[Mediaculturehipsters] Please Help!

[jennifer buscher]

this message was written by my friend and colleague in the graduate  
program in dance at ucr.  i truly support his work and hope that you  
will also be able to join us in this effort.  thanks, jennifer

> Dear friends,
>
> Please join me in supporting the rights of all working people in this
> country by participating in the Great American Boycott on May 1, 2006.
>  The boycott asks that you abstain from work, school, shopping and
> selling... no business as usual.  The idea is to show what an impact
> immigrant labor has on our economy, and how much we depend on these
> workers, regardless of their legal status, to maintain our nation's
> privileged level of comfort and nearly unattainable status quo.
>
> Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a march through
> downtown Los Angeles.  It was the first time I have ever marched and
> chanted while carrying the United States' flag.  Rainbows for sure,
> banners for justice as well, but somewhere along the lines of recent
> history the stars and stripes were robbed from those of us who prat
> ice our right of dissent, and has become for so many in this country
> and aborad a symbol of oppression, imperialism, and patriarchy.  What
> I witnessed last night was revolutionary and reclamatory.  September
> 11th, for me, marked the death of identity politics, and now we are
> experiencing the birth of something new--or a rebirth really--the
> coalition, force, and pride behind the fact that this country was
> built, and will always depend on the labor and civics of its immigrant
> population.  We are all immigrants here, and we all deserve equal
> rights, protection, and representation under the law.
>
> Last night we, as a diverse and powerful community, took back the
> American flag.  We have the chance now to change what it means to be
> Americans, to be America.  Do we continue practicing apathy and
> silence, putting our faith and comfort in an insupportable standard of
> living that oppresses and abuses our neighbors?  Or do we take a
> stand, take a risk, and recall the legacy of this country: that at one
> time in each of our histories, someone came here, by choice or by
> force, and through great struggle made way for a bettter life for
> their children, their families, their community, and the people of
> this nation.
>
> We are fools to believe that the struggle is over.  Once again we are
> called to action.  There is momentum, there is support, and there is a
> symbol... I urge you to rally behind it.
>
> The Great American Boycott
> May 1, 2006
> A Day Without an Immigrant
> www.internationalanswer.org
>
> In Community,
>> Shakina Nayfack
>> Department of Dance
>> University of California, Riverside
>> www.ragesties.com
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> BOYCOTT SET TO SUPPORT U.S. IMMIGRANTS
> By Jerry Seper
> THE WASHINGTON TIMES
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Immigration rights organizers today will call for a nationwide boycott
> of work, school and shopping on May 1 to protest congressional efforts
> to clamp down on illegal aliens as part of pending immigration-reform
> legislation.
>
>    The "Great American Boycott of 2006" is only one in a series of
> large-scale events the protesters hope will sway lawmakers to put
> millions of illegal aliens on track toward permanent residency and
> U.S. citizenship.
>
>    "The massive March 25 march and rally in Los Angeles of well over
> one million immigrant workers and their supporters -- along with
> protests and student walkouts throughout the United States -- is
> irrefutable evidence that a new civil rights and workers' rights
> movement is on the rise," said Raul Murillo, one of the key organizers
> and president of the Hermandad Mexicana Nacional.
>
>    "In order to realize the goal of legalization for the millions of
> undocumented workers, we have the obligation to keep  pressing the
> Congress of the United States to legislate immigration reform that
> grants full legalization for all immigrants."
>
>    Sarah Sloan, a spokeswoman for boycott organizers, said the
> boycott, additional marches and rallies in at least 30 cities
> nationwide beginning next week are designed to highlight opposition to
> House legislation that would crack down on illegal aliens.
>
>    The Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) coalition, which
> organized the Los Angeles march to win "full rights for undocumented
> workers," is confident its new "national action" will prove
> successful.
>
>    ANSWER's steering committee includes the Free Palestine Alliance,
> the Partnership for Civil Justice, the Nicaragua Network, the Korea
> Truth Commission, the Muslim Student Association, the Mexico
> Solidarity Network and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. It
> denounces as racism attempts to criminalize illegal aliens.
>
>    A bill approved in the House, 239-182, would, among other things,
> increase immigration enforcement and border security, build a fence
> along 698 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, make illegal entry a felony
> and penalize those who help illegals enter the United States.
>
>    Boycott organizers think the Senate Judiciary Committee, under the
> pressure of massive protests last week, adopted a series of reforms in
> sharp contrast to the House-approved bill.
>
>    The Senate bill that would create a guest-worker program and put
> millions of illegal aliens on track toward permanent residency was
> approved last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee 12-6. It now goes
> to the full Senate. If approved, then it and the House version must be
> reconciled before it can be presented to President Bush.
>
>    House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.,
> Wisconsin Republican and author of the House bill, yesterday called
> border security and immigration reform "the toughest and most complex
> government policy issue around, and one that requires a civil, careful
> and thoughtful discussion to arrive at a policy that reflects that we
> are both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws."
>
>    "I am disappointed by the erroneous accusations lodged against the
> strong House-passed border-security bill, aimed at preventing illegal
> immigration, that I sponsored," he said.
>
>    Mr. Sensenbrenner said alien-smuggling rings present an enormous
> problem and the House bill provides new tools for prosecutors to fight
> smuggling rings, "not the humanitarian and church groups, alleged by
> illegal-alien supporters." He said targeting alien-smuggling gangs is
> the intent -- and the effect -- of the House bill.
>
>    "I would hope everyone would embrace a good-faith effort to combat
> alien-smuggling gangs, rather than engage in fear-mongering that
> clergy and good Samaritans will be thrown in jail," he said. "That's
> absolutely false -- and beneath the level of dialogue this important
> issue deserves."
>
>    He also noted that it is currently a crime to enter the United
> States illegally and that criminal prosecutions, while not frequent,
> are focused on the most egregious cases. But he said unlawful
> presence, or residing in this country illegally, is not currently a
> crime in the United States, as it is in Mexico and many other
> countries."
>
>    Los Angeles march organizers have credited Cardinal Roger Mahony,
> who leads the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest Roman Catholic
> diocese in the country, with the turnout in Los Angeles. The
> archbishop attacked the House bill during Ash Wednesday Mass, saying
> it would turn most people and institutions that aid illegal aliens
> into felons.
>
>    He pledged a campaign of civil disobedience in the archdiocese's
> 288 parishes if it becomes law. Another major protest march in Los
> Angeles is scheduled for Monday.
>
>    Hundreds of students in high schools in California, Texas, Arizona,
> Nevada and Kansas also walked out of their schools last week to
> protest immigration-reform measures being considered in Congress --
> holding flags from the United States, Mexico, Guatemala and several
> other Latin American countries.
>
>    There also were marches last month in Washington, Chicago,
> Milwaukee, Phoenix, Atlanta and other cities.
> --
> Shakina Nayfack
> Department of Dance
> University of California, Riverside
> www.ragesties.com
>
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