LOS ANGELES, April 9, 2006--As people were arriving for the march, a friend walked up to me after a conversation with a FOX News reporter. "I can't believe these guys," she began. The reporter had asked her why she wasn't in Mexico fighting the government there. "Why doesn't the U.S. stop sucking the Mexican economy dry?" she'd answered. The reporter was undaunted: "But if you don't like Vincente Fox, change the government." "Eighty percent of U.S. citizens don't like Bush," she came back, "and they can't change their government."

Then the reporter asked her if she admired Pancho Villa, and she said yes. "But isn't Pancho Villa the same as Bin Laden?" he challenged. Apparently she paused only for a moment: "If an armed nation had invaded your country, wouldn't the defenders be heroes?" she shot back. The reporter was forced to agree.

Outrageously he continued, "But you look like you have a lot of Spanish in you." "Probably not by choice," she retorted.

As she and I chatted, the reporter drifted by and asked where he could get a burrito. My friend pointed to a restaurant a few yards away with a large sign that said "Burritos." The reporter walked off in the other direction. It wasn't a Baja Fresh.

---

Three hawks circled overhead, an auspicious beginning. Six hundred people marched for Zapata today, drawing on East Los Angeles's deepest cultural and political roots, magically transforming the barrio into Mexico Norte for the day.

Shortly after 10:00 a.m., the conch shell blew a long note, the ayoyotl crackled, the drums thundered, and a hundred danzantes began their dance from Cinco Puntos to Lincoln Park. Following them were the rest of Mexican culture: campesinos, trabajadores, a squad of marchers in tribute to the Zapatistas, indigenists, estudiantes, anarchists.

¡Esta es mi tierra!
Esta es mi lucha!

With westbound traffic shut down, the six-block-long parade wound its way past shoppers and shopkeepers leaning on doorsills along Cesar Chavez Boulevard. Police cars escorted the marchers, with bicycle cops riding the yellow line.

The conches blew again, and paraders turned onto Soto Avenue. Pedestrians joined the marchers, and cars honked their horns, sometimes in support and once or twice, to shout out to a friend. Parading strollers and toddlers were sheltered by two columns of danzantes. Behind them, a group of South Central Farmers climbed into the sound truck and, for a while, replaced the recorded Mexican music with live guitars and workers' songs. A danzante stopped, wrapped one foot in bandaids, slipped his sandal back on, and returned to the line.

¡Raza sí!
Migra, no!

Another chorus of conches sounded, and we'd turned onto Chelsea. Neighbors poured into the residential sidewalks, many with Mexican flags in hand. Up Murchison, around to Alcazar, each turn announced with the conches, people lined the sidewalks and walked alongside the parade. A young boy blew bubbles at passersby. One old man stopped a Harmony Keeper and told him to wait a moment. The man went into his house and returned with a DVD. As he handed the young man a copy of Salt of the Earth, he explained, "So we won't ever forget who we are."

A hundred members of Mexicanos Unidos en Defensa del Pueblo brought up the rear, many dressed in black with anarchist masks, chanting anti-Bush, anti-Sensenbrenner, and anti-border slogans.

¡Somos un pueblo, sin fronteras!

Turning back onto Soto, pedestrians walking with the parade were forced into the street with the marchers when the sidewalk disappeared. The line slowed and stretched out as the marchers in the back stopped to take in the view of the front end of the march on the road below them, around the turn. The Zapatista honor corps, about twenty strong young women and men dressed as modern day members of the Ejercito Zapatista Liberacion Nacional, stopped and performed military drills for the crowd on the hill above. As they moved on, fifty Farmers in bright green shirts marched into sight around the curve, and behind them were the Jornaleros del Valle de San Gabriel.

As the marchers approached Lincoln Park, the danzantes lined either side of the street to welcome them to the Zapata monument. The Zapatista honor corps saluted the statue from the base of the monument, and event organizers urged the marchers and those who met them at the park to struggle for their rights in the spirit of Emiliano Zapata. The last to come to the stage were the danzantes, who concluded their nearly five-mile dance by running in twos and threes across the last two hundred-yard stretch onto the stage.

Caminante no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.
¡Esta es la lucha popular!

Across the park, a little girl ran off, and her father ran after her, scooped her up, and rocked her in his arms. I stopped for a Tamarindo as we entered the park. "Un dólar y veinticinco centavos." The vendor looked up at me and corrected himself: "One dollar and twenty-five cents." The English was jarring; I realized that I hadn't heard it for the past three hours, since we'd left Cinco Puntos.

I was chatting with a friend when a stranger with a cane offered me his chair, another offered me a tostada with fresh nopales, tomatoes, and onions. She came back with a cup of jamaica. A rock en español group started up. The border had crossed me--I'd made it to Mexico, and Zapata was just around the corner, a short way off.

¡Zapata vive!
La lucha sigue!

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8 AM to 6 PM + hours in front of a computer writing the story, editing pictures, downloading pictures.

Some activists are very dedicated to get the truth known. THANK YOU Leslie.

Thank you for the article, Leslie. Nice work!

Thought you'd like to see some non-Hispanics supporting the cause...

Thought you'd like to see some non-Hispanics fighting for the cause...

Her stuff on Indymedia is becoming good involved journalism. We are greatful.

Gracias por el trabajao Leslie
Zapata Vive, La Lucha Sigue!!!

While I appreciate the bottom-up approach to analyzing people's movements, I also think it is fair to acknowledge the leadership behind these types of events, especially the role of the youth who are cutting their organizing teeth on them.

So I'd like to say a word about the speakers:

One of the first speakers was a woman who had lost two sons. She reminded us of the importance of fighting against police brutality. Another early orator gave a pretty good history of Zapata, his role in the Revolution, and the specific demands of the Plan de Ayala. The man from CHIRLA discussed the struggle for immigrant rights. A representative of the South Central Farm invoked Zapata's quote "La tierra pertenece a quien la trabaja" ("The land belongs to he or she who works it") in discussing the struggle to keep the farm. Another two, one boy and one girl, spoke on behalf of "La Otra Campaña", the latest campaign of the EZLN. Their goal is to extend the self-empowering and community-empowering Zapatista movement to poor and oppressed communities throughout the world, and stressed the importance of the United States people. They were also the only speakers to say anything about gay rights. Another man spoke on behalf of the ANSWER coalition, but the star of the day was Fernando Suarez del Solar.

The last time I saw him, at Congresswoman Waters' anti-war teach-in in Inglewood, I regretted that I was in an English-language setting. This time, I got to hear the plenitude of his oratory, which was a moral invective against the war, against Bush, against the attacks on immigrants. It was fiery, but eloquent and very moving.

We were favored by a performance by a youthful sextet who sang and played beautiful sones jarochos from the state of Veracruz.

A wholesome family march in memory of a great leader.

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This is NOT AMERICA!
by Leslie Tuesday, May. 16, 2006 at 12:08 AM

This is NOT AMERICA!...
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So when are you and your moonbat commarades planning on
converging on the moon, and rioting for a take over for the
indigenous peoples there?

Ever notice how the right wing trolls regurgitate their irrelevant talking points from AM-whacko radio without saying a thing that matters?

To US Citizen: So when are you going to learn critical thinking skills?
by I won't hold my breath Tuesday, May. 16, 2006 at 12:18 PM

Ever notice how the right wing trolls regurgitate their irrelevant talking points from AM-whacko radio without saying a thing that matters?

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Since Leslie brought up the moon, I thought it would be a nice added touch.
I suppose Leslie applied "critical thinking skills" in her reply?

And please someone explain to me WTH the American flag on the moon has got to do with America being America.

A silly attempt at a point that was complete and utter nonsense.
My point is that this is the UNITED STATES of AMERICA!

Which has nothing to do with the moon....

In fact, some of us look at the big picture: Like the fact that the U.S. govt. (the one with the most violent militaristic history) has imposed so-called "globalization" and neo-liberal trade policies that benefit a few, while exploiting more, thus increasing the desire to immigrate, ect. I know these are heady concepts for you.
How about something more simplistic: Jingoism is pathetic.

Gawd, I hate to explain jokes, but us citizen, you seem to be joke-impaired. Analogies are tough, I know, but let's see if you can do it.

I'm suggesting that the presence of a flag does not imply sovereignty. Just as the U.S. does NOT (yet) extend to the moon (even though government agents planted a flag there), a Mexican flag in the port (if that's really where your picture was taken) does not imply Mexican sovereignty. Both imply the _presence_ of people from the respective countries.

Got it? If you did, smile and nod like you understand. If not, keep that puzzled look on your face, and I'll try again later.

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Let's try a different take on the Moon and the US flag.

OK now take a deep breath...

White colonists no more own this land than they own the MOON!

Flag or no flag!

LOL! LOL! LOL!

GET IT??????????!!!!!!

Given uscitizen's dive into what she/he thinks are insults (and a lot of wasted photoshop time) in this debate, I'd say Nazi Hunter and I won this one.

And I like Nazi Hunter's answer better than mine . . . so the winner is . . . Nazi Hunter!

(but I will concede that the flag on the moon picture could just as easily be an expression of the u.s.'s vainglorious imperialism.)

In all seriousness would you consider stating what your heritage is? I am curious. Truly. I do not know how to ask this with out sounding like an ass. But do you have any European blood? What about your family? How do they feel about this immigration issue. Now if you are of Mexican blood/heritage then I would understand more. But if you aren't, then what? Would you tell your Grandmother for instance, sorry but this is not your homeland. You have to go back to where your family came from. If not, It all would seem like such a contradiction. Or, are those that back the protests (that aren't immigrants) given a special sort of
preference?


Ok Perhaps that is to personal. Let me try again. I have wondered about those that support the illegal immigrants that are not Hispanic? Not sure of the correct term any more. Have read many different views. Do they expect for thierselves and thier families to go back to Europe?
Isn't that one of the retorts against a more strigent immigration policy? I have researched this for weeks on end. And that is one of the most common threads. That a
big part of America is not ours. And that we should go back to Europe.

If not, then why not?
This I will admit confuses me.

I am not "hispanic" and I do support the cause of "illegal immigrants".. and FYI, us citizen, "hispanic" is not the correct term. And only a small portion of the immigrants rights community advocates the white man to go back to where he came from.

My reasons are simple (at least for those with basic critical thinking skills).

People displaced from their homes or home countries because of economic circumstances are NOT the problem. Building 50 foot walls are NOT the solution. The problem is the economic system which forces people to travel long distances just to eat and to live with dignity.

If you want to solve the problem pressure multi-national corporations and governments for economic reform. Repeal NAFTA, the WTO, IMF and all the other "agreements" and "laws" designed to exploit workers and economic circumstances around the world.

Let "the people" decide how their land is used. Reconsider the nature of "private property" and the simple connection between who owns what and who benefits from it.

Nobody migrates out of choice, they do so out of necessity.

But simple minded "conservatives" and "right-wingers" only concern themselves with borders, countries and you silly little lives. You can't seem to make the connection between your life and the lives of others. It's a global world right?

Gawd, I've got to get over feeding trolls. But I suppose if I don't answer this one, I'll be accused of hiding my ancestry.

So for the record . . . mostly Anglo, some Irish, a pinch of French, as far as I know. But you guessed that from the picture you posted, didn't you? So you're really just trying to goad me, and none of your remarks are serious, in spite of your opening comment.

But I'll answer your question anyway: That's not for me to ask my family, now is it? Remember, those who are fighting for Indigenous land rights reserve the right to make the decision about who gets to live here. They haven't handed it over to you or me.

So, while we're prying, uscitizen--what brought you to the conclusion that everything in the U.S. will be a utopia, a cornucopia of plenty, if only the people of Mexican-descent would disappear? Have you figured out how many people would have to leave the U.S. to get to the idyllic state you have in mind? Is it 6M, 12M, 50M, 130M? Is that figure more or less than the number of people without papers in the country, and what do you plan to do about the difference?

ESA SOY YO EN LA IZQUIERDA!!!! JAJA... ese dia estuvo genial.. y ayi estoy con mi novio (en medio) y mi "suegro" en la derecha... WOOOOO!!!!

ESA SOY YO EN LA IZQUIERDA!!!! JAJA... ese dia estuvo genial.. y ayi estoy con mi novio (en medio) y mi "suegro" en la derecha... WOOOOO!!!!