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Edited on Tue Mar-28-06 02:47 PM by Peace Patriot
immigration discussion at DU is the huge, profound leftist revolution that is occurring in Latin America--with leftist governments elected over the last several years, often by big majorities, in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile (first woman president, socialist Michele Batchelet), Venezuela and Bolivia (first indigenous Indian president, Evo Morales). Peru will be next (indigenous Indian and leftist leading in the polls--Ollanta Humala). AND Mexico (leftist mayor of Mexico City leading polls in presidential race--Andres Manuel Lopez Obrado, aka "Amlo"). These governments and leftist leaders and the great majorities who support them have common themes: the long overdue empowerment of Latin America's vast poor brown/indigenous population; self-determination and economic justice; anti-US imperialism (death squads, assassinations, overthrow of Latin American democracies, installation of vicious dictators), and anti-IMF/World Bank and its attendant (often US-based) global corporate predators.
This peaceful, democratic leftist revolution cannot have occurred without a high degree of grass roots activist work, and highly motivated and hard working local activists, local civic groups and ordinary citizens/voters. When there was a US-supported coup attempt against the democratically elected president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, for instance, tens of thousands of people poured into the streets and helped prevent it--indicating not only great motivation in protecting their democracy, but also very good local community organization--also true of the elections themselves (very good local community organization). There has also been considerable work on TRANSPARENT elections (U.S. voters, take note!) by local groups, the OAS, EU election monitoring groups and the Carter Center.
The new socialist woman president of Chile was tortured by the US-backed dictator Pinochet. The new president of Bolivia is a former coca leaf grower, who opposes the murderous US "war on drugs," and came to prominence with the grass roots rebellion against Bechtel, which had privatized the water in one Bolivian city and jacked up the prices to the poor, even trying to charge them for collecting rainwater. The Bolivians threw Bechtel out of their country and elected Evo Morales, who was invested in a special ceremony by ten thousand Andes Indians, prior to his official inauguration. The president of Brazil is a former steel worker who led the third world revolt at the World Trade Center meeting in Cancun a few years ago. Most US citizens don't realize that Hugo Chavez is by no means alone. He is merely the most visible leader of a huge, historic, continent-wide revolt against US-imperial policy.
Now imagine this wave of democratic revolution--clearly headed north already (to Mexico)--hitting Los Estados Unidos, in the form of the highly motivated, well-organized, community-based, traditionally exploited, vast population of brown-faced poor throughout the Americas, who have decided not to take it any more, closely allied by family and community ties, and indigenous blood, with the existing US brown population.
The brown will soon be a majority in California--one of the Bush junta's primary targets. Why do you think they got rid of Democratic Sec of State Kevin Shelley, who had sued Diebold and "decertified" the worst of their election theft machines prior to the 2004 election, and then installed Schwarzenegger appointee, Republican Bruce McPherson, who wasted no time in ILLEGALLY RE-certifying Diebold? They want to turn California into a "red" state by devious means--and they don't want any politically smart, active poor brown people, with ties to the new Latin American revolution, to get in their way.
I think this is a much more likely explanation for these well-organized protests than that they are some kind of conspiracy of the Bush junta. This sort of thing is NORMAL in Latin America--people protesting in the streets in large numbers, expressing their views, influencing policy--although it has become extremely rare here, almost non-existent among our own very oppressed groups--blacks, the poor, the elderly, students, the jobless, credit card company victims, gas/energy company victims, military veterans (the wounded and their enslaved brethren over in Iraq on 3rd/4th tours of duty). The only large protests we've seen have been mostly white/middle-class in organization and attendance (antiwar protests, anti-WTO, anti-IMF). The MOST exploited people seem very oppressed, indeed. They seem to have lost hope. But what if they get energized by the revolution that is sweeping Latin America--with ideas and hope brought here by both legal and illegal immigrants, and family ties?
I think that the Latin Americans in this country--almost all of whom are more native than any whites--whether they were born in the US, or have become citizens, or are working illegally, pose a great threat to the fascist junta and its corporate buds who are running our government, and that their assault on immigration is BOTH intended to limit revolutionary Latin American influence on America's poor/middle class, AND to create a "wedge" issue (a la gay marriage) by which to write illusionary PR "talking points" to explain their inexplicable coming victories in the '06 by-elections (compliments of Diebold and ES&S).
The "talking points" about the immigration issue will be crap, of course--much like the gay marriage issue, which was used to cover up the truth about the election system: for instance, that two rightwing Bushite corporations--Diebold and ES&S--'tabulated' 80% of the nation's votes in 2004, using 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls--an election system designed by the two biggest crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney (with their $4 billion "Help America Vote Act" electronic voting boondoggle).
You heard lots of talk about gay marriage, and NOT ONE WORD about WHO was 'tabulating' our votes behind a veil of secrecy!
I understand people being suspicious of the immigration issue and its orchestration by our war profiteering corporate news monopolies. But I think it needs to be seen in this bigger context, of, a) the threat posed by the revolution in Latin America, and b) covering up yet another stolen election.
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