The Miguel Angel Asturias Academy is a non-profit school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala that breaks cycles of poverty, racism and sexism through popular education.  These are stories from the ground. Although a school in Guatemala isn't directly related to US politics, our stories touch on themes of immigration, education and economic justice.

Yesterday I introduced Jorge Chojolan in the context of his time spent in exile and how he returned to his country to transform the educational system for social justice.  Today I want to focus on a key transformative event from his childhood that forever tied him to education for social change.

The Miguel Angel Asturias Academy is a non-profit school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala that breaks cycles of poverty, racism and sexism through popular education.  These are stories from the ground. Although a school in Guatemala isn't directly related to US politics, our stories touch on themes of immigration, education and economic justice.

Many thousands of refugees fled Guatemala to Mexico and the United States during the Guatemalan Civil War.  Miguel Angel Asturias Academy founder Jorge Chojolan was one of many refugees—he needed to flee because the government deemed his work in education subversive.  What did Jorge do that was so "subversive"?  What did he do during his time in exile?  Why did he return to Guatemala?  I’ll answer these questions and more on the flip—the first of three diaries presenting Jorge Chojolan.

The Miguel Angel Asturias Academy is a non-profit school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala that breaks cycles of poverty, racism and sexism through popular education.  These are stories from the ground. Although a school in Guatemala isn't directly related to US politics, our stories touch on themes of immigration, education and economic justice.

Because of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) it is now politically popular to talk about how we need to get the world's population to the $2 a day level.  Currently, in Guatemala 80% are at or below the $2 level.  What does this look like in regards to education and human rights?  More on the flip.

For nearly five decades, the United States has pursued a policy toward Cuba that could be described as incredibly stupid.

  That is the first line of Eugene Robinson's Washington Post column this morning, entitled as it this diary.  As is typical of Robinson's words, whether written or spoken on MS-NBC, they are cogent, offering a succinct and potent analysis of an issue, one in this case which is not given the attention it deserves outside of the presumed political danger of engaging with a Castro-run regime in Havana.    I will quote several additional lines from the piece, including this:

Other than providing Fidel Castro with a convenient antagonist to help whip up nationalist fervor on the island -- and prolong his rule -- the U.S. trade embargo and other sanctions have accomplished nothing.

 But I will use the column to offer some different but related ideas.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

The New York Times reports that 270 undocumented workers who were arrested at a meat plant in Iowa in March, instead of being swiftly deported back to Guatemala, have instead been convicted of federal misdemeanors, sentenced to 5 months incarceration, and then will be immediately deported. This marks a lamentable, new, harsher policy toward punishing defenseless undocumented workers who are selected for this special treatment.  And, let me say it, it's a show designed to frighten and threaten and disrupt the other almost 15 million undocumented workers now in the US.

Please join me in Iowa.

Originally Posted on Citizen Orange

I was excited to find out over the weekend that David Neiwart, through his own blog and a cross-post on Firedoglake linked to me and others in the pro-migrant blogosphere in the last post of his three-part series on immigration:

Lets leave the primary fever behind for a moment for some genuinely good news. Last Monday Guatemala's new President Social Democrat Álvaro Colom was sworn in. The leaders of Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Taiwan, were in attendance for Colom's momentous swearing in ceremony.

Here's some excerpts from Colom's inaugural speech:

New President Pledges ‘Privileges for the Poor’

"Today is the beginning of privileges for the poor, for those without opportunity. We intend to overcome intolerance, inequality, discrimination and lack of solidarity," Colom said in his inaugural speech after the swearing- in ceremony in the capital’s Miguel Ángel Asturias National Theatre.

"I thank God because for the first time in 50 years, there is a change toward a social democratic government in Guatemala, with a social focus," the president said, and he promised to strive for "harmony among indigenous peoples." Guatemala’s 23 ethno-linguistic communities "are waiting for development and an end to discrimination," he said.

Originally posted in Citizen Orange

I just voted in Cambridge today in municipal elections that will be lucky to have 25% voter turnout and MSNBC has an entire story dedicated to low voter turnout in Guatemala at 41%?  Give me a break.

(Esteban Felix / Associated Press)

Center-left candidate Alvaro Colom beat out right-wing candidate Otto Perez in what should largely be interpreted as a victory for the rural poor of Guatemala.  This picture (left) from the Prensa Libre election special (pdf) says it all:

When trade deals are discussed and passed, Democrats always push for stronger labor protections.  (Do they push hard enough?  That's another story.)  But, there's always another party trying to undermine these protections.

So, just what are we talking about?

Follow me below the fold for the answer...

Originally Posted on Citizen Orange

Nic Askew has been taking Guatemala by storm with his monday9am.tv in attempt to "capture the soul of Guatemala" as he puts it. According to his introduction, he was offered the chance to capture the soul of Guatemalan presidential candidate, Alejandro Giammattei, and he extended his assignment to the whole country. The reason I bring this up, is to show you this gem of a video.

This case shows how out of whack the immigration system is.

While Petty Officer Eduardo Gonzalez is being shipped everseas for the third time, his wife Mildred is in danger of being shipped back to Guatemala. He told CNN "I like being in uniform and serving my country, but if she goes back I'm going to have to give it all up and just get out and take care of my son and get a job," and  "Defending the country that's trying to kick my family out is a thought that always runs through my mind."

In September United States Citizen Gonzalez testified before Congress that he is proud to serve, plans to reenlist but claims that he is unable to give 100% while he's worried about his wife and son being deported back to a country where she is not familiar with the culture, language or society.

Two Guatemalan police officers are in custody and two more are sought for the abduction and murder of five youths in Guatemala City last Friday. The case raises new concerns about the National Police and its links to organized crime in the country.

Guatemala's National Police Archive containing 80 million pages, detailing the brutal campaign of repression during the 36 year long Guatemalan Civil War, the longest civil war in Latin America.

200,000 Guatemalans (mostly Indians) were killed, and in the 1970s and 80s 50,000 leftists and political opponents dissapeared, kidnapped by right wing death squads, many operated by the National Police. This repression was carried out by a sucession of right wing governments usualy with the support and aid of the U.S. Government.

Radio seems to be the only medium that is covering this story. NPR ran this story a couple of weeks ago.

The director of the National Police from 1978 to 1982 -- during the height of urban political violence -- was Gen. German Chupina Barahona. Last month, a Spanish National Court judge issued an international arrest warrant for torture, murder and illegal detention against Chupina and seven other former security officials. The charge is considered more symbolic than enforceable...
Morning Edition

Today PRI's "The World" ran another story on the Archive.

PRI

Originally posted on Immigration Orange




(I took this picture during a demonstration in Chelsea, MA)

The U.S. has been on a path of destruction ever since the failure of comprehensive immigration reform.  In an effort to get legislators to act, the Bush administration has taken on a policy of masochism.  Tearing up businesses, terrorizing migrant communities, and straining Emigration States with masses of deportees and declining remittances, will send this entire hemiphere down the tubes.

Massachusetts has not been immune to this trend.  Almost daily migrant communities are reporting raids, abuses, and shifty business practices.  The latest occurence in an increasing trend of migrant oppression was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid that spanned several cities in the Boston area and netted 36 individuals, according to the Boston Globe.

Last night (we recorded it from its initial showing on ITV 1 on 8/20), we watched British journalist/filmmaker John Pilger's most recent documentary, THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY.

The film is about the role of the US in Central and South America, reviewing events in Venezuela, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua and Bolivia.

I would recommend it highly.

More general information can be found on these two sites:

Official Site.

John Pilger's site.

My review below fold...

Days until the Living Wages Hunger Strike begins: 14
Days until the hunger strike ends: Strike ends when Camden Yards stops paying cleaners a poverty wage

Yesterday the hunger strikers protested outside of the Maryland Stadium Authority's Ocean City Convention Center.  This wrapped up an intense week that started with the announcement press conference on Wednesday and included time for reflection and planning and conducting outreach to state leaders and policy makers.  We were able to directly make our case to the state's political leaders while they met for the MACO conference.  And we were also able to focus on the steps ahead as we prepare for the Living Wages Hunger Strike to start on Sept 3.

Cross-posted in Immigration Orange

(a picture of Central American migrants I took in Arriaga, Mexico)

Everyone has heard the stories of migrants crossing the desert to get into the U.S.  For people that favor including them in the U.S.'s history of immigration, these are the modern day pilgrims.  They brave thirst and heat for an "American Mirage."

This is a false narrative.  Unfortunately, what most migrants go through is much worse than a simple trek through the desert to flee poverty.  The narratives begin long before that, lost in the untold stories of migrants that didn't make it.

Cross posted at Immigration Orange

(Picture from Prensa Libre, a woman has her identification cut by a Migration employee)

Guatemala's main newspaper, Prensa Libre, published an article entitled "Wave of Deportees".  I recommend you read it in Spanish if you can, because it is written beautifully, but I have translated the article for those who only speak English.  It chronicles what Guatemalan deportees are going through better than most English language media, but more importantly it tackles the issues no one speaks about: what all of this means for a nation like Guatemala.  When bettering Emigration States is the only real way that we are going to fix the problems associated with migration, it's kind of ridiculous the issue is hardly ever brought up, much less acted upon.