latin american princesa {LAP}

• TRADE: Individual EPAs ”Do Not” Undermine Regional Integration [IPS]
  A little divide and conquer might get African nations to sign deals with the EU
• USCIS: Backlog in Naturalization Applications Will Take Nearly Three Years to Clear [MIS]
  Meanwhile bureaucracy gone mad is keeping immigrants from becoming Americans. Oh just let them try the “go back to your country” nonsense now.
• Who says Latinos and Asians hate blacks? [Racialicious]
  Throw three minority women together in a chat and what happens? An intelligent (and funny) discussion of demographics, voting and the usual mass media oversimplification and drama, that’s what!

• DEVELOPMENT: MDGs Yardstick Too Generic, Critics Say [IPS]
  This article highlights the importance of context and scale. The MDG’s were established on a global scale but when applied locally they don’t make sense and are hurting nations, African ones especially. One size does not fit all.
• Material Support to Terrorism — Consequences for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the United States [Migration Information Source]
  Since 9-11 new counterterrorism laws and policies have made asylum and refugee resettlement to the U.S. more difficult. This is another example of one-size-fit-all policy damaging the world’s weakest and most vulnerable inhabitants.
• Meanwhile the French sentenced far-right Le Pen for hate speech but the Dutch delay prosecution of far-right member of parliament Geert Wilders (in Dutch sorry, can’t find an English story on this). Wilders heads a right-wing party, has called the Koran a fascist book and demands it be banned. He is about to release a documentary about the Koran and Islam. Wilders lives under guard having received numerous death threats.
• In Bronx School, Culture Shock, Then Revival [NYT]
  Here’s an example of what happens when you address the specific needs of a community (a school in this case) rather than applying a one-size-fits-all policy. Not to mention that it breaks down stereotypes and assumptions, which generic policies often rely on.
• Yesterday’s march in Washington [CIPCOL]
  An eye-witness account of the anti-FARC march in my hometown.

• Racism Hits Formula One in Spain [NY Times]
• RIGHTS: Ignoring Girls’ Welfare Carries High Price [IPS]
• A Tiny Staff, Tracking People Across the Globe [NY Times]
• “Hate speech” over immigration must stop, says La Raza [Latin Americanist]
• POLITICS: A COLOR-BY-NUMBERS STUDY [Racialicious]

Just when I was thinking I was headed toward an actual decision and would focus on technology and society for my future, I get double reminders about why immigration needs my attention.

Latina Viva posted a touching story about an illegal immigrant who saved the life of a young American boy and was immediately deported. The other night I found a great channel on youtube, an interactive documentary on the Prince Williams County, VA immigration debate.

Heartbreaking! And no I’m not just a bleeding heart liberal. I do know from experience what it feels like to feel unwanted, unwelcome, no matter how hard you try. “It’s a tough world”, people say. “Toughen up and don’t take everything so personal.” I’m tough when I need to be. But why should I be tough all the time? Why should anyone?

“Toughen up” is what people did in WWII as the Jews were dragged away. That’s what people do as Palestinians and Iraqis die everyday. That’s why Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur can happen despite all “our progress”.

“Toughen up” indeed. Seems a little less tough and a little more empathy is in order. Tough hasn’t worked in No Child Left Behind, Iraq, the War on Terror, the War on Drugs, the prison system…should I go on? I’m no peace-and-love-hippy kinda girl, but certainly empathy, understanding and respect will bring us further than tough.

Right-wing party in Switzerland wants to pass a law reminiscent of Nazi times, deporting criminals AND the innocent family of the convicted person.

From The Guardian:

• Swiss party accused of racist campaigning
• Swiss nationalist deportation plan condemned

• Flight From Darfur Ends Violently in Egypt (washington post)
  Young Mother Killed by Border Guards While Waiting to Cross to Sanctuary in Israel
• School deaths that stunned black America (the guardian)
  After four model students were gunned down in a playground, outrage spread: if the brightest and best are not safe, then who is? Paul Harris in New York reports on the killings that have galvanised a community
• Moving the homeless out of shelters, into homes (christian science monitor)
  A new approach is being heralded not only as more successful in fighting chronic homelessness, but more cost effective.
• Rising Breed of Migrant: Skilled and Welcome (ny times)
  

  Migration is a two-way street

• RIGHTS-VENEZUELA: No Change in Patterns of Police Brutality and Impunity
  CARACAS, Aug 20 (IPS) - Eloísa Caro, a 26-year-old domestic worker, was blindfolded, handcuffed, beaten about the face, verbally abused and nearly suffocated with a plastic bag last year when she was summoned by the judicial police in the Venezuelan capital to give a statement on a robbery in the house where she worked.
• British Civics Class Asks, What Would Muhammad Do? (ny times)
  

  “One of our primary concerns is: why the Muslim community again?” Mrs. Ali said. “Extremism is a problem in all communities, especially among the British National Party,” she said, referring to a right-wing party that has articulated white supremacist views. “The issue of terror and extremism needs to be addressed across the board rather than saying: ‘Here, Muslims, go into your corner and have your curriculum.’”

The New York Times/AP headline is nice: Immigration Activist Deported. Well it’s sad and frustrating that she’s been deported, but I mean, it’s nice that they are highlighting her work. Gone are the “illegal” and “alien” that were so often used and now the focus is on the key word: ACTIVIST.

Anybody know how we can support and help her now that this battle has been lost?

Recently I was reading an article in the Washington Post on immigrant assimilation and whether the government should offer encouragement. While there is certainly a lot to be said about the topic what really caught my eye was how the article ended:

“If you live in America,” Orellana said, “you have to be American.”

Continue reading What do you mean “be an American”?…

Less than two weeks ago, while waiting for our (my “alien” husband and i) turn at the U.S. Consulate in Amsterdam. A young, African (sorry I didn’t ask which country, but probably Somalia) Muslim woman approached the window, “I want to go to America. Can you help me?” The consulate employee asked on what grounds she wanted to immigrate. She showed him her Dutch residence card and said she wanted to trade it for an American one. He proceeded to explain that it did not work that way and there are three ways to get into the U.S.:

1. employment
2. through a family member
3. via a lottery

Continue reading Wanted: passport swap…

• CULTURE: It All Begins With a Webcam and a Smile
  “‘Soliya’ — derived from sol, the Latin word for sun, and iya, Arabic for ‘beam of light’ — connects groups of eight university students around the world through advanced online videoconferencing technology in an attempt to bridge thorny cultural divides between the West and Arab worlds.”
• ALBANIA: Forget Communism…or Sell It
  
  “The possibilities for what has been termed as ‘communist heritage tourism’ are present, but as with other post-socialist countries in the region, the attempt at creating a communist-free national identity since the 1990s is in conflict with Western tourists’ increasing interest in remnants of the communist past.”
• From the mundane to the heart-breaking: Colombians line up for trial by lie detector
  “Welcome to Nothing But the Truth, a Colombian gameshow which brings new levels of excruciation to reality television. The format has been so successful with Colombian viewers that it is due to be exported to Europe and the US, cementing Latin America’s growing influence on western popular culture.”
• American dream falters
  “‘The American engine of economic assimilation continues to be a powerful force,’ concludes the Pew Charitable Trust study of immigrant economic mobility.

  But it’s a force that may be faltering. The gains of second-generation immigrants have shrunk in recent years – in part because first-generation immigrants now are poorer than at any time since World War II.”

• Exclusion through language
  On the Inhofe Amendment and bilingualism
• We Want You. . . To Think Just Like Us
  Wendi Muse on Identity Imperialism
• Minimum-Wage Hike Celebrated With Name-Brand Ketchup
  black humor…gotta love it.