Category: News and Views
WASHINGTON (AFP) Immigrants' rights advocates, elated by the resounding success of Monday's "National Day of Action," which drew the backing of hundreds
of thousands of protesters across the United States, now are planning a national boycott which they hope will have an even greater resonance.
Organizers are planning the May 1 "Great American boycott," urging illegal immigrants -- who cannot vote a nd who have only limited political power -- to
flex their economic muscle.
Protesters are being urged to refrain from shopping, and to stay away from school and work.
You should take a moment to let that sink in.
This is a movement orchestrated by people who entered the US illegally, and then want to scream about their "rights." WHAT RIGHTS? YOU DON'T EVEN BELONG
HERE!
Let's take a look at some of the many benefits that illegal aliens have blessed our great country with: Street gangs, graffitti, drugs, skyrocketing healthcare,
depreciation of property value, illiteracy.
The list could go on. What they actually have to offer (cheap labor) pales to what they have given our country to deal with. I'll take expensive vegetables
over expensive healthcare any day!
And now, like terrorists, they are going to attack our economy -- the one entity that makes our nation stand out from all the others. The backbone of our
nation. The country they came to like locusts so they could reap the benefits is now the focus of their boycott. You've seen
it on TV: Marching on our American streets waving their Mexican flags, boldly showing that they can be more racist than who they accuse of, and yet the
obvious is totally oblivious to them......
IF YOU'VE GOT IT SO BAD HERE, THEN LEAVE!!!
To all the real Americans, you can do one small thing on May 1st, 2006. It won't be racist, nor will it be violent. It will not be boastful, arrogant, selfish,
nor distasteful. It will not be any of
those things that our "guests" have already displayed. What it will do is nullify a movement.
All you have to do is buy something on May 1st. Make up for what they will try to take away. It doesn't have to be a new car or house (unless you were already
planning on getting one). It simply needs to be a day of trading.
Hold off grocery buying until May 1st.
Take your wife out to eat that night.
Get the kids pizza, hamburgers, whatever!
Make several trips to the convenience store.
Buy your meals at work.
Fill up your tank.
Shop for clothes, furniture, outdoor equipment.
If it needs to be bought, BUY IT MAY 1st!
Those are just a few suggestions. We're not asking you to spend your inheritance that day, but just to spend more than you normally would.
Even if it's only a few dollars, this will help soften the blow that the Mexicans will try to inflict on our economy that day. It sounds trivial at first,
but if this idea gets around, what the Mexicans set out to do will fail.
lol Isn't it lucky that I planned to do my grocery shopping today? heheheh I was planning to spend lots of money too! What luck!
that letter is racist
Well I just got back from lunch, The local Diner was open. The city busses are running. I even saw a garbage truck go by. A friend of mine owns a roofing company all his workers showed up!
Life as we know it hasn't stopped. so much for the boycott! Think I'll go to taco bell for dinner.
Yup. Sounds pretty racist and insulting to me as well. Not to mention that they are way over-generalizing. Illegal immigrants are not the only cause of gangs or poverty or medical and educational issues; we're not all exactly angels as if getting rid of the immigrants would cure all our problems. And anyway, that person who wrote the letter probably wasn't thinking; we hire people from Mexico and other economically troubled countries so that we don't have to pay them as much, and then the ones who want a job but can't afford to come here legally for whatever reasons are insulted for taking up our resources? I understand (although I wouldn't be as insulting as the letter-writer) that we should be upset if they were just coming and not doing a thing (which some probably do), but it is true that the working immigrants are doing jobs that most Americans probably wouldn't want to do such as cleaning, labor, and all that, and we pay them lower wages for that kind of work and actually even for other jobs that probably aren't manyual labor jobs. So I think what the immigrants and their supporters are doing today makes sense because whether some people like it or not, we depend on these people for some of our jobs and money, since there are lots of immigrants (both here legally and illegally ) doing certain jobs and buying things.
Hmm, it's a tricky issue.
My biggest problem with the immigrants is two-fold:
a. That they do not seem to bother to learn English and expect us to cater to them by learning to speak Spanish and
b. They are not contributing at all to the community by paying taxes.
I agree that a lot of the jobx they are doing an "American" most likely wouldn't even want to do in the first place and that the gangs/crime etc didn't begin with the immigrants, whether they're making the situation worse I don't know although I wouldn't be surprised.
So I think what Bush is doing, in fact, makes sense. At lesat I would ease the requirements a little bit for getting a residency card (you Americans do not know how hard it is to get one), but set a quota and have immigrants e.g. pass an English proficiency test before graanting them any sort of status in the U.S. and to have them contribute to the tax system, even if it isn't a large percentage (seeing as we don't pay them much it still adds up).
I've got a very good job here, I pay thousands of dollars in Social Security taxes and other taxes and yet I am not entitled to any benefits, no unemployment, no social security, if I get sick or lose my job they just kick me out of the country (well I have health insurance that I pay a lot for and still is insufficient). In order to get a green card I have to spent possibly more than 10000 dollars and wait for 3 years and even then I could lose it if I move away. I think it is a bit too difficult to get any sort of rights and I think there could be a happier compromise, to grant some sort of legal recognition to those who are here, who work and who are responsible citizens, learn the language and have clean criminal record, but to be tough on those who do not try to assimulate, have a history of criminal activity etc, it's a big problem and there are many sides to it so a careful non-judgemental super left or super rightist approach is what is required.
what's being lost in all this is the day chosen for these protests, May 1 is International Labor Day, the day that every country in the world (other than the US) celebrates its laborers. It is also famous for these sort of workers protests. From the late 1880s-1920s there would regularly be protests, mostly by immigrant laborers of Irish, German, Italian, and other European persuasions fighting for their rights and against racism. They faced the same racism, they faced the same accusations of being criminals, they faced the same accusations about lack of a desire to learn english, and they faced the same lack of rights. Nowadays its impossible to think that these groups were sources of discrimination for nativists as I'm sure many American zoners trace their roots back through this generation of people. Why is it fair for open immigration then and an absolute clamp down on immigration now? So much for give me your poor, tired, and weak. At the end of the day, if it wasn't for the right wingers talking about criminalizing illegals and those who offer them basic assistance, this whole debate would have never started. The current policy isn't broken, so why go about "fixing" it?
That's the whole point though. I think this policy needs improving and those who really want to work hard or have education or other qualities that U.S. needs should be more easily allowed to become a working part of the U.S. society and contribute to society and be recognized for their contributions. As for the protests, I agree, if they are non violent they fully have the right to stage them, after all what would freedom of expression be if not that.
It still does not feel right when our tax money goes towards treating people who fall sick and are illegally in the country and do not have to pay or contribute anything themselves. I'd rather pay a slightly higher price for my vegetables and know that those people contribute to our taxes and are covered within the system too. Hence the point of makiing immigration slightly more easy in some ways. And we should also consider there has been an influx of around 8 million people in the last 5 years, if this continues this is going to cause major disruption and over supply of work in the country, there's a whole new wave of immigration that should be at lesat discussed and considered rather than written off.
shrug, I don't know but I was looking at my calendar and Labor day is on September 4th. But I guess if your different you have to have your own special day. How about white day! anyone afended?
you need to read some history. May 1st, or May Day, has always been considered International Labor Day and dates back to the early 1880s. It also is connected as a rememberance to the laborers that died in the Haymarket Riots that occurred right here in Chicago on May Day 1886. A US group decided to use the first monday in september date to differentiate itself from the labor day the rest of the world and the unions in the US used to celebrate workers. It was adopted by President Cleveland in 1887. I'm sure if you looked at most calenders, it would list May 1 as either May Day or International Worker's Day.
I guess I have a racist calendar, it only shows U.S. and Canadian holidays. Those poor world laborers. Anyone else have a calendar that shows that day? I'm curious.
Actually, you're right, I don't think most calendars show international holidays. But your history books would tell about the Haymarket Riot, although most people studying it in high school (including myself) would either not pay attention to or understand the meaning of it. Also, people the different people (wich I guess would include immigrants, people with disabilities, colored people, the majority of disadvantaged groups), tend to have special days or otherwise draw attention to themselves to remember certain major events (whether good or bad), and to use that time to either celebrate or make others aware of unfair issues they face that they think should change. If they don't bring attention to these issues, obviously nothing will change about it because the public wouldn't know. Anyway, it's not like people're having to see all these "special" days on most calendars, like (diés y séis or June -teenth), so I mean, if it bothered them that much, they could always ignore it by not paying attention to news stories that draw attention to those events and stuff. *smiles*
when I first heard about the Spanish version of the national anthem, I wasn't a big fan of the idea. I thought it wasn't the best way for the immigrants to push forth their cause and would only serve as fodder for all the right wing nuts. Well, you'll all love this! In 1919, the US Board of Education, thats right folks, the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, commissioned a spanish translation of the Star Spangled Banner as a way of teaching new immigrants about the song. Looks like back then, we were a bit more open minded, oh well, put a model for mediocrity in the White House and watch as the nation gets collectively more stupid and racist, fun times, eh?
Isn't that weird though? Because during or after that time, people were punished in school for even speaking Spanish. Also, now they have Spanish channels, yet we still have some people still making a big deal saying that Spanish-speakers should learn English. I don't get this country sometimes. People want others to conform to the "American culture" but at the same time are so worried about offending everyone else in that same group. *puzzled*
haha, guess what? It gets even better! Despite Bush saying he thinks the star spangled banner should only be in English, back in 2000, in cities with large immigrant populations, Bush would occassionally bring in a "Viva Bush!" mariachi band and in front of Hispanic audiences, he would join them in a spanish rendition of the anthem.
Post 1 was definitely not racist, even if it was generalised. If you want to live in a country, you should go through the legal process. If you get in, you should then be paid the same as everyone else, contribut the same taxes as everyone else, and speak the national language. There should be a minimum wage in the USA, whih would stop companies hiring illegal imigrants to do jobs cheaply. All imigrants who wish to live in the USA would then have no excuse for not paying taxes. However, if they do currently say they can't afford taxes, my only response is why do you work for so little? Labour day seems to have been relatively innefective, but if the point about them doing low-paid work is true, then that's what I'd expect. America's problems with drugs and gangs is increased through illegal imigration, but its failure to secure its borders properly is the biggest cause of this kind of crime. Another thing America would benefit from, wold be enforced assimilation between all who legally live there.