Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

May 24, 2010

Roberto Rodriguez: Arizona: A Critical Resistance Boycott

Arizona: A Critical Resistance Boycott
Special Double-Length Column
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

The first rule of any boycott is to keep your eyes on the prize; translated, this means never lose sight of the problem, the objectives, the solutions and the bigger picture.

RUSHING TOWARDS APARTHEID
Arizona is speeding towards an apartheid state. Some of this rush has to do with repressive laws (including the legalization of racial profiling and the elimination of ethnic studies) passed by the Republican-dominated legislature and recently signed by the governor. Truthfully, however, this move pre-exists the recent legislation and much of the repression against the Mexican community here is also historical in nature and it is actually nationwide.

On the surface, it is about migration issues. Yet if we probe a little deeper, it’s about power and the future demographic (voter rolls) makeup of the state. Translated: The Browning of Arizona. Probe some more and you will see that much of the hate has little to do with peoples’ legal status. That’s where English-Only and the new anti-ethnic studies law comes in. It is not simply about our physical presence (red-brown), but about our culture – which is thousands of years old and Indigenous to this continent. In this sense, it is beyond physical removal and even beyond thought-control; this is about our souls.
Read more ...
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/05/roberto-rodriguez-arizona-critical.html

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