{"article":{"id":130127,"heading":"Report from Alhambra Anti-Racism Rally","author":"Al","created":"2005-06-22 18:36:53","modified":"2006-04-26 00:47:53","last_modified":"Wed, 26 Apr 2006 07:47:53","article":"\n

Greetings companeras\/os,

We of the San Gabriel Valley Neighbors for Peace and Justice (Alhambra) are very much gratified that so many stood with us in solidarity, shoulder to shoulder, with the

Day laborers in their right to work without right wing

thugs breathing down their necks.

The mobilization was, without a doubt, a major

SUCCESS! Not only were some 300+ militant protesters

marshaled to oppose the SOS's presence, but with those

numbers we were able to apply great pressure on the

xenophobes for more than three hours without losing

our focus and determination to expel them and at the

same time, not falling for any provocation to engage

the police! The energy was exemplary and made a great

impact by emboldening all present while reducing the

Neo-fascists to whimpers and complaints to the police

for protection and insisting that we must treat them

civilly in their so called right to intimidate the

workers.

IN THE END, IT WAS THE SOS WHO WAS INTIMIDATED! But it

was not just the organized contingents that kept them

diminished, but the continuity of mass mobilization

and focused \"direct confrontation\" that has gained us

our victories in Baldwin Park (last month) and also in

the forces we turned out in Garden Grove. In all

cases, the SOS and their allies the \"Minutemen\" were

stifled in their strategy to present a media event

that would insinuate that there is no real opposition

to their thuggish pretense to waltz into people of

color communities to scapegoat.

The SOS\/Minutemen want to have the same success that

they had in Arizona where opposition was too little

too late in their response; they thought that they can

just walk into California simply with the praise of

Arnold Schwarzenegger and counted on the Democrats to

wage no fight!

BUT THIS IS CALIFORNIA BIRTHPLACE OF THE STUDENT WALK OUTS IN EAST LA OF THE 70'S,THE HOME OF MASS

MOBILIZATION AGAINST THE VIET NAM WAR THROUGHOUT LOS ANGELES AND IN EAST LOST ANGELES IN AUGUST 29TH, 1970.

THE PLACE OF VICTORY FOR THE JUSTICE FOR JANITORS STRIKES AND COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY MOBILIZATIONS AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE MOBILIZATION OF 100,000 TO 150,000 IN IT'S FINAL MARCH TO DEFEAT 187 back in 1994 WITH 10's OF THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS STRIKING AT THEIR HIGH SCHOOLS AND JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS THOUGHOUT THESTATE!

I would also like to point out that some 25 per cent

of the forces we had marshaled in Alhambra JUNE 18TH

were of communities other than Latino and Indigenous

communities. HOW POWERFUL WERE WE IN OUR CULTURAL DIVERSITY, in our sisterhood and brotherhood. WE WERE UNITED in our united front of various political

organizations regardless of our varying perspectives.

I would like to point out that in spite of Governor

Schwarzenegger giving public support and therefore

political justification for them to attack immigrants

and the indigenous we were united in our united front

of various political perspectives and by that unity we

were able to assert maximum pressure on the SOS and

avoid repression from the police forces.

This was a continuity of the same strategy that won us

our victory in Baldwin Park! I am encouraging those of

us who are organizing this struggle to \"smash\" the

SOS\/Minutemen to build on this strategy and mobilize

our forces to 10's of thousands and confront the SOS

as we have in Alhambra and Baldwin park last month as

the effective way to demoralize and demobilize their

potential support.

ADELANTE, ALVARO MALDONADO

JUNE 21,2005<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"I would like to first of all congratulate and thank\r\nall the organizations and individuals for responding to the call to mobilize and confront the nascent fascist organization "SOS" who tried to assert themselves here in Alhambra on June 18, 2005.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2005\/06\/130127.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}