Occupy Wall Street News

Occupy Wall Street

Rotten Law Produces
The United States Department of Justice filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay Alabama's cruel immigration law. The law allows schools to identify students' immigration status, allows for the state can nullify contracts between an undocumented alien and another party including landlords. The law also imposes fines for those who pick up migrants for day labor or "church purposes." The law requires aliens to carry documentation at all times and prohibits anyone who is illegally in the United States from applying for a driver's license, business license, license plate or any other license. Suspected illegal immigrants can be detained.
On Monday 7 out of every 100 Hispanic children or an estimated 2,000 Hispanic students stayed out of school. The American Federation of Teachers condemned the mean-spirited law that is keeping students away from school.
A utility company in Alabama posted a notice stating that the company is prohibited by Alabama's new law from providing water service to undocumented aliens.
Alabama's economy is dependent on agriculture, which is dependent on migrant workers. The new law is driving the workers from the state. It has been reported that tomatoes, squash and other crops are rotting in the fields as the migrant farm workers have packed up and left the state. The agriculture commissioner plans to use work-released prisoners to replace the farmers. It's not likely the plan will work.
The same problem has plagued Georgia, another state that adopted strict anti-immigrant laws that go after illegal immigrants and anyone who harbors them. The state also saw an exodus of needed farm workers and attempted to solve the problem with probationers. The agriculture industry reported a $140 million for the state's spring and summer crop losses.
On October 5, 2011, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:
Proponents of the law say it will prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs away from U.S. citizens. But farmers contend many U.S. citizens won’t pick fruits and vegetables on their fields because the work is hot and physically demanding. So, many of these producers hire Hispanic migrant workers, and many of them are in the country illegally.
...Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black summarized more results from the pilot program Tuesday while testifying before a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Boarder Security. One farmer who participated in that program found the probationers to be half as productive as his other workers, Black said in written testimony. Another farmer found only 15 to 20 reliable workers out of 104 probationers.
“There were some obvious challenges with using probation labor,” Black said, “and the two producers found that the probationers were unable to harvest at the same rate as the other workers. At the end of the day, both producers agreed that the program had potential to meet the niche needs for farmers desperate for workers.”
Black told the subcommittee another way the government could help deal Georgia’s farm labor shortage is through a new and improved guest worker program. Many farmers complain the existing federal H-2A program is plagued with red tape.
Georgia's solution? Black suggests that the state create a state guest worker program that meets the requirements of the federal government. Imagine trying to oversee 50 or more state-run guest worker programs. The federal one is screaming for reform.
Alabama has an estimated 185,000 aliens or about 4% of the population. The crop losses show how undocumented immigrants impact the economy.
The farmers are furious about the new law and say they will be out of business by next year. From Think Progress Justice:
Farmers have every reason to be angry — many of them say that because of Beason’s law they’ll be out of business by next year. Chad Smith said his family would normally have 12 trucks working the fields on Monday, but only had the workers for three. “The tomatoes are rotting on the vine, and there is very little we can do,” he said, estimating that his family could lose up to $150,000 this season. Likewise, Lana Boatwright said she and her husband had used the same crews for more than a decade, but only eight of the 48 workers they needed showed up after the law took effect.
Americans for Immigration Reform predicted in 2008 that if all undocumented immigrants were removed from Alabama, the state would lose $2.6 billion in economic activity, $1.1 billion in gross state products, and approximately 17,819 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time. Experts estimate that around 75 percent of the nation’s seasonal agricultural workers are unauthorized immigrants. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 95,000 unauthorized immigrants worked in Alabama in 2009 and 2010, making up about 4.2 percent of the labor force.
In addition to farm workers, construction workers and roofers are also be driven away. It is estimated that up to 1/4 of the construction workers have left the state since the law was implemented.
The phrase, "You reap what you sow" may apply to these anti-immigrant states that can look forward to migrant workers, both documented and undocumented leaving their states and taking the states' economies with them. It may also apply to the CNMI or any other place in the U.S. where needed foreign laborers are treated as disposable commodities. Toss something away and you might not find a replacement down the road.

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested on Brooklyn Bridge
More than 700 people were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday evening during a march by anti-Wall Street protesters who have been occupying a downtown Manhattan square for two weeks.
The group, called Occupy Wall Street, has been protesting against the finance industry and other perceived social ills by camping out in Zuccotti park in New York.
During the afternoon a long line of protesters numbering several thousand snaked through the streets towards the landmark bridge across the East River with the aim of ending at a Brooklyn park.
However, during the march across the bridge groups of protesters sat down or strayed into the road from the pedestrian pathway. They were then arrested in large numbers by officers who were part of a heavy police presence shepherding the march along its path.
At one stage 500 protesters were blocked off by police on the bridge. At least one journalist, freelancer Natasha Lennard for the New York Times, was among those arrested. "About half way across the group of people who wanted to occupy the bridge launched their action and stepped into the road. They wanted to get arrested. It was sort of the idea," said Yaier Heber, one of the marchers.
But others said the sit-down protest appeared to happen only after the protesters were deliberately blocked off by police after actually being allowed onto the roadway. "They met the police line and ended up being arrested one by one," said Damon Eris, another protester.
The march ended in chaotic scenes with police buses driving up the bridge to be filled with arrested marchers. The packed buses then drove off to central booking. Meanwhile, other marchers waited at the bottom of the bridge's Manhattan side and cheered as some released protesters, or those who had escaped being blocked off, came back down. "Let them go! Let them go!" was a frequent chant.
It was a different scene from the night before when an equally large march had ended up at the city's police headquarters. That demonstration had been against the brutal treatment meted out by some police on protesters on a march the weekend before. Video of one senior police officer spraying pepper spray on female protesters went viral on the internet and drew widespread condemnation.
But the incident did help put the Occupy Wall Street movement into American newspapers and TV shows that had hitherto paid it little attention. The group, drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, say they are inspired by social movements in Spain and the Arab spring. Last week the protesters attracted numerous celebrity visits, including actor Susan Sarandon and film-maker Michael Moore. This week they are expected to get an injection of support from local labour unions.
The movement has also started to spread in significant numbers to several other major cities. On Saturday in Los Angeles hundreds of protesters marched on the city hall with the intention of starting a similar encampment. In Boston protesters have already started camping out in Dewey square, near the city's financial district. Unlike in New York, where protesters are not allowed to create shelter in Zuccotti park, Occupy Boston has been able to set up rows of tents.

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Berkeley in the Sixties
"You will respect my authoritay!" is the police mantra chanted around the country. Teachers, unions, professionals can all join students, activists, and elderly demonstrators. The mantra is the same. As now, so in the 1960s. Then it was illegal wars, racism, and a lack of civil rights for all. Today the issues are far more pressing -- a matter of survival. Having enough to eat as bankers give a new spin to the ancient "Let them eat cake" utterance that preceded the French Revolution commemorated by Bastille Day. Wall Street onlookers from on high giggle "Let them sip champagne."

Occupy Wall Street

NOT JUST DEMOCRATIC: OCCUPY WALL SREET CROWD MAKES "DEMANDS"

Occupy Wall Street

statement of JLC on Occupy Wall Street
The Jewish Labor Committee supports the activists in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and their message – that it is time for our elected officials to represent the 99% of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet in this difficult economy. This message is being heard not only on Wall Street, but on Main Streets across America. Through the recent actions on and near Wall Street, and the actions of labor, religious and community organizations such as the Jewish Labor Committee, in solidarity with those who are "occupying" Wall Street, this message will increasingly be heard and felt in the halls of Congress and in state and municipal governments around the country.

Occupy Wall Street