Central American migrant exodus must be recognized as a HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

[Versión original español]

First Press Release
November 12th, 2018 / Guadalajara, Mexico

Today marks 31 days of the historic exodus of Central Aamerican migrants, known as the “Migrant Caravan,” which departed from Honduran territory on October 13, 2018.

Our exodus is a consequence of forced displacement caused by the widespread systematic violence suffered by men, women, children and entire families who flee from poverty and impunity in our countries of origin.

The whole world is watching with great concern as more than 13 thousand people in Mexican territory advance towards the U.S. border. This monumental collective rejection of violence has reached the dimension of a humanitarian crisis.

In an exercise of autonomy as a displaced group, we named a delegation to dialogue with United Nations authorities in Mexico on behalf of the more than five thousand migrants housed at the shelter in Mexico City, Mexico. They are requesting the immediate application of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which commits States, among other things, to “improve cooperation in saving migrants’ lives during their travels.” In practical terms, this committment would best be fulfilled by guaranteeing buses so that we arrive safely to our final destination, thereby protecting women and children, who have to endure lower and lower temperatures, amongst other threats to their lives.

On November 8th, our delegation left on foot from the shelter in Mexico City, Mexico, accompanied by a mobilization of more than a thousand migrants that culminated at the office of the United Nations, where a meeting was held. In attendance were authorities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and our commission comprised of 21 delegates from the migrant exodus: representatives from 17 of the 18 Honduran Departments, 1 delegate from the “19th Department” (Hondurans residing in the US), 3 representatives per Central American country (Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala), an observer from the organization Pueblos Sin Fronteras, a Human Rights observer, Mr.  Arturo Peimberg, Ombudsman from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, and a Honduran spokesperson, sociologist and journalist Milton Benitez. https://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/?m=1

https://weac.org/

WEAC

WEAC on Monday condemned a disturbing photo – spread through social media – of some Baraboo High School students giving a Nazi salute last spring during a prom photo shoot off of school premises. WEAC is working with our union leaders and staff in the district.

WEAC President Ron Martin also discussed the situation with NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia, and they issued the following joint statement:

“The photo is disgusting and completely contrary to the values and beliefs of our educator-members. Our association fully supports the district’s investigation and intention to take all appropriate responses. The Wisconsin Education Association Council works to give teachers resources so they can foster hate-free schools where all people are respected and celebrated, including racial justice in education, creating safe and welcoming schools and anti-bullying. This shameful situation makes it clear our mission is more important than ever, and we will remain vigilant.”

WEAC reaffirms our absolute insistence that schools be safe and welcoming places free from hate. WEAC and the NEA have many programs and resources to foster hate-free schools:

Black Lives Matter at School
Diversity, Equality and Social Justice Resources
Combatting Islamophobia
Safe and Welcoming Schools for LGBTQ+ Youth
Creating LGBTQ Inclusive Schools
Virtual Book Study on Racial Justice
Take Action on Racial Justice
Combatting Institutional Racism

Detroit Marxism Class: A Socialist View of the Midterm Elections

Event: Detroit Marxism Class: Voter Suppression, National Oppression and the Need for Independent Political Organizing
Date: Sat. Nov. 17, 2018, 5-8 pm
Location: 5920 Second Avenue at Antoinette in Midtown Detroit
Facilitator: Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of the Pan-African News Wire
Sponsor: Communist Workers League, Detroit Branch
Admission: Free and Open to the Public
Dinner Served: Donation Requested

On Nov. 6 the much anticipated midterm elections were held across the United States. The outcomes resulted in the Democratic Party retaking the House of Representatives while the Republicans slightly increased their majority in the Senate.

On a state and local level numerous referendums were passed providing for changes in the realms of redistricting, criminal justice reform and voter registration guidelines. The elections witnessed an upsurge of African Americans, Latinx, Indigenous peoples and women candidates seeking public office.

However, there were reactionary developments which reinforced the character of racism, class exploitation and political repression.

In the Southern states of Georgia and Florida, the purging of voters’ roles continued in an attempt to prevent African Americans Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum from taking office. The demand that all votes be counted have been raised in both states as these races remain unsettled.

Nonetheless, as Marxist revolutionaries we recognize that the national leadership of both the Democratic and Republican parties represent the interest of the ruling class. Although we wholeheartedly defend the political rights of the nationally oppressed, women and workers, their ultimate liberation can only be realized through independent political organizing and mass action.

Join us for this discussion where we will examine the recent elections from a dialectical and historical materialist perspective. The links below are suggested reading for the class/discussion. All reading materials will be supplied at the event.

I. Textbook Voter Suppression: Georgia’s Bitter Election Battle Years in the Making. Guardian, Nov. 10, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/10/georgia-election-recount-stacey-abrams-brian-kemp

II. Voters Challenge: Legacy of Slavery. Equal Justice Initiative, Nov. 7, 2018.
https://eji.org/news/voters-challenge-legacy-of-slavery

III. From Civil Rights to Black Power: The Significance of the 1965-66 Alabama Freedom Movement. Abayomi Azikiwe, Jan. 26, 2015.
https://www.civilrightsteaching.org/voting-rights/from-civil-rights-black-power/

IV. The Attitudes of the Bourgeois Parties and the Workers’ Parties to the Duma Elections, Dec. 31, 1906, by V.I. Lenin.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/dec/31.htm

V. Should We Participate in Bourgeois Parliaments? V.I. Lenin, June 1920.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch07.htm

VI. Report of the Commission on the National and Colonial Questions at the Second International of the Communist International, July 26, 1920. V.I. Lenin.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jul/x03.htm#fw3

VII. Speech in Defense of the Tactics of the Communist International at the Third Congress of the Communist International. V.I. Lenin, July 1, 1921.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/jun/12.htm

Hosted by Black Lives United – Green Bay

515 Pine Street, Brown County Public Library (Central Library), 2 – 3:30 P.M.

Join us to continue dialogue around racism and white supremacy! This is PART 13.

Hosted by Freedom Youth Squad and Freedom Inc

545 W Dayton Street, Madison, 5:45 – 9 P.M. 

The Board of Education plays such a critical role in how our Madison Metropolitan School District functions. Currently, our district is investing hundreds and thousands of money into the police instead of the wellbeing, creativity and leadership development of students.

Join the Freedom Youth Squad, parents, family members and community people on Monday, November 26, 2018 at the Doyle Building at 6pm to tell the school board members to invest in youth of color instead of the police.

We need to make sure our schools are a caring, loving and healthy atmosphere for Black and Brown people. That is why the Freedom Youth Squad and the Safe School Coalition is demanding:

1) The complete removal of police from schools
2) The investment of resources in education that promotes leadership, wellness, learning and creativity for youth of color
3) The control of school safety be given to the community. Students, families and community need real decision making power in our schools. Build transformative justice models instead of punishing youth.

The Grass is Greener-2018-11-10 Lucy Pagoada on the (mostly) Honduran Migant Caravan

Our guest is a representative of the Honduran Resistance, D-19, and Honduran Libre Party. She tells about the exodus of refugees from Honduras, and — Surprise! It doesn’t bear much relationship to anything Trump has been saying.

Immigration and the City in the Trump Era

2200 E Kenwood Blvd., UW-Milwaukee, 5:30 – 7 P.M. 

The 12th Annual Henry W. Maier State of Milwaukee Summit will be held on Thursday, Nov. 15, from 5:30-7 pm in the UWM Union Alumni Fireside Lounge (2200 E. Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee). A distinguished panel of community leaders and policy experts will discuss different facets of immigration policy, immigrant rights movements, and refugee resettlement experiences in Milwaukee under the current administration, and highlight different advocacy efforts and successful programs.

A reception will follow the talk.

Opening Remarks
Johannes Britz, UWM Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs

Panelists
Rachel Buff, UWM Dept. of History & Cultures and Communities Program
Mary Flynn, Program Manager of Refugee Resettlement, LSS of WI & Upper MI
Janan Najeeb, President, Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director, Voces de la Frontera
Karyn Rotker, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU of WI
The event is sponsored by UWM Urban Studies Programs, the Henry W. Maier Fund, Cultures and Communities Program, Institute of World Affairs (IWA), Center for International Education, Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), the Center for Economic Development, and the College of Letters and Science.

This event is free and open to the public.

https://tinyurl.com/ybk7crc2

Listen to the Sat. Nov. 10, 2018 edition of the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. The program features our regular PANW report with dispatches on the problems associated with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC); there have been widespread claims of voter suppression in the states of Georgia and Florida involving the races for governor and other offices; another bomb attack occured in the capital of Somalia which has resulted in many casualties; results are in from the national elections in Madagascar. In the second hour we look at the issue of voter suppression in Georgia where Stacey Abrams has refused to concede defeat to former Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Also this year represents the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco State College strike where African Americans and other nationally oppressed students, workers and faculty shutdown the campus for several months. Finally we look back at the 50th anniversary of the electoral alliance between the Black Panther Party and the Peace & Freedom Party.

CLOSEmsdf Picket

901 N 9th Street, Milwaukee, 11:30 A.M. – 1 P.M. 

Why do we picket?
1. To educate people on the inhumane conditions at MSDF
2. To memorialize the 17 people who have died in MSDF since it opened.
3. To let WI taxpayers know that each day someone spends in MSDF for a crimeless rule violation it costs us $100.84 vs $40 to treat that person in the community where their job, housing & support systems stay secure.
4. Former Governer Tommy Thompson has said building MSDF was a mistake. Its time the state corrects that error.

Please join us during the lunch hour on Oct 20 on the 10th Street side of the courthouse. Partway through the picket we might march over to the state office building on 6th and Wells, where the DOC has offices.

If you haven’t signed the petition yet yourself, please do here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/its-time-to-close-milwaukee-secure-detention-facility-msdf

Parking is metered or nearby public lots. If you don’t mind walking a couple blocks, its often easier to find free parking on the other side of the freeway.

We’ve been holding down this monthly picket since the spring of 2017. A coalition of Milwaukee organizations have joined up to shut down MSDF. This facility is a building within a building, where captives have no access to fresh air or sunlight. They are triple bunked in lockdown cells for over 20 hours a day. There is no outdoor rec. The facility was built and is run using funds that should be used for diversionary programs to keep people out of jail, instead it’s being used to keep them on supervision under arbitrary and vindictive probation and parole officers.

We are organizing this protest on every 23rd (unless that lands on a weekend, when there’s less foot traffic). The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has called for actions on the 23rd of every month (to bring attention to 23 hour a day lockdowns). http://www.nrcat.org/about-us/take-action-current-legislation/563-together-to-end-solitary

Hosted by Voces de la Frontera Action and Voces de la Frontera

1515 W Lapham, South Division High School, Milwaukee 2-4 P.M.

ENGLISH BELOW

Foro comunitario: La lucha para restaurar licencias de conducir para todxs.
Sábado, 17 de noviembre, 2pm
Preparatoria South Division, 1515 W Lapham Blvd, Milwaukee
Info: 414-643-1620

El voto latinx era clave para la victoria de Tony Evers. Él comprometió a apoyar legislación para restaurar las licencias de conducir para todxs. Acompáñanos sábado para planear los próximos pasos en la lucha. Exigimos que nadie en Wisconsin sea negado la licencia de conducir debido a estatus migratorio o falta de ingresos para pagar multas. ¡Sí se puede!

————

Community Forum: The Fight for Driver’s Licenses for All.
Saturday, November 17, 2pm.
South Division High School, 1515 W Lapham Blvd, Milwaukee
Information: 414-643-1620

The Latinx vote was critical to Tony Evers’ victory. He pledged to support driver’s licenses for all. Join us Saturday to plan the next steps in the fight. No one in Wisconsin should be denied a driver’s license due to immigration status or because they don’t have the money to pay fine. ¡Sí se puede!