SWOPblogger

What: SWOP Tardeada - with presentation on taxes
When: Friday July 29, 2005 from 5:30pm to 7:30 pm
Where: SWOP office - 211 10th Street SW (Corner of Park and 10th, a block south of Central)

(Pic from last week's Tardeada)

In such times, the act of congregating becomes a revolutionary act.

FLAGSTAFF, AZ—Tribal runners from across Arizona and New Mexico finished a week-long relay run on the slopes of the San Francisco Peaks to call for greater protection for the San Francisco Peaks and other tribal sacred sites under threat like the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque NM, and Mount Graham in Arizona. A news conference was held today on the Navajo Nation’s Peaks Ranch on the slopes of the sacred Peaks to announce and formally finish the Abalone Mountain Run.

The Run started simultaneously on July 23rd on Mount Graham in southern Arizona, Petroglyph National Monument just outside of Albuquerque, NM, from the village of Supai and the Hualapai town of Peach Springs. Runners have run the miles from their directions to the eastern slopes of the Peaks where tribal members welcomed them with water, watermelon and prayers.

The Abalone Mountain Run was organized to bring attention to the many sacred site battles that are occurring throughout the Southwest. Many Native American religious sites are being threatened by a multitude of reasons like resource extraction, sprawl development and environmental contamination.

“Our sites are being sacrificed in the name of the ‘public good’ and nothing good ever becomes of desecrating anyone’s sacred places” said Sonny Weahkee, of SAGE Council. SAGE Council is fighting to protect the Petroglyph National Monument from being desecrated by road development since the early 1990’s.

The Abalone Mountain Run is to bring attention to the many sacred site battles that are occurring throughout the Southwest. Many Native American religious sites are being threatened by a multitude of reasons like resource extraction, sprawl development and environmental contamination. “Our sites are being sacrificed in the name of the ‘public good’ and nothing good ever becomes of desecrating anyone’s sacred places” said Sonny Weahkee, of SAGE Council. SAGE Council is fighting to protect the Petroglyph National Monument from being desecrated by road development since the early 1990’s.

Robert Tohe, runner and Sierra Club Environmental Justice Organizer, who helped organized the run said, “The Peaks issues has always been about Environmental Justice. Running is one way that the tribes bring attention and prayers to this Abalone Mountain. This is the way that tribes can support each other on their sacred site issues.”

Was Intel bluffing a move overseas to get tax breaks? It's a question finally posed by Daniel Sorid for Reuters.

from the article:

- "The question of are they bluffing or not, I think, is kind of open ended," said Dan Hutcheson, the chief executive of VLSI Research and a well-known advisor to the chip industry. On the one hand, he said, Intel has many valuable offers from overseas governments, but it also faces an estimated $200 million in extra costs to build a factory on a brand new site.

- "That's what companies do these days -- they play hardball and they try to absolutely minimize their state and local taxes, even when it's not a major contributor," said Michael Mazerov, a policy analyst at the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities.

- "It's corrosive," said Greg LeRoy, the director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization, and author of the newly published book, "The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation."

Karlos says:

That giant sucking sound everyone's always talking about is really all those tax dollars turned profit from Intel leaving the state. Oh yeah, and a desert state's water being pumped out of the ground.

Folks really should follow the links provided in this post and find out more about how large corporations are pitting states against each other in a race to the bottom in terms of wages and environmental standards.

Following secret negotions between Intel and two Sandoval County Commissioners, Intel made out with at least $2 billion in tax breaks and handouts. (Journal username = free | password = free)

And it's not only Intel, but the Fulcrums, Sumitomos and Motorolas of the world who have taken New Mexico for all we've got. After years of a strategy to lure companies with large tax breaks and incentives, what do we have to show for it? We're still 47th in per capita income, our schools and health care systems are still under valued and under funded, and working families still struggle to pay the bills.

This issue really is about the state's children and our future.

Ring around the rosie...

...pocket full of posies

...ashes, ashes,

...we all fall down.

Legend has it that this children's rhyme is a response to the Bubonic Plague, though many dispute the claim.

I suppose the idea - like many fairy tales and children's stories - is to prepare our offspring for the harsh realities of life. Most of Walt Disney's tales were adapted (read stolen) versions of dark tales from the Brothers' Grimm.

We rarely seem to do it anymore...Help our children understand some of the things - yes, sometimes negative - going on around them.

I posted a recently about a study that found industrial chemicals in the umbilical cords of 10 random women who had just given birth. Tests from each of the women - from around the US - found that each had over 200 industrial chemicals in their womb. We really are toxic.

Statistics like these have real stories behind them. Many times tragic stories of cancer, leukemia and even asthma. These are the stories of those "falling" all around us.

...The stories of Environmental Injustice. I'm not going to sugar coat it. Many of these stories take place in low income communities of color and poor white communities. Sometimes it is done intentionally - children are poisoned because of the color of their skin, or their lot in life...all in the name of profit.

At the same time, I'm not naive. I know pollution knows no boundaries. Ultimately, it affects each and every person on our planet. And we really know nothing about the long term effects of industrial pollution. (Our children may.)

So for all those suffering from industrial toxics and pollution, for all of those who have died from the health effects of those toxins, I'm planting some posies. And I'm going to tell people why I'm planting them.

Though the flowers may smell wonderful, they'll never cover up what's happening to us.

Representatives of environmental, economic and social justice organizations from Japan, the Philippines, Okinawa, Vieques, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Memphis, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Massachusetts and Kentucky were in San Antonio, Texas last week to convene around the impacts of toxic and environmental devastation of communities near US military installations.

Photos are courtesy of Southwest Workers Union, a SWOP sister organization in San Antonio who convened the conference. Congratulations SWU! It was a great chance to practice solidarity.

A new study of umbilical cord blood from newborns has found over 200 industrial chemicals and other pollutants, according to a new study by the Environmental Working Group.

See the Reuters article, which ran last Thursday.

These are some the real consequences of Environmental Injustices of pollution in the name of profit.

...more on this later.

karlos says:
The Temper-Pedic/Bernalillo County deal gets mentioned a lot these days...

This Alibi Story deserves another look.

July 17. 2005

Coahuila News - from Frontera NorteSur

Protests, Polemics and Proposals at Border Governors' Meet

Gathered in the old northern Mexican cotton-growing capital of Torreon, Coahuila, governors and their representatives from the 10 U.S.-Mexico border states concluded their annual conference this past weekend. Meeting during an increasingly charged atmosphere along their common frontier, the states' chief executives issued proposals for border security, law enforcement, environmental regulation, and education. While not endorsing any specific reform, the governors called for the promotion of legal immigration and respect for the law in both Mexico and the United States.

(Sneej).

The network represents more than 50 Latino and other people-of-color organizations from northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. In an interview with Frontera NorteSur, Richard Moore, Sneej's executive director, explained that the network's presence was part of a long-term movement to promote human rights, economic sustainability and environmental protection along the 2.000 mile long Mexico-U.S. border. Moore said that while the
campaign is ultimately aimed at the federal governments of Mexico and the United States, the network is currently taking its issues to the governors. "The touchable, reachable ones for us were the border governors," he said. "We think that at least in New Mexico and Arizona we can get some fairly progressive legislation."

Making sure that officials heard their grievances, the network sponsored a demonstration outside the hotel where the governors stayed. The protestors raised crosses in memory of women murdered in Ciudad Juarez and migrants killed while trying to cross the border. Another demonstration involving as many as 1,000 people was held by the Sneej in Torreon the last day of the conference, Moore added.

After convening an "alternative people's forum" attended by farmers, youth, women and others, the Sneej issued a document that demanded guaranteeing environmental and economic justice, curbing the Minutemen, upholding the right of education, legalizing immigrants in the U.S, respecting labor rights, and tearing down border walls. The network also reiterated its demands to halt violence against women, especially those residing in Ciudad Juarez. A meeting between Sneej leadership on one side and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Coahuila Governor Enrique Martinez on the other was held to discuss the network's immigration positions.

"We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish," said Sneej’s Moore. "It was pretty obvious to those governors that the Southwest Network has a lot of recognition. Very clearly we were making our presence known by the bodies of hundreds and hundreds of people who demonstrated."

On the official agenda, joint border security and law enforcement were among the hot items. The governors approved a declaration calling on their respective national governments to define the border region as a strategic security zone, step up joint police training programs, increase cooperation against organized crime, and speed up intelligence exchanges. Pledging to budget $5 million extra dollars for security, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced during the conference that additional state troopers will be deployed in the border region of his state. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and his colleagues urged the federal governments Mexico and the U.S. to pay greater attention to border security by allocating more resources and appointing liaisons to the governors' group.

Although the macabre phenomenon of femicide is an ugly reality in a number of different border cities, no specific plan to counter the murders of women and girls was part of the official agenda. In response to questions from reporters, Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza appealed to the public not to single out his state and Ciudad Juarez. He contended that femicide is actually worse in other entities. Gov. Reyes said his administration is taking steps to contain the murders, pointing to recent actions like the arrests of suspects in last May's murder of 7-year-old Airis Estrella Enriquez Pando in Ciudad Juarez. Gov. Reyes added he will not "magnify or downplay" the women's murders, but will instead emphasize his administration's actions.

On the environmental front, the governors requested that the federal governments of Mexico and the United States finish appointing the board of directors for the Border Environment Cooperation Commission and the North American Development Bank (Nadbank). They called for greater flexibility in Nadbank's credit rules, extending the area of eligibility for Nadbank funding from a limit of about 60 to 175 miles away from the border, and continued funding of border infrastructure projects by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. With the water dilemma in mind, the governors called for a new working group to look at resources in hydrological zones shared by the 10 states.

Finally, the baton of conference leadership was passed on at the just concluded session from the outgoing president, Coahuila Gov. Enrique Martinez, to the new one, Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Sonora Governor Eduardo Bours Castelo will serve as the new vice-president. Martinez, who presided over the organization for the past year, is one of the candidates for the nomination to represent the Institutional Revolutionary Party in next year’s Mexican presidential election.

Now almost three decades old, the annual border governors’ conference seeks to coordinate policies and advocate common concerns before the federal governments of Mexico and the United States. Leadership of the conference is rotated on a yearly basis between the 10 member governors.

Additional sources: Norte (Agencia Reforma), July 16, 2005. Norte, July 16,
2005. Article by Angel Zubia Garcia. El Diario, July 16, 2005. Article by
Silvia Macias Medina. El Siglo de Torreon, July 16, 2005. Articles by Fabiola
Perez-Canedo Herrera. Norte (SUN), July 15, 2005. KFOX News (El Paso), July
15, 2005.

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription email fnsnews@nmsu.edu

Congratulations Atlanta! SWOP would like to thank everyone who supported bringing the United States Social Forum to Albuquerque.

Maybe next time...

Richard Moore, one of SWOP's founders, is a finalist for Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Chancing World Award.

Read more about it at NM Biz Weekly...

Richard is now the executive director of Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, a bi-national network of organizations like SWOP. He was on SWOP's staff more many years.

He really deserves it. Congrats, bro!

Hey folks,

Just wanted to introduce myself to swopblogger readers. My name is Robby Rodriguez and I'm the director here at the SouthWest Organizing Project.

I'll be blogging about movement building, generally speaking, both in NM and some about what is happening nationally (and sometimes internationally).

As part of my job, I go to a lot of meetings with other groupings of people and organizations.

This is a way for me to share with a broader audience what I hear about movement building for social change and social justice.

Stay tuned for what I hope to be some interesting and thought provoking topics of discussion.

What browser are you using to read this post? If you're using Internet Explorer, this could be your chance to break your chains.

Go to Mozilla and download Firefox, the free spam-free browser for all monopoly haters!

Go to Skype and download their free telephony thing that just works. Talk to your friends around the world...for free. All you need is a semi-fast connection to the internet.

Type "peer-to-peer" in your new Mozilla Firefox browswer in google, and download music!

You now have the starter kit to join the Communication Revolution.

Other sites for folks who care about our right to communication, creativity, information and Free Software!

• www.creativecommons.org
• www.publicknowledge.org
• www.eff.org
• www.lessig.org

Pics by Lolia, Celia and Rocio - SWOP youth left Chiapas just before latest Zapatista Alert...

What: SWOP Tardeada featuring Acequia Associasion Speaker(s)
When: Friday July 8, 2005 from 5:30pm to 7:30 pm
Where: SWOP office - 211 10th Street SW (Corner of Park and 10th, a block south of Central)

Where's the moral clarity?

karlos says:

You know, I'd sure hate to lose my life over a fight between a bunch of assholes. My heart goes out to all the people of London.

Every time there's a terrorist attack by some group of right-wing nut jobs, I'm reminded of the horrible decision by Primesident Blush to invade Iraq.

What a waste of resources.

Because there was no debate about how to respond the the abhorent attacks on 9/11/01, the so-called neocons were able to implement some of their most sinister imperial wet dreams.

The corporate media has just as much responsibility for this as anyone when they participated in establishment group think prior to the invasion.

We really must get out of this box we're stuck in and have a serious discussion about the state of the world. What are good people to do in a fight between assholes?

Final tally:

711 to 40, no confidence...

The top 5 stories from KOAT's RSS (Really Simple Sindication) feed as of Tuesday, July 5, 2005 at 10:54 pm: The NewMexicoChannel...Carnage you can count on!

(KOAT's "local" RSS Feed can be viewed in the right margins of this web page - check right now to get your daily dose of carnage!)

Police: Baby Shot In Head At Independence Day Party
Police: Man Causes Crashes During Pursuit
Fireworks Spark Brush Fire In Manzano
Explosives Found In Los Alamos Garage
Report: Rural Families Should Fear Dogs, Not Wolves
Workers Rescue Man Pinned Under Boulder

If It Bleeds It Leads (copied and pasted from an old post on the old SWOPblogger)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/14/business/media/14broadcast.html

A study of 11 major markets shows local news were 8 times more likely to show viewers car crashes than local election coverage.

I'm sure Albuquerque's local coverage isn't much different.

We have to demand local news teams cover things that affect our everyday lives. Sensasionalism and a corporate culture of stenography are winning out over objectiviy, fairness and accuracy in today's TV journalism.

district 1199 says:

PICKET!

July 6, 2005

6:30 am to 8:00 am

University Hospital

2211 Lomas NE

On June 28, 2005 University Hospital Management presented the Union with their “final offer” in an attempt to declare impasse and force the Union to vote on a less than satisfactory contract. Union representatives have been successful in forcing management back to the negotiating table by questioning the lack of clarity, details and information missing from the Hospital’s proposal. Management’s attempt at declaring impasse was foiled. Negotiations will resume on July 6, 2005. We believe management will make another attempt to declare impasse on that day.

Management’s attempt at tricking workers into signing a “loyalty oath” has angered the workers. The Union has filed a grievance on the issue and is demanding it be removed from performance evaluations.

District 1199 NM has been conducting a vote of no confidence regarding the Hospital CEO Steve McKernan. The results of the vote will be announced at 8:15 am on July 6^th.

For more information call 884-7713.

STAND WITH US AS WE CONTINUE TO DEMAND JUSTICE

***************
karlos says:

Yes, the workers at UNMH are organizing for better working conditions, AND they're struggling for better health care for us all.

Say it with me now: s-o-l-i-d-a-r-i-t-y

What: SouthWest Organizing Project 25^th Anniversary Party
When: Friday, September 9, 2005 8:00pm-1:30am
Where: El Rey Theater, 7^th & Central SW Downtown
For more info, contact: SouthWest Organizing Project 505-247-8832 or swop@swop.net ;
Louis Head, Ceiba Productions Southwest 505-344-5049 or elhead@unm.edu

The SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) is a 25 year old social movement organization based in Albuquerque, New Mexico whose mission is to empower the disenfranchised in the Southwest to realize racial and gender equality, and social and economic justice.

SWOP is a multi-generational membership organization led and staffed primarily by people of color, and has been on the forefront of struggles for social, racial, economic and environmental justice in New Mexico since its founding. SWOP relates its work in working class communities of color in New Mexico to broader regional efforts in the southwestern US and northern Mexico via its participation in the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.

SWOP is also a founder and Steering Committee member of Grassroots Global Justice, which connects grassroots and labor social movement organizations in the US with the World Social Forum and the international movement.

After 25 years of hard work and big time community victories in New Mexico, it’s time for a pachanga featuring Quetzal and the B-Side Players as fitting accomplices in SWOP’s celebration. The event’s afterparty will feature young DJs, poetry slammers, multi-media artists and other local talent on the small stage of the Golden West Saloon, adjacent to El Rey Theater.

Watched live8 - this generation's Live Aid - today. It was really powerful. People all over the world will now be more aware of the G8, and the power rich countries have to eliminate poverty.

The message to the G8 from artists and activists all over the world: Here's the G8's chance to be great. End poverty.

Can the leaders of the world's eight most powerful and rich countries really end poverty?

I don't know. One thing's for sure - the rich and powerful have sure done a lot to cultivate and institute poverty.

The most repeated statistic of the day - of which there were many - was that every three seconds a child dies from poverty.

One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three...

Pretty powerful statistic.

But it seems to me that poverty is only a symptom.

A symptom of a global economic system that depends on exploitation for profit.

One could just as easily say that every three seconds a child dies from imperialism.

...from militarism.

...from, dare I say, capitalism.

So, with all the statistics about poverty today and all the good will and solidarity for the continent of Africa, it's still very possible that live8 may have missed a chance to have a real discussion about state of the world.

It's a simple question. Why? Why is there poverty on such a rich continent? The live8 telecast and rhetoric plainly failed to ask the important question.

This discussion is happening, though. The people of the global south, in particular, are organizing for a more just, humane and dignified planet. People are awakening to the idea that another world is possible.

"On a quiet day," says Arundhati Roy, "I can hear her breathing."

“The House of Representatives got it wrong on Cuba travel policy,” said Mavis Anderson, Senior Associate for Cuba at the Latin America Working Group, a national coalition of religious, human rights and activist groups that follows Latin America. “Their vote to continue the separation of Cuban American families shows that they have lost touch with the will of the majority of Americans who favor ending travel restrictions.” Many of these same representatives voted for this amendment when it passed last year. “It just proves yet again that the congressional Republicans, led by hard-line Cuban Americans, are out of touch with the family values they love to talk about” said Anderson.

Anderson spoke in response to a vote on easing restrictions on Cuban American travel on Thursday afternoon.

The vote on Rep. Jim Davis’ amendment to the Transportation/Treasury/HUD appropriations bill was 211 against with 208 in favor.

“Members didn’t vote their conscience, which would have told them that separating families is wrong,” said Philip Schmidt, Associate at the Latin America Working Group. “The Bush Administration and its congressional allies have needlessly separated Cuban Americans from their families on the island in hopes that this will bring down the Cuban government. It’s ineffective and more to the point, it’s just plain cruel.”

The vote came after years of votes in favor of ending the travel ban in the House of Representatives, though those efforts were always thwarted by leadership, which stripped the language out behind closed doors in conference committee.

The vote also rejects the views of Cuban Americans, agriculture, business, humanitarian and religious organizations which supported easing the travel ban. Over 100 national organizations representing all of these sectors sent a letter to Congress days before the vote calling for an end to all travel restrictions.

“Today’s vote was shameful, and reinforces recent polls that show most Americans believe that Congress is out of touch with their opinions,” said Philip Schmidt. “Bowing to the extremists and the money they throw around, like the hard-line Cuban Americans, has polarized this Congress and left it unable to do the bidding of the moderate majority of Americans. Never would Americans support the idea of the U.S. government prohibiting family travel. Never.”

The current Bush Administration allows Cuban Americans to visit their family for two weeks once every three years. There are no exceptions for deaths, births, or any type of family emergency. The policy also prohibits travel to visit aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, or even step-family.

###

For Immediate Release: June 30, 2005
Contacts: Mavis Anderson, Philip Schmidt; Latin American Working Group 202 546 7010