SWARM the minutemen and EDT Virtual Sit-In

This, the second action coordinated by SWARM [1], is an attempt to move beyond the minutemen [2] - as one group of people working against migrants and migratory movement – to a systemic logic. This logic that pervades American society [3] is canonized in Academia and institutionalized in the US border Patrol. [4]

It is logic that ‘others’ migrant people and people of color in general. [5] It marginalizes migrants; dehumanizes migrants; Subjects them to unnecessary violence and persecution. [6]

The recent and broad-based recognition and legitimization [7] of these anti-immigrant groups is rooted in a much larger ideology that underpins white American identity. [8] It is an ideology that tells its history as if it is not a history of migrants, immigrants, and indigenous peoples some of whom suffered genocide in the face of European migration. [9] This attention has also re-invigorated even more radical and racist organizations [10] Though some may portray the Minutemen as simply “backward hicks’ – they share the interests and goals of academics like Samuel Huntington [11] , the policy makers behind NAFTA [12] and the US patriot act [13], and US nationalists. [14] The rhetoric of such policies has paved the way for Nazis and White Supremacist to rise again. This Racism is systemic within the US. It goes from the mouth of a Ivy League academic to the gun of a civilian border agent. [15]

This virtual sit-in is an attempt to disrupt the modes of communication and information dissemination that facilitate racist organizing. Over the next few weeks, the California Minutemen Border Patrol Auxiliary camp out in Campo, recommencing their summer long campaign of violence against Migrant people [16]. For this we will not stand – but SIT – IN – In conjunction with protests at the Minutemen camps [17], on their virtual domain – in the names of those who have died and will die as a result of their actions. The software we are using request files from the servers of the targeted websites that are not found – files like Justice, Freedom, and the names of those who have died crossing the border [18]. In effect you will see the error message – “files not found.” The sit-in will interfere with and slowdown the servers of these various groups and individuals – much like a physical sit-in slows down the movement of people in buildings or on streets. [19] More than 78,000 people sat with us in our first action against the Minutemen. As our target grows – so will the resistance.

We have charted the movements of migrants, those who resist them [20] and those who support them [21] – across the map of North America. We have only included the lines chosen by nation-states solely as a reference - not because we feel they divide us or define us. The paths charted are only but a few of the infinite journeys traveled by the migrating world.

To join, go to: http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html

For more information, go to: http://swarmtheminutemen.com

Thank you for participating.

1. South West Action to Resist the Minutemen http://swarmtheminutemen.com/

2. Minuteman Project
http://www.minutemanhq.com/project/

3. Zogby poll: Americans fed up on illegal aliens Majority against Bush plan for workers, 81% think local police should help feds http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44154

4. The Persistence of White Privilege and Institutional Racism in US Policy - http://www.arc.org/downloads/trji010417.pdf - COMPILED BY TRANSNATIONAL RACIAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE

What is institutional Racism? -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism

5. Definitions of Othering -
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/rww03/othering.htm

6. Photos of boder vigilantes humilating migrant people by Todd Bigelow http://www.toddbigelowphotography.com/portfolio/photo_essays/vigilantes/vigilantes.html

7. San Diego Union Tribune -
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/editorial2/20050512-9999-lz1ed12bottom.html

CNN - http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/16/broken.borders/

8. "Hate or Heroism: Vigilantes on the Arizona-Mexico Border" – a report by the Border Action Network
http://www.borderaction.org/PDFs/BAN-Vigilante%20Report.pdf

9. History of World Migration - History as Migration -
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Migration-(human)

10.'Aryan Resistance' http://resist.com/

11. Samuel Huntintion -
http://www.gov.harvard.edu/Faculty/Bios/Huntington.htm

Hispanic Challenge
http://discuss.agonist.org/yabbse/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=17351

12. "Neoliberalism, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and
Migration: Their Impact on Labor Markets in North America"
http://www.alast.org/PDF/Marshall1/MT-VelascoArregui.PDF

13. ACLU reports on The USA PATRIOT Act -
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12126&c=207

14. For example, see the The Project for the New American Century -
http://www.newamericancentury.org/

15. "Nazis, racists join Minuteman Project" -
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?aid=13

The Minutemen and the Media: Mainstream news overlooks vigilante group's
ties to white supremacists - http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=19008

16. For an example of the kind of violence vigilantes in the San Diego
region engage in, see:

http://www.toddbigelowphotography.com/portfolio/photo_essays/vigilantes/search_guard.html

17. "Stop the Border Vigilantes in Campo, July 15-19th"

http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2005/07/109826.shtml

18. http://stopgatekeeper.org/English/index.html

"3,000 Migrants dead, does anyone care?" from the stopgatekeeper.org website. The current number is estimated at over 3,500 migrant people who have died.

19. "Just as the Vietnam War and the Gulf War brought thousands into the streets to disrupt the flow of normal business and governance - acting upon the physical infrastructure - future interventionist wars will be protested by the clogging or actual rupture of fiber optic cables and ISDN lines - acting upon the electronic and communications infrastructure."

http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/oecd.html

20. Websites and organizations targeted in this action are:

The Arizona Minutemen - http://www.minutemanhq.com/
California Minutemen - http://borderwatch.us/
Save Our State - http://www.saveourstate.org/
Border Patrol -
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/
NAFTA - http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org
CAFTA - http://www.ustr.gov/
Samuel Huntington, Harvard Academy of International and Area Studies -
http://www.gov.harvard.edu/Faculty/Bios/Huntington.htm

21. Websites and organizations working for human rights for migrant people which are highlighted in this action are:

Delete The Border - http://deleteTheBorder.org
Ejercito Zapatista Liberacíon Nacíonal - http://www.ezln.org
No One Is Illegal - http://solidarityAcross.org
Baldwin Park Demonstrations - coverage at http://la.indymedia.org/