a publication of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center

September 2011 | Vol. 24 Issue 7

San Antonio, Tejas

Reflections on the terrorist acts in Oslo, Norwayby Susan Guerra, a chicana immigrant in Norway pictured here with her grandson

VOZ VISION STATEMENT: La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who are gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression. We are recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent economic/spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a forum for criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions in response to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our body, and the dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come.

ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a correction you want to make on your mailing label please send it in to lavoz@esperanzacenter.org. If you do not wish to continue on the mailing list for whatever reason please notify us as well. La Voz is provided as a courtesy to people on the mailing list of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. The subscription rate is $35 per year. The cost of producing and mailing La Voz has substantially increased and we need your help to keep it afloat. To help, send in your subscriptions, sign up as a monthly donor, or send in a donation to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Thank you. -GAR

La Voz deEsperanza

September 2011vol. 24 issue 7

© 2011 Esperanza Peace & Justice CenterAll Rights Reserved.

EditorGloria A. Ramírez

DesignMonica V. Velásquez

ContributorsXelena González, Susan M. Guerra, Laurie Penny, susana segura w/the

Westside Historic Preservation Group, Bill Stitchnot, Pancho Valdez

La Voz CollectiveImelda Arizmendez, Pájara Cervantes,

Jo Flores, Juanita Gallardo, Gloria Hernández, Ray McDonald,

Angelita H. Merla, Lucy & Ray Pérez, Juanita H. Ramón, María Robledo,

Beto Salas, Liliana P. Saldaña, Lucila Vicencio, Dee Villarrubia

Esperanza DirectorGraciela I. Sánchez

Esperanza Staff Imelda Arismendez,

Jessica O. Guerrero, Amanda Haas, Monica V. Velásquez

Conjunto de Nepantleras-Esperanza Board of Directors-

Brenda Davis, Jessica O. Guerrero, Araceli Herrera, Rachel Jennings,

Amy Kastely, Kamala Platt, Ana Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Nadine Saliba, Graciela Sánchez

• We advocate for a wide variety of social, economic & environmental justice issues.• Opinions expressed in La Voz are not

necessarily those of the Esperanza Center.

La Voz de Esperanza is a publication of

The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212

(on the corner of Evergreen Street)210.228.0201 • fax 210.228.0000

www.esperanzacenter.org

Inquiries/articles can be sent to:lavoz@esperanzacenter.orgArticles due by the 8th of each month

Policy Statements* We ask that articles be visionary, progressive, instructive & thoughtful. Submissions must be

literate & critical; not sexist, racist, homophobic, violent, or oppressive & may be edited for length.

* All letters in response to Esperanza activities or articles in La Voz will be considered for publication. Letters with intent to slander

individuals or groups will not be published.

The Esperanza Center is funded in part by the TCA, Alice Kleberg Reynolds Fdn, Astraea

Lesbian Fdn for Justice, the NEA, theFund, The Kerry Lobel & Marta Drury Fund of Horizon’s

Fdn, Coyote Phoenix, Movement Strategy Center Fund, Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone

Foundation y nuestra buena gente.

Cover Photo: The Rose March, Norwaycubanexilequarter.blogspot.com

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Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, MALCS, an organization dedicated to Chicana/Latina studies publishes Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of MALCS. JOIN MALCS and get the latest MALCS journal as part of your membership. Also, get the latest electronic newsletter and discounts on their regional and national conferences.info: http://malcs.net | MALCS cover illustration by Lilliana Wilson

As the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center approaches our 25th anniversary in January of 2012, I must pause and ask whether we’ve made any progress at all? I mean in the peace and justice field. Not just here at the Esperanza Center in San Antonio, Texas but, overall, in our country, and in the world. Seems not.

On September 11th of this year we commemorate ten years since the tragedy of 9/11. One would think this experience would have motivated us to build a peace movement and integrate school curriculums with instruction in loving kindness. Perhaps, a world dialogue on peace could have been initiated. We’d be cel-ebrating the movement’s 10th anniversary. But no!

How has the U.S. promoted a vision of peace that is needed to turn attitudes around in these last ten years? By spending millions on building a wall along its border with Mexico but not Canada. By spending billions more, starting and prolonging wars in the middle east. By making all people of color suspect, tightening security in airports and public places, spending millions and billions of dollars on Homeland Security. By passing anti-immigrant legislation that promises to profile all people of color walking the streets, driving cars, buying homes, shopping, going to school, or seeking services. And, we are building the tallest building in the United States, the “Freedom Tower”, that will show those terrorist that we will not back down, but will be bigger and better than ever and that the priorities of this country will contin-ue to be about money and glitz. In fact, that tower was initially being built by the United Arab Emirates that just goes to show one that when it comes to money, we can transcend political and cultural differences, but when it comes to working on a serious peace movement, forget it, it probably would not be economically feasible. The One World Trade Center is expected to be completed by 2013. More celebrations, more spending of money. No wonder we’re in the economic situation we’re in!

On another note, the 9-11 Memorial will be dedicated on September 11, 2011 the 10th an-niversary of the 9/11 attacks in a ceremony for victims’ families. The memorial will serve as a site for remembrance and towards healing. The victims of 9-11 numbered nearly 3,000 and included victims representing over 90 countries. Whether American victims, or not, death did not seek out citizenship. We are all in this world together and must learn to care for our earth and each other regardless of culture, identity, religion, identity, and so on.

In this issue of La Voz as we hurtle towards our 25th anniversary, we have a special Labor Day centerfold with articles analyzing the state of labor unions in the U.S. by Pancho Valdez and Bill Stitchnot. Xelena González takes us to Palestine for a visit that took place about the same time Mayor Castro was there in July. What a different story, she tells. An excerpt by bloggist Penny Red in London was a spot on report we could not resist. Be sure to find it and read all of it. There’s an update on the continuing saga of Casa Maldonado and, we have Susan Guerra, one of the founders of the Esperanza Center writing about the recent terrorist attack in Norway. And so it seems that xenophobia is alive and well but the spirit of humanity continues to attempt to supersede hatred and bias. Ojalá que sí. - Gloria A. Ramírez

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The familiarWhen political terror hits the familiar its’ about family, friends,

the spaces we call home. This has been, and is, a period of chaos and grief, political confusion and reflections; questions. Norway is a small country of about 4 million people and this whole nation is psychically changed; still in shock. This whole nation includes me, and others, who also are immigrants living in Norway. “We” may have another take on what has happened. Maybe, maybe not. I do not know but the fact is, I never felt as much a part of this country as I have since that day. This has changed me. In the past, I have always been a stranger. As a Mexican-American; never quite “American”. As an American in Norway, never quite “Norwegian”. The past is now over. A bomb has opened a hole for me to see and feel my connections; everywhere.

The political terror actions in Oslo, July 22, 2011 hit me deeply; at the center of my heart and soul. As I listened to the radio and heard the accounts of the bombing and the massacre of teenagers, I found it much too painful to contain the images running through my head of the teenagers who were killed and who witnessed the slaughter of their friends. Who? What ? Why? My mind involuntarily flashed to images of people who massacred children in villages in Guatemala, the mass graves of families in the Balkans, bombs going off in Palestine and in the USA. Dizzily, my mind returned to what was going on here; Norway. This small piece of land I have inhabited for nearly forty years. This is happening here. Norway, I realized, had become my emotional home as well as the place of my residence.

The bombing happened at the bus stop where I get off and on at least eight times a week. It is the bus line my son uses daily going to and from work or to meet with friends. It is the bus route taken by all the people of the community where I have worked for the past twenty years. Here are the buildings where my friends and colleagues work. A quick text message to Kirsten: You are on vacation, right? The office is closed? Yes, the office was closed.

I had been with my two sons and grandson earlier the same day taking them to the railroad station so they could catch a train to the next town. I knew they were safe. They were the ones who had to

call me: Mama? Mama? Did you go to the bank? Where are you now? (it’s right around the corner from the bomb site).

There were many others I wondered about and needed to know about. How to reach them? The unknown created chaos within everyone. Again, my mind flashed, this time I could see my friend from Kosova as she used to listen day and night to the cable radio station to hear news from home when the worst massacres and killing were going on in her homeland. Her back always bent and in pain.

This political terror brought me closer to knowing what

constitutes my feeling of home. Seeing buildings I have “lived with” blown into shattered concrete and glass, knowing that many of my friends had attended that youth camp during their own youth made this my own tragedy. These acts of terrorism were drawn forever into my own reality even more so with the discovery that a former employee at my workplace was among the victims at the bomb site and that my young intern had been at the scene. I feel, today, that I have to keep an eye on her as she braves the aftermath without much ado. As I was taking it all in I never realized just how much I belonged here. Not till now.

The familiar. My connections. This is exactly the opposite of what this political assassinator wanted to achieve! I, the immigrant, together with so many others, now feel that Norway is also the space we carry in our hearts and call home. We are deeply anchored here with our children, friends and colleagues,

by Susan M. Guerra San Antonio, Texas, USA & Hemnes, Norway

Reflections on the terrorist actsin Oslo, Norway Sólo le pido a Dios que el dolor

no me sea indiferente. . . - Leon Geico*

The Rose March

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neighbors, our work. The political parties we belong to, or do not belong to; the youth organizations, the banks we use; the bus stops and buildings we meet in and walk by each week. We are not indifferent. We belong.

The political sword’s edge: xenophobia

Whispers. Can we even say this aloud? “Aren’t you relieved? Thank goodness he was not a muslim/ a foreigner?” This like a mantra spoken by the foreigners and Norwegians I met on the streets the following days. My beautiful blonde and blue-eyed Norwegian girlfriend told me; “It is the first thing that was said in our house too!“

We are a nation of peoples on the political sword’s edge. We all recall the moments when public opinion was that al Qa’ida or some other Muslim group must be responsible. That sentiment

could have started a renewal of McCarthyism. A return to another kind of Inquisition, Salem witch hunts, Texas Ranger style vigilantism. I read that a group of dark-skinned “foreign- looking” young boys were beaten on the street in Oslo within an hour after the news of the bombing was reported and before we knew who the terrorist was.

“How will we be able to continue to live here?” This question echoed through the fear felt by many before it was discovered that the terrorist was a Norwegian; calling himself a religious Christian; author of a manifesto with an explicit anti – immigration and anti-Muslim political ideology to justify his actions. You could almost hear an entire population’s sigh of relief. “Thank goodness he was not a foreigner!” We are off the hook... for now. We assembled in the “March of Roses” so as not to have to be alone.

The truth of terror was unbearable, but at least grief is something we can recognize; it is familiar. Roses. We sympathized with the families who lost their young children by a political fanatic. We demonstrated in the hundreds of thousands, bearing roses in our hands, holding them high. Each person a separate individual deciding to show publicly how difficult it all is to understand or accept.

Behind the roses there is still this fear of the unfamiliar - the opposite of us. The stranger we see, the stranger we perceive and

believe is among us. How can we unravel the complexity behind who is “we” and who is “the stranger”?

The Norwegian word for xenophobia is fremmedfrykt. Literally this translates to stranger fear or foreign fear. In other words, fear of the strange and fear of the foreign. It is part of our psyche as biological and social beings. This unknown, this strangeness, this foreign is what threatens us as human beings; irrational as it may seem in certain circumstances and contexts, but the fear is real.

The act of one man?Can we speak of this fear? How can we now face it? Name it?

How can we meet the political consequences of this fear which is destructive to the ideals and morals we love? Now that we know that the killer is one of “us”, how do we hate what we have within ourselves?

Do we mask the issue by saying that this man, this killer, acted as one isolated, crazy man who cannot be held accountable for his actions? I tremble at the thought. One man. One man who rationalized his hatred for Muslims in a political manifest. He attacked what he believed to be the political exponents of lenient immigration policies. This is not the work of a madman. We have experienced this before.

I refer to the commentary of Carsten Jensen, a Danish writer and intellectual:

Å si at dette er en gal manns verk er høyrefløyens måte å si at vi kan ikke diskutere dette. Dansk Folkeparti har sagt at det er «forrykt å forsøke å analysere denne situasjonen». De vil gjøre det til en naturkatastrofe. Da kan man ikke bebreide noen. My translation: To say that this is the work of a crazy man is the right wing’s way of saying that this is an issue we are not willing to discuss, The Danish Peoples Party has commented that it is ‘mad to even try to analyze this situation’. They want to turn this into an ‘act of nature’- then there is no one to blame.”–from the newspaper Klassekampen, 8.6.2011, Oslo, Norway.

At present, the terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, is thought to have operated alone on that day of July 22, 2011. He acted however on behalf of a world of others who think the same as he does. Indeed, who have thought the same throughout our world history. He is part of something larger.

A responseNever doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Meade (1901 – 1978), anthropologist, USA.

More openness. More democracy. More tolerance. These words were spoken to the nation and to the world community by the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, at the first press conference. I cried.

What can I do? What can any of us do? If one man like Breivik can have such an impact, think what one “I” can do to develop compassion and solidarity in situations when we as neighbors, colleagues, authorities are different from each other and we disagree? Think what one “I” can do to challenge us to jump into the fire of conflict and stay with it rather than follow the inclination to shoot at conflict so it will go away; quickly. Each human being has lessons to struggle with, to learn and to teach other.

The entire paradigm of how relationships and power interrelate must again be put under scrutiny. All truths and patterns can shift. The work of the 21st century is to invest in the human

If one man like Breivik can have such an impact, think what one “I” can do to develop compassion and solidarity in situations when we as neighbors, colleagues, authorities are different from each other and we disagree?

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It’s interesting that your paper

would praise Israel’s wise water

management in the July 23rd

story, “Israel trip is already paying

off for SAWS.” While visiting this land

I came to appreciate water in a new

way. My sister and I were visiting the

Palestinian family she’d married into. I

accepted an offer to take a shower

after our long trip, and I unwittingly

used the household’s remaining water

supply for the week.You see, in the country’s refugee camps thousands of

Palestinian families are rationed in their water use. Occasionally, their rooftop water tanks are riddled with Israeli bullets. Sometimes water, food, money, mail, and other necessary supplies are cut off entirely. Roads are often blocked. A ride to a neighboring village that should have taken half an hour took half the day because Palestinians’ marked vehicles are relegated to inferior back roads and subjected to random stops and searches. At checkpoints, even elderly women and children must wait in line for hours only to be barked at, frisked, and demeaned by teenage Israeli soldiers armed with machine guns. This is all done in an effort to retaliate, humiliate, and ultimately subjugate Israel’s second class citizens.

When we stayed in an Israeli neighborhood, it was a different story. There was free flowing water, fresh food in abundance, ease of transportation, and lush environments. In essence, we were free to see the brighter side of Israel that most Americans get to enjoy on their visits.

Why then would the Express-News choose to present only the brighter side in a string of heavily biased stories that reek of propaganda? The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is one of the most divisive issues in our world today. It is your duty to provide a

balanced portrait for your readers, most of whom may never have a chance to see this side of the world for themselves. So our city sends an entire delegation, and this is all you have to report? When your ship is sinking, journalistic integrity should be the life vest that keeps you afloat, not the first thing thrown overboard.

I’m curious to know how the Jewish Federation of San Antonio is affiliated with your paper. It appears they funded the delegation’s trip to Israel; were any of your employees among that delegation? If none of your journalists were on the ground, what was the source of their reporting? What percentage of information was provided by the Federation in your recent series of pro-Israel stories? How much ad revenue do they supply your paper?

To my fellow readers and thinkers, consider for a moment the following scenario: Tomorrow a group of armed people marches into San Antonio, demands that you leave your home so that one of their families can move in. The same thing happens to your brother’s home and family. Your grandmother’s house is bulldozed; condos are built in its place so that the new ruling class can invite more of their friends to move to San Antonio. Meanwhile you and your loved ones are forced to live in tents and shacks over in Seguin, Bandera, maybe even Mexico. It’s not an easy journey, and many die along the way… Would you be resigned to this fate? Or would you fight for your freedom? Would you care if someone

Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is not water under the bridge Author’s note: Recently the San Antonio Express-News published a string of stories that followed Mayor Castro and a San Antonio delegation as they visited Israel on a trip funded by the Jewish Federation of San Antonio. Apparently the E-N reporter who flew to Israel on the paper’s dime did not venture off the path laid out by the Federation. Consequently, all of her stories glorified Israel, their governance, their infrastructure, and their new camaraderie with our city and mayor. I submitted the following editorial to the E-N, and a small portion of it ran on August 1st.

by Xelena González

then labeled you a terrorist?To Mayor Castro: I love what you have done for our city,

and I continue to expect only good things from you and your brother. But I urge you to remove the rose-colored glasses given to you by the folks who financed your trip. Don’t forget about our ancestors who suffered in the same way the Palestinians are today. Remember that they too were forced from their homelands, herded, and quarantined in camps to die. Those who dared to resist were called “savages,” and their extermination was justified in the name of protecting new settlements.

What were other world leaders thinking at a time when our country was establishing itself through the attempted genocide of one race and the enslavement of another? Surely they were in awe of the vast land and resources available to settlers. Some may have marveled at the building of railroads and the founding of an innovative government that would rule a “free” populace. I’ll bet some were even impressed by the ingenuity and business acumen of plantation owners. Were there any who cringed, whose moral center did not allow them to bow down to a new power that refused to act humanely?

Israel is the United States in its darkest days. Israel is South Africa during apartheid. Yes, the country shows evidence of a robust, advanced society, but at what cost? Surely our city has better examples to follow. Surely we know better than to trust a leader like President Peres who would shrug off history as “a burden”.

Mayor Castro, I hope you remain on the right side of history. Maybe our city will one day benefit from all that Israel had to share with you. Until then, please encourage your new acquaintances to share their advanced technologies and water resources with their closest neighbors. n

Bio: Xelena González is a native of San Antonio’s Westside. Trained at the Medill School of Journalism, her writing has been published locally, nationally, and abroad. She’s had the opportunity to visit many corners of the world, including Palestine and Israel.

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social sciences as vastly as we have invested in the technological sciences. We can learn to get better at practicing democracy. Let us ask our governments to put our monies there.

My dream: from warfare to peaceful conflict resolution.On the one year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the Twin

Towers and the Pentagon in the USA, a friend in NYC and I shared our visions and dreams to counter hate, fear, violence and harm to innocent people. She works as a professional clown, and her vision is to continue to use her creative talent and humor to create bonds between families and people in the public realm. She has since co-authored a children’s book called Don’t be a stinker, be a thinker! And she continues to perform and write theatre pieces for children and families.

My dream is that all military institutions would take a break from warfare and use their budgets, time and expertise for the study of peaceful co-existence. I have since been part of a network to develop methods for good practice and useful citizen actions for a more compassionate democracy. Just a dreamer? Remember, the world used to be flat.

Years ago I made a life and political decision. I wanted to live and work according to the positive source within and not from the negative source. I now have a small production entity called CON GANAS! - transforming desire into living culture. One man.

I eagerly pay attention to what my young sons tell me and I look forward to listening to the younger generation here. Everyone is still stunned and on the verge of tears, yet the discussions have begun: each day counts to do something to create a safer and more open community!

This day of terror has forced all of us, but particularly the youth, to review what is important in daily life; in living with our differences and sharing our differences. At the thought of Martin

Luther King, I hope the youth of Norway allow themselves to dream wild dreams. Dreams and visions outside the box of rationality and the order of the discourse our generation has made. We have made our mistakes. It is their time to turn the tables upside down and put compassion at the heart of a new democracy. More democracy. More openness. More tolerance. I think they have already begun.

If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we can create together. -Stine Renate Håheim; survivor from Utoya, quoting her friend on a CNN interview. n

July 24, 2011Bio: Susan Morales Guerra, born and raised in San Antonio; co-founder of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center and initiator of the first International Women’s Day activities in San Antonio in 1984; writes, tells stories and leads projects for social sustainable community development in Oslo, Norway.

* Editor’s note: Raúl Alberto Antonio Gieco, or León Gieco, is an Argentinian pop-folk music composer known for mixing musical genres with socio-political lyrics. His songs were popularized by la gran Mercedes Sosa. The lyrics cited say, All I ask of God, is that pain not make me indifferent.

Reflections on Terrorist Acts.... continued from page 4

Israeli checkpoint

AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

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Many (if not most) jobs in the basic industries such as auto, steel, electrical appliances, garment, shoe and rubber have been offshored to Third World countries. The number one factor for this is cheap labor, weak or controlled unions, or labor laws seldom enforced by right wing governments friendly to the U.S. and corporations.

Another factor that comes to play a vital role in keeping the U.S. labor force non-union is the fact that under current labor laws, employers have had a free reign to harass, intimidate and fire workers who expressed interest in organizing. Along with weak enforcement of vital labor laws, other laws passed in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s forbid unions from engaging in militant acts such as sit-down strikes, secondary boycotts and other effective tactics utilized by the CIO during the 1930’s when the U.S. labor movement had it’s greatest growth. U.S. labor unions grew at a faster rate then when we had no federal laws to “protect” us as compared to today with laws in place.

One other major factor is the fact that today’s labor unions appear reluctant to use strikes as a means of offensive strategy. In the past decade labor strikes have averaged only 20 per year as compared to 350 per year in the 1950’s. My guess for this decline is that the use of strikes has been put on hold due to weak enforcement of labor laws that basically give employers an open door to replace strikers with scabs (meaning strikebreakers).

A factor that should be discussed is the mindset of “cooperation” that was prevalent in the mid 70’s and early 80’s. This way of thinking promoted “labor peace and harmony” as a means of settling contractual disputes. Several unions that were big on this idea included the United Steelworkers, the United Autoworkers and the Transport Workers Union, a public transit and airline industry union. This policy resulted in weakened contractual gains, demoralized memberships and did not prevent employers such as Ford, GM, United Steel, Bethlehem Steel from shutting down mills and factories in the U.S. and moving them to Third World countries. At the time of this revolutionary concept, labor leaders were counting on bosses not to de-certify unions, or shut down operations. Such a lame idea puts workers at a distinct disadvantage and gives employers the signal that it’s ok to do whatever it takes to cut down labor costs. Anytime a labor organization goes into negotiations from a point of weakness, the employer will go on the offensive attacking without mercy. In an attempt to impress upon the employers, the news media and the government that labor believed in the concept of “what’s good for GM is good for America” it weakened itself into the present day situation.

One is probably asking–why would any competent labor leader ever agree to such nonsense? The reason is simple. When worker’ organizations fail to see or comprehend the difference between the interests of capital and the interests of labor there will be serious errors made and grave consequences to face. This failure on the part of organized labor’s true role is the direct result of the shameful purge of communists and socialists from labor’s ranks during the McCarthy era. Without the presence of strong working class ideology, organized labor opened itself up to be used and abused by the ruling class. It also gave a free ticket to social democrats to assume “leadership roles”

by Pancho Valdez

In light of a concerted attempt to weaken or destroy public sector unions we must take into account the percentage of organized workers in the private sector, which is now around a dismal 7%. With such a low number of organized workers it’s very clear that the U.S. working class is in for more hard times. When one sees the small percentage of organized workers, one must ask, why? There are several pertinent factors for this:

This past Spring the nation witnessed an attack on organized labor unlike any other in the past 30 years. Public workers in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Missouri, Michigan and Minnesota were made the scapegoat of their state’s economic crisis which is as phony as a three dollar bill given the fact that the crisis was not only caused by Wall Street, but also profited Wall Street. Another major factor in our economic woes is the huge war budget wasted on the unjustified wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya.

Workers belonging to such unions as the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the public sector division of the Communications Workers were the target of a well planned, vicious assault by the Tea Party and other Republican extremists using the falsehood of “balancing the state budgets”. As was shown in Wisconsin, and elsewhere, the real reason for the anti-union attacks was to weaken and/or destroy public worker unions and their right to collective bargaining. The budgets of these states not unlike the state budget of Texas could have been balanced by taxing profits of large corporations and incomes of the wealthy. But, such a move requires state legislators who have the courage and wisdom to do so. Obviously, most officials lack these essential qualities.

State of Today’s Unions

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and reward themselves and their cronies with lucrative salaries. Such corruption along with mob control of many local unions of the Teamsters, International Longshoremen’s Association, some local unions of the Hotel & Restaurant Employees, the Laborers International Union and others resulted in sweetheart deals and reduced the organizations to being merely “paper tigers.” While employers prefer NO union at all, they will settle for one that is mob controlled with no democracy and a top down approach in running their organizations. When workers have little if any control over their unions, participation is very shallow and in the event of an employer turning on its workers, the members are ill prepared for an effective and successful defense.

While organized labor in the U.S. has its flaws, it would be unfair to describe only those flaws without mentioning the strengths. Within the past 30 years, the AFL-CIO has begun supporting the call for progressive immigration reform. The labor federation has learned that many of the immigrants from Mexico and Latin America have extensive labor and political experiences that make them good union activists in the U.S. Undocumented factory, building service, meat processing and hospitality industry workers have all stepped up and joined organizing campaigns with some success. Other areas where organized labor has shown willingness to open up and be more progressive are in the areas of women trade unionists, African American, Asian American and Latino as well as an organization for gay and lesbian unionists. Before viable solutions to this present day situation are discussed, it is important to know that not all labor organizations fall into the above mentioned categories.

In San Antonio and across the nation UNITE HERE is organizing hospitality workers and has no problem using mass picketing as well as civil disobedience to protest unsafe and unfair working conditions. Unions like the independent United Electrical Workers and the west coast International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) are examples of two left led labor organizations that also use much more militant and confrontational tactics with success. Recently , the ILWU locals in Oakland and San Francisco refused to unload cargo that was from Israel in a show of solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinians in Gaza.This is reminiscent of their refusal to unload or load ships either from or headed to S. Africa during the struggle against apartheid. The UEW is the union that got national attention when it took over a small factory in Chicago when workers were laid off without proper notice and denied pay. At that time, even the president expressed support for workers who through their action received the unpaid checks and reopened the factory with a new owner making a different product.

A more recent and surprising development is the AFL-CIO participating and helping organize May Day events across the nation. May Day was abandoned as the official Labor Day in the height of the McCarthy era to appease right wing politicians hellbent in destroying anyone with Left wing tendencies. While all is not where it could be within the American labor movement, it has progressed since the days of George Meany who bragged that he never walked a picket line. Meany was also against racial equality and a big proponent of the Vietnam war.

There are solutions to help improve the situation within the labor movement which would include assuring that all affiliated local unions are democratic with workers’ rights to approve or disapprove contractual agreements. Workers should also have the right to run reform candidates without fear of beatings, killings, expulsion from their union and retaliation from their employers.

Another major reform idea would be for the labor movement to begin organizing and building a worker based political party as a viable alternative to the Democratic or Republican parties. This party would include civil rights, civil liberty, environmental, gay and lesbian, peace activists and others who feel disenfranchised from the electoral system as both major parties are controlled by corporate bribes disguised as “campaign donations.” This new party would be in full adherence of our nation’s Constitution.

Another change would be for organized labor to depend less on federal agencies, attorneys, arbitrators and mediators to resolve disputes. Adoption of the proven militant tactics of the CIO are in definite order. Laws and regulations designed solely to protect the interests of the bosses should be ignored and broken when possible. A union that is afraid to fight does not deserve to collect dues from its members. A step in this direction will make the U.S. trade union movement a force to be reckoned with by elected officials and employers alike. If we are willing, we can make it happen! n

Bio: Pancho Valdez is a member of Laborers Local 1095 and has been active in the movement for justice since 1965. He can be reached at: 210-882-2230 or mestizowarrior210@yahoo.com

In July, 11 Unite Here! protesters were arrested for blocking traffic at Grand Hyatt in downtown San Antonio, TX. | Photo: Julio Lopez

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by Bill Stitchnot

Can’t Live With Them – Can’t Live Without Them

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While the Trade Unions have been quiet for years, the new battlefield is now with State Employee’s unions. This will not be a history of the ups and downs (mostly downs) of Unions. It is more a critique of where Unions are today compared with real class warfare and where they could, should be. The good news is, it’s not hopeless. There are parts of Unions and worker’s organization, such as San Antonio’s Southwest Workers Unions, that can provide a path back to realism.

First, a review of the nature of labor: the workers and means of production. Workers produce the wealth for the Capitalist. The Mid-level Manager doesn’t produce wealth, the union bureaucrat does not produce wealth, the CEO of GM, does not produce wealth, nor does the Manager of a McDonald’s produce wealth. Who produces wealth? The worker who actually does something that makes the Capitalist, money. The Mid-level supervisor watches and the CEO of GM tries to make as much profit as possible for the share holders. But the CEO does not turn a single screw on any car being produced. As for McDonalds, the Manager may drop fries in a basket to cook during rush hour, but it is the hamburger flipper, and the worker behind the counter that produce wealth.

Unions – Can’t Live With ThemFinally, the Union bureaucrat. Not really worker and not really

Capitalist, (Petty Bourgeois). The Union Boss takes money from the workers in exchange for talking the Capitalist into a dollar an hour raise and a Coke Machine in the Break Room. The Union Boss claims to work for the rank and file worker, but, indeed, works for the Capitalist. After all, is it not the Capitalist who ultimately pays the Union boss.

Most unions have lost their way. In the early days, the best Capitalist tool for making the worker docile was the old “divide and conquer” tool. Have the workers battle among themselves for crumbs. If particular workers raised their hands and became “trouble makers”, the Capitalist simply fired them and hired more in their place. Now unions have become docile. The capitalist has successfully used their “divide and conquer” tool against the unions as if unions are individuals scraping for money. The unions become individuals. They have no concept of class conscientiousness from which they came. Just as an attack on one person’s freedom is an attack on all people’s freedom, so an attack on one union’s workers is an attack, not only of all unions’ workers, but all workers – union or not. However, the unions fail to see this. Instead, like the exploited worker, the union says “I’ve got mine (scraps) and am not worried about yours.

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan was President. As it happened, the Air Traffic Controllers’ Union called for a strike. This was before they were given beds and free HBO. The problem for the Controllers was that the Government passed a law prohibiting them from striking. Nevertheless they did strike. Reagan told the workers that if they did not return to work, they would be fired. They did not return to work. He fired them and broke their Union. To make up for the now vacant ATC towers, Reagan grabbed Air Force air traffic controllers put them in the towers. For the government it was as if nothing happened. The Airlines flew in and out of airports with hardly a ripple. Things returned to normal. The fact that no one missed the controllers is one of the biggest

labor scandals in the past 100 years.Yes, there was wringing of hands by all the other workers,

both union and nonunion. After all a union had been broken and government didn’t even break a sweat. While the workers wrung their hands, they said, “I feel sorry for them, but after all, they weren’t allowed to strike”. To the unions, it was an “improper” strike. An improper strike? Remember, it is the job of the government to insure the Capitalist economy moves ahead unmolested. The disruption of air commerce would certainly molest the economy. An “improper” strike will cause economic

disruption. But, this is just the type of disruption the Controllers needed to be successful in addressing grievances. Other unions, any union, could have come to their assistance. The Pilot’s Union could have called for a work stoppage, or a slow down, saying the ATC system wasn’t safe. Other larger unions could have called for stoppages, or slowdowns, in support of fellow workers. The outrage for busting a union could have been so severe that there would, indeed, be a molestation of the economy. The Controllers could have prevailed in their strike and earned some gains, including having their union re-certified. But that is not how the story ended. No unions came to their aid. No work stoppages, slowdowns, nasty words, nothing. The unions said, “I’ve got mine and, after all, it WAS an improper strike”.

U.S. capitalists don’t manufacture much stuff, any more. As we all know, the Capitalist has no country. The entire world is their country. Having either decimated or at least trained the trade unions as lap dogs, the Capitalists, through State Government, has turned its sights on Public Sector Unions. We all know the story of

Reagan told the workers that if they did not return to work, they would be fired. They did not return to

work. He fired them and broke their Union. . . The fact that no one missed the controllers is one of

the biggest labor scandals in the past 100 years.

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Wisconsin. Or we think we know it. We’ve read of the brave workers and legislators who tried to fight off the Wisconsin war machine. In fact, Wisconsin public-sector union leaders rushed to sign contracts with most of the economic concessions sought by the Governor, in order to delay the impact of his anti-union law, which eliminates meaningful collective bargaining for public-sector employees and bars the collection of union dues through workers’ paycheck deductions. Talk of a general strike--frequently discussed among activists during the 3 weeks of protests at Wisconsin’s Capitol in Madison--dissipated as union leaders pressured union members to approve contracts that contain at least a 7 percent pay cut in order to keep the dues money. Labor’s focus shifted to recalling eight Republican Wisconsin state senators--which, however worthy a goal, was no substitute for a fight based on labor’s power on the job. Wisconsin did have a recall. Republican victories in the Wisconsin Senate recall elections preserved the GOP power in that body with a 17-16 edge, but the results could still usher in a shift in power — to moderate Republicans, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Crunching the razor-thin Senate numbers when it comes to passing legislation indicates that proposals from Gov. Walker and other Republicans won’t necessarily sail through. So the progressive glass, while not half full, is filling up.

The lesson of Wisconsin for the unions should be straightforward enough. Republican governors and legislators are intent on crippling or destroying public-sector unions unless and until labor is willing and able to use all its power to stop them. As it happens, union leaders continue to sound the retreat, limiting the fightback against the Republicans to the ballot box, while bowing to more “reasonable” concessions pushed by Democrats. In Los Angeles , a coalition of six unions representing more than 14,500 municipal workers reached a tentative agreement on a contract with an estimated $400 million in concessions, including cancellation of scheduled pay raises and a measure that would almost double workers’ contributions to retirement benefits from 6 to 11 percent. The LA contract, if approved, will save the city government $1 billion over 30 years.

The attack upon one is an attack upon all concept, doesn’t seem to stand a chance. This is true because the unions, trades and public sector don’t want it. It is a perfect divide and conquer.

Unions - Can’t Live Without ThemIt is said there are two constants we all must live by: death and

taxes. I submit there is a third constant: the individual worker does not stand a chance against the Capitalist. The individual worker’s bargaining power ends the moment another worker – or 100 workers – apply for the first worker’s job. The workers, on their own, make low wages and work in suspect working conditions. This is especially true with the migrant and undocumented workers. They work for what ever they can get (even less then minimum wage) in whatever working conditions are presented to them.

The reasons for unions were born out of conditions noted above. But they have to do more. This includes becoming managers of the company they work for. Capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction. The main seed is their inability to control the business cycle. They do not apply a scientific method when

determining production levels. Jean-Paul Sarte, a French Leftist and Existentialist, writes that the unions should be able to act on the causes (over production) rather then the effects (unemployment). He writes that the unions’ “real task” is to demand participation with the company and check the economic policies of the government. He describes a worker’s conference that urged the workers to separate themselves from the politicians who deceive them. If the workers succeed, they will improve their life due to the disruption of the Capitalists. Sarte concludes that the General Strike will finish the job.

The union should never negotiate out the option to strike, including wildcat strikes. For a union to give up their only weapon is the same as sending an army to the battlefield without rifles. Both are defenseless against their enemy. The unions should unite in a form of a “confederation” of unions. Never let what is happening in the public sector unions and ATC strike happen again. An attack on one is an attack on all. The threat of a nation wide shutdown

would go a long way when negotiating. Finally, abolish anti-union, anti-worker

laws. Some say that workers have won hard earned gains in labor law.

Others would say Capitalists have just thrown bones to the workers to keep them docile. While workers believe they have won benefits, they have, in fact, won little. Enter the Taft-Hartley Act. We talked about the weapon of the strike. The Taft-Hartley Act gives the Attorney General the power to obtain an 80 day injunction when a threatened or actual strike is believed to “imperil

the national health or safety”. In other words, if

the Capitalists believe the economy is going to be molested, they appeal to the AG to delay/stop a strike. It also forbids jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts. The employers can be exempted from bargaining with unions unless the employer wants to. Finally, and most silly, it required union leaders to affirm they were not supporters of the Communist Party.

Are there vanguard organizations, especially in San Antonio, that can demand real worker’s rights? The Southwest Workers Union quickly comes to mind. It has marched and gone to court to demand equality. Their mission statement says: “Southwest Workers’ Union (SWU) unites workers, communities and youth in the struggle for dignity and justice. Based in San Antonio, Texas, SWU is a grassroots membership based organization working for social change from the bottom up.” And there’s the Texas Chapter of US Labor Against the War. While having an antiwar position is one of their programs, I’ll quote a portion from what they are all about: “Protecting Workers’ Rights, Civil Rights, Civil Liberties and the Rights of Immigrants by promoting democracy, not subverting it. Ethnic, racial and religious profiling and stereotyping must be replaced by policies that promote dignity, economic justice and respect for all working people Solidarity with Workers and their Organizations around the world who are struggling for their own labor and human rights”. Go out and find more organizations that demonstrate what solidarity and unions can really be about. nBio: Bill Stitchnot is a longtime Esperanza supporter now retired in Hawaii. A student of psychology, he attended St. Mary’s University and continues studies in Hawaii.

by Dave Buchen

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Panic on the streets of London. . . In the scramble to comprehend the riots, every single commentator has opened with a ritual condemnation of the violence, as if it were in any doubt that arson, muggings and lootings are ugly occurrences. That much should be obvious to anyone who is watching Croydon burn down on the BBC right now. David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, called the disorder ‘mindless, mindless’. Nick Clegg denounced it as ‘needless, opportunistic theft and violence’. Speaking from his Tuscan holiday villa, Prime Minister David Cameron – who has finally decided to return home to take charge - declared simply that the social unrest searing through the poorest boroughs in the country was “utterly unacceptable.” The violence on the streets is being dismissed as ‘pure criminality,’ as the work of a ‘violent minority’, as ‘opportunism.’ This is madly insufficient. It is no way to talk about viral civil unrest. Angry young people with nothing to do and little to lose are turning on their own communities, and they cannot be stopped, and they know it. Tonight, in one of the greatest cities in the world, society is ripping itself apart.

Violence is rarely mindless. The politics of a burning building, a smashed-in shop or a young man shot by police may be obscured even to those who lit the rags or fired the gun, but the politics are there. Unquestionably there is far, far more to these riots than the death of Mark Duggan, whose shooting sparked off the unrest on Saturday, when two police cars were set alight after a five-hour vigil at Tottenham police station. A peaceful protest over the death of a man at police hands, in a community where locals have been given every reason to mistrust the forces of law and order, is one sort of political statement. Raiding shops for technology and trainers that cost ten times as much as the benefits you’re no longer entitled to is another. A co-ordinated, viral wave of civil unrest across the poorest boroughs of Britain, with young people coming from across the capital and the country to battle the police, is another.

Months of conjecture will follow these riots. Already, the internet is teeming with racist vitriol and wild speculation. The truth is that very few people know why this is happening. They don’t know, because they were not watching these communities. Nobody has been watching Tottenham since the television cameras drifted away after the Broadwater Farm riots of 1985. Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up in a community where there are no jobs, no space to live or move, and the police are on

the streets stopping-and-searching you as you come home from school. The people who do will be waking up this week in the sure and certain knowledge that after decades of being ignored and marginalised and harassed by the police, after months of seeing any conceivable hope of a better future confiscated, they are finally on the news. In one NBC report, a young man in Tottenham was asked if rioting really achieved anything: “Yes,” said the young man. “You wouldn’t be talking to me now if we didn’t riot, would you? Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you.” Eavesdropping from among the onlookers, I looked around. A dozen TV crews and newspaper reporters interviewing the young men everywhere ‘’’

There are communities all over the country that nobody paid attention to unless there had recently been a riot or a murdered child. Well, they’re paying attention now. Tonight in London, social order and the rule of law have broken down entirely. The city has been brought to a standstill; it is not safe to go out onto the streets, and where I am in Holloway, the violence is coming closer. As I write, the looting and arson attacks have spread to at least fifty different areas across the UK, including dozens in London, and communities are now turning on each other, with the Guardian reporting on rival gangs forming battle lines. It has become clear to the disenfranchised young people of Britain, who feel that they have no stake in society and nothing to lose, that they can do what they like tonight, and the police are utterly unable to stop them. That is what riots are all about.

Riots are about power, and they are about catharsis. They are not about poor parenting, or youth services being cut, or any of the other snap explanations that media pundits have been trotting out: structural inequalities, as a friend of mine remarked today, are not solved by a few pool tables. People riot because it makes them feel powerful, even if only for a night. People riot because they have spent their whole lives being told that they are good for nothing, and they realise that together they can do anything – literally, anything at all. People to whom respect has never been shown riot because they feel they have little reason to show respect themselves, and it spreads like fire on a warm summer night. And now people have lost their homes, and the country is tearing itself apart.. . .Bio: Laurie Penny, journalist, author, feminist, socialist, utopian, general reprobate and troublemaker is a writer for New Statesman and The Independent. laurie.penny@gmail.com

excerpt from pennyred.blogspot.com

by Laurie Penny

or two and a half years, Westside community members and supporters throughout San Antonio have been working to save the historic Casa Maldonado aka the Pink Building located at 1312 Guadalupe Street from demolition by

its owner, the Avenida Guadalupe Association (AGA or Avenida). The Westside Historic Preservation Group and The Esperanza Center researched and published the history of the Casa Maldonado demonstrating the significant role it played in the progressive political and cultural history of San Antonio since the early 1900s (June 2011, La Voz de Esperanza). An application for historic designation of the pink house was completed and submitted and over 2,000 signatures were gathered supporting the preservation of Casa Maldonado. The group even wrote and was awarded a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation that paid for an independent evaluation of the structure of the building.

As a result of all of the research, hard work, and dozens of testimonies, San Antonio’s Historic Design Review Committee (HDRC) deemed the building historic in March 2011. The case then went to City Council, where in April Council unanimously voted in favor of proceeding with the process of historic preservation thereby sending the case onto the Zoning Commission where hours of community testimony and questions exposed the ignorance and bias of the commissioners who voted to recommend that Council deny historic overlay (zoning) designation.

No matter what the outcome of the HDRC and Zoning meetings, the City Council makes the final decision to designate the building as a historic landmark, or not. In a complete 180 degree turn, the City Council followed District 5 Councilman Medina’s lead on June 16th, accepting the zoning recommendation against historic designation with a unanimous NO vote reversing their unanimous YES vote of 2 months prior. We left that Council meeting with no official historic designation for Casa Maldonado.

At the same June 16th Council meeting, the Westside Historic Preservation Group presented architectural drawings that were

created pro bono in less than a week showing design options for the Promesa Project that would incorporate preservation and re-purposing of the existing structure. Despite showing that a compromise could save the Casa, Avenida representatives dismissed the plan, claiming that they would lose federal funding if they didn’t demolish Casa Maldonado. They also claimed it would create over 40 jobs, which they now admit their future tenants would produce. Avenida has since also recanted the claim that they could lose funding, revealing

that currently there is no funding for the building planned at the Casa Maldonado site. Multiple

misrepresentations by the Avenida ultimately led to the Council’s vote against Casa Maldonado,

against preservation, and against the community.After the June 16th Council meeting, Mayor Castro

admonished Avenida President & CEO, Oscar Ramírez, with a public warning saying, “Your credibility is on the line.”

He instructed Avenida to work with community reps to create a revised design for the Promesa Project taking into consideration the National Trust for Historic Preservation structural engineers report, and compromising with those in favor of preservation. All the while, Ramirez retorted, contradicted himself, twisted semantics, and admitted that their only goal since the purchase of the Maldonado house, in 2004, was to demolish the building. (June 16, 2011 meeting video available from city.) The Avenida’s credibility has since remained in question for the public to see.

Since the June 16th City Council meeting, all parties have received a detailed copy of the structural engineer’s report commissioned by the National Trust. Avenida has been slow to review it and dismissed the validity of it. Patrick Sparks, the Structural Engineer who worked to save the Hays Street Bridge in San Antonio came in from Austin to assess Casa Maldonado concluding that it could definitely be saved. The report disproved claims by members of Avenida, the Zoning Commission, and City Council that the building was beyond repair. Cost estimates compiled by Preservation Architect, Ann McGlone, came in at $254,000, less than a third of the AGA’s quote of $800,000 for restoration and less than one sixth of their estimate of $1.5 million for demolition and new construction at the site.

The Avenida, in an effort to appease the Mayor’s request for compromise, with only a few days notice, called for a Design Charette on July 27th saying that they had met their responsibility of “due diligence” (a phrase they’ve latched onto). The Westside Historic Preservation Group participated, but protested the short notice given and scheduling of a full work day. The charette was limited to 19 guests selected by Avenida, of which only 11 would be allowed to vote. Only two voting participants represented the Westside Historic Preservation Group.

The July 27th charette (dubbed “Charade” by community members) experienced a morning session that was rocky, but in the afternoon Avenida presented us with the illusion of compromise, but it was only community that presented a real compromise. The Westside Historic Preservation Group collaborating with architect, Ann McGlone, agreed to a partial demolition of the back, two-story portion of the pink building so that the new building could be connected to the older, wooden structure. Hope of a potential compromise was ignited. A meeting to continue the charette/12

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Casa MaldonadoStill Alive …for now by susana segura, in collaboration with the Westside Historic Preservation Group, illustration by Nancy Klapp

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charade conversation was scheduled for the afternoon of August 2nd. A final report back to community was planned for the same evening as part of AGA’s general community meeting.

At a special Board Meeting on August 1st to discuss the results of the Design Charette and prepare for the August 2nd meeting, three new drawings were presented incorporating the Pink Building with plans for new construction. Avenida reps made it seem like these were three different compromise options that would allow for at least partial preservation of Casa Maldonado. The original architectural rendering requiring demolition was still on the table at this meeting. Those of us present were told that the board would go into executive session to select one of three options and that the task at the August 2nd meeting would be for the community to vote between the preservation option and the demolition option.

It wasn’t until the afternoon of August 2nd, when the charette/charade group reconvened to look at Avenida’s new designs, that the truth came out - there was no “preservation option” even though drawings had been previously labeled as “partial preservation”. The drawings shown at the Avenida Board meeting the night before that included a pink structure in the shape of Casa Maldonado represented only a replica that would be built after the Avenida bulldozed the Pink Building.

Oscar Ramirez, CEO of AGA, restated that all obligations had been met and that they didn’t have to listen to THIS community, because they had other “community” that supported them. City Staffers, District-5 Reps, and Mayoral Reps were present at the charette/charade and at the August 2nd meetings witnessing the dysfunction of the process. The city was scheduled to sell a “surplus” piece of land (at a loss to the city) to the Avenida on August 4th for their Project. However, the Mayor postponed the vote on the sale of the property to Avenida until September. Their disregard of the Mayor’s directive to compromise with community may have played a part in that decision.

All arguments against demolition have now been debunked. The structural engineer’s report showed that it is structurally feasible to save the building with skilled workers to bring it up to code. The Promesa Project Manager confirmed that Avenida will not lose grant money if the Pink Building is saved. Even the most conservative cost estimates have shown that saving the existing building would be more affordable than new construction. This could be a win-win situation if not for the anger and stubbornness of the Avenida’s leadership. There is no accountability to the community from Avenida and no love for the Westside community they represent. In fact, Avenida representatives have repeatedly bad-mouthed the Westside community during these meetings.

Opposition to the demolition of the pink building began three years ago, long before Avenida had even applied for federal monies for the Promesa Project. We’re not telling them we don’t want jobs. We’re not telling them NOT to build yet another boxy building

(with enough square-footage to meet their grant requirement). We’ve tried to work with them, within THEIR framework. We’ve pleaded. We’ve reasoned and tried to come to a “compromise.” Yet, they give absolutely nothing.

Avenida is a community nonprofit with 501-c3 status. They get city AND federal tax monies, as well as Section 8 funding, “affordable rent” payments from the viejit@s that live in Avenida senior homes, and rent payments from many non-profit tenants. They collect all of this rent on public property that officially belongs to the City of San Antonio and is rented to Avenida for only $1 per year. As property owners, the Avenida was responsible for the upkeep of the Maldonado building, but they allowed it to deteriorate. The properties Avenida “owns” are owned on behalf of community but they continue to claim, “it’s our building, we can do what we want with it,” disregarding public outcry.

During this entire process, members of the Westside Historic Preservation Group have been mistreated and attacked. The “Casa Maldonado” Facebook fan page, created and managed by

community volunteers, was taken down August 7th by an Avenida board member who claimed that the page

was infringing on his rights. He claimed the Casa Maldonado fan page was HIS

intellectual property. Yet, all the research and information on the

Casa was done by the Westside Preservation Group.

The same Avenida board member has published articles attacking Esperanza and the Center’s Director, Graciela Sánchez. He also contacted the former employer of an Esperanza supporter pretending that Avenida was

planning to hire her as General Contractor for the Promesa

Project in order to get background information on her. Avenida reps

have been dismissive and disrespectful even to revered community elders. And,

they have repeatedly interrupted community members, calling us liars and “shouters,” while

others, who shouted, screamed and threatened, were called “passionate” about their support of Avenida.

With all these behaviors, Avenida Guadalupe has alienated the community, instilling a sense of fear and oppression. They continue to push themselves further from the potential for future preservation work that should be happening collaboratively with community on the Westside. After 30 years of functioning as a Neighborhood Association and Community Development Corporation they have neither improved the quality of life of Westside residents, nor represented their interests. They appear to be untouchable and are accountable to no one, while receiving public funding and access to endless city resources in our names - building an empire and taking as much money as they can into their “projects.” This is their legacy. n

bio: susana segura is a pulga-selling, feisbuk-blogging, community organizer focusing on historical/cultural preservation. she will, for a fee, care for pets and plants in your home. find her if you can.

Casa Maldonado is still alive.

Help us preserve working class history and culture..

Call the Mayor and City Council and tell them to hold off on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) monies and 2012 Bond Program funding

for the Avenida Guadalupe Association until they agree to preserve Casa Maldonado.

Call 210.228.0201 for updates or see www.esperanzacenter.org

Amnesty International #127 meets on 4th Thursdays at 7:30 pm at Ashbury United Methodist. Call 210.829.0397.

Anti-War Peace Vigil every Thursday 4-6pm @ Flores & Commerce. See: ivaw.org | veteransforpeace.org

Bexar Co. Green Party info@bex-argreens.org or call 210.471.1791.

Celebration Circle meets Sundays, 11am @ JumpStart at Blue Star Arts Complex. Meditation, Weds @ 7:30 pm @ Quaker Meeting House, 7052 Vandiver. 210.533-6767

Critical Mass bicycle ride @ Main Library, last Fridays @ 6 pm,myspace.com/satxcriticalmass

DIGNITY S.A. mass at 5:30 pm, Sun. @ Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church, 1101 W. Woodlawn. Call 210.735.7191.

For S.A. Free Speech Coalition meetings check esperanzacenter.org or call 210.228.0201

Fuerza Unida, 710 New Laredo, Hwy. 210.927.2297

Habitat for Humanity meets 1st Tues. for volunteer orientation @ 6pm, HFHSA Office @ 311 Probandt.

LGBT Youth Group meets at MCC Church, 611 E. Myrtle on Sundays at 10:30am. 210.472.3597

Metropolitan Community Church in San Antonio (MCCSA) 611 East Myrtle, services & Sunday school @ 10:30am Call 210.599.9289.

PFLAG, meets 1st Thurs @ 7pm, 1st Unitarian Universalist Church, Gill Rd/Beryl Dr. Call 210. 655.2383.

PFLAG Español on 1st Tues @ 2802 W. Salinas, 7pm. Call 210.849.6315

Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturgy each Thursday at 7 pm at 325 Court-land. Call 210.736.3579.

The Rape Crisis Center, 7500 US Hwy 90 W. Hotline @ 210.349-7273. 210.521.7273 or email Drominishi@rapecrisis.com

The Religious Society of Friends meets Sundays @ 10 am @ The Friends Meeting House, 7052 N. Vandiver. 210.945.8456.

The San Antonio Communist Party USA meets 2nd Sundays from 3-5pm. Contact: juanchostanford@yahoo.com or see Notas y Mas.

San Antonio Gender Association. meets 1st & 3rd Thurs. 6-9pm at 611 E. Myrtle, Metropolitan Community Church downstairs.| sagender.org

SA Healthcare Now Coalition meets 1st Thursdays at 6:30pm @ National Nurses Organizing Committee office 7959 Fredericksburg Rd. 210.882.2230 or healthcarenowsa.org

San Antonio NOW meets 4th Weds @ La Madeline on Broadway @ 6:30pm. Call: 210.673.8600

Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Center classes are on Tuesdays at 7pm, & Sun. at 11:30 am. at 1114 So. St. Mary’s. Call 210.222.9303.

The Society of Latino and His-panic Writers SA meets 2nd Mon-days, 7 pm @ Barnes & Noble, San Pedro Crossing.

S.N.A.P. (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Contact Barbara at 210.725.8329.

Voice for Animals Contact 210.737.3138 or voiceforanimals.org for meeting times

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¡Todos somos Esperanza! It takes a whole community to work for social

change. You can support this work financially by becoming a monthly donor to Esperanza.

Esperanza works to bring awareness and action on issues relevant to our communities. With our vision for social, environmental, economic and gender justice, Esperanza centers the voices and

experiences of the poor & working class, women, queer people and people of color. We hold pláticas and workshops; organize political actions; present

exhibits and performances and document and preserve our cultural histories. We consistently

challenge City Council and the corporate powers of the city on issues of development, low-wage jobs,

gentrification, clean energy and more.

It takes all of us to keep the Esperanza going. When you contribute monthly to the Esperanza you are

making a long-term commitment to the movement for progressive change in San Antonio, allowing Esperanza to sustain and expand our programs.

Monthly donors can give as little as $3 and as much as $300 a month or more.

What would it take for YOU to become a monthly donor? Call or come by the Esperanza to learn how.

¡Esperanza vive! ¡La lucha sigue!

Contact Amanda @ 210.228.0201 or esperanza@esperanzacenter.org for more info

Be Part of a Progressive Movement

in San Antonio

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Notas Y Más Brief notes to inform readers about happenings in the community. Send announcements for Notas y Más to:

lavoz@esperanzacenter.orgor by mail to: 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212.

The deadline is the 8th of each month.September 2011

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The Land Heritage Institute hosts a ben-efit event on Fri., Sept. 2nd, 8:30-10:30 pm on the San Antonio River behind 100 E. Guenther St. $25/person. Sat., Sept. 3rd, LHI will hold an Art-Sci Symposium with speakers from 9 am - 6:30 pm at 1349 Neal Rd. betwn Applewhite & Pleasanton Rds. Free! See: www.landheritageinstitute.org.

The Instituto Cultural de Mexico hosts FOTOSEPTIEMBRE USA 2011 in San An-tonio opening Sat., September 3rd, 4-8 pm at 600 Hemisfair Park. Call 210.227.0123 or see www.saculturamexico.org for more.

San Antonio Communist Party USA meets 2nd Sundays from 3-5pm. The Sep-tember 11th meeting will be at the Bazan Branch Library, 2200 W. Commerce St. Contact: juanchostanford@yahoo.com.

None Shall Make Them Afraid, a celebra-tion of unity will take place at the peace-Center, 1443 S. St. Mary’s on September 11th from 3-5 pm with song, dance, poetry.

Space is limited so check www.salsa.net/peace or call 210.325.3498 for details.

Moving Planet SA joins in on a global day of climate action with A Moving Planet Fair on Sept. 24th from 9am -1 pm at the Pearl, 200 E. Grayson followed by a Celebration at the Health Collaborative, 11am-1pm at 1002 N. Flores with piñatas and more! See: http://www.moving-planet.org/events/us/san-antonio/536

Tan Cerca de la Frontera is sending a delegation to Ciudad Acuña, Mexico from Austin on October 7-9 in solidarity with Co-mité Fronterizo de Obreras/os. Workers there are defying an illegal ban on unions by affiliating with The Mexican Mine and Metal Workers in the first democratic bor-der union. Elvia Arriola, of Women on the Border, will translate. $225 includes trans-portation, food, lodging & info. Passports required. Email JRosenberg@atcf.org or call Judith, 512.494.8377 to register. See www.atcf.org or call 512.474.2399.

Mexic-Arte Musuem’s Día de los Muer-tos Procession is Oct 22, 6-7 pm. Gather at 5pm at Plaza Saltillo in Austin See: www.mexic-artemuseum.org for details to join the procession. Deadline: Oct 14.

GLOW: The Nuclear Show at Bilh Haus Arts (www.bihlhausarts.org) is calling art-ists to submit work dealing with local, re-gional and global nuclear power/energy is-sues. The exhibit scheduled for this spring will be curated by Nuclear Meltdown (a.k.a. David Zamora Casas). Contact: davidzamoracasas@hotmail.com or call 210.739.9939.

The International Research Journal of Library, Information and Archival Studies, a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal published monthly by Interna-tional Research Journals welcomes the submission of manuscripts to: irjlias@in-tersjournals.org. See http://interesjournals.org/IRJLIAS for details.

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Margaret RandallThursday, September 15 @ 5-6pm

Margaret will read from her recent Wings Press book As If the Empty Chair: Poems for the Disappeared • Como si la silla vacía: Poemas para los desaparecidos

Las Américas Letters Series in Literature and the Arts presents world renowned author

St. Mary’s University in Treadaway Recital Wall (off Marquette St)

september 2011 marks ten years ofweekly peace vigils calling for and end to occupation and war.

every Thursday, 4-6pmat the corners of Flores & CommerceSan Antonio, TX

Memorial Branch Library presents

The Art of Cultura y Herencia

Illustrations from Books of Carmen Tafolla

Opening Reception ThursdaySeptember 15 @ 5:30pm exhibit on display Sept 15-Oct 15, 20113222 Culebra • 210.432.6783 Ph

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Non-Profit Org.US Postage

PAIDSan Antonio, TX

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La Voz de Esperanza922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212210.228.0201 • fax: 210.228.0000www.esperanzacenter.org

Vengan al Rinconcito de Esperanza

Join Esperanza Peace & Justice Center as

Lorna Dee Cervantes unveils her most recent Wings Press work

Ciento: 100 100-word Poemas de Amor

In this delightful book, Lorna Dee Cervantes has undertaken a mad discipline: the 100 word format ... Full of playfulness,

rage and her traditional fire, Ciento is a masterful performance...These are the world’s biggest, deepest, miniatures. - Luis Alberto Urrea

September 16, 20116:30pm - 8:30pm @ Esperanza, Free

monthly concert series with singer/songwriter Azul $5 más o menosEsperanza Center

Noche azulde Esperanza

22nd Annual

Mercado de PazPeace MarketNovember 25-26, 2011

Available September 1, 2011at www.esperanzacenter.org or

stop by Esperanza Center 210.228.0201(due October 10th)

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2011 Vol. 24 Issue 7•

La Voz is online at www.esperanzacenter.org

Haven’t opened La Voz in awhile? Prefer to read it online? LET US KNOW.

To CANCel A SubSCriPTioN 2nd Saturdaysat Casa de Cuentos 820 S. Colorado at 10am¿Como era el westside en aquellos tiempos?Share your memories! Call 210.228.0201 for info

¡Viva Mexico! 8pm • SaturdaySeptember 17

email: lavoz@esperanzacenter.orgcall: 210.228.0201

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