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Haftverschärfung nach Gespräch mit Protestierenden. Hungerstreiks und Demos nach Alex' Tod
Malaga: Sexueller Missbrauch gegen Frauen in einem Abschiebegefängnis
Stop the repression against the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala
Oaxaca de Magón, City of Resistance, July 30, 2010
To the peoples of Oaxaca
To the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca
To the people of Mexico
To the peoples of the world
To the general public
Today, July 30, 2010 at approximately 12:15, just after noon, a group of heavily armed UBISORT men accompanied by state police who were also heavily armed, went into San Juan Copala shooting into the air, striking the women comrades, and then violently occupying the Municipal Government Building.
As has been reported in a number of different news media, the acts of provocation against the autonomous municipality began on Monday, July 26, when UBISORT paramilitaries shot up the community space for two hours, wounding 35 year-old María Rosa Francisco, who has been disappeared since she went out for firewood that day. The paramilitaries shot everything that moved, including dozens of domestic animals.
These acts were a prelude to what happened yesterday, Thursday, July 29, when paramilitary leader Anastacio Juárez was killed. He was a UBISORT member and brother of PRI paramilitary leader Rufino Juárez, the main person responsible for the ambush of the peace caravan on April 27 of this year and the cowardly murders of Bety Cariño and Jyri Antero
The style of the killing of this paramilitary leader in an undetermined spot, whose body was “recovered” by state authorities precisely in San Juan Copala, is the same as that of the executions of Aristeo López and Alejandro Barrita, high level police commanders directly responsible for the repression against APPO comrades in 2006. His death only benefits the government. Those who could be direct links between the crimes against the people and Ulises Ruiz are eliminated and their deaths serve as a pretext for criminalizing the popular movement.
Today, the pretext for the entry of the Ubisort paramilitaries and the Oaxaca State Preventive Police into San Juan Copala was the recovery of the body of this dangerous paramiitary. At approximately 2:20 in the afternoon, the police left, but the UBISORT paramilitaries stayed in the Municipal Government Building. It is now in their hands. The entire police operation ordered by the state government served to leave the presidential offices under the control of paramilitary groups.
We affirm that the process of autonomy of the indigenous people in our state, despite the repression, continues to be the road towards constructing the peace and dignity that generates life alternatives for our peoples, communities, and neighborhoods.
The repression against the Triqui people outrages us and summons us to act against the attack on the people of San Juan Copala. In view of the above, on Saturday, July 31, we call for a
CONCENTRATION IN THE CITY OF OAXACA
outside the Federal Courtrooms at Llano at 10 o’clock in the morning.
We also extend this urgent call to all the men and women of Mexico and the world who are filled with grief and rage by these criminal acts to demonstrate outside Mexican embassies and consulates and show your solidarity in any way possible with the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala, shouting out loud:
¡¡¡¡¡ UBISORT PARAMILITARIES OUT OF THE AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY OF SAN JUAN COPALA!!!!
¡¡¡¡¡¡ NO TO THE MILITARIZATION OF THE TRIQUI REGION!!!!
¡¡¡¡¡ STOP THE REPRESSION AGAINST THE AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY!!!
¡¡¡¡PUNISHMENT FOR THE MURDERERS OF BETY CARIÑO TRUJILLO AND JIRY JAKKOLA!!!!!!
¡¡¡¡¡¡RESPECT THE AUTONOMY OF SAN JUAN COPALA!!!!!!
Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom
VOCAL
Santa Cruz Responds to SB 1070, Arizona's Criminalization of Immigrant Communities
Phoenix police trained for immigration protests
The officers sat in the cool of the Phoenix Municipal Court basement watching DVDs on laptop computers, reading books and dozing off with their riot helmets as pillows, waiting patiently for the protesters to arrive.
As the crowd swelled near Phoenix City Hall, the officers moved in formation to clear the street of protesters and journalists amid chants denouncing Senate Bill 1070.
OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1')Phoenix deployed several hundred police along Washington Street and other busy downtown streets on Thursday, led by a core group of about 150 crowd-control officers carrying detailed protest plans.
By midday, more than 20 protesters were in custody, including women and youngsters who linked arms in solidarity before they were led off the street.
A mile away from the action, operation chiefs were calling shots from the second-floor of a Phoenix Fire Department administration building as part of a coordinated effort spanning multiple law-enforcement agencies. Police leaders said they aim to overstaff security for large-scale protests and other major events to ensure backup for officers on the front lines.
Thursday morning's march and protests were mostly peaceful, though tactically trained officers know that any major event can turn violent quickly.
"It can go from peaceful to riotous in a second," Phoenix police Sgt. Ed DeCastro said. "It just takes one sentence or a bottle being thrown."
Phoenix trained additional precinct patrol officers in crowd-control tactics after April's protests in downtown and near the Capitol, in which high-school students funneled unexpectedly into the area en mass.
Phoenix police Lt. Jeff Lazell, who oversees tactical-response teams through the Phoenix Police Downtown Operations Unit, said the goal was to prepare officers citywide in case of any unexpected violence that would force them into critical supporting roles downtown. Training included tactics on forming "skirmish-lines" to safety disperse unruly crowds.
"We trained about 1,200 officers in 10 days," Lazell said. "To coordinate that kind of training is an undertaking."
Command-center operations began at 6 a.m. Staff wore headsets tuned to a secure radio frequency for event communications and kept watch over video screens showing live feed from SB 1070 hot spots: the federal courthouse, Wells Fargo building, Cesar Chavez Plaza, Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Jail, and a building housing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Lt. Brian Lee, operations chief, said street activity was fairly quiet for much of the morning; most police activity was limited to assisting a group of 150 to 200 demonstrators safely wind their way through the streets.
"As far as expectations, it's really kind of hard to tell with this group," Lee said. "We have people coming in from out of state; we have other people that aren't part of our local community. We try to get as much information as we can on what their intentions are, but a lot of it is reactionary because we just don't know what they plan to do."
Radio traffic started to pick up about 9 a.m., as demonstrators began to swarm around First Avenue and Washington Street. Images of the group flashed from flat-screen TVs hanging overhead in the four corners of the room, each tuned to local and national news stations.
At 9:06 a.m., a voice crackled over the command radio channel.
"We've got 150 or so people at Washington," the voice said above a din of crowd activity. "Game plan is they're supposed to come over at 10 or 10:30. We'll have some issues at that time."
Command-center staff gathered around the live feed as, like clockwork, people began to flood Washington Street at 10 a.m., blocking in westbound vehicles.
At 10:15 a.m., another voice came over the command channel: "Be advised, we have initiated our first warnings" for pedestrians to get out of the street. "We're going to issue second warnings. In 10, we'll start issuing number ones," or arrests.
Twelve minutes later, another voice: "OK, we're going to go ahead, start making our first arrests. Arrest the gentleman in the gray hat."
Within seconds, live TV feed showed four officers closing in to cuff the man and lead him away to a white van. One by one, the command was issued to arrest four people who had been standing in a line next to the man in the gray hat.
And one by one, they were led away.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/07/30/20100730arizona-immigration-law-police-training.html
Arizona's New Immigration Law: Cops vs. CopWatchers
Arizona's SB1070 is now law but, gutted of the provisions that made it a national controversy, it is a remarkably toothless instrument for policing, despite the huff and guff of anti-illegal-immigration hardliners like Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County (which includes Phoenix), who did not postpone scheduled sweeps through Latino communities. Indeed, for all the hype of Arpaio's "Crime Suppression/Illegal Immigration Operation" on Thursday, the day the law went into effect, he and his deputies arrested only three undocumented people. By contrast, on Wednesday nearly 90 illegal immigrants were arrested in a two-part sweep in Virginia and Washington, D.C.
What vaporized from Arizona's new immigration law were stipulations that law enforcement could require proof of immigration status from people they have stopped for questioning. The original version would have made it a state crime not to carry documentation; and it would have let police arrest undocumented immigrants if they were found seeking employment in a public space. If Arpaio were armed with all of that, the likelihood is that he would have detained a large number of people. In his 16 prior operations, nearly 1,000 suspected violators were arrested, 60% of whom were undocumented immigrants. This time, out of about 40 people the Sheriff's office apprehended Thursday, only a handful — just 7% — were illegal immigrants.
But there may have been other reasons the numbers were low, apart from the temporary injunction blocking the most contentious parts of the law. Some officers said the desert monsoon weather dampened the operation. Another factor may well have been Lydia Guzman, a prominent Hispanic activist, who, along with a group called CopWatch, designed a detailed messaging system to warn the Phoenix Valley of immigration sweeps. Guzman sent an initial text blast to 100 rapid response teams of business owners, Spanish radio stations, pastors and teachers, each of whom messaged their respective networks. At the same time, Guzman contacted lawyers, social workers and elected officials to be at the ready to help. "It spiderwebs out," she says. "Before you know it my text tree spreads out to thousands of people."
Sheriff Arpaio has called her out for undermining his work. "The Sheriff has even accused me of putting coyotes [the popular name for operators of people smuggling rings] on text tree," she told TIME. "But number one, they don't live here and, number two, a lot of smugglers are the ones we want put away. They are the ones who hurt our people."
In addition to Guzman's tweets, CopWatch visibly tails police operations. On Thursday, in one small West Phoenix mobile command center, members of CopWatch monitored police communications. "They just said '294 King' — that means immigration. Let's go," cried one member listening to the police scanners. And with that CopWatch activists grabbed cameras, lawyer contacts and car keys to follow Arpaio's sweep.
Sheriff Arpaio has been tweeting as well. A few messages sent to his followers and the press from Thursday: "Just got a report that protesters are now trying to block my downtown jail sallyport and are chaining themselves to the jail"; "Just finished up with protesters at the jail, we will now resume our operation"; then immediately after, "I'm heading over to 4th Ave Jail to see what's going on w/ protesters around the jail."
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arranged for nearly 45 media crews to trail along with the patrols. Sometimes, it seemed that Arpaio's media strategy got in the way of his own operation: his deputies had to delay the crime sweep to enable Arpaio to give a press conference at the jail where protesters chained themselves across the main booking entrance. "He can't stay away from the camera," says CopWatch activist Dennis Gilman. "We successfully disrupted his sweep, because all his deputies were down there dealing with the protesters."
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2007858,00.html1000 Jahre Haft - Das Buch der GEMMI als PDF Download
Statement verschiedenster Freiräume, Vereine und Projekte zur stetig steigenden Repression
Sexarbeiter_innen stürmen Internationale AIDS Konferenz in Wien
Black People in Austria - Annual Report 2009
Immigration protesters try to close Tucson freeway with tar, tires, glass
Traffic on Interstate 19 was briefly disrupted south of Ajo Way this morning after a group of protesters placed tar and tires on the highway.
A group calling itself "Freedom for Arizona" said it planned to cover the southbound lanes of I-19 with tires covered in tar and broken glass to shut down "the very road that is used to deport people deemed 'illegal' as well as a direct disruption of the flow of capital," the group said in a news release.
Law enforcement officials have cleaned up the tires and reopened the interstate, according to the Department of Public Safety.
There were no reports of injuries.
Andres Chavez was arriving home from school and saw the whole incident. He said two trucks driving parallel on southbound Intestate-19 between Ajo and Valencia stopped and threw tires connected by rope from the truck beds.
The 8-12 men in the trucks then threw brown paint, broken glass and a sign over the tires. The sign read: "Stop the militirazation on the border." Then, they drove away, Chavez said.
"They halted traffic completely and almost got rear-ended by cars behind them," Chavez said.
Chavez pulled the 15-20 tires off the road because he was worried about wrecks.
"I have no problem with people protesting or whatever, but they were putting people's lives at risk," said Chavez, a 23-year-old University of Arizona journalism student. "There could have been a multi-car pile up there."
He described the tire-throwers as men between the ages of 20-25 who wore regular regular clothes.
In its news release, a group claiming responsibility said: "Neither SB 1070 nor the deployment of National Guard troops to the border do anything to address the root causes as to why people migrate.
"U.S. economic policies and wars have displaced and impoverished millions of people all over the world. Capital-driven policies, such as NAFTA, create poverty. These policies and laws not only consume and exploit land and people, but they also displace us from our homes, forcing us to migrate in order to survive."
Downtown protest
Meanwhile in downtown Tucson there were mostly peaceful protests in front of the state building at Congress and Granada.
One man, who supported SB1070, was arrested on suspicion of the threats and intimidation after he continued agitating those opposed to the law, and threatening two people, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.
Officers had asked him to calm down before the arrest. He was removed from the protest area and taken to the Tucson police west side substation. The man was cited and released.
That was the only arrest at the Tucson events.
Several hundred people with signs, bull horns and drums demonstrated Thursday morning, most of whom oppose the law. Most said they were pleased with the ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton that blocked key provisions in the law but that they still had concerns about the remaining provisions that went into effect.
"I'm pleased but not satisfied," said Lino Vasquez, a 25-year-old college student.
"It was a small stepping stone," said Angelina Castrillo-Sereno, who brought her two children with her to the rally.
There was also supporters of SB1070 who were unhappy with the judge's decision.
"I'm very disappointed," said Renee Allison, of Tucson. "It's a very sad day. It's sad that people don't support the law."
By 11 a.m., the number of protesters had decreased substantially.
Phoenix Arrests
Opponents of Arizona's immigration crackdown went ahead with protests Thursday in Phoenix despite a judge's ruling that delayed enforcement of most the law, and dozens of people in Phoenix were arrested after peacefully confronting officers in riot gear.
Outside the state Capitol, hundreds of protesters began marching at dawn, gathering in front of the federal courthouse where Bolton issued her ruling on Wednesday. They marched on to the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has made a crackdown on illegal immigration one of his signature issues.
At least eight protesters approached a police line and allowed themselves to be arrested. A group of about two dozen protesters then sat down in the middle of the street or refused to leave, and police arrested them as well.
Earlier, three people were detained at the courthouse after apparently entering a closed-off area. Former state Sen. Alfredo Gutierrez, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002, was among them.
Marchers chanted "Sheriff Joe, we are here, we will not live in fear," and among the crowd was a drummer wearing a papier-mache Sheriff Joe head and dressed in prison garb.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
Arizona immigration law protesters arrested after blocking street
Hundreds of activists marched on downtown Phoenix in protest of Senate Bill 1070 Thursday, participating in mass acts of civil disobedience, prayer vigils and other rallies.
Dozens were arrested at various locations, including members of the media who were covering the event.
OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1')The protests were peaceful, but disruptive. Opponents of the tough new immigration law blocked Washington Street near Phoenix City Hall for nearly an hour Thursday morning, snarling traffic and light-rail service.
At least two dozen were arrested at that location, after linking arms and lying down in the street, said Sgt. Tommy Thompson, a spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department.
They were charged with obstructing a public thoroughfare, which is a misdemeanor, Thompson said.
By noon, the bulk of the activity was centered on the 4th Avenue Jail, a primary booking location for felony arrests in Maricopa County.
Several hundred people had converged on that location, and six people were arrested after chaining themselves to the building; about 10 others were taken into custody by deputies dressed in riot gear after they blocked the jail's driveway and refused to move.
In total, about 30 people were arrested for blocking a public thoroughfare, including some members of the press. Law enforcement officials said the members of the media were given the same warning as the activists before being taken into custody.
Protesters at the jail blocked the entrance at 3rd Avenue and Madison, chanting, "No Justice, no peace, no racist police," and "Arrest Arpaio, not the people." At least one squad car from Goodyear turned a way and had to find a different entrance. "We're not trying to get arrested, we are trying to make a point," said Ruben Lucio, 21, of Phoenix. Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Phoenix, said she came to the jail because "I am standing for human rights. Not one more person, not one more mother, not one more grandfather will be taken from their family."
Even though a federal judge on Wednesday blocked key provisions of the state's tough new immigration law, rallies, protests, prayer vigils and acts of civil disobedience were held throughout the morning.
The provisions of the law that were not blocked took effect at 12:01 a.m.; Gov. Jan Brewer's legal team is expected to file an expedited appeal of the judge's order with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals within the hour.
Thursday morning's protests started quietly with an early morning prayer vigil and march from the state Capitol to the Trinity Cathedral in downtown Phoenix. Only about 100 people attended that demonstration, but the protestors have steadily picked up steam since then.
About 400 people attended the service at the Trinity Cathedral, and then demonstrators marched toward the federal courthouse. Three people, including former state legislator and activist Alfredo Gutierrez were arrested there around 8:30 a.m.
The other individuals who were taken into custody identified themselves as Dan O'Neal and Doris Perez.
"The injunction did not go far enough," O'Neal moments before getting arrested. "This movement is about more than 1070."
After that, several activist groups converged on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's offices near the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix. Arpaio, who planned one of his immigration sweeps Thursday, was one of the primary targets of demonstrators' ire.
The groups that joined up outside his offices eventually led to the multiple arrests on Washington Street.
From there, the activists moved on to the 4th Avenue Jail, where where the scene grew increasingly rowdy and intense before organizers started calming protestors down and moving them away. One protestor chained himself to what appeared to be an emergency exit, saying Wednesday's court ruling didn't go far enough. "It's a small victory," said Devin Fleenor, of Phoenix. "We need to have a lot more change, than just a temporary injunction on SB 1070."
At about 12:30 p.m., Sheriff Joe Arpaio re-deployed a dozen deputies armed in riot gear to the location.
The deputies were supposed to be part of a crime sweep operation planned for early afternoon. The sweep has now been postponed until at least 4 p.m.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/07/29/20100729arizona-immigration-law-protest-0729.html
Arpaio's crime sweep delayed by protest
Sheriff Joe Arpaio postponed a crime sweep Thursday after diverting resources to the Fourth Avenue Jail, were a protest was to be held this afternoon.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said the sweep would still take place, probably about 4 p.m.
OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1')During a news conference attended by a throng of international, national and local media outlets, he wouldn't say exactly where the sweeps were taking place.
"I'm not trying to get into any judge's face (with this operation)," he said. "But I'm trying to let the public know: we enforce human smuggling (laws), we enforce employer sanctions (laws)."
Arpaio said they are going to divert resources from the sweep to the Fourth Avenue Jail, where a protest is expect to draw busloads of people who oppose the state's immigration law.
"I got a gut feeling we will not be arresting any illegal aliens with all this hype going on," he said.
Arpaio has said frequently that he doesn't need the law, which created a misdemeanor offense in Arizona for immigrants who fail to carry registration documents, and his track record backs him up.
Thursday's operation would mark the 17th time Arpaio has deployed hundreds of deputies and volunteer posse members in an area of the Valley to root out illegal immigrants. Deputies typically take a "zero tolerance" approach to traffic offenses and then check the criminal history of the motorists. Some of Arpaio's deputies who were trained to enforce federal immigration law used to be able to conduct roadside immigration screenings, but the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement stripped deputies of that authority last year, forcing sheriff's deputies to wait until they bring suspects to jail to determine immigration status.
If the deputies come across residents who admit to being in the country illegally but who have not committed a state crime, the deputies typically coordinate with local ICE officials to transfer custody of those suspects.
A key piece of the law that Bolton blocked on Wednesday would have allowed deputies to arrest some of those suspects for violating the new law if they weren't carrying registration documents.
"That would have been a nice little extra twist if we could have locked them up instead of handing them over to ICE," Arpaio said Wednesday after Bolton's ruling.
The size and scope of the sweeps have varied since Arpaio launched the efforts in 2008 near 32nd Street and Thomas Road.
A three-day sweep in Mesa last summer paid 83 deputies and supervisors to arrest 59 people at a cost of $38,387. A two-day operation in Fountain Hills in May 2008 used 13 deputies, cost $3,947 and resulted in 20 arrests.
The Sheriff's Office pays for the operations through its general fund, state funding and grants. Arpaio is not concerned about the expense, saying the deputies in those operations would be working anyway -- it is just a matter of when and where.
Advocates of the sweeps say their value is largely in discouraging illegal immigrants from remaining in the community.
However, critics suggest they simply scare legal and illegal immigrants alike and drive a wedge between members of the community and law enforcement.
While Arpaio's past 16 crime-suppression operations have captured a variety of criminals, the majority of offenders were booked for relatively minor offenses, an Arizona Republic review of crime data shows. For example, an April sweep caught 93 people, most of whom were snared either solely for immigration violations or for minor offenses. Only two violent offenders were arrested.
Arpaio's deputies have arrested 932 people in their operations dating back to March 2008. Of those, 708 were suspected of being in the country illegally, according to the Sheriff's Office.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/07/29/20100729joe-arpaio-immigration-sweep.html
Communique: Tucson Interstate Temporarily Blocked!
DIRECT ACTION DISRUPTS ARIZONA RACISM!
Partial justice is no justice at all! Despite Judge ruling to block parts of SB 1070, racial-profiling, raids, deportations and the militarization of the border will continue unchallenged. This is why today we shut down Interstate 19 (I-19)
July 29, 2010 Tucson, AZ—On the morning that SB1070 is scheduled to take effect in the state of Arizona and three days before Obama deploys 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, a group of concerned community members blocked traffic on I-19 south of Ajo Rd. in Tucson, AZ. A blockade of tires covered in tar and broken glass were placed across both southbound lanes along with a banner reading “Stop All Militarization! The Border is Illegal!” This blockade is a temporary shutdown of the very road that is used to deport people deemed “illegal” as well as a direct disruption of the flow of capital. By blocking I-19 we have halted the transportation of migrants and the profits Whack-n-hut and Corrections Corporation of Amerikkka make by these inhumane acts of separating families, communities and loved ones. This morning we interrupt the privatization of the criminalization of people of color.
The State of Arizona ruthlessly disrupts and terrorizes the lives of non-white communities on a daily basis. SB 1070 is yet another example of how migrants and people of color are criminalized. Today’s action is a declaration of resistance to the criminalization of affected communities and the militarization of indigenous land.
Neither SB 1070 nor the deployment of National Guard troops to the border do anything to address the root causes as to why people migrate. U.S. economic policies and wars have displaced and impoverished millions of people all over the world. Capital-driven policies, such as NAFTA, create poverty. These policies and laws not only consume and exploit land and people, but they also displace us from our homes, forcing us to migrate in order to survive. If policymakers were serious about stopping “illegal immigration,” they would end these capitalist exploitations and stop their military invasions abroad.
We want an end to the militarization of indigenous land, I.C.E. raids, deportations, the attacks on ethnic studies, violence against women and queer people, the expansion of prisons and immigration detention centers, empire, the border wall and the genocide at the Arizona-Sonora border that has claimed the lives of over 153 people during the first 8 months of this fiscal year alone.
Today we interrupt the flow of Arizona’s traffic to bring attention to the following points:
ABOLISH ALL OF SB 1070 AND OTHER ANTI-MIGRANT LAWS.
STOP ALL MILITARIZATION. NO NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ON INDIGENOUS LAND.
BORDERS AND THE ARIZONA GOVERNMENT ARE ILLEGITIMATE.
NO HUMAN BEING IS ILLEGAL—THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS TO BLAME.
WE WANT RESPECT AND JUSTICE FOR ALL PEOPLE.
We affirm our dignity and promote the well-being of all people. We stand for solidarity, peace, self-determination and autonomy. We assert the rights of all people everywhere to feel safe and live free of oppression and state violence.
**************************************************************
ACCIÓN DIRECTA INTERRUMPE EL RACISMO DE ARIZONA!
A pesar de la decisión de la Juez de bloquear componentes polémicos de la medida SB 1070, el perfil racial, las redadas, deportaciones y la militarización de la frontera continuaran sin ser desafiadas. Es por eso que hoy bloqueo la Interestatal 19 (I-19).
29 de Julio 2010 Tucson, AZ—En la mañana que la SB 1070 esta programada para entrar en vigor en el estado de Arizona y tres días antes de que Obama desplegue a 1,200 tropas de la Guardia Nacional, un grupo de miembros comunitarios bloquearon el tráfico hacia en la I-19, sur de La Calle Ajo en Tucson, AZ. Un bloqueo de llantas cubiertas con alquitrán y vidrio quebrado fueron colocadas en los dos carriles que van hacia el sur. En la carretera se ubicó un cartelón que declara “¡Alto a toda la Militarización! ¡La Frontera es Ilegal!” Este bloqueo es un paro temporal de la misma carretera que es usada para deportar a personas consideradas “ilegales”, al igual que es una interrupción directa del flujo de los productos y mercancía. Al interrumpir el tráfico de la I-19 hemos logrado suspender el transporte de migrantes y las ganancias que empresas como Wackenhut y Corrections Corporation of Amerikkka ganan al cumplir actos inhumanos como separar a nuestras familias. Esta mañana nosotr@s interrumpimos la privatización de la criminalización de las comunidades de color.
El Estado de Arizona sin piedad perturba y aterroriza a diario la vida ñde nuestras comunidades. La SB 1070 es otro ejemplo de cómo los migrantes y las personas de color somños criminalizadas. La acción de hoy es una declaración de resistencia a la criminalización de nuestras comunidades y la militarización de tierras indígenas.
Ni la SB 1070, ni el desplegue de tropas de la Guardia Nacional hacen nada para combatir las causas de por qué la gente emigra. Las guerras y las pólizas económicas de los EE.UU. han desplazado y empobrecido a millones de personas en todo el mundo. Pólizas impulsadas por ganancias, como el Tratado de Libre Comercio, causan la pobreza. Estas políticas y leyes no sólo consumen y explotan la tierra y la gente, pero también nos desplazan de nuestros hogares, obligándonos a emigrar para sobrevivir. Si los políticos tuvieran la seriedad de frenar la "inmigración ilegal", pondrían fin a su sistema económico que empobrece al mundo y acabarían con sus invasiones militares en el extranjero.
Queremos poner un fin a la militarización de tierras indígenas, redadas, deportaciones, los ataques a los estudios étnicos, la violencia contra las mujeres y gente gay, lesbiana, bisexual, transgenero, la expansión de las cárceles, los centros de detención, el imperio, el muro fronterizo y el genocidio en la frontera entre Arizona y Sonora, que ha cobrado la vida de más de 153 personas durante los primeros ocho meses de este año fiscal. Hoy interrumpimos el flujo del tráfico de Arizona para llamar a la atención los siguientes puntos:
SUPRIMIR COMPLETAMENTE LA SB 1070 Y OTRAS LEYES ANTI-MIGRANTES.
FRENAR TODO LA MILITARIZACIÓN. FUERA TROPAS DE LA FRONTERA.
LAS FRONTERAS Y EL GOBIERNO ARIZONENSE SON ILEGITIMOS.
NINGUN SER HUMANO ES ILEGAL—ESTE SISTEMA ECONÓMICO ES EL PROBLEMA.
QUEREMOS RESPETO Y JUSTICIA PARA TODAS LAS PERSONAS.
Afirmamos nuestra dignidad y promovemos el bienestar de todas las personas. Estamos a favor de la solidaridad, la paz, la auto-determinación y la autonomía. Afirmamos el derecho de todos los pueblos del mundo a sentirse seguros y vivir libres de la opresión y libres de la violencia estatal.
Joe Arpaio's Deputies Faced Down by Anti-SB 1070 Protesters in Guadalupe
Chanting, "We will not comply," and, "Whose streets? Our streets," a group of about 70 protesters took over one of the entrances to the square-mile town of Guadalupe Wednesday night, facing down Maricopa County sheriff's deputies in a tense standoff that lasted a little over an hour.
From 11:45 p.m. till a little past 1 a.m., demonstrators blocked traffic going into or out of Guadalupe via Avenida del Yaqui, not far from Arizona Mills Mall. City buses and other vehicles were forced to turn back or take a route around the line of Guadalupe residents and other activists.
MCSO deputies, befuddled by the late night protestThe protesters said they were against the enactment of SB 1070 and opposed to the abuses of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose deputies are contracted by the town for law enforcement services.
Early Wednesday, federal Judge Susan R. Bolton enjoined the most significant provisions of SB 1070, leaving other aspects of it to take effect today, July 29. But the protesters insisted this was not enough.
"We do understand that not all of SB 1070 was passed," said Guadalupe resident Diane Sanchez-Alvarado. "But that doesn't mean it's all right. Regardless of what the law says, we're all human beings. We shouldn't be treated as something else."
"We will not comply," the theme of the eventRegarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his boys in beige, who have patrolled the town for years, Sanchez-Alvarado and others complained of a litany of abuses perpetrated by the MCSO in the town, which is half Mexican-American, and half Yaqui Indian.
"We're always being harassed by him," Sanchez-Alvarado said of Arpaio. "He thinks he can do whatever he wants with us."
The postage-stamp size municipality has been the subject of numerous complaints by residents who say they are routinely harassed by MCSO officers. Guadalupanos report that deputies unnecessarily pull guns on them and enter their homes without warrants.
Guadalupe residents Veronica Vargas (left) and Diane Sanchez-AlvaradoIn 2008, Arpaio conducted one of his controversial anti-immigrant sweeps of the town, terrorizing people whose families have lived in Guadalupe for generations. Relations between the MCSO and residents have been especially strained since then.
Of the sheriff's deputies, Sanchez-Alvarado stated, "They're vicious with us. They're what we would consider savages."
Savages or not, last night, Arpaio's minions seemed perplexed by the situation, and unsure of what to do.
Around eight MCSO patrol cars responded to the scene, and deputies with the MCSO's gang unit stood around being taunted by the protesters as they contemplated a response.
Andrew Sanchez, organizer of the midnight demonstration"You're the real gang here," protesters yelled at them.
Eventually one of the deputies approached the double-line of demonstrators, some of them activists from nearby Tempe and Phoenix. Members of a local anarchist group also reinforced the crowd.
The deputy, who declined comment to reporters, asked the demonstrators to leave the street. He was met with stony silence from protesters who had locked arms in preparation for a showdown. Many had stated earlier that they were willing to be arrested.
It seemed as if the protesters and the deputies were fated to butt heads. But a little after 1 a.m., protest organizer Andrew Sanchez told the crowd that he'd spoken with the mayor of Guadalupe and that they'd made their point about MCSO police abuses and SB 1070.
Demonstrators withdrew to the sidewalks, and the deputies drove away to the cheers of those present.
"It was peaceful, it was successful, and we managed to get the cops' attention," Sanchez told me afterward. "We had said previously that we were only going to hold the street for an hour, and we did."
The MCSO was outnumbered last night, and deputies looked worried at the prospect of having to wade in to the crowd and arrest people. The issue now will be, what sort of retaliation, if any, Guadalupe residents will endure from the MCSO.
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/07/anti-sb_1070_protesters_face_d.php
Mexico Relaunches La Parota Project with Illegal Expropriation Tactics
The Land is Not for Sale! A community in resistance to La Parota dam.
by Root ForceFollowing our last La Parota post on June 29, when Mexican media reported that the project was postponed until 2018, things were looking good for the indigenous and campesino peoples defending the Papagayo River from destruction and their own communities from dislocation. On September 13, 2009, the Mexican government indicated that the project had been canceled, not allocating any funding for it in the proposed 2010 budget. After a seven year struggle, in which more than six resisters had lost their lives, the dam looked dead in the water.
Less than eight months later, however, the government restarted its push to force through the dam. On April 5, Jorge Antonio Mijangos Borja, director of Mexico’s National Water Commission (CONAGUA) announced that “if necessary, the hydroelectric dam La Parota will be built to provide water and electricity to the port of Acapulco.” He also announced plans for five other dams, three on the coast and two in Tierra Caliente.
The very next day, the state of Guerrero’s “leftist” governor Zeferino Torreblanca said, “[La Parota] is a project we should not abandon.”
Because the dam is slated to be built on communally owned indigenous land (ejidos and bienes comunales), the government must convince local communities to invoke a clause (added to the Mexican Constitution as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA) approving the government’s expropriation of their land. Previously, the government secured this approval through fraudulent “popular assemblies” that were eventually tossed out by federal courts.
Returning to the same tactics, an unelected pro-dam member of the La Concepción ejido convened an assembly on April 18. Lack of quorum and resistance by the Council of Ejidos and Communities in Opposition to La Parota Dam (CECOP) successfully shut that meeting down. The meeting was rescheduled for April 25.
At this second meeting, according to CECOP spokesperson Rodolfo Chávez Galindo, dam proponents recruited taxi drivers and other Acapulco residents, who they paid to illegally vote in an election meant only for community members. As a consequence, the assembly approved the expropriation of land for an access path to the construction site.
CECOP has promised to get this illegal expropriation overturned, just as it has with the past four.
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source: http://www.rootforce.org/
On the Brink
Climate of Fear on the Border
By RANDALL AMSTER - Counterpunch
Fostering an environment of racialized violence is the harsh reality of Arizona’s drive toward legislated intolerance. For those who might feel saturated by the incessant news about immigration, or who wonder “what’s the big deal?” about SB 1070 and the like, this is a reminder of the stakes involved. Will there be a climate of escalating fear, hatred, and violence that takes over, or will this be a tipping point toward social justice and human dignity instead?
