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the news media reported 30,000 people were in the streets of san Francisco last Monday for el primero Mayo celebrated around the globe as international workers day—but it felt more like 100,000.

In any case, there are 11 million undocumented humans living, working and contributing to the US economy today.

Van Jones has some interesting commentary on his experience of the day from an African-American perspective. His post at Huffington (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/) captured the upbeat tenor and force of the day’s activities—as well as the contrast between what was happening on May 1st and his sense of the flagging momentum of the Black power movement and the sense of resignation that has become de rigeur for so many political protests in the cities these days.

There was an unmistakable electricity in the air May 1st. I felt it as soon as I deboarded the Geary bus and started walking down a closed-off Market Street, encountering the Aztec Dancers in the intersection of Market and Bush. Families were out, communities were organized, the unions were there, everyone in white tee shirts, and a cacophony of music, voices, rhythm, drums. The message was simple and clear: we are human beings—not aliens—our labor enriches this country—we deserve and will have our rights. A sea of bodies streamed down Market street between the Ferry Building and the Civic Center for over four hours.

As I moved among the crowd I felt a surge of hope and optimism—like I got a glimpse of what it might look like to really have an organized labor movement in this country—and had to ask why isn’t Spanish and at least one other language part of a mandatory school curriculum throughout the State, and hey—instead of arguing about whether the “immigrants” (OK now think long and hard about that word) ‘can stay’ –How about we give California back to Mexico? The untold cultural debt we owe to that country and its people, (and routinely take for granted) is enormous.

But we are Americans, and so would rather debate in the halls of congress to what extent we want to CRIMINALIZE the undocumented labor force and any who would lend them assistance (!?!) build 700 mile-long fences (!?!) and dig ourselves further in.

“Learn English and Get in the back of the line.” President George said to the immigrant population on a recent tour through California. Sound familiar? How’s that for democracy?

OK—so, at least we can fight & at best the horrendous piece of legislation known as HR4437, if nothing else is forcing a public debate about LABOR in this country—and there’s no time like now to be really thinking about why we accord it so little value—and by labor all mean all the kinds of invisible labor we & the corporate state take for granted, including yes, where our food comes from, and how so many of the buildings we visit during the day get cleaned etc… but also our own cultural work.

Because my friend Kate and I have been reading the bible lately, I have been reflecting on labor in biblical terms…

ever since the fall when g-d meted out labor as punishment for his creations’ curious desire to open their eyes and taste the apple, humans have mis-apprehended labor’s value.

cursed was woman to bring forth children in pain and be ruled over by man and cursed was the ground upon which man was destined to toil to bring forth food by his sweat until he die and return to it.

lest the humans unite, g-d confused their language so they would not understand one another’s speech.

fearful of one another, men devised slaveries to oppress those not like them and forced them into toil. and man invented money to keep track of the goods and money invented capital and goods went into circulation and labor was separated from use and became instead a means of producing money. and labor became a mark of the poor, measure of disdain.

labor defined as hardship and pain— or to move slowly and with difficulty to belabor the point, taking too much time, the muscular contractions of birth.

not from a rib or a finger but labor—mothers fathers field workers restaurant workers factory workers construction workers office workers cab drivers teachers cultural workers—valuing labor is a radical act.

I plan to consider in what form I can make this small rebellion every day.

If you haven’t already, consider READING THE TEXT of HR 4437 at the Library of Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04437: Learn about the connection being made between our immigrant labor force, the 700 mile fence and terrorism. It’s harrowing.

Also, Senenbrenner, author of HR4437 (http://www.house.gov/sensenbrenner/; http://sensenbrennerwatch.blogspot.com/) is heir to Kimberly-Clark products (http://www.kimberly-clark.com/ ; http://www.kcprofessional.com/) They bring you: Kotex, Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Depend, Pull-ups.

Read up on Sensenbrenner & invest in alternate methods of personal hygiene at once!

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 6th, 2006 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.