May 11, 2005
A large group of people from another country have invaded Arizona and are declaring war on the state unless they get what they want.
The force is mostly from Mexico. The war will be of the economic variety. What they want are benefits normally reserved only for citizens or legal residents.
Hyperbole? Let's read
"Test of Hispanic boycott fails in Arizona" and find out:
An immigrant advocacy group asked Hispanics to boycott businesses and to stay home from work yesterday to protest legislation by Arizona lawmakers targeting illegal aliens, and said it was a trial run for a full-scale, three-day economic protest planned for July.
"This is a test so people can see and feel the power we have and the actual stranglehold we have on the economy of this state," Elias Bermudez, executive director of Centro de Ayuda, an immigrant advocacy group in Phoenix, told reporters this week...
...The July boycott was called to protest laws that restrict the use of the Mexican matricula, or identification card; require illegal aliens to pay out-of-state college tuition; deny access to literacy programs to illegals; adopt English as Arizona's official state language; and mandate that state funds be denied for the construction and operation of a day-workers center...
Arizona's Prop. 200 only concerned illegal aliens, as do most of those above. The only one on that list that might affect those here legally is the language bill, and that's far outweighed by their objections to Prop. 200 and the others. Of course, illegal aliens are - by definition - citizens of another country. Many or most of those participating in the boycott, such as it was, were no doubt citizens of other countries. And, the boycott was designed with them in mind: recent or proposed Arizona legislation is designed to reduce illegal immigration.
This boycott is a threat against not just the (lawful) residents of Arizona, but against employers as well. Expect almost all of them to buckle under. After all, if they're corrupt enough to employ illegal aliens in the first place, they probably aren't going to spend too much time considering the long-term effects on them and on the country by giving in to such boycotts.
Those few employers who aren't completely corrupt might want to ask themselves, "Where does it stop?" If Arizonans give in to such threats, they'll enable more illegal aliens to come. That will serve to increase the power of racial demagogues and increase the power of such boycotts. What then? Will there be a demand for voting rights for everyone regardless of "status"? What other demands will have to be acceded to in order to keep the money flowing?
Note that while the WashTimes says this wasn't a success, the Arizona Republic (as could be expected) paints it in rosy terms:
"Valley Hispanic boycott called a success":
...Hispanics who could afford it or believed it was worth missing a day of pay showed up at rallies instead of work. [The AZ Republic only offers those two choices, truly a false choice. -- LW]
"We are trying to stop the anti-immigrant laws that they are introducing against us who don't have papers," said Rivas, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico...
Moderate Hispanic community or business leaders in Arizona should make it painfully clear to the AZ Republic and anyone else who'll listen that all "Hispanics" are not militant Chicanos, supporters of illegal immigration, and supporters of threats against the U.S. by foreigners. That's what the polls show, even if the AZ Republic would like to think otherwise.
Posted to Immigration2005a at May 11, 2005 07:34 PM
Comments
"Foreigners" - the article used the term Hispanics. But I guess anyone with brown skin is a foreigner to a radical anti-immigration bloggist.
Posted by: Ralph at May 12, 2005 04:57 AM
"radical"
Of course, it's not radical at all to allow immigration to demographically transform the country.
Posted by: x at May 12, 2005 05:28 AM
The message of the Bush administration and the Mexican race hustlers to the American people: your communities will be massively transformed and you have no voice in the matter. This is an assault on democracy of the most fundamental type.
Posted by: mr civil rights at May 12, 2005 07:33 AM
"assault on democracy"
Absolutely. And it should make everyone really question the worth and effectiveness of the kind of 'democracy' now practiced in America when citizens do not have such basic control or even influence over what happens around them. In the end many end up voting a second time -- with their feet.
Posted by: x at May 12, 2005 08:40 AM
"Foreigners" - the article used the term Hispanics.
You might want to read the post and the articles again and again: the articles did indeed use the term "Hispanics." However, as I discussed, that term was not accurate. What they should have said is "mostly Mexican citizens." I mean, seriously, how could anyone miss all that stuff I wrote above? As I state above, this boycott involves benefits for illegal aliens, aka "foreigners". And, a large number of those participating are indeed illegal aliens, aka "foreigners".
Posted by: The Lonewacko Blog at May 12, 2005 11:21 AM
"how could anyone"
If you're an ideologue who selectively acknowledges and ignores facts, whatever suits at the time, it is no mean trick at all. After all, this saves a lot of thinking and effort, e.g. that needed to construct a convincing counterargument.
Posted by: x at May 13, 2005 01:38 AM
x, you're full of crap, there are other foreigners that are illegal aliens. *Gasp* even some white ones! We oppose them as well. Of course you choose to ignore that so that you can continue to simply dismiss us by saying anyone who wants immigration reform is a racist.
Posted by: Digger at May 13, 2005 02:49 AM
