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Alexander Cockburn's India Journal: Travels with Sainath Fakers and fakirs of the Indian neoliberal disaster, from the Indian elites to Bill Gates to Bill Clinton to the New York Times; heroes and villains of the Indian press; 5,000 suicides in Andhra Pradesh and the rise and fall of Chandrababu Naidu, World Bank posterboy; what the British did to India, from Warren Hastings to the Falkland Road; what Indians did to architecture, from the Taj Mahal to the dawn of concrete; making weight in upland Kerala; why America needs south Indian cooking; homage to the great peasant rebellion of 1857; can India recover from "reform"? Get the answers you're looking for in the latest subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison by KATHY KELLY  Today's Stories June 7, 2005 Greg
Moses / Susan van Haitsma Michael
Neumann
June 6, 2005 Stew
Albert Paul
Craig Roberts Nicole
Colson Ali
Khan Jason
Leopold Charles
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John Conyers Evelyn
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Corseri Website
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June 4 / 5, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn James
Petras Robert
Fisk Patrick
Cockburn Rev.
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Landau Mario
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Selfa Tom
Crumpacker Joshua
Frank Fred
Gardner Michael
Dickinson Roger
Martin Reza
Fiyouzat Ben
Tripp Graeme
Greenback Poets'
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June 3, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts Joseph
Massad Jeff
Halper Tom
Barry Bruce
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Frank Mickey
Z. Gary
Leupp Website
of the Day
June 2, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts Forrest
Hylton Mike
Whitney Brian
Cloughley Mazin
Qumsiyeh Russell
D. Hoffman Norman
Madarasz Norman
Solomon David
Price Website
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June 1, 2005 James
Petras Justin
Delacour Edward
Jay Epstein Omar
Barghouti / Lisa Taraki Dave
Lindorff Kevin
Zeese Jason
Leopold William
S. Lind
May 31, 2005 Sen.
Mike Gravel David
Krieger Tad
Daley Joshua
Frank Richard
Gott Norman
Solomon Tom
Segev Walter
Brasch Diana
Johnstone
May 28 / 30, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Richard
Lichtman Sharon
Smith Paul
Craig Roberts Dave
Lindorff Ramzy
Baroud Brian
Cloughley Fred
Gardner Lee
Sustar Joshua
Frank Justin
E.H. Smith Jackie
Corr Michael
Kimaid Toufic
Haddad Justin
Taylor Amir
Butler Ben
Tripp Poets'
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May 27, 2005 Gary
Leupp Daniel
Estulin Kevin
Zeese Robert
Fisk Dave
Zirin Website
of the Day
May 26, 2005 Yuki
Tanaka Ray
McGovern Arthur
Mitzman Jack
Random Britt
Bailey and Brian Tokar Rebecca
Rush Jorge
Mariscal Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
May 25, 2005 Camilo
Mejia Dave
Lindorff William
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Shepard John
Ross Website
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Dave
Zirin Michele
Bollinger Winslow
Wheeler Uri
Avnery Michael
Donnelly Joshua
Frank Stephen
Dunifer Paul
Craig Roberts
May 23, 2005 Esther
Sassaman / Thomas Nagy Mike
Whitney Ramzy
Baroud Michael
Dickinson Walter
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J. Reavis Maria
Tomchick Norman
Solomon Kevin
Zeese Website
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May 21 / 22, 2005 David
H. Price Gabriel
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al-Saud Elaine
Cassel Greg
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Maass William
Blum Tom
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May 20, 2005 Dave
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de Rooij Christopher
Brauchli Mark
Engler Joshua
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May 19, 2005 Bill
Forman Stan
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Gordon Michael
Dickinson Karyn
Strickler Andrew
Freedman Paul
Craig Roberts
May 18, 2005 Jean
Bricmont Laura
Carlsen Mike
Whitney Joshua
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Galloway Manuel
Garcia, Jr. Dwight
D. Eisenhower Dave
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May 17, 2005 Mickey
Z. Petuuche
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Craig Roberts Ramzy
Baroud Robert
Jensen / Pat Youngblood Stan
Cox Dave
Zirin Diana
Barahona Website
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May 16, 2005 Michael
Gillespie Jason
Leopold Jesse
Muldoon Norman
Solomon Robert
Cray Patrick
Cockburn Website
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May 14 / 15, 2005 Alexander
Cockburn Saul
Landau Gary
Leupp JoAnn
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J. Foley Tom
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Ferner Dan
Smith Mark
Scaramella Don
Fitz Diane
Farsetta Michael
Dickinson Ron
Jacobs Fred
Gardner Farrah
Hassen Douglas
Valentine Poets'
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Stephens Patrick
Cockburn Mike
Whitney Chris
Floyd Jenna
Orkin Dave
Lindorff Joshua
Frank Website
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May 12, 2005 Paul
Craig Roberts Uri
Avnery Greg
Moses Carolyn
Baker Pat
Williams William
S. Lind Jack
Random Gary
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May 11, 2005 Patrick
Cockburn Kevin
Zeese Christopher
Brauchli Zalman
Amit Robert
Shull Mike
Whitney Dr.
Teresa Whitehurst Norman
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May 10, 2005 Richard
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Lindorff Michael
Donnelly Reza
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Parkin Stephen
Babcock Alan
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Neumann Website
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Frank Sasha
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Cockburn Gary
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Ponce Heather
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May 6, 2005 Patrick
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June 7, 2005 Xenophobia in the DesertRacist Fever Becomes Law in ArizonaBy MARGOT VERANES and ADRIAN NAVARRO Reacting to a barrage of anti-immigrant messaging and misinformation, Proposition 200 was approved by 56% of Arizona voters on November 2, 2004. Prop. 200 forces all Arizonans to present proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, to receive basic public services and to register to vote. Arizona's Attorney General has limited its application to five public benefits programs, but Prop. 200's most far-reaching impact has been one of widespread fear and intimidation. Immigrants are afraid to access even programs to which they are entitled. The voter-registration component of Prop. 200 constitutes a modern-day poll tax that often keeps low-income people and communities of color from voting. Since Proposition 200 passed last fall, its backers have presented an alarming 20 bills targeting immigrants in the Arizona legislature, have cheered the vigilante Minuteman Project on the Arizona-Mexico border, and have worked to sponsor similar bills in other states. But there is a growing grassroots mobilization against the resurgence of racist policies in Arizona, and the threat of an international and national boycott of the state looms. Prop. 200 Passed After a Campaign Rife with Xenophobia and Half-Truths In 2004, anti-immigrant groups nationwide with intimate ties to white nationalist organizations focused their attention on Arizona. Residents there were frustrated with low-wage jobs, poor healthcare, and funding being directed away from schools and public benefits programs. Extremists joined with a handful of fringe local groups to promote a hateful agenda of blaming immigrants for the state's woes. By the time election season rolled around in 2004, Arizona voters had already been primed for an anti-immigrant message thanks to a campaign of lies and race-baiting that built upon a decade of intense border militarization. Early polling in August of 2004 showed high rates of approval for Prop. 200.1 However, local community organizations mobilized against fringe groups from outside the state, and by mid-October, approval had dropped from 64% to 42%, and appeared to be falling further.2 Back in the spring of 2004, signature-gathering to place Prop. 200 on the November ballot was waning. A fringe group calling itself, "Protect Arizona Now," had initiated the signature-gathering with support from national anti-immigrant figureheads and organizations. When Protect Arizona Now's efforts lagged, the Washington, DC-based Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti-immigrant organization with white supremacist ties, moved into Arizona and began paying signature gatherers, investing $500,000 to ensure Prop. 200 would appear on the ballot.3 FAIR also wooed voters with a bogus study alleging that undocumented immigrants "cost Arizona $1.3 billion per year." Their study, among other inaccuracies, misleadingly included $810 million per year worth of state spending on education provided to children of immigrants who were U.S. citizens.4 FAIR refers to such children as "immigrant stock," language that offers a glimpse of the white supremacy inherent in their analysis of immigrants.5 In fact, immigrants, both documented and undocumented, contribute heavily to Arizona's economy. The Thunderbird School of International Management and Wells Fargo Bank, in their report Economic Impact of the Mexico-Arizona Relationship, demonstrated that immigrants make enormous tax contributions, paying annually $300 million more than they receive in services in Arizona.6 In 2001, Mexican immigrants in Arizona paid $1.5 billion in mortgages and rent, and Arizona banks and other financial institutions received $57 million in transaction costs and fees from remittances sent to Mexico from the state. In addition, Mexican immigrant purchasing power in Arizona was estimated at $3.9 billion in 2001.7 Further contradicting FAIR's numbers, the New York Times recently reported that the 8 to 10 million undocumented immigrant workers in the U. S. are now providing the Social Security system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year. This money will never be collected by undocumented immigrants themselves and will help fund the retirement of U.S. citizens for decades to come.8 Nevertheless, FAIR continues to peddle its own statistics to promote Prop. 200 copycats in other states, scapegoating immigrants--not the federal government--for the severe cutbacks in state social and health services. Since the approval of Prop. 200 by Arizona voters, immigrants have come under further attack from the Arizona legislature. This legislative session there were more than 20 anti-immigrant bills that sought to expand Prop. 200's application and many of them have been approved or are still pending. "The Minutemen vigilantes have diverted the attention of the public and the media while their counterparts sporting suits and ties in the State Capitol promote racist laws," said Luis Herrera, an organizer with the St. Peter's Housing Committee in San Francisco. "A war against immigrants and people of color has been declared in Arizona."
Voting Rights of U.S. Citizens Under Attack Prop. 200 backers also made unfounded accusations that undocumented immigrants voted in Arizona. Their true aim was to suppress voting by people of color. They openly declared during a televised debate, "Too many Latinos are voting." The impact of Prop. 200 identification requirements on voter registration has been staggering--in Pima County, over a two-week period early this month, 423 of 712 voter registration forms were rejected, or 59% of new voters. Last year, when 6 times as many people were registering because of the presidential election, no voter registration forms were rejected.9 Arizona is already red-flagged by the U.S. Justice Department (USDOJ) because of its history of widespread voter intimidation against people of color. Consequently, all changes to the state's voting laws must be approved by the federal government. Despite Prop. 200's blatant discriminatory intent, in January 2005 the USDOJ ruled that forcing people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote does not deter people of color from voting. Arizona is now the first state in the U.S. to require that anyone registering to vote present a birth certificate, passport, or tribal identity card. In Arizona, approximately one-third of the Latino and African American populations live in poverty. Citizens who cannot afford to purchase a birth certificate ($15 in Arizona), or passport ($85) will be prohibited from registering to vote. Civil rights leaders say this is eerily reminiscent of racist poll taxes. Prop. 200 also wipes out clipboard voter registration drives because making copies of the required documents at a potential new voter's doorstep is practically impossible. A number of bills currently before the legislature seek to further restrict voting rights and are sponsored by the same anti-immigrant contingent of legislators.
Arizona Becomes the VanguardState for Anti-Immigrant Measures Prop. 200's legalization of racial profiling has had a detrimental impact on U.S.-Mexico relations, as well as earned Arizona a reputation for intolerance within the United States. Recent headlines in Arizona's Spanish-language newspapers included, "En riesgo imagen de Arizona [ Arizona's Image at Risk]," and "Peligroso racismo en Arizona [Dangerous Racism in Arizona]." Harry Garewal, the president of Arizona's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, warned that Arizona is being singled out at a national level as the most intolerant and racist state.10 In March, a 7-member delegation of Mexican senators visited Arizona to investigate the effects of Prop. 200. The senators, seeking to analyze the law and its effects on Mexican nationals, had appointments with Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. However, Governor Janet Napolitano, a one-time opponent of Proposition 200, announced her refusal to receive the delegation and later Mayor Gordon, also a one-time opponent of the measure, canceled his meeting with the Mexican legislators.11 Following their three-day visit to Arizona, their official report described a "desolate panorama" of rising anti-immigrant sentiment. "The anti-Mexican atmosphere that prevails there, far from diminishing, is being felt with ever-increasing force," delegation member Miguel Sadot Sánchez noted.12 Prop. 200-like legislation is actively being promoted by FAIR and other anti-immigrant organizations around the country. Emboldened by Prop. 200's passage in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Ohio are all facing similar measures. In Arkansas, Joe McCutchen recently became the chair of "Protect Arkansas Now," a group supporting the "Arkansas Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act," closely modeled on Proposition 200. A recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center notes that Joe McCutchen was a member of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) in 2001, according to the CCC's newspaper.13
A Post-Prop. 200 Nightmare The Arizona legislature is now debating 20 additional bills that seek to criminalize and further marginalize immigrant workers and their families.
National and International Boycott of Arizona Imminent Prop. 200, the rapid advance of its legislative offspring, and the upsurge of armed paramilitaries on the border, have prompted communities in Mexico, Arizona, and across the United States to begin organizing a boycott of Arizona. The boycott will target Arizona businesses, conventions, and tourism, and will ask individuals and businesses to shop, travel, and conduct business elsewhere. The communities most affected by Prop. 200 and its offspring bills in the Arizona Legislature wield considerable economic power. Mexican tourists alone spend an estimated $1.6 billion in Arizona every year, and Mexican immigrant purchasing power is close to $4 billion. Mexicans who might normally visit Arizona to shop would be asked not to purchase anything in the state. In addition, immigrants, Latinos, and their allies in Arizona have begun to engage in work stoppages, and are considering boycotting specific industries or companies that support anti-immigrant legislation. The boycott will coincide with a petition drive to repeal Prop. 200. Arizonans held a series of community meetings in May, 2005, to decide what industries the boycott will target and to consult the communities that would be most impacted by such an action. In the early 1990s, Arizonans challenged white supremacists with a boycott and won. When a ballot initiative to recognize the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday failed to pass, local and national civil rights groups initiated a national boycott of Arizona. The year-long boycott cost Arizona $200 million, its reputation, and an NFL Superbowl. When given the chance to vote on the holiday again, Arizona voters approved it. Arizona currently is at the epicenter of a national and international struggle to defend the human rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens of color. The passage of Prop. 200 here marked the kick-off of a dangerous state-by-state drive to hide a racist campaign behind a strategic front of blaming immigrants for economic and social ills. Almost completely missing from the heated contest playing out in Arizona and nationally is a discussion of the unjust U.S. trade policies that propel migration. Immigrants suffer increasing imprisonment and policing for simply crossing a border. Instead of imposing harsher restrictions on the First World's exploitation of Third World peoples, U.S. laws punish the victims of the global economic system even further. "We see the effects of these free trade policies every day in the faces of the workers at our Centers," said Salvador Reza, director of the Macehualli Work Center in Phoenix, a day labor center that could soon be banned under HB 2592. "Prop. 200 and its henchmen have got to be stopped, or this place is in for a boycott." Margot Veranes and Adriana Navarro are members of Defeat 200 in Tucson, Arizona. For more information on Prop. 200 and similar bills currently before the Arizona Legislature, the Boycott of Arizona, and other ways to support immigrant rights campaigns in Arizona, please contact Defeat 200 at defeat200@yahoo.com. Endnotes 1. KAET Poll, http://www.kaet.asu.edu/horizon/poll/2004/8-24-04.htm, 2. Associated Press, Support Drops for Arizona Immigrant Measure, October 15, 2004, available online at http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=170041, accessed on 10/15/04 . 3. See Right Web profile at http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/fair.php 4. "The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Arizonans," available online at www.fairus.org/ImmigrationIssueCenters/ accessed on 4/22/05. 5. Ibid. 6. Economic Impact of the Arizona-Mexico Relationship (2003), available online at www.thunderbird.edu/faculty_research/research_centers/econ_impact/, accessed on 5/03/05. 7. Id. 8. Porter, Eduardo. New York Times, Illegal Immigrants are Bolstering Social Security with Billions, April 5, 2005. 9. C.J. Karamargin, "Prop 200 bouncing new voter signups," Arizona Daily Star, May 6, 2005. 10. Apodaca, Edmundo, Prensa Hispana, Peligroso racismo en Arizona, April 6, 2005. 11. Fischer, Howard, Arizona Daily Star, House OKs 4 Measures on Entrants, Governor won't discuss Prop 200 with Visiting Mexican Lawmakers," March 0, 2005. 12. Hawley, Chris, Arizona Republic,. Mexico Report: Arizona 'Xenophobia' Hotbed, April 3, 2005. 13. Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, Xenophobia: Extremist heads Arkansas Anti-Immigrant Lobby, ( 1/25/05), available online at www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=530 , accessed on 5/02/05.
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