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Posts Tagged ‘refugees’

Why we protest

Posted in Immigration, Politics, Violence, tagged , , , , , , , on July 6, 2018| 2 Comments »

Yesterday, feeling angry, horrified, and ashamed and, with less than a week’s notice, 50+ citizens of the USA gathered on the sidewalk below the U.S. Consular Agency office in Oaxaca to protest the inhumane, unconscionable, and illegal actions by “our” government regarding refugees seeking asylum.

Yes, illegal actions!  The following is courtesy of Fact Sheet No.20, Human Rights and Refugees from the United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner:

These rights are affirmed, among other civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, for all persons, citizens and non-citizens alike, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which together make up the International Bill of Human Rights.

(a) “No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 9);

(b) “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 14);

(c) “Everyone has the right to a nationality” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 15);

(d) “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State” (Universal Declaration of Human rights, article 13; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 12).

What is even more heartbreaking and infuriating, is WHY asylum seekers feel they have no choice but to leave the only homes most have ever known to make a perilous journey of thousands of miles to present themselves at the U.S. border.  Hint:  It’s not “the economy, stupid!”

And, lest you fear that these refugees are MS-13 wolves in sheep’s clothing:

1. MS-13 Is Not Organizing to Foil Immigration Law
2. MS-13 Is Not Posing as Fake Families at the Border
3. MS-13 Is Sticking Around, but It’s Not Growing
4. MS-13 Is Preying on a Specific Community, Not the Country at Large
5. Immigration Raids and Deportation Can Only Go So Far

From the recent article published in ProPublica, I’ve Been Reporting on MS-13 for a Year. Here Are the 5 Things Trump Gets Most Wrong.

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Unsettled weather for unsettled times

Posted in Culture, Politics, Protests, Sports, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 27, 2018| 6 Comments »

It began this morning, as la Selección mexicana took the field in Russia for game three of their Group F stage.  Even with two victories under their belt and leading their group, the people of Mexico held their collective breath.  During the game, you could hear a pin drop in Oaxaca.  I swear, the buses that usually grind their gears and emit clouds of exhaust on Crespo, were few and far between.  El Tri held off a tenacious Swedish team in the first half, but it all fell apart in the second and the green, white, and red lost.  The Mexican World Cup team and the country had to rely on South Korea to knock Germany out of the Copa del Mundo and assure Mexico goes on to the next round.  Every tenth person I passed this afternoon seemed to still be sporting the team jersey, but nobody was smiling.

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Oaxaca de Juárez — June 27, 2018, 7:00 PM

Today is also the last day of electioneering in Mexico — no more campaign materials are to be distributed, no more surveys disseminated, and no more robo campaign calls (gracias a dios).  Mexicans go to the polls on Sunday, July 1 for Mexico’s biggest election in memory.  Not only is a new president to be elected, but also 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies, 128 members of the Senate, 8 governors, and the mayor of Mexico City.  And, coming on top the deadliest year in Mexico’s history, 2018 has also been one of the most violent campaign seasons in recent history.  Tonight, final campaign rallies are being held all over the country, including one next door in the Plaza de la Danza — filled with amplified speeches and heavy-on-the-bass pounding music.  Let’s hope we awaken only to World Cup scores and not rising political violence tallies.

However, in the midst of all this, gringos gathered this afternoon to attempt to come up with a plan to show our opposition to the inhumane actions by the United States government and our support for all peoples escaping violence and in search of a better life for their families.  If you are in Oaxaca, on July 5, at 3:00 PM, there will be a peaceful protest in front of the U.S. Consular Agency under the slogans, ¡Todos Somos Migrates!  ¡Familias Unidas — No Divididas!  For more details, see the ¡Engage Oaxaca! Facebook page.  By the way, for a little background on the reasons men, women, and children are risking their lives to flee their home countries, I highly recommend, So we’re gonna pretend these refugees aren’t a result of our actions in Central America?

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Lessons from 80 years ago

Posted in History, Immigration, Politics, tagged , , , , , on June 11, 2017| Leave a Comment »

How many of us knew that eighty years ago, in the midst of the Spanish Civil War, children of Spanish Republicans, facing the danger posed by the fascist government of Francisco Franco, were provided refuge in Mexico by President Lázaro Cárdenas?  463 children sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Veracruz on June 10, 1937.  After a being warmly welcomed, these child refugees were put on a train to Morelia.  Most never returned to Spain.  In the brief interview below, one of the still-living refugees, 87 year-old Amparo Rius Munoz, offers lessons for today.

http://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/4k5gFJHRe_default/index.html?videoId=5467422137001

The documentary, The Children of Morelia – Crossroads and Perspectives will be shown at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia (Morelia International Film Festival), October 2017.

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