May Day Re-Cap

Thank you to all who came out yesterday to make May Day a spectacular show of love, solidarity and strength from the protesters and a showing of ignorance, hate, and fear from the Portland Police Department. If you captured any footage that could be useful in court, please contact the ELK Legal Krewe at 503-902-5340. Please do not post it online as it can potentially create legal problems for protesters in the future.

There’s a far more in-depth re-cap of all the excitement for those who missed out and for those who want to wax nostalgic. The Portland Occupier did a fantastic liveblog that can be checked out here.

STUDENT STRIKE AND PICKET OF PPS

STUDENTS STRIKE AND PICKET THE PPS

WHY?
Students on Strike is the beginning of a student led campaign aganist budget cuts and the falling quality of our schools. On May 1st in conjunction with International Workers Day – a day celebrating the victories that popular and grassroots movements have made – we will rally at PPS Headquarters and nonviolently shutdown work to express our grievances in an act building towards the May 11th mass demonstration at Pioneer Square currently being organized by Teachers, Parents and Students.

Why shutdown? Because we need to show that we will not stand by as another budget cutting austerity measure is pushed through as we have seen before in the past. Because we need to show that we mean business and that we won’t settle till solutions are found.

Why PPS Headquarters? Obviously PPS isn’t the source of the problem. There are larger economic and political reasons why we are being forced these budget cuts. It’d be great to bus thousands of kids down to Salem or to Washington DC, or the homes of every Multi – Millionaire and Billionaire who enjoys low taxes – but right now that’s not an easily realizable thing. However, PPS Headquarters is home to those who can put pressure on the people who are voting on where our money goes. These workers are facing cuts as well. More than anything this is symbolic; PPS Headquarters is after all the epicenter of the district and of its affairs.
We will hand out literature inviting other PPS employees to join us marching to downtown on May 11th.

PORTLAND LIBERATION ORGANIZING COUNCIL (PLOC) GIVES ALICIA JACKSON HER HOUSE BACK

WHY?

Living in a family house fully paid for, Alicia Jackson, facing foreclosure out of fear and confusion (as most homeowners in this situation are) self-evicted. There was no reason why Fox Capital should have so easily acquired her property. Therefore, the Portland Liberation Organizing Council made it’s first reverse-eviction, reclaiming her land in the name of community and her house as her own. With 1 in 7 homes empty, there’s no reason why developers and banks should be allowed to sit on empty property. This is capitalism in crisis and in direct opposition to humanity. To learn more about the Portland Liberation Organizing Council or P-LOC, visit liberatepdx.org . To join the Rapid Response Eviction Protection Text Loop, text @ploc-openrrn to 23559. A fuller story is available at the portlandoccupier.org

GENERAL STRIKE MARCH

Protesters gathered under the Burnside Bridge to march through the city, displaying the diverse tactics that can be used in protest. Several were beaten and arrested for nothing more than “looking guilty”.

UNDOCUMENTED/UNAFRAID ACTION

WHY?

MAY DAY MARCH – INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY

WHY?

Roughly 5,000 Portlanders filled the streets this May Day to show their love, strength, solidarity in this common struggle for social and economic justice. As the cogs of this massive economic machine, we rarely acknowledge the importance of every worker. On this day, we celebrate the power we have when we work together. In 1958, the US Government was so scared of May Day that they changed the US holiday to “Law Day”, in fear of the 99% being reminded that they are the ones that truly hold all the power.

PCASC ACTION

WHY?
Mobilizing around Wells Fargo during the main march, the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee targeted Wells Fargo for investing in GEO Group, a private prison corporation. Groups like GEO work within ALEC to pass laws that land more innocent people in jail. Private prisons create contracts with States to make sure the prison population stays at least 90%. What happens if crime drops? They write new laws criminalizing something else. This is the system we’re fighting, folks. If you or your company banks with Wells Fargo, please move your money.

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION

WHY?
Because as Emma Goldman says, “If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution.” This festive activity turned into a skirmish with police as protesters tried to move from Pioneer Square to the Justice Center. A fuller story can be found on the Portlandoccupier.org

Please visit the portlandoccupier.org for full scoops on the day’s events.

Photo by Pete.

By Pete Shaw

Armed solely with their cunning, chicanery, deceit, campaign donations/bribes, lobbyists, owned representatives at various levels of government, and general sociopathy, a group of corporate CEOs nearly ran the table in the Tax Day Dodgerball Competition this afternoon at Terry Schrunk Plaza. With a deft display of the peculiar brand of socialism they call free market capitalism, these representatives of the 1%–already having used their power to funnel huge amounts of public funds into their coffers in the form of government contracts–today celebrated their rigging of the tax code, with some of them, despite millions of dollars in profit, receiving a refund.

Crying that the U.S. corporate tax is the highest in the industrialized world, the 1% called for the rate to be reduced. When it was suggested that the tax rate be lowered to 25% a few CEOs cheered, but then pinned on their lapel flags as it was also suggested that all loopholes be closed. “That sounds like that crap Senator Wyden proposed a few years ago. We quickly quashed that. Thank Dollar that Wyden supports all those so-called free trade agreements that either ship jobs from the U.S., or force U.S. workers to accept pay and benefit cuts.”

Responding to a question about raising the tax on the rich a few percentage points–to where it stood under President Clinton–a one percenter noted that corporations and the rich create jobs, and higher taxes result in fewer jobs and, therefore, a weak, inefficient economy. A bystander asked, “Why then have we seen a decline in jobs as taxes have decreased? And weren’t there more jobs, albeit largely low wage service sector ones because of NAFTA and NAFTA-style legislation during Bill Clinton’s tenure as president? What about under Eisenhower when the top tax rate was about 90%? Do you mean to say during the 1950s the US economy was a basket case?” The one percenter suddenly had to leave for an appointment at the City Club.

Equipped with legislation written by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), 14 Oregon state legislators (John Huffman (R-59 The Dalles), Matt Wingard (R-26 Wilsonville), Tim Freeman (R-2 Roseburg), Katerina E. Brewer (R-29 Forest Grove), Shawn Lindsay (R-30 Hillsboro), Michael R. McLane (R-55 Powell Butte), Jason Conger (R-54 Bend), Matthew Wand (R-49 Troutdale), Wally Hicks (R-3 Grants Pass), Sal Esquivel (R-6 Medford), Bill Kennemer (R-39 Oregon City), Bruce Hanna (R-7 Roseburg), Kim Thatcher (R-25 Keizer), and C. Gene Whisnant (R-Sunriver) hobnobbed with the crowd, telling them they worked for the people. When questioned about the strings coming from their mouths, arms, and legs that were seemingly manipulated by some of the one percenters in the courtside seats, they began talking about the dangers of undocumented immigrants, voter fraud, public unions, single payer healthcare, and other issues that they often use to divide the 99%.

At least a few observers remarked that when a CEO was hit with a ball he was never removed from the game, yet when members from the various 99% squads were grazed, or not even touched, they were ejected. It was also noted the umpire had green paper sticking out of his abnormally inflated pockets. These “malcontents” were shooed away by 1 percenters as inciting class warfare and attempting to destroy the fabric of the country. By way of argument, a 1 percenter placed his hand over his heart and said, “God bless America,” although his arm began moving in a Strangelovian manner.

But when all seemed lost–when the 1% looked ready to walk away with all the money and power and leave joyless Mudville behind– the members of the 99% noticed that they really were part of the same team. Using the power of their numbers, they overwhelmed the 1% and wrested the trophy from their greedy hands.

“It’s truly amazing what we can do when we work together and demand justice on our terms, not theirs,” said Kari “Krusher” Koch, celebrating with her fellow 99 percenters. “We have the real power. Today we win at dodgeball. Tomorrow we create a society that reflects our values, desires, and needs, not theirs.”

Photo by Pete.

Immigration: Insecure Communities

Photo by Pete

By Pete Shaw

Immigrant deportation not only tears families and communities apart, it’s one of the most divisive political issues in the U.S. today. Those expecting the Obama presidency to result in fewer immigrant deportations have been bitterly disappointed. Recently, that figure passed the million mark, a number that exceeds the deportation statistics in both G. W. Bush terms combined.

“When Barack Obama became president, many of us expected a kinder, gentler immigration policy,” said Elliot Young, director of Latin American Studies at Lewis and Clark, and one of three featured speakers at an Insecure Communities forum. The April 13 event, held at the Unitarian Church, provided an opportunity for the 120 people present to connect with organizations seeking an end to deportations by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agencies (ICE). The panel also covered immigration history, enforcement, and anti-immigrant backlash, as well as the moral and ethical components of detentions, and how communities can resist ICE and create secure communities through education and action.

Immigration has a long and complex history in the U.S. Immigrants founded and wrote the rules for the country and took most of the land, a process of exploitation that continues today. Young emphasized that despite today’s anti-immigrant hysteria, the percentage of immigrants composing the population of the U.S. is not unprecedented. Between 1860 and 1920, the percentage ranged between ten and fifteen percent, peaking between 1900 and 1920. Today’s foreign born population makes up twelve percent of the total, and only a third of those people are without documentation.

Young emphasized the forces driving immigrants to the U.S., particularly the historical and causal links between U.S. wealth and the relative poverty of Central and South American countries. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), for example, allowed U.S. farmers to dump their corn on the Mexican market–corn that sold for less than the corn produced by Mexican farmers. As a result, many farmers left their land, but Mexican cities offered few jobs, forcing them to the U.S. to earn money to support their families back home. Immigration was a rational economic decision.

Rene Sanchez, visiting professor of theology at the University of Portland, spoke about growing up as the son of migrant workers as well as his experiences as a farm worker. Emphasizing the importance of using our power and privilege to tell the stories of immigrants, particularly those in poverty, Sanchez urged the audience to “disrupt, remember, and resurrect,” three steps he believes will lead to a more just society.

Photo by Pete

Of the poverty he has experienced and witnessed, Sanchez noted, “Poverty is grinding. It’s a terrible experience. It’s brutally dehumanizing.” Sanchez came to the realization that, in seeing this poverty, its effects, and its connection to a hierarchy that funneled wealth and power upward–while denying the humanity and dignity of those who received almost none of the benefits–he was witnessing sin.

Sanchez, referencing the idea that Jesus taught love of neighbor, said the first step towards justice is recognizing disruption. “We’re all connected to immigrants. We have to accept that the wealth of the United States has come with profound disruption to our neighbors.”

Recognition of disruption is then followed by remembrance. Sanchez reminded the audience how, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it was popular among the political elite to blame some nebulous “they”  who “hated us for our freedom” for national insecurity. This “they” very quickly became all whose religion was Islam, or, sometimes, merely those who fit the corporate media stereotype of those whose religion was Islam. “Maybe ‘they’ hate us because we don’t remember them,” contended Sanchez. “We don’t tell their stories.” Illustrating this, Sanchez observed how September 11 in the U.S. is almost exclusively equated with September 11, 2001. Yet in Chile, the day is remembered for the U.S. backed and engineered coup that overthrew Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government in 1973 and brought to power a brutal government that terrorized the Chilean people for many years. The Chilean story–as well as the similar stories of people in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and numerous other nations whose lives were disrupted by U.S. foreign policy–is remembered well by its victims, but remains on the margins of U.S. history, a place where many have benefited from the disruption.

Finally, there is resurrection–achieving a deeper spiritual reality, as Sanchez put it. Resurrection requires knowing your neighbors’ struggles and trials and recognizing your relationship to them. Those of relative power and privilege must become voices of resurrection, because those voices can be heard and are “an opportunity for America to learn how to love and love well” and achieve a more just world.

The final speaker was Shizuko Hashimoto of ACT for Justice and Dignity, a legal assistant at the Immigrant Law Group, and one of the initial organizers of the Safe Communities Project Coalition, formed in 2009 to monitor and advocate against unnecessary collaboration between police and ICE in Oregon. Hashimoto emphasized that the cooperation between police and ICE is not ahistorical–that we once had slave patrols which functioned to intimidate a group of people and co-opt their labor.

When Arizona’s State Bill 1090 was being written, Hashimoto said immigrant rights activists in Arizona warned groups elsewhere that it was just the beginning. Since then, numerous other states have passed their own anti-immigrant legislation, some more draconian than the Arizona version.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the detention center. As stories of ICE raids, and the devastating results of deportations that separated families became known, the corporate media turned sympathetic. As a result, said Hashimoto, “people started asking what deportations do to communities. ICE backed off, finding out that ‘people are not as racist,’ as they thought.”

In response, ICE sought to change the narrative by focusing on immigrants as drug dealers and violent criminals and generalizing this to the whole immigrant population. By 2006, because of racist legislation, such as Wisconsin representative James Sensenbrenner’s Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, “immigrant” had become synonymous with people from Central and South America. ICE successfully rebranded immigration as a security issue, criminalizing an entire group of people.

Statistics show that roughly half of the people deported during Obama’s tenure have been brought into ICE’s jurisdiction for infractions as minor as speeding tickets or no violation at all. Over the past three years, less than 20% of those identified as undocumented were arrested for felonies. The remainder–most of them deported–were arrested for misdemeanors.

“Whether we like it or not, people of color are being criminalized, and stereotypes are being reinforced,” said Hashimoto, noting how many corporations such as Wells Fargo Bank, Corrections Corporation of America, and Geo Group are making profits by denying people their freedom. “Some of the biggest atrocities in history have started with dehumanizing. If this keeps going the way it’s going, where does it go next?”

Photo by Pete

Aeryca Steinbauer, an organizer with CAUSA, explained some of the harmful results. “Fearing interactions that could lead to time in the immigrant detention system and possible deportation, even when the person may be documented, people do not call emergency services when they need help, something that makes us all less safe. And when a family member is deported, that disrupts the whole family and is traumatic for all involved. The left-behind spouse now has to struggle with single parenting, and children are left wondering what happened to their mom and/or dad.”

Movements have arisen nationally, organizing communities to fight the collaboration between police and ICE. Hashimoto noted that in communities that partner in the Secure Communities Program (the partnership between police and ICE), police and ICE claim they are just sharing data when “in reality it leads to racial profiling.” When an ICE hold is placed on a person, police can pick her up, take her to a detention center, like the one in Tacoma, WA, and keep her in custody for up to 48 hours. This leaves two avenues for action: “Either we convince ICE not to hold her, or we convince local police not to honor the hold.”

Immigrant rights groups have had some local success. In March, emphasizing the costs of using local funds to enforce federal immigration laws,  activist organizations pushed the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners into passing a resolution calling for an end to ICE’s unjust local deportations. Steinbauer praised the commission, while also acknowledging the long road ahead.

“They took a great first step in March by passing a resolution expressing their deep concern about deportations and the separation of families, as well as the damaging effect this has on trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement,” Steinbauer said. “There’s a lot more work to be done, though, and we are continuing that process by meeting with local elected leaders. The overall solution, of course, is just immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for people, to bring them out of the shadows. In the absence of that reform we are exploring other solutions, such as a resolution adopted in Santa Clara County, CA, which stated that they would not honor ICE detainer requests except under certain conditions.”

Hashimoto observed how this criminalization and otherization of immigrants–their dehumanization–goes largely unquestioned and depends upon individuals choosing to be judgmental, rather than thoughtful and empathetic.

“They’ve convinced people that a bunch of people are criminals,” Hashimoto said. “They are not criminals. They are mothers and fathers. We need to educate, educate, educate. Talk about loving the other. Live it. Mean it. ”

More information on the Safe Communities Project Coalition is available from CAUSA, from ACT for Justice and Dignity, and from VOZ.

The March of the Social Movements and the pro-government countermarch counterposed power to power on March 22, 2012 in the city of Quito, Ecuador.

Source: International Viewpoint

The recent history of this event began on January 15 of this year. 2000 people mobilized from diverse parts of the country, representing various social and political organizations, decided, in Yanzatza, to launch the March for Life, Water and the Dignity of Peoples. Its departure point would be the canton of El Pargui in Zamora Chinchipe, an area that will be affected by the operation of open cast mining. Its start was planned for March 8, International Women’s Day. The march started three days after the signature of the mining contract Project Mirador between the government and the Chinese owned transnational company ECSA (Ecuacorriente SA).

The march covered more than seven hundred kilometres, through provincial parishes and capitals where it received different shows of solidarity and incorporations to the mobilization. Along with the National Indigenous Confederation of Ecuador (CONAIE) representatives of the ECUARUNARI (Confederation of Peoples of the Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador), the Popular Front (UNITES, FEUE, FESE, CUBE, CUCOMITAE, UGTE, CONFEMEC, UNAPE, JRE and UCAE) and the Assembly of the Peoples of the South mobilized for the march.

On March 21 the march arrived in the south of Quito. About 2,500 marchers slept in Guamaní, most of them unwell and very tired. They had over 14 days combined sections in vehicles with long walks, sleeping in sports pavilions, schools and public spaces.

The following morning the march started off from the south of Quito for the centre of the capital. Six hours more of marching. On this occasion, they marched accompanied by thousands of demonstrators who joined them along different sections of the route to participate in the indigenous and popular mobilization.

Leading the march was the CONAIE with its president Humberto Cholango. At his side, other indigenous leaders of the diverse peoples and nationalities of Ecuador, among them the prefect of Zamora Chinchipe, Salvador Quishpe, and others including social leaders from the neighborhoods, unions, and organizations of women, students and environmentalists. Behind them, leaders and activists of the various left political organizations marched as part of the Plurinational Coordinator (a common front of organisations to the left of Correísmo: Pachatukit, Movimiento Popular Democrático, Participación, the Corriente Revolucionaria Socialista del Partido Socialista and Montecristi Vive).

Red flags were combined with the indigenous multicolour flag, standards with the face of Che mixed with placards against mega mining. In the same way, organizations of women walked next to young students, political parties next to professional organizations, while libertarian sectors jointly mobilized with organizations of Marxists and labor unions. The images of the march, reproduced by the Ecuadorian and foreign mass media, showed the many-colored amalgam of social organizations.

On the other hand, the pro-government mobilizations conceived as countermarches against a supposed mobilization destabilizing the government, were congregated in four different physical spaces: the Plaza de San Francisco, Plaza de la Independencia, Plaza Sto. Domingo and the El Arbolito park. The positions had been taken days before by activist groups of Alliance PAIS and aligned organizations.

President Correa visited the four places in the course of the day, holding meetings and haranguing to his supporters in the diverse spaces, as they converged successively in the surroundings of the presidential Palace of Carondelet.

The presidential discourse was articulated on the basis of the following points: the march of the social movements had a destabilizing character and was fomented by coup participants, there existed an alliance between the left and the right to overthrow the government, it had an electoral aim and the result of the social mobilization was a failure.

The President returned to the past using the rhetoric employed during the Popular Referendum campaign of May 7, again asking the people to “trust me”, indicating that this government had defended, among other things, Ecuador’s water.

According to the calculations made by various observers and media professionals the pro-government countermarch attracted a number more or less similar to those mobilized by the social movements, and there are even some who calculate that it was inferior, in spite of the declarations of president Correa that refer to an supposed “10 to 1” ratio in favour of the government or the figures issued by government minister Betty Tola which speak of 60,000 people on the pro-government march. Without a doubt, the pro-government expectations failed significantly although it did not want to recognize this in its discourse.

On the other hand, beyond the technical question of numbers, the differences between both mobilizations were remarkable in diverse aspects:

• In the first place the social mobilization lasted 15 days, that is to say, from when it left El Pangui until its arrival in Quito. The official march also mobilized – in buses paid for by the state on the day of the beginning of the march in Quito and the day of its arrival in Quito. The strategy of generating a countermarch in each one of the different localities through which the march advanced had to be abandoned due to the shortage of participants and the remarkable numerical inequality between those answering the government appeal and the demonstrations of sympathy and solidarity that occurred in locality after locality along b the route of the march. The disoriented pro-government forces had to change strategy several times during the long march.
• While the mobilization of the social organizations experienced several obstacles to its accomplishment (negation of the official safe-conducts for the buses to travel, police controls, infiltration of members of the public forces, boycotts by local authorities allied with the government and a strong negative propaganda from the public or government controlled media); the pro-government official march counted on bountiful state support.
• The participants in the two mobilizations were clearly different. While the official march mobilized, voluntarily or not, public employees, local governments, and organizations dependent on the Policy Coordination Ministry, mainly originating from outside Quito, the March for Life was supported by indigenous peoples, social sectors and unions that have been breaking links with Correísmo.
• Finally, while the marches of the social movements showed political initiative, the countermarch was clearly reactive. To this it is necessary to add the enormous strategic error on the part of the government, which locked itself in the centre of Quito (the historical heart of the city), whereas the social mobilization went through the popular districts of the south and centre of the capital, gaining the sympathy of a great part of the population. Thousands of people applauded the social mobilization as it passed, giving fruit, water and even chicha to the marchers.

In summary, given the significant disparity in relation to resources available to the two marches, it would be possible to describe the results of the official march as representing a fully blown failure.

The March for Life had won the dispute with the government days before arriving at Quito

The social demands were summarized in 19 points, which included opposition to the extension of the oil frontier, defense of the ITT, agrarian reform, respect for labor rights, rejection of the signature of the free trade agreements, respect for the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights, and opposition to social criminalization among others; but the key element at the origin of the social mobilization was the defense of the water and opposition to mega-mining.

The social mobilizations, reproduced along the route of the March in various points of the country, made the question of water and large scale mining a social debate that took on a national scope from before the mobilization arrived at Quito. A group of women activists was violently evacuated and jailed after entering the Chinese Embassy to hand in a letter against mega-mining on March 8th. The authoritarian position of president Correa, who has become a great defender of mega-mining, facilitated this circumstance.

In Ecuador the propaganda that is habitually developed by the great mining transnational companies in the countries where they operate is not necessary, is the president of the Republic has personally been elevated as the main spokesman of the benefits offered by the great extractive multinationals (in particular oil and mining) of foreign capital.

The fact that a mobilization of these characteristics generated the national sympathy that occurred during the long march before its arrival in Quito, faced with state media proclaiming day after day against a supposedly pro-coup march financed by the extreme right and a president who insulted the marchers, referring to them as a few people with “pens and ponchos”, worked like a boomerang against the official discourse. The Ecuadorian citizens showed their sympathy for the weakest, rejecting to a great extent the presidential rhetoric and demanding the right to protest and resistance.

This situation was demonstrated in the mobilization that took place in Cuenca on March 10, when approximately 30,000 demonstrators mobilized in defense of water and showed their sympathies with the March for Life. The pro-government countermarch only attracted 2,000 people in a city which was once the bastion of Correísmo, That same day the March arrived at the locality of Saraguro, to the south.

Before this circumstance, the government launched a great campaign across the national territory, whose strategy consisted in promoting local works and other benefits of Correísmo, with the intention of building indigenous support for the government and especially is Head of State. The Policy Coordination Ministry drew on the support of leaders who are highly suspect in the indigenous world, like Miguel Lluco in Chimborazo or Antonio Vargas in Pastaza. This type of manoeuvre was to a great extent rejected by indigenous communities and organizations.

Two days before the mobilizations in Quito the organizations of the Agrarian Network (not aligned to the CONAIE) which could be defined as the indigenous and peasant base of Correísmo, presented in the National Assembly 41,000 signatures endorsing their proposed Law on Lands. There they expressed their disappointment with the government and is so-called “agrarian revolution”. On March 22, Luis Andrango, president of the FENOCIN, one of the two biggest organizations in the Agrarian Network participated in the march of the social movements in Quito, although keeping a low profile.

Finally, it should be emphasized that when the march arrived in Quito the government was forced to make consecutive concessions in the field of labor and economic policy: retroactive wage increases for teachers, the same for the Army, freezing of an already truncated measure for a 25% increase in the cost of inter-provincial travel, among others.

Scenarios and reflections for the future

The weakening of the government is evident from day to day. The polls it commissions showing 80% support for president Correa are not credible. The fact that on the morning of March 23 Correa gave a one hour interview on Gamanoticias (a government channel) to a mediocre journalist today in the service of the regime and previously an employee of the government of Lucio Gutiérrez, is one more indication of this weakness. President Correa and other ministers hogged the media on the morning of 23-M, clumsily maintained the thesis that the social mobilization had been a failure and its support “very poor”. Lamentably for the official discourse, the televised images and the fact that a great part of the population of Quito attended the mobilization made the governmental argument untenable.

For their part, the social organizations and parties of the left have retaken the political initiative, which was lost even before Correa became president. In addition, they have, at least conjuncturally, marginalized the right, which by all means tried to become involved in the march and was not accepted at any moment by its convenors.

Conservative assembly members of such as Caesar Montufar and political organizations like the Partido Sociedad Patriótica tried on repeated occasions to get involved in the mobilization, something that the CONAIE and the other organizations never allowed. During the fifteen days of mobilization the only political action from the conservative political parties was to install a pathetic monument in memory of ex- president Leon Febres Lamb.

The political conflict at this moment is defined in the ambit of the social and political left of Ecuador. On the one hand a caricature of “revolution” supported by a government of social democratic profile with very many contradictions in its economic, labor and international policy; faced with an opposition to its left that begins to show mobilization capacities, a common agenda and principles of understanding.

President Correa has two options. He can choose to turn to the left and to demonstrate greater capacity of consensus with the communities affected by his extractivist and neo-developmentalist policy, and with the social movements and the organizations to his left; or make more and more evident the conservative turn of the executive, consolidating and establishing new alliances with business sectors and political organizations to his right.

The governmental erosion, worsened by a strong international loss of prestige after the sentence against the newspaper “El Universo”, as well as the popular displeasure at the rise of prices of basic products, while business sectors record unexpected profits at a time of international crisis, does not allow too much room for manoeuvre to a government which is ten months away from a new electoral battle.

In Ecuador, 62 economic groups concentrate 41% of the GDP of the country; the non-oil wealth remains in the hands of importers, financial intermediaries and the commercial sector; the utilities of the economic groups of the country grew between 2006-2009 at 54% more than in the previous period (immediately prior to Correa’s becoming president) and the bank gained in the past year alone 51% more with respect to the previous year.

In the case of the indigenous world, the main protagonist of the March 22 mobilization, the Index of Poverty by Income was quantified at 59.4% at the closing of the 2011 financial year and the illiteracy rate at 20.4% (data from INEC, Census of population, 2010).

Ecuador has one of the highest indices of inequality in the access to land, the Gini index on land is at 0.81, and governmental action has been practically zero during more than five years of Correísta government; indeed, Correa has pronounced time and time again against agrarian reform. The monopolizing tendency of water in agriculture is also well-known. The peasant population, mainly indigenous, with communal systems of irrigation, represents 86% of users. Nevertheless, this group has 22% of watered areas and has access to barely 13% of the volume. In this way the big consumers, who represent barely 1% of productive units, concentrate 67% of the water volume for irrigation. Until now the Correa government has not signalled any desire to reverse this situation and to fulfil the constitutional mandate that in its article 312 says clearly “all form of privatization of the water is prohibited”. And not only that, after approval of the Constitution, the government extended the term of the concession of water to the private company Interagua, in the city of Guayaquil.

Returning to the possible scenarios, although the first is the one desired by the social organizations who convened the march, the governmental attitude, refusing political dialogue with the social organizations in struggle and the parties to the left of the regime, makes it a very remote possibility,. However, with respect to the second scenario, already we have seen the amnesty to former vice president Alberto Dahik, charged with corruption, which was advocated personally by president Correa, and that to former president Gustavo Noboa Bejaran; the incorporation into Allianza PAIS of local authorities originating from the conservative parties; and the increasingly probable signature of a free trade agreement with the US. Meanwhile, the banker Guillermo Lasso, leader of the Movimiento CREO, who was considered as a potential candidate for the right in the elections, has practically lowered to zero his public appearances while his banking organization continues being one of the fundamental tools for the distribution of the Human Development Bond and other subventions given by the state to popular sectors. And there is the fusion of Madera de Guerrero and the Partido Social Cristiano, and their apparent will to present their own presidential candidate, ignoring the possibility of unifying around a common right candidacy.

The government is on the attack against the convening organizations of the march or the local parties and authorities that in one or another form have supported it. Hence the aggressive rhetoric used by president Correa against the Movimiento Popular Democrático (MPD), an organization of Marxist-Leninist profile that supported the social mobilization, or the different punitive actions undertaken against the Prefecture of El Azuay,

In these conditions, the social and political organizations of the left have the responsibility of generating a common agenda common of minimum demands that have as departure point the plurinational mandate of the 19 points vindicated by the March for Life, the Water and the Dignity of the People, sustained in the constitutional principles of Montecristi. From this a politically coherent platform of demands can emerge, which must articulate a coordination of common struggles, open to new incorporations, where electoral protagonisms and ambitions are in the background. There is no doubt that 22-M marks a new political era in Ecuador.

Written by Jesse Freeston and Stéfanie Clermont

In June 2009, Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped by soldiers and taken to Costa Rica in a military airplane. The Honduran army took control of the streets.

Nearly three years later, a popular resistance movement continues to organize against and oppose the coup. Meanwhile, the Canadian government and Canadian companies continue to deepen their ties with the controversial post-Zelaya regime.

The coup in Honduras was more than the kidnapping of a popular, progressive president. The day of the coup, Zelaya was scheduled to oversee a non-binding, nationwide survey on whether people were in favor of holding a binding referendum on re-writing the Honduran constitution. For the first time in history, the opinion of regular Hondurans would have had the potential to dramatically change the future of their country.

Had the June 2009 survey passed, it would have meant serious momentum toward a long-term goal of the Honduran social movement, the writing of a new constitution by way a people’s assembly, inviting representatives from every sector and municipality to join in the re-founding of Honduras.

The coup, a joint operation by the military, supreme court, congress, and business elite, put a stop to all of this. It meant that the current Honduran constitution, written under a US-backed military dictatorship in the early 1980s, would continue to benefit a small elite.

But the coup also gave rise to the creation of the National People’s Resistance Front, which now has local chapters in each of Honduras’ 298 municipalities. The resistance movement is dedicated to bringing about a new constitution, at whatever cost.

In 2011, Honduras became the deadliest country in the world, for those countries which the UN has been able to gather statistics. “Our country of just 8 million people is suffering more than 20 murders per day,” said Felix Molina, a Honduran journalist who recently spoke in Montreal during a Canadian tour. “Among the victims are around 20 journalists and 424 women. On top of murders, there are death threats, forced disappearances, exile for some and a general criminalization of the social resistance movement.”

Molina is the host, producer and founder of the radio show Resistencia. The show airs on the station Radio Globo, which has supported resistance and pro-democracy movements since the coup.

In the November 2009 Honduran general elections, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo was elected president in a vote took place under what some considered a state of siege.

In the five months between Zelaya’s kidnapping and the vote, more than 4,000 anti-coup activists were arbitrarily detained. Anti-coup media outlets were repeatedly shut down by the military. More than 100 community organizers were assassinated. Meanwhile, Zelaya, the president in exile, made his way back to Honduras and hid out in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa surrounded by the military.

As a result of the deteriorating security conditions under the interim coup regime headed by Roberto Micheletti and the military’s offensive against the resistance, all international election observation bodies refused to send observers.

Regardless, the United States and Canada applauded Lobo’s election, and put pressure on other countries to do the same.

The Harper administration has shown it is especially eager to work with Honduran officials since the coup, and Canada’s corporate interests in the country continue to grow. In August 2011, Stephen Harper traveled to Honduras and signed a free trade agreement with Honduras. The announcement was unexpected, and took many by surprise.

”The Honduran population was never informed about this [agreement],” said Molina. “As with many of the most important decisions in Honduras, they learned about it after it was taken.”

Honduran congress is considering a new mining law, which critics say prioritizes corporate interests over human rights. This mining law, they say, is designed to benefit mining companies by, among other things, failing to protect access to water and limiting both access to information about mining activities and the ability to have mines closed.

Canadian mining company Goldcorp has faced criticism of its San Martin gold mine, which operated from 2000 to 2008 in central Honduras.

Goldcorp consistently denied that its operations had anything to do with a variety of health problems among locals, including miscarriages and skin diseases, as well as the death of livestock. In 2011, results of tests conducted in 2007 were finally released, showing heavy metal poisoning among 62 residents of the area near the mine.

The National People’s Resistance Front recently voted to form a political party as another way to confront these corporate interests. Some groups within the wider resistance movement believe there are other ways to continue the struggle, such as establishing autonomous popular zones and small-scale municipal powers.

“The discussion is far from being over,” Molina said during his talk in Montreal. “In the meantime, we have to make sure that the popular movement keeps existing and to reinforce the capacities of the National Resistance Front.”

Stéfanie is part of the Montreal Media Co-op and is currently interning at CKUT 90.3FM’s community news department.

Jesse Freeston is a media co-op sustainer and maker of the upcoming film Resistencia about the ongoing farmer occupation of Honduras’ Aguan Valley, www.resistenciathefilm.com.

Written by James Bargent

Rodolfo Vecino has a death sentence on his head. He has been told he will be kidnapped, tortured and his family will be murdered. Already this year one of Vecino’s colleagues has been killed – in January, Mauricio Arrendondo and his wife Janeth were gunned down in front of their children.
Vecino is the president of Colombian oil workers union (USO), which was last year declared a “military target” by right-wing paramilitaries for its campaigns against what the union says are the abusive labor practices of Canadian oil giant Pacific Rubiales. The union’s campaign began last summer; just two months after Colombia signed a Labor Action Plan (LAP) with the U.S. pledging to tackle the very practices used by Rubiales and the type of anti-union violence that USO has suffered. The signing of the pact unblocked negotiations over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the countries, which had stalled over Colombia’s abysmal labor rights record.

A year on, and at last weekend’s Summit of the Americas, the U.S. declared it was satisfied that Colombia had complied with the LAP and was enacting the reforms called for. The decision opens the way for full implementation of the FTA in May, even as unions and human rights groups in both countries continue to accuse the U.S. of “rewarding promises not actions”. Meanwhile, USO’s campaign against Rubiales continues and it is far from an isolated case. Unions across Colombia maintain they face the same problems of violence, worker abuse and anti-union practices, all committed with seeming impunity.

Disposable labor

Protests against Rubiales began after workers at the company’s Puerto Gaitan site contacted USO and described how 12,000 sub-contracted workers – the overwhelming majority of the workforce – were enduring low pay, appalling conditions and instability while being denied the right to bargain collectively and associate freely.

Ending the abusive sub-contracting system commonly used in Colombia was one of the principal aims of the LAP. The practice began in the late 70s, when businesses began to take advantage of the fact that many of Colombia’s labor regulations did not apply to worker cooperatives. Companies fired their entire workforce then forced workers to sign on with contractors calling themselves cooperatives. As the workers were then classified as temporary employees and could be laid off without cause, the cooperatives forced them to accept whatever pay and conditions were on the table. It was also a useful tool for preventing unionization as any worker who began organizing or agitating could be immediately fired. “They lost their rights, they lost money [and] they lost their working stability,” said Andres Sanchez from Colombia’s National Union School (ENS). The practice continues today, utilizing Colombia’s army of the unemployed and underemployed as ready replacements for sacked workers.

The LAP called for Colombia to enforce pre-existing but widely ignored legislation banning the cooperatives. However, as the Rubiales workers testified, in many sectors little has changed. Because the cooperatives are now banned, most of the contractors have simply changed names and become Simplified Stock Companies or Temporary Service Companies. “The phenomenon continues the same,” said Sanchez. “It is the same dynamic, they do the same things, workers [still] can’t demand that they benefit from their labor and not the third party,” he added. According to Sanchez, over 2 million workers in Colombia are still employed through these sub-contractors.

In Puerto Gaitan, the sub-contracted Rubiales’ workers have been forced to accept what Rodolfo Vecino called, “truly humiliating and poverty stricken” conditions. “They don’t have the conditions of a dignified life, they don’t have dignified salaries, they don’t have contracts that genuinely give the workers respectable levels of stability,” he said.

The workers have also testified to being pressured and threatened because of their association with the union and being told they would not be employed again while they were still members. “Although I am aware of my rights,” said one worker in a letter to USO, “in this case my need to survive and stay in work is more important.”

The ENS and USO both say they have persistently informed the government of the continued use of the cooperative style sub-contracting but little action has been taken despite the harsh penalties now demanded by law. So far, one company has been hit with a $6.5 million dollar fine over its use of contractors in the African palm sector. However, the fine was only imposed after a 107-day strike and came a week before Colombia’s labor minister traveled to the U.S. to discuss progress on labor rights. According to Sanchez, several months later and the fine has yet to be paid.

The paramilitary right and anti-union violence

After five months of strikes, blockades, occupations and violent clashes between riot police and protesters in USO’s confrontation with Pacific Rubiales, Rodolfo Vecino announced he had been threatened by four men claiming to be from the Auto-defensas (Self-defense forces). According to Vecino, the men told him he had been “sentenced” because USO’s confrontation with Pacific Rubiales made him an “obstacle to development.”

The term Auto-Defensas refers to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), an umbrella group for Colombia’s right-wing paramilitary movement that controlled vast criminal networks and infiltrated the core of Colombia’s political and economic systems. Its stated mission was to combat Colombia’s leftist guerrilla groups, something it did in part by waging a dirty war against “guerrilla collaborators” – members of leftist political parties, community organizers, human rights workers and unionists. From 1986–2011, nearly 3000 unionists were murdered, and although most of the cases remain unsolved, in Colombia there is little doubt that paramilitary groups such as the AUC were responsible for the overwhelming majority of the killings.

The AUC officially demobilized in 2006 after negotiations with the government of Alvaro Uribe. However, the much criticized process gave rise to a new wave of illegal armed groups. These new organizations mostly consist of former mid-level AUC commanders and foot-soldiers that either never demobilized or simply re-enlisted after demobilization. For the most part they no longer fight the guerrillas – in some cases they even collaborate with them – but instead concentrate on drug trafficking and maintaining the AUC’s criminal networks and commercial interests. However, the end of the ideological war between the paramilitaries and the guerrillas did not lead to a significant drop in anti-union violence and Colombia remains by far and away the most dangerous place in the world for unionists.

According to Vecino, three of these groups operate in the same areas as USO – the Rastrojos, the Urabeños and the Popular Revolutionary Anti-terrorist Army of Colombia (ERPAC). He believes the continuing violence against unions is because of the links between businesses and the paramilitaries. “We believe there are links in the zone,” he said. “Today there are no political lines of definition of these groups but interests around drug trafficking [and] they sell themselves to the highest bidder,” he said. “If [the company] gives them money it wouldn’t be the first time multinationals have associated with paramilitaries or common criminals to strike against the union sector.” Vecino also claimed that some of the cooperatives have ties to armed groups and are used to launder drug money.

Pacific Rubiales has adamantly denied any contact with paramilitary groups. Jorge Rodriguez, the company’s head of corporate affairs, told news website Colombia Reports: “We are very sorry for the USO union. We reject any type of threat, any type of intimidation, not only to trade unionists but to anyone in the country.”

Andres Sanchez agrees with the theory that the new groups continue to act as the armed wing for powerful commercial interests, pointing to how Chiquita bananas and Coca Cola have been implicated in the murder of unionists. “It is a culture where some businesses have used violence as a way of solving labor relation problems,” he said. “In Colombia, the links between paramilitaries and business have not yet been uncovered.”

For most American politicians and unionists, anti-union violence was the biggest obstacle to the passing of the FTA with Colombia and curbing that violence the LAP’s greatest promise. In the first year of the plan, 27 unionists were murdered and 2 disappeared, according to the ENS. While that remains the highest murder rate for unionists in the world by some distance, it does represent a significant reduction; in 2010, 51 unionists were murdered and 7 disappeared. However, Andres Sanchez believes the drop in homicides does not tell the whole story. “The situation with the violence has shown changes in its logic,” he said. “Now, it is not necessary to murder a unionist to successfully freeze a union. We have seen that threats, injuries and displacement have increased …  homicides have gone down a bit [but] the situation persists.”

In the LAP, the Colombian government pledged to increase protection for unionists by broadening the coverage of its protection program, clearing the backlog of applicants for the program and speeding up the application process. According to the U.S. government this is exactly what it has done. However, while the unions acknowledge there have been some improvements, they remain critical. “They say ‘no one in the program has been killed,’” said Sanchez. “So we say the program is badly designed, because they kill the unionists who aren’t in the program.”

The unions complain that the protection program excludes too many people and that the Colombian authorities have cleared the backlog and sped up the process partly by rejecting more people more quickly. According to Sanchez, this has involved turning down unionists who have received death threats. “They say that if they threaten someone it is a salvation because generally, the ones who are murdered have not been threatened, [and] the threat is to silence someone so it is not necessary to take measures after,” he said.

The approach has had a serious impact on USO leaders. Last August, USO received a letter informing them that protection programs for 23 leaders and a number of regional offices would either be terminated immediately or only extended temporarily. Three of those leaders were involved in organizing in Puerto Gaitan.

The LAP also pledged to tackle the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for the anti-union threats and violence. Less than 10% of the more than 3000 cases of murdered unionists have resulted in convictions. Many of those convictions came not from successful investigations but from confessions by paramilitary killers and, while the perpetrators of the crimes identified themselves, the intellectual authors remained hidden.

In 2007, the Attorney General’s Office set up a specialist sub-unit dedicated to anti-union violence. However, of the 195 murders that took place between the start of the sub-unit’s operations and May 2011, only 6 resulted in convictions. The unit did not obtain a single conviction for the 60 homicide attempts, 1,500 threats and 420 forced displacements in the same period.

The prosecutor’s office’s shortcomings in investigating anti-union violence were supposed to be addressed by 15 measures in the LAP, ranging from assigning more full time investigators to the unit to establishing victims assistance centers. As Congress approved the FTA in October, American union AFL-CIO reported that all but three of the obligations had either not been met, had been met insufficiently or there was no evidence of progress.

Progress for labor or for free trade?

Although he believes the LAP has failed to significantly improve the labor rights situation in Colombia, Andres Sanchez says the plan was an important step. “Yes, [the LAP] was to facilitate the unfreezing of the FTA,” said Sanchez, “but it was also a serious attempt.” However, he thinks the LAP will not be effective unless the government does more to involve unions in the process. “They are important measures,” he said, “expensive measures that could be effective but with this great vacuum of not taking into account the unions, they are measures that could fail.”

In the U.S, the implementation of the LAP has been monitored by the AFL-CIO, which has been critical of the government for using it to push through the FTA. “We don’t think the plan was sufficient to accomplish the goals but we do think it was a step in the right direction, a step towards meaningful change,” said the AFL-CIO’s Celeste Drake.  “Unfortunately, with the continued violence against unionists and too little progress on cooperatives and other practices like collective pacts [worker agreements used to sideline unions], it is far too soon for the US government to declare victory on the LAP and move ahead on the FTA. Colombian workers will lose whatever leverage they have to make real progress if the US moves too quickly.”

On the front line of the struggle against the violence and abuse suffered by Colombian workers and unionists, Rodolfo Vecino says he has seen very little change since the LAP came into force. “At the moment it is innocuous,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what is written there, they are dead words, they don’t have life because there isn’t anyone who is putting it into place.”

James Bargent is a freelance journalist based in Colombia. See jamesbargent.com

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/3579-progress-or-promises-free-trade-and-labor-rights-in-colombia

Join PCASC and friends for Tomando las Calles

a community art exhibit of revolutionary potential!
April 6th from 7pm – 12am at Project Grow Gallery, 2156 N Williams.

Featuring works from local artists, regional revolutionary art collectives, as well as cross-border work received from galleries in Oaxaca, Mexico!

Performances by:
Walidah Imarisha
Edna Vazquez
Loh Beh dancers

The night will end with a DJ fueled dance party!

Get involved!

Submit artwork (deadline March 23rd) – at http://tomandolascalles.wordpress.com/

Help with the exhibit!
Contact Craig at Pcasc.net to be a part of the TLC crew to help make the night a magical one!

Tomando las Calles is presented by PCASC and our community partners: AFSC, Voz, B Media Collective, ONSM, Oregon Jericho Project, Portland Rising Tide, Arte Jaguar, Estación Cero, Demos Taller.

Sponsored by: We Are Oregon, Equal Exchange, Ninkasi Brewing

Community members, Portland Central American Solidarity Committee (PCASC) and We Are Oregon celebrated Wells Fargo’s 160th birthday by dressing up as clowns and disrupting business as usual at four downtown Wells Fargo locations.

Clowns threw confetti, made noise and wished Wells Fargo a happy birthday while delivering a message against the bank’s bad business practices.

Wells Fargo is one of the worst players in the housing crisis that led to the economic collapse. They are well known for their predatory sub-prime lending and their unwillingness to work with homeowners. In addition Wells Fargo is one of the largest investors in the GEO Group, Inc. –-one of two largest private prison companies in the U.S. The GEO Group support and lobby for legislation that disproportionately puts people of color in jail.

The birthday clown troupe made it into one branch before attracting a police escort. The police escort followed the clowns as they crisscrossed and performed at each Wells Fargo location. The bank’s staff was curious but managed to lock the doors in anticipation of the troupe.

Fresh off the press, the Winter 2012 edition of La Lucha Solidaria – PCASC’s newsletter!

Featuring:

• PCASC 2011 Annual Report
• One Heart, One Alabama
• Victory in Colombia
• Wells Fargo Campaign Announcement (with coupons!)
• Much much more!!!

Download the PCASC-WINTER 2012 Newsletter