Occupy Wall Street Movement Must Unequivocally Reject Antisemitism

Written by Jessica Acee

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has a unique opportunity to stamp out antisemitism every chance it gets.

A fantastic op-ed was recently published calling out the OWS opponents who are focused, not on countering antisemitism, but on using incidents of it as tools to divide the movement.  The piece, by MJ Rosenberg, which ran in the Jewish Journal and Al Jazeera English, details how unchallenged antisemitism has undermined the strengths of popular movements for economic and social justice.

People with anti-Semitic messages have been seen at OWS protests, and OWS participants have responded by spreading the word for others to stay away from them, or better yet, make them feel unwelcome.  The… Read more

Immigration

Cross-Post: Immigration Officer Forwards Racially Charged Email to Muslim-American Lawyer

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Published by the Great Falls Tribune on October 8th 2011. By John S. Adams.

HELENA — Shahid Haque-Hausrath sat down at his computer on the morning of Sept. 28 and, as he does at the start of most work days, began reading his email.

In his inbox that morning was an email from the state’s top U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, Bruce Norum.

Haque-Hausrath is an immigration attorney who often deals with ICE on immigration and deportation cases, so he wasn’t necessarily surprised to see an email from Norum, the supervisory detention and deportation officer for Montana.

Haque-Hausrath said he was somewhat perplexed by the email’s subject line: “FW:… Read more

Politics

Cross-Post: Judge Finds Manipulation in Recall Vote in Arizona

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Published by the New York Times on Oct. 8, 2011. By

MESA, Ariz. — At first glance, it had the makings of a spirited election: the leader of Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigration facing off at the polls with an immigrant from Mexico who believed that the state had gone too far.

But the immigrant, Olivia Cortes, a retiree who filed papers in July to challenge the State Senate president, Russell Pearce, disappeared from the political scene last week just as quickly as she had appeared. Ms. Cortes’s candidacy for a legislative district in

… Read more

Tancredo Attends Rally in Support of Russell Pearce Tonight

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Tom Tancredo is amongst the nativist speakers attending the “Support Russell Pearce Rally” in Mesa, AZ. Pearce faces a recall election in November. Tancredo and Pearce are both intricate members of the John Tanton Network. Tancredo founded the House Immigration Reform Caucus (IRC) which works closely with other anti-immigrant groups from within the Network to pass anti-immigrant laws at the national level. Pearce is one of the founding members of State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) a coalition of legislators who work closely with other Tanton Network groups to get anti-immigrant legislation passed at the state level. Another speaker, Ted Hayes was a major player in the defunct Tanton Network front… Read more

The $270,000 Question: How Long can Progressives for Immigration Reform Survive on Life Support?

Written by Rebecca Poswolsky

After the dismal, racially homogenous turnout at its recent conference, with the wildly erratic appearance of content on their blog, and without any real momentum or interest behind or in seemingly any of their work, the time has come to pose the following question—is Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR) finally, like so many Tanton Network front groups from the past, sinking into a demise of banal irrelevance and ineffectuality?

Unequivocally, we say, “yes.”

Last week, PFIR – anti-immigrant cohort of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) – held its 2nd National Conference on “Immigration, Conservation and the Environment,” which sucked-in a paltry twenty-five or so attendees. Compare this to PFIR’s conference… Read more

How International Rescue Community’s New Roots Program is Empowering Immigrant Communities

Written by Guest Blogger

by Lindsey George

A recent New York Times article, “When the Uprooted Put Down Roots,” discusses the success of New Roots, a nationwide program launched by the International Rescue Community (IRC) that helps immigrants and refugees establish community gardens, farmers’ markets, food pantries, and farm-based businesses.

The program also provides refugees with training and skills such as soil and irrigation techniques.  These skills have enabled many of the immigrants and refugees in communities across the country make the leap from community gardens to independent farms, providing necessary support for themselves and their families, as they continue to establish their own roots in this country.

When this IRC program was created, it was… Read more

The UC Irvine 11: District Attorney Attacks Free Speech Rights of Students Nationwide

Written by Catharine Debelle

Free speech rights lost a decisive battle in California when ten out of eleven students were convicted for conspiring to disrupt an event held by UC Irvine that featured Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren in February 2010.

The students were charged with misdemeanor counts of conspiring to disrupt and disrupting the event. All of the students acted non-violently, only using the power of their voices to interrupt him. The students face fines, three years of temporary probation, and over fifty hours of community service.

Frighteningly, this case appears to set an imposing precedent for curbing student activism. If students are to face criminal charges whenever they choose to voice their personal beliefs on any issues, particularly… Read more

National Hispanic Media Coalition to Hold Burbank, CA Protest Tomorrow

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Call to Action: Take John and Ken Off the Air On Thursday, October 13th the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) will be taking its Take John and Ken Off the Air campaign to the next level by holding a protest outside of the KFI radio station at 11am. The demonstration will be held at 3400 W. Olive St. Burbank, CA 91505, and a press conference will be held during the demonstration at approximately 11:30AM.

So why is the NHMC conducting this campaign?

The campaigns website states, “For years John and Ken have terrorized Los Angeles’ Latino, Asian American and African American communities, creating an atmosphere of hate and intolerance and legitimizing hateful attitudes, discrimination, and… Read more

Unmasked: Rick Perry, Racism, and the Anti-Immigrant States’ Rights Movement

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

With a single quick-lips shot to his right foot, Rick Perry wounded his presidential ambitions, confounded his conservative base, and – most significantly – unmasked once again the racism of the anti-immigrant, states’ rights movement.

Defending his support of in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants during the Tampa tea party debate last month, Perry pitched his own mantra to an audience and a movement wedded only to the Jim Crow version of states’ rights—the version aimed at keeping immigrants and people of color out of voting booths and, ideally, out of the country. Alabama, “Yes!”—states have the right and obligation to kick out and keep out undesired immigrants. Texas, “No!”—states do… Read more

Support Occupy Wall Street!

Written by Stephen Piggott

Imagine2050 pledges support for the Occupy Wall Street Protests around the country. Over the past few weeks the “Occupy Wall Street” protests have grown tremendously. According reports, over 1,000 cities across the country are holding similar protests. With this in mind, Imagine2050 has pledged to support the protesters by sending care packages to help them sustain this effort for as long as possible.

Imagine2050 has chosen four cities, New York, Chicago, Seattle and Atlanta, to which we will be sending care packages. The packages will include items such as gloves, hand warmers, coffee, chocolate and hats. Bigger items such as sleeping bags are also badly needed in New York.

We are also calling… Read more