OAXACA,
MEXICO - The Oaxacan Institute for Attention to Migrants, and its
director Rufino Dominguez, called for a new era of respect for the rights of
migrants, in commorating the International Day of the Migrant in the Palacio
del Gobierno, Oaxaca's state capitol building. Representing the
newly-elected state government, Dominguez paid tribute to the contributions of
the braceros, the first of Oaxaca's migrant workers to travel to the United
States. from 1942 to 1964, and to the women who cared for the families they left
behind.
Around the
balconies of the palacio's courtyard hung photographs showing the lives of
current migrants from Oaxaca, working as farm laborers in California.
Migrant rights activists, artisans and public officials spoke about the
important role migration continues to play in Oaxaca's economic, social,
political and family life. The state, in southern Mexico, is the source
of one of the largest waves of migration from Mexico to the U.S.
Dominguez, the
former coordinator of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations, which
organizes indigenous migrants in both Mexico and the U.S., was appointed
director of the IOAM by Oaxaca's new governor, Gabino Cue Monteagudo. Cue
defeated the PRI, the party that governed Oaxaca for the previous 80 years.
In an interview with David Bacon, Dominguez described the different road the
new government is taking to ensure social justice for Oaxacan migrants today:
We can't tell the
U.S. government, or the governments of California and other states, to respect
the rights of our people who are living there, if we ourselves are not
respecting the rights of migrants here in Oaxaca. Many migrants passing
through Oaxaca from Central America and other places suffer systematic
violations of their human rights. Have we just paid attention to migrants
in the U.S. because they send dollars home? Sometimes the problems of
migrants within Mexico are even greater than those we have in the U.S.
Oaxacans are also
migrants within our own state, like those who work in the coconut palms on the
coast. About 30,000 Oaxacans migrate for work without leaving the state,
and we've never paid attention to them. Another 300,000 live in Mexico
City and states in the north, like Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California.
The Institute hasn't paid attention to them in the past either.
And we've never
consulted the people who actually live in the U.S. about our activity
there, or asked for their opinions. We want a different vision, a more
level or equal relationship where we're not dictating policies because we're
the government, but asking people for their input and opinions.
Our starting point
is to understand the need for economic development, because the reason for
migration is the lack of work and opportunity in people's communities of
origin. If we don't attack the roots of migration, it will continue to
grow. There's a fear of investing in our own people, but there's no other
way. We have to have economic development, and respect for the human
rights of migrants as they come and go.
We also have to
tell people about the risks of migrating. In Durango and Tamaulipas
they've found hidden graves of many migrants, and the surprising thing is that
the big majority killed with such cruelty are Mexicans. It's not just a
risk to cross the border into the U.S.. You're risking your life
migrating here in your own country. People also need to understand that
the economic crisis in the U.S. hasn't gotten any better. When you get
there, your chance of finding work is worse than ever, and there's a lot of
competition for jobs.
So we have to work
on implementing the right to not migrate, while protecting the ability to
migrate safely, making sure that people's dignity and human rights are
respected.
In March alone,
four thousand migrants were sent back after trying to cross into the U.S.
That tells us that there's still a huge number of people trying to cross, and
that the number isn't getting any smaller. The economic pressure on
people to migrate, and the violation of human rights on the border, are still
part of our reality. Migrants are raped and beaten, and recruited into
criminal gangs. Over 300 Oaxacans have disappeared, and we don't know if
they're alive or dead. Their families haven't heard from them. Our
state is responsible for them, along with the Federal government. Yet we
don't accept responsibility for the economic development that could change
it. This silence is a disgrace, at the same time we've become so
dependent on the remittances migrant send back to their families..
The labor of
migrants in the U.S. has been used throughout history. They tell us to
come work, and then when there's an economic crisis, we're blamed for it.
They accuse us of robbing other people's jobs, and our rights are not
respected. These new state laws in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina,
Arizona and elsewhere are not just anti-immigrant but inhuman. Meanwhile,
the current U.S. administration has hardened its policy of detaining and
deporting immigrants unjustly, which accomplishes nothing. In IOAM we
feel like we're just shouting at the wall -- they don't hear us.
I don't believe
that a program of guest workers or braceros will resolve these problems of
migration. First, it perpetuates a dependence on remittances. We
also know from our experience with the bracero program in the 1950s and 60s
that these programs don't work. We have many former braceros who are
still fighting to get the 10% of their wages that was withheld during those years.
Current H2A and H2B programs give people a work visa, but the rights of workers
in these programs are not respected. Often they aren't paid legal wages,
they live in terrible conditions in substandard housing, and they have no right
to organize or make demands on their employers.
With a green card,
or residence visa, people migrating have some security. That doesn't
exist with a guest worker visa or crossing with a coyote. If people's
rights are violated, if they're not paid adequately, if they can't earn Social
Security to allow them to eventually retire, then this system is
worthless. It's just producing throw-away workers, whose labor gets used
but who have no benefits. So why are we talking about more programs that
fail to respect human and labor rights, and which don't guarantee housing,
education and healthcare?
If we begin by
talking about rights and decent wages and conditions, maybe we can see a way
forward. But if it's just "come sell your labor" with no
respect for your rights, these programs are worthless. The governments of
both Mexico and the U.S. must prioritize human and labor rights.
We will work with
everyone. We are a government of everyone. We say, we are all
Oaxaca, with a government for all of us. So we have to implement this idea
in practice.
For more articles
and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org
See also Illegal
People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants
(Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R.
James Award, best book of 2007-2008
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