Waving signs saying "Don't Buy Gringo Products"

[Flabbergasted]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D25AC537-3542-4B32-A7C0-AA8C4F6C1A10.htm

Mexicans call for gringo boycott


Saturday 29 April 2006, 3:27 Makka Time, 0:27 GMT


The protesters expressed solidarity with striking miners

A demonstration by thousands of Mexican workers to promote solidarity has turned into a protest against American influence on the country's economy.

Waving signs saying "Don't Buy Gringo Products. Long live the Boycott," about 3,000 workers with Mexico's state-owned electrical utility blocked traffic on a major highway and then marched 3km to a vast colonial plaza in the city's centre on Friday.

Many protesters said they would take part in a boycott of all things "gringo" next week. Gringo is a derogatory term for English-speakers.

The proposed boycott, known as the Nothing Gringo campaign, is timed to coincide with Monday's Day Without Immigrants protest in the United States aimed at pushing forward a proposal for immigration reform including legalisation for many of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants.

[DS1]

1. When did America start making its own products?

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot - most of those "Gringo" products are probably Mexican

[xultar]

2. NO SHEeeeeEIT

:rofl:

[shamrock]

3. We used to.

You should ask 'when did we stop'.

[ugarte]

4. The word 'Gringo' is not necessarily derogatory...

although many Gringos think it is. Latin Americans simply lack a better word for people who come from the U.S. because 'americano' is too broad and 'estadounidense' lacks a certain ring.

[shamrock]

5. In the end it doesn't really matter how

it is meant....only how it is perceived. Not only in this case, but in any case where a name is applied to a group of people. If 'some' perceive it as derogatory, then it probably shouldn't be used, especially during this march. I'm always called 'La Gringa', or 'La flaca' and it doesn't bother me because I understand what is meant.

[Igel]

7. Neither were

"spic", "wetback" or "beaner" necessarily derogatory, though many spics thought they were. Americans simply lack a better word for Spanish-speaking people who come from south of the border because "Latin American" implies an American from ancient Rome, and all the other possible terms ("South American", "Mexican", "Uruguayan") are too specific. :sarcasm:

People have been finding ways to justify ethnic slurs for many, many generations. You've hit on a couple there.

On the other hand, there's a weird asymmetry: If a minority finds a term derogatory, it gets to decide what the users of the term mean; if a minority decides a term's fine, it (or its self-appointed spokesfolk) get to decide what the users of the term 'really' mean. In both cases, somebody is cut out of the picture in an Orwellian manner and one side is made the sole arbiter in a process that must necessarily be based on consensus and compromise. If that asymmetry is reversed, it's called blatant racism and ethnocentrism. I don't see why the directionality matters.

[ugarte]

8. So you think 'gringo' is the equivalent of 'spic' and the n-word?

I hope you're only trying to be funny. Either that or you're simply monolingual and blissfully ignorant. Maybe you've never traveled much in Latin America, but 'gringo' is simply not a slur, unless prefaced by an adjective or two. Most Americans south of the border know it's not offensive and call themselves gringos as well.

If you don't know, ask somebody.

[Vidar]

6. Glad to hear they're waking up.