situation in Arizona is not
dissimilar to Wisconsin's, where union workers and their supporters have
finally had enough.
Conservatives nationwide, and state by state, are prepared to please
corporations and the super-rich by giving them unneeded tax breaks while
continuing to stick it to the poor and middle classes, under the
tragicomic guise of fiscal conservatism. The amazing protest in
Wisconsin continues; it may presage the future of state battles
nationwide. In Arizona, we know only too well what conservative
legislators are capable of. The question is whether the prospect of mass
protests at state capitols can exercise restraint on them. We watch
Wisconsin and wait.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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