Lies and Betrayals: The Coming Death of a Criminal Democratic Party

2010: Year of Lies and Betrayals & The Coming Death of a Criminal Democratic Party

By Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa

Mark my words that the only things to have been halted in 2010 were not just immigration reform or the DREAM Act; it was also the year the Democratic Party died.

Allow me to explain.

In Washington D.C., from 2008 to 2010 in the House of Representatives, there were 257 who were Democrats; only 178 were Republican. In the Senate there were 59 Democrats; only 41 were Republicans. The Party that Latinos voted overwhelmingly for controlled two-thirds of the House of Representatives and had a majority in the Senate, for 2 years, and still they couldn’t keep their promise to you or me.

For 2 years Democrats sat around, not passing immigration reform and actively blocking passage of the DREAM Act. On December 18, 2010, the DREAM Act needed 5 votes to live and 5 Democrats voted against it and 1 Democrat had no shame and failed to vote at all!

While Republicans push white supremacy to new heights. Democrats are worse. At least we know where Republicans stand and we know they will keep their evil word. But Democrats, as liberal as they may be, are weak, they’re fence-sitters, they’re spineless, they’re hypocrites and they’re liars. If we have turned a blind eye to the Democrats’ tricks, lies and betrayals, we can no longer deny reality. Being naïve is no longer an excuse to continue supporting a party that actively works against our interests.

But let me be positive too and mention what Democrats have done for us. While Obama says he is disappointed that the DREAM Act didn’t pass and while he says no family should be torn apart, his actions and those of Department of Homeland Security head-honcho Janet Napolitano (a former Democrat governor from a little state called Arizona) have secured the following record-breaking numbers:

• “$4.6 billion to support 20,000 Border Patrol agents and complete the first segment of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) virtual border fence.
• Includes $94 million for 300 new CBP Officers for passenger and cargo screening at ports of entry as well as expansion of pre-screening operations at foreign airports and land ports of entry.
• More than $1.6 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement programs to expeditiously identify and remove from the United States illegal aliens who commit crimes. Included in this total is continued support for the Secure Communities program.
• $137 million for enhancements and expansion of immigration related verification programs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.”

So, I guess I was wrong and I misunderstood. A Democrat-sponsored immigration reform did pass and these numbers that I got from www.whitehouse.gov are the reform put into action: Record-breaking detentions, record-breaking deportations, record-breaking border militarization, record-breaking profits for private prison corporations, record-breaking police state terror, record-breaking family separations and record-breaking deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border.

This is the only Comprehensive Immigration Reform Democrats have given us.

This is immoral. These are crimes against humanity.

Let me back-track a bit. Would you vote for a Republican? I didn’t think so. How about the Tea Party? The Neo-Nazi Socialist Movement? What about the Minutemen or the K.K.K.? Of course you wouldn’t! How about a Democrat? Well, voting Democrat is not much different than voting for a white supremacist group or party (that is out of the closet). Voting Democrat means voting for more family separations because under a Democrat administration DHS intends to deport over 400,000 undocumented people in 2011; voting Democrat means voting for more deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border because under a Democrat administration DHS has received record-breaking budget for border enforcement; voting Democrat also means voting for the criminalization of migrants and people of color,  because under a Democrat administration, Secure Communities, 287(g), E-verify and other programs that criminalize migrants are scheduled to expand. These points are focused on immigration; now consider where Democrats stand on electoral fraud, health care, poverty, the environment, education or the war in Iraq/Afghanistan/the world! 

So… I have to ask. Why on earth would we vote Democrat? Because it’s the lesser of two evils? I don’t agree. Their rhetoric may be less evil, but their actions and their votes cast an equal amount of terror upon poor communities and communities of color.

Democrats are immoral and they are guilty of crimes against humanity.

This is not bad leadership at the top. This is not an accident. This is not a Republican/right-wing conspiracy; this is as Democratic/liberal as it gets, coming from all levels. Not even local or disagreeing Democrats are putting their bodies on the line to stop this madness coming from their own national political party they represent. Party elected officials allow business as usual to continue. I don’t care how “progressive” Congressman Raúl Grijalva may be, or how «supportive» Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may be to undocumented students, both professional politicians are just as responsible and complicit in their party’s crimes against the Latino community as the rest of them.

As slave abolitionist Frederick Douglass felt about participation in the political system during slavery times, holding office or participating in electoral activity is immoral and sanctifies oppression and slavery itself.

As clear as it was back then, it is clear today that our community’s emancipation won’t come through changing this system from within. We’ve tried over and over. The results won’t be much different if we try again tomorrow. This system rests on our social/political/economic/labor oppression and exploitation. We’ve blindly believed in the Democrats and the electoral system for generations and look at where we’re at today. We only have promises, lies and betrayals to show for all of our electoral work and dependence on Democrat politricks.

In the 2010 elections it can be argued that the “Latino vote” saved the Democrats a majority in the Senate (51-46). This means that even after the Democrats for 2 years (and much longer than that) just laughed in our faces and either abstained or voted against us, we still came out to vote for them in November! This is mind-bogglingly stupid. No wonder they blocked the DREAM Act.

They know they can

1. make fake promises to us during election time,
2. get elected by our votes,
3. then they can break their promises for 2 or 4 years,
4. they will campaign again when their term is up and
5. we will vote again for the same politicians and the same Democratic party that did us wrong!

And we get exactly what we deserve. The cycle is never-ending. Why do we allow them to do this to us without political consequences?! They asked us to vote for them so they can pass immigration reform. We came through, they didn’t do their part and now we need to get rid of them. But for reals.

Pro-immigrant rights reformers love to threaten the political system with withdrawing the Latino vote. But Democrats know it’s just a front and that the High-spanic establishment is filled with ride-or-die Democratic party loyalist slaves that will suck it up, pacify the brown, angry masses and sell us out (or remain silent) for a seat at the top. Clearly we need a double revolt: not only against an oppressive, white supremacist, two-party, corporate, political system, but also against phony brown faces that proclaim to represent us.

As Malcolm X famously declared at a time when Black people faced similar political struggles: “Anytime you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that [Democratic Party] can’t keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that Party, you’re not only a [political] chump, but you’re a traitor to your race.”

We have no more excuses. What are we waiting for? Where do we go from here? What do we do? What is the alternative?

My proposal is NOT to create a new electoral political party that will work in this very same system that co-opts and corrupts any attempts at justice. It is clear that this apartheid, corporate two-party electoral political, economic system must be dismantled and replaced with  local, decentralized communities based on collectivism, autonomy, justice, equality and love. I’m not being idealistic or theoretical here. We don’t need a revolution to make this happen. We can start today. We already have these elements in our communities. Let’s develop the collectivism we already exercise into an organized social, political, economic force.

But the first step is to recognize that we are in an abusive relationship with the Democratic Party—they are the abusers. If we can’t recognize that, we will never abandon them, much less create a healthy, beautiful, strong alternative to this abusive, oppressive, criminal political, social and economic system.

We’ve waited long enough.

Let’s take back our power. The answer is not in party politics; it’s inside of us, in our mothers and fathers that sacrificed everything, in our grandparents that struggled yesterday and in the youth that struggle today and tomorrow. WE have the power to RISE and create a healthy reality based on dignity and respect for all of us.

When will we declare YA BASTA with all the rage and love in our hearts?

LEGALIZATION KILLS REVOLUTION: The case against citizenship

LEGALIZATION KILLS REVOLUTION:

The case against citizenship

By by Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa

The legalization of over 12 million people will not take place, not in this country, not today, not tomorrow, not even the decade after that. Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) has failed time and time again—CIR doesn’t get passed even when enforcement and border militarization are emphasized for republican support. More recently, not even with its narrow scope can we get the DREAM Act passed. It needed 5 votes in the senate to live and 5 democrats voted against it. Any form of legalization has become a political liability—both to republicans and democrats alike. No one can deny that the state of brown “amerika” is horrifying. The right-wing (liberals and democrats among them) have hijacked the immigration debate to a place where criminalization and white supremacy are not only tolerated, but also applauded and rewarded.

Currently in Arizona we have the new Mississippi where almost every major political position has been won through the vote by a white supremacist mafia ring—from president of the az senate russell pearce (connected to neo-nazi groups) to governor jan brewer (puppeteer to private prisons contractor interests: c.c.a.). At the national level, things are not much different, even though democrats are the majority of the senate, they are unwilling to support the brown communities that voted them into power and made their majority, at least in the senate, possible.

Neither through decades of letter-writing campaigns, lobbying congresspeople, phone-banking, vigils, the ballot box, marches, protests, civil disobedience, closed door conversations between High-spanic organizations and the government, or democrat-sponsored backdoor compromises have we gained anything remotely close to legalization! Again, no matter what nice words Cecilia Muñoz (National Council of La Raza VP turned Obama staffer) may use to describe our “progress” within the Obama administration, the state of brown amerika is as devastating as it has never been… and it’s about to get worse. Politically, the prospect for legalization grows dimmer and dimmer.

Whether attending pro-migrant marches, organizing community meetings or having family conversations at the dinner table, the consensus is clear, we all want “legalization”. Not even the most revolutionary of thinkers or do-ers can escape the fact that our community not only wants legalization, but also desperately needs it. We have mothers without access to health care, fathers incarcerated for months, broken families, thousands of youth without access to higher education, grandmothers that refuse to call the police because they fear someone will get deported, brown community members as growing targets of hate crimes and police brutality and undocumented womyn, queer and transgender people more prone to sexual violence. All these problems rooted (partly, not entirely) in living a life without papers.

So it is obvious that legalization would be the solution to our problems. Right?

OR…

is legalization just a simplistic, easy, knee-jerk response to a deeper oppression?

Undeniably, legalization can serve as:

1. a concrete victory that positively impacts real lives and

2. represents a small and necessary step towards a larger vision of liberation from oppression and domination.

With this said, here are critical points (rarely spoken of) that should be included in our conversations around “citizenship” and “legalization”:

Legalization as a term is problematic. The definition of legalization is “the process of removing a legal prohibition against something that is currently illegal. ” The word itself dehumanizes communities because it acknowledges and legitimizes an apartheid system that segregates people based on a “legal” or “illegal” status. We lose from the very beginning by using this term because we criminalize ourselves and acknowledge that we are “criminal” “unlawful” “unauthorized” “illegal” “aliens” that need to be “legalized” and given permission to be here by the state. Legalization as a term and as a demand feeds into the framework that criminalizes our families.

Citizenship comes from a history of bloodshed. From the very foundation of the united states of america, Native and African people were completely excluded from freedom and citizenship. In order to justify land robbing of indigenous land and the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of African people, the U.S. capitalist/imperialist machine had to deny their humanity and by extension deny them papers. Legally, they would not be considered human beings. Citizenship and borders were thus created as tools of capitalist/imperialist oppression meant to dominate and control the land, resources and labor and who had access to them. After Europeans founded the united (colonial) states, and after they defined/imposed borders and citizenship, Africans and northern Natives became the first colonized/undocumented groups. This was the beginning of a history of bloodshed, where the concept of citizenship facilitated the process of slavery and genocide.

Citizenship is meant to always exclude a group. Throughout history, we have seen that immigration policy is created in a way to define who is included and who is excluded from citizenship. Different policies at different points in history have excluded certain communities from citizenship based on race, national origin, class, gender and sexual orientation. Today, citizenship is tied to civil rights. But not everyone fits under the civil rights framework because civil rights only applies to citizens of a nation state. So we should be careful in how we talk about citizenship and inclusion, because within this framework there will always be some people who do not have access to citizenship and civil rights.

Citizenship is perfect for capitalist exploitation. Mexican and Central American labor has become the most appealing to the ruling class; Largely because they could easily divide and conquer the labor force (similar to how they did during slavery times) between “American” and “immigrant”, between “citizen” and “illegal” or essentially between “human” and “sub-human”. This has not only crafted a perfectly segregated labor force, but also a social, psychological, cultural, economic and political apartheid system segregated along racial, class, gender, sexual orientation and citizenship lines. The concept of citizenship has helped capitalism by always providing a subclass of exploitable, disposable cheap labor at their convenience. Citizenship legitimizes the global capitalist order, as well as their borders and their nation states. So when we talk about citizenship today, we should ask who/what benefits from the exploitation of an “illegal class”.

In short, as long as citizenship exists in society, there will always be oppression.

To answer the question whether legalization is the solution to our problems, the answer is NO. Legalization is a(n important) band-aid, but not a solution to systemic social, political and economic problems. If we were all legalized tomorrow, we would still have the systems that cause racism, poverty, sexism, homophobia and wars. As a person with papers, I support communities that identify legalization as their demand. But we must build our analysis and fight for something larger than legalization because otherwise, legalization will just be the crumb that kills our hunger for meaningful, systemic change. As much as it will help us in the here and now, legalization can stall revolutionary change and can lead to a liberation deferred. Let’s stop dreaming within the limits of the system and «passable» legislation. Let’s imagine a world free from oppression and beyond borders; a world without nation states, without citizenship, without papers. The citizenship status apartheid system needs to be abolished for there to be liberation for migrants and all people everywhere. We should never have to live in a world where a community has to fight for legalization and equal rights.

No one in this world should be undocumented.

Citizenship and legalization not only kill revolution, they effectively kill opportunities for justice and equality for all.

“LEGALIZATION NOW”, must turn into“LEGALIZATION TO END CITIZENSHIP AND BORDERS!”

Anti-imperial Dreams: Message to the Brownroots

Anti-imperial Dreams: Message to the Brownroots

(Revised speech by Malcolm X “Message to the Grassoots” and quote by Black Panther Party)

Revisions by Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa

I would like to make a few comments concerning the difference between the Mexican revolution and the hispanic revolution. What is the difference between a Mexican revolution and a hispanic revolution? First, what is a revolution? Sometimes I’m inclined to believe that many use the word «revolution» loosely, without taking careful consideration to what this word actually means, and what its historic characteristics are. When you study the historic nature of revolutions, the motive of a revolution, the objective of a revolution, and the result of a revolution, and the methods used in a revolution, you may change words. You may devise another program. You may change your goal and you may change your mind.

The Indigenous resistance against European settlers — What was it based on? Land. They wanted to take possession of native land. But how did the Natives defend their land? Bloodshed. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 — what was it based on? Land. The land-less against the landlord. How did they bring it about? Bloodshed. Was no love lost; was no compromise; was no negotiation. I’m telling you, you don’t know what a revolution is. cuz when you find out what it is, you’ll get back in the alley; you’ll get out of the way. You haven’t got a revolution that doesn’t involve bloodshed.

And you’re afraid to bleed. Yes, I said you’re afraid to bleed.

As long as the rich, white man sent you to Panama, you bled. He sends you to Iraq, you bleed. He sends you to Afghanistan, you bleed. You bleed for rich, white people. But when it comes time to seeing your own people getting detained and deported and little brown children separated from their mothers and fathers, you haven’t got no blood. You bleed when the rich, white man says bleed; you bite when the rich, white man says bite; and you bark when the rich, white man says bark. Now tell me, how are you going to be nonviolent in Arizona, as violent as you are in Iraq? How can you justify being nonviolent in Arizona and Texas, when your people are the targets of genocide at the u.s.-mexico border, and our little girls are being handcuffed by police and murdered by white supremacists, and at the same time you’re going to be violent with innocent brown civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan that look just like you???

It is correct for the Iraqi people to defend themselves and defend their land and fight for self-determination, just like it is morally correct for us to do the same in this country. I would never fight my own poor, oppressed people—no matter what part of the world it may be. An Iraqi civilian has NEVER oppressed us. They have NEVER called you or me an ‘illegal’. They have NEVER denied you or me an education. They have NEVER created unequal laws that degrade our humanity. So I would NEVER dream to invade them cuz invading them is invading you/me/us.

Finally, if violence is wrong in Amerika, violence is wrong abroad. If it’s wrong to be violent defending brown womyn and brown children and brown babies and brown men, then it’s wrong for Amerika to target us for recruitment and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for Amerika to  target us for recruitment , and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.

«Anchor Baby» BULLSHIT

By Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa

The proposal to re-interpret the 14th amendment and deny citizenship to our babies born to an undocumented parent in AZ (and at the federal level) is being drafted as we speak and will be introduced JANUARY 2011 by AZ’s very own president of the AZ senate: russell pinchi pearce! this is right around the corner. let’s study the facts first and then we should consider strategizing a well-coordinated plan to counter the attack, instead of waiting for january to come….
 
here are 2 really good articles/blogs on the 14th amendment bullshit. mothers and brown babies under attack. One of the e-mails written by someone else but forwarded by Pearce reads: “If we are going to have an effect on the anchor baby racket, we need to target the mother. Call it sexist, but that’s the way nature made it. Men don’t drop anchor babies, illegal alien mothers do.”
 
a mom that i work with said «this is ridiculous. poor children of ours, already targetted and discriminated against, even before they come out into this world.»  one of the dads said «if they’re gonna be messing with our babies and we’re just gonna sit around and let it happen, then why are we even here??!»
 
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/10/20/20101020pearceplan1020.html
 
http://chaparralrespectsnoborders.blogspot.com/

http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/arizonas-next-step-explicitly-targeting-latino-citizens/
 
 get back at me if u got ideas….
-r

Brown Liberation, Revolutionary Abolitionism and the Emergence of Underground Arizona

Brown Liberation, Revolutionary Abolitionism and the Emergence of Underground Arizona

By Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa

Looking back at the astonishing legacy of slave abolitionists like Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, John Brown and Osborne Perry Anderson, I wonder what their politics of liberation can offer to Arizona today—especially after the November elections 2010!

Black and Brown struggles for freedom are connected. The police, immigration and customs enforcement agents and border patrols are all modern-day descendants of the slave patrols that would return runaway slaves to their masters.

The recent impact of i.c.e. enforcement is horrifying and getting worse. Detention Watch notes:

• Approximately 380,000 migrants were detained in 2009, more than 30,000 incarcerated people per day.
• More than 369,211 immigrants were deported in 2009, a record for the agency and a twenty seven percent increase from 2007.
• DHS has spent over $2.8 billion on efforts to deport migrants since the creation of ICE in 2003.
• In total, 3.7 million migrants have been deported since 1994.

Laws are horrifying. Since the foundation of the u.s.a, laws have been established by force to justify the colonization of indigenous lands, slavery of African people and the exploitation of cheap labor. Today, laws allow people to get separated from their family members. Laws allow children to be left without parents. Laws allow people to be poor; forcing them to migrate. Laws allow people to die crossing the u.s.-mexico border. Laws allow people to be exploited for their labor. Laws promote violence against womyn, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people. Laws allow raids, detentions, deportations and corporate interests like wall street and the c.c.a. (corrections corporation of amerikkka) to profit from it all. Laws allow law enforcement to racially profile and murder black and brown people and get away with it. Laws allow some to be “legal/human beings”, while others are deemed “illegal/subhuman”. Laws allow oppression to continue unchallenged. And now with the Arizona elections and the will of the few and the privileged, laws allow white supremacy and the attacks on people of color and the poor to continue, fully justified—all thanks to the rule of law!

There is no democracy here. There is no american moral conscience to appeal to.

At the end of the day, there are no laws or state institutions to protect us. law and order is not on our side. We are oppressed because of state laws. Frederick Douglass once argued that because the u.s. constitution was a pro-slavery document, holding office or participating in electoral activity would be immoral and sanctify slavery itself. W.E.B. Du Bois once said we can’t reform slavery or capitalism—that they had to be abolished… completely. Harriet Tubman, Osborne Perry Anderson and John Brown saw themselves in the context of war; they recognized slavery as a state of war and saw themselves as revolutionary abolitionist guerrilla fighters.

So what does an oppressed group do when it has no legal or judicial recourse for justice? We must grapple with some serious questions and new prospects for the struggle for brown liberation. Revolutionary slave abolitionist herstory emphasizes that

• Freedom never comes from a system that enslaves/oppresses
• anytime law permits oppression, law must be broken
• we are under siege, in a state of war
• we need a militant, uncompromising strategy to confront white supremacy/capitalism/patriarchy/heterosexism/imperialism
• and finally, as long as people are oppressed, insurrection always ensues…just look at our herstory.

Oppressed people are organizing and mobilizing. There is movement coming from below… on a quiet Arizona sunrise, you can see it shine.

Promesas y Mentiras: Statement on Voting

(Statement in english below)

Promesas y Mentiras:
El voto no es el único medio para hacer cambios

Posición Sobre el Voto / “Corazón de Tucson” Tucson, AZ

Noviembre 2010
Como “Corazón de Tucson” reconocemos la importancia del voto. Pero igualmente tenemos varios puntos que serían útiles platicar con mayor profundidad.
Este país se basa en una larga historia de excluir a ciertos grupos del voto. Por ejemplo, en el año 1790 solo los hombres blancos propietarios tenían el derecho al voto. Las mujeres no ganaron acceso al voto hasta el año 1920 y las personas indígenas—originarios de estas tierras—no ganan el derecho al voto hasta el año 1924. Poblaciones humildes, negras y Latinas han enfrentado barreras como impuestos y pruebas de alfabetización como requisitos para poder votar. Actualmente, no se le permite el voto a personas con felonías. Es decir, el voto no nació de la democracia, el voto se basa en la exclusión de ciertos grupos

Hoy en día nuestra comunidad paga impuestos, pero no se le da el derecho al voto por no ser ciudadanos. Los políticos nos culpan por el desempleo, el crimen y la crisis económica para distraer al pueblo de las verdaderas raíces de los problemas sociales. Existimos para ellos como una piñata electoral, principalmente considerados durante el tiempo de sus elecciones. Venimos a este país con el pensamiento de que es el país de la democracia y las grandes oportunidades. Pero encontramos que los Estados Unidos se basa en una democracia que nos excluye y nos margina.

Hasta la fecha, ni el partido Demócrata ni el partido Republicano han cumplido con la voluntad de nuestro pueblo. Gane quien gane, ambos partidos están aquí para mantener el poder y el control entre los ricos, mientras nuestro pueblo queda tirado en el olvido.

Queremos justicia e igualdad para todas y todos.

Si usted puede votar este 2 de Noviembre, por favor vote. No queremos a mas racistas en el poder. Pero queremos enfatizar el punto de que para frenar a las injusticias, el voto no es el único medio para hacer cambios. El cambio nunca viene desde arriba y la justicia no vendrá de un mismo sistema que beneficia de nuestra opresión. ¡El cambio viene de nosotras y nosotros! Con o sin papeles, seguimos luchando, resistiendo y organizando por el bienestar de nuestras familias. El futuro de nuestra comunidad está en nuestras manos.

¡Nunca jamás un Arizona sin nosotr@s!

*******
Quien Es “Corazón de Tucson”
Somos familias unidas y miembros comunitarios organizando para defender nuestros derechos civiles y humanos para que haya igualdad y justicia en nuestras comunidades. Tenemos la visión de vivir en un mundo más  justo,  libre de toda discriminación y opresión.

————————————————–

Promises and Lies:
Voting is not the only way to make change

Our Position on Voting / » Corazón of Tucson» Tucson, AZ

November 2010

As the » Corazón of Tucson», we recognize the importance of voting. Nonetheless we still have several points that would be useful to talk more in depth.

This country is based on a long history of excluding certain groups from voting. For example, in 1790 only white, land-owning men had the right to vote. Women did not win access to the vote until 1920 and indigenous communities—native people of this land—do not earn the right to vote until 1924. Poor people and black and Latino communities have faced barriers such as taxes and literacy tests as prerequisites for voting. Currently people with felonies are not allowed to vote in most states. That is, the vote was not born out of democracy, the vote was predicated on the exclusion of certain groups

Today, our community pays taxes, but we are not given the right to vote because some are not citizens. Politicians blame us for unemployment, crime and the economic crisis in order to distract the people from the real roots of these social problems. We exist for them as an electoral piñata, largely considered during the time of their elections. We come to this country with the idea that it is a country with democracy and great opportunities. But we found that the United States is based on a democracy that excludes us and marginalize us.

To date, neither the Democratic nor the Republican Parties have obeyed the will of our people. Whoever wins, both parties are here to maintain power and control among the rich, while our people are thrown into oblivion.

We want justice and equality for all.

If you can vote this November 2nd, please do so. We do not want any more racist people in power. But we want to emphasize the point that to end injustice, the vote is not the only way to make change. Change never comes from above and justice will never come from the same system that benefits from our oppression. Change comes from us! With or without papers, we must continue to struggle, resist and organize for the welfare of our families. The future of our community is in our hands.

Never again an Arizona without us!

*******
Corazón de Tucson
We are united families and community members organizing to defend our civil and human rights to achieve equality and justice in our communities. We have a vision of living in a just world, free from discrimination and all forms of oppression.

Letter to the DREAM Movement: My Painful Withdrawal of Support for the DREAM Act

Letter to the DREAM Movement:

My Painful Withdrawal of Support for the DREAM Act

by Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa 

17 September 2010

I have supported the DREAM Act, despite my critiques and concerns over the military service component. In fact, I was one of the arrestees at the sit-in at John McCain’s office in Tucson, AZ; an act of civil disobedience where four brave undocumented students risked deportation and put the DREAM Movement back in the national political stage. I made peace with my participation because I felt I was supporting the self-determination of a movement led by undocumented youth and I felt we could subvert the component that was to feed undocumented youth into the military pipeline if we developed a plan to support youth to the college pathway.

First, let me say that I applaud and admire the tireless work you have all done for the past 10 years. Your commitment and dedication parallels giant student movements of the Civil Rights era. Your persistence in organizing even when the world turned their back on you is inspiring; your creativity in tactics, visuals and media strategy is amazing. Your movement gives hope to hundreds of students I have come across here in Arizona and beyond. It is because of your grassroots efforts—not the politicians’ nor the national Hispanic organizations’—that the Dream is still alive and has come this far. As an organizer with permanent resident status privilege, let me assert that your cause for access to college and path to legalization is just. No one can tell you that what you are fighting for is wrong.

With that said, I want to share how I am deeply appalled and outraged at how Washington politics are manipulating and co-opting the dream. I understand that some folks may say, “we just want the DREAM Act to pass regardless”, but it is critical to examine the political context surrounding DREAM in its current state. It is disturbing to see how Democrats are attaching our community’s dreams for education/legalization to a defense appropriations bill. This is grotesque in a number of ways:

1)    Democrats are using the DREAM Act as a political stunt to appeal to Latino voters for the November elections because it is seen as “less” threatening than a broad immigration reform. The Democrats have the political will to recently unite and pass a border militarization bill in a matter of hours ($600 million!), yet they won’t pass a broader immigration reform? And now they are up for the DREAM Act? I’m glad they feel the pressure of the Latino voting bloc, but they obviously do not care about our lives, they only seek to secure their seats in November—which by the way look very jeopardized if they don’t move quickly to energize their “base”. They are also seeking to secure the gay vote with the gradual repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy as part of this same defense bill. All in all, insincere, token political gestures only serve to stall real justice.

2)    Democrats are telling me that if I support access to education for all my people, I must also support the U.S. war machine with $670 billion for the Pentagon? Does this mean I have to support the military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan? By supporting the DREAM Act, does this mean I automatically give a green light for U.S. forces to continue invading, killing and raping innocent people all over the world? This is really unfair. Here in Arizona I struggle with a climate of fear and terror. Yet even though I am so far away, I hear the cries of Arab mothers who are losing their children in U.S. sponsored bombings and massacres. There’s a knot in my throat because victims of U.S. aggression abroad look just like us… victims of U.S. aggression at home. This ugly and twisted political system is dividing us and coercing us into supporting the funding of more bloodshed and more destruction if we want the DREAM Act to pass. Does this mean that our dreams will rest upon the nightmares of people that suffer globally? Obviously, students that call their Senators are supporting their future NOT bloodshed abroad, but we have to be responsible to the larger political implications of this.

3)    Democrats are vilifying and criminalizing our parents. A really insulting argument prominently used for passing the DREAM Act that I keep hearing over and over is that because undocumented students “didn’t choose to come to the U.S. to break the laws of this country” you shouldn’t have to pay for the “sins” or “illegal behavior” of your parents. Are they serious?!? It is not okay to allow legislation to pass that will stand on and disrespect the struggle, sacrifice and dignity of our parents. What about blaming U.S. led capitalist and imperialist policies as the reasons that create our «refugee» populations. Our parents’ struggle is not for sale. We must not fall for or feed into the rhetoric that criminalizes us or our parents. We all want justice, but is it true justice if we have to sell out our own family members along the way?

Again, I support this fight–it’s part of a larger community struggle. It’s personal to all of us. Passage of the DREAM Act would definitely be a step forward in the struggle for Migrant Justice. Yet the politicians in Washington have hijacked this struggle from its original essence and turned dreams into ugly political nightmares. I refuse to be a part of anything that turns us into political pawns of dirty Washington politics. I want my people to be «legalized» but at what cost? We all want it bad. I hear it. I’ve lived it. but I think it’s a matter of how much we’re willing to compromise in order to win victories or crumbs.

This again proves how it is problematic to lobby the state and put all our efforts in legislation to pass. We should know that this political route is always filled with racism, opportunism, betrayals and nightmares. History repeats itself once again.

So if I support the DREAM Act, does this mean I am okay with our people being used as political pawns? Does this mean that my hands will be smeared with the same bloodshed the U.S. spills all over the world? Does this mean I am okay with blaming my mother and my father for migrating “illegally” to the U.S.? Am I willing to surrender to all that in exchange for a benefit? Maybe it’s easier for me to say that «I can» because I have papers, right? I’d like to think that it’s because my political principles will not allow me to do so, regardless of my citizenship status or personal benefit at stake. Strong movements that achieve greater victories are those that stand in solidarity with all oppressed people of the world and never gain access to rights at the expense of other oppressed groups.

 I have come to a deeply painful decision: I can no longer in good political conscience support the DREAM Act because the essence of a beautiful dream has been detained by a colonial nightmare seeking to fund and fuel the U.S. empire machine.

I am so sorry and so enraged that this larger political context has deferred those dreams of justice and equality that we all share.

In tears, rage, love and sorrow,

-r

Raúl: Arizona Attacks and Response: My Political Therapy Session

Arizona Attacks and Response: My Political Therapy Session

Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa 

26 August 2010

*********************

My political therapy session re: the most recent anti-migrant developments in arizona:

we’re insane as a community cuz we keep trying the same thing over and over, always expecting a different result. u know the saying «you always get what u deserve.» and quite frankly, we are getting exactly what we deserve. no matter how much we talk, cry, kick, scream, organize, build, we really are getting what we permit, what we allow. we’re so used to getting attacked, we’re used to receiving the blows. but to return the blows, oh no, that would be political suicide. shit we’ve been committing suicide all our lives and generations before that too… on the daily. so what’s really the difference?? why do we always have to be so careful to not offend or step out of line?? yet they’re always attacking, stepping out of all kinds of lines (which is really within their system’s lines) and yet they get NO consequences. it’s always business as usual. at the end of the day we still shop in their stores, attend their schools, get money from them, work for them, vote for them, eat in their restaurants, use their techology, watch their shows, call their police, etc. they’re having a field day just shooting us, literally. how many times do they have to declare WAR on us before we get the point?? AAAAAHHHH. i’m super frustrated. but the reality that we allow this to happen, that we have slept deeply enough to «find» ourselves in this position is what hurts the deepest and the most. somos tan esclavos, y ni sisquiera lo reconocemos……..

 we’re losing battle after battle in this centuries old war. 2010 is around the corner. 2012 is coming. revolution? transformation? i can’t even smell it. and i wonder if even a prophecy can save us. cuz the line between us and the oppresors is so blurry. when are we gonna mark the line between us and our enemies LOUDLY AND CLEARLY??? the outrage to me is not the attacks they perpetrate against us (porke really nothing they do is shocking, if anything, it’s expected), but rather my outrage comes from our condition; our state of being that is mentally, politicaly, physically and spiritually asleep.

so what do we do for healing, strength, resistance and more importantly resiliency? to me, that seems to be the eternal question that never gets anything close to an answer. in between all my chaos and running around in never ending circles, i hope i at least have moved a little forward in the struggle as to provide me with some clues. 517 years later after colonization first began we are still asking the same questions. 3 years after i moved to tucson to get closer to an answer. i find myself asking even MORE questions; trapped in the same cycle, in the same predicament. haber cuando me canso, haber cuando NOS cansamos y sentimos como pueblo la intensidad, furia, amor, dignidad y rabia que viene con la declarcion de un firme y sincero YA BASTA!!!!!!!!!!!!

una gran parte de mi corazon has the hope that we are the people of the volcanoes and that one near day, como ellos explotaremos, estallaremos… y causaremos ke todos estos sistemas opresivos se derrumben con un gran terremoto.. ke estas pesadillas ke vive el pueblo oprimido del mundo entero se vayan a la historia de un pasado triste y distante. porke nunca un imperio ha dominado para siempre; va a caer y cuando lo hagamos caer, tendremos ke estar lo suficientemente fuertes para no caer en las manos de otro imperio.

in the long meantime, seguimos en la lucha…
perdidos pero siempre presente y siempre aprendiendo.
not losing sight of our dreams of freedom that fuel our warrior spirits,

siempre en movimiento,
-r

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Raúl: Arizona’s Ballot and Bullets: The Case Against Voting

Arizona’s Ballot and Bullets: The Case Against Voting

Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa  
www.antifronteras.com

25 August 2010

Is voting in a racist, apartheid state like Arizona good for change?

This Wednseday morning the headlines will read “John McCain Wins by Wide Margin” and  “Jan Brewer Wins Republican Nomination”. Racist politicians that support the assault and terror of the migrant and non-white communities of Arizona got the green light by voters to continue being the mouthpieces of the state’s deeply entrenched illness called white supremacy. And they won their party’s nomination fair and square! Through the vote. Hmmm.

And with growing deportations, incarcerations, police brutality, poverty, unemployment and lack of access to health care and education, Latin@s in Arizona are feeling the thorns of an evil strategy meant to drive us out of the state or have us remain here as a permanent underclass, subjected to civil, labor and human rights violations.

The Tuesday primaries were a clear victory for racism in Arizona. All the attacks against migrant communities and people of color were condoned and celebrated from voters in these elections. Those that haven’t been too disillusioned with this system and those that have the privilege to vote, cast their ballots. Voting has value, but not when it’s the only strategy. Voting as a lone tactic is flawed because:

• Voting is citizenist and racist. Not all people can vote. Millions of non-citizens are left voiceless. Undocumented people, those directly affected by the immigration debate, have no political space in this electoral system, leaving this community vulnerable to be scapegoated and criminalized with little or no political consequences for elected officials. Generally, the white voting base gets re-energized when politicians advocate anti-migrant rhetoric and bills. (Mind you this is why Brewer and McCain stood strong in the primaries.) In fact, the rise of white supremacy in Arizona has taken place because of who has access to the ballot and who doesn’t. Even if people of color vote, voting rests on the deliberate purpose of preserving the white power structure intact.
• Voting can modify white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia and capitalism, but will never and can never abolish these systems of oppression. If voting had the power to fundamentally change society, it would be illegal—especially here in Arizona! The electoral system and reformism in general can definitely achieve tangible victories for the short-term. But I would argue that reform and voting pacifies our community and stalls/sabotages long-term revolutionary change because we begin to believe this false notion that we live in a democracy and that one day our vote will one day bring paradise here on earth. As the Public Enemy song kind of goes, we didn’t vote for this system to govern over us, so we can’t vote our way to liberation.
• Voting is individualistic and personality-driven. I don’t believe that we can elect a Moses into office that will free us from bondage. As Fannie Lou Hammer declared, “A strong community doesn’t need one leader.” We are all leaders. So voting is disempowering because we are giving one person or a group of people (usually citizen, white, middle-class, heterosexual men) power to make decisions on our behalf. With this model, society is based on a pyramid hierarchy, not equal participation, not direct democracy, not collective decision-making. The community knows best, not one individual. As Elisee Reclus once declared, “To vote is to give up your own power.”
• Voting promotes laziness. The majority of the population thinks we live in a democracy just because they have the right to vote. And they believe they are participating in making change by casting a ballot once every 2 or 4 years. What about everyday in between? If that’s the extent of our participation, then this system will be thriving for a very long time to come since we’re never challenging the larger colonial set-up and we are accepting change within their terms, within their check boxes and check marks, within their racist bills and political parties, usually forcing us to choose between the lesser of the two evils.
• Voting leaves things up to majority rule. So if the majority population are brainwashed by the corporate media and corrupt politicians and are convinced to vote in favor of racist laws that violate our civil rights, then does that make that law legitimate just because the majority voted for it? Of course not! Voting is problematic because everything and anything goes depending on whatever lies, distortions and fears are instilled in the people.

 

Voting clearly cannot be the strategy. The Arizona government we’re voting for, whether Republican or Democrat, is responsible for the assault and exploitation of brown people in this state. Casting a ballot within a system that degrades and attacks our humanity means we are participating and collaborating with our oppression.

As Malcolm X once declared, “It’s the ballot or the bullet.” Obviously in Arizona in 2010 with Arpaio, Brewer, Horne, McCain and others elected to power, the ballot has definitely not worked in our favor. We need to take power back into our hands, back to the streets! We need local community, grassroots control! We can create our own structures that will serve our own community needs, not the needs of the wealthy.

 “Instead of intrusting the defense of your interests to Others, see to the matter by yourselves. Instead of trying to choose advisers that will guide you in future actions, do the thing yourselves, and do it now! Men [and womyn] of good will shall not have to look long in vain for the opportunity.

To put on others’ shoulders the responsibility of one’s actions is cowardice.

Don’t vote!” (-Elisee Reclus)

Our undocumented sisters and brothers already live like this.

Raúl: Borderland Genocide

Borderland Genocide

Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa
www.antifronteras.com

22 August 2010

The u.s.-mexico-border is on track to continue being the site of a quiet genocide that has claimed the lives of over 8,000 people since the federal government’s policy of “prevention through deterrence” was adopted in 1994.

Millions of men, womyn and children have fled their home countries, out of political, economic or military desperation. They migrate to the U.S. crossing real and imagined borders.

U.S. economic policies and wars have displaced and impoverished millions of people all over the world. Money-driven policies create poverty.  Not only do they consume and exploit land, resources and people, they displace us from our homes, forcing us to migrate in order to survive. If policymakers were serious about stopping “illegal immigration,” they would end capitalist exploitation and stop their military interventions abroad.

Economic refugees from south of the border are displaced from a world economic order that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. Thus, immigration is a global economic and labor issue, not a criminal or terrorist problem. Immigration is the result of a war—one that determines who is included and who is marginalized and forgotten, colonized and displaced. According to this capitalist-imperialist system, we are the subversive ones.

The u.s.-mexico border is now a fortress in which Obama is scheduled to deploy 1,200 national guard troops in October and pour $600 for further border militarization—more agents, more drones, more technology. Sounds like the war in Afghanistan is closer than we think. With this “Southwest Border Security Bill” passing through Congress swiftly, with Democratic sponsorship, it will also give money for more judges, prosecutors and the “detention and incarceration of criminal aliens in coordination with Department of Homeland Security enforcement activities.” (Statement by the President)

It is clear that private prison contractors like GEO and Corrections Corporation of Amerikkka (CCA) are eager to profit from government contracts scheduled to imprison economic refugees crossing southwestern desert lands. SB 1070 is also a part of that imprisonment for profit model. Not too long ago, Boeing Corporation and Elbit Systems (an Israeli company that built the wall in Palestine) desecrated Tohono O’odham native land and made huge amounts of profits by building parts of the Arizona-Sonora border and a series of spy towers that never even worked!

These border policies of profit and control have intentionally killed over 153 people in Arizona this fiscal year alone. This quiet genocide, that goes unnoticed and uninterrupted, will undoubtedly intensify.

Demilitarize, Decriminalize: Stop the border genocide NOW.

Border militarization must be disrupted!