| Free Kashmir No Indian Army | PAKISTAN – USA FREEDOM FORUM 82-44 243 St., Bellerose, NY 11426 Tel (718) 343-1653 or (718) 763-3543 E-mail: pakusaff@hotmail.com | Stop Dividing Families End the Raids and Deportations |
Union Leaders and Immigrants Struggle in the USA, 2010
Honorable brothers and sisters in the Labor Movement,
The Pakistan USA Freedom Forum (PUFF) greets you and congratulates you on successfully bringing thousands of people from the immigrant communities of New York City to Washington DC on Sunday, March 21st. That day we stood together with New York Civil Liberties Union, the New Sanctuary Coalition – NYC, the New York Immigration Coalition, Families for Freedom and the May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights, and the Bail Out the People Movement.
It was a beautiful display of solidarity with the human beings that make up a great majority of New York City’s population.
But the people who came on your generously subsidized buses, came to Washington for one reason. They want, they need, just and humane immigration reform: legalization for all, opposing deportations, opposing the imprisonment of tens of thousands of innocent immigrants, and the unity of families, and opposing the huge industries that are profiting from the victimization of millions of undocumented people, NOT the Schumer-Graham Bill, promoted by many Democratic speakers on March 21st over huge jumbotrons, and espoused by no less than President Barack Obama, that was touted as “comprehensive immigration reform.”
PUFF has always called for immigration legislation that does not create two kinds of human beings in one country, for we believe no human being is illegal. Schumer-Graham is travesty of “just” reform. If it passes, undocumented and even the documented will be fined and marginalized and hunted down like prey. And anti-immigrant racism and xenophobia will be legitimized.
We have marched from Union Square where we stood against the deportation and imprisonment of immigrants. We have demanded, with the other members of the May 1 Coalition, legalization and civil equality; we have demanded justice for all workers in the USA. Every year we have gathered at Union Square. In 2005 we gathered in the hundreds, with African Americans and immigrants, and progressive white workers for worker rights. In 2006, over a million people marched from Union Square demanding rights for immigrants and all workers. In 2007, 2008 (Bush Era) and 2009 (Obama Government), despite growing threats from ICE (Immigration Custom Enforcement) who feel no remorse for tearing apart innocent families in midnight raids, we marched in the tens of thousands from Union Square, with the same demands: Legalization for all! An end to the raids! No Deportation! Equal rights for all workers! An end to splitting apart families! An end to spending billion$$ on militarization of the border and illegal wars.
PUFF stands for unity of all workers. Labor Unions are supposed to be the standard bearers of this principle. But we have been troubled to learn that some organizations have decided to divide the working classes of the city and to organize a separate May Day rally.
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum calls union leadership and NGOs at this moment of economic and social crisis to use their money and power to unite the immigrant struggle for those documented and undocumented in New York and the United States of America, and not to dilute the struggle of the immigrants and workers. Let those in labor unions and the unorganized march together from Union Square!
Previously, in decades past, immigrants and workers, unionized and unorganized, marched from Union Square for workers’ rights. So it is an ode to history that we rally at Union Square. But then we will march to Wall Street, which we hold responsible for the exploitation and degradation of workers from New York to Karachi, from Dublin to Dubai, and Johannesburg to Mexico City. The neoliberal restructuring of the world economy is bringing down wages and causing unemployment, migration, and poverty all around the world.
In that light, we wish to remind you that we have been a proud part of the New York May 1 Coalition for five years. From 2005, 2006 and to the present time we have organized with workers and immigrants in New York City to defend our rights.
Brothers and sisters, stand with the workers, not the bosses. Unite together with immigrants and all workers. Do not turn your backs on our undocumented brothers and sisters in the working class. Join the May 1 Coalition at Union Square. Oppose the Schumer-Graham Bill. In unity there is strength!
Shahid Comrade
Secretary General (917) 280-0840
Dr. Mohammed Shafique
President (718) 343-1653
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