Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Trabajadores de Pueblos Originales y la S.744: "No Legislation Without Representation"

Asamblea de Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio y la S.744
 “No Legislation Without Representation”


In repudiation and complete rejection of the ultra militarization and criminalization of the US-Mexico Border being advanced as “Immigration Reform” under the proposed legislation S.744 which was passed by the US Senate on June 27, 2013, the Comités de Defensa del Barrio have signed on to a national letter of opposition recently sent to the US Congress.  The letter has been endorsed by a diverse spectrum of long standing community groups and individuals that includes organizations of Indigenous Peoples. The document is now serving as common platform for concrete proposals from the most affected communities and constituencies to address and rectify the issues of immigration policies within the US that includes for the first time, the position of Indigenous Peoples as rights holders and not merely stake holders in the debate.


Fundamental to the rights of Indigenous Peoples as Migrant Workers is the Right of Self Determination.

In clear and open challenge to the “talking point” proposals being advanced by the bi-partisan consortium of political operatives on both sides of the aisle in the US Congress, the proposals for “Immigration Reform” from the Indigenous Peoples are demanding that debate on the issues begin without discrimination and in full recognition of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted on September 12, 2007.

As “Peoples, Equal to All other Peoples….” the position of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio taken in traditional Asamblea General on July 29, 2013 at the Nahuacalli, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples calls for recognition, respect, and protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples across the entire continent of Abya Yala [the Americas], while moving forward with Special Measures on the regional level to legislate mechanisms in defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as Migrant Workers, along with their families and communities.

The legislative packet now before the US House of Representatives known as S.744 makes absolutely NO MENTION of Indigenous Peoples.  This act of genocide by legislation, is obvious yet cloaked by the mantle of the legislative “jurisgenesis” of the settler states that are derivatives of the Doctrine of Discovery and the Divine Right of Kings, both antiquated feudal concepts of the Old World and the Age of European Colonization.

In response the Comités de Defensa del Barrio have proclaimed “No Legislation Without Representation” and have recommitted to organizing as a grass roots formation of Indigenous Workers and Families to the goals of the Movimiento Macehualli: “From Civil Rights to Human Rights, Indigenous Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth!”
¡ No Somos Illegales !
¡ No Somos Criminales !
¡ Somos Trabajadores
de
Pueblos Originales !
- See more at: http://cdb-tonatierra.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-as.html#sthash.tYTXpicn.dpuf

Links:
July 18, 2013 Open Letter to the US Congress 

DISMANTLING: The Doctrine of Discovery and US Citizenhship
Note: Mexican American Indian
YouTube:


“The issue is not the right to work.  Everyone has the right to work. The Right to Work is an inherent Human Right, not a delegated privilege.  The issue is the criminalization of migrant workers and their families by racist regimes of “lawful employment” that disguise ethnic cleansing.  In terms of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as Migrant Workers, it is an issue of colonization and self determination.”
*******
Think Mexican
 2012 US Census: Mexicans Fourth Largest Tribal Group


Monday, July 29, 2013

Tlahtolli Tonatierra: The American Dream and the Roots of Ancestral Reality




Phoenix, Aztlán (where the spirit of truth lives)

I have heard comments about the young "dreamers" who gave themselves up at the Nogales Arizona border. They left Mexico to ask for humanitarian aid after having lived in Mexico. In Mexico they were treated like bastards by a system that knows how to eject, but does not know how to integrate its population. One of the commentators called them, “twice illegal by their own choice.”

Historical ignorance is surprising on both sides of the border. On the one hand the "dreamer’s" movement insists on calling themselves, "undocumented and unafraid," and on the other hand many accept the designation of 'illegal,' even if they claim not to be afraid. We tried to teach them with adobes dating around 800 to 900 years; that our documents are in those bricks, in the cave paintings, in our own DNA, testifying that our ancestors were here before national borders were imposed by sick minds contaminated by the search for power and possession.


However, the historical truth does not fit into the "talking points" of a political campaign whose sole aim is reform, not correcting historical atrocities. Dreamers want to be accepted within the same system that spits them out, criminalizes them, and denigrates them. Some will say that what matters is that the system accepts them so they may be able to work and be useful to society for their own good, their families, and the same system that refuses to accept them. It is the same argument used by the Spaniards to force us to accept the Encomienda system and the psychological control instruments it developed. One of the most famous instruments was the  “Right of First Night,” (Derecho de Pernada). For those who don't know, the right of Pernada is the right of the landowner to enjoy the first night with the peon’s bride, the second day she was given back to the boyfriend. The reasoning was the divine right of kings and to  improve the blood quantum of the peon class.  The main reason was to exercise absolute dominion over their peons who at that time were 100% indigenous to these lands.

Today, disguised with laws, the right of the Pernada continues. Sheriff Arpaio continues symbolically exercising the right of Pernada by arresting the husband or the wife at will. But even worse, unconsciously dreamers for the most part want to be accepted by Uncle Sam, the stepfather of the American plantation which continues to reject his stepchildren, calling them illegal. In the confused politics of the modern Pernada, Uncle Sam keeps using indigenous labor but is willing to recognize only those who abhor their indigenous past and beg for citizenship as legitimate sons of Uncle Sam. But those who refuse to call themselves "illegal,"  those who reclaim their ancestral rights to the land, air, water, fire, and  right to travel freely like it was done prior to the invasion of our lands, will be rejected. The sad thing is that the rejection is not only by Uncle Sam, but also by dreamers who prefer to play along calling themselves illegal immigrants. Even if they aren't afraid to be illegal, they are still afraid of their own identity. They are afraid of their indigenous brothers who tell them. "We are not immigrants, we are not illegal, we are not criminals, we are original peoples, and we are indigenous workers."
The "dreamers" assimilationist strategy may be successful. Possibly it could take them to “The White House" the same way as Barack Obama became president. Perhaps, even brown skin color will become acceptable in the United States and around the world. But the cultural, spiritual, genocide by the plantation slave owners that changed us, our identity, will steal from us our freedom forever. We, the original peoples of Abya Yala, have the ancestral right to travel and to live throughout the continent. We do not have an obligation to accept foreign identities that identify us as 'illegal,' "undocumented", or even "immigrants." We did not come from other lands. We did not cross the ocean. We have lived, traveled and practiced our spiritual rites throughout the continent since time immemorial. In my humble opinion, the dreamers movement needs to awake from the  illegal and undocumented nightmare to return to the ancestral roots that have nourished us over time to survive from the Encomienda until the national borders imposed by the invader.
 

Tlahtolli Tonatierra: El Sueño Americano y la Realidad de la Raiz Ancestral

Phoenix, Aztlán (Donde vive el espíritu de la verdad)

He escuchado algunos comentarios sobre los jóvenes “soñadores” que se presentaron a la frontera de nogales a pedir ayuda humanitaria después de haber vivido en México donde se les trato como hijos bastardos por el sistema mexicano que sabe expulsar pero que no sabe integrar a su población. Uno de los comentarios los llamaba, “ilegales dos veces por su propio gusto.”

La ignorancia histórica es sorprendente en ambos lados de la frontera. Por un lado el movimiento de los “dreamers” insiste en auto llamarse “indocumentados y sin miedo” y por otro lado muchos aceptan la designación de “ilegales” aun si reclaman no tener miedo. Nosotros tratamos de enseñarles con adobes que datan alrededor de 800 a 900 años, que nuestros documentos están en esos adobes, en las pinturas rupestres, en su propia ADN, que atestiguan que nuestros antepasados estaban aquí antes que se inventaran las fronteras nacionales por mentes enfermas de poder y posesión.
Sin embargo, la verdad histórica no cabe en los “talking points” (puntos de argumentación) dentro de una campaña política cuyo único objetivo es una reforma, no una corrección histórica.  Todos quieren ser aceptados dentro del mismo sistema que los escupe, los criminaliza, y los denigra. Algunos dirán que lo que importa es que el sistema los acepte para poder trabajar y ser útiles a la sociedad para el bien de ellos, sus familias, y el mismo sistema que se rehúsa aceptarlos. Es el mismo argumento que se usó por los españoles para forzarnos a aceptar el sistema de encomienda, el sistema de las haciendas con todos los instrumentos de control psicológico incluyendo el famoso “derecho de la pernada.” Para aquellos que no sepan, el derecho de la pernada es el derecho del terrateniente de gozar la primera noche con la novia, ya el segundo día se la pasaba al novio. El razonamiento era que así mejorarían la sangre de sus peones. Pero la razón principal es ejercer el dominio absoluto sobre sus peones que en esos tiempos eran 100% de sangre indígena.
Hoy en día, disfrazado con leyes, el derecho de la pernada sigue vigente. El Sheriff Arpaio sigue quitando esposas simbólicamente al apresar a los padres. Pero aun peor, inconscientemente los jóvenes soñadores quieren ser aceptados por el Tío Sam, el padrastro de la plantación norteamericana que sigue rechazando hijos adoptivos llamándoles ilegales. En la política confusa de la “Pernada” el Tío Sam sigue utilizando la mano de obra indígena pero fingiendo culpabilidad está dispuesto a reconocer aquellos que aborrecen su pasado indígena y piden a gritos la ciudadanía como hijos legítimos del Tío Sam. Pero aquel que rehusé llamarse “ilegal,” aquel que reclama su derecho ancestral de su madre a la tierra, al aire, al agua, al fuego, a viajar libremente por las tierras ancestrales desde antes de la invasión será rechazado. Lo triste es que no solo los rechaza el patrón, sino aquellos que prefieren seguir el juego llamándose, inmigrantes, indocumentados o ilegales. Y aun si no tienen miedo de ser ilegales, siguen con miedo de su identidad, de sus hermanos indígenas que les dicen. “No somos inmigrantes, No somos ilegales, No somos Criminales, somos trabajadores ancestrales de pueblos originales.”

La estrategia de los “soñadores” quizás sea exitosa. Posiblemente llegaran a la “Casa Blanca” de la misma manera que Barack Obama. Quizás hasta el color de piel morena sea aceptable en los estados unidos y el mundo entero. Pero el genocidio cultural, espiritual, que nos cambia nuestra identidad por la del hacendado nos robara para siempre nuestra libertad. Nosotros, los pueblos originales de Abya Yala, tenemos el derecho ancestral de viajar y vivir por todo el continente sin tener que aceptar etiquetas de “ilegales,” “indocumentados,” o menos aun “inmigrantes.” Nosotros no venimos de otras tierras. Nosotros no cruzamos el océano. Nosotros hemos vivido, viajado,  y practicado nuestros ritos espirituales desde el Norte hasta el Sur, Desde el Oeste hasta el Este de este continente. Hemos ido y venido desde tiempo inmemorial.  En nuestra humilde opinión, el movimiento del sueño tiene que despertar de la pesadilla de ilegal e indocumentado y volver a la raíz ancestral que nos ha nutrido a través del tiempo para sobrevivir desde la encomienda hasta las fronteras impuestas por el invasor.

Por Salvador Reza

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Latino, Immigrant, and Indigenous Peoples Organizations and Leaders Strongly Oppose S.744





July 18, 2013
Re: Latino, Immigrant, and Indigenous Peoples Organizations and Leaders Strongly Oppose S.744

Dear Representative:
We the undersigned representatives of Latino, immigrant, and Indigenous Peoples organizations and communities write to urge you to reject S.744 in its current form.  After much reflection, we have concluded that S.744 does more harm than good to the cause of fair and humane immigration reform. We expect that the bill will only get worse and even more focused on “border security-first” as it goes to the House of Representatives. Recent polling findings by Latino Decisions underscore that Latino voters do not support the border militarization or ineffective legalization components of S.744.

We marched, we protested, and we voted for real immigration reform. But rather than fulfill the promise of citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people living in the country, we got legislation, S.744, which will plunge millions in immigrant and border communities into a more profound crisis than the one they already face.  This flawed legislation begins with the mistaken and dangerous premise that puts punishment over people and enforcement over citizenship.  S.744 is neither inclusive nor fair. We cannot in good conscience support S.744 without major substantive changes. Our rejection does not condone the defeat of immigration reform. Rather, it represents the decency and dignity of a community drawing the line against more punishment of immigrants. These same values will continue to guide our struggle for humane and just immigration reform in 2013 and beyond.

In practice, S.744 will:
 
• Block Registered Provisional Immigrants (RPI) from seeking lawful permanent resident status or citizenship for decades or forever;

• Exclude or disqualify, over time, more than 5 million undocumented persons from the Registered Provisional Immigrant program; Subject Registered Provisional Immigrants to reprehensible and unacceptable conditions for ten or more years in order to maintain status;

• Increase discrimination and racial profiling of people of color through nationwide mandatory E-verify of every worker-citizen and non-citizen-in the country; and

• Create a virtual police-state and create environmental disasters in the 27 border counties by militarizing the US-Mexico border including weapons-capable drones, 40,000 guards, and 700 miles of border walls;

Such a proposal does not, in any way, reflect the kind of humane, inclusive, and common sense values that we envisioned before and since the 2012 elections. We write to ask you to join us in rejecting this legislation in the name of continuing the fight for real immigration reform.

Please contact Arturo Carmona, Executive Director of Presente.org if you have any comments or questions at arturo@presente.org.


Sincerely,

National and Regional Organizations

TONATIERRA

State and Local Organizations 
Alianza Latinoamericana por los Derechos de losInmigrantes (ALIADI)
Association of Mexicans in North Carolina, AMEXCAN
Anahauk Youth Soccer Association
Association for Residency and Citizenship of America (ARCA)
Border Angels, San Diego
Cesar E. Chavez Legacy and Educational Fund
Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, Tucson, Arizona
Coastal Bend Committee for Human Rights
Communion of Independent Catholic Churches, San Diego, CA

Durango Unido in Chicago
Federacion Zacatecana, A.C., FEDZAC
Gente Unida, San Diego, CA
The Hispanic Community Dialogue, Virginia Beach, VA
Latino/Latina Roundtable of the San Gabriel Valley and Pomon Valley
LULAC, Inland Empire
San Bernardino Community Service Center, Inc
Mundo Maya Foundation
Seminario Permanente de Estudios Chicanos y de Fronteras
Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio.,México, D. F. 

Individuals 
Juan Jose Bocanegra
Alfredo Gutierrez, Author of To Sin Against Hope, Former majority leader of the Arizona State Senate
Salvador Reza, Comités de Defensa del Barrio
Primitivo Rodríguez
Patricia Schano Allen, President, Research Applications
Melanie Stuart, Public Policy Chairperson for the American Association of University Women-Chula Vista
Rick Swartz, President, Strategic Solutions Washington
Victor Manuel Torres, Spokesperson, El Grupo, North San Diego County
Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos, President, California-Mexico Studies Center

******************** 
 Appendix 1: Latino, Immigrant, and Indigenous Peoples Organizations and Leaders’Critique of S.744 

After much reflection, we have concluded that S.744 does more harm than good to the cause of fair and humane immigration reform.

What follows is a more complete explanation of our major concerns about S. 744:



S.744’s Registered Provisional Immigrant (RPI) program will exclude and/or disqualify over time 5 million undocumented persons from adjustment of status 

With the exceptions of the beneficiaries of the DreamAct and AgJobs programs, S.744’s legalization provisions fail
most of the 11 million undocumented people in the United States. According to the recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study only 8 of the 11 plus million undocumented persons in the US will initially achieve RPI status.

Moreover, a recent analysis by leading immigration attorney and national advocate Peter Schey of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), of Senate Bill 744’s legalization provisions found that (1) for several reasons the entire population of Registered Provisional Immigrants may never be eligible to apply for permanent resident status or citizenship, and (2) even if these obstacles are overcome, at least half of the remaining approximately 8 million undocumented immigrants may never qualify for permanent status (or citizenship) because of the onerous “continuous employment” and federal poverty guideline requirements, and the high costs combined with the requirement to pay past taxes. Click here for a legal and demographic analysis of Senate Bill 744’s Pathway to Legalization and Citizenship by Schey.

The RPI program will have a disproportionately negative impact on immigrant women who only have a 60% workforce participation rate according to a recent Migration Policy Institute (MPI) study.

In the face of these facts, those positing that “11 million will be legalized” are exaggerating. They do a disservice to both the U.S. public and, more importantly, to the millions of individuals and families who do not know that they may be among the many excluded by S.744.

S.744’s Continuous employment and 125% of poverty income provisions subject RPI visa holders to workplace discrimination, exploitation and sexual harassment;

Even those “fortunate enough” to meet the requirements to gain RPI status are at high risk to become indentured servants locked into overly burdensome continuous employment and income obligations for at least ten—and perhaps fifteen or more—years given the “backlog/back of the line” and “border security” trigger provisions.

RPIs will be without health care and are ineligible for federal safety net benefits. They will be excluded from access to billions of dollars in previously paid social security benefits.

S.744 RPI’s will be denied their most basic power as an employee --the right to withhold their labor if an employer abuses, harasses or exploits them. Conversely, employers will be empowered to engage in unlawful worksite and labor law violations. RPIs who resist employer abuses risk losing employment for 60 days or more. This puts them at high risk of losing RPI status and/or becoming ineligible for permanent resident status.

Female RPI card holders will be disproportionately affected. For example, S.744 grants some housewives “dependent” status; i.e. dependent on their husbands’continuous employment and their continuous relationship. In practice, “dependents” suffering domestic abuse, including children, will be significantly discouraged from leaving their homes or reporting abuse to the authorities.

Notably, the provisions obligating that permanent resident status not be awarded to qualified RPI card holders upon completion of the multi-year probationary period, unless the border is “secure” and the backlog of pre- existing visa applications are resolved, create a scenario of inevitable and unpredictable delays. There will be no objective way to “prove” border security concerns have been met as S.744 is written, or assurances that resolving 100% of the current visa back-log can be accomplished in 10 or 20 years, or ever. For example, the current backlog includes cases more than 20 years old. S.744’s “backlog” and “border security” requirements guarantee an indeterminate number of years of delay before RPI status holders can even apply for permanent resident status.

At the same time, S.744 significantly increases judges, courts and the legal mechanisms to detain and deport those excluded from RPI status or ultimately denied lawful permanent resident status.

S.744’s E-verify program is fatally flawed 

E-verify will just increase discrimination and racial profiling. It places an undue burden of costs on small businesses and if fully implemented will undermine job growth.

The extension of E-Verify to every worker in the U.S. lays the foundation for precisely the national identification system and national database tracking systems that most people in the U.S. oppose.

The “enhanced driver’s license” provision adopts the requirements of section 202 of the REALIDAct of 2005, requiring the sharing of driver's license photos among the states and federal government, a program 25 states have opposed by law or resolution. We understand that only 13 states have joined the enhanced driver’s license program of the REAL ID Act of as of 2012. This law also removes the religious accommodations that 20 states offer in the form of driver’s licenses without photographs for reasons of religious faith.

E-Verify in fact misidentifies about one percent of American job applicants as unlawful. The GAO has predicted that approximately 164,000 U.S. citizens per year will receive a Tentative No confirmation (“TNC”) just for issues related to name changes. Tens of thousands more may receive TNCs because of transliteration problems, simple typos in Government records databases, or identity theft.

Even the existing limited use of E-Verify has shown that erroneous TNCs produce discriminatory outcomes primarily affecting citizens with foreign names, naturalized citizens, and legal immigrants. Furthermore, errors will disproportionately impact women and immigrants about whom the databases have incorrect information due, for example, to marriage-related name changes or hyphenated last names. Mandatory E-Verify may also reduce state and federal payroll tax revenues because many employers will move existing unauthorized workers not granted RPI status and future unauthorized workers off the books to avoid detection.

Under S.744, hundreds of thousands of US workers may be required, within 10 days of getting a TNC, to contact an appropriate Federal agency and “appear in person….” As past experience shows, a significant number of U.S. workers will fail to correct erroneous non-confirmations, with a disproportionate number being women and other low-income workers.

It has been estimated that mandatory nationwide use of the E-Verify program will cost employers with fewer than 500 employees about $2.6 billion a year.

S.744’s border surge is unnecessary as a matter of policy, and will significantly increase border deaths along with violations of human and civil rights. 

Today, $18 billion in enforcement infrastructure is already in place after an unprecedented ten year build-up that includes 300 towers, hundreds of miles of walls, electronic surveillance equipment and thousands of border guards. At a border that the FBI certifies as safe, prioritizing “border security” represents an unacceptable escalation of an already extremely dangerous pattern of waste and violence.

Net migration from Mexico has been zero or close to zero for several years and unauthorized border crossings are the lowest in a generation. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano certified the border as “secure.”

The “border surge”, with a price tag of $47 billion dollars, will significantly increase border deaths as unauthorized crossers brave even more harrowing and dangerous circumstances. This has been documented over the last several years as increased border enforcement has caused border deaths to increase substantially even though unauthorized crossings have gone down significantly.

The “border surge” will cause civil rights violations of U.S. border residents. 40,000 border guards buttressed by electronic surveillance equipment and dozens of drones will “occupy” border communities combing for “undocumented immigrant” profiles that are in practice indistinguishable from that of the majority citizen and legal population. Fifty-four percent (54%) of the 7.5 million border county inhabitants are Latinos according to the 2012 Census.

The “border surge” will also adversely impact indigenous communities whose ancestors have lived in the area and worked the land for hundreds of years, including ¡Lipan Apaches, Kickapoo, and the Tohono O’odham nation.  Indigenous peoples in the border areas have suffered destruction of their land, loss of land grants, and unilateral extinguishment of land titles, more recently through ¡Operation Gatekeeper, Operation Hold the Line (1993/4), Operation Safeguard (1995), the Secure Border Initiative (2005), and the Secure Fence Act (2006).

Finally, as recent exposes in the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times report, S.744 is a boondoggle for the private prison and surveillance technology industries that will get even more billions of dollars in contracts for border enforcement, for more “immigrant prisons,” and for the implementation of E-verify.





Thursday, July 25, 2013

The Right to Work with Dignity


Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

YouTube:


“The issue is not the right to work.  Everyone has the right to work. The Right to Work is an inherent Human Right, not a delegated privilege.  The issue is the criminalization of migrant workers and their families by racist regimes of “lawful employment” that disguise ethnic cleansing.  In terms of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as Migrant Workers, it is an issue of colonization and self determination.”
Phoenix, AZ - In solidarity with the national and international condemnation of the raid of retaliation at Uncle Sam’s restaurant last week conducted by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), the Comités de Defensa del Barrio conducted a press conference in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in Phoenix on Wednesday.  Coming in the wake of the May 24, 2013 US Court decision by Judge Snow in the Melendres v. Arpaio case where the MCSO was found guilty of Racial Profiling, the raid at Uncle Sam's restaurant on July 17 has been condemned as an open act of racial persecution and blatant state racism directed at Mexican Workers in particular by Sheriff J. Arpaio.
From Selma to Phoenix, from Civil Rights to Human Rights, Indigenous Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth!
Although five of the detainees were released by Maricopa County Sheriff Bill Montgomery by Wednesday July 24, the Comités de Defensa del Barrio have demanded that all detainees be released and end to discriminatory law enforcement practices and policies MCSO.

"We demand their release by ICE immediately. The Barrio Defense Committees TONATIERRA had one of their members arrested in the raid. We demand his liberation as well as the liberation of all involved, and an end to criminalization of all migrant workers and their families. 

We demand the Right to Work with Dignity. No more Raids. No more racial profiling. No more abuse and retaliation by Sheriff Joe." 

Demanding the restitution of the Rule of Law, based on fundamental respect for Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Indigenous Rights in Maricopa County, the Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio is planning a Tribunal of Justice for September 16, 2013 to address the ongoing and systemic violations of these rights by law enforcement authorities of the state in Arizona.

A specific issue to be addressed in the proceedings of the Tribunal of Justice will be the call by the international community for repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, and  the implications in terms of DISMANTLING: The Doctrine of Discovery and US Citizenship.

The Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio carries as mandate the full recognition, respect, and protection of the Human Rights of All Peoples articulated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).

The Right of Memory
NO somos Ilegales! NO somos criminales! Somos trabajadores de Pueblos Originales!




Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly

10 December 1948 
Article 23

1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. 
******* 


Tuesday July 17, 2013


Arpaio: The Tough Sheriff of Maricopa County

"Stopping Mexicans to make Sure they are legal is not racist. If you have dark skin, you have dark skin! Unfortunately, That is the look of the Mexican illegal."

Files of Maricopa County Sheriff J. Arpaio

quoted on page 28 of U.S. District Court Case 2:07-cv-02513-GMS

Document 494 12/23/11
******
Links:
February 7, 2012
Memorandum to the US Justice Department
******* 
 November 8, 2012
Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Commision de Derechos Humanos
- See more at: http://cdb-tonatierra.blogspot.com/2013/05/discrimination-against-indigenous.html#sthash.z4blEQnc.dpuf

"Stopping Mexicans to make sure they are legal is not racist. If you have dark skin, you have dark skin! Unfortunately, That is the look of the Mexican illegal."

Files of Maricopa County Sheriff J. Arpaio
quoted on page 28 of U.S. District Court Case 2:07-cv-02513-GMS
Document 494 12/23/11
******
Links:
February 7, 2012
Memorandum to the US Justice Department
******* 
 November 8, 2012
Comités de Defensa del Barrio
 

Comisión de Derechos Humanos 

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio and the Right to Work with Dignity



Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

YouTube:


“The issue is not the right to work.  Everyone has the right to work. The Right to Work is an inherent Human Right, not a delegated privilege.  The issue is the criminalization of migrant workers and their families by racist regimes of “lawful employment” that disguise ethnic cleansing.  In terms of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as Migrant Workers, it is an issue of colonization and self determination.”
Phoenix, AZ - In solidarity with the national and international condemnation of the raid of retaliation at Uncle Sam’s restaurant last week conducted by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), the Comités de Defensa del Barrio conducted a press conference in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in Phoenix on Wednesday.  Coming in the wake of the May 24, 2013 US Court decision by Judge Snow in the Melendres v. Arpaio case where the MCSO was found guilty of Racial Profiling, the raid at Uncle Sam's restaurant on July 17 has been condemned as an open act of racial persecution and blatant state racism directed at Mexican Workers in particular by Sheriff J. Arpaio.
From Selma to Phoenix, from Civil Rights to Human Rights, Indigenous Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth!
Although five of the detainees were released by Maricopa County Sheriff Bill Montgomery by Wednesday July 24, the Comités de Defensa del Barrio have demanded that all detainees be released and end to discriminatory law enforcement practices and policies MCSO.

"We demand their release by ICE immediately. The Barrio Defense Committees TONATIERRA had one of their members arrested in the raid. We demand his liberation as well as the liberation of all involved, and an end to criminalization of all migrant workers and their families. 

We demand the Right to Work with Dignity. No more Raids. No more racial profiling. No more abuse and retaliation by Sheriff Joe." 

Demanding the restitution of the Rule of Law, based on fundamental respect for Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Indigenous Rights in Maricopa County, the Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio is planning a Tribunal of Justice for September 16, 2013 to address the ongoing and systemic violations of these rights by law enforcement authorities of the state in Arizona.

A specific issue to be addressed in the proceedings of the Tribunal of Justice will be the call by the international community for repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, and  the implications in terms of DISMANTLING: The Doctrine of Discovery and US Citizenship.

The Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio carries as mandate the full recognition, respect, and protection of the Human Rights of All Peoples articulated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).

The Right of Memory
NO somos Ilegales! NO somos criminales! Somos trabajadores de Pueblos Originales!




Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly

10 December 1948 
Article 23

1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. 
******* 


Tuesday July 17, 2013


Arpaio: The Tough Sheriff of Maricopa County

"Stopping Mexicans to make Sure they are legal is not racist. If you have dark skin, you have dark skin! Unfortunately, That is the look of the Mexican illegal."

Files of Maricopa County Sheriff J. Arpaio

quoted on page 28 of U.S. District Court Case 2:07-cv-02513-GMS

Document 494 12/23/11
******
Links:
February 7, 2012
Memorandum to the US Justice Department
******* 
 November 8, 2012
Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Commision de Derechos Humanos
- See more at: http://cdb-tonatierra.blogspot.com/2013/05/discrimination-against-indigenous.html#sthash.z4blEQnc.dpuf

"Stopping Mexicans to make sure they are legal is not racist. If you have dark skin, you have dark skin! Unfortunately, That is the look of the Mexican illegal."

Files of Maricopa County Sheriff J. Arpaio
quoted on page 28 of U.S. District Court Case 2:07-cv-02513-GMS
Document 494 12/23/11
******
Links:
February 7, 2012
Memorandum to the US Justice Department
******* 
 November 8, 2012
Comités de Defensa del Barrio



Tuesday July 17, 2013
NO somos Ilegales! NO somos criminales! Somos trabajadores de Pueblos Originales!
- See more at: http://cdb-tonatierra.blogspot.com/2013/07/protest-against-militarization-of.html#sthash.8HFwruQZ.dpuf



Tuesday July 17, 2013
NO somos Ilegales! NO somos criminales! Somos trabajadores de Pueblos Originales!
Inline image 1
- See more at: http://cdb-tonatierra.blogspot.com/2013/07/protest-against-militarization-of.html#sthash.3Krzgst8.dpuf



Tuesday July 17, 2013
NO somos Ilegales! NO somos criminales! Somos trabajadores de Pueblos Originales!
Inline image 1
- See more at: http://cdb-tonatierra.blogspot.com/2013/07/protest-against-militarization-of.html#sthash.3Krzgst8.dpuf