Standup for yours and others rights..

May 21 2008, Cambridge , MA 7pm

Today, I was standing with a poster in hand in Cambridge Central square. Carol, Alpana, Brian and many more community members where there with me hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder. Our aim was to create awareness about the plight of 550 Indian trafficked workers and ensuing hunger strike by some of the workers.

We are from different organizations, genders, sexual orientations, different races, we hailed from different corners of the world. But we stood united to give a voice to this modern slavery. In the age of Paris Hilton getting much of our prime time TV exposure and the rest going for the presidential coverage, we want to give a voice to this issue and get some much needed attention to the underlying problem.

The more I talked about it to complete strangers, the more powerful was the urge to do more for the plight of this helpless workers. These workers and their families and friends have sacrificed a lot for chasing a dream. A simple dream of having a better life and A simple dream of providing to their families. A simple dream of getting their brothers and sisters married off , in some cases their sons and daughters. I am sure some dreams were about building a house which they can call theirs for rest of their life. Or perhaps it could be as simple as putting food on their families table. But little did they know that they are duped into modern slavery and they will be virtual prisoners and end up with $20,000 in debt.

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Little did they know that they will be packed like sardines in small trailers and will be charged $1000 per month for that filthy inhumane conditions. Little did they know that they are the only group of employees who are forced to live in that condition and not free to live elsewhere. Little did they know their passports and visa papers will be confiscated by their employer.

BACKGROUND :

* In the aftermath of Katrina, Gult Coast employers lock African Amercian workers out and conspire with recruiters to find exploitable foreign workers to lock in.

* In late 2006, over 500 Indian workers mortgage their futures for an American dream by selling their homes, family farms and wives jewelry to raise $20,000 apiece for false promises of green cards and permanent residency from US and Indian recruiters.

* Instead they receive ten-month H2B guest worker visas and arrive to an American nightmare at Signal International worksites in Mississippi and Texas. They forced to live in company "man-camps" 24 men to a trailer, for which $1,050 a month is deducted from their salaries. Workers are trapper by ocean of debt at home and constand threats of deportation from the company when they ask for improvements.

*March, 9 2007, After workers begin to organize at the Pascagoula, MS shipyard, Signal stages a pre-dawn raid by armed guards who hold three of the workers in a locked room, saying they will be deported the next day. In desperation, worker and organizer Sabulal Vijayan slits his wrist in a suicide attemp, prompting hundres of workers to striker. Signal releases the organizers but fires them. The company thinks its problem are over, but workers continue to organize.

I applaud their courage to escape the modern day prison and break the chains of modern day slavery. They did not stand up for themselves but for the thousands of other trafficked workers in this country. We may not know their names, we may not know their stories, we may not know their dreams, we may not know their aspirations, but all we know is that they are human beings, and they are part of this society. They are here legally to chase a dream and still they fall thru the cracks. Their dreams and aspirations are shattered. Suddenly their dreams turned to a nightmare.

Does the system help them to get over this? No, it’s too slow to react. Does the new channels shed light on their plight, not its too busy covering Paris Hiltons and Lindsay logans. The younger generation is busy in American IDOL episodes or Reality TV. Where is the outrage, where is the collective shame? Where is our voice? Are we lost or did we gave up hope because of the recent wars? Or did we lost the ability to be compassionate to our fellow human beings? Or did we buy in to the Anti Immigrant right wing? Or we don’t care because their skin color is Brown?Lets prove this wrong, there is a lot to be done and too little time. Let’s not let anyone who is responsible go unpunished.

Lets standup for our rights and others. If you standup you can see the world better and you can see far and clear. This is the basis necessity, lets standup.

Please contact SAALT AT 301-270-1855 or saalt@saalt.org