http://socialistworker.org/2010/09/22/letter-to-the-dream-movement
September 22, 2010
by Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa
Student activists for immigrant rights have pushed the DREAM Act into
the national spotlight with a series of bold actions--kicked off with
a sit-in at the Arizona office of Sen. John McCain in May. DREAM
stands for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors
Act, which would provide a path to legalization for a minority of
undocumented youth--provided they either enrolled in college in
pursuit of a bachelor's degree or higher, or enlisted in the U.S. military.
But in a cynical maneuver, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid attached
the DREAM Act to the Senate's $670 billion defense appropriations
bill to fund the U.S. war machine. In other words, anyone who wanted
to support the DREAM Act had to also support funding for the Pentagon
and its wars and occupations.
Even that ploy couldn't appease Republicans and right-wing Democrats.
The defense bill--with both the DREAM Act and a provision overturning
the anti-LGBT "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military
attached--was blocked from coming to a final vote under Senate rules
by the unanimous opposition of Republican senators plus two Democrats.
In a statement to fellow activists written last weekend and
distributed widely on the Internet, Raúl Al-qaraz Ochoa, one of the
group who sat in at McCain's office last May, explained why he
decided to oppose the DREAM Act after it was attached to the war spending bill.
--
I HAVE supported the DREAM Act, despite my critiques and concerns
over the military service component. In fact, I was one of the
arrestees at the sit-in at John McCain's office in Tucson, Ariz., an
act of civil disobedience where four brave undocumented students
risked deportation and put the DREAM Movement back in the national
political stage.
I made peace with my participation because I felt I was supporting
the self-determination of a movement led by undocumented youth, and I
felt we could subvert the component that was to feed undocumented
youth into the military pipeline if we developed a plan to support
youth to the college pathway.
First, let me say that I applaud and admire the tireless work you
have all done for the past 10 years. Your commitment and dedication
parallels giant student movements of the civil rights era. Your
persistence in organizing even when the world turned their back on
you is inspiring; your creativity in tactics, visuals and media
strategy is amazing. Your movement gives hope to hundreds of students
I have come across here in Arizona and beyond.
It is because of your grassroots efforts--not the politicians' nor
the national Hispanic organizations'--that the dream is still alive
and has come this far. As an organizer with permanent resident status
privilege, let me assert that your cause for access to college and a
path to legalization is just. No one can tell you that what you are
fighting for is wrong.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WITH THAT said, I want to share how I am deeply appalled and outraged
at how Washington politics are manipulating and co-opting the dream.
I understand that some folks may say, "We just want the DREAM Act to
pass regardless," but it is critical to examine the political context
surrounding DREAM in its current state. It is disturbing to see how
Democrats are attaching our community's dreams for
education/legalization to a defense appropriations bill. This is
grotesque in a number of ways:
-- 1. Democrats are using the DREAM Act as a political stunt to
appeal to Latino voters for the November elections because it is seen
as "less" threatening than a broad immigration reform. The Democrats
have the political will to recently unite and pass a border
militarization bill in a matter of hours ($600 million!), yet they
won't pass a broader immigration reform? And now they are up for the DREAM Act?
I'm glad they feel the pressure of the Latino voting bloc, but they
obviously do not care about our lives. They only seek to secure their
seats in November--which, by the way, look very jeopardized if they
don't move quickly to energize their "base." They are also seeking to
secure the gay vote with the gradual repeal of the "don't ask, don't
tell" policy as part of this same defense bill. All in all,
insincere, token political gestures only serve to stall real justice.
-- 2. Democrats are telling me that if I support access to education
for all my people, I must also support the U.S. war machine with $670
billion for the Pentagon. Does this mean I have to support the
military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan? By supporting the DREAM
Act, does this mean I automatically give a green light for U.S.
forces to continue invading, killing and raping innocent people all
over the world?
This is really unfair. Here in Arizona, I struggle with a climate of
fear and terror. Yet even though I am so far away, I hear the cries
of Arab mothers who are losing their children in U.S.-sponsored
bombings and massacres. There's a knot in my throat because victims
of U.S. aggression abroad look just like us...victims of U.S.
aggression at home.
This ugly and twisted political system is dividing us and coercing us
into supporting the funding of more bloodshed and more destruction if
we want the DREAM Act to pass. Does this mean that our dreams will
rest upon the nightmares of people that suffer globally? Obviously,
students who call their senators are supporting their future, NOT
bloodshed abroad, but we have to be responsible to the larger
political implications of this.
-- 3. Democrats are vilifying and criminalizing our parents. A really
insulting argument prominently used for passing the DREAM Act that I
keep hearing over and over is that because undocumented students
"didn't choose to come to the U.S. to break the laws of this
country," you shouldn't have to pay for the "sins" or "illegal
behavior" of your parents.
Are they serious?!? It is not okay to allow legislation to pass that
will stand on and disrespect the struggle, sacrifice and dignity of
our parents. What about blaming U.S.-led capitalist and imperialist
policies as the reasons that create our "refugee" populations? Our
parents' struggle is not for sale. We must not fall for or feed into
the rhetoric that criminalizes us or our parents. We all want
justice, but is it true justice if we have to sell out our own family
members along the way?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AGAIN, I support this fight--it's part of a larger community
struggle. It's personal to all of us. Passage of the DREAM Act would
definitely be a step forward in the struggle for migrant justice. Yet
the politicians in Washington have hijacked this struggle from its
original essence and turned dreams into ugly political nightmares. I
refuse to be a part of anything that turns us into political pawns of
dirty Washington politics. I want my people to be "legalized," but at
what cost? We all want it bad. I hear it. I've lived it. But I think
it's a matter of how much we're willing to compromise in order to win
victories or crumbs.
This again proves how it is problematic to lobby the state and put
all our efforts in legislation to pass. We should know that this
political route is always filled with racism, opportunism, betrayals
and nightmares. History repeats itself once again.
So if I support the DREAM Act, does this mean I am okay with our
people being used as political pawns? Does this mean that my hands
will be smeared with the same bloodshed the U.S. spills all over the
world? Does this mean I am okay with blaming my mother and my father
for migrating "illegally" to the U.S.? Am I willing to surrender to
all that in exchange for a benefit?
Maybe it's easier for me to say that "I can" because I have papers,
right? I'd like to think that it's because my political principles
will not allow me to do so, regardless of my citizenship status or
personal benefit at stake. Strong movements that achieve greater
victories are those that stand in solidarity with all oppressed
people of the world and never gain access to rights at the expense of
other oppressed groups.
I have come to a deeply painful decision: I can no longer in good
political conscience support the DREAM Act because the essence of a
beautiful dream has been detained by a colonial nightmare seeking to
fund and fuel the U.S. empire machine.
I am so sorry and so enraged that this larger political context has
deferred those dreams of justice and equality that we all share.
In tears, rage, love and sorrow,
--R
--
First published at Antifronteras.com.
http://antifronteras.com/2010/09/18/letter-to-the-dream-movement-my-painful-withdrawal-of-support-for-the-dream-act/
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