Timeless Thought, Reflections on ‘Between 2 Worlds’

Written by George Garza

Recently in San Antonio, I took part in hosting a film screening of Jose Jaramillo’s “Between 2 Worlds”, a documentary that takes a look at the Gregorian and Mayan calendars. This screening was part of a new project (Culture Consumers) that presents films as conversation starters to stimulate dialogue in the local community with some relevance to things happening in our homes, neighborhoods, city, country, planet, universe, and within our selves.

The screening itself took place on Monday, July 25, a day observed by some around the globe as the Day Out of Time, a notion proposed by the late Jose Arguelles. According to Arguelles, July 26 should be the beginning… Read more

Your Saturday Immigration Rundown: 08.13.2011

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Well, let’s get right to it. Here’s a compilation of some important stories we were lucky enough to come across this week. As always, Twitter handles for authors and organizations are included when available, and be sure to give us a follow @Imagine2050. Enjoy!

  • First off, a huge thanks to the folks over at Ciudando Informado , for naming us their “featured Twitter account.” Here’s their Twitter handle: @CiudadanoInform. Be sure to give them a follow.
  • “Mexico says immigration outflow drops to ‘almost nothing’,” Washington Post via AP. > click here
  • “Bronx Community College student granted another year in the United States — because judge is

… Read more

PFIR Policy Brief

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Anti-immigrant group Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR) published a new Policy Brief this week, “The Real Unemployment.” The report attempts to blame immigrants for the unemployment rates currently seen in the United States.

Dispatches from Georgia: Teaming Up with Labor

Written by Guest Blogger

A delegation of students and activists were in Atlanta for a week to document efforts to resist anti-immigrant law H.B. 87. The delegation members will be sharing first-hand accounts of their experiences with dispatches. Visit Imagine 2050 regularly for more Dispatches from Georgia.

By: Carla Nicol Argueta

“How can I help?” is the question Ben Speight, of the Teamsters Local 728 , asks organizers and organizations working for immigrant rights in Atlanta. Apart from spreading awareness and building support for immigrants in Atlanta, Speight has offered his vehicle after work hours to help organizers in whatever way possible. With the recent enactment of the anti-immigrant legislation HB 87 in Atlanta, new coalitions have been… Read more

Big Time Bigots Come Out to Defend AZ Senator

Written by Jill Garvey

With a vote to recall Arizona State Russell Pearce just around the corner, Pearce’s powerful friends are coming out of the woodwork to try to keep him in office.

FAIR Release Mid-2011 Look at Immigration Policy

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

The anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) released its Mid-2011 Look at Immigration Policy earlier this week. The report details many facts and figures that the anti-immigrant groups like to discuss such as the number of undocumented immigrants residing the US as well as the alleged cost of undocumented immigrants. The report also states where anti-immigrant legislation has passed in the first half of 2011.

#EPICFAIL: Anti-Immigrant Group NCFIRE Stages “MASSIVE” Protest in Greenville

Written by Brian Schultz

North Carolina probably doesn’t need any help maintaining its nativist lobby.

Already, it accommodates two of the most influential anti-immigrant grassroots initiatives: NC Listen, a state contact for the notorious Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR); and Americans for Legal Immigration Reform PAC (ALIPAC), a group that flaunts its status as the “third largest” restrictionist group in the US, which was founded by the obsessive gay-basher William Gheen. Congress-people from North Carolina still produce and support voluminous xenophobic legislation—for some it even accounts for almost 10% of their total legislative output.

And all the while, North Carolinians are voicing their opposition to frivolous and divisive politics. It is in this context… Read more

Restoring Justice in the Desert: the Growing Movement to Recall a Bigot

Written by Tiffany Ma

It goes without saying that some Arizona citizens are fed up with Russell Pearce’s “leadership.”

His critics believe that the State of Arizona is buried under political issues that need swift attending to – budget and water crises, job losses, foreclosures, public education funding. In their minds, however, all Pearce seems interested in is the legal well-being of the infamous anti-immigrant profiling bill SB 1070, banning birthright citizenship outright, and House Bill 2281, which prevents students from studying ethnic cultures and history.

Instead of resorting to more tradition methods of protest, Arizona’s communities have taken an unprecedented step to rid themselves of the destructive lawmaker.

Why is CIS so Scared of Jose Antonio Vargas?

Written by Stephen Piggott

In June of this year, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas caused a major stir when he announced to the world that he was an undocumented immigrant in his affecting New York Times article, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.”

In the two months since the article was published, Vargas and the Define American campaign have been the talk of the immigrant debate in the United States. Vargas has been featured on or in dozens of media outlets, telling his fascinating story, promoting his campaign, which he co-founded, and calling for comprehensive, humane immigration reform.

Unsurprisingly, Vargas has received a great deal of backlash, most notably from the… Read more

Dispatches from Georgia: Hungry for Justice

Written by Guest Blogger

by Carla Nicol Argueta

A delegation of students and activists were in Atlanta for a week to document efforts to resist anti-immigrant law H.B. 87. The delegation members will be sharing first-hand accounts of their experiences with dispatches. Visit Imagine 2050 regularly for more Dispatches from Georgia.

Salvador Zamora and Martin Altamirano sat in a low-ceiling basement with part of the Georgia Delegation in order to share their story of resistance. I quickly learned from these soft-spoken men that they had begun a hunger strike in response to the treatment of immigrants in Georgia. Zamora and Altamirano started their hunger strike on July 1, the day HB87 was enacted—a bill that would drive thousands… Read more