What books would you recommend for people who are pissed at illegal immigration?

[EFerrari]

Pretending for a minute that it's not about being scared of brown people (which happens sometimes) but instead, of really not understanding the dynamics, what would you recommend?

My picks would be:

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown

A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn

Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins

Perpetual War, Gore Vidal

Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor, John Bowe

(There's another book whose title/author I can't remember but it is organized into chapters detailing US interventions for profit beginning with Hawaii. It may have been one of my divorce casualties.)

[gateley]

1. What would I learn from reading these books? nt

[EFerrari]

6. Maybe all the other angles besides the ones we're fed in the corporate media.

:)

[gateley]

18. I was hoping you could kind of tell me the

reality of it all - so I wouldn't have to read them. You could be my surrogate, as it were. :7

[EFerrari]

22. This is my summary, by Henry Gibson

"Lysol Disinfectant

The smells of summer
ain't all so sweet;
There's mildew in showers,
hot, tired feet,
Smells in the household
from cellar to attic,
Smells pop up everywhere--
Sure gets dramatic!
You can cover 'em up
with some perfumey spray,
But when Lysol Spray sprays 'em,
them smells go away.



lol

[gateley]

24. Well at least I know who Henry Gibson is, even if I don't understand

much about the immigration issue.

[EFerrari]

26. My real summary is that the same folks who brought you

the graphic in your sig line brought you illegal immigration.

We've brought "democracy" to a LOT of Latin American countries and we're not done yet. :(

[John Q. Citizen]

2. The Grapes of Wrath.

[EFerrari]

16. I wonder if people could generalize from "Americans" to Americans.

:shrug:

[John Q. Citizen]

25. I think the fact that it's a tale of economic displacement and that there was so much prejudice

directed against our fellow "Americans" should be an eye opener. The hate directed toward the poor anglo newcomers was just as strong as anything I've seen directed toward Latinos, and it might challenge people to question concerning the source of that hatred.

[hunter]

46. Somehow people never think of themselves as Okies in California.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html

The door got slammed in their faces too.

[nichomachus]

3. The first illegal immigrants were the Pilgrims

They had permission to settle in Virginia, but disobeyed and settled in MA instead -- but not before landing on Cape Cod and stealing the natives' supply of corn for the winter.

So, the Pilgrims were not only illegal immigrants, but thieves.

After that, it's been all downhill.

[Ptah]

4. The Milagro Beanfield War. n/t

[EFerrari]

5. Myself, I just want to recruit El Brazo Onofre.

lol

[saltpoint]

7. That looks like an unassailable list if you ask me.

Which is not at all suprising, given the quality of the mind who posted it.

I am strongly on board with 3 of those especially -- the Vidal, the Zinn, and the Brown. If someone can't read BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE and understand what goes on when a heavily militarized culture subverts a native people, then that person is either cretinous or cruel, or both.

One option for the international afficionado -- Joan Didion's SALVADOR.

I really like this post.

Recommended.

[EFerrari]

8. I once had the pleasure of having my family over for Sunday dinner

and had forgotten that Salvador was on a coffee table -- we were reading it. Everyone took a surreptitious turn, trying to stay light at the same time. They're all from El Salvador. We couldn't even talk about it.

[saltpoint]

9. It is a gut-wrencher, no question. And hells bells, but who better than

Joan Didion to write the account?

A stunning book.

[XemaSab]

10. A book about Christopher Columbus

written for third graders. :P

[BlooInBloo]

11. Juevos verdes con jamon.

http://www.amazon.com/Huevos-verdes-con-jam%C3%B3n-Seuss/dp/1880507013/ref=cm_lmf_tit_12

I win.

[BlooInBloo]

13. Or if you want to be serious (pooh): Guns, Germs, and Steel.

[EFerrari]

15. I've never heard of that title. Thanks!

:)

[BlooInBloo]

17. omg - seriously? It's about the best answer to "how the fuck did this all happen?" I've seen...

http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393061310/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212037359&sr=8-1


EDIT: Well, under *one* reading of the question. For an answer to another reading of the question, one needs to go to Nietszche, Hegel, and a few others. But that's getting a little bit out of hand, scope-wise.

[EFerrari]

20. Seriously, I never have. That's why God gave us other people.

So we can ask. lol :)

[BlooInBloo]

21. :) I just like sounding like a valley-girl. Don't mind me.

[hunter]

49. Wow. Of course!

But I think people who can call their brothers and sisters "illegal aliens" without even a twinge of shame are going to go "huh?"

[TechBear_Seattle]

12. I was going to say the Gospels, but your list is nice too. n/t

[EFerrari]

19. Hey, TechBear. I found this today.

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=Bobby+sherman&n=21&ei=utf-8&js=1&fr=yfp-t-501-s&fr2=tab-web&tnr=20&vid=1297440025

lol

[Mountainman]

14. The Grapes of Wrath, only instead of Okies use illegals

The things said about the Okies in and around Bakersfield in the 30's are word for word what I read here on DU about the illegals. The illegals are doing the same work the Okies did and get treated just the same.

It is so easy to remove the humanness of people and scapegoat them yet they are needed but not needed to be seen.

[EFerrari]

23. That's two votes for GoW. Thank you, Mountainman. n/t

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

27. Look for one written by expert Lou Dobbs

:hide:














You know I'm kidding... right?

[mmonk]

28. Does the RNC or Lou Dobbs have a bookclub?

[ColbertWatcher]

29. Michael Shermer's...

...http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Why-People-Believe-Weird-Things/Michael-Shermer/e/9780805070897/?itm=3">Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time

[H2O Man]

30. Not a book,

but I's recommend the Southern Poverty Law Center's publications.

[EFerrari]

31. Great suggestion. I need to do more reading there.

(And where is our friend DUer AnitaGarcia lately?)

[Zavulon]

32. I'm pissed about illegals, and it has nothing to do with race or nationality.

I guarantee you that no book will change my mind on this issue, especially those which claim that people who don't coddle illegals are racists.

[EFerrari]

36. Then, I'm taking you right off the list.

:)

[Zavulon]

39. Many thanks for your attention towards this matter.

;)

[mrreowwr_kittty]

41. I'm pissed about corporations engaging in cheap labor arbitrage

I put the blame where it belongs, on the wealthy and powerful people who created the situation. They are laughing all the way to the bank watching working saps scapegoat other working saps.

[hunter]

56. Damn, sometimes I wish we could deport bigoted U.S. citizens.

Maybe we could send them to Greenland when the glaciers melt.

[proud2BlibKansan]

73. Refusing to be educated

How sad.

[T Monk]

33. it may have been a book but Babel the film should be watched by all people

[Cleita]

35. That was a great film.

I have it on DVD and watch it occasionally to remind myself about what is going on within our borders.

[EFerrari]

38. Can you say why?

:)

[T Monk]

45. it tells us clearly what consequences unintended or otherwise are too great for a nation to bear

[Cleita]

34. "Lines and Shadows" by Joseph Wambaugh.

He writes about the border patrol and their job apprehending the illegal aliens and the sympathy some of them feel for them. I don't know if it's still in print but it pretty much sums up America's misguided policy about our south of the border neighbors. I don't know if there are any in print but I'm sure most libraries would have a copy.

Also, anything by Noam Chomsky that he writes on our policy of hegemony in Latin America at large, which has led to this problem today.

[EFerrari]

37. Cleita: do you remember the title of that book that ran down

eight or so instances of US "interventions" in other countries? The first chapter was about Hawaii. I think that book has left my building and can't for the life of me remember the title or the author. It was out about four years ago.

[Cleita]

52. Sorry, I don't. n/t

[EFerrari]

66. It's Overthrow. A short, dense account of about 8 "interventions".

Enough to suggest a pattern and a must read. countryjake posted the title.

[Cleita]

53. Sorry, I don't. n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

69. Lines and Shadows available on Bookmooch

Someone here at DU recommended Bookmooch a while back...it's been a great source of books for me...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

40. The Sneetches and Other Stories.

by Dr. Seuss.

[EFerrari]

42. I was too poor to have children's books. What the hell is a Sneetch?

lol

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

44. Children's primer on racial bigotry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sneetches_and_Other_Stories

[EFerrari]

47. Wow. I have to read that.

Better late than never. :)

[eleny]

50. But you're not too old to read them!

I enjoy getting an armload of kids books at the library every once in a while.

I never read Seuss before I was in my 50s. Browsing the kids section and picking up books here and there is great.

Only problem is that the chairs in there are too small for my butt! :D

[EFerrari]

54. LOL! I've read the English canon exactly backwards.

Like I do most things. :)

[proud2BlibKansan]

74. Another great Dr Seuss

This book is about two different races that live on opposite sides of a brick wall. Why is this wall seperating the two? Because the Yooks and the Zooks are fighting about what side they eat their bread on. The Yooks ate their bread with the butter side up, and the Zooks ate their bread with the butter side down. But one day a very mean Zook by the name of Van Itch slung his sling shot at a Yook's Snickle-Berry-Switch. So the Yook that was on patrol went back to Cheif Yookeroo to get a improved weapon and a fancier suit to go with it. The next day he went back to the wall and Van Itch was there too. He had a better weapon and a better suit too. So Grandpa Yook went crying back to the Cheif and again he got improved. The story keeps going in the same order until they come back to the wall with the same weapons and the same suit on. The last trip they each come back to the wall with an extremely dangerous Big-Boy Boomeroo! What will happen next?
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210462/buttersum.html

[datasuspect]

43. the houghton mifflin 3rd grade reader

get them up to par before they graduate to something like spider man.

[EFerrari]

48. Last time I saw one of those, everyone was white and straight.

Is that still true? :evilgrin:

[slackmaster]

51. My personal favorite

[eleny]

55. P.S. Here's a site that lists the U.S. interventions

Maybe they have book lists somewhere, too.

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/project.jsp?project=us_interventions_project

Edited to change the url. The first web page I posted seems a little squirrelly at second glance.

[EFerrari]

67. Thank you, eleny.

:hi:

[countryjake]

57. "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq"

by Stephen Kinzer

(I haven't read this, but I think it may be the one you can't recall. Kinzer was highlighted on Democracy Now! when the book came out a couple years ago.)

[KamaAina]

62. Mahalo (thank you)! A nice excerpt from it is here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5325069

America’s long "regime change" century dawned in 1893 with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. This was a tentative, awkward piece of work, a cultural tragedy staged as comic opera. It was not a military operation, but without the landing of American troops, it probably would not have succeeded. The president of the United States approved of it, but soon after it happened, a new president took office and denounced it. Americans were already divided over whether it is a good idea to depose foreign regimes.

The overthrow of Hawaii’s queen reignited a political debate that had first flared during the Mexican War half a century before. That debate, which in essence is about what role the United States should play in the world, rages to this day. It burst back onto the front pages after the invasion of Iraq.

No grand vision of American power lay behind the Hawaiian revolution of 1893. Just the opposite was true of the Spanish-American War, which broke out five years later. This was actually two wars, one in which the United States came to the aid of patriots fighting against Spanish colonialism, and then a second in which it repressed those patriots to assure that their newly liberated nations would be American protectorates rather than truly independent. A radically new idea of America, much more globally ambitious than any earlier one, emerged from these conflicts. They marked the beginning of an era in which the United States has assumed the right to intervene anywhere in the world, not simply by influencing or coercing foreign governments but also by overthrowing them.

In Hawaii and the countries that rose against Spain in 1898, American presidents tested and developed their new interventionist policy. There, however, they were reacting to circumstances created by others. The first time a president acted on his own to depose a foreign leader was in 1909, when William Howard Taft ordered the overthrow of Nicaraguan president José Santos Zelaya. Taft claimed he was acting to protect American security and promote democratic principles. His true aim was to defend the right of American companies to operate as they wished in Nicaragua. In a larger sense, he was asserting the right of the United States to impose its preferred form of stability on foreign countries.

(much more at link)

Extra factoid for Hawaiian history buffs: The annexation of Hawai'i to the U.S. took place in 1898 -- but the Organic Act creating the Territory of Hawaii didn't take effect until June 1900. One wonders what chicanery (land thefts, etc.) might have taken place during that interregnum.

[countryjake]

70. And thank you for the excerpt!

It's been on my list of books I should read but now will move it closer to the top.

[EFerrari]

64. That's the title I couldn't remember!

Thank you!

:woohoo:

[countryjake]

58. To pull up some compassion, try "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry...

It's a massively moving book, that brings an understanding of the reasons behind the need for migration and puts human faces on those desperately seeking a means of survival. The book is not about the USA, but addresses the same sort of struggles and the underlying system of "labor for sale". As I read this, I was continually making comparisons to the situation we have today in the Americas and how so many still insist on taking "human" out of "rights".

[Bluebear]

59. "1001 More Important Things To Worry About"

[McHatin]

60. I still fail to understand

how it is that past US foreign policy has lead directly to illegal immigration of today. I guess you think that US policy destroyed democracy in Latin America, therefore they are now run by corrupt authoritarian regimes that does the US bidding and which then leads people there to flock here since they live in horrible conditions.

However, I'm a cynic.

Whether the US got involved or not has nothing to do with it I think. Let's say the US had left all those Latin American countries alone, most still wouldn't have become democracies, and those that did would not necessarily have great economies. People would still flock to the US because of proximity and ease of entry for a better wage and potentially better life. People move to where the opportunities are.

Maybe you're saying the US is only as rich as it is because of economic exploitation of Latin America.

But the vast majority of US wealth is not from overseas possessions or extractions of the past, it is in fact from businesses here at home.

Why is it that tons of immigrant groups from Europe moved here during the 1800s? Accessibility and opportunity.

You're correct that illegal immigration is somewhat caused by the poor conditions of other countries, but to say that these countries would be just great if it had not been for US interference is quite a leap to make. As it is, I believe mass illegal immigration from places such as Mexico actually has a detrimental effect on progressive causes in Mexico itself.

Assuming you are correct, that the solution to stopping illegal immigration is improving other countries, the best thing the US could do to effect that without being imposing on other countries is stopping illegal immigration. Illegal immigration only helps big business and foreign governments who do not want their own people to demand change but would rather they emigrate.

Why do you think Bush and big business is for illegal immigration? At least answer that for me.

[EFerrari]

63. Actually, socialism took hold in Latin America very early on

because it dovetailed very well with Native American value systems -- which tended to value extended families and community in the first place. We went in and killed it where ever it cropped up so Chiquita and Coca Cola and Standard Oil could do business -- those kinds of guys.

The solution is not improving other countries -- the US has always sucked at that. It's being supportive of democracy in other countries. Or at least, not actively tanking it.

If you really don't know the history of US "intervention" in Latin America, you might want to check out the book list.

[Mimosa]

71. McHatin, good commentary

This is on the money:

"You're correct that illegal immigration is somewhat caused by the poor conditions of other countries, but to say that these countries would be just great if it had not been for US interference is quite a leap to make. As it is, I believe mass illegal immigration from places such as Mexico actually has a detrimental effect on progressive causes in Mexico itself.

Assuming you are correct, that the solution to stopping illegal immigration is improving other countries, the best thing the US could do to effect that without being imposing on other countries is stopping illegal immigration. Illegal immigration only helps big business and foreign governments who do not want their own people to demand change but would rather they emigrate.

Why do you think Bush and big business is for illegal immigration? At least answer that for me."

Recent illegal immigration has been more bad for America than good and in my Native American opinion this has little or nothing to do with skin colours, but basic economics.

[EFerrari]

75. Undocumented workers contribute a net gain to our economy. n/t

[blondeatlast]

61. The H********ns in America; aka my family tree. We Irish were hardly welcomed with open arms

and I frequently find myself substituting Irish for Mexican and getting confused about the time period.

[likesmountains 52]

65. Tortilla Curtain...

[maui9002]

68. If you're really interested in learning about the subject

A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America
by Aristide R. Zolberg <http://www.amazon.com/Nation-Design-Immigration-Fashioning-Foundation/dp/0674022181/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212117990&sr=1-28>

[struggle4progress]

72. I think a bunch of good stuff can be pulled directly from the internet tubes

The story that needs to be told isn't that complicated. Anyone can understand the basic outline in a few minutes, though of course a more detailed study will produce better understanding:

Just as lost American jobs are the predictable consequence of runaway factories and offshore outsourcing, immigration is the predictable consequence of the destruction of foreign economies by the free trade agreements, which undercut small farmers in Mexico and Central America. The American worker is thus squeezed both by the loss of jobs here and by the flood of desperate foreigners who must either work or starve. Employers find this arrangement beneficial, because, whether documented or undocumented, the immigrants can easily be deported and are more likely to work docilely with fewer protections and lower wages than citizens might have. The whole process is mystified by encouraging Americans to agitate against the immigrants, to form hate groups to attack them, and so on: this reduces the immigrant workers job security, making them still more likely to work at low wages in unsafe conditions -- thus further undercutting the position of all workers. Only an international perspective, that attempts to provide equal rights and living wages for workers on either side of any border, can effectively confront the economic forces in play

Here's a handful of links:

Why should the native-worker majority in the U.S. support the struggle of people who have a different skin color, perform quasi-invisible low-end jobs, and tend to speak a different language? Because, today, there's nothing as crucial to their own wellbeing!

... Racial divisionism and the existence of an underprivileged group (mostly, but not only, Latino) -- a group of second-class workers, virtual indentured servants -- corrupts the heart and clouds the mind of the U.S. working class. The native U.S. worker who views the immigrant as his rival shoots himself in the foot. The anti-immigration sentiment can only backfire on the native workers

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/huato130406.html

The main dynamic driving immigration policy in the modern era is capital's need for cheap rightless labor. The only way to keep labor cheap -- or cheaper than wages prevailing in the rest of the economy -- is to deprive workers of any legal and political rights, freedom of speech and freedom to form a union being the most dangerous rights.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/pham190807.html

Call it Juan Crow: the matrix of laws, social customs, economic institutions and symbolic systems enabling the physical and psychic isolation needed to control and exploit undocumented immigrants ...

Along with the almost daily arrests, raids and home invasions by federal, state and other authorities, newly resurgent civilian groups like the Ku Klux Klan, in addition to more than 144 new "nativist extremist" groups and 300 anti-immigrant organizations born in the past three years, mostly based in the South, are harassing immigrants as a way to grow their ranks ...

Meanwhile, a legal regime of distinctions between the rights of undocumented immigrants and citizens has emerged and is being continually refined and expanded. A 2006 Georgia law denies undocumented immigrants driver's licenses. Federal laws that allowed local and state authorities to pursue blacks under the Fugitive Slave Act appear to be the model for the Bush Administration's Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ACCESS) program, which allows states to deputize law enforcement officials to chase, detain, arrest and jail the undocumented. Georgia's lowest-paid workers, the undocumented, now occupy a separate, unequal and clandestine place that has made it increasingly difficult for them to work, rent homes or attend school ...

By keeping down wages of the undocumented and documented workforce, Juan Crow doesn't just pit undocumented Latino workers against black and white workers. It also makes possible every investor's dream of merging Third World wages with First World amenities. Promotional brochures put out by the state's Department of Economic Development, for example, tout Georgia's "below average" wages and its status as a "right to work" (nonunion) state. Georgia's infrastructure, its proximity to US markets and its incentives--nonunion labor, low wages, government subsidies, cheap land--allow the state to position itself as an attractive investment opportunity for foreign companies. While the fortunes of Ford, GM and other US companies have declined in the South, the fortunes of foreign automakers here are rising. Companies like Korean car manufacturer Kia, which plans to open a $1.2 billion plant by 2009, see in Georgia and other Southern states a new pool of cheap labor. Of the $5.7 billion of total new investment in Georgia in 2006, more than 36 percent was from international companies--companies that were also responsible for nearly half of the 24,660 jobs created by government-supported foreign ventures that year ...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080526/lovato

... workers cannot change employers under either of these guest worker programs. This situation makes them very fearful and reluctant to assert their rights. It appears quite common that they are unfamiliar with the minimal rights they have, including their right to a safe work environment. The workers I met often work on scaffolding. They told us that their employer warned them if they got hurt on the job, they would have to go home ...

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/frisch060106.html

After the free trade agreements began to have an effect on less industrialized countries -- primarily by making the goods previously produced in these agrarian parts of the world not worth producing locally because the same goods now imported into the country were cheaper -- the people living in these countries needed money. Like capitalism has always done (especially when it enters a new phase), it disrupted the lives of the small farmers in Mexico and other countries and forced them to the cities for work. Since there is not enough work in the cities in the workers' home countries, they went (and continue to go) to the US, where corporations welcome them in order to keep wages low for all workers. In the wake of this development, there are some that want to turn off the supply of workers and use the laws that forbid foreign workers from becoming citizens to create an anti-immigrant hysteria. US-born workers fall for the game, blaming undocumented workers from other countries for the fact that corporations have played a shell game on them by encouraging immigration to the North in order to keep a cheap labor source available. A larger labor pool means that even US-born workers will work for slave wages just to have a job. The free trade agreements only created freedom for the big corporations. Everyone else, especially workers on both sides of the borders, have less freedom and less security. If workers on both sides of the borders organized together for livable wage jobs, it may become more profitable for the corporations to create work in the immigrants' homelands. However, as long as immigration, not the rapacity of the corporations, is considered the problem, big business will continue to laugh at our ignorance all the way to the bank.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/jacobs220506.html

CAFTA expands NAFTA-style free trade to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica -- with the possible later addition of the Dominican Republic. CAFTA's potential impact on workers -- especially women workers -- is a cause of grave concern for many, as women make up 45 percent of the global workforce but are still 70 percent of the world's poor. Seventy-five percent of workers in the Central America live on less than $2 a day.

Under NAFTA, wages declined significantly for all Mexican workers, but women made much less than men to begin with, so poverty has increased 50 percent for women-headed households in Mexico ...

Many observers fear that CAFTA will also have a devastating impact on the 5.5 million farmers and farmworkers in the region. The agreement will eliminate tariffs on 80 percent of U.S. goods and 50 percent of U.S. agricultural products, flooding Central American markets with heavily subsidized U.S. produce. "For rural farmers CAFTA means devastation," says Krista Hansen of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. Women farmers in Central America will be particularly hard pressed to compete against U.S. market dumping, as they have less land and fewer resources in the first place ...

Rural poverty increased from 54 percent to 68 percent in Mexico after NAFTA was implemented. More than 80 percent of Mexico's extreme poor are rural. After NAFTA, 300,000 women farmers in Mexico lost their farms and their jobs. Of the women farmers left, only three percent have more than 10 hectares of land. Women's farms are usually much smaller than men's, and when land is titled, it is usually put in a man's name. This has had a severe impact on women farmers because Mexico has changed its land laws under NAFTA in the favor of individual property rights, hurting women who used to have communal rights to farm land ...

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hornaday071205.html

... The impact of exporting blue-collar jobs to the Far East on U.S. labor far overshadows the damage inflicted by the runaway shop movement and offshoring in the Americas -- and the war is far from over. The devastation wrought on the blue-collar workforce by the first wave of offshoring to the Far East foreshadows a comparable impact on the U.S. white-collar workforce as the second wave gathers momentum ...

The impact of white-collar offshoring on U.S. workers promises to be exacting; while 30 percent of the displaced workers will find new jobs and be no worse off than before they were laid off, over half will have to take pay cuts of at least 15 percent, and a fifth of them will have to bear income reductions of at least 30 percent. As in the case of blue-collar offshoring, overseas start-ups and new hires will far outnumber the export of existing jobs. With Asian wages currently at one half to one fifth those of U.S. workers, many American companies no longer bother recruiting onshore ...

At the same time that elaborate offshoring schemes have been employed to undermine labor in the U.S., a nationwide drive to establish a cheap onshore industrial army has also been launched. The initial action of this offensive is the mass employment of undocumented migrant workers inside the U.S ...

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/vogel130707.html

[EFerrari]

76. Great links to the tubes! Thank you.

:hi:

[countryjake]

77. Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives

by Peter Orner

http://www.voiceofwitness.com/orner_intro.html

~snip~

Introduction to Underground America

Permanent Anxiety


In the fall of 2005, I represented an asylum-seeker in a case before the Immigration Court in San Francisco. It was my first case since I left the law to write fiction. My client, Eduardo, was from Guatemala. In the 1980s, the Guatemalan army carried out a campaign of systematic murder against indigenous people like Eduardo. His father was killed, but Eduardo, his mother, and sister were spared death. Instead, they were held captive and terrorized for nearly a decade in the home of a paramilitary officer. It was in this house in a slum far from his native village that Eduardo and his sister grew up.
In Eduardo’s own words:

We stayed in his house. Even when the man was gone, we didn’t leave the house. We didn’t play with other children in the area. When I was about five years old, I pastured cows with my sister. Sometimes we would lose one and stay out until five or six in the evening to try and find it. If we couldn’t find it we’d tell the man, shaking with fear. He’d take out a whip and beat us, leaving our backs bloody. Or he’d use an extension cord or television antenna. When my mother tried to defend us, he would shove her and threaten her with a machete. Anytime there was a problem, that man would hit my mother and tell her he was going to torture her, quarter her. One day I asked my mother what “quarter” meant. She told me, “It’s when they remove pieces of a person’s body when they’re still alive.”

When he was fourteen, Eduardo managed to escape to Guatemala City, where, for the first time, he went to school. Seven years later, his mother and sister also escaped. It was then that his former captor made it known through his network of paramilitary contacts that he was looking for Eduardo. So, at twenty-two, Eduardo fled Guatemala, making his way north through Mexico to the U.S. border. There he swam across the Rio Grande into southwestern Texas, where he was arrested on the north bank. Eduardo requested asylum and was placed in temporary detention, a place he later said was a lot like jail. Later, with the help of lawyers and relatives, he was released and eventually made his way to California, where I took on his case.

[The Straight Story]

78. The Bible. See "Jews left Egypt for Israel" section

;)

[crickets]

79. Excellent thread. Kicked.

Too late to recommend, drat.