BY HIROKO TANAKA AND PACO SÁNCHEZ

NEW YORK - Activists here have begun preparations for a national immigrant rights march in Washington, D.C., on October 12. Around 20 people met on July 15 to organize a public conference in support of immigrant rights and to build the national demonstration. The march has been called by Campaign '96, a California-based organization, to demand human and constitutional rights, education, health care, and an end to police brutality against all immigrants.

Some of those present at the meeting had previously organized a demonstration to protest the beating of Mexican workers by police in the Los Angeles area last April. In early July they held a press conference in front of the Statue of Liberty to build the national march, drawing 50 people.

Israel Galindo, a laid-off health-care worker and member of Local 1199 of the hospital workers union, had picked up a flyer announcing the meeting left by another unionist at his union hall. Galindo said he came because "history tells us that countries change through large social movements and revolutions and not through elections- although people should vote."

Among the participants at the meeting, there were people from Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. The discussion was translated into Spanish and Farsi.

Abu Taher, a young journalist from Bangladesh, found out about the meeting after reading a local newspaper about the march on Washington. After making many phone calls, he found out the address for the meeting. "We need to reach out to different communities. There are many Bangladeshis in New York and they will be interested in going to the march," Taher said. The next day he wrote an article about the October 12 march for his newspaper, The Weekly Thikana.

At the meeting participants decided to organize a public conference and planning meeting on August 18 with activists from different communities. The conference will include presentations and discussion, followed by workshops where several aspects of the march will be planned, from outreach to publicity. More than 100 organizations in New York have endorsed the march. A number of groups are already filling up busses for the march on D.C.

For more information call (212) 473-3936 or (212) 505-0001.  
 
 
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