Thread: Calls for boycott test immigration unity

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IMMIGRATION MOVEMENT
Calls for boycott test immigration unity
Protest movement splinters on tactic; some fear backlash


By Myung Oak Kim And Rosa Ramirez, Rocky Mountain News
April 15, 2006
The new immigrant rights movement in Colorado, which took off with stunning success last month, is now facing its first real test over a planned student walkout April 19 and a work boycott May 1.
Some leaders, including a growing number of student activists, favor the aggressive tactics of walkouts and a boycott to show the economic power of the immigrant community.

But others caution that actions that go beyond the rallies that Denver has seen in recent weeks could backfire and strengthen calls for get-tough laws that would penalize illegal immigrants.

All factions in the immigrant rights movement agree on the goal - to see Congress pass immigration reform that gives people who are in the country illegally a path toward citizenship.

But the two upcoming events have created a disagreement over strategy, echoing a debate that's occurring among immigrant rights groups across the country.

That's not unusual, said Rachel Einwohner, a sociology professor at Purdue University in Indiana. She noted that the civil rights movement splintered into factions that took different approaches.

"People are, of course, interested in achieving justice. They're not always going to agree on how to achieve that," she said.

Sometimes groups come back together and sometimes their split hardens, Einwohner said, and "it can be very difficult to get the two sides back together."

Immigrant rights took center stage at a March 25 Civic Center demonstration that drew an estimated 50,000. Since then, there have been a series of student walkouts and other demonstrations.

But next Wednesday, student organizers are planning to up the ante, calling on students from at least 10 high schools and middle schools to leave class and gather at the state Capitol for a late morning rally, said Eddie Montoya, 19, of the youth activist group Jovenes Unidos.

Students may stage another walkout May 1, when immigrants across Colorado and the nation are being urged to skip work for the day to protest legislation passed by the House of Representatives that would criminalize undocumented immigrants and the people who help them.

The protest movement has also hit Mexico and parts of Central America, with some groups calling for boycotts May 1 of American-made products.

While details of the local events are still undecided, the myriad of organizers are struggling to unify on strategy and scrambling to keep up with calls to action sent nationwide through Spanish-language media, the Internet and e-mail.

"In terms of a movement, what does a movement look like, we're seeing a very unique dynamic that I think is unprecedented in U.S. history," said Jamila Spencer, of the Colorado Catholic Conference, part of a coalition called the Colorado Grassroots Movement for Immigrant Justice. "That's why this May 1st thing has the potential to be so explosive - because you can't control it."

The idea for a May 1 work boycott emerged from local groups during coordinated rallies April 10 and then spread across the country, said Germonique Jones, a spokeswoman for the Center for Community Change, an activist group based in Washington, D.C.

"There's no one main group that is really behind the May 1st event," she said. "The May 1st event has really taken on a life of its own."

May 1 boycott

One of the most prominent calls for labor halts has come from Eduardo Sotelo, a popular syndicated Spanish radio host of El Piolin Por La Manana, who can be heard on Denver-area stations.Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the Los Angeles-based Latino Movement USA, is traveling the country to promote the boycott.

"We are calling on people not to go to work. No school from grammar to college and no shopping or selling," he said. "We want to create a day without immigrants. We fully expect to have participation across the board."

At an April 10 rally at the state Capitol, labor organizer Paul Lopez called on immigrants "to shut down Denver" May 1, a day some groups are calling "The Great American Boycott of 2006."

About 40 to 60 people attended meetings Wednesday and Thursday, which were closed to the media, to discuss the May 1 events. They have scheduled another meeting for Monday evening at Escuela Tlatelolco, a school at Federal Boulevard and 29th Avenue.

The groups are trying to reunite after slight divisions and lack of communication in the planning for the April 10 candlelight vigil at Sloan's Lake to remember immigrants who died crossing the border.

Conflicting strategies

Some organizers oppose student walkouts and work stoppages, saying such actions would create too much anger and hurt efforts to defeat an anti-illegal immigrant initiative heading to the November ballot in Colorado.

Others support those tactics, saying it's time for the community to see how much immigrants contribute to the economy.

Lourdes Norton, owner of El Defensor del Hispano, a tax preparation and notary public business on Federal Boulevard, said she's not opening May 1st. She said 90 percent of her clients are undocumented Hispanic immigrants: "If I open the store, I'm telling them, I don't support you."

Romario Delgado, president of Three Brothers Concrete Inc. in Denver said his small company will shut down on May 1.

"I already told my foreman: Nobody is going to be working," he said. "I'm not planning on doing any business that day also. That's the only way to support our people (and) to stand up for them."

Delgado has already informed his customers: "They don't disagree, and they're not disappointed. They are all with us."

But not everyone is with the demonstrators. Rallies have already generated criticism and a boycott could turn up the volume.

Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, signed a letter earlier this week asking President Bush to declare a state of emergency in response to immigrant protests.

"It makes me more resolved to fight this issue," Schultheis said in a recent interview. "They do not have rights of free speech in this country, or any other rights for that matter. Those rights come to us as a result of us being citizens of this country."

Bill Vandenberg, co-director of the Colorado Progressive Coalition, which helped organize the March 25 Denver immigration rally, said an alternative to a May 1 work stoppage is in the works. It would involve volunteers going door to door that day to educate businesses about immigration and seek their support in pushing for more generous policies.

"We have a lot of people that want to do a lot of different things," he said. "Passionate opinions are present in every setting, and that's a healthy thing."

Action 'harsh, drastic'

The Colorado Catholic Conference opposes student walkouts and work boycotts "because those types of actions do not encourage reasonable dialogue," Spencer said. "Instead, they heighten the rhetoric and debate, and they help to polarize the debate, distracting us from real public policy solutions."

"We encourage positive actions, prayer vigils and rallies in support of comprehensive immigration reform," she said. "To do something this harsh and this drastic can hurt community. It can undermine the long-term goals."

As for the student walkout, Ricardo Martinez, an organizer of the April 10 candlelight vigil at Sloan's Lake, supports it.

"We support that they will express their First Amendment rights," said Martinez, co-director of a local Latino activist group Padres Unidos, which means parents united.

Eddie Montoya, of Jovenes Unidos, the youth arm of Padres Unidos, said adult organizers of the pro-immigrant events have tried to change the minds of students planning to skip class.

"People are still going to do it anyway," he said. "That message is already out there, and that's what people are going to do."

In Denver Public Schools, officials told principals not to interfere with students leaving school and to allow them to return. Students who walk out will be considered truant.

And students predict more absences if Congress deadlocks on immigration reform.

"If our demands are not met, then we're going to keep going," Montoya said.



kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2361

Sorry.......do they even make anything in the US anymore? I bought a fan and was thrilled to see it had made in the USA on it. Except when I opened it.....MADE IN CHINA was engraved on the base of the fan. Must have ment the BOX was made here.

"People are, of course, interested in achieving justice. They're not always going to agree on how to achieve that," she said.

Justice for whom?? Are we not supposed to ask.??? I'd like a little justice for Americans and American taxpayers who seem to have the whole danged world on their shoulders.

MJ