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October 12, 2002 Border Wide Protest Manifesto
To All border residents:
A movement started in 2001 to organize a border-to-border protest from Tijuana and San Diego on the Pacific to Brownsville and Matamoros on the Gulf of Mexico. This year the Southwest Network for Environmental & Economic Justice is organizing the SECOND ANNUAL BORDER-WIDE PROTEST.
The Southwest Network for Environmental & Economic Justice with headquarters in Albuquerque, NM, represents 50 grassroots non-governmental organizations in the southwestern states and adjoining border states in Mexico.
The BORDER WIDE PROTEST is taking place on October 12, because of the significance and impact of colonialism historically, the new colonialism we confront from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and now the new expanded version called the FTAA (Free Trade Areas of the Americas). We are tired of being neglected by Mexico DF and Washington DC.
We are tired of having the centers of power and decision-making so far away from our border reality. Both governments have neglected taking action on long persistent problems that we face as a bi-national region. Whether we are residents of Mexico or the US side of the border we suffer similar injustices: poverty, violence, unemployment, low salaries, and poor public services such as education, healthcare, electricity and water.
IN A UNIFIED VOICE, WE ARE PROTESTING TODAY TO SAY 'YA BASTA'! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
We ask the international community to join us in a call for an OPEN BORDER!
We call upon the national, state and local governments of both the United States and Mexico to make a unified, concerted effort to meet the following demands:
1. Bi-national environmental and economic justice Hundreds of contaminated hazardous waste sites litter the border region. Our drinking water is contaminated, and our air is polluted from irresponsible industries and the lack of adequate infrastructure. We work in hazardous conditions with dangerous chemicals in sweatshops (also known as "maquiladoras") on both sides of the border. We call on our government agencies to immediately remediate contaminated sites and enforce environmental laws and health and safety standards.
2. Restructuring of the Bracero Program to include Labor Rights and the legalization of migrant workers. The Bracero program sought by Presidents Bush and Fox is nothing more than a way for US corporations to get cheap labor and further exploitation, and for Fox to hide the serious unemployment problem that exists in the border region. We call on the administrations to guarantee the rights of workers to obtain dignified wages and safe working conditions.
3. Economic reparations for former Bracero workers. The governments of both Mexico and the U.S. must assure that pensions stolen from previous Bracero workers they were taken from or their families.
4. Removal of the failed border enforcement policies known as Operations Gatekeeper, Hold the Line, Rio Grande, and Safeguard. We need a peaceful and unified border, not one divided by fear and distrust. Immigration policies in place today have led to the deaths of thousands of immigrants in the rivers, deserts, and at the hands of border enforcement officials. These policies must be changed. Human rights must be protected.
5. Guaranteed Human and Civil Rights Protection for all. Human rights should be respected for all people regardless of nationality. This includes the right to seek employment and travel safely across borders without fear of persecution. We call on the United States and Mexico to honor the guidelines set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and put an end to racial profiling.
6. Labor rights for all workers to unite and organize on both sides of the U.S. - Mexico border. Labor rights are constantly violated on both sides of the US-Mexico borders. Intense repression against established and independent labor movements, leaders and the use of child labor has led to the economic and social deterioration or our communities. We now experience high levels of poverty, unemployment and violence.
7. The right to a just and livable wage on both the U.S. and Mexico sides of the border. While a few enjoy the riches from the labor of others, wide-spread poverty and unemployment plague the border region. A just and livable wage will stimulate local economies and assure that the needs of our families are met.
8. Healthy and sustainable communities along the U.S. - Mexico border. Families live in poverty and without health care. Infant mortality rates are high, children are born with birth defects. There is a significant rise in tuberculosis, polio, typhoid, dengue fever, and diabetes. Our governments must make a concerted effort to protect our communities from preventable diseases.
9. Amnesty for all undocumented migrant workers in the United States. Enactment of a broad and comprehensive legalization program for all nationalities of undocumented immigrants and their families in the U.S. Despite working in inhumane conditions and for extremely low wages, migrant workers provide the most basic necessities for all U.S. population. They also pay taxes, contributing their fair share for basic services. These contributions should be recognized by allowing them to legally reside in the U.S. without fear of persecution or deportation.
10. Respect for women's rights and an end to violence against women along the U.S.-Mexico border. Specifically we call for an end to the assassinations and disappearances of women in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. We demand justice in the killing of hundreds of young working women in Cd Juarez - the majority of them were workers in U.S. owned maquiladoras. Previous investigations have resulted in blaming the victims for these atrocities. Our demands include swift action by both governments to bring the true perpetrators to justice.
11. Elimination of FTAA, Fast Track, and NAFTA, which perpetuate the exploitation of workers, mainly women and children of color from poor communities, and indigenous peoples in the hemisphere. Globalization under the neo-liberal plan of the likes of Bush Sr. and Salinas de Gortari have ransacked our economies, local markets and all but destroyed small businesses, workers and farming cooperatives. These globalization policies have displaced hundreds of thousands of people from rural and indigenous communities. We demand just and fair trade policies that benefit all people, not just wealthy corporate elites.
12. Implementation of economic policies that will effectively resolve problems of displacement, unemployment, and migration of poor communities. Economic policies should be built from the ground up, with broad public participation. These policies should foster local community development, guarantee workers rights, protect health and the environment. Trade policies should be established through an intensive process of public participation, and should promote a true sustainable livelihood for all communities. We demand an "open door", "open border" policy. The region should be looked at as a unique economic region that supersedes the political border. Economic planning should be done cooperatively between local, state, and federal governments on both sides of the border with community participation and oversight.
13. Recognition of rights of mobility and passage. Autonomy for indigenous peoples, collective land and sovereignty. We demand the freedom of indigenous people to travel across borders without fear of harassment and persecution from both governments. Indigenous Tribal governmental and Ceremonial leaders in southern Arizona and northern Sonora are restricted from free movement on their own land because of the political border imposed on them. They face harassment from government agencies on both sides. Indigenous sovereignty should supersede these authorities.
14. Dignity for all agricultural workers, including farm workers and small farmers. Farmers and farm workers demand water for their crops, and support from both governments to produce their crops. Bi-national policies in the agricultural industries have ruined border farmers causing widespread unemployment among farm workers. Farmworkers are among the lowest paid and they live and work in inhumane conditions. They should be justly paid and protected under labor laws of both countries. Trade agreements should not eliminate government subsidies that help support small farmers. Collective farms and cooperatives have been under attack by changes to national laws and through NAFTA. The rights of collectives and cooperatives should be protected.
15. Legislation to assure the sustainability of small organic farmers. Farmers in the border region who produce safe organic foods are forced into unfair competition with agribusiness through trade agreements like NAFTA. Foods that are free from pesticides and herbicides should be encouraged and protected.
16. Guarantee the right of equal education for all All students have a right to an education. The US and Mexico should practice an 'open border' policy for education so that students are treated as residents rather than foreign students in both countries.
