Macro!

The workshop I'm in at the conference was supposed to be "Organizing for Immigrant Rights," and I assumed that meant developing skills for building bridges between communities, overcoming language barriers, adjusting to work with different cultural leadership styles, etc. What it turned out to be was a "sharing our personal stories and feelings" fest. Maybe it's the Asian or the WASPy background; either way, I am not a "sharing my personal stories and feelings" person. I am a "here is the problem, how can we fix it" person. And the consensus "fix it" strategy seemed to be more sharing and emotional understanding. Not that that's not valid, I just don't think that does anything on the large-scale strategic level. Telling more compelling and emotional stories might help me understand individuals and the human experience better, but it's not going to stop the Senate Judiciary Committee from tacking a national ID requirement onto an appropriations bill when Congress reconvenes. But maybe that's just me. I wrote that on the evaluation form, too. As my sister told me the other day, sometimes I don't know how to be unblunt.

Anyway, during the workshop, we watched Uprooted, a documentary put out by the National Network of Immigrant and Refugee Rights. I thought it was pretty well done, even if the discussion moderation afterwards wasn't. Short, too. Basically it followed the lives of three workers whose lives were altered for the worse by NAFTA, FTAA, and other trade policies. Obviously, it's biased. It comes down pretty hard against "fair" trade agreements. I learned a few things, though: I didn't know that the Philippines has the highest percentage of workers overseas, in part to pay off an IMF debt. (During "sharing time," I did not reveal that Grandma left more so that she could get a divorce than because of the Marcos regime and economic or political reasons. There seemed to be some internalized stereotypes about immigrants in the room.) Anyway, it was a decent documentary. Depressing as hell, but well done.

And the "fun" activities for tonight were a roundtable discussion on anti-immigrant sentiment and a viewing of the film "The Landless: Through Latin American Paths." But I felt like my duty stopped at 5 p.m., so I went wandering around downtown Portland, browsing the sales-tax-free shops. Mission accomplished, too. Got a small laptop bag. Tax-free! (So I saved what, $1.99? Guess that's enough to pay a sweatshop worker in LA for making the bag.... Damn. Sometimes organizing work makes a basket case out of the organizer. Where's the booze on this campus???)