Boston May Day Coalition

A special section for May Day 2010 on the Common

This year, 2010, the Boston May Day Committee decided to dedicate an entire section of its webpage to news about the organizing process leading to May Day on the Boston Common. Please check this section to be up to date on the work being done to organize a strong showing of workers for May Day, native and immigrant alike.

For more information click here.

Amnesty International: Immigrants Jailed Without Justice

Migration is a fact of life. Some people move to new countries to improve their economic situation or to pursue their education. Others leave their countries to escape armed conflict or violations of their human rights, such as torture, persecution, or extreme poverty. Many move for a combination of reasons. Governments have the right to exercise authority over their borders; however, they also have obligations under international law to protect the human rights of migrants, no matter what prompted an individual to leave his or her home country.

This report focuses on the human rights violations associated with the dramatic increase in the use of detention by the United States as an immigration enforcement mechanism. In just over a decade, immigration detention has tripled. In 1996, immigration authorities had a daily detention capacity of less than 10,000. Today more than 30,000 immigrants are detained each day, and this number is likely to increase even further in 2009.

To read the full report in pdf format click here.

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The Boston May Day Coalition Reorganizes to Continue the Struggle

On November 12, 2008 the Boston May Day Coalition met and after a thorough discussion of the agenda items which included the Coalition, work and current situation, two major decisions were made that changed the Coalition status to a Committee and to close the petition demanding that Bush stop the ICE raids and deportations. Below are the decisions and brief descriptions.

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Last Day of Work at the Social Forum of the Americas

Guatemala, October 11.- The Social Forum of the Americas is coming to an end. Today was the last day of workshops and events at the Universidad de San Carlos. The event will conclude on Sunday with a march and rally at the Plaza Central in the historical downtown area at noon.

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Foro Social Americas: Evo doesn't show up and our work continues

Guatemala, Oct. 10, 2008.- Evo Morales was "confirmed" up to two days ago to make an appearence on the third day of Forum. However, as some of us walked to the Plaza de los Martires to hear his speach, a friend of one person in the group told us that "Evo didn't make it. The event is cancelled." Before that, the workshop of the Boston May Day Coalition had taken place from 11am to 1pm. For two-and-a-half hour -- because it is customary to wait for a session to begin at least 30 minutes -- we tackled the issue of designing "Strategies to Stop the Repression of Migrant Workers and Obtain Their Rights." Nearly fifty people, mostly young, attended the workshop.

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Social Forum of the Americas: The work for the delegates has begun

Guatemala, October 8.- The day of work at the Forum begun and activists started the process of finding the location for the workshops, presentations and activities of interest. I attended the presentation entitled, "No wall in the U.S./Mexico border" offered by the Southwest Worker Union and the Indigenous Environmental Network from the U.S. The audience built up to a succesful size and lasted -- like all presentations here -- 2 hours. The dissertation part of the presentation took about 1 hour and 45 minutes, leaving little time for opiniones, comments, or questions. A good lesson to learn. I was lucky to be able to announce our "strategies" workshop for tomorrow morning and many people, including the ones at the podium, agreed with the concept that we already know the situation, and now need to concentrate in finding solutions.

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The Third Social Forum of the Americas Has Begun in Guatemala

Guatemala City -- October 7, 2008.- The Social Forum of the Americas has begun, with most of the nearly 2000 participants arriving today. The registration process begun normally while switching from an automated system to a manual one. All the packets and a beautiful bag where distributed to each registered delegate. There was not doubt here that Spanish is the official language of the forum. The other undisputed presence is that of the Mayan people. In fact, their presence has been felt not only in numbers, but also in spiritual influence. Mayan religious ceremonies have gone on at dawn and sundown.

The first part of the inaugural event was a full hour-and-a-half of new and old music of struggle from Latin America. Many ofthe participants were able to follow dear songs of struggle like those dedicated to Che Guevara, Solo le pido a Dios (All I ask from God), No basta con rezar (Not enough to pray), and the People united will never be defeated.

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Taller de la Coalición Primero de Mayo en el Foro Social de las Américas en Guatemala

ESTRATEGIAS PARA FRENAR LA REPRESION DE LOS TRABAJADORES MIGRANTES Y LOGRAR SUS DERECHOS

Universidad de San Carlos, Zona 12
Jueves, 9 de Octubre 2008 -- 11:00 am a 1:00 pm
Edificio: S12 - Salón 205

Participan también: COHRE, HpH-LOC, FNRU, ALH, Fedevivienda ODESC

Para leer o bajar el documento central para el taller pinche aquí.

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To sign the petition, click here.

Discussing root causes of oppression as a strategy to build unity among U.S. born and migrant workers

A speech given by Camilo Viveiros, Exec. Dir of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice at the "Workers have no Borders" event organized by the Boston May Day Committee on February 4, 2010.

The U.S. economy has been based on the exploitation of immigrants since the nation’s founding.

The history of exploiting immigrants mirrors the history of political repression in this country. Historically, immigrants have brought a broader social analysis to labor struggles – and for this radical vision they have been criminalized, attacked, and even deported. Many immigrants were attacked by government and business because they saw labor struggles as challenging larger systems of oppression.

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Workers Have No Borders!

A discussion about building unity among all workers

Thursday, February 4, 2010 - 7PM
At Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Av. 5th. Fl., Boston, Ma 02111

Featuring:

Dorotea Manuela -- "On organizing towards May Day"
Camilo Viveiros -- "On the raids and immigrant workers (such as the Foxboro mobile raid experience)
Steve Early -- "On the organized labor movement and immigrant workers"

This event seeks to build unity between immgrant workers and US-based labor movement by bringing together union workers, immigrant organizers and community activists. It is part of the campaign by the Boston May Day Committee and its affiliates to unite workers across sector and borders.

Join the conversation and help build toward May Day 2010!

Sponsored by the Boston May Day Committee

For more information: www.bostonmayday.org

To download the flyer click here.

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Boston May Day Committee (BMDC) condemns targeting of immigrant workers by ICE agents and Foxboro police department

BMDC calls for legalization of all undocumented workers now

Build May Day 2010

On January 6, Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents and police officers from Foxboro, Massachusetts, detained 58 immigrant workers at a road block near Gillette Stadium. They targeted a caravan of four passenger vans traveling from Providence, Rhode Island. The workers had been hired to shovel snow off the seats at Gillette Stadium where the New England Patriots football team would be playing the coming weekend.

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Proposed May Day 2010 Support Resolution

The Boston May Day Committee in collaboration with local activists endorsed and supported by labor and community organizations, will commemorate and celebrate the 124th Anniversary of the Chicago Martyrs of 1886 on May Day, Workers International Day on Saturday, May 1, 2010 on the Boston Common. We ask that you please accept and request adoption of the below recommended or similar resolution by your organization.

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Do Undocumented People Have Rights?

By David Bacon November 2009

One winter morning in 1996, Border Patrol agents charged into a Los Angeles street-corner clinic where 40 day laborers had lined up to be tested for AIDS. One worker, Omar Sierra, had just taken his seat, and a nurse had inserted the needle for drawing the blood. As agents of the migra ran across the street and sidewalk, Sierra jumped up, tore off the tourniquet, pulled the needle out of his vein and ran.

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Open Letter of Protest to the Presidents of Target Corp., Gregg Steinhafel and of Amazon.com, Jeffrey P. Bezos

Dear Messieurs Bezos and Steinhafel:

We have seen with disgust the promotion in your respective websites of an "Adult Illegal Alien Costume One Size". We are attaching pdf files of your advertisement, in case you are not familiar with the items. The links are:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002EIY1G0
http://www.target.com/Illegal-Alien-Adult-Costume-Size/dp/B002EIY1G0/ref=sr_1_1?ie

As you can see the costume is a prison-like suit in bright orange, including an alien face costume and a large "green card" card. This is obviously making reference to the widespread criminalization by the media and the government of undocumented workers. You are contributing by trivializing a serious, delicate and sensitive matter to bigotry and anti-immigrant sentiments in the United States.

As of Sun. Oct.18, 2009, it seems that Amazon & Target withdrew this offensive item from their virtual shelves. We should follow up Monday with calls to their headquarters, however, the links indicated here pointing to this attrocious costume are no longer active.

Thanks to all who took time to protest this insulting merchandising.

If other companies continue to carry it (somebody mentioned that others might) please let us know and we should also target them (no pun intended) for complains.

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Immigrant Detention Facilities in Massachusetts

There are many immigrant detention centers in Massachusetts, starting with the Boston Service Processing Center in Boston. Then there is a number of county facilities that contract with Homeland Security for the detention of immigration related prisoners such as the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston, Bristol County Correctional Facility in North Darmouth, Franklin County Correctional Facility in Greenfield, Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Plymouth, and the Norfolk County Correctional Facility in Dedham. In addition there is the Federal Medical Center in Ayer.

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Por el “Día de las Madres” manifestantes protestan en frente de la Cárcel del Condado de Suffolk de la Sheriff Andrea Cabral y reclaman poner fin a las redadas, detenciones y deportaciones de inmigrantes indocumentados

En lugar de estar celebrando con sus seres queridos el día más sagrado del año como lo es el “Día de las Madres”, un considerable grupo de manifestantes, decidieron juntarse ese mismo día en los alrededores de la Cárcel del Condado de Suffolk que dirige la Sheriff Andrea Cabral (South Bay Corrections and De- tentions Center) para protestar por la detención de inmigrantes en esta institución y exigir el fin a las redadas, detenciones y deportaciones que hasta la fecha siguen ocurriendo en todos los Estados Unidos.

Con carteles y banderolas que decían: “Alto a las Redadas y Deportaciones”, “Justicia para las Familias Inmigrantes”, “Provean un Camino para la Ciudadanía”, “No nos Moverán, Alto a las Redadas”, etc. y con cánticos como “ICE, ICE Get out of the Way. Happy Mothers Day!” (“ICE, ICE Fuera del Camino. ¡Feliz Día de las Madres!”), los manifestantes dejaron bien claro su mensaje a las autoridades de inmigración: un final a la represion de los trabajadores inmigrantes y de sus familias, legalización para todos los que ya se encuentran aquí en los Estados Unidos y reunificación familiar para los que han sido separados por las redadas y deportaciones.

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"ICE, ICE, Get out of the way, Happy Mothers Day!" -- Protesters Demanded an End to the Raids, Detentions & Deportations

Boston, May 10, 2009.- Nearly 60 people demonstrated around the Suffolk County Jail in Boston (known as South Bay House of Corrections) in protest for the detention of immigrants in that facility. The signs and the chants indicated what the protesters wanted: an end to the represion of immigrant workers and their families, legalization, family reunification. All this in the context of the commercial celebration of Mother's Day. The prisoners were fully aware of the presence of the demonstrators and banged their cell windows furiously.

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May Day 2009 Commemorated in the Boston Area with March and Rally

Video by Michael Borkson

Hundreds of immigrant workers and supporters of migrant workers rights marched from East Boston to Everett demanding an end to the raids and deportations, amnesty now and immigration reform. The marchers also remembered the executed Anarchist martyrs of Chicago of 1886. This historic event commemorated by unions the world over by workers of all countries except the U.S. refer to what is known as the Haymarket Affair where 4 anarchist union leaders were sentenced to death by hanging and one more allegedly committed suicide in his cell. All but one of these leaders were recent immigrants from Europe.

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[PAST] May 1st Coalition of East Boston, Chelsea and Everett Message for May Day

“Yesterday We Voted for Change, Today We Demand Change!” is the unified message of the May 1st Coalition led by the Chelsea Collaborative, the East Boston Ecumenical Community Council, and La Comunidad Inc. (Everett), and their community partners and allies across the Greater Boston area.

Immigrant communities in Greater Boston demand a just and humane immigration reform from the Obama administration and US Congress while celebrating International Workers Day!

As part of a nation-wide and state-wide efforts, local community organizers are also mobilizing to send a clear message to:

1. End the draconian enforcement policies of the Bush administration.
2. Establish a new immigration policy based on human, civil, and labor rights.
3. As the current economic crisis unfolds policy makers must recognize the essential economic and social contributions of all immigrants to US society.

Demonstrate in Everett's Glendale Park on May 1, 4:30pm.

Flyer in English
Flyer in Portugues
Flyer in Spanish

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Towards a united demonstration for migrant workers rights on May 1st in Everett

The Boston May Day Committee decided to forego its traditional May Day demonstration and march in the Boston Common this year. For the last three years at least two such demonstrations took place in the area, one in the Chelsea-East Boston-Everett area and one in the Boston Common. While we are certain that presence in the Boston area for migrant workers rights is important, we hope that by not holding it here this year we will achieve higher attendance in a combined rally.

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A Hemispheric Call to Mobilize Against the Exploitation and Persecution of Migrant Workers

"Mobilizations by the large workers federations, women’s, students, and indigenous organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean and North America are key to a solution There is a tradition of solidarity in this region that is yet to be fully expressed. Global labor mobilizations will also help overcome any hesitancy on the part of US unions to fully recognize and support their migrant worker comrades.

Likewise, traditionally Latin American students have mobilized in defense of peoples’ rights, not only those in their own countries, but they have also in solidarity with international struggles. Understanding that global migration impacts students personally, we must appeal to all students to support this cause: both from the high schools and the universities. Today’s student is tomorrows (migrant) worker!

Our objective therefore is to mobilize the largest amounts possible of unions and popular organizations for May Day 2009. This will require of an education campaign and connections with all levels of leaders and grassroots members in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean. "

Para leer este documento en español pinche aqui.

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Next Meeting of the Boston May Day Committee

The Committee will meet the second Wednesday of every month at 7pm. The location will be Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Avenue, 5th. Floor, Chinatown, Boston.

Meeting dates for 2010:

- January 13
- February 10
- March 10
- April 14
- May 12
- June 9
- July 14
- August 11
- September 8
- October 13
- November 10
- December 8

(During March and April there may be additional meetings to organize May 1.)

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Migrant Groups and Supporters Celebrate International Migrants' Day, 18 December 2008

Over 150 events in 57 countries planned

Hundreds of migrants' groups and supporters around the world are organizing events to promote respect for the dignity and human rights of all migrants on 18 December 2008, International Migrants' Day.

Over 150 events will take place on Thursday, 18 December and surrounding dates, in 57 countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mali, Morocco, Philippines, Romania, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, UK, and USA.

The 18th of December is the date that the UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (MWC), in 1990. The MWC is the principle UN treaty providing protections for the rights of migrant workers (both documented and undocumented) and their families, with regard to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

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PRELIMINARY REPORT OF GLOBAL FORUM ON MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT (GFMD) MANILA AND PEOPLES GLOBAL ACTION (PGA) 2008

Approximately 240 participants from civil society organizations, academia and business participated in the official "Civil Society Days" of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which were held Monday, October 27 and Tuesday, October 28. The full day of October 27 and most of October 28 were workshops, which were structured on the roundtable topics to be discussed in the Global Forum on Migration and Development. On October 28, from 3 – 5:30 pm was "interface" between civil society and governments.

According to comments communicated to MRI, many civil society representatives felt that the Civil Society Days were not structured to allow for very in-depth discussion that could produce very good recommendations to governments.

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STATEMENT OF MARK LAURITSEN BEFORE THE WORKSITE ENFORCEMENT PANEL BRIEFING U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Last Tuesday morning, 13,000 workers clocked in to work as they do every day. They didn’t know that government agents would soon storm their worksites dressed in riot gear, brandishing military weapons and locking the doors to prevent anyone from coming in or out. Their mission involved a warrant ICE had obtained to apprehend 170 individuals suspected of identity theft.

The ICE action clearly reached far beyond those 170 suspects. Workers were herded into cafeterias and segregated. In Utah, the ICE agents used skin color to identify the “suspects.” In other locations naturalized citizens were separated from the native born.

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