Get to Arizona!

A number of people have asked me about how to support groups doing good work against the nasty immigration shit going on in Arizona. Work that doesn’t limit itself to “mere” reform. I’ve also been sad witness to several toothless Facebook groups that seem to limit “support” to pressing a few buttons on your computer keyboard to register your dissatisfaction…uh, and that’s it.

So, below is a list of organizations I think you should consider supporting in concrete ways. Each link I provide includes some way to donate funds…and some offer other ways to help out.

And remember the words of Public Enemy in “By the Time I Get to Arizona”: “Neither party is mine, not the jackass or the elephant.”

Yours,

charles

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“The Arizona Repeal Coalition is an organization committed to repealing over 60 anti-immigrant laws and bills that have been passed or considered by Arizona politicians in the past few years. We demand the repeal of all laws—federal, state, and local—that degrade and discriminate against undocumented individuals and that deny U.S. citizens their lawful rights. We demand that all human beings—with papers or without—be guaranteed access to work, housing, health care, education, legal protection, and other public benefits, as well as the right to organize. Our strategy is to help build a grass roots social movement that can repeal these laws, change the terms of the national debate on immigration, and expand the freedom of all people—documented and undocumented.

“We believe that all people have the right to live, love, and work wherever they please, and this is what we strive for.”

You can reach the Repeal Coalition at:

Phoenix: Phone: (602) 714-9423 ¦ Email repealcoalition.phx@gmail.com

Flagstaff: Phone: (928) 863-9426 ¦ Email: repealcoalition@gmail.com

Regarding more specific forms of assistance, Repeal Coalition member Taryn D. Jordan writes:

Money. As I have stated before we are all broke here and living on the goodness of the center of new community. So if comrades could start hosting house parties what ever you can send will be helpful. We need money for copies of fliers, gas to get around town and t shirts, and money for mass texting services. We need people. I know in our last few communications with folks we have demanded for organizers but we are willing to take less experienced folks if they are the right person. We will be conducting interviews via Skype. We hope if you all know of folks who have skill sets in, activism, video editing (and equipment), work shop building, theoretical background lending towards the importance of grassroots organizing etc. We’ll take them. We will develop a work plan and a 3 – 4 hour work shop orientation along with plugging them in to other activities around town if needed. The reason we are willing to take more folks then before is we are hedging on a two front war and between the three of us, the work will not sustain if we don’t get help really soon. For right now lodging can be free due to the love and kindness of the Center for a New Community. But all other expenses will have to be paid by the person coming. We still need you political support: I will continue to post reports and attempt to make them as nice as possible. If folks will support me in turning this into some sort of blog entry or something and get the word out nationally on what we are doing that would be great. We will also be emailing videos (shot via cell phone) or recorded mp3s of our thoughts on this growing movement. If comrades with better tech skills then the three of us can help in getting this posted please do so, we will provide content in what ever way we can.

“Bring the Ruckus is a national organization of revolutionaries dedicated to fighting white supremacy and building dual power.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the term “dual power,” it refers to a political strategy that creates alternative institutions with the goal of ultimately creating an overall “alternative social infrastructure that fulfills economic, political, social, and cultural needs.” You know, creating the new in the shell of the old. On their “About Us” page BtR elaborates:

“The focus of our work should be involving ourselves in movements and activism where there is the potential to work toward the building of a dual power. Social reforms won by progressive movements may be important, but if they do not work toward a dual power they are not the concerns of a revolutionary organization. For example, animal liberation is a worthy cause. However, it is difficult to imagine how a campaign for animal liberation could threaten state power and foreshadow a new society. Thus, while a revolutionary organization may applaud animal liberation activities, it would not devote energy toward animal rights. On the other hand, a program to develop local Copwatch chapters could represent a dual power strategy, since monitoring the police undermines state power by disrupting the cops’ ability to enforce class and color lines and also foreshadows a new society in which ordinary people take responsibility for ensuring the safety of their communities.”

“Phoenix Class War Struggle is a fanatical, revolutionary anarchist group pressing the attack against capitalism, the state and all systems of hierarchy and oppression. We fight for a self-determined, projectual life for ourselves and all humanity. We oppose those who hinder working class self-organization. We are libertarian and libertine. We support movements but we don’t wait for them. We are in the thick of it.”

“Phoenix Copwatch is a citizen’s group formed in 1998 to combat abuse by the police in our community. We use a variety of means to fight police abuse, including community patrols, videotaping of police activity, and education. Copwatch is completely independent from the police, all other law enforcement agencies, the government, and all political parties. Although Copwatch groups exist in many other cities around the world, they all operate independently, and there is no national or international body that oversees our organization. All of our members are unpaid volunteers who freely dedicate their time to ending police abuse.”

“O’odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective is made up Akimel O’odham and Tohono O’odham youth who are pressing the attack against the ongoing colonization of our traditional lands (i.e. U.S./Mexico Border policies), environmental racism from transnational corporations and the state, and all colonial polices aimed at destroying our O’odham Him’dag (Traditional Way of Life). We fight for self-determination, and true sovereignty of our lands. We advocate for the traditional elders in Mexico and the United States. We provide an autonomous space for O’odham to educate themselves on the issues that affect our land and people (our future). We encourage and support all O’odham, especially the youth, in carrying on our traditional practices, just as our ancestors did before us. Our projects of solidarity are our politics. You dig?”

“We are an Indigenous-established volunteer-run collective dedicated to creatively confronting and overcoming social and environmental injustices in Flagstaff and surrounding areas. We are restoring and redefining knowledge and information in ways that will be meaningful to our communities. We offer access to independent media, the arts, and alternative education, with the goal of self-development as well as empowerment for youth and the greater community into action in favor of a more just and sustainable world.

“In 2007 community members and an Indigenous youth empowerment media collective called “Outta Your Backpack Media” (OYBM) came together with a vision to establish a space that cultivates active resistance to capitalism, environmental & social injustices in and around our community of Flagstaff. Since then TaalaHooghan infoshop has hosted all ages shows, film screenings of hard to find political movies, the Free Free Market, silkscreening, D.I.Y. art skill shares, and provided meeting and event space for other organizations.

OYBM has worked with more than 300 youth and produced dozens of short films at free youth workshops, some of which have been screened nationally and internationally at film festivals.”

[Thanks to Abbey Willis for helping here!]