A Radical Proposal: Open the U.S.-Mexico Border (tags)
That's what immigrant rights activist David Schmidt called for at a September 21 meeting of Activist San Diego. Originally called to discuss the closure of Friendship Park along the U.S.-Mexico border, the meeting expanded into a consideration of border issues in general. Schmidt and his better-known co-speaker, Enrique Morones of Border Angels and Marcha Migrante, both questioned why under NAFTA and similar “free trade” agreements, capital, commerce and corporations are allowed to move freely across national boundaries — while workers are trapped inside their home countries and routinely exploited for the greater profits of capital. If business is free to locate wherever it wants, workers should be too, they said.
Local San Diego Activists Defend Friendship Park (tags)
Since 1971, the Monument Mesa at Friendship Park on the U.S.-Mexico border has been an informal gathering place where people kept from physically coming together by the border fence could nonetheless reach out and pass each other greetings, kisses, presents and food. No longer: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, seemingly determined to wipe out any sign that the people of the U.S. and Mexico should actually regard each other with anything other than wary hostility, have put the mesa straight in the cross-hairs of the triple border fence. Local activists Christian Ramirez and John Fanestil addressed a San Diego audience April 17 to tell what they're doing to try to save Friendship Park.
Pat Nixon at the U.S.-Mexico Border (tags)
Editor's Note: Nearly 40 years ago this month, First Lady Pat Nixon crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and embraced Mexican children, saying, "I hate to see a fence anywhere." Times have changed, writes the commentator, and ironically, President Richard Nixon helped to bring about many of these changes. Joseph Nevins is an associate professor of geography at Vassar College. His latest book is Dying to Live: A Story of U.S. Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid (City Lights Books, 2008).
Barricade the War Machine in Pittsburgh (tags)
Friday, March 2, will be a day of civil disobedience and direct action against the war machine in Pittsburgh. The main action will be an attempt to barricade the National Robotics Engineering Center, a branch of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) that develops robotic vehicles and weapons delivery systems for the U.S. Army and Marines.
STOP THE MILITARIZATION OF THE MEXICO-US BORDER (tags)
current measures in the Homeland Security Act will make construction of the triple fence between San Diego and Tijuana a priority.