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[PAST] U.S. Call to Action on December 18: a Global Day of Action Against Racism and for the Rights of Migrants, Refugees and Displaced People

Immigration Injustice on a Global Level Requires a Global Response
Stand up with the Rest of the World
On December 18th, 2011 for a Global Day of Action Against Racism and for the Rights of Migrants, Refugees and Displaced People


In the US, we see increased enforcement and targeting of immigrant communities given priority over just solutions. We have witnessed 1 million people deported under the Obama administration, increased criminalization of immigrant families with federal programs like the misnamed “Secure Communities” and the spread of harsh anti-immigrant state legislation. We see the militarization of the border and the inability of Congress to pass even something as basic as the DREAM Act. All the while, the US plays a main role in creating the roots of migration - exploiting the people of the global south through unjust trade policies, supporting repressive regimes and military conflict – all factors in preventing people from fulfilling their right to work and live in their home territory.

But this struggle is much bigger than our borders. Other countries of the global north also continue to exploit the resources and people of the global south, while increasing anti-immigrant measures. In fact, many countries in Europe are borrowing anti-immigrant strategies from the US and viceversa. Like the skyrocketing deportations and Secure Communities, other countries have heightened enforcement, increased deportations and combined the roles of immigration and police. Like the US’s militarization of the border, other countries enact policies to make it harder for migrants to enter, thus leaving many people to die en route. At the same time, European countries and the U.S. exploit migrant labor through temporary or guest worker programs, within a broader "managed migration" policy framework.

This means that states, economic powers and institutions, and political structures, disconnected from the daily lives of men and women, arbitrarily impose their decisions on a global scale. This is why we must take our struggle to a global level. Join people on every continent on December 18th, International Migrants Day, to unite our voices, unite our struggles in our individual countries in order to affirm the right to migrate or not to migrate, the right to choose where we want to live, not to be displaced from our territories and the right to live with dignity wherever we are.

This dream can become reality if we are many in the struggle and we fight together.

Each country, region, city is deciding autonomously what type of event they will hold: it could be a rally to demand legalization for millions of undocumented people around the world, an event to remember the thousands who have died at the borders or in the struggle to defend their rights, a conference about freedom of circulation around the world, or simply an anti-racist party.

Visit www.globalmigrantsaction.org to learn more about the December Global Day of Action or email Sergio Reyes at info@bostonmayday.org or call 617-290-5614, or Peter Pedemonti 215-756-6445, peter@sanctuaryphiladelphia.org to learn how to plug into the US network.

To find out more about December 18, International Migrants Day: http://www.december18.net/
To learn more about celebrating December 18 in the U.S.: http://www.nnirr.org/december18/

Endorsed by (if your organization would like to endorse this call to action please write to the email above):


• NNIRR – National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Colin Rajah)
• NALACC – National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (Oscar Chacon)
• NISN – National Immigrant Solidarity Network (Lee Siu Hin)
• U.S. Sanctuary Movement (Peter Pedemonti)
• Boston May Day Committee (Sergio Reyes)
• FM/TICPM (Tribunal of Conscience, Pueblos en Movimiento) (Dorinda Moreno)
• Mata Hari Eye of the Day (Monique Nguyen)
• De Comunidad a Comunidad (Rosalinda Guillen)
• Forks, WA Immigrant Rights Organization (Lesley Hoare)
• Student Volunteer from Chicago State University (Glenda Garelli)
• Casa Esperanza, Plainfield, New Jersey (Joyce Antila Phipps, Esq.)
• Asociación de Michoacanos Andarani de San Diego y Amigos, AMASDA, CA (Manlio C. Correa)
• Centro Presente (Patricia Montes), Somerville, MA
• Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), Boston, MA (Eva Millona)
• Boston New Sanctuary Movement (Peter Lowber)
• Proyecto Hondureño (Tito Meza)
• Massachusetts Jobs with Justice (Edwin Argueta)
• Diocese of Saint Francis of Assisi, CCA, Brockton, MA (Rev. Filipe C. Teixeira)
• AFSC Project Voice, Cambridge, MA (Gabriel Camacho)
• May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights, New York, NY (Teresa Gutierrez)