Vol. 72/No. 13      March 31, 2008

Among those attending were 20 students from different campus chapters of the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán (MEChA). Aldo Resendiz from the MEChA chapter at Seattle University gave a political background of the struggle for immigrant rights. He noted that the first massive May Day action for immigrant rights was in 2006. The rally that year in Seattle drew 30,000 people, and in Yakima, Washington, 15,000 marched, including 500 high school students.

Carlos Marentes of El Comité spoke about the current economic crisis and its affect on working people, especially on immigrant workers. He said that there was virtually no difference in immigration policy between the three current front-runners in the presidential race: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. “None of these candidates represent the interests of the Hispanic community,” he said.

The meeting broke into workshops to discuss proposals for actions this spring. In one group, Chris Hoeppner, the Socialist Workers candidate for governor, explained that the Democratic and Republican candidates could not represent immigrant workers because they were all spokespeople for the capitalist parties. “We need a fighting labor party of the working class that would represent the interests of all working people,” he said. He urged people to consider the Socialist Workers platform and its candidates.

The meeting voted to build a large march on May 1, to have a two-day boycott of national chain stores, and to stage civil disobedience to focus media attention on the need for immigration reform.

On March 8 there was a lively picket line and vigil at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Immigrant workers from Washington state, Idaho, and Oregon are held there after being picked up by ICE. Vigils are held the second Saturday of every month. The March 8 vigil was sponsored by students from Evergreen State in Olympia as part of celebrating International Women’s Day. Students from Evergreen and Seattle University marched, chanted and greeted those who had come to visit the workers behind bars.

In another development, students in the group Latinos Unidos (Latinos United) at Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington, about 30 miles south of Seattle, are discussing how to respond to a rightist provocation on their campus.

On March 5 postcards were distributed all over campus from a group called Citizens For A Better America. The message on the cards urged students to turn in the names of workers or students without papers for arrest and deportation.

Nav Sanhu and Lilia Hueso, members of Latinos Unidos on the campus, came to a regional meeting of MEChA students on March 9 at Seattle University to get support to counter the racists.

On April 11 and 12, the Labor Center at the Evergreen State College and El Comité are cosponsoring a “Workers’ Assembly on Immigration” at the Tacoma campus of Evergreen State College.

Mary Martin contributed to this article.
 
 
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