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Saturday, March 4th!
by joon
For the last four saturdays, from 10AM TO 2 PM, I participated into a workshop about Immigrants and refugees. Different people, immigrants or not, willing to know more about what is the reality of immigration (in the US).
That was interesting to see that the issues are the same in US or Europe. That made my presence at the workshop more meaningful to me. Because I can be anywhere, I don't want to do something more here or in France, it is everywhere. I can help anywhere, the problem will be the same!
Already in France, I was concerned and curious. I worked on a street show that I directed. That was a way for us to tell individual stories instead of talking about immigrants like if there were only one thing. There are people, often with hard and painful stories.
I always have been willing do more for those people living in my country without no clues of what to do, and how to live in France. I always have been in contact with people coming from everywhere with different status (student, refugees, undocumented). Now I am an immigrant myself. No economic reasons or war pushed me overhere. I was lucky to find a job which could make it possible to live with Adam, now my husband. I am also lucky that my homecountry is not enemy of the US. This makes immigration process easier, not totally without trouble but way more easier!
Now I live what I always suspected, what I always knew and explained to some people with racist tendancies...:
This is not easy to live your country, this is not easy to change your habits, this is not easy to live with another culture and I will never be the way people are here or somewhere else. I will never think the same way, I will never speak perfectly. I always will be different. On the papers, yes, I will be american (whenI will get the citizenship, so in few years)but you can't have been raised somewhere and switch to something else just like that. It is very difficult sometimes. And I am so lucky, to have papers, to have a good job, and to have a home. I am so lucky, I was born in a country where I had access to education, health care, and jobs.
The workshop
It is hard in some lines to write about the workshop. Basically, it helped decoding some facts.
- Differences between : immigrant, refugees, asylee
- Reasons pushing people to move: - economic, poverty, genocide, harrassment, racism...
- Why people are so scared of immigrants ... what are the reasons, are they founded?
- How can we change opinions?
- What are our responsablity?
- What is the place of the government?
The next action
The current "War of terror" has unfairly targeted all immigrants, refugees and asylees.
Between September, 2004 and may 2005, more than 150 bills about immigration and border security passed.
Now a wide-reaching anti-immigrant piece of legislation is again about to pass. It is called as Sensenbrenner bill. It does not touch only immigrants but also everyone in his liberty to help or not people.
There is a forum on Wednesday about this bill it will tell us more about it and why we need to go at the March on Saturday, March 4th
Immigration forum : Learning from the past - Struggling for the future.
on Wednesday, March 1st
SEUI local 49. 3536 SE 26th avenue -Portland or
from 7 to 9
To me, the decision made by governments in Europe, in Us or anywhere is how our world will be tomorrow. The decisions are only based on economy and financial values.
Using people and rejecting them ... making people scared of others...racism.... everything is always coming back to what values I want for my country... what worth a human being more than another?
That is my activist entry...
At the march we need different kind of people and not only people touched by immigration but also all kind of people living here because this will change our freedom
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