11/21 Day Laborers March

This is a breath of fresh air. Somebody has to highlight the efforts of day laborers and their input! Their jobs are in constant threat by protectionist measures and organized labor movements trying to portray immigrants as dangerous. Many of them are NAFTA/WTO supporters, knowing that free trade means freer borders and higher wages. I personally met a few who have upgraded their skills and are now successful in a trade of their own.

while agreeing with the first part of your comment, about the importance of hearing the day laborers opinions, i have to differ with your conclusions. obviously there is going to be a variety of opinions amongst various workers, as there is certainly not one homogeneous perspective. however, volunteering with the day laborer program, most of the workers that i have spoken with were admmently against NAFTA, FTAA, and other free trade policies. neo-liberal free trade agreements have had a devastating effect on Mexico, from destruction of the environment through violation of local environmental regulations to union busting in maquiladoras located just south of the Mexico/U.S. border. that free trade in anyway opens the borders for people to migrate is completely false. in fact, in order to retain a "captive audience" to staff the sweatshops, borders have become increasingly militarized. crossing northward, to attempt to make an even remotely reasonable wage, people face greater dangers than ever. not to mention that following 9/11, all immigrants face the most escalated levels of repression. this has forced many to reconsider travelling home for the holidays, as the possibility of returning seems quite slim. no, for the most part, all of the day laborers with whom i have had the opportunity to discuss these issues are accutely aware of who benefits most from "free" trade- and it most certainly isn't them...
to the argument that "at least the u.s. factories offer a possibility of employment to those who might otherwise have none"...it is treaties such as NAFTA that enable multinational corporations to force small farmers (the most common inhabitance of rural latin america) off of their land, and therefore into the cities to compete for miniscule wages and inhumane working conditions...
also, to your comment about laborers obtaining skills, many of the people that i have met have considerable skills, unfortunately discrimination in this country often prevents them from having the opportunity to use them...

I would also add that while NAFTA/FTAA make the borders less significant for corporations, the US-Mexico border is still one of the most militarized places on the earth. Every Mexican knows the horror stories of INS: beatings, rape, murder. NAFTA and FTAA do not release border restrictions for those most impacted by the negative effects.

Day laborers ? What in hell is a day laborer. You guys out there have been turned into such mush brained disconnected facsimiles of human beings by the years of believing in all the hallucinatory shit that went on there in the 60's.
Where I live there are thousands of migrant workers who are to busy working to spend time being taken care of by a bunch of nazi sympathizers. The whole idea of being a migrant worker is that you migrate to where the work is. But not out there. Out there It seems there are thousands of migrant workers who've been drawn into your wanting your cake and eating it to. Why do they have to look for work if you guys are all fretting over them and taking care of all their needs. Marching and demanding jobs. Who ever heard of such ridiculous shit. They dont want jobs there. They want nearly witted bleeding hearts to fall all over them.
Its not just this news board and the people on it who are full of shit. Its the whole god damn city and state there.
In forty years of knowing thousands of people in the lowest economic groups. Ive never once seen one of them point at someone or something else as the source of their economic condition. They go get a job where the jobs are. They'd eat dirt before they'd yell into the wind for someone to give them a handout. Where are these yelling into the wind jobs supposed to come from ? Jobs fall out of the sky in california ? The ignorance runs deep and wide in that area of the country. Out here in the real god damned world people make their lives. They dont get anything handed to them. So who pays for these out of the sky jobs ? Who is it whose supposed to create these fantasy jobs ? Where does a man get off demanding others to create and give him a job where there is none ? Whose money ? Whose business ?
On friday and saturday nights here the pride and success of migrant workers shows as they dress in their finest clothes and come to town to line up at the pay phones to call home and arrange to send money back. In winter when the jobs end they move on. I cant imagine any of these proud smart hard working men demanding anything from anyone. Wonderful people who come into this area to work. We here have all learned to enjoy their different ways. New holidays and foods and music. New ideas and perceptions and beliefs. Wonderful peaceful people.
You all have created a nightmare out there that I'm glad could not get a foot hold here. We have wonderful hospitals and treatments for social retards like you all here. Better yet we laugh off and ignore morons who think anyone owes them anything simply because they carry a stupid placard saying something ignorant.
Where is out here you might ask ? Well its god damned AMERICA thats where. Anywhere outside the borders of that now obviously stack of mentally challenged idiots you call california. Moreso San Fran.
Why didnt afghanistan decide to crash planes into Haight/Asbury ? Why didnt they target you bunch of 1/10th wits ? Why didnt they choose planes full of you guys ? I'd be in favor of any plan for those inbred talibosamalqadians to govern your city and state. If it would make them stop attacking the rest of us here in the US. No loss there. Earthquakes, mud slides, wildfires, brown outs, race riots, SF indymedia, haight asbury, anti self defensers, michael jackson. America could cut her losses and not lose a thing.

well sir, of all the places the terrorists would crash planes into SF the Haight/Ashbury area would probably be one of them. ain't no day laborers there, ain't too many people of color either. and since day laborers or people of color didn't start this so-called "war", and are instead looking for work and trying to survive (like our brothers and sisters in the middle-east are because of white men's interests and 'wars'), don't expect terrorists to ever attack places like bayview or the mission.

the rest of AMERICA where you seem to live in, unfortunately, yet doesn't get it :(

You are right. We dont get it. These "day laborers" of which you speak. Thousands by the hundreds all around me. Working smiling laughing living working in all near communities. Marrying our men and women. At peace in our streets. Vital in our communities and buryed in our graveyards. Shout into the air in your community. For things that do not belong to them. Here the "day laborers" as you call them. Are our brothers and sisters. They are not family where you live. We dont get it.