Monthly Archives: July 2011

Capitalizing on the Mamiverse : Preliminary Thoughts

  By Maegan La Mala | July 19, 2011 - 9:04 am |
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I came across the article from the Daily Beast as it made it’s way across my twitter stream. The article, titled, Meet the Fútbol Moms, focuses on the launch of a new website targeting mamis, that is Latina moms. The website, Mamiverse, which I have yet to explore in depth, promises to give Latina mamis, a huge demographic, “the Oprah treatment”.

Who said we wanted that?

According to the article, what the Mamiverse wants to do is to prove that all Latina mothers are not undocumented anchor baby makers. Well those words weren’t used. These were:

In a period when American-born Latinas have been caught in the national freakout about “border security,” Mamiverse offers them a new spokeswoman. She’s a particular kind of Latina mom—an English-speaking, all-American gal. “The young, acculturated, affluent, online Latina is speaking English, and is imbibing media in English,” says Rene Alegria, the site’s 36-year-old founder and CEO.

In other word a Latina who is happy to pass? All- American meaning anything but Latin American. The website wants us all to be Gabriela Solis apparently. Oh and Rene Alegria – not a mami.

From the article:

He was born in Tucson, Ariz., in 1975. His family is a case study in the acculturation process he now trumpets. Alegria’s grandparents immigrated from Sonora, Mexico, in 1955 and still don’t speak English. By the time he was 19, Alegria was living in New York and working at the publisher Simon & Schuster…At 25, as a young editor at HarperCollins, Alegria founded Rayo, the first major Hispanic imprint in New York publishing. He insisted that most of Rayo’s books, from authors like Ray Suarez and Jorge Ramos, should be in English…The imprint began producing mostly Spanish-language books. “It ended up being the Telemundo of book publishing,” Alegria moans. He left in 2009.

According to the article, Alegria was “horrified” at the calls for a boycott when Arizona’s SB1070 passed. The Mamiverse – again not started by a mami – is based in Arizona.

The Mamiverse has started with a star lineup of mamis including Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Maria Hinojosa, Daisy Fuentes. It has also started with one exclusive retailer ready to sell to the new demographic- Target.

The end of the article tries to make the Mamiverse political – saying that it is the mamis who will determine the 2012 election.

Alegria thinks Mom will be the one brokering the conversation. “The next César Chávez,” he says grandly, “is going to be a Latina mom.”

Because apparently Latina moms have never done anything politically before this moment.
Based solely on the article (again I have not really analyzed the actual site) it seems the success of the Mamiverse is based on the notion of erasing the idea of otherness which means that any mami who does not fit into this upwardly mobile, English speaking, non-pork eating mold gets further pushed into the shadows.

Pass me the pernil because I am not sitting at that table.

Have you checked out the Mamiverse? Does it represent your mami’hood?

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Martes Morning Musica : Los Wemblers de Iquitos play La Danza del Petrolero

  By Maegan La Mala | July 19, 2011 - 7:05 am |
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23 tracks off of The Roots of Chicha Volumes 1 & 2, (we reviewed Volume 2 last year), are being released today on a special double vinyl edition. Something about the music and the enthusiasm shown by video below seem perfect for this hot summer day at VL HQ.

PS : if you are in the NYC area, there is a release party this Thursday night at DROM.

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Lunes Libro : The Revolution Starts at Home

  By Maegan La Mala | July 18, 2011 - 9:46 am |
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The Revolution Starts at Home, edited by Ching-In Cheng, Jai Dulani, & Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha and published by South End Press, is an anthology/handbook/reference based on a zine that breaks the dangerous silence surrounding the “open secret” of intimate violence—by and toward caretakers, in romantic partnerships, and in friendships—within social justice movements.

As an activist, a member of multiple communities, a survivor of violence, and as a mami, I was excited to sit and read this book after hearing and nodding along to excerpts at the packed NYC release at Bluestockings. My pareja and I also wanted to read it as a shared exercise in working through how some of the violence in our previous relationships (movement-wise and personal) impacted how we treated each other. Divided into four sections, the stories, strategies, interviews and poetry seek to confront what usually is spoken about in whispers – how we as people in social justice movements, especially women, transgender, genderqueer people of color deal and are dealt with when there is an issue of violence within our circles. There has been so much talk about safety, accountability and justice when we struggle against institutions and individuals outside of our movement(s) but not enough talk/action about what those same concepts look like, feel like, and how they play out inside. The Revolution Starts at Home seeks to change that.

(more…)

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Monday Morning Movie Preview : The Harvest/la Cosecha

  By Maegan La Mala | July 18, 2011 - 7:15 am |
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No doubt this morning, the buzz is how much money the final episode in the Harry Potter film franchise made this past weekend. I would like to draw your attention to less magical matters. Thinking specifically of a comment that longtime reader Sabina made last week saying how all of us in the U.S. benefit from immigrant labor made me think of this upcoming film.

The Harvest/La Cosecha – Theatrical Trailer from Shine Global on Vimeo.

The Harvest/La Cosecha tells the story of the children who feed America.

Coming to NY July 29th
Coming to LA August 5th
Coming to TV on Epix Oct 5th

www.theharvestfilm.com

The film, Executive Produced by Eve Longoria and released though a non-profit (of which I know little about), Shine Global Inc., certainly deals with an important issue. How it tells the story of the young farm laborers will be important too. Already in the marketing of the film we see language used to make these children “American” as in of the U.S., not of the “Americas”. This is supposed to clearly elicit more sympathy than say if the film was about “non-Americans”. I worry about this divide.

The film also apparently is being used as a way to promote policy – pushing not from the DREAM Act, or AGJobs or CIR but rather equal protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which prevents children under a certain age from working and applies conditions for youth labor. On the official website of the film there is even a place for people to contact their local congressperson and senators.

I am certainly interested in seeing the film to do a full review. Screening information is here.

What do you all think?

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Update from Pelican Bay Hunger Strike : Strikers Reject CDCR Proposal

  By Maegan La Mala | July 17, 2011 - 8:26 am |
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This update was apparently released Friday but hit my inbox today. I think it is important that we spread the word and reflect on what it means to support those who are incarcerated with one of the goals being changing the way we think of safety, crime and justice.

When reading below, I hope people will check back with the demands of those on strike. The conditions inside Pelican Bay and other California prisons are conditions that were they happening in a prison overseas – there would be a different outcry – a different level of support. But given the racial and class politics inside of the US, most assume this torturous treatment is acceptable or deserved. An “assessment” is what government entities always offer up in the face of protest y dissent. It is what the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration Customs Enforcement have offered up in the face of questions regarding how Secure Communities is being rolled out. To offer an “assessment” is to deny what the community is witnessing and EXPERIENCING as truth.

MEDIA ADVISORY–JULY 15, 2011

Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers Reject CDCR Proposal

Strike Continues

California—This afternoon leaders of the Pelican Bay hunger strike unanimously rejected a proposal to end the strike from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). In response to the prisoners’ five, straightforward demands, CDCR distributed a vaguely worded document stating that it would, “effect a comprehensive assessment of its existing policy and procedure” about the secure housing units (SHUs). The document gave no indication if any changes would be made at all.

While the CDCR has claimed that there is no medical crisis, mediators report that the principal negotiators have lost 25-35 pounds each and have underlying medical conditions of concern. Despite promises from the federal Receiver overseeing CDCR, no one has received salt tablets or multiple vitamins.

The hunger strike is now in its third week and shows no signs of weakening. In fact, the settlement document distributed last night to all hunger strikers at Pelican Bay prison, resulted in some people who had gone off the strike to resume refusing food. Hundreds of prisoners at Pelican Bay remain on strike, with thousands more participating throughout California’s 33 prisons. Advocates and strike leaders dismiss the false claims that the strike is being orchestrated by prison gangs.

International solidarity with the striking prisoners also continues to mount with demonstrations and messages emerging from the US, Canada, Turkey and Australia. According to mediation team member Laura Magnani, “From day one, the CDCR has demonstrated its inability to resolve this situation. We call on Gov. Brown to step in and negotiate in good faith to bring this situation to a just resolution.” Strike supporters plan to flood the Governor’s offices with phone calls and emails, echoing the strikers’ demands.

“Given how basic the striker’s demands are, it is immoral that the CDCR would insult these men with such poor faith proposals,” stated mediator, Dorsey Nunn.

For ways to support the strike see here

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Attn NYC! Latino Rebels and The Phoenix present: Words and Music For Miguel Algarín

  By Maegan La Mala | July 15, 2011 - 2:29 pm |
1 Comment

Note: I am honored and excited to be participating in this benefit for Miguel. The Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe was the first place I ever read poetry at the ripe old age of 18. I remember Miguel sitting by the door. I remember how nervous I was and how special it felt to be reading there, a place of such history. Grateful to add mi granito de arena among so much talent and community love.

The iconic Miguel Algarín is a man deserving of various accolades, among his most noteworthy being founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café in the Lower East Side in the early 1970s—a place where marginalized voices founded a movement and created a home that Allen Ginsberg once described as “the most integrated place on the planet.” Out of the Nuyorican Poets Café were born books and legends—too many to report here.

So what’s the point?

The man responsible for carving a space for literary and counter-cultural expression in the urban war-zone of the 1970s Lower East Side/Loisaida is in need of our help. Miguel is being forced to vacate his Lower East Side apartment this summer. As a 70-year-old disabled man this is proving to be quite a challenge. So to help offset the cost of his legal fees and other expenses we are throwing a party to raise money for him.

Así mismo.

As a living icon who has given a platform to thousands of marginalized voices in his lifetime, we feel that this is the least we can do for Miguel and hope that you can join us in our celebration in honor of him. Yes, the goal is to raise money, but the way in which we’ll do that is by having fun. Come join us as we revel in the Lower East Side/East Village poetry and performance legacy he helped create…

(Note: All money raised will go to Miguel Algarín. Neither The Phoenix, Latino Rebels, nor the performers will receive any funds raised—we are all volunteering our time.)

When: Sunday, July 24 · 4:00pm – 10:30pm

Where: The Phoenix
449 E 13th St/Avenue A – East Village – 21+
New York, NY

What : A benefit/fundraiser hosted by Charlie Vázquez

Featuring Penny Arcade, Machete Movement and San Juan Hill

With Carlos Manuel Rivera, Bonafide Rojas, J Skye Cabrera, Rob Vassilarakis, Papo Swiggity Santiago, Pietro Scorsone, Gabrielle Rivera, Jani Rosado, Karen Jaime, Maegan “La Mala” Ortiz, Odilia Rivera Santos, Tod Crouch, Deborah Magdalena and Jeny Nilenie and surprise guests!

All are welcome…$5 suggested donation but no one will be turned away…

If you are not in the NYC area or cannot attend but would like to help support, you can make an online donation aqui.

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Half of California DREAM Act Passes

  By Maegan La Mala | July 15, 2011 - 11:58 am |
26 Comments

Yesterday the first half of the California DREAM Act, AB 130, passed 26-11 and included the support of one Republican, Anthony Canella. The bill, which is headed to Governor Jerry Brown for a signature (and he is expected to sign), allows undocumented college students access to privately funded financial aid in the form of scholarships and other assistance as overseen by state colleges and universities. According the Change.org, 40% of undocumented high school graduates reside in California, meaning potentially thousands of students could stand to benefit.

AB 130 was the less controversial of the two companion bills that make up the CA DREAM Act. AB 131, which will come for a vote in August, is facing an uphill battle for passage because it would provide undocumented students access to state-funded public financial aid that U.S. citizen and legal resident students are entitled to.

As I have stated before, calling these state bills DREAM Act bills, is a little bit of a misnomer since they offer no legal status for undocumented students.

Via / MultiAmerican

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NYC Protesting Prisons and Deportations

  By Maegan La Mala | July 15, 2011 - 8:17 am |
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I’m working on a few posts right now, including a book review and a post about the California DREAM Act but in the meantime, I wanted to give a heads up to NYC area folks about some rallies where it might be good to say presente at. The weather is supposed to be lovely so the perfect reason to get outside and yell a little.

Today Friday, July 15th

PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY WITH PELICAN BAY PRISON HUNGER STRIKERS
Today FRIDAY July 15 at 12:00 Noon
Federal Bldg. at Broadway & Thomas St. near Worth St. & Duane St.; MAP: < http://is.gd/bsM8D-/>
Info: <http://ow.ly/5EZG2 >

Prisoners on hunger strike in California are close to death.

Immigrants and Advocates Gather to Tell ICE: New Adjustments Fail to Hide Reality of Mass Deportation Program

Groups Also Confront Agency for Refusing to Meet with Families Affected by Unjust Immigration Laws and Policies

WHAT:  Immigrants, faith leaders, and advocates will hold a rally to condemn Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s so-called reforms to the mass deportation program known as “Secure Communities” and its refusal to meet with directly impacted immigrants. ICE officials are scrambling to save face, as the program has come under intense scrutiny from Congress and advocates across the country. On a desperate marketing tour through Illinois, Massachusetts, and on Friday in New York – the three states who have refused to participate in “Secure Communities” – ICE is trying to sell advocates, police, and elected officials on the adequacy of recent cosmetic changes made to the fundamentally flawed program.

WHEN:  Friday, July 15, 2011, 12:00pm (before ICE’s 1:00pm meeting with New York advocates)

WHERE:  26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY (Broadway side)  [probably Broadway & Thomas St.]

[TRANSIT: J to Chambers (north exit to Pearl St./Foley Sq.); #4, 5, 6 to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall (north exit to Reade St./Foley Sq.); R (not N) to City Hall (at Broadway & Warren); A, C (not E) to Chambers St. (north exits to Chambers St. & Church St.); #1, 2, 3 to Chambers St. (at W. Broadway); E to WTC;
Broadway BUS; M22 bus via East Broadway, Worth & Chambers; M103 via Essex & Park Row;
MAP: < http://is.gd/bsM8D-/> -t.]

WHO:  Immigrants and their families, faith leaders, and other advocates

WHY:  New York immigrants and advocates join their Illinois and Massachusetts counterparts in lambasting the tweaks ICE announced on June 17 to the irreparable “Secure Communities” program. Advocates have decried the record-breaking deportations under the Obama Administration – nearly 400,000 in 2010 – and the role “Secure Communities” has played in exiling en masse immigrants from their families and communities. Protesters will rebuke ICE for excluding from its meetings the very people who are most greatly impacted by “Secure Communities” and call for a nationwide termination of the program, which funnels people directly into the deportation system, jeopardizes trust in the police, and encourages racial profiling.

Monday, July 18th

PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY WITH PELICAN BAY PRISON HUNGER STRIKERS
MONDAY, July 18 from 11:30am-1:00pm
California State Franchise Office
1212 6th Ave. btw. 47th & 48th Streets: B, D, F, M to 47-50 St./Rockefeller Ctr.;
212.633.6646        < www.iacenter.org>             917.328.6470

 

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DREAMers in California Come Out of the Shadows & are Arrested

  By Maegan La Mala | July 13, 2011 - 2:52 pm |
20 Comments

Yesterday, seven undocumented youth, Martha Vasquez, Isaac Barrera, Ju Hong, David Lemus, Jesus Barrios, Jorge Herrera and Jonathan Perez were arrested after staging a sit-in near the campus of San Bernardino Valley College. All seven were taken to a holding center in San Bernardino County, this is the same county that has a contract with ICE to detain and deport undocumented immigrants. In fact the Sheriff was even on scene and told us point blank, ‘do these kids know they are risking an ICE hold if they pass through one of my jails?’ The youth were protesting the dangerous environment Southern California is for immigrant communities. In San Bernardino there are checkpoints often, local law enforcement cooperates very closely with ICE officials through Secure Communities as well as 287(g). There have even been numerous accounts of undocumented youth being turned over to ICE by campus police.

Jonathan Perez, 24 stated:

“I am undocumented and unafraid; queer and unashamed, I take action now to show the over half million undocumented youth in California that we no longer have to live in fear. My parents were unafraid in coming here to give me a better life and now it’s my turn to be unafraid and fight for my family and my community.”

If you are interested in making a donation towards the bail of any of those arrested, you can do so here.

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NYC : Stop Puerto Rico Gas Pipeline Protest on Thurs 7/14

  By Maegan La Mala | July 12, 2011 - 2:30 pm |
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The struggle against the Puerto Rican gas pipeline continues on the island and wherever the Puerto Rican diaspora are.

Rally Against Gasoducto Puerto Rico Gas Pipeline:
Demand US Army Corps of Engineers Deny Permit
Thursday July 14 at 5:00PM
26 Fed Plaza at Broadway & Thomas St., near Worth St. & Duane St.

On Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 5 pm in front of 26 Federal Plaza, members of NY Against the Puerto Rico Gas Pipeline will be joined by local activists and supporters of the Puerto Rican people and the environment, to rally and demand that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deny the permit requested by the PR Electric Power Authority (PREPA) in which they propose to construct a dangerous natural gas pipeline over 92 miles long.

Public opposition to the project is strong. Polls indicate that 70% of the citizens of Puerto Rico oppose the construction of the pipeline (El Nuevo DÃa – March 2011). On May 1, 2011, over 30,000 people marched together to protest the Via Verde Gas Pipeline. Different sectors of Puerto Rican society have manifested their opposition to this project, including Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas, church groups, cultural organizations, academics, labor unions, community groups, and Puerto Rican citizens in the U.S. mainland.

Recently all documentation pertinent to the evaluation of the natural gas pipeline project was transferred to US Army Corps of Engineers Offices in Jacksonville, Florida. This disingenuous act represents yet another step to hide from public scrutiny and avoid an open and transparent public discussion of the projects merits and costs. Representatives from Casa Pueblo will be traveling to Jacksonville, Florida on July 15th to meet with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Puerto Rico Electric and Power Authority (PREPA) proposes to construct and install a 24-inch diameter steel gas pipeline approximately 92 miles long with a construction right-of way of 150 feet wide. The pipeline will transverse Puerto Rico from the EcoElectrica/EcoEléctrica Liquid Natural Gas Terminal to the northern thermoelectric power plants that only produces 20% of the total electric energy of the island. To avoid compliance with basic regulatory standards and ignore procedural safeguards for the construction of such a high-risk project, the governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño/Luis Fortu~no, declared a state of energy emergency designed to maintain secrecy, fast-track the permit process and thwart full public participation in the discussion of the project. The implications of this proposal for the future of Puerto Rico are too detrimental to accept. We need to break the
dependency on fossil fuels while promoting economic development of the island with self-sustaining resources.

WHAT: Rally and Press Conference to demand that the US Army Corps of Engineers deny a permit to build a dangerous gas pipeline in PR

WHEN: Thursday, July 14, 2011

WHERE: In front of 26 Federal Plaza, Manhattan NY
[almost certainly the Broadway side of bldg., opposite corner of Broadway and Thomas Streets, near Worth St. & Duane St.; but also check Foley Sq. side to be sure: J, M train to Chambers (north exits to Pearl St. or Duane St on Lafayette); #4, 5, 6 to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall (north exits); R (not N!) to City Hall (Broadway & Warren stairs); #2, 3 to Park Pl. (east exit to Broadway); A, C to Chambers (at Church St.); N, Q to Canal (west exit to Broadway); #1, 2, 3 to Chambers (at West Broadway); E to WTC (north exit to Barclay & Church); PATH to WTC (at Vesey & Greenwich & West Broadway); buses via Broadway or Varick St./West Broadway, or via Bowery & Park Row, or via Greenwich St. & Trinity Pl./Church St. or via East Broadway & Worth; MAP: or Bowery & Park Row

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