Marcos in Tijuana Speaks a Little English

"Everybody talks about how many millions of Mexicans made it into the United States," writes Al Giordano. "Baja California, on the Mexican side of the border, is where millions who were kicked out or turned back ended up."

Subcomandante Marcos has arrived at perhaps the most eagerly anticipated stop on his tour of the Mexican republic: the famous border city of Tijuana, Baja California. There, he held his first meeting with Other Campaign adherents from "the Other Side" - Mexican immigrants and their decedents in the United States.

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2199.html

Giordano reports from Tijuana:

"How do Mexicans in the United States endure the heaps of hardship and discrimination upon them? The truth is that many had plenty of practice before arriving: they were already treated badly before they crossed over.

"The perverted irony in which the native peoples of América are classified as outsiders has permeated the Other Campaign meetings of recent days here. Subcomandante Marcos, in his role as Delegate Zero, heard from Baja Californians on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, he held a euphoric meeting with Mexicans and Chicanos from 'the Other Side' who traveled down from Los Angeles and other parts of the United States to take their place in the Other Campaign. On Wednesday, he heard twice (because sweatshop workers slave in shifts) from maquila workers who staff the factories of US, Japanese and other foreign electronics, food product and other companies on the Mexican side of the border that exploit cheap labor and regulatory impunity."

Giordano continues:

"Prior to Thursday's meeting with those from the Other Side, none of the dozens of Other Media reporters or militants in political organizations that travel with the Other Campaign caravan knew what to expect. Would the vices of gringo-style "activism" where talkers talk, sectors compete in a hierarchy of victimization, and more energy is often devoted to telling others what they can't do or say than helping each other do what they can, come to blows with the 'listen first' doctrine of the Other Campaign in Mexico? Such fears turned out to be unfounded. The Raza from the Other Side, much like the adherents from Tijuana and the Mexican side of the border, turned out to be among the best organized, and better listeners to each others' diverse testimonies, that have been seen and heard along most of the Other Campaign trail to date. The events in Tijuana, in fact, may mark a new model for local organizing of the struggle against the capitalist system that the Other Campaign foments. Other political movements in the United States have a lot to learn by listening to them, as occurred here on Thursday."

Read the full report in The Narco News Bulletin, and stay tuned as more reports continue to come in from the border:

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2199.html

From somewhere in a country called América,

Dan Feder
Managing Editor
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com

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