Archive for 'Mexico & Border'
Tarahumara family

Mexico Climate Politics Heats Up

Posted 01 February 2012 | By | Categories: Biodiversity & Sustainable Development, Citizen Action, Climate Change, Indigenous People, Integration & Trade, Mexico & Border, Military | No Comments

History has not been kind to the indigenous Raramuri people of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Pushed to remote mountains of a harsh land by Spanish and mestizo colonists, the Raramuri managed to hang on to their culture while eking out an existence based on rain-fed farming and small herd grazing. In recent decades their lands have been invaded again, this time by cattlemen, loggers, miners, dope growers, tourism developers, and soldiers.

Drug War Victims Boston Globe

The Drug War’s Invisible Victims

Posted 30 January 2012 | By | Categories: Central America, Citizen Action, Mexico & Border, Military, Regular Columnists | 1 Comment

There are many kinds of war. The classic image of a uniformed soldier kissing mom good-bye to risk his life on the battlefield has changed dramatically. In today’s wars, it’s more likely that mom will be the one killed. UNIFEM states that by the mid-1990s, 90% of war casualties were civilians– mostly women and children.

The Obama Defense Plan: Roadmap for Continuing Global Hegemony

The Obama Defense Plan: Roadmap for Continuing Global Hegemony

Posted 16 January 2012 | By | Categories: Central America, Citizen Action, Mexico & Border, Military, South America | No Comments

The Obama administration’s defense strategy review, unveiled at the Pentagon on January 6th, is already under attack. Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has argued that the plan is naïve and dangerous. Independent experts such as Russell Rumbaugh of the Washington, DC-based Stimson Center have criticized the plan for being too timid in its pursuit of Pentagon spending reductions. A point that has not received adequate attention is the fact that the modest reductions contained in the Obama plan would still leave the United States military with unparalleled global reach at time when traditional military threats are rapidly receding.

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The Modern Immigrant Rights Movement

Posted 14 January 2012 | By | Categories: Caribbean, Central America, Citizen Action, Immigration, Indigenous People, Integration & Trade, Mexico & Border | 3 Comments

Over the 27 years since IRCA, a general division has marked the U.S. immigrant rights movement. On one side are well-financed advocacy organizations in Washington DC, with links to the Democratic Party and large corporations. They formulate and negotiate over immigration reform proposals that combine labor supply programs and increased enforcement against the undocumented. On the other side are organizations based in immigrant communities, and among labor and political activists, who defend undocumented migrants, and who resist proposals for greater enforcement and labor programs with diminished rights.

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Increasing Reliance on Guest Worker Programs

Posted 14 January 2012 | By | Categories: Caribbean, Central America, Immigration, Indigenous People, Integration & Trade, Mexico & Border | 2 Comments

Over the last 25 years, guest worker programs have increasingly become a vehicle for channeling the migration that has stemmed from free market reforms. Increasing numbers of guest workers are recruited each year for labor in the U.S. from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean under the H1-B, H2-A and H2-B programs. Recruiters promise high wages and charge thousands of dollars for visas, fees and transportation. By the time they leave home, the debts of guest workers are crushing.

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Migration: A Product of Free Market Reforms

Posted 12 January 2012 | By | Categories: Immigration, Indigenous People, Integration & Trade, Mexico & Border | 2 Comments

A political alliance is developing between countries with a labor export policy and the corporations who use that labor in the global north.

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Zapatistas: 18 Years of Rebellion and Resistance

Posted 03 January 2012 | By | Categories: Citizen Action, Indigenous People, Integration & Trade, Mexico & Border | 3 Comments

Desinformemonos.org, an “autonomous, global communications project”, covers grassroots movements throughout the world and the ideas and aspirations behind them. Its team reported on the international seminar held in Chiapas to commemorate and reflect on the 18th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising. In collaboration with Desinformemonos, the Americas program presents this summary in English of their coverage of the event.