May Day 2007: Time for Builders of the New to take Center Stage
One Humanity! One Struggle for the Rights of All!
May Day 2007 will be a vibrant expression of workers and peoples across the country and worldwide standing up to say One Humanity! One Struggle! We Demand A World That Guarantees Our Rights! In the U.S. tens of thousands will march and rally in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix and more than 100 cities and towns. In all regions of the country there is broad rejection of government efforts to criminalize undocumented workers and terrorize national minority communities. No to Raids and Collective Punishment! Legalization for All Now! The Government is the Criminal! can be heard at meetings, rallies, marches, vigils and more, as peoples stand together to represent humanity.
Everywhere the battle is engaged: the old imperialist world of slavery, indentured servitude, hunger, exploitation, racism and war is faced with the combat of the new, the striving of the peoples for another world that guarantees the rights of all. There is the pro-war old facing the drive for new antiwar governments. There is the anti-social old, wrecking education, healthcare and the economy itself, in combat with the drive for pro-social governments upholding social responsibility. There is the danger of the old, there is the challenge to ensure the new emerges victorious. May Day 2007 embodies the challenge to reject everything old and decadent by waging a merciless struggle against it.
The U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization salutes workers and peoples of all countries taking up this challenge to build the new! We salute all those marching and organizing in the U.S., united with peoples everywhere to demand and forge a world where the rights of all are guaranteed. This new is being created on the basis of the modern working class and on the most advanced thinking and theory coming out of the contemporary conditions. These are exciting times for all those who wish to create the new world. Let us together make it a reality!
U.S. imperialism is standing at the head of all the forces of reaction striving to block the victory of the new. In an effort to save itself and keep its power, the government is using its three-pronged war on terrorism, war on immigrants and war on drugs. It is acting with broad impunity against the peoples. War, terrorism, use of force and collective punishment are its only answers.
Reality shows clearly that the whole system of U.S-style democracy is failing. Yet far from removing itself from the stage of history, the U.S. rulers are hell-bent on dragging everyone backward, back to slavery, lynchings, genocide and endless war. The elections in 2000, 2004, 2006 and even before also show the failure of the system. And more significantly, they show that the new cannot be built on the basis of the old. The old political set-up, with the old constitution, will not do. It must be a new poltical set-up of our own making, a new democracy vesting sovereignty in the people themselves — in actual deeds not empty words. It must be a history of our own making, of revolution and opening the path to progress by defending rights. Conditions are ripe for change and the necessity is clear. What is needed is for the working class to lead all the peoples in taking center stage.
The broad demonstrations here and worldwide, with their demands for rights, uniting youth and workers, national minorities and women, anti-war and immigrant rights activists, show the internationalist spirit of the working class and people. They embody this new and the necessity to take it further. It is time for the workers to take center stage as the builders of societies in their image, in their internationalist spirit that unites and represents all.
One Humanity! One Struggle for the Rights of All!
Time for the Working Class to Take Center Stage!
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Calendar of Events for May Day
In addition to major actions in NYC, Chicago, Phoenix and Los Angels, more than 100 other cities and towns are organizing activities on May 1, International Day of the Working Class. We list below some of these events. For more information go to:
www.mayday2007.org
www.immigrantsolidarity.org
www.maydaymovement.blogspot.com
Arizona
Tucson
May 1 - 12 noon Rally at Armory Park 220 S. 5th Ave
8:00am - Gather SouthGate 3300 S. 6th Ave
9:00am - March to Downtown Tucson
Tucson May 1st Coalition
520-770-1373 • may1@iactucson.org
California
Los Angeles
May 1 - 12 noon - March from Olympic & Broadway
National May 1st Movement for Worker & Immigrant Rights
c/o United Teachers Los Angeles
323-702-6397
Oakland
May 1- 10am Rally and March
Rally at Fruitvale Plaza and March to the Federal Building
Contact, Claudia Reyes,
510 261 3398 • claudia@mujeresunidas.net
San Francisco
May 1 - 12-1pm – Rally, Dolores Park, Mission District and Grand March for Unconditional Amnesty to the Civic Center
Movement for an Unconditional Amnesty
415-287-0749 • AmnistiaSF@gmail.com
Salinas
May 1 – 12 noon March and Rally
II Gran Boicot Americano por una Amnistia
Four simultaneous marches will depart from: 1) Iglesia Santa Maria; 2) Cesar Chavez Park; 3) Iglesia Cristo Rey; and 4) Parque El Dorado. These marches will join at corner of Alisal St. and Sanborn Rd. and march together to the rally site (Constitution Blvd. Soccer Complex, Constitution and Laurel Dr.)
San Diego & Tijuana Mexico
Tijuana, Mexico
Rally/March, May 1st, Tuesday, 5 pm
Las Brisas Shopping Center, Blvd. Diaz Ordaz
Justice in the Maquiladoras!
Healthy and safe labor conditions
Full rights to U.S. immigrant workers!
Meeting and Discussion
Struggles and experience of Tijuana maquiladora workers
Saturday April 28, 11 am
Where: Cittac’s office, Dolores 32, Fraccionamiento Dimenstein
Both Events Sponsored by: Workers Information Center, Cittac: phone 011-52-664-622-4269
San Diego Maquiladora Network, maquilatijuanasandiego@earthlink.net
San Diego
March/Rally May 1st, 3 pm
Corner of Park and A
Near City College and McDonalds
End to the Raids and deportations of immigrants!
No new Bracero program disguised as Guest-Worker program!
Legalization for everybody!
Si Se Puede Coalition
619-309-7435 • davidschmidt2003@hotmail.com
Colorado
Denver
May 1- 10:00 am - Lincoln Park
Pass Fair and Humane Immigration Reform this Year! Stop the Raids NOW! ¡Pase Reforma Migratoria Justa y Digna este Alto! ¡Paren las Redadas AHORA!
Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC)
www.coloradoimmigrant.org • julien@coloradoimmigrant.org • 303-893-3500
Connecticut
New Haven
May 1 – 12 noon at the Green
“Because we will take the streets again and we will get our rights back and because no human is illegal.”
Unidad Latina en Accion
unidad-latinaenaccion.blogspot.com • ulaccion@yahoo.com •203-606-3484
Florida
Palm Beach area
May 1 – 9am March and Rally
Contact Sonia Barajas, 561-306-0709
Illinois
Chicago
May 1 - 10:00am – Plantón/Rally – Union Park (Ashland Ave. and Washington St.)
12:00 PM – Marcha/March – Randolph St., Desplaines St., Jackson Blvd., Columbus Dr.
2:00 PM – Plantón/Rally – Grant Park
¡Legalizacion Y Derechos Plenos Para Todos! Legalization And Full Rights!
March 10th Movement
Info@movimiento10demarzo.org • 877-762-7242
Student & Worker Walk-Out
May 1 – 12 noon protest
Feeder Marches gathering at 12 noon and will leave at 1pm:
South Side: Benito Juarez High School (Cermak and Ashland)
North Side: Adalberto UMC On Division St. (near California)
“Moratorium on Raids and Deportations Now! Legalization Now! Stop the War and Bring The Troops Home Now!”
El Zocalo Urbano Representing High Schools, Colleges and Universities of Chicago, the youth of Pueblo Sin Fronteras and the Children of La Familia Latina Unida.
Contact, Anita: 773-552-0555 Jesus:773-820-2016
Massachusetts
Boston
May 1 - 4:00 pm - Boston Common
Boston May Day Coalition
www.bostonmayday.org • info@bostonmayday.org • 617-290-5614
Chelsea
May 1- 2:00 pm - March from Everett City Hall
3:00 pm - March from Chelsea City Hall
4:00 pm - Rally in Central Square, East Boston
Stop The Raids & Deportations, Yes To Family Reunification, Just & Immediate Immigration Reform
Chelsea Collaborative
www.chelseacollab.org • mail@chelseacollab.org • 617-889-6080
Endorsed by (partial list): Chelsea Human Services -Collaborative, Jobs with Justice, Proyecto Hondureno, Centro Presente, Alternatives for Community & Environment, UFCW Local 1445, Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional, Proyecto Voz AFSC, Chinese Progressive Association...
Michigan
Detroit
May 1 - Time/Place - TBD
Latinos Unidos/United de Michigan (LUUM), www.luum.org
Rosendo Delgado - 313-887-1849
Ignacio Meneses - 313-587-9285
Elena Herrada - 313-974-0501
Minnesota
Minneapolis
May 1 - 4:00 pm - March - Lake St. & Nicollet St.
MN Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAC)
www.MNImmigrantRights.net • 651-389-9174
Nevada
Las Vegas
May 1 - 7:00 pm - US Federal Courthouse, 333 Las Vegas Blvd. S.
United Coalition for Immigrant Rights
ucir_lv@yahoo.com
New Jersey
Elizabeth
May 1 -
11:00 am - Warinanco Park, Mass Meeting
NJ May 1 Coalition
www.njmay1.org • info@njmay1.org • 973-736-0522
New York
New York City
May 1 - 4:00 pm - Rally & March
Union Square Park, 14 St. & Broadway
Marching to Federal Plaza/ Foley Square
(Site of the African Burial Ground)
Money for human needs, not for war • Living wage and work for all!
Health care, housing & education now • Protect all workers’ rights to organize and strike
Legalization for all immigrants now • End I.C.E. deportations/raids and police murders
Shut down detention centers and end unjust imprisonments
NYC May 1 Coalition
www.may1info • 646-291-2778
Ithaca
May 1 – 12 noon “No Human Is Illegal” rally
Bernie Milton (Main) Pavilion, The Commons
Tompkins County Workers Center
TCWRC@yahoo.com • 607-269-0409,
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
May Day International Workers’ Day – 3pm
Vigil and March for Immigrants’ Rights, location to be announced.
“All united for respect and dignity for the working class!”
Pittsburgh Friends of Immigrants
PFOIinfo@gmail.com
Wisconsin
Madison
May 1 - 12 noon - Rally/March - Capitol to Brittingham Park
Union de Trabajadores Inmigrantes/Immigrant Workers Union
www.uniondetrabajadores.org • uti.madison@gmail.com • 608-345-9544 or 608-446-3656
Milwaukee
May 1 - 12:00 pm - Voces de la Frontera, 1027 S. 5th St.
Un Dia Sin Latin@s/A Day Without Latin@s
Estatal Marcha por Derechos Civiles y Boicot/Statewide Civil Rights March & Boycott
Voces de la Frontera
Wisconsin Legalization Coalition
www.vocesdelafrontera.net • vocesdelafrontera@sbcglobal.net • 414.643.1620
Texas
Dallas
May Day March for Justice
May 1 – 5pm, Gather at Santa Cecilia Catholic Church,1809 W. Davis St.
Contact: Alberto Ruiz • garviadtx@aol.com • 214-941-8300
San Juan
May 1 – 6pm
Estamos Presentes!
People for Peace and Justicer
www.peopleforpeaceandjustice.org • Erik Toren, organizer@peopleforpeaceandjustice.org
Washington D.C.
May 1 – 2pm Rally and March
Malcom X Park
Stop the raids and deportations!
Legalization for all immigrants!
Contact Sonia Umauzor, sumauzor@yahoo.com • 202-420-7001
April 28-May:
Fast to Make D.C. A Sanctuary City
Fast begins April 28 at park at the intersection of Lamont St NW and Mount Pleasant St NW. Participants will then join the May Day Rally at Malcolm X Park.
D.C. Committee For Immigrant Rights, The Metro D.C. Interfaith Sanctuary Network, Mexicanos Sin Fronteras And The Latino Media Collective
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May 1 Chicago
Students & Workers Walk-Out & March
El Zocalo Urbano Representing High Schools, Colleges and Universities of Chicago, The youth of Pueblo Sin Fronteras and the Children of La Familia Latina Unida announce their plan for May 1 Mobilization for Legalization.
“The time has come for the youths’ voice to echo off the walls of Chicago and the White House. Not one family separated and no child left behind,” said youth organizer Anita Rico of Zocalo Urbano. “We are organizing high schools, universities and city colleges, this is our fight and we need to be in front” Darlene from Lane Tech added. “They don’t know who they are messing with. We’re walking out,” Alan from Benito Juarez High said. “Bush’s proposal would have our parents deported and leave us behind and abandoned. He wants to separate our families, destroy our future and we’re preparing to fight back, fight for the next generation. Elvira needs to know we are taking up our responsibility and Saulito is not alone” added Jesus, from Curie High School.
Our Demands For May 1st National Boycott
1) Moratorium on Raids and Deportations Now!
2) Not One Family Separated!
3) Not One Child Left Behind!
4) We Support Elvira & Saul Arellano!
5) Legalization Now!
6) Stop the War and Bring The Troops Home Now!
All are invited to organize their high schools, organization and programs. Please Contact Anita Rico at 773-552-0555 for participation details and requests.
Youth Leadership Meetings are held each Saturday at 2pm at El Zocalo Urbano 2300 S. Blue Island Ave. Feeder Marches will start gathering at 12 noon and will leave at 1pm. For more info: www.ElZocaloUrbano.net, main@elzocalourbano.net
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New Jersey May 1 Coalition
Boycott and Mass Meeting for May 1
A coalition of immigration and other organizations will announce April 16 their plans for participating in a nation-wide immigrant and workers rights protest on May 1. They will be urging all workers, immigrant and native-born, to stop work and urging high school and college students to boycott school on May 1. A Mass Meeting is planned for Elizabeth’s Warinanco Park starting at 11 AM. At the mass meeting the coalition will announce the formation of a Rapid Response Network to help those facing immigration raids and employer attacks. Other events are planned for Atlantic City and elsewhere.
The press conference, organized by the NJ May 1 Coalition, will be at noon, Monday, April 16 at the Newark Public Library (4th floor auditorium), 5 Washington St. Participating organizations will include: United Day Laborers of Freehold, New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee, Philippine Forum, Hispanic Alliance of Atlantic County, and Quindanos Unidos por Colombia, among others.
The protest is being mobilized behind five demands:
1) Full legalization for All NOW!
2) Human rights for all. Stop arrests, detentions, and deportations of immigrants NOW!
3) No to border walls, militarization of the border, and the criminalization of immigrants!
4) Equal rights for all workers NOW!
5) Jobs for all NOW!
“Our first demand is full legalization for all, now,” says Fidela San Miguel of United Daylaborers of Freehold, a participating group in the coalition. “We mean immediate, permanent, non-revocable legal residence for all who live here, without exception.” The protestors are also demanding a halt to all arrests, raids, detentions and deportations of immigrants and the freeing of all who are held without criminal charges. “It is outrageous that these raids are forcing the separation of parents and children and the detention of children,” says San Miguel. To end the raids, the coalition is demanding the repeal of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, and the Military Commissions Act.
“We are fighting for the rights and interests of all workers, not only immigrants” says San Miguel. “Immigrants are forced to work for less and that hurts every worker. We are demanding equal pay and working conditions for foreign born and native-born workers; no guest worker / “bracero” programs. All workers must have the unrestricted right to organize, and strike, regardless of their immigration status or terms of employment.”
“Both immigrants and native-born need decent jobs, and we all need decent housing, schools and hospitals,“ says Eric Lerner of the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee, another participating group in the coalition. “That’s why our fifth demand is ‘jobs for all now’—we are demanding a broad reconstruction program starting with New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and continuing throughout the country. We demand that this program be accomplished by hiring workers through direct government employment to rebuild housing, in particular public housing, public schools, public hospitals, day care centers, and other vital projects. We say fund the program by de-funding all the wars.”
Contacts: Eric Lerner 973-736-0522 (English)
Amari Verastegui 732-322-3363 (Spanish/English)
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Make D.C. A Sanctuary City!
In the past months ICE raids have initiated a persecution of the immigrant community throughout the United States. This has caused the separation of many families and has generated fear in the overall immigrant community. In the meantime, dozens of organizations have decided to play the game of the political calendar. Contrary to this, the D.C. Committee for Immigrant Rights is fasting and marching along with the immigrant community to demand full legalization for all immigrants with justice and dignity! We must raise our voices here in the capital of empire to break the silence and denounce the persecution of the immigrant community!
A group of immigrants, representatives from religious organizations and pro-immigrant organizations, will hold a fast starting on Saturday April 28 at 11am. The fast will take place in Mount Pleasant, Washington, DC at the small park located in the center of a Latino neighborhood at the intersection of Lamont St NW and Mount Pleasant St NW.
The people who will initiate the fast are: Rev: Whit Hutchinson, Sonia Umanzur, Sergio Contreras, Jose Sanches, Carlos Silva, Natalia Fuentes, Macrina Cardenas, Lita Trejo, Rosa Lozano, Jose Sanchez, Mario Canek, Ryme Katkouda. Some others will join in the following days.
WE DEMAND:
Stop the raids and deportations!
Legalization for all immigrants!
We call upon the Mayor and City Council to declare the District of Columbia a Sanctuary City for Immigrants.
The fast will lead to the Pro-immigrant Rights Rally that will take place on May 1st at 4:00 PM at Malcolm X Park, located at 16 St NW and Euclid St, in Washington DC.
Sponsored by the D.C. Committee For Immigrant Rights, The Metro D.C. Interfaith Sanctuary Network, Mexicanos Sin Fronteras And The Latino Media Collective.
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The Giant Awakens: In 2006, a historic mobilization for immigrant rights swept the U.S. as millions took the streets. HR 4437, the draconian anti-immigrant legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on December 16, 2005, ignited this massive wave of immigrant rights mobilizations that spread rapidly across the country. Millions of people took the streets in all major cities and many smaller urban areas, with notable and highly visible actions in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and elsewhere. In many places, these marches were larger than any in history.
Mainstream news media predictably covered the marches with a mix of surprise, ignorance, and racism. They gave plenty of airtime to anti-immigrant spokespeople and fringe white supremacist organizations like the Minutemen. They failed almost entirely to do in-depth analysis or to convey the voices of the millions who marched.
Yet grassroots video activists, immigrant rights organizers, and everyday people participating in the mobilizations documented the voices and the stories behind this mass movement with video, audio, photography and texts.
¡Gigante: Despierta! is a DVD compilation of compelling short films from all around the country, due to hit the streets in the weeks before Mayday 2007. Shot, edited, and brought together by a network of independent video activists, graphic designers, community organizers, musicians, and immigrant rights activists, it is a collective memory and a tool to inspire action this MayDay 2007, when the Giant will raise its voice again to say: We are one people, without borders. We are here, and we are here to stay! ( Copies of the DVD available from USMLO)[TOP]
Open Letter to the Ruling Class
Get Off the Stage!
OK, this letter’s been a long time coming. There’s a lot of us, as your secret agents and bloated spy agencies know, who are, shall we say, fed up with all your lies and crimes.
Now, let me say from the outset, that I understand how hard it is for you folks. It’s hard work to rape and pillage all the time, and I think we all know how hard you folks work at that. It’s also hard to keep up the charade of freedom and democracy… I mean, I remember going to the store with my mom, stealing a pack of gum; but everyone knew. I was so clever, feigning innocence and honesty. I thought I had fooled everyone. But you know what? I got caught. I finally accepted that I’d been exposed and dealt with it, moved on (on a passing note, I learned not to steal and cheat, something that you folks seem to have a disability learning). Anyway, we all know we’ve got no power under your system. We’re exposed. You’re exposed. So why not get off the stage, and let us start a new play, under the peoples’ direction? We workers are quite capable, which, I know, frightens you.
Now, let me say that I know it’s not easy to get off the stage when your time is up. I mean, I remember in second grade, playing that trumpet solo, and I just didn’t want to leave… all those lights, and people staring at me. You get the point. I had to get off the stage. It was someone else’s turn.
So, while I know how hard it is to get off the stage, it’s our turn, the people’s turn to govern. Things would work a lot better if you just got out of the way, since you clearly can’t lead (no offense).
Now, let me say that I understand from the outset that you have developed all these weapons — even smart ones — to help keep you in power, on the stage so to speak. But I really want to let you in on something. Just a little secret between us. Are you ready? That sort of thing just doesn’t work. It sorts out nothing, makes a huge mess, and — and I don’t think I’m being an alarmist —could destroy humanity! Now, do you really want to go down in history as the class that destroyed humanity? Talk about a public relations disaster even your best PR firm would have a tough time with. I can see your creative geniuses around the table, with one shouting out: “I know, how about this: Humanity — only a few good men left.” “No, no,” shouts the one spilling Starbucks coffee as he tries to justify it all, “Try this: Nuclear holocaust — an equal opportunity answer for everyone.”
Now, let me say that I’m well aware that these arguments have so far not persuaded you to leave the stage, and even when you pretend to leave the stage, you’ve got your thugs in the aisle, waiting to pretend they defend the people or just simply terrorize them, or whatever. Well, we’ve had a lot of experience with your thugs, your anti-worker gangs, KKKers, your Minutemen, and so on, and I think you’ll find that we are quite ready to defend ourselves. You see, since we don’t have to spend all our time promoting disinformation and justifying crimes and plotting against people trying to, you know, live their life and contribute to society and stuff, we’re pretty focused and prepared. But again, I assume you know that (or else all that money spent on spying is a real waste).
Which brings me to a topic of particular interest. We’re getting a little tired of the whole terrorism thing — the silly airport security drills which we’re not even allowed to mock unless we feel like a vacation in the slammer. We know you guys are the biggest terrorists, supply the terrorists, encourage the terrorists, and generally act in a manner not befitting modern human beings. It’s almost funny (and annoyingly predictable) how every time the people want to take a stand, demand their rights, you guys jump all over everyone: “Can’t have that, it’s a security risk.” Oooh, people fighting for their rights, better put a stop to that right away. No gangster left behind I suppose.
That’s really the whole point, isn’t it? You can’t accept progress, so you’ve got to introduce, unleash and create the conditions for all this terrorism as a desperate attempt to keep humanity down. Rule through imposing chaos, I suppose. Well that’s a real gem, worthy of one of your Nobel prizes — possibly even better than your recent contribution clarifying for all that the earth is, get this…really flat.
It’s kind of funny how you are so afraid of the conditions, the level which we workers have raised society. In the context of the human ability to provide all with an abundant supply of healthy food, you cry scarcity. In the context of an abundance of stolen land for your commercial farming and degenerate mansion life (complete with your own private airports and gulf courses), you cry over population growth and crowding. In the context of a grotesque expansion of military spending and debt payments, you cry “no money, ” and fiscal restraint when it comes to social programs. C’mon, you’ve got to give it up! I hate to think that a human brain could malfunction so badly — survival of the most incoherent and irrational!
Well, I think that’s it. You can’t say I didn’t try. You can’t say that you didn’t know. But here’s the hard cold historical fact. Your time is up. We’re not simply asking for a place on the stage, but we’re going to stand center stage, even remake the stage, and you know what, your nightmare play is over. Done. Finished.
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Virginia Tech Tragedy:
Let us Together Discuss How to Turn Things Around
The U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization extends its condolences to all thirty-three families and friends of the students and staff killed at Virginia Tech and to all the families and friends of those wounded. We extend our condolences to the entire student body, faculty and staff of the university and the surrounding community, who are all being so profoundly affected by this tragedy. We also express our appreciation for the efforts of students and staff, who did not wait for police officials but instead acted to immediately assist the wounded and inform others. Their efforts and that of the community and all those who continue to seek out answers serve to impart some coherence within a dreadful situation. They show that the antidote to succumbing to fear is to take up one’s social responsibility, especially in exceptional circumstances. In this regard, having mechanisms and arrangements that enable people to deal with such events and with the ensuing psychological trauma make the difference between coherence and incoherence and stop a bad situation from becoming worse. Recognizing the need for these mechanisms and organizing to put them in place for the future is of assistance to all.
The recurrence of brutal, insane acts such as the shooting at Virginia Tech are a great shock for all concerned. People immediately want to know why these mass shootings keep occurring and what can be done? President George W. Bush, with responsibility to society and the youth to get at the heart of the problem and organize to solve it, instead claims, “It’s impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering.”
Why? Even though the acts may be “senseless,” does it mean we cannot make sense of them? President Bush claims this is “impossible” in order to divert from his own social responsibility as president, and more generally from the role of society in creating the individuals that commit these acts. There are no simple answers. But the aim of Bush is to dismiss the reality that the government puts forward “violence and suffering” and mass killings as a norm for solving problems. What are Iraq and Afghanistan if not mass killings of innocents? Why are government actions imposing massive violence on whole peoples applauded and called courageous, while an individual youth, following that example, is to be condemned.
Yes, mass killing of innocents is to be condemned by society. To do so it is necessary to start at the top, with officials like Bush, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is necessary to look at the society and culture that gives rise to such tragic consequences for the youth and work out how to change these root causes.
Instead, when the tragic consequences of such a society and culture are revealed, the government declares that some individual has a behavior problem. They claim more has to be done to “identify” these youth with “violent behavior.”
Various media outlets then repeat this and bring on the experts describing how youth are to be profiled, or to say that it is the fault of violent video games and movies. In this way, a very serious problem facing society and our younger generation is immediately reduced to so-called solutions which are unhelpful at best — parents and teachers should join in the profiling and “monitor behavior,” we need more police and police-state measures and other such things.
Social, political, economic and cultural problems cannot be ruled out of existence with law and order campaigns, feel-good statements or simple explanations and measures that solve nothing and often make matters worse.
Following the events of 9/11 we saw how an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty about the future was created and then used as a pretext to introduce the “war on terror” and invade Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as justify crimes against the Palestinian people. It was used to introduce police-state measures in the U.S. and elsewhere. The agenda these arrangements serve is not to be questioned.
Meanwhile, even though insecurity and uncertainty have become the new normal, the widespread belief that these measures have not sorted out any problems the world was facing before September 11 or after is ignored by the government. More war and more invasions, more criminalizing and repression remain their answer. When it comes to the shooting, they claim it is impossible to understand what happened, yet without that understanding they know the answer — more security and repression. And, just like after 9/11, the same demand “to return normal.” It is this “normal” that is giving rise to the problems. How can returning to it assist in any way?
In considering what leads some youth to take desperate measures, such as that at Virginia Tech and Columbine before that, why not take into account the present and future of war, militarism and the hooligan culture devoid of any social responsibility which is being forced onto society as the only way to sort out problems? Should we not consider the whole apparatus of revenge and collective punishment that characterize U.S. rule? The youth from grade school through high school are constantly humiliated and subjected to collective punishment. They are treated like prisoners and faced with lockdowns, mass searches and seizures without cause, collective punishment at the arbitrary whim of administrators and more. The spirit of revenge, of inflicting fear and pain on those who are innocent in order to supposedly control everyone predominates. We have top government leaders saying, for example, that “Iran must feel pain,” and invading Afghanistan in the name of punishing one group, al Qaeda, yet there is surprise when one youth also targets innocents? Why not look at the disconnect imposed on the youth by this situation, where the government lives and breathes torture, mass killings and use of force, but youth are somehow to be immune from this reality.
Just as occurred after September 11, while the government claims it is impossible to make sense of the situation, they also claim they know the answer — more repressive measures, for our security of course! Across the country following the shooting, universities were locked down. Students were required to show ID to enter buildings on campus. Demands for making the campuses more closed, with anyone coming onto campus needing ID and permission, installing metal detectors and video cameras and more, are also circulating by government, police and officials of various kinds.
Much like the repressive measures taken at airports, similar measures on campuses are not meant to provide security and assist the youth, any more than they assist air passengers. They are meant to impose humiliation, collective punishment and a readiness to submit to such punishment. It is to instill fear, to make everyone suspicious of each other, so as to prevent discussion and organizing on solutions that do assist the youth and society as a whole.
This society is creating great problems for the youth. Law and order and military solutions and simplistic explanations will not deal with these problems; they will only make them worse. We do not want this “normal” of chaos, revenge, and collective punishment and mass killings of innocents. We want a society that provides a future for the youth and we want a government that takes up its social responsibility. Solutions must come out of a broad discussion amongst everyone on the overall direction of the society and how to turn things around.
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Stop Vindictive Punishments Against the Youth!
What exactly is the purpose of detention (DT)? Making students sit down for 30-45 minutes each day after school for “being bad” is completely pointless. Nothing gets done in these DT sessions other than inconveniencing the youth, who not only waste time in DT but also then miss their bus and have to find a way home. Youth in high school are forced into DT for minor infractions such as, coming to school a minute late, going to class a minute late, or any other silly pretext the school can think of to implement their favorite hobby, punishing the youth.
We already face a situation where we are only given two minutes between classes, where bathrooms are closed on all but one floor all morning long, and where socializing and discussing with our friends, an important part of school for all the youth, is also used as an excuse for detention. All of these rules are used to humiliate the youth and then set us up for punishment. Then, since no time is given to use the bathrooms and most of them are kept locked half the time, we have to ask for permission and get told no! Then rejecting this humiliation and arguing with the teacher or just leaving to go is called insubordination and grounds for DT. And whether you get DT does not depend on the actual situation in each case, but on the individual you are dealing with and how they are feeling that day.
The DT sessions serve no good purpose to the student body. While in DT at my school, youth are not allowed to do any work. Youth are not allowed to read, to study, or to draw. They are not allowed to talk or be social. Youth are forced to merely sit there and wait for their name to be called (almost like prison, almost like the military) so the person in charge knows they are there.
The administrators guarding students act like policemen. They are known to badger and intensely guard youth. Most youth make attempts to reach out to other youth and be social (as youth should). Anyone caught talking has to deal with further badgering from the administration. Even worse, when their name is called the administrator tells them they have another day of detention.
The problems facing the youth will not be solved by exacting revenge on the youth. In our schools we need several things. We want better counselors who assist us, instead of enforcing arbitrary and unfair rules. The counselors we have now don’t help the youth at all. They usually tend to delegitimize the youth’s problems. Telling you things like “you’re young, you’ll get over it.”
Another thing desperately needed is the space for youth to seriously talk with each other about their problems. In every place in school youth are completely stifled. Politically, socially, and ideologically all youth are told to be silent. What is needed is a forum to talk about everything.
What is for sure is that DT is nothing more than an attempt to divert youth, teachers, and parents from the true problems facing youth. It is also a means of the administration to exact revenge on the youth merely out of frustration for not being able to end the problem on their own terms. At our school we are organizing together to discuss problems and fight for our rights and I urge youth in every school to get organized!
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Teachers Reject Arbitrary Rule
and Collective Punishment
As a Buffalo teacher, I applaud the work that is being carried out by the youth in organizing to defend the rights of youth and teachers. The problems facing the youth in Buffalo schools, as pointed out in “Youth Organize to Defend Rights” are similar to problems students face in any school.
Two problems I wish to address are arbitrariness and the impunity that comes with it. The organizing efforts of the youth, which includes the “Declaration of Students’ Rights” speaks to the need for “clearly defined rules, regulations and consequences.” The youth want common standards for all, rather than the daily situation they face of arbitrary actions at the whim of administrators and very often collective punishment for minor infractions (like talking) by one or two youth. Teachers also do not want to enforce impunity by administrators against the students, because doing so means they too become instruments of unfair and collective punishment against the students.
To give one example, I was in the cafeteria for lunch duty. Even though the cafeteria is a public place within the school and really the only place the youth are allowed to talk with each other, our school requires that students be silent for the last five minutes of their lunch period. The justification given for this is that it helps to ensure “a quiet and orderly dismissal” as students make their way to their afternoon classes. This rule is pretty strictly enforced, often with the use of collective punishment — if a few students or one table is talking, everyone is punished. No one is supposed to question why imposing silence on the youth is acceptable, nor why “silence” and “order” are equated. Why aren’t silence and repression equated?
The rationale for the last five minutes of silence in the cafeteria is to ensure that students are quiet in the hallway when they leave lunch. But for any school, why is a noisy hallway seen as a crime? They are kids! Why isn’t discussing a standard with the youth and together working out problems like noise, including what is and is not “too much,” equated with the kind of order everyone can defend? It seems to me the aim of the silence is that of silencing the youth and their just demands, including a space to discuss and socialize while in school. Teachers often are told their classrooms are too noisy, without any consideration of what the students are learning. So this issue of “noise” is used not only to silence the youth but to create an atmosphere where teachers do not teach, they police, telling youth to be quiet and stand in straight lines, and so forth.
In the specific situation I mentioned, one table of students was being talkative. An assistant principal said to me, “I want you to stand over by that table and police them. I want the names of any student who continues to talk.” This put me in a bind. I think the rule about silence is unfair and harmful. I also think imposing collective punishment is harmful. But there is great pressure to follow orders and not speak out against the administration and their arbitrary actions, especially in front of students. This is said to be undermining someone else’s authority, namely, an administrator, which is considered unprofessional. So, in the name of being professional, I am supposed to join in the arbitrary punishment and impunity. What kind of example is this for the youth, or teachers, or even administrators? Why should we accept and help enforce impunity? Why not join with the youth in opposing it? It seems to me that would better assist everyone.
It is also claimed that if students get noisy in the halls, then they are going to get into fights. Nonsense. It is the case, rather, that fights that do occur are often related to the oppressive situation where students are forced into silence for the near entirety of their school day and regularly subjected to arbitrary and unjust collective punishment.
Plus, what is the problem with students talking to each other, really? They have to be quiet when they enter the building, they have to be quiet in the hallways, they have to be quiet when they are in the classrooms, they have to be quiet when they dismiss to their busses — when are they supposed to be able to talk and discuss with one another? Quite simply, they are not. Discussion among the youth is no longer considered a vital necessity of learning. Socializing with peers is also no longer important. What has become important is training the youth to follow orders and remain silent and training teachers to be enforcers of this dictate. I cannot go along with this and urge all teachers to reject it. Teachers are not police, not trained to be police, and do not want to be police. Schools are not prisons.
The “order” being called for is oppressive and prison-like, which is the main character of the school environments I’ve worked in over the past eleven years. It is an environment completely at odds with teaching and learning.
Why not begin by discussing what is needed for a positive learning and teaching environment and what is the place of discussing at lunch and having orderly hallways within that? Why are students seen as having no role in creating a safe and orderly learning environment? Why must the environment be forced upon them as though they are incidental to the overall operations of a school? Teachers must reject arbitrary rule and impunity, by recognizing it and the role they are being forced to play in enforcing it. It is imperative, then, for teachers to organize to discuss these matters together. After all, that is what the youth are doing.
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Attitude is not a crime
How to Intervene Without
Denying the Needs of Youth?
A friend of mine, and fellow teacher, gave me a lift to work this morning. On the ride in, we shared recent experiences with the difficulties we face as public school teachers. I realized, once again, that discussion of these difficulties, more often than not, centers on this or that student. In my ten years of teaching, there has been no shortage of “student bashing” or the pressure to join in conversations that center on how “bad” the students can be. It becomes a cycle, or habit, like falling into the gossip trap. At the same time, there is a real need for teachers to share their experiences with each other about common problems. All teachers have their lousy days and it feels helpful to blow off steam by sharing a story or two with a colleague. But if limited to repeating how “bad” some students are, this venting does not solve anything. In fact, in my experience, the farther one falls into the student-bashing trap, the cynicism, the sarcasm, the harder it is to climb out and, in the end, this habit usually translates into further attacks on the youth, and eventually, teacher burnout.
In light of these problems, I found the discussion article on “Attitude Problem” in the March issue of Voice of Revolution (VOR) to be helpful. After reading it, I found myself thinking about many things. What would it be like to be a seventh or eighth grade student now? What defines a “good” or “bad” student? Looking back when I was in grade school, I guess I was both. I never did much schoolwork and got pretty lousy grades, which is “bad” — but I was generally well-liked by my teachers and other students, which is “good.” My teachers probably wouldn’t say I had an “attitude problem.” But what about now?
If I were a young student today, I would get pretty sick and tired of being told to get back in line, stop talking, hurry up, slow down, spit out my gum, to open up my locker for a drug search, to be told who I have to apologize to, how I’ll never make it in high school, how I’ll never be able to hold down a job, to have to sit and be lectured to about responsibility, the “code of conduct,” to be told what clothes I could or could not wear, etc. The VOR article says: “People express their thoughts and feelings regarding what is right and wrong, what is and what ought to be, when they reject their marginalization, oppression, and exploitation. This is an expression of the right to conscience and serves to advance the social interests. To label the problem as one of attitude is to demand that one separate their thoughts and feelings from their conditions of life, to demand that one change their attitude absent change in their conditions of life. It is tantamount to saying that no one has the right to challenge his or her conditions of misery, oppression, of exploitation.”
So, it follows that a “good” student, one that does not have an “attitude problem,” could be defined as someone who not only does their schoolwork, gets good grades and gets along with their peers, but is also pretty good at separating their thoughts and feelings from their conditions of life — an ability that is dangerous to the individual and society, as it means the person is being trained to survive separate, or aloof, from reality and to accept that separation as normal and even “good.” How can it be helpful to train our youth to ignore rotten conditions instead of doing something about them? Why should we, as teachers, participate in demanding and forcing the youth to not look reality in the eye and punish them if they dare to do so?
The conditions of life for some of my students, specifically, translate into a struggle for basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. The article says, “Attitude is increasingly being treated as a crime, as can be seen in the fact that students are routinely punished in schools on the basis solely of their attitude.” But if a student is living in poverty, how could their attitude not reflect the fact that they are living in poverty? And are they supposed to just ignore this violence against them as individuals, and, considering the majority of students here live in poverty, against their collective as a whole? It seems to me the role of teachers is to assist and defend the youth who reject these conditions and recognize that doing so is an important part of defending their rights.
A main problem with “bashing” the students who supposedly have “attitude problems,” other than it does not solve anything, is that it denies the existence of society. The very core of the existing social, political, cultural, economic set up is rotten. It demands renewal. It demands change. Is it any wonder that the youth reject this? What future do they have other than more poverty, more war, more repression at every turn? The problems are huge, but not unsolvable. And the youth play a vital role in changing the situation.
One question for me, the next time I’m around a student-bashing session, is to intervene by saying, how about if we take a different starting point for this discussion? How about if we ask what will assist the youth involved? What will assist youth and teachers together in creating an atmosphere for discussion and solving problems? What will help eliminate the current atmosphere where students are treated like prisoners and teachers prison guards? This is our reality — let’s look it in the eye and change it, together.
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Youth are Not the Problem
Target the Inhuman Conditions of Life
Just what is wrong with our schools? I won’t give you my list right now, but I feel sure that if we could discuss this question and actually get to the bottom of it, we would conclude that our individual and collective grievances and concerns with life and society have a common source. Let’s try to break this down a bit.
In the schools where I work, for example, many are concerned with violence. This problem causes fear, anxiety and confusion amongst people. Students, their families and teachers and other school staff are immediately affected, while the community as a whole is also concerned. People want to do something about it and invariably want to know why it is happening. Reasonably, people want to get to the source in order to find solutions.
One problem we face is that there is a lot of interference, static and downright opposition to this path to finding solutions. For one thing, there is an immediate blame given to individuals, and consequently the issue is distorted to one of determining which individuals to blame and punish. Existing rules that pertain to individuals are invoked or new rules are hastily proposed. Afterward the problem of violence remains and invariably the different interests involved, youth, teachers, parents, administrators, and so on, are dissatisfied in one way or the other.
We can see that blaming and punishing individuals is not a solution since the problems remain. Solutions would involve dealing with the main cause of the violence — both in the immediate circumstances and the social conditions. Here’s where more interference and mischief making comes in. One effort to divert from the path of solving problems throws up its hands and says we can’t know why these problems exist, or even if we do know that they stem from a rotten social system, we can’t do anything about it. So the best we can do is to punish individuals by sending them away, isolating or jailing them, hurting them or in some way inconveniencing them — based on the “severity” of the given action.
Another effort to divert from the path of solving problems says that it is not the conditions which need to be targeted but attributes of an individual, like their attitude. The issue then is not the relationship of attitude to society but of identifying a particular attitude, branding it “the problem,” and crushing individuals that express it. The youth are constantly targeted in this way, with their just rejection of rotten conditions branded a “bad attitude.” Teachers are called on to enforce this lie and attack the youth, rather than join in supporting the resistance of the youth and channeling it in a way that contributes to changing conditions.
Our repeated experience is that one of the main things that is wrong is that those in power, and especially federal and state governments with the responsibility to meet the right to education, systematically oppose problem solving in general and solving the problem of violence in particular. To do so would necessitate targeting the social conditions of poverty and racism as a starting point, and the social responsibility of government to eliminate these problems as key to eliminating their expression in the schools. More repression, and the force and punishment used to enforce it, is just another form of imposing more violence. We as teachers have a responsibility to reject this direction and together work out alternatives. We can start by targeting the inhuman social conditions, not the youth, and by organizing together for our rights. Just as a small example, it is clear that teachers, youth, parents, would be unified by standing to demand immediate government funding to target poverty by guaranteeing food, clothing, housing and education to all impoverished Buffalo families. The funds are readily available by freezing debt payments and by refusing to continue funding the war. This is our way out of the situation in a way that assists everyone. So let us be guided by a program that starts by saying: Stop Paying the Rich! Increase Funding for Social Programs!
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