{"article":{"id":198550,"heading":"MIWON still covering for LAPD mayday attack","author":"jubilee shine","created":"2007-05-10 03:17:48","modified":"2013-11-11 00:48:28","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:48:28","article":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>Mayday march organizer MIWON (Multi-ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network comprised of: Chirla, Gwc, Idespca, Kiwa &amp; Pwa) held a low key meeting at L.A. Kiwa offices a full week after their debacle in mangling the march &amp; vicious lapd assault.  A Chirla spokeswoman issued a late, reluctant, and limited &ldquo;apology&rdquo; for publicly attributing the cause of the brutal police attack to community members, though MIWON.org webpage still blames the community for the police actions (quoted below)  She refused to explain why such remarks were originally made, though it is clear that  MIWON leaders readily accepted lapd&rsquo;s initial position &amp; only after massive community pressure altered this stance, following the politically-sensitive drifting of Mayor Villaraigosa &amp; Chief Bratton.  When challenged to issue a public statement of retraction &amp; responsibility for her group&rsquo;s slanders of other activists, she would go no further than promising private &ldquo;discussions&rdquo; with these groups, as well as private &ldquo;meetings&rdquo; with the mayor &amp; police chief of unstated objective.  When pressed, the MIWON leaders closed the speaker&rsquo;s list to &ldquo;break into smaller groups.&rdquo; <br><br> The damage by MIWON statements was not merely in openly slandering community activists as being &ldquo;outside agitators&rdquo; &amp; &ldquo;provocateurs&rdquo;.  The greatest damage was that, in parroting official lapd propaganda, the immediate, worldwide media reports failed to clearly place responsibility for the organized, militaristic police violence on the highest levels of lapd brass, principally Chief Bratton.  The mayday community which came under attack was abandoned by MIWON &amp; its advisors, and only after undeniable video, witness, &amp; victim statements emerged did these supposed community leaders &amp; officials begin to shift their stories. <br><br> MIWON spokespersons also refused to acknowledge responsibility for the organized physical force used by its commissioned &ldquo;security&rdquo; agents during the march against the demonstration, which were in concert with, and precipitated the violence by the police.  MIWON security, many wearing labor union shirts from the scab &ldquo;change to win&rdquo; aflcio splitters, of which L.A. County Labor Federation leader Maria Elena Durazo is an official (&amp; a signee to the MIWON anti-activist slanders), worked with police to muscle marchers from the street although there clearly was not room on the sidewalk for the thousands present &amp; expected (MIWON attempted to physically enforce a &ldquo;sidewalk only&rdquo; permit).  There is video of MIWON security strong-arming peaceful demonstrators as early as 5:10pm, an hour before the full police onslaught.   <br><br> There are many elements in the activist circuit which claim to represent the interests of the people, but who actually are self-interested &amp; will mechanically align with &ldquo;official&rdquo; law enforcement, or government, or &ldquo;proper&rdquo; monied conventions when push comes to shove, as it did on May 1.  These elements can be cooperated with under certain, generally calm conditions, but true representatives of the community must always be clear &amp; make clear that these are variable, wavering &amp; suspect.  The greatest danger is encouraging uneducated &amp; inexperienced workers to fall under unguarded influence of smooth-talking opportunists.  Ultimately these forces will sell out and the bullets won&rsquo;t always be plastic. <br><br> Jubilee Shine, Mayday Defense Committee <br><br> Check the official MIWON.org position which remains on their website: <br><br> [There WERE thousand of people marching with us but sadly a group cause problem and got many hurt&hellip; <br><br> As the event was nearing its end, a very small number individuals, not associated with the otherwise peaceful, family-themed rally engaged in a scuffle with police, which resulted&hellip; <br><br> Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, had the following to say:  &ldquo;&hellip;I would like to express my deep disappointment that the actions of a small number of individuals &hellip; put the safety of my children and hundreds of others at risk. <br><br> Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane and Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) <br>  <br> Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO <br>  <br> Kimi Lee, Garment Worker Center, MIWON <br>  <br> Angela Sanbrano, Executive Director, Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) <br>  <br> Victor Narro, UCLA Labor Center, Attorney] <br>  <br> <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"jubileeshine@hotmail.com","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"MIWON march 'leaders' still backing lapd statements blaming activists for the designed police assault.","numcomment":13,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2007\/05\/198550.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":198599,"heading":"In defense of MIWON","article":"Since \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d of the previously unheard of \u201cMayday Defense Committee\u201d sees fit to verbally attack long established and respected immigrant rights organizations without identifying his or herself; I will also take advantage of anonymity - however, I will not use anonymity to slander and malign honest activists who have been advocates for and defenders of L.A. immigrant community. My words are not designed to drive a wedge into the forces working to defend the rights of immigrant workers, but they are meant to strike down the rumors, allegations and outright lies promulgated by \u201cJubilee Shine.\u201d\r\n\r\n\r\nFirst off, \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d alleges that the organizers of the Mayday march, the Multi-ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network (MIWON), were responsible for a \u201cdebacle in mangling the march.\u201d It appears that \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d is the first to make such a statement, a declaration that has not, as yet, been verified or supported by a single progressive organization in Los Angeles. \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d \r\n\r\n\u201cJubilee Shine\u201d states that MIWON organizers initially placed blame for the Mayday police attacks on the violent behavior of \u201ccommunity members,\u201d and that MIWON has since backpedaled to offer a \u201clate, reluctant, and limited \u2018apology\u2019\u201d for that initial assessment. MIWON should be congratulated, rather than criticized, for reassessing their public statements and offering an apology. In light of the video taped evidence showing a police force totally out of control to the extent that it beat - in broad daylight - members of the corporate press, obviously \u201ccommunity members\u201d could not be blamed for what could only be characterized as a police riot. \r\n\r\nHowever, the quotes that \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d attributes to MIWON activists can hardly be seen as damning. The MIWON statement that \u201cas the event was nearing its end, a very small number individuals, not associated with the otherwise peaceful, family-themed rally, engaged in a scuffle with police,\u201d is not wholly inaccurate, nor an attack upon any other progressive group in L.A. Examining the video taken prior to the clearing of the park by police forces, one can see water bottles being lobbed at the police. That in no way provides a justification for the police violence that followed, but it does beg the question - who was throwing the water bottles. MIWON simply stated the facts, but in so doing they were not attempting to place the blame on those who tossed the water bottles.\r\n\r\n\u201cJubilee Shine\u201d alleges that MIWON statements have openly slandered \u201ccommunity activists as being \u2018outside agitators\u2019 & \u2018provocateurs.\u2019\u201d If that is so, then please tell us which activist groups or individuals MIWON mentioned by name. \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d cannot give us such a list because MIWON made no such accusations against activists. Were there provocateurs in the crowd, it would be na\u00efve to think otherwise, but accepting that fact is not the same as saying that other activist groups were \u201cprovocateurs.\u201d \r\n\r\n\u201cJubilee Shine\u201d really goes overboard in attacking MIWON in stating that, \u201cThe greatest damage was that, in parroting official lapd propaganda, the immediate, worldwide media reports failed to clearly place responsibility for the organized, militaristic police violence on the highest levels of lapd brass, principally Chief Bratton.\u201d Realizing the corporate nature of the news media and how its \u201cnews\u201d is more an attempt to shore up the status quo than anything designed to actually inform people - is it really fair to blame MIWON for the news media\u2019s failure to place the blame squarely on the LAPD? It seems to me that the corporate news media was fairly shocked and outraged over how they were bullied and manhandled by the police - with several of them actually filing legal suits against the LAPD. Regardless\u2026 if MIWON had held a press conference in which they roundly condemned the police and placed full blame on them, do you think that would have convinced the corporate press to cover in full such a press conference? \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d maliciously contends that MIWON \u201cabandoned\u201d workers celebrating Mayday, a claim that can only drive a wedge between those who should be closing ranks in defense of L.A. immigrant community.\r\n\r\n\u201cJubilee Shine\u201d closed the attack on MIWON with the following; \u201cThere are many elements in the activist circuit which claim to represent the interests of the people, but who actually are self-interested & will mechanically align with \u2018official\u2019 law enforcement, or government, or \u2018proper\u2019 monied conventions when push comes to shove, as it did on May 1.\u201d Naturally the reader is to assume that the nameless and faceless \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d represents the interests of the people. And what grass roots organization does  \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d belong to? We are to believe in the credibility of a totally unknown individual who mounts a verbal attack against the very organizations who for decades have been stalwart advocates of immigrant workers? Would \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d sneers about MIWON being aligned \u201cwith \u2018official\u2019 law enforcement,\u201d what exactly is being said\u2026 that MIWON should not apply for a march permit? That it shouldn\u2019t work with any governmental department so as to assure the rights of assembly for L.A.\u2019s population.\r\n\r\nWith the closing remarks made by \u201cJubilee Shine,\u201d I think it\u2019s fairly obvious he or she subscribes to the philosophy of anarchism, and so it should not be surprising that the secretive author would mount an attack against these immigrant\u2019s rights organizations - who after all are working to protect the rights of immigrants. Rights imply the workings of state, as does citizenship - concepts that anarchists are in opposition to. It seems that every single actor in the \u201cMayday melee\u201d has now held a press conference or published a press release statement. From all of the major immigrant rights organizations to the ANSWER coalition, the LAPD, and members of the press. The only group not to have held a press conference is the so-called \u201canarchist movement,\u201d which points to the absolute worthlessness, disarray, and political cowardice of L.A.\u2019s purported anarchists.\r\n\r\nThis would have been the perfect time for anarchists to take advantage of the nation\u2019s news media spotlight being directed upon them. LAPD Chief Bratton openly and brazenly blamed \u201canarchists\u201d for the Mayday riot. Anarchists should have responded by holding a press conference of their own to deny the accusations and refocus the story to that of defending immigrant workers. Instead of actually participation in a historic movement for change in a meaningful way, instead of cooperating with and forming working alliances with L.A\u2019s immigrant\u2019s rights groups - anarchists have chosen to remain aloof, isolated and shrouded in mystery. If the anarchists want to assist immigrant workers, then they should do so not from the shadows, but in the full light of day and under the scrutiny of the entire community. The immigrants themselves, who face unspeakable violence, fear, poverty, exploitation, and deportation - are brave enough to organize and stand up for their rights in full public view, those who want to work with them must do the same.","author":"worker's advocate","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-10 15:49:17","modified":"2013-11-11 00:48:28","fileurl":""},{"id":198614,"heading":"MIWON screwed up.","article":"MIWON made a huge error in swallowing and regurgitating the LAPD's argument that bad protesters in the crowd caused the problems.  It's that simple.  Lengthy <i>ad hominem<\/i> attacks on people who point this out won't change the situation.","author":"Secret Shopper","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/html","created":"2007-05-10 20:52:32","modified":"2007-05-10 20:52:32","fileurl":""},{"id":198626,"heading":"MIWON: Make a public apology!","article":"MIWON acted inappropritely at teh May 1st march but this is not the first time MIWON or the union leaders for that matter have. \r\n\r\n* Sided with the cops in physically assualting protestors who did not want to get out of the street ( I personally was shoved by event organizers while they called for &quot;unidad&quot;)\r\n\r\n* Red baiting anarchists and the youth for the police violence. Its bullshit and they discredited themselves. \r\n\r\nI agree with Jubilee on these points. MIWON Just erased their statement on their website about  agitators( a week late) but they have yet to make an apology public. NEthing besides that is lipservice. ","author":"Fight2Win","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-10 23:39:20","modified":"2007-05-10 23:39:20","fileurl":""},{"id":198651,"heading":"THREE CHEERS FOR MIWON!","article":"It is interesting to note that the article by \u201cJubilee Shine\u201d titled, \u201cMIWON still covering for the LAPD mayday attack,\u201d had originally been posted by IMC staff as a front page feature article. After a defense of MIWON was posted, titled \u201cIn defense of MIWON,\u201d Indymedia changed its mind and removed the anti-MIWON tirade from its dominant front page position. Then, Indymedia did not even post the article under the voluminous listings of Mayday events reports, preferring instead to shunt the story to the side column of \u201cLocal News.\u201d It is an interesting editorial decision that indicates embarrassment over having published a slanderous and indefensible attack against the immigrants rights organizations that organized the Mayday protest and continue to press for just and equitable immigration reform.\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, so-called \u201canarchists\u201d are pressing their verbal assaults against MIWON, accusing them of siding \u201cwith the cops in physically assaulting protestors.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe subhead of Jubilee Shine\u2019s original article reveals the backward politics inherent in anarchist attacks on immigrant rights organizations, it reads \u201cMIWON march \u2018leaders\u2019 still backing lapd statements blaming activists for the designed police assault.\u201d Note that the word, leaders, is put in quotation marks - inferring that they are not leaders at all. Now tell me\u2026 if MIWON did all of the work in organizing the Mayday march and rally, doing the grass roots outreach, printing and distributing thousands of bilingual flyers, organizing committees, arranging permits, contacting media, etc. - are they not then the leaders of that particular effort? Who can logically challenge MIWON\u2019s leadership position in having organized what ultimately was a successful Mayday march\u2026 despite the police violence?\r\n\r\nAnarchists played absolutely no role in pulling off the Mayday march in Los Angeles, but they have become a loud \u201cpeanut gallery\u201d of critics who lambaste and slander the people who actually organized L.A.\u2019s Mayday. If anarchists can only be detractors and opponents to any non-anarchist political movement - then perhaps they should make plans for their own exclusively anarchist Mayday celebration next year. That is a challenge I\u2019m sure the mighty L.A. \u201canarchist movement\u201d is totally incapable of pulling off - being totally isolated and self-possessed as it is. I\u2019m not talking about organizing a party for three dozen black-bloc freakazoids dressed up for Halloween and congratulating themselves over how radical they are\u2026 I\u2019m talking about an actual democratic people\u2019s movement involving tens of thousands. Either get out there and do the necessary work, or shut up.\r\n\r\nAnarchist critics of MIWON do not come from the respective communities represented by that organization. MIWON is a large coalition\/network composed of immigrant Latino and Asian workers - and the group has organized Latino, Korean, Chinese and Filipino immigrant workers in L.A. Can L.A.\u2019s so-called \u201canarchists\u201d make the same claim? If L.A.\u2019s self-styled \u201canarchist movement\u201d has not organized among immigrant communities to establish committees in defense of workers - one can only ask, \u201chow come?\u201d \r\n\r\nMember organizations in MIWON include the Garment Worker Center (GWC), the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), the Pilipino Workers\u2019 Center (PWC), the Koreatown Immigrant Worker Alliance (KIWA), and the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California (IDEPSCA). The thousands of workers who have joined MIWON, have invested their time, energy, and belief in the political programs, events, and yes\u2026 the LEADERSHIP of MIWON. The tens of thousands of workers and their families who have come out to support MIWON actions illustrates the trust and confidence the people have in their organizations. \r\n\r\nNo doubt there are individual anarchists involved in the immigrant rights movement who are sincere about extending assistance to immigrant workers - but as a contemporary \u201cmovement,\u201d anarchism has failed miserably in reaching out to, supporting, organizing, and defending immigrant workers and their organizations. Earnest activists involved in anarchist philosophy must admit to and address this failing, anything less will doom you to your present irrelevancy.","author":"Bad Wolf","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-11 14:49:04","modified":"2013-11-11 00:48:28","fileurl":""},{"id":198654,"heading":"Let's Keep in Mind","article":"Let's keep in mind that the origins of May Day (International Labor Day) have to do with the death of Anarchist activist and organizers who were killed by the police via the State. It's a bit of an irony to denounce Anarchists and Anarchism in the fall out of police violence on May Day even in the year 2007. And if it wasn't for the strength in numbers and organizing efforts of such Anarchist organizations like the International Workers of the World (IWW) back in the early 1900\u2019s then there likely wouldn't have been such important gains made by Labor in this country like the eight hour day, the weekend and minimum wage..... \r\n\r\nWith that in mind, I believe that &quot;Jubilee Shine&quot; was pointing out that MIWON  as an organization (not individual such as &quot;Jubilee Shine&quot;) was driving a wedge in the activist community by there acceptance of the LAPD's accounting of events. To respond to that by accusing &quot;Jubilee Shine&quot; of driving a wedge in the activist community is begging the question (responding to a pointed out problem in one\u2019s position by accusing another of the same problem) and fails to address the initial claim from &quot;Jubilee Shine&quot; that MIWON has driven a wedge due to their statements (and possible actions) during and after the protest. Further, one need not be representing an organization to point out the kind of things that &quot;Jubilee Shine&quot; has pointed out and his\/her\/xe\u2019s comments should be dealt with according to reason and critical thought not whether she\/he\/xe is someone that represents an organization. I will admit that there is a way of engaging in a critique of a person or organization that is more provoking of open dialogue then defensive posturing and &quot;Jubilee Shine&quot;'s comments seemed geared a little more towards the later than the former but much of what &quot;Jubilee Shine&quot; writes i can take Solidarity with....\r\n\r\nAs an aside to the main topic of this article and comment trail but not irrelevant by any means, I think it important to take issue with \u201cworkers advocate\u201d\u2019s position on MIWON\u2019s stating of the \u201cfacts\u201d\u2026; they write: \u201cMIWON simply stated the facts, but in so doing they were not attempting to place the blame on those who tossed the water bottles.\u201d Well\u2026, I think that phrases like: \u201ca very small number individuals, not associated with the otherwise peaceful, family-themed rally, engaged in a scuffle with police,\u201d, have a lot more going on in them than just a listing of facts. For instance, what exactly does \u201cnot associated with\u201d mean? Weren\u2019t these people there in with the other marchers and folks at the rally? If they were there in with the other people marching for the cause of immigrants rights then how are they not associated? What about \u201cengaged in a scuffle\u201d? All the reports that I\u2019ve heard have the police doing things like driving their motorcycles into the crowd for apparently no reason but to provoke a fight! Do people throwing plastic bottles at cops in riot gear (something meaningless in many European countries) as a response to such improprieties really conjure up the image of a scuffle (like two boys on the play ground fighting over a ball)? And I don\u2019t know about all the families that were there but I\u2019m sure whoever those folks were throwing the plastic bottles, they belong to families as do Anarchists. And quite frankly, I wouldn\u2019t want to be part of a family that took that kind of pre cop riot abuse from anyone, including cops, without some kind of response. There are all different kinds of families in this world, probably as many as the various strategies and tactics that get employed in the struggle for liberation. Point being, I know families that might have been throwing some plastic bottles as well (even if it\u2019s a bad idea tactically in that context; a point not to be taken lightly and one to think about seriously in the real world where there are cop agent provocateurs). \r\n\r\nHaving said all that, &quot;workers advocate&quot; writes something that is definitely true about the response of the Anarchist &quot;community&quot; in LA to this police riot. A real opportunity has been missed it seems to give a coherent response to the activist community and the media not only as a critique of the police actions and the subsequent response of some people and organizations in the activist community but further, to provide the theoretical tools by way of analysis such that people can see these kinds of issues and contexts in the class war with a clearer understanding of what's at stake and how we as a community should build Solidarity in response.....\r\n\r\nX\r\n\r\n\r\nP.S. Seeking inclusion in a corrupt, oppressive system tends to make people and organizations corrupt and oppressive as well. It\u2019s the reformists\u2019 dilemma\u2026 Really, this whole immigrants\u2019 rights movement is largely a civil rights type of struggle in that it seeks inclusion in the system of white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy. Though some in the movement see this as a stepping stone to class\/race\/sex\/hierarchical liberation, many and likely most in this movement see it without the consciousness that might lead one to be demanding much more now or at least planning for more later. The point here is that there is a lot of discourse that needs to happen and a lot of theoretical work to be done\u2026..\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nForm is to content as Alice is to rabbit hole.\r\n","author":"X","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-11 15:44:33","modified":"2013-11-11 00:48:28","fileurl":""},{"id":198737,"heading":"Jubilee Shine","article":"I'm not friends with JS, but he is a real person, and goes by that name.  I met him at a small presentation some months back.  He's less anonymous than most people on this site, for sure.\r\n\r\nI tend to think that these accusations are distractions.  If it can be reasonably proven that the police were the first aggressors, then push that point.  Everyone will be forced to retract their statements.  If that cannot be proven, then at least the organized @-ist groups should make a statement that they were not aggressors, and go to the mainstream press with it.  Even a letter to the editors will help.\r\n\r\nWorker's Advocate was harsh, but made some good points at the end, about needing to have a press presence.  (Something to work on there...)","author":"johnk","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-13 06:34:51","modified":"2007-05-13 06:34:51","fileurl":""},{"id":198739,"heading":"I just would like an explanation.","article":"I don't know and don't much care who Jubilee Shine is, or who &quot;workers advocate&quot; is.  I just would like to hear an explanation from MIWON as to why they insist (or insisted) on parroting Bratton's ludicrous line about &quot;agitators&quot; provoking the police.   Anybody who was there and was paying attention knows that it didn't happen like that, and the video evidence will show this to be true.  \r\n\r\nWhat were they thinking? \r\n\r\n Were they thinking?","author":"Secret Shopper","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-13 08:58:52","modified":"2007-05-13 08:58:52","fileurl":""},{"id":198776,"heading":"\/xxxx","article":"i posted a comment  yestederday with this user name i meant to say to students stand in solidarity with miwon and that i am disguseted  the writer  who is acussing miwon\r\nXXX\r\nby unknow mad reader Friday, May. 11, 2007 at 10:50 PM \r\n","author":"unknown mad reader","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-13 20:42:44","modified":"2007-05-13 20:42:44","fileurl":""},{"id":198779,"heading":"MIWON cover for LAPD mayday attack unresolved","article":"La.indymedia.org reports and Youth Justice Coalition representatives state that \u201cThe controversy caused by some of the May 1st organizers [MIWON] repeating the police cover story in interviews with the media appears to have been resolved,\u201d out of concern for \u201cmaintaining an alliance in the struggle for immigrant rights.\u201d  MIWON, however, has refused to publicly retract its official position that \u201ca very small number individuals, not associated with the otherwise peaceful, family-themed rally engaged in a scuffle with police,\u2026cause problem and got many hurt\u2026put the safety of my children and hundreds of others at risk\u2026\u201d (MIWON.org as of 5\/8, since removed from its webpage).  This is the position that was immediately broadcast worldwide in answer to \u201cWhat caused the LAPD attack on the mayday worker\u2019s & immigrant rights march?\u201d  It remains the position attributed to MIWON & the basis for LAPD deflection of responsibility for its designed, paramilitary attack.\r\n\r\nIt is critical to keep the struggle for workers\u2019 & immigrants\u2019 rights at the front of the discussion.  It was workers & immigrants, documented & otherwise, who made up the majority of the march, & who suffered the brunt of the paramilitary assault, on their bodies, in the damage done to their public right to assemble, and in their ability to safely conduct their day to day business.  When L.A. police units can brazenly execute designed attacks under obvious command direction, and have the \u201cofficial\u201d leadership of the event promptly confuse & shield the police\u2019s otherwise undisputed responsibility, it is the struggle for workers\u2019 & immigrants\u2019 rights which suffers the most.  The \u201cYJC's Statement Regarding Police Attack in MacArthur Park on May 1\u201d makes clear that MIWON\u2019s \u201caccusations\u201d are not only \u201cuntrue\u201d and \u201cserve to divide the community\u201d but also ensure \u201cthe police who are responsible for the violence and degradation that took place that day are not held accountable\u201d.  This is the precisely the greatest damage\u2014not merely in defaming community activists and youth, but in allowing the police and their political commanders to evade public accountability for a direct, open attack on immigrants, workers and their supporters (even reporters!).  The harm caused to workers\u2019 & immigrants\u2019 struggle by MIWON\u2019s public position cannot be \u201cresolved\u201d by a quiet, non-public meeting with certain offended organizations.  The individual relations between those specific groups may have been smoothed, but the greater harm inflicted upon workers\u2019 & immigrants\u2019 struggle, by enabling the LAPD to cover its tracks, can only begin to be \u201cresolved\u201d by MIWON publicly renouncing their fabricated story, publicly explaining why they made such claims? (who gave them their information?), publicly explaining e.g. who directed their commissioned security agents (wearing union shirts) to assist the police in using physical force against the peaceful assembly?\r\n\r\nThese public explanations must be demanded not only from MIWON, the permit holder of the event, but equally from those whose signature also appeared below the false statement now missing from MIWON\u2019s webpage: \r\n\r\nMaria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO \r\nAngela Sanbrano, Executive Director, Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) \r\nVictor Narro, UCLA Labor Center, Attorney\r\n\r\nIt should be clearly understood that Maria Elena Durazo is widely known as \u201cone of Mayor Villaraigosa\u2019s close advisors\u201d, that it is in Villaraigosa\u2019s best personal interest, as well the best interest of his personally esteemed LAPD chief Bratton, that the LAPD escape legal & public responsibility for its assault.  Bratton has carefully maintained that no disciplinary actions have taken place within the LAPD.  It should also be clearly understood that the LAPD\u2019s directed exercise occurred before the locally gathered leadership of the national Republican Party in town for the May 3 Republican presidential candidates\u2019 first debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, and especially Republican front-runner Rudolf Guiliani, who also held a May 2 campaign fundraiser in Irvine.  Once-NYPD chief Bratton & once-NY mayor Guiliani conducted a similar paramilitary assault on the \u201998 Harlem Million Youth March, whose leader and New Black Panther Party founder Khalid Muhammad mysteriously turned up dead (officially \u201caneurysm\u201d) in \u201901, soon after the Bush\u2019it selection.  Former Executive of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Miguel Contreras, husband to Durazo, mysteriously turned up dead 11 days before Villaraigosa was elected mayor 17 May 2005 (http:\/\/www.laweekly.com\/general\/features\/the-final-hours-of-miguel-contreras\/14873\/).  Contreras had endorsed incumbent Mayor Hahn against Villaraigosa.  The vast immigrant community in Los Angeles carries untold strategic importance for any local labor or political amibitions.  The \u201cofficial\u201d leadership of the Mayday march cannot alienate this community, but they also are married to Bratton\u2019s LAPD.  This is why the blame for the assault must be thrown onto unnamed \u201coutside\u201d \u201cagitators\u201d.  But the emerging truth of the Mayday assault now force MIWON & its advisors to dance around publicly blaming \u201coutsiders\u201d and simultaneously \u201cholding police accountable\u201d  LATimes coverage of the May 8 police commission meeting reports: Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a close advisor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said: &quot;We are saddened that on May 1 our rights were not protected.&quot;\r\n\r\n\r\nThese groups and others (CARECEN, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), COFEM, Garment Worker Center (GWC), Instituto Popular de Educacion del sur de California (IDEPSCA), Koreatown Immigrant Worker Association (KIWA), Los Angeles Archdiocese Social Justice Committee, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Multi-ethnic Immigrant Worker Organizing Network (MIWON), Pilipino Worker Center (PWC), SEIU 1877, and the We Are America Coalition) are calling for a \u201cvigil & procession\u201d (not a march) 5\/17 for \u201cJustice, Civil Rights, Liberty & Immigration Reform\u201d under a reported \u201c full street permit by LAPD\u201d.  We should expect a carefully staged embrace of vague \u201cworker & immigrant concerns\u201d in full regalia, with representatives from City Hall prancing before news cameras.  Bush also claims to support \u201cimmigration reform\u201d, \u201cliberty\u201d &c.  So it must be defined concretely what is meant.  True supporters of workers\u2019 & immigrants' struggle will demand Full Amnesty for all Immigrant Workers! & Community Control Over the Police!  & maintain principled community criticisms.  Others will pimp the movement.\r\n\r\njubilee shine\r\nmayday defense committee\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"jubilee shine","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-13 21:50:16","modified":"2013-11-11 00:48:29","fileurl":""},{"id":198945,"heading":"re: worker's advocate","article":"this is a response to the insistence of &quot;worker's advocate&quot; and others that LA anarchists are consistently lurking in the shadows of the immigrant movement and refuse to become a part of that movement because they do not agree with citizenship, etc. it is in my experience working within the LA movement that there are many anarchists who stand by their principles of non-nationalism that are now working and organizing within the mainstream and grassroots immigrant rights orgs. there are fewer purely anarchist orgs because, like other political alignments, there are many diversities and differences within the anarchist community that inhibit this. this is not a negative situation, considering that often more can get done in multiple collectives of conscious people than in just mass orgs of loosely aligned activists and that this principle is basic to anarchism. there have been public repsonses by anti-authoritarian and horizontal groups like Cop Watch and Youth Justice Coalition put out but are ignored due to the fact that they are such kinds of smaller organizations. there can be no real mass statement put out by anarchists (i.e. &quot;we, the anarchists...) because there is no mass org of anarchists like this in LA. anarchists are immigrants, organizers, students, teachers, youth, elders, people of color and any other form of people in the LA movement, therefore WE have and will always be a part of the resistance movement. the point is that the police are a occupying force of the police state that must be resisted by all communities and organizations.","author":"BBB","parent_id":198550,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-05-15 23:33:07","modified":"2007-05-15 23:33:07","fileurl":""}]}