Binational Conference: Conference 2011 Program

Marcela Villaseñor La frontera en llamas, 2010
Digital print on photographic paper

2nd Binational Conference on Border Issues

2a Conferencia Binacional sobre Asuntos Fronterizos

Politics of Violence: Militarization, Incarceration and Globalization
in the U.S./ Mexico Border Area

Políticas de violencia: Globalización, encarcelamiento y militarización en la frontera USA/ México

San Diego City College

December 1, 2011

9 am - 3 pm, Room/Salón D 121A

The U.S./Mexico border has become increasingly important and relevant to communities living and interacting with one another on both sides of this international boundary. Presentations at this conference will explore the impact of the border on populations living both in the U.S. and in Mexico. The varied perceptions and responses of the border communities to these impacts will be examined through current research, activism, advocacy and life experience.

La frontera México/Estados Unidos es crucial para las comunidades que viven e interactúan en ambos lados de la línea internacional. En esta conferencia abordaremos el impacto de la frontera sobre las poblaciones en México y EUA. Las presentaciones explorarán, desde diversas perspectivas, las respuestas y percepciones de las comunidades en ambos lados de la línea. Las presentaciones son reportes de investigación, trabajos de organización o narraciones de experiencias de vida.

Contact and information:

E-mail: binationalconference@gmail.com
Blog: www.conferenciaborder.blogspot.com

Conference organized by Chicana/o Studies Departments at San Diego City College and
Mesa College and Baja California Chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites
(Sección Baja California del Consejo Internacional de Sitios y Monumentos)

Conference sponsors/Con el apoyo de: City College President Dr. Terry Burgess, American Federation of Teachers, Local 1931, City College World Cultures Program, City College Anthropology Program of Department of Behavioral Sciences

Program

8:30 am: Registration / Registro

9:35 am: Opening Plenary / Plenaria de apertura

Opening remarks and welcome

Inaguración de la conferencia y bienvenida

Dr. Terry Burgess, San Diego City College President

Lori Erreca, City College Dean of Social Sciences/ Decana de Ciencias Sociales

Keynote speakers/Oradores principales

Anabel Hernandez

Author of Los Señores del Narco (The Drug Lords)

anabelhernandezg71@yahoo.com

Los señores del narco es una descarnada crónica sobre las alarmantes complicidades de los altos círculos políticos, policiacos, militares y empresariales con el crimen organizado. Anabel Hernández tuvo acceso no sólo a una vasta documentación, inédita hasta hoy, sino a testimonios directos de autoridades y expertos en el tema, así como de personas involucradas con los principales cárteles mexicanos de la droga. Esto le ha permitido examinar rigurosamente el origen de la sangrienta lucha por el poder entre los grupos criminales, y cuestionar la "guerra" del gobierno federal contra la delincuencia organizada.

The Drug Lords is an uncompromising chronicle on the alarming collusion of the organized crime with the high rank of businessmen, police, military and politicians. Anabel Hernandez had access not only to a vast, unpublished documentation, but also to direct testimony of authorities and experts in the field, as well as people directly involved with the main Mexican drug cartels. Anabel Hernandez has written a rigorous examination of the origins of the bloody power struggle between criminal groups that has challenged the “war” speared by the federal government against the organized crime.

Sean Riordan

ACLU San Diego and Imperial Counties

sriordan@aclusandiego.org

Sean Riordan is the staff attorney at the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties—he will present “Human Rights Advocacy at the Border: Combating Inhumane Detention and a Culture of Coercion”

Sean Riordan es abogado de la Unión por las Libertades Civiles de Estados Unidos que presentará “Abogando por los derechos humanos en la frontera: combatiendo la detención inhumana y la cultura de coerción”

Panels

Panel 1

Illegalization and deportation: Exploring the Damage in Lives, Families and Society

Ilegalización y deportación: explorando los daños en vidas, familias y sociedad

Room/Salon D 121A

11:10 am – 12:15 pm

Panel 2

Weaving Cross-border Solidarity

Tejiendo solidaridad trasnacional

Room/Salon A 213

11:10 am – 12:15 pm

Panel 3

Border Culture and Action from Diverse Perspectives

Acción y cultura en la frontera desde diversas perspectivas

Room/Salon A 216

11:10 am – 12:15 pm

Panel 4

Illegalization and deportation: Exploring the Damage in Lives, Families and Society-cont.

Ilegalización y deportación: explorando los daños en vidas, familias y sociedad- continuación

1:00 – 2:10 pm

Room/Salon D 121A

Panel 5

The Daily and Quiet Resistance to Exploitation in the Maquiladoras

La Resistencia diaria y silenciosa a la explotación en las maquiladoras

1:00 – 2:10 pm

Room/Salon A 213

Panel 6

Borderlands Grassroots Response to Violence: War Zone vs Cultural Renaissance in Tijuana and San Diego

Respuestas fronterizas de base a la violencia: zona de guerra contra renacimiento cultural en Tijuana y San Diego

1:00 – 2:10 pm

Room/Salon A 216

Panel 7

Exposing the Dense Border: Research and Action

Exponiendo la densa frontera: acción e investigación

2:20 – 3:45 pm

Room/Salon D 121A

Panel 8: Identities and other developments

Identidades y otros desarrollos

2:20 – 3:45 pm

Room/Salon A 213

Panel 9

Penetrating the Prison and Immigration Detention Complex

Penetrando la prisión y los centros de detención de migrantes

2:20 – 3:45 pm

Room/Salon A 216

12:15 – 1 pm

Lunch/ Almuerzo

Lunch speaker / Orador durante el almuerzo

Gerardo Fernández Noroña

Partido del Trabajo, México

Room D 121A

Congresista, diputado federal por el distrito # 19, Iztapalapa, México D.F.

Member of the Mexican Congress, 19th District, Iztapalapa, Mexico City

“La guerra Fallida del Gobierno Mexicano contra el Narcotráfico y a la Violación a los Derechos Humanos”

“The Mexican Government’s Failed Drug War and the Violation of Human Rights”

4:00 pm

Closing plenary/ Plenaria de clausura

Son Jarocho en la frontera

todoxlavictoria@gmail.com

Musician Jorge Castillo will perform and discuss the history of the “Son Jarocho” (a Mexican music genre originated in the state of Veracruz) in the Tijuana/ San Diego border area. He will play a couple of songs and explain the tradition of this music, the instrumentation, and its relationship with the famous “Fandangos."

En la plenaria de clausura, el músico Jorge Castillo tocará y presentará la historia del son jarocho en el área fronteriza de Tijuana con San Diego. Jorge tocará un par de canciones y explicará la tradición de esta música, su instrumentación, y su relación con los famosos “fandangos”.

In exhibit/ En exhibición

“Net” / “Red”

Socrates Medina

San Diego City College

socratesmdn@hotmail.com

Artwork representing the border produced from iron mesh, rope, and a wooden frame found in a construction site

Pieza de arte representando la frontera producida con malla de acero, cuerda y una estructura de Madera encontrada en un sitio en construcción

Socrates was born in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico and at the age of 13 he moved with his family to San Diego. Socrates has created a collection of sculptures where all the materials used so far are from construction debris. His collection is called RAW because raw is the condition of the materials found and worked with to create these sculptures.

Socrates nació en Tijuana y a los 13 años se cambió a San Diego con su familia. Los materiales que usa para su colección de esculturas, hasta ahora, son escombros de materiales de construcción. Su colección se llama RAW pues sus materiales son “raw” (en bruto, no refinados) recogidos de obras de construcción.

Poster: Community Health Workers Working on the Ulyses Syndrome

Trabajadores comunitarios de la salud ante el Síndrome Ulises

Carolina Huerta

School of Health and Human Services, National University

Alba Lucia Diaz-Cuellar

Research Foundation, Prevention Research Center

San Diego State University

criloalca@yahoo.com

Effectiveness of Community Health Workers Working Locally and Internationally: The Ulyses Syndrome--The lives of low- income newly arrived immigrant Latinos in the United States are currently compromised by serious health problems, which lack effective and lasting solutions. The efforts to determine lasting solutions to this growing crisis have been many and varied, often without continued success.

La efectividad de los trabajadores comunitarios de la salud trabajando local e internacionalmente: el Síndrome Ulises: la vida de los inmigrantes latinos de bajos ingresos a EUA está provocando ahora serios daños a la salud para los cuales hacen falta soluciones efectivas y duraderas.

Not only will this presentation incorporate the work of CHWs as health educators, and advocates, it will also employ the methodology developed by Paulo Freire. The application of Freire's theory and methodology used in this presentation, gives it a unique dimension of human experience and authenticity, which derives relevant and meaningful results. The combination of Freire's Participatory methods with the CHW's model, yields a clear and instructive picture of the CHW's potency as effective agents of social education, and disease prevention in newly arrived immigrant communities, both locally and internationally.

Panelists

Panel 1

Illegalization and deportation: Exploring the Damage in Lives, Families and Society

Ilegalización y deportación: explorando los daños en vidas, familias y sociedad Room/Salon D 121A

11:10 am – 12:15 pm

Rewards and Punishment: Constructing The Ideal Immigrant

Damian Vergara

juvergar@ucsd.edu

Immigration and Naturalization operates as a power structure by categorically deciding who is in and who is out. As a result of the expansion of the prison industrial complex into what can now be coined as the free trade of immigrants i.e. cheap labor, immigration enforcement has shifted its focus from deportation to detention. In the process and as a result of the complex web of adjusting status, immigrants are forced to wait in line for judgment day. While in line, they are tested on their ability to assimilate and checked for any signs of undesirability. The shift in focus consequently has allowed for the systematic punishment and rewards of certain racialized, gendered, sexualized, and classed bodies. Through archival research, primary documents, and potential interviews, I intend to disprove the dominant narrative of the immigration system as broken by demonstrating how it is actually performing its assigned role to its full capacity.

Undocumented Latino/a Community and Access to and Quality of Medical Care

Elizabeth Soto

Ethnic Studies Undergraduate, UCSD

e2soto@ucsd.edu

I plan to focus my research on medical care and the undocumented Latino/a community. I plan to explore how the “illegal” status in the United States affects the access to and quality of medical care that undocumented Latino/as receive. I argue that the social construction of “othering” undocumented Latino/as as “illegal” has and will continue to have profound and, more often than not, negative effects on the medical attention that this community receives. It is of great importance to note the reality of the material consequences (such as death) that the Latino/a community experience due to the limited access to fair and appropriate medical attention.

Human Trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico Border: a Psychological Perspective

Jessica Beltran

Senior majoring in Psychology, UCSD

mrs_draven@hotmail.com

Every year an estimate of 17,500 adults and children are trafficked to the United States for the purposes of labor and sexual exploitation. Victims of human trafficking suffer from a wide range of psychological problems that need to be treated in order to promote their well-being and facilitate their reintegration into society. Immigration policies, prevention strategies, and intervention methods are described in this study as well as the socio-psychological impact of human trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The U.S.-Mexico border as a site of gendered criminalization and punishment.

Stephanie Castillo

Ethnic Studies, UCSD

stcastil@ucsd.edu

I am interested in exploring the U.S.-Mexico border as a site of gendered criminalization and punishment. In particular, I would like to analyze the effects of the increased militarization at the U.S.-Mexico border and restrictionist immigration policies has had on the containment and regulation of the Latina body in terms of reproduction and sexuality. Given the inextricable link between the transnational sexual division of labor and immigration policy, I would argue that globalization facilitates violence against Latina women and other women of color, excluding women of color from claims to U.S citizenship and motherhood. Ultimately, I would like to contribute a further understanding of the material consequences of the state’s involvement in population containment and control through immigration which constructs women as reproductive agents void of political agency and as delegitimized subjects.

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Panel 2

Weaving Cross-border Solidarity

Tejiendo solidaridad trasnacional

Room/Salon A 213

11:10 am – 12:15 pm

Violence and exploitative trade in North and Central America

David Schmidt

Collective Creating Alternatives and Fair Enterprise (CAFE)

davidschmidt2003@hotmail.com

General presentation of history of violence connected with trade injustice in North and Central America--The proposed essay will examine the current issues of border-region violence, in light of the military and economic policies that led to the creation of many of the violent gangs that exist today in the Americas. By examining U.S.-led policy in Central America during the Cold War period, we will show that gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha organization are the “end game” result of the violence that was sown during the United States’ counterinsurgency campaigns. Death squads were armed in the name of “fighting Communism” in the region, and violence was established as the rule of the day through coups d’état which overthrew democratically elected governments. While the pretext was the “Red Menace”, these counterinsurgency policies were actually enacted in order to maintain the region’s trade integration with the United States. The Contras of Nicaragua, the Kaibiles of Guatemala and the child soldiers of El Salvador were all fighting for the same thing—the markets of their countries and their region to remain in the hands of U.S. business. These policies have come full circle today. The poverty that has resulted from this neocolonial relationship between the U.S. and Mexico and Central America has provoked greater rates of migration. While Central American migrants were fleeing civil war and counterinsurgency violence in the 1980’s, and were criminalized for doing so, today they flee the effects of neoliberalism, caught up in the same dragnet of U.S. (and Mexican) immigration enforcement. Meanwhile, the gangs that were born from the ashes of the counterinsurgency armed movements continue to both recruit from the ranks of the increasing numbers of poor people, as well as target the poor as their primary victims. Today as in the 1980’s, the U.S. continues to seek domination of these markets. The answer to the violence and the poverty which feed off each other is a new type of trade.

The North American Albergue System El Sistema de Albergues en América del Norte

Richard J. Schaefer and Carolyn Gonzales

University of New Mexico

Schaefer@unm.edu (Phone 505-836-3673)

English

Since the turn of the century a system of church-funded, privately run migrant shelters has developed throughout Mexico and Central America that provides temporary shelter and meals for migrants heading north. At the direction of church groups, two or three people will typically obtain run-down warehouse space near border crossing points or rail yards where Central American migrants hop freight trains en route to the United States. After minimal renovation the albergues invite migrants in to get warm meals and spend the night. This profile of the albergue system draws upon the author’s experiences at various migrant shelters, including the large Hermanos en el Camino Albergue in Ixtepec, Oaxaca that was founded in 2007 by Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra and the Casa de Migrante, in the municipality of Tutitlán, just north of Mexico City and adjacent to the Lechería freight yard, which opened its doors in early 2009. The Albergues traditionally provide a safe haven for destitute migrants who are preyed upon by gangs and corrupt officials. In the past, shelters along the migrant routes permitted migrants to spend three nights before resuming their perilous journeys, but in the wake of the Honduran diaspora of 2009 many overcrowded albergues were force to offer shelter for just one night. The paper also describes the varying reactions of local populations and government officials to the shelters and their migrant clients.

Richard J. Schaefer is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico. His teaching specialties are broadcast journalism, media writing and immigration issues. He is a co-founder of the Cross-Border Issues Group, a collaboration between UNM and Mexican faculty and students who travel in teams to immigration hot spots to produce journalistic and academic reports. Schaefer earned a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame, and master’s and doctoral degrees in communication from the University of Utah. He was a professional journalist and interactive videodisc writer before becoming an academic.

Carolyn Gonzales is a Sr. Communication Representative in University Communication and Marketing at the University of New Mexico. She is a co-founder of the Cross-Border Issues Group, a collaboration between UNM and Mexican faculty and students who travel to immigration hot spots to produce journalistic and academic reports. Gonzales received her B.A. from UNM in English, Professional Writing, and is currently a cultural studies graduate student in the UNM Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

Español

El Sistema de Albergues en América del Norte

Durante la última década un sistema de iglesia-financiado, privada albergues para migrantes se ha desarrollado en México y América Central, que ofrece alojamiento temporal y comidas para los migrantes que viajan hacia el norte. Bajo la dirección de varios grupos de iglesias, por lo general dos o tres personas obtienen espacio vacío dentro de bodegas viejas cerca de los fronterizos o estaciones ferroviarias, donde los inmigrantes de América Central van a bordar a los trenes de carga en el camino a los Estados Unidos. Después de la renovación mínima, los albergues invitan a los migrantes para recibir comidas calientes y pasar la noche. Este perfil del sistema de albergue se basa en las experiencias del autor en diversos albergues para migrantes, incluidos el Hermano Grande en el Camino Albergue en Ixtepec, Oaxaca, que fue fundada en 2007 por el Padre Alejandro Solalinde Guerra, y la Casa de Migrante, en el municipio de Tutitlán justo al norte de la ciudad de México y al lado del patio de carga de Lechería, que abrió sus puertas a principios de 2009. Los albergues proporcionan tradicionalmente un refugio seguro para los inmigrantes pobres quienes son presa fácil de las pandillas y los funcionarios corruptos. En el pasado, los refugios a lo largo de las rutas migratorias permitían a los migrantes a pasar tres noches antes de reanudar sus viajes peligrosos, pero a raíz de la diáspora hondureña de 2009, muchos albergues hacinados fueron la fuerza para ofrecer refugio por solamente una noche. El documento también describe las distintas reacciones de las poblaciones locales y funcionarios del gobierno a los refugios y sus clientes inmigrantes.

Richard J. Schaefer es profesor asociado en el Departamento de Comunicación y Periodismo de la Universidad de Nuevo México. Sus especialidades de enseñanza son periodismo de difusión, escribiendo los medios de comunicación y la inmigración. Es co-fundador del Grupo de Transfronterizo (CBIG), una colaboración entre la facultad y la UNM y estudiantes mexicanos que viajan a "lugares calientes" en los equipos intercambios de la inmigración para producir los informes periodísticos y reportajes académicos. Schaefer ganó un B.A. en inglés de la Universidad de Notre Dame, y grados de maestría y doctorado en Comunicación de la Universidad de Utah. Él era un periodista profesional y escritor videodisco interactivo antes de convertirse en un académico.

Carolyn Gonzales es representante señior de la comunicación por la Comunicación y Marketing en la Universidad de Nuevo México. Ella es co-fundador del Grupo Transfronterizas, una colaboración entre la facultad y la UNM y estudiantes mexicanos que viajan a "lugares calientes" en los equipos intercambios de la inmigración para producir los informes periodísticos y reportajes académicos. Gonzales recibió su B.A. de la UNM en Inglés y está estudiando la matería de los estudios culturales como una posgrada dentro del Departamento de UNM de Lenguas y Literaturas Extranjeras.

Promoting Fair Trade at San Diego

Dawn Stary, Fair Trade San Diego

dawnmstarysweeney@gmail.com

“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity; it is an act of justice.” –Nelson Mandela

Fair Trade San Diego works to promote the awareness and use of fair trade in San Diego County. Its goals are to educate San Diegans about Fair Trade, to promote local Fair Trade businesses, and to affect local systemic change.

San Diego Community College Fair Trade Coffee Campaign

Carolina Moreno

San Diego City College

79carolinamoreno@gmail.com

For two years, the club City College CAFE has worked to create awareness about fair trade. The current goal is to present a resolution to the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees in favor of fair trade coffee.

Donde lo internacional se vuelve local: Experiencias de solidaridad binacional

Where International turns local: Experiences of Binational Solidarity

Enrique Davalos

Chicanao Studies

San Diego City College

edavalos@sdccd.edu

Para las comunidades de Tijuana y San Diego la solidaridad internacional no requiere tomar avión ni transportarse cientos de kilómetros. Aquí lo internacional se vuelve local. Las experiencias empiezan desde los años 1850s, cuando una frontera fue impuesta entre California y Baja California. La frontera simplemente duplicó esfuerzos y capacidades por justicia social. Existe toda una tradición de colaboración, apoyo mutuo y proyectos armados entre organizaciones y movimientos de Baja California y el sur de California, en particular Tijuana y San Diego. Este ensayo recorre a vuelo de pájaro algunos momentos de esta lucha binacional. Vamos a recordar a los Californios recolectando dinero y armas para Benito Juárez y contra la invasión francesa. Y la revolución mexicana de 1910, cuando los movimientos se nutrían de municiones y combatientes de Estados Unidos. En el presente, las experiencias de globalifóbicos, neo zapatistas, migrantes, sindicalistas, artistas e indignados ocupacionistas revive una y otra vez la misma verdad: la frontera estimula la coordinación, mutua solidaridad y el tejido de redes que cubren ambos lados de la frontera. Este ensayo se enfoca en una experiencia particular: la heroica lucha de los trabajadores de la maquiladora Han Young que cimbró a Tijuana de 1997 a 2000 y que alineó a miles de seguidores en México y Estados Unidos. Las lecciones de esta batalla laboral son vitales para entender las perspectivas de solidaridad binacional.

Between the Tijuana and San Diego communities, international solidarity requires neither taking a plane nor traveling hundreds of miles. International turns local here. The experiences started in the 1850s, just after a border was imposed between Baja California and California. The border caused doubled efforts and resources for social justice. There is a long tradition of common projects and mutual support between Baja California and southern California’s social movements and organizations, particularly between Tijuana and San Diego. This essay provides an overview of this binational struggle. We will remember the Californios collecting money and weapons for Benito Juarez and against the French invasion of Mexico, and the Mexican Revolution, when the movements got ammunition and soldiers from the US. In the present, the experiences of the Globaliphobics, Neo Zapatistas, migrants, unionists, artists and occupiers once again revive the same truth: the border stimulates coordination, mutual solidarity, and the weaving of networks that cover both sides of the border. This essay focuses on one particular experience: the Han Young maquiladora workers’ heroic struggle that shook Tijuana from 1997 to 2000 and aligned thousands of followers in the US and Mexico. The lessons from that struggle are vital to understanding the binational solidarity perspectives.

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Panel 3

Border Culture and Action from Diverse Perspectives

Acción y cultura en la frontera desde diversas perspectivas

Room/Salon A 216

11:10 am – 12:15 pm

Breaking the Fences: confronting the spaces in-between Indigeneity and identity

Cristino Velasquez Alan Lechusza Aquallo, PhD

Assistant Professor; American Indian Studies, Palomar College

cristino_velasquez@yahoo.com

aaquallo@palomar.edu

“The rebels search each other out. They walk towards one another. They find each other and together break other fences. In the rural areas and cities, in the states, in the nations, on the continents, the rebels begin to recognize themselves, to know themselves to be equal and different. They continue on their fatiguing walk, walking as it is now necessary to walk, that is to say, struggling…,” Zapatista Encuentro, “2nd Declaration of La Realidad” (1998)

Colonial contact era(s) for Indigenous People, founded upon an assimilationist and acculturative design, produced complex identity structures that continue to plague contemporary Native People. Therefore, how does one “erase” these literary and metaphorical borders that are fixtures of a post-colonial rhetoric? Our collective work deals with these multiple challenges that border ideology presents (physical, psychological and spatial) steaming from a colonial epistemology. Our work fuses art and scholarship as deconstructive agents in a critique of colonial hegemony that dismantles and questions a triple consciousness of be/-ing.

Border artists painting

Consuelo Manriquez

Principal of San Diego High School of Business and LEADS

consuex@hotmail.com

Art is used to visualize different aspects of life. Many artists use the brush to send messages to the world. The cultural reality of the Mexico/U.S. border has brought an emergence of art that addresses many of the social political issues that people face in their daily life. Border artists paint their life as seen through their eyes in the United States as a result their work is a vibrant depiction of the struggles and celebrations of the people from the border.

Presenting a mini graphic novel/illustrated book that will take a Chicana Feminist perspective

Doveina Serrano

SDSU, Women's Studies Masters Program

doveina.serrano@gmail.com

As recent scholarship suggests, Latino/people of color comics/graphic novels serve as a both a social critique of racism, sexism, discrimination, and provide a realistic and sensitive description of immigrant stories, or women of color. Additionally, such graphic novels serve as a medium to tell unique stories and can be a new form of social critique for artists and academics. Graphic novels by and of Latinos/people of color challenge the limited binary social constructions of dominant U.S. society. Studies show that Latinos, and particularly Latino youth enjoy reading comics and Manga in the U.S. and that students who read graphic novels that share an ethnic/immigrants story, such as Persepolis, or American Born Chinese, are better critical thinkers and writers. I will create a mini graphic novel/illustrated book that will take a Chicana Feminist perspective in critiquing and describing issues such as: a modern mestiza negotiating her traditional upbringing, the increasing militarization at the border and violence against Mexicans, social and gender roles and stereotypes, a holistic way of living with an awakened/enlightened perspective, via Anzaldúa, and a revisit to the past historia from la guerilla, the female revolutionaria who will serve as a positive symbol of our past herstory of Latinas in the Americas. I hope to create a work that both educates and entertains, as the historietas of Mexico do.

El Coyote: Crossing Borders, Uniendo Culturas

Editorial Committee: Francisco Beltrán (San Diego City College and UCSD Graduate; Chicana/o Studies and History), Sandra Galindo (Chicana/o Studies and Social Work, San Diego City College), Joaquín Junco (Art and Graphic Design, San Diego City College), Angel Monroy-Aparicio (Chicana/o Studies and Sociology, San Diego City College), Theresa Ortega (Xicana/o Studies and Political Science, San Diego City College), Israel Rocha (Psychology; Marriage Family Therapy, San Diego City College), and Anna Rogers (Faculty Advisor, English Department)

elcoyotecitycollege@gmail.com

El Coyote is a monthly, student-run newsletter from the Chicana/o Studies Department at San Diego City College committed to building intercultural and cross-border unity through the dissemination of news, commentary, analysis, stories, art, and other creative forms that reflect the experiences, perspectives, cultures, and sensibilities of our diverse student body, faculty/staff, and community. Since its foundation in 2008, El Coyote’s mission has been to provide voice to the multiple underrepresented communities situated along the San Diego/Tijuana border region. We devote a substantial amount of time and effort to emphasizing traditional cultural customs and practices celebrated on both sides of the border. Topics we discuss and analyze include but are not limited to culture, politics, economics, history, religion, education, and immigration. Our priority is to promote civic and cultural awareness by informing, educating, and engaging our reading audience by stimulating self-consciousness to the issues that affect not only their identity and presence, but encompass the diverse indigenous and immigrant groups of the U.S. southwest. Our writing is 100% organic; we do not publicize any commercial business but we do promote grassroots student-led and community-oriented cultural and public events. We do not favor any one political, social or religious ideology; for we uphold impartiality and respectful constructive criticism of any one subject is encouraged and welcomed.

El Coyote es una publicación estudiantil mensual cortesía del departamento de Estudios Chicanos en San Diego City College, cuyo objetivo es construir unidad intra-cultural y fronteriza por medio de la diseminación de noticias, comentarios, análisis, historia, arte y otros medios creativos que reflejan las experiencias, perspectivas, culturas, y sensibilidades de nuestro cuerpo estudiantil, nuestra facultad, y de nuestra comunidad. Desde su fundación en 2008, la misión del Coyote ha sido proveer voz a las múltiples comunidades poco representadas situadas en la región fronteriza de San Diego. Dedicamos nuestro tiempo y esfuerzo considerablemente para enfatizar las múltiples tradiciones y prácticas culturales que se celebran en ambos lados de la frontera. Los temas que discutimos y analizamos incluyen pero no son limitados a la cultura, la política, la economía, historia, religión, educación e inmigración. Nuestra tarea y prioridad es ayudar a promover la auto-conciencia cívica y cultural informando, educando, y acercando a nuestra audiencia lectora a los temas que afectan no sólo su identidad y presencia, sino abarca los diversos grupos indígenas y migrantes del suroeste de los Estados Unidos. Nuestra escritura es 100% orgánica. No hacemos promoción alguna a ningún negocio comercial, pero si promovemos varios eventos culturales y públicos organizados por estudiantes y la escuela y orientados al beneficio de la comunidad. Nuestro grupo no favorece ninguna ideología política, social, o religiosa en especial. Para nosotros es de suma importancia mantener la imparcialidad ante todo, dándole oportunidad y bienvenida a cualquier crítica constructiva y respetuosa de cualquier tema, sea cual sea.

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Panel 4

Illegalization and deportation: Exploring the Damage in Lives, Families and Society-cont.

Ilegalización y deportación: explorando los daños en vidas, familias y sociedad- continuación

1:00 – 2:10 pm

Room/Salon D 121A

Psychology of the children of undocumented people Erika Mendizabal

Ethnic Studies Student, UCSD

emendiza@ucsd.edu

My research is based on the children of undocumented people psychological health after either being a detainee with their family or having their parents detained at a CCA facility. I want to find out what are the psychological effects and consequences these children are suffering or suffered, after such traumatic experience. I want to find out what it was like for them and at the same time I would like to get the point of view of the parents if available. How they have coped and if there is any available help for them. Now if there is not any help I want to find out what the discourse behind it is specially if a lot of these children are U.S. citizens. Due to the importance the U.S. places on child welfare and acknowledging that these children are viewed as second class citizens I can imagine that there is not going to be a lot scholarly journals available. Therefore I plan to interview a few people who as children have been process by the CCA or have had their parents processed. This is important because I would like to call attention to such a big problem that not a lot of scholars are addressing.

Discourse Analysis & Effects on Undocumented Immigrants of Immigration Debate in the U.S.

Mayra Sandoval

Ethnic Studies Undergraduate, UCSD

m1sandov@ucsd.edu

I want to argue that anti-immigration discourse, in which undocumented immigrants are depicted as criminals, hypersexual, and welfare/social service dependent is created in order to justify strict immigration laws and harsh measures/penalties aimed at undocumented immigrants. Also, the U.S. does not only justify itself, but ensures that undocumented immigrants remain a source of cheap labor, which benefits capitalism. Again, by ensuring that undocumented immigrants do not attain legal status, by denying them access to education, and by denying other social services, the U.S. ensures that they remain a constant source of cheap labor.

How labor demand in the United States determines notions of gender in transnational migration patterns

Nina Monty

Ethnic Studies Undergraduate, UCSD

nmonty@ucsd.edu

Motherhood and the manner in which it is manifested has evolved in accordance with historical changing socio-economic exigencies. The Bracero Program, in place between 1942 and 1968, supported the migration of male workers. More recently, the growing demand for domestic labor has encouraged female migration. By studying the role history has played in gendered migration a notable change in motherhood presents itself as well. Using the conceptual framework present by Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo in “Doméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence” and “Gendered Transition: Mexican Experiences of Immigration” I will draw on the nature of socio-economic changes that have occur in the past one hundred years. Two case studies consisting of interviews conducted with domestic laborers will offer further insight to the current methodologies of motherhood. Conclusions are made regarding the changes documented in relation to historical labor demands.

Criminalization of undocumented immigrants as a source of profit Graciela C Resendiz

Ethnic Studies, UCSD

GracielaRe@aol.com

This paper will be an analysis on the criminalization of undocumented immigrants as a source of profit, most specifically highlighting the CCA, as a powerful economic source. In criminalizing undocumented immigrants, the CCA benefits from each detainee booked in the CCA detention centers. I intend to research the historical background of the CCA, in order to understand their motives of convicting undocumented immigrants in such unprecedented rates. Although, the detainees are booked into custody most similar to the steps taken in the prison system, the detainees are not convicted of criminal chargers, but are convicted of non-inspection via the Immigrant and Customs.

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Panel 5

The Daily and Quiet Resistance to Exploitation in the Maquiladoras

La Resistencia diaria y silenciosa a la explotación en las maquiladoras

1:00 – 2:10 pm

Room/Salon A 213

Medio ambiente y salud en las comunidades: el impacto de las maquiladoras y la lucha por justicia ambiental en Tijuana

Magdalena Cerda

Colectivo Chilpancingo por Salud Ambiental

Coalición de Salud Ambiental

MagdalenaC@environmentalhealth.org

Presentación del impacto de las maquilas en el medio ambiente y la salud de las comunidades y de la lucha por justicia ambiental en Tijuana. Discusión de las experiencias del Colectivo Chilpancingo: (1) Defensa del suelo y el agua mediante la limpieza del sitio tóxico Metales y Derivados en el Parque Industrial Otay, próximo a las colonias Alamar, Chilpancingo y Murua. (2) Campaña por la defensa del aire evitando que los tráileres de las maquilas crucen por las calles de las colonias y llenen el ambiente de humo de combustión de los motores. (3) Defensa del Río Alamar y sus ecosistemas a través de una demanda legal en contra del proyecto de canalizar el río. La presentación enmarca estos temas en las políticas de libre comercio y TLCAN y en cómo éstas impactan las el medio ambiente y la salud de las comunidades.

Contradicciones entre la ley laboral mexicana y las prácticas laborales en la industria maquiladora—experiencias de acompañamiento a trabajadoras/es.

Margarita Avalos Salas

Colectivo Ollin Calli Tijuana

ollin.calli.cm@gmail.com

En los últimos años y actualmente las y los trabajadores de las maquilas de Tijuana enfrentan violaciones a sus derechos humanos y laborales, algunos ejemplos de ellos son las largas jornadas de trabajo, los ritmos de producción acelerados, salarios anticonstitucionales, despidos injustificados, acoso sexual principalmente hacia las mujeres.

Los procesos de producción, el alto ruido, los químicos que usan, la falta de mantenimiento de la maquinaria y falta de equipo de seguridad e higiene causa daños a la salud que van de problemas de estrés y respiratorios hasta sordera, daño del túnel carpiano, cánceres, accidentes de todo tipo y hasta la muerte.

La organización en las maquiladoras de Baja California enfrenta grandes obstáculos. Los sindicatos, cuando hay, son corruptos y sirven a las empresas. La Junta de Conciliación y Arbitraje (JCyA) y la Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social (STPS) generalmente está a favor de la empresa. El desempleo atemoriza cualquier intento de resistencia y organización. El desconocimiento de los derechos laborales y la falta de abogados que defiendan honestamente a los y las trabajadoras complica aún más la organización.

Los cambios a las leyes laborales en México promovidas por el Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) y la Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana (COPARMEX) son aplicados en la práctica aun cuando contradigan las leyes actuales. Los cambios, entonces, sólo intentan legalizar lo ilegal y tienen como objetivo:

Terminan con el principio de estabilidad en el empleo.

Anular la contratación colectiva, el derecho a la sindicalización y a la autonomía e independencia sindicales y el derecho de huelga.

Quitar la obligación que tiene el patrón de entregar el aviso de despido.

Inventar como causa de despido la queja de algún cliente del patrón.

Hacer legal la renta o subcontratación de trabajadores (outsourcing.) Con esto se permite que haya trabajadores de primera y de segunda, o sea, que en una misma empresa, por los mismos o similares trabajos, haya condiciones, salarios y prestaciones diferentes.

Terminar con el salario mínimo y la jornada laboral; permitir que la empresa contrate y pague por el tiempo que le convenga.

Anular el derecho a la Indemnización con los contratos temporales.

Anular el derecho a los salarios caídos, pues solo pagarán el importe de un año, o menos, pero pueden alargar los juicios como siempre, o más.

Con todo esto el gobierno e industria cuidan mantener el control, la corrupción y represión contra las y los trabajadores que queremos organizarnos y luchar por defender nuestros derechos. La propuesta de cambio a las leyes laborales la justifican bajo los términos de “competitividad” y “crecimiento económico”, lo que no nos dicen es que la competitividad será entre las y los trabajadores por ver quién logra tener un trabajo de base, quién produce más por menos salario, y quién se queja menos por las prácticas abusivas de las empresas. Van va a lograr más crecimiento económico pero para los empresarios que cada vez abaratan más y más la mano de obra. Para el resto de los mexicanos, significará más explotación, pobreza, problemas ambientales y sociales.

Algunas formas de resistencia de los y las trabajadoras ante los abusos de las empresas son: hacer el mapeo de la producción para detectar los procesos claves de producción y crear estrategias de resistencia en esos puntos; hacer huelgas constitucionales (paros); informarse sobre sus derechos humanos, laborales y constitucionales; crear redes de solidaridad entre trabajadores; crear organizaciones independientes que apoyen a los y las trabajadoras a enfrentar los abusos de las maquiladoras y desarrollar alternativas de vida basadas en comercio justo y creación de cooperativa.

English version

Contradictions Between Mexican Labor Law and the Labor Practices in the Maquiladora (Assembly) Industry: Experiences Accompanying Workers

In the last few years and at present the workers in the maquilas of Tijuana have faced violations of their rights, human rights and labor rights, examples of which include long work shifts, accelerated production rhythms (“speed-up”), unconstitutionally low wages, unjustified firings, sexual harassment, especially of women.

The production processes, the loud noise, the chemicals used, the lack of maintenance of the machinery and lack of health and safety equipment all cause damage to health, including problems of stress and respiratory problems as well as deafness, carpal tunnel damage, cancers, accidents of all types, including fatal accidents.

Organizing in the maquiladoras of Baja California faces great obstacles. The unions, when there are any, are corrupt and work only for the companies. The Conciliation and Arbitration Board and the Secretary of Labor and Social Security generally act in favor of the businesses. Unemployment brings fear to any attempt at resistance and organization. The lack of knowledge of labor rights and the lack of attorneys who honestly defend laborers further complicates attempts to organize.

The changes in Mexican labor laws proposed by the National Action Party (PAN) and the Owners Confederation of the Mexican Republic (COPARMEX) are applied in practice even though they contradict the laws presently in effect. The changes therefore only intend to legitimize the illegitimate practices and have as their objectives:

End the principle of stability in employment.

Annul the collective contract, the right to organize into a union and the autonomy and independence of unions, and the right to strike.

Withdraw the obligation which the boss presently has to notify the worker of impending layoffs.

Add as a legitimate cause of termination the complaint of a client of the business.

Make legal the renting or subcontracting of workers (outsourcing). With this technique it is allowed to have first and second tier workers, that is to say, that in the same company for the same or similar jobs, to have different working conditions, salaries and benefits.

To end the minimum wage and the limited (8 hour) work day; to permit the business to contract for and pay for whatever time it prefers.

To annul the right to indemnification for firings and layoffs without cause by the use of temporary labor contracts

To annul the right to wages lost during litigation or to limit them to one year or less, but at the same time lengthen the time spent in litigation as now or even more.

In all of this the government and industry take great care to maintain the control, the corruption and the repression against us workers wanting to organize and struggle to defend our rights. The proposal to change the labor laws they justify under the slogans of “competitiveness” and “economic growth”, but we say that the competition will be between the workers to see who can achieve having the worst job, producing the most for the least wages, and who can complain the least over the abusive practices of the company. They will gain economic growth but for the companies who each time lower more and more their labor costs. For the rest of the Mexican people it will mean more exploitation, more poverty, more ecological and social problems.

Various forms of resistance of the workers in the face of the company's abuses are: to make a detailed chart of production to detect the key processes of production and to create strategies of resistance at these points; to create constitutionally sanctioned strikes (work stoppages); to inform ourselves of our human rights, rights as workers, and constitutional rights; to create networks of solidarity among workers; to create independent organizations to help workers to confront the abuses of the maquiladoras; and to develop alternative ways of life based in fair trade and the creation of cooperatives.

Resistiendo los efectos de la crisis de las maquiladoras en la frontera

Marlene Solís

El Colegio de la Frontera Norte

incendiosd@yahoo.com.mx

Durante la presente década se han presentado distintos momentos de crisis de las actividades productivas en las maquiladoras instaladas a lo largo de la frontera norte y en la ciudad de Tijuana, en particular. En los primeros años se combinaron los cambios en algunas cláusulas del Tratado de Libre Comercio con Norte América (TLCAN), con la mayor presencia de China en la competencia por la mano de obra barata y el cierre de la frontera como consecuencia de los ataques del 11 de septiembre a las torres gemelas en Nueva York. Posteriormente, al finalizar la década, la crisis financiera en Estados Unidos implicó una fuerte caída de la actividad productiva de aquel país que arrastró una vez más hacia abajo a la producción de las empresas maquiladoras en este lado de la frontera. Aunado a lo anterior, nos encontramos inmersos en una espiral de violencia, la cual se explica tanto por factores nacionales como transnacionales, pues en buena medida ha sido el resultado del cierre de la frontera y la economía armamentista de Estados Unidos, así como a la descomposición social en la frontera derivada de un modelo de desarrollo económico que en lugar de impulsar, inhibe procesos de mejora y de estabilidad laboral, lo cual junto con rezagos históricos en la infraestructura urbana hacen imposible mantener un tejido social fuerte que garantice un mínimo de condiciones de vida y haga de Tijuana una ciudad habitable. En esta ponencia, me interesa documentar el impacto de la crisis de las maquiladoras en las condiciones de vida y trabajo de mujeres y hombres que se emplean en estas empresas. Asimismo, se analizan algunos testimonios que dan cuenta de la situación de vulnerabilidad en la que se encuentra este sector de la población tijuanense.

Trabajadores mexicanos ante la Organización Internacional del Trabajo

Miguel Angel Ramírez

Coordinación de Sociología

Facultad de Humanidades

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

UABC Campus Tijuana

miguel.angel.ramirez.sanchez@uabc.edu.mx

Exposición de las quejas presentadas por los trabajadores contra el gobierno de México ante el Comité de Libertad Sindical de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo. Se trata de más de 40 quejas registradas en todo el país desde 1954.

Tijuana: Tierra de oportunidades-desarrollo industrial y riesgos ambientales

Mayoli Torres

Colectivo Ollin Calli

Belezademayo@yahoo.com.mx

El motivo de este trabajo se inicio con el propósito de congelar imágenes que a diario vemos y que como habitantes de esta ciudad muy pocas veces le damos importancia y se hacen cotidianas porque lo estamos viendo a diario y pensamos alguien más le dará solución a lo que nos está afectando, a la forma vamos creciendo, y hacia dónde vamos. ¿Cómo podemos ayudar para disminuir el problema y tener la oportunidad de analizar dentro de unos pocos años si cambio para bien o para mal?

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Panel 6

Borderlands Grassroots Response to Violence: War Zone vs Cultural Renaissance in Tijuana and San Diego

Respuestas fronterizas de base a la violencia: zona de guerra contra renacimiento cultural en Tijuana y San Diego

1:00 – 2:10 pm

Room/Salon A 216

This panel addresses recent urban history in Tijuana and San Diego from a grassroots and academic perspective. The Mexico US- border, united through an Anglo and Latino shared cultural heritage, has been affected by violence in the last years as a result of anti-immigration politics and drug trafficking control. While the Mexican government fights cartels and people die trying to reach the now languishing American dream, people in Tijuana and San Diego cope with this nightmare through creative urban, artistic and preservation responses.

Preservation Justice in San Diego: An Economic Perspective on Historic Designation and Cultural Identity in Our City

Maria E Curry

Baja California Chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites

marucurry@yahoo.com

In order to be designated as a historically significant site in the City of San Diego, a property must meet at least one of five historical designation criteria and also retain the historic and physical integrity of both its historic fabric and original design. Most of the designations made by the Historic Resources Board (on which I currently serve), are single houses and mostly residential districts located in up-scale neighborhoods under Criterion C, which highlights architectural value. Modest constructions, or industrial buildings in multi-ethnic and low-income communities, rarely are deemed to have met the designation criteria, or are considered to lack historic integrity, according to city staff and other HRB members. In addition to this, re-development in these areas and lack of comprehensive surveys negatively affect the many sites that could be eligible. Language barriers, cultural or social bias, property ownership, and unfamiliarity also affect designations. In this presentation, I will explain how preservation policies in San Diego affect the architectural, urban and community history of low- income neighborhoods, due to economics, restrictive interpretations of the criteria for designation, and/or the lack of more inclusive criteria.

“Reacciona Tijuana” A Creative Response to Violence and Urban Decline

Marisol Oliva Valdez

Youth programs coordinator

Reacciona Tijuana Platform

marisol.oliva@plantronics.com

Reacciona Tijuana is a platform that aims to attract the attention of citizens to create social consciousness and highlight the responsibility that each one has to improve the well being of our community. Efforts are made through actively collecting experience and abilities of members who transform ideas into projects that will build a stronger community.” We use alternative media and social networks to inform and propel projects on various matters as: protection to the vulnerable, the environment, social and cultural development, among others. All these efforts are possible through the active participation of committed individuals. We base our strategies on bringing together experiences and abilities to favor collective projects.

The Making of the Book Here is Tijuana

Rene Peralta

Director of the Master of Science in Architecture with emphasis in Landscape and Urbanism

Woodbury University, San Diego

rperalta@generica.com.mx

This paper reveals the effort in producing the book "Here is Tijuana" as a photographic essay that captures the spirit of the city and its dichotomy.

Tijuana, Mexico is a border town in all respects. It hovers between Mexico and the United States, not just physically, but psychologically. On the one hand it maintains its reputation as a sleazy city, a center of booze, sex and crime. On the other it aspires to, and is slowly achieving, the sophistication and affluence of California—just a few miles and yet another world away…

Divided into three sections, the book deals with the socio-cultural issues that surround Tijuana, the urban development of the city as well as questions of morality and cultural practice raised by the collision between Latin and North American values. Collaboration between three editors: an anthropologist, a writer and an architect, Here is Tijuana! is essential reading for anyone interested in either the history or the future of Mexico and Southern California.

Chicano Park....Cuatro Décadas de Reflexiones de Cultura Fronteriza

Victor Ochoa

Muralista Chicano, co-fundador del Centro Cultural de la Raza y del BAW/TAF Border Arts Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo

ochoav@gmail.com

Despues de más de cuarenta años se restauran 20 pilares del Parque Chicano en la ciudad fronteriza de San Diego. Estos murales son ejemplos históricos del espiritu de nuestra raza, en el entronque de dos dinámicas circunstancias sociales. Desde los primeros europeos que llegaron a este continente, el término "gentrification" se ha extendido a traves de los siglos... o que?, Para que luchó Zapata? Pa’ que la tierra sea de los que la trabajen? La presentación se hará mediante una serie de imágenes que visualisan la situación que existe en nuestros barrios en Estados Unidos, con la firme idea de mostrar que el arte y la cultura son un remedio y tal vez la solución a la situación de violencia y desigualdad que vivimos. Victor Ochoa, forma parte de cuatro generaciones de fenómenos fronterizos empezando por su tatara abuela quien desde 1918 tuvó su casa en Tijuana, para crear un sentido de Mexicanidad en sus hijos y para mantener una conección palpitante con la cultura fronteriza del sur. Su desarrollo como Chicano, se nutrió por la operacion WET BACK de los años cincuentas...cuando a su familia la rebotaron a México "los migras." Haber nacido en Los Angeles California lo expusó al orgullo de ser Mexicano y a evaluar su regreso por su propia cuenta a Estados Unidos despues de la deportación. Esta presentación espera tener humor y vitalidad en contraposición al bombardeo de negatividades de los medios de comunicación.

Video: Identity and Comunidades Fronterizas

Yesenia Macias

San Diego City College

yessenia_macias@yahoo.com

This is a bilingual Spanish/English video/documentary on comunidades fronterizas. The video explores communities’ experiences shaped by the geographical location on the Tijuana/ San Diego border region, statistics and government acts around topics of identity, immigration, politics, and most importantly the significance of education in the border area. The deportees are also going to share a statement on their experience of crossing and being deported from the United States. The research is based on students and professors interviews.

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Panel 7

Exposing the Dense Border: Research and Action

Exponiendo la densa frontera: acción e investigación

2:20 – 3:45 pm

Room/Salon D 121A

Distorting Friendship at ‘Friendship Park’:The Racialization and Criminalization of Space and People of Color, Citizen and Non-citizen

América Martínez

Fifth year UCLA McNair student

Social Science & Comparative Education

University of California, Los Angeles

amartinez0023@gmail.com

‘Friendship Park’ also known as El Parque De La Amistad has been a historic meeting place located on the San Diego, California and Tijuana, México international border, where families and friends who have been affected by their immigration status, have gathered and met for generations on both sides of the U.S. and México boundary. However, in 2009, the Department of Homeland Security erected a double border fence and established new ‘rules for entry’ to ‘Friendship Park’ to “curtail [undocumented] crossings….and prevent the further exchange of drugs…through openings on the border (Border Field State Park, 2009). As a result, this project examines the U.S. immigration policies, specifically on the enforcement of the border and, by extension, the policy of the ‘War on Terror.’ This project will explore themes concerning: anti-immigrant sentiment, the perceived criminalization of People and Immigrants of Color, non-citizen and citizen, and the militarization of the México/U.S. border. This project concentrates on three inter-related questions relating to ‘Friendship Park’: 1) How have the policies and guidelines in the use of ‘Friendship Park’ changed since the U.S. immigration reform that includes the ‘War on Terror’? 2) How have these new policies and guidelines changed the community use of the park? And finally, 3) How do the community participants of the park on both sides of the México and U.S. international border negotiate and experience these policy changes? I will utilize participant and non-participatory observation and testimonios to contribute to the dialogue about these local policies, structures, and the implications for human rights.

Sealing the Southwest Border: Accounts from Hidalgo and Cochise Counties

Richard J. Schaefer and Carolyn Gonzales

University of New Mexico

Schaefer@unm.edu (Phone 505-836-3673)

English

After the Department of Homeland Security made it more difficult for undocumented migrants to cross the border easily, organized criminals stepped up all forms of illicit activities including smuggling and trafficking the most vulnerable undocumented crossers. This paper draws primarily on primary source accounts to describe how human and drug smuggling, as well as human trafficking, has affected the law enforcement personnel, ranchers, farmers and border residents in two rural Southwest United States counties. DHS tactics for sealing the border have left many residents of these Arizona and New Mexico counties in a no-man’s-land traversed by increasingly sophisticated criminal smugglers bringing migrant workers and drugs into the United States. At times the local residents feel abandoned by Washington-driven DHS and local law enforcement policies that ironically have increased the amount and severity of illegal activity on their lands, but have not effectively addressed their desire to seal the porous rural border areas.

Español

El Cierre de la Frontera Sudoeste: Cuentas de los Condados de Hidalgo y Cochise

Después del Department of Homeland Security de los Estados Unidos trató cerrar la frontera con México para los migrantes indocumentados, el crimen organizado ha intensificado todas las formas de actividades ilícitas, incluiendo el contrabando y el tráfico de indocumentados quienes son más pobres y vulnerables. Este reportaje se basa principalmente en las cuentas de las fuentes principales para describir cómo el contrabando de personas y drogas, así como la trata de personas, ha afectado a los autoridades, ganaderos, agricultores y residentes de la frontera en dos condados rurales en el sudoeste de los Estados Unidos. Tácticas del DHS para sellar la frontera han dejado a muchos residentes de estos condados de Arizona y Nuevo México para vivir en temor de las contrabandistas criminales que transporten personas y las drogas a los Estados Unidos. A veces los vecinos de esta región se sienten abandonados por Washington, el DHS y las políticas locales de aplicación de la ley, que han aumentado irónicamente la cantidad y la gravedad de la actividad ilegal en sus tierras, pero no han abordado con eficacia su deseo para sellar las zonas más rurales de la porosa frontera.

Subverting the State, One Border at a Time

Rebecca Starr, M.A. (“Starr”)

Activist, teacher, radical socialist

Workers World Party/International Action Center

starrcreates@yahoo.com

Subverting the State, One Border at a Time-- briefly referencing other border conflict regions such as Palestine, Chechnya, Northern Ireland, and/or East Berlin, so as to enlarge the picture and remind local activists that the larger issue is the ownership of land, nationalism, imperialism, and the criminal maintenance of states and borders; that we share a struggle (la lucha) with workers and the poor all over the world suffering racist classist religious discrimination in border regions.

How do we subvert the state, one border at a time, when these political lines are so thoroughly entrenched? We must do everything within our power - including militant self-defense - to defend our right to freedom of movement. It is contingent upon local activists to connect our struggle with the larger, international issues such as the ownership of land, nationalism, imperialism, and the criminal maintenance of states and borders. Workers and the poor all over the world continue to suffer racist and classist discrimination in border regions. We stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in other border conflict regions such as Palestine, and with those all over the world who are fighting the banks, Wall St., and the dominance of the 1%.

Español

Subvertir el Estado, una frontera a la vez

st a r r (Rebecca Starr, M.A.)

Activista, profesora, radical socialista

Workers World Party / International Action Center
starrcreates@yahoo.com

Me gustaría asistir a la conferencia sobre el tema de subvertir el Estado, una frontera a la vez, una breve referencia a otras regiones en conflicto de la frontera, como Palestina, Chechenia e Irlanda del Norte, así como para ampliar la imagen y recordar a los activistas locales que el problema más grande es la propiedad de la tierra, el nacionalismo, el imperialismo y el mantenimiento de los estados y las fronteras, que compartimos una lucha con los trabajadores y los pobres de todo el mundo que sufren la discriminación clasista racista religiosa en las regiones fronterizas.

¿Cómo podemos subvertir el Estado, una frontera a la vez, cuando estas líneas políticas están tan arraigadas? Debemos hacer todo lo que esté a nuestro alcance para defender nuestro derecho a la libertad de movimiento. Está supeditada a los activistas locales para conectar nuestra lucha con la más grande, las cuestiones internacionales, como la propiedad de la tierra, el nacionalismo, el imperialismo y el mantenimiento de los estados y las fronteras. Trabajadores y los pobres de todo el mundo siguen sufriendo discriminación racista y clasista en las regiones fronterizas. Nos solidarizamos con nuestros hermanos y hermanas en otras regiones fronterizas de conflicto como Palestina, y con los de todo el mundo que están luchando contra los bancos, Wall Street, y el dominio del 1%.

The US-Mexico border: dystopia of the United States’ neoliberal agenda and disturbance as a tool for inverting hegemonic constructions of the border

Sophia Lawson

Border Angels Outreach Coordinator

UCSD Undergraduate of International Studies-Political Science, minor: Human Rights

sophia.borderangels@gmail.com

In exploring the physics of US-Mexico border rationality as a technological artifact of the nation-state, this paper will confront the various contradictions emerging from a particularized border space that functions to delimit the expansion of ostensibly contentious yet contiguous cross-border worlds, culminating in a compelling rationale for the transmutation of universal human rights from an artificial technology to a living body, termed neo-nature. The US-Mexico border is expressed as a dystopia of the United States’ neoliberal agenda, which seeks to eliminate the moral necessity of human rights by controlling human capital though the construction of criminal identities, ritualized border security, and differential access to space. Surrealist and post-modernist interpretations of biopower, neoliberalism, and space will be augmented by scholarship from the fields of evolutionary biology and physics to promote boundless potentialities regarding the disturbance of US-Mexico border rationality by non-state actors, such as migrants, artists, and activists. This paper will demonstrate how various forms of disturbance can serve as tools for inverting hegemonic constructions of the border by interrupting its predetermined and ritualized violence, in favor of eliminating border certainty all together. Thus, the US-Mexico border can be re-imagined as a place where universal human rights are operationalized through the active contestation and disruption of hegemonic realities by the individuals most invested in living universal human rights as neo-nature—migrants crossing the US-Mexico border.

Borders, Books & Barricades: The Criminal (In)justice System, the “Rights of Others,” & Immigrant Struggles for Education, Inclusion & Citizenship

Yanet Lopez Cardenas and Thomas Ehrlich Reifer

Department of Sociology and Ethnic Studies

University of San Diego

yanetlo-11@sandiego.edu

reifer@sandiego.edu

Contemporary theories of justice have largely stayed at the level of the nation, shying away from questions regarding the “rights of others” and related questions of global justice. And yet, in a time of increasing globalization and mass migration, state-centric conceptions of justice are becoming increasingly irrelevant. This paper addresses these questions by focusing on contemporary struggles for immigrant rights in the US. Today, immigrant communities – especially students - have combined study and struggle against the violence of the border, going from the books to the barricades, as witnessed in successive US May Day mobilizations, beginning in 2006. Massive protest from immigrants and the burgeoning Latin@ population more generally, against deportation and criminalization, and for education, inclusion and citizenship, points towards a different and more hopeful future. This paper focuses on borders, books and barricades and related struggles for education, citizenship and inclusion, and against the criminal (in)justice system, particularly in California, and addresses the implications of these contemporary struggles for the possible remaking of the US and global system on more multicultural and inclusive social foundations.

Español

Las teorías contemporáneas de la justicia se han enfocado principalmente al nivel de la nación, en veces, alejándose de cuestiones de los derechos de los demás y de cuestiones de justicia al nivel global. Al la misma vez, la globalización y la emigración es cada día más notable indicando que los conceptos de justicia basados en la nación son mas y mas irrelevante. Esta presentación se dirige a esas cuestiones, enfocándose, especialmente, en las luchas contemporáneas por los derechos de los inmigrantes que viven y trabajan dentro de los Estados Unidos. Hoy, las comunidades inmigrantes—especialmente los estudiantes—han combinado el estudio con la lucha en contra de la violencia en la frontera, usando el estudio y libros y las barricadas, para ejercer movilización, como fue el las victoriosas marchas del Primero de Mayo, empezando en el año 2006. Grandes protestas de inmigrantes, y por lo general gente Latin@, en contra de la deportación y criminalización, y por la educación, la inclusión, y la ciudadanía indica una esperanza para lograr un futuro diferente. Adicionalmente, esta presentación se enfoca en la frontera, en el estudio y las barricadas y en la luchas para poder lograr educación, inclusión, y ciudadanía. Con un énfasis en California, esta presentación se enfoca en la lucha en contra de el sistema penal que envés de proporcionar justicia ha aportado injusticia. Para concluir, esta presentación examina las implicaciones de las luchas contemporáneas en una posible reconstrucción de los Estados Unidos y del sistema global donde existe las posibilidad de establecer cimientos sociales más inclusivos y multicultural.

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Panel 8

Identities and other developments

Identidades y otros desarrollos

2:20 – 3:45 pm

Room/Salon A 213

Skin Destination

Adriana Trujillo

Área de Producción Audiovisual

Facultad de Humanidades

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

UABC Campus Tijuana

adrianatrujillo@uabc.edu.mx

Documental a manera de film ensayo que se inserta en la corriente de la antropología visual experimental y que explora los distintos usos, prácticas y fenómenos corporales que acontecen en Tijuana: Ciudad de operaciones estéticas de primer nivel, capital de farmacias-escaparate y de miles de consultorios dentales; aquí la carga corporal se traduce en marcas de violencia en los cuerpos mutilados por la huella del narco, a la par se trasforman, sanan y operan cuerpos medicados. Esta investigación video etnográfica aborda la condición corporal que se vive en la ciudad. A través de una convocatoria pública y ciudadana se invitó a la población a participar en el proyecto en un ejercicio de memoria y recuperación del patrimonio cultural doméstico en cine super 8, de esta forma, el film ensayo está constituido con material de archivo acompañado del texto en off resultado de la observación, aproximaciones a través de entrevistas, datos disponibles y la video grabación de la ciudad.

¿Porqué hablar del cuerpo en Tijuana? En esta ciudad se viven fenómenos corporales únicos: la creciente propagación de clínicas de cirugía estética y médicos de varias partes del mundo. La ciudad es testigo de múltiples intervenciones voluntarias: quirúrgicas, estéticas, médicas, versus transgresiones corporales involuntarias ejecutadas desde la cotidianidad impune. A diario miles de cuerpos son sometidos a un estado permanente de alerta y control al cruzar la frontera y se mantiene uno de los más altos índices de población adicta a diversas drogas. Tijuana también representa uno de los espacios geográficos de mayor riesgo en México en infecciones de transmisión sexual. En esta investigación video etnográfica nos permitió afirmar que el cuerpo se ve transfigurado y transgredido como vehículo portador de valiosa información en esta ciudad-laboratorio.

Prohibition does not Work

Carolina Moreno

San Diego Cannabis Education Project

79carolinamoreno@gmail.com

The Cannabis Education Project is an organization that grew out of the “Yes on 19” field campaign of San Diego County. Senior organizers and supporters of Proposition 19 decided to continue their efforts in San Diego County, to identify and cultivate leadership and support for future legalization legislation and ballot propositions.

Through extensive research and countless hours in the community, we see and hear firsthand the thoughts and opinions our communities have. We all share the burden of class warfare that is rampant within the criminal justice system- a burden that weighs down on the entire hemisphere. The Sinaloa Cartel has nearly an 8:2 ratio of marijuana to cocaine imports per month. It is clear that the weight of the war on drugs falls squarely on the shoulders of the international marijuana trade. More Mexicans die drug-related deaths than Americans did fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, there were 15,000 deaths just last year in Mexico, making it their most violent year yet. It is doubtful that the recent incarceration of a top-level trafficker is going help their situation, either. One global security group called the cartel landscape "fluid and volatile" and said that “as long as it remains in flux, violence is likely to continue.”

We need to cut the head off of this monster by taxing and regulating marijuana. It has long been known that prohibition does not work. Just look at the facts surrounding the other prohibition, alcohol. While there are communities in the United States that are affected by the war raging in Mexico, we need to do something about it here in the Unites States.

La Perspectiva del Reconocimiento Recíproco en el Cine Independiente de la Frontera México-Estados Unidos

Fernando Mancillas Treviño

Ciencias de la Comunicación

Universidad de Sonora

fernamancillas@yahoo.com

A partir de la de la Teoría del Reconocimiento Recíproco de Axel Honneth, representante destacado de la 3° generación de la Escuela de Frankfurt y director del Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales de la Universidad Goethe de Frankfurt, presentamos la exploración y el análisis del reconocimiento mutuo en el discurso y narratividad del Cine Independiente de la Frontera México-Estados Unidos.

Con la indagación del giro recognoscitivo en sus tres formas básicas como son: dedicación moral, atención cognitiva, valoración social y sus tres formas contrapartidas de menosprecio, exclusión y marginación, la contribución fundamental del cine independiente por parte de cineastas de ambas partes de la frontera a la investigación de las condiciones sociales, económicas y culturales de la población en sus diversas temáticas como son la migración, derechos humanos, educación, desarrollo urbano, drogadicción, procesos culturales, contaminación y medio ambiente, entre otras, permite avanzar en el diagnóstico de las problemáticas en común, así como sus posibles alternativas de solución.

Gay Raids: The fueling of a social movement on the Mexico-US border

Jesse Anguiano

PhD Student in Chicano/Latino Studies

Michigan State University

anguian4@msu.edu

In 1989, the State of Baja California Norte, Mexico experienced a political shift that resulted in the defeat of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and a victory for the National Action Party (PAN). The PAN not only won the governor’s seat, but was able to also secure the city of Tijuana. This political transition presented a democratic aperture to Mexico’s political system. Yet, at a micro level, the political shift promoted persecution of already marginalized sectors of society. In particular, the gay people in Tijuana are a case in point.

Max Mejia (2000) observes that “in all the municipalities that the PAN has won, it has unleashed puritanical vigilante campaigns which include shutting gay bars, round ups in the street and the censorship of artistic expression,” (Mejia, 2000, p. 52). Along this line, on November 30, 1991, Tijuana’s police raided two local gay bars.

My paper explores key causal reasons behind the raids through a textual analysis of several newspapers from both the areas of Tijuana and Southern California. I demonstrate that although the raids caused discomfort and humiliation among the gay people in Tijuana, in an ironic turn of events, they rechanneled their energies toward organizing themselves collectively. They were able to publicly demand the immediate end of future raids and consolidate themselves as a gay community. Their mobilization allowed for gay people to find solidarity from the San Diego and Los Angeles region, giving evidence that a social movement can transcend physical national borders.

Tijuana Capital Gore

Dr. Sayak Valencia Triana

European PhD in Philosophy, Feminist Theory and Criticism from the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain)

sayak.valencia@gmail.com

Hablar de las fronteras es siempre conflictivo, puesto que por un lado, estas líneas imaginarias resultan (paradójicamente en el mundo globalizado) líneas hiper-reales por el alto grado de vigilancia que se focaliza en ellas. Por otro lado, se convierten en territorios de idealización discursiva posmoderna. Tal es el caso de Tijuana. Sin embargo, las fronteras no se reducen ni a su territorialidad, ni a los discursos que se fraguan sobre ellas, sino que son un conjunto de transformaciones e integración entre los mercados g-locales, el trabajo, la territorialidad, las normas jurídicas, la vigilancia, los idiomas y la fuerza de trabajo sexuada y racializada, todos estos elementos atravesados por las exigencias culturales de la sociedad del hiperconsumo que devienen en Capitalismo Gore

Proponemos el término capitalismo gore como una herramienta de análisis del paisaje económico, sociopolítico, simbólico y cultural de la frontera Tijuana/San Diego afectado y re-escrito por la narcotráfico y la necropolítica (entendida como un engranaje económico y simbólico que produce otros códigos, gramáticas, narrativas e interacciones sociales). Dichos términos forman parte de una taxonomía discursiva que busca visibilizar la complejidad del entramado criminal en el contexto mexicano, y sus conexiones con el neoliberalismo exacerbado, la globalización, la construcción binaria del género como performance política y la creación de subjetividades capitalísticas, recolonizadas por la economía y representadas por los criminales y narcotraficantes mexicanos, que dentro de la taxonomía del capitalismo gore reciben el nombre de sujetos endriagos.

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Panel 9

Penetrating the Prison and Immigration Detention Complex

Penetrando la prisión y los centros de detención de migrantes

2:20 – 3:45 pm

Room/Salon A 216

The ineffective act of incarcerating individuals who disobey the law

Jacqueline B. Mercado

San Diego City College

Communication Major

jbmv89@gmail.com

In this presentation, I will discuss the ineffective act of incarcerating individuals who disobey the law. The American community wants public safety to be at its best because we “care for the safety of our loved ones”. However, we judge a child as an adult by putting him in adult penitentiary instead of juvenile; we give death row to a first time offender without listening to what he has to say; we think we are doing the right thing. But spending money to putting a body in a cell and paying profit to stockholders for everybody body confined into a cell is morally wrong.

This argument is not to say that all offenders are innocent; it is to speak for those who have no voice against a society that classifies them as someone who is nothing else but a criminal. Believing that they have no will to change leads to discrimination. Ex-offenders are discriminated in the job industry, which makes it harder for them to reintegrate into society. They are vulnerable. Social discrimination and police harassment channel them to the “easy,” almost only way out: crime and drugs. Eventually, they return to prison. And not only is the prisoner affected by his /her incarceration.

Also families that come in contact with the law are affected by the drastic separations from their loved one. Especially the children traumatized by the separation of their parents experience emotional problems trough out their life. They never receive treatment or help. Many schools don’t recognize that parental incarceration is a serious problem. The children mirror their parents’ situation. They grow up without a role model and moral support. They feel abandoned; angry and emotionally hurt. It basically boils down to a vicious cycle where children end up in a situation like their parents. Taxes are raised to sustain the new offenders in prison and offenders turn into victims of the system.

But communities as a whole are also affected by absurd sentencing regulations. They are suffering the economic consequences. They are suffering from budget cuts that affect school districts, road infrastructure, the insured retirement, etc. It is embarrassing to say that this country spends more money in incarceration than in education. Being a Nation where liberty is the primarily purpose it seems to be the opposite. We are being deprived from our rights to receive an education because the government feels that we need to invest more in prisons. Even though crime has decreased, we are still spending billions of dollars in something that should be reduced.

It is evident that the only ones benefiting from mass incarceration are those who own the monopoly of prisons. That is the reason why private prisons have the priority to maintain as many beds full of paying customers, increasing the incarceration rate. It is immoral putting prison facilities on the stock market. But the worst is overexploiting inmates leasing prisoners to companies to perform duties paying much lower than states minimum wage. Incarceration today, in short, is not an issue of “caring for the safety of our loved ones.” It is mainly a business that has to grow to increase profit. The prisons are corporations that have a risk of going bankrupt if prisoners are released.

Collective Presentation--Immigration as a Moral Issue: Fighting the Immigrant Incarceration Complex and Protecting Immigrants

Angela Garcia-Sims, Penny Moreau, Nancy Tobar-Labarca, Gloria Fimbres

First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego Organizing for Justice Committee

agarciasim@aol.com

Brief overview of the Unitarian Universalist Association "Immigration as a Moral Issue" course (IMI) and local projects being developed as a result of that course—Three members of the Organizing for Justice Committee (O4J) of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego will describe the six-class course with web links and resources, the course outcomes, and the projects currently under development. These include

1) an immigrant detention facility visitation program and

2) an immigrant protection network--helping undocumented residents gain legal services to gain legal status, organize the immigrant and family members to cope with detention, helping detained immigrants get immediate legal assistance when picked up, helping with bonding, and

3) providing emergency help when detainees are released suddenly without any resources or contacts.

This panel will address forces contributing to the assault on immigrants, anyone who looks like an immigrant, and Latinos in particular--specifically the organized efforts by Corrections Corporation of America and other corporations with private prisons for profit. The speakers will show the websites and resources like the documentary on the Hutto Immigrant Detention Facility that the ACLU and activists in Texas shut down.

Penny Moreau will describe how IMI course came to be offered and describe the emergency aid to suddenly released detainees. Nancy Tobar-Labarca and Gloria Fimbres will describe the immigrant protection network. Angela Garcia Sims, co-chairperson of the UU O4J committee, will provide an overview of the program.

Page List

Conference 2011 Program

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