Civil Rights/Human Rights: Opening a New Movement

[Flabbergasted]

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_21871.shtml


Civil Rights/Human Rights
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Opening a New Movement
By Lee Sustar
Apr 29, 2006, 23:25




More than 120 activists from around the U.S. met in Chicago April 22 to coordinate plans for national May Day protests for immigrant and worker rights.

While Congress debates "compromise" legislation on immigration that will likely include a guest-worker program, the Chicago conference voted to call for amnesty for undocumented workers.

The conference didn't make a national call for the May 1 protests to include an economic boycott and walkouts from schools and jobs. But attendees voted to support the right of local committees that wish to participate in such actions.

This was in contrast to a press conference several days earlier by the National Capital Immigration Coalition (NCIC) in Washington, D.C., that urged workers and students not to leave their jobs and schools that day.

The debate over tactics and strategies for the movement was reflected in the Chicago conference in presentations by Nativo López, president of the Mexican American Political Association, who argued in favor of a boycott, and Juan Carlos Ruiz of the NCIC, who called for a focus on the "legislative process" instead.