BY GREG ROSENBERG

WASHINGTON, D .C. - Word has begun to spread throughout the United States about the October 12 national march on Washington for immigrant rights. Activists on both coasts and in the Midwest report initial organizing efforts have begun to bear fruit.

The seven demands of the demonstration are: human and constitutional rights for all; equal opportunities and affirmative action; public education for all children; preserve and expand public health services; labor law reform and a $7- per-hour minimum wage; opposition to police brutality, and a call for citizen police review boards; and extension of the eligibility date for amnesty for immigrants to get citizenship.

On September 16, activists from Coordinadora `96 - the umbrella organization that called the march and rally -

reserved 50 buses to travel to the demonstration from Los Angeles.

The first of these buses have begun to fill for the 50-hour trip to the capital. Traveling in a caravan, the buses are scheduled to stop in San Antonio on October 9 to build participation in the march.

The August 26 San Antonio Express-News reported that activists in that Texas city have already held three fund- raisers to help offset travel costs for those who will make the trip.

In Los Angeles, organizations such as One Stop Immigration, California Citizens for Justice, local churches, and several unions are actively building the march. The California AFL-CIO has also decided to formally back the demonstration.

At a September 8 Latino Summit on Affirmative Action, which was attended by 200 people, most of them young, dozens signed up to make the trip on an airplane chartered by the Mexican- American Legal Defense Fund.

National action builds
Several prominent new endorsements for the demonstration have arrived at the October 12 march and rally office, located here in the national headquarters of the International Union of Electronics Workers (IUE).

Nydia Velázquez, a Democratic member of Congress from New York, sent her endorsement. Several members of the California Legislature have also endorsed.

"As National President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)," wrote Belen Robles, "I want to add my personal endorsement to the Coordinadora `96 and its call to the March on Washington." The board of directors of the Dominican American National Foundation, headquartered in Hialeah, Florida, also decided to participate in the national march. "We think that it's our duty to be present in this march in order to let our voices be heard," wrote executive director Rhadames Peguero.

As reported in last week's issue of the Militant, AFL-CIO executive vice-president Linda Chavez-Thompson has agreed to speak on October 12. IUE president William Bywater has also endorsed. The union federation's AFL-CIO News made favorable mention of the demonstration at the end of an article in its August 26 issue. March organizers are working to secure labor support in fund-raising, materials, and march participation.

Unionists in the Washington, D.C. metro area report that up until now, a small number of workers have heard about the demonstration through Spanish-language media.

In an effort to expand publicity for the action, a press breakfast and briefing was held here September 17 for Spanish- language newspapers, television, and radio journalists. Reporters from six local newspapers attended, as did representatives of the EFE news agency of Spain, Notimex of Mexico, and El Grafico of Guatemala, each of which has reporters based here. A full press conference is scheduled for the following week.

Tentative plans advanced by October 12 organizers are for participants to assemble at Lafayette Park across from the White House at 10:00 a.m. and march to the Lincoln Memorial. Federal agencies, however, have yet to issue any permits for the march and rally.

March builds in Washington area
"The march is an outlet for the community to express their opposition to continued attacks they've been facing by anti- immigration forces," said Saul Solorzano in an interview. Solorzano is the director of the Central American Resource Center and a leader of the coalition building October 12 in the Washington metro area.

"Judging by our last fund-raiser, we are doing a good job." Solorzano noted that on less than two weeks' notice, approximately 130 people turned out to the Latin Jazz Alley September 13, raising about $500 in funds for the local coalition.

Another such event is planned for September 22 at the popular Habana Village nightspot.

The D.C. coalition has also begun to meet with growing interest from area student and other youth. One coalition activist, a student at American University, made a presentation to some 40 Latino students at Georgetown University, who decided to go all out to build the march at their campus. Recent meetings have drawn other young people new to the coalition, including several from the Latino youth organization Barrios Unidos.

In New York, Coordinadora '96 is building the march at activities around the city. A contingent marched in the Mexican Independence Day Parade on September 15 and distributed large numbers of flyers. A contingent also participated in a September 17 protest against the attacks on welfare and immigrants.

At the last Coordinadora meeting organizers reported that several labor unions are organizing buses, including Union of Needletrades Industrial and Textile Employees, Hospital Workers Local 1199, and the United Food and Commercial Workers.

The September 8 issue of the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario featured a two-page article on the march and the importance of its demands.

The Chicago coalition building the October 12 march has reserved at least six buses for the action, and two of these have already been filled.

Students at area campuses are organizing to get to the demonstration in substantial numbers. Activists from the coalition's outreach committee spoke to a group of 45 students at DePaul University, who are planning a September 21 fund- raiser to cover transportation costs. Meetings on the action are also planned at Du Page and North Park College.

Iowa Coordinating '96, which includes a number of Latino packinghouse workers, has begun building the October 12 demonstration with a series of public events in Des Moines to call attention to the attacks against immigrant workers. They held a September 15 protest picket at a fund-raiser for Democratic senatorial candidate Tom Harkin, which was also attended by President William Clinton. Both Democratic candidates speak in favor of cracking down on "illegal" immigrants, and this is featured prominently in Harkin's TV ads.

A Des Moines-area demonstration to defend immigrant rights is planned for October 5 at 12:30 p.m. on the steps of the state capitol. The Des Moines coalition has so far sold about a dozen tickets and aims to fill a bus to travel to Washington on October 12.

In Miami, 100 people attended a fund-raising dinner August 17 organized by the Committee for Dignity and Justice for Immigrants.

Funds were raised to help pay for bus travel from that city to the national demonstration. Orlando Yañez from the Florida Association of Farmworkers encouraged everyone to join the march. The association has plans to send several buses to Washington from south Florida. The Committee for Dignity and Justice for Immigrants is also planning to send at least one bus to the demonstration. They sent out a 500-piece mailing to build the action.

Mark Curtis in Chicago; Rollande Girard in Miami; Jon Hillson in Los Angeles; Wendy Lyons in New York; and Shirley Peña in Des Moines contributed to this article.  
 
 
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