• List of Actions organized by the May Day Boston Collective

• Immigrant Rights Groups Call for Massive Nationwide General Work Strike and Economic Boycott: Hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of immigrants are expected to stage a work strike and take part in a one-day economic boycott on Monday to protest anti-immigrant legislation being considered by Congress. Democracy Now! speaks with Nativo Lopez, one of the organizers and president of the Mexican American Political Association.[Listen/Watch/Read]

anyone here mitteilen

i mean participating

this is unfortunate, but it shows how significant a role illegal immigrants play in the US economy. Raid rumours costed companies millions of dollars this week because half of their workers didn’t show up for fear of being rounded up and deported.

Raid Rumors Spark Fear Among Immigrants

By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer
Apr 28, 2006

MIAMI – Rumors of immigration roundups have prompted thousands of illegal immigrants to stay home this week and are making some afraid to participate in a national immigration protest planned for Monday.

Though federal immigration officials said they were unfounded, rumors of random sweeps were rampant from coast to coast Friday, prompting thousands of immigrants to stay home from work, take their children out of school and avoid church.

The absences caused the rumors to build, as some thought their missing friends and co-workers had been arrested. Construction and agriculture were among the industries most affected.

Len Mills, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of South Florida, said he estimated at least 50 percent of workers on construction jobs in the region hadn’t shown up for work. He said he believed even some legal workers were afraid.

“This is costing millions of dollars a day, and I don’t know who is going to pay for it,” he said.

Katie A. Edwards, executive director of Florida’s Dade County Farm Bureau, said nearly a third of farmworkers didn’t come to the fields earlier in the week.

Mari Ramos, a Peruvian nanny whose tourist visa ran out in 2003, listened when friends warned her not to take public transportation or risk arrest.

“That’s when I became nervous. I stopped going to my night job,” the 36-year-old Miami woman said.

“Everybody’s edgy,” said Chris Ruske, owner of a southern New Jersey nursery. “People are worried, and we’re worried. There’s an awful lot of rhetoric, and you wonder what’s true. You wonder if the immigration Gestapo are coming to get you.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd said the agency has received hundreds of calls in recent days asking about immigration raids. He said such rumors were typical after a raid like the one last week in which more than 1,000 employees of pallet manufacturer IFCO were arrested at more than 40 company sites nationwide.

But he added, “any suggestions that our standard, day to day law enforcement actions are timed or being staged to retaliate are absolutely false.”

ICE officials acknowledged they have stepped up arrests under their “Operation Phoenix,” an existing program to find and deport fugitive illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

Many wondered whether the rumors would deter people from national immigration protests planned for Monday.

“It is the ugliest of rumors because it has intimidated people who are already afraid. They are living in the shadows of society, wondering who is going to knock on the door,” said the Rev. Allan Ramirez, pastor of the Brookville Dutch Reform Church in Long Island, N.Y.

In Tuscaloosa, Ala., organizers of an annual Hispanic festival scheduled for Sunday briefly considered canceling it.

The National Immigration Law Center called on organizations across the country to sign a petition urging ICE to assure the public that it will not engage in any immigration arrests during Monday’s protests.

The agency said its policy is not to discuss potential operations. “ICE will continue to operate as it does every day of the year,” Boyd said.

Elias Bermudez, an activist and talk show host for a Spanish-language radio station in Phoenix, said many believe they are being punished for participating in recent protests in favor of legalizing the status of many illegal immigrants.

“Some people in our community think we’re getting payback,” he said.

The rumors affected a wide variety of businesses. In New Jersey and New York, day-laborer gathering sites drew only a trickle of workers.

In southern New Mexico, construction industry leaders said an unknown number of immigrant workers did not show up to work over fears of being rounded up, setting back plans for the Las Cruces Home Builders Association’s spring Showcase of Homes next month.

In the rural town of Homestead, Fla., more than a dozen parents lined up early to take their kids out of Redondo Elementary School Wednesday for fear of a raid, said activist Jonathan Fried, who heads the nonprofit “We Count!”

“It’s caused tremendous fear in our community, like I’ve never seen before,” Fried said.

On Friday, ICE announced the arrests of 106 illegal immigrant fugitives and 19 immigration status violators throughout the Midwest over the last 10 days. Of those, 46 had criminal records, according to the department. Earlier this week, ICE announced the arrest of 183 fugitives in Florida alone.

Boyd said the agency makes arrests on a daily basis. “However, we don’t conduct random sweeps. All our arrests are the result of investigations, evidence and intelligence,” he said.

If the Latino participation is really high, it should have a stunning economic impact. Stockmarket listed corporations are sensitive to .1% negative fluctuations in their sales and profits. Negative 1% is an absolute earthquake for them. Stocks lose tens of millions of dollars in investor money when a corporation miscalculates its sales and profits.

It’s fitting that this is taking place on May Day. All across Latin America and Europe, there are socialist and even communist parties with citizens voting for them and with representatives from such parties in the governments. While the U.S. presents itself as the leader of democracy in the world, the failure to even have representation by a third party is telling.

If this May Day movement is successful, maybe Louis Farrakhan will call for another Afro-American march, as well. Black Americans are still the most oppressed even after a dozen or more generations have passed since their ancestors were migrated into slave labor.

If the Latinos and Black Americans could ever really join their different movements together, then the ruling class in America would really know the feeling of being terrified.

I got news dude, all this protesting by illegals who have snuck into the US will only serve to wake up Americans to need to erect a wall.

The more foreigners tell us what to do in our own country, the more we will wake up and resist.

WARNING: ISRAELFOREVER2 HAS ENTERED THE THREAD. DO NOT FEED TROLL. REPEAT: DO NOT FEED TROLL

A GNN Public Service Message

“The more foreigners tell us what to do in our own country, the more we will wake up and resist.” [IF2]

So, in that case Izzy do you still back the US invasion of Iraq then?

PS, sorry Sens, I just couldn’t resist this gem!

nev – surely you know that image is meant to be a racist caricature.

A GNN Public Service Message

Payed by the department of the coucil for associated associations

Actually Izzy said it all “Erect a Wall” — clearly fat white men needing prozac are scared about rico suave types.

Thousands of anti-war protesters march in NYC

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Susan Sarandon and Cindy Sheehan join demonstration

NEW YORK – Tens of thousands of protesters marched Saturday through lower Manhattan to demand an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, just hours after this month’s death toll reached 70.

Cindy Sheehan, a vociferous critic of the war whose soldier son also died in Iraq, joined in the march, as did actress Susan Sarandon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

“End this war, bring the troops home,” read one sign lifted by marchers on the sunny afternoon, three years after the war in Iraq began. The mother of a Marine killed two years ago in Iraq held a picture of her son, born in 1984 and killed 20 years later.

One group marched under the banner “Veterans for Peace.”

The demonstrators stretched for about 10 blocks as they headed down Broadway. Organizers said 300,000 people marched, though a police spokesman declined to give an estimate. There were no reports of arrests.

“We are here today because the war is illegal, immoral and unethical,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton. “We must bring the troops home.”

Organizers said the march was also meant to oppose any military action against Iran, which is facing international criticism over its nuclear program. The event was organized by the group United for Peace and Justice.

“We’ve been lied to, and they’re going to lie to us again to bring us a war in Iran,” said Marjori Ramos, 43, of New York. “I’m here because I had a lot of anger, and I had to do something.”

Steve Rand, an English teacher from Waterbury, Vt., held a poster announcing, “Vermont Says No to War.”

“I’d like to see our troops come home,” he said.

The march stepped off shortly after noon from Union Square, with the demonstrators heading for a rally between a U.S. courthouse and a federal office building in lower Manhattan.

The death toll in Iraq for April was the highest for a single month in 2006. At least 2,399 U.S. military members have died since the war began. An Army soldier was the latest victim, killed Saturday in a roadside explosion in Baghdad.

That figure is well below some of the bloodiest months of the Iraq conflict, but is a sharp increase over March, when 31 were killed. January’s death toll was 62 and February’s 55. In December, 68 Americans died.

New York Latinos will join the boycott.

radioActive sanDiego will be taking calls from the street all day on MayDay, from 10AM to 6:30PM.

CALL IN LIVE FROM THE STREET @ 619-269-4693 and we will put you on the air! Call in with your news, reports, stories and personal experiences.

Listen online at http:/radioActiveradio.org

You can also tune in to 106.9FM to hear the live coverage and find out where to go!

Also, http://deleteTheBorder.org has a list of local events as well as a PDF pamphlet for distributing at Mayday events.

All over the US, massive actions are being planned as part of the call for a General Strike / Walkout / Boycott // No Work, No School, Buy Nothing, Sell Nothing. Take part! Help organize your community to join the General Strike and Walkout against HR4437 and for Amnesty!

Freedom of movement!
Equal rights for all people regardless of immigration status!
An end to deportations and detention centers!

MayDay 2006 will be a day remembered for a long, long time. Call in to radioActive sanDiego, help us provide coverage for the community and make your voice heard!

radioActive sanDiego

be there or be square

Workplaces Ready for Day Without Immigrant Staff: From mighty meatpacking plants to tiny taco stands, US businesses are making plans to deal with Monday’s nationwide pro-immigration boycott, which could keep millions of people away from their jobs.