May Day: Support Immigrants Rights!

Tomorrow - May 1, International Workers' Day - is a national day of action for immigrant rights. In Madison, there will be a rally at the State Capitol building, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm, followed by a picnic at Brittingham Park.

On the Women'e e-News website, an article by Allison Stevens makes two important points. The majority of "illegal" immigrants in the United States are women and children. And groups that advocate for women immigrants' rights are divided on how best to navigate the current political debate:

Some women's rights activists say immigrant women would be better off if Congress skipped the subject and turned to the next item on their agenda.

"Frankly, it is our position that any kind of reform under this administration and under the Republican Congress is dangerous," said Olga Vives, who migrated to the United States from Cuba in 1961 and now serves as a vice president at the National Organization for Women, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

Other experts on immigrant women say the time is right to enact a deal that would provide a path toward legalization for at least some of the 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants who are estimated to be living in this country.

"We are at a pivotal time in the immigration reform process," Amanda Baran, a Legal Momentum staff attorney and expert on immigrant women, said at a March 28 news conference. "Now is the time to fix the system before more immigrant women suffer."

As is usually the case, women immigrants face particular challenges:

Less likely than their male counterparts to work outside the home, women often have less financial independence than men and are often saddled with raising children, some of whom are U.S. citizens because they were born here. Many live in poverty and lack full access to public and government support services that provide aid in the areas of health care, housing, child care, reproductive health and economic development programs.

This lack of equal access to services is especially problematic for immigrant women who suffer sexual harassment, assault and domestic violence, [attorney Joanne] Lin said.

Women also face difficult emotional terrain when migrating to foreign countries, said Yifat Susskind, a spokesperson for MADRE, an international women's rights organization in New York City.

Whether or not they work outside the home, women in most cultures--especially in Latin America, birthplace to a majority of immigrants in the United States--are responsible for food preparation, child care, health care, education and other aspects of life in their communities. They often lose those roles--and part of their identity--when they move to the United States, Susskind said.

"Women in a different way than men face a kind of unraveling of who they imagine themselves to be," Susskind said. "That kind of loss of identity can be just very, very destabilizing for people."

All We Are Saying...

How often is it that some of the world's most effective women peace activists agree with the head of the (it must be said, patriarchal) Catholic Church? Maybe George W. Bush is a uniter, after all...

From the Feminist Majority newswire:

Jody Williams, the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and a 1997 Peace Prize winner, and Shirin Ebadi, a human rights advocate and the first female judge in Iran, issued a joint statement calling on the US and Iran to seek "non-violent solutions to our common problems."

"We demand a non-violent world where human security is the basis of our common global security. People have the right to live in a world where the basic needs of all peoples are addressed. No more military attacks. No more war," Williams and Ebadi said in their joint statement.

The Associated Press reports that Williams and Ebadi are joined in their effort by fellow laureates Betty Williams of Ireland, Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala and Wangari Maathai of Kenya. The AP story quotes Williams as saying, "We want to redefine peace as not just the absence of armed conflict. ... If there is not equal and social justice in the world, it is not peace."

Amen, sisters.

And speaking of amen, here's what Pope Benedict XVI had to say about Iran, via Reuters and AP:

Pope Benedict XVI, in his first Easter message, called Sunday for an "honorable solution" to the nuclear standoff with Iran, a truly independent Palestinian state and global cooperation to combat terrorism. ...

"Concerning the international crises linked to nuclear power, may an honorable solution be found for all parties through serious and honest negotiations," he said, a clear reference to Iran, which said last week it had become a nuclear power by enriching uranium.

These are welcome reactions to the Bush administration's saber rattling against Iran, which journalist Seymour Hersh has reported on. Hersh told Amy Goodman on Democracy Now:

"It's simply a fact that the planning [for a possible major air attack on Iran] has gone beyond the contingency stage, and it's gone into what they call the operational stage. ...

"I've been told that in the last few months a debate has been sort of ongoing inside the highest levels of the military, and the debate is simply between those senior generals and admirals -- who think using and even planning or talking about using a nuclear weapon in Iran is wacko -- and the White House, because the White House wants it kept in the plan. There's a lot of tension there. ...

"In all of the conversations we've had about bombing and not bombing and whether to use weapons, what weapon or how much bombing, as, not surprisingly, I don't think there's been any serious discussion of possible civilian casualties."

Check out the website for the national Code Pink organization, where you can send a letter to the United Nations calling for a peaceful solution to the U.S.-Iran conflict, check out their plans for Mother's Day, and so much more...