Trade Agreements, Border Policies, and Racist Vigilantes. Time is Up for the Minutemen!
A free public forum to discuss Trade agreements, Border Policies, and Racist Vigilantes

Sunday, November 20th, 2005 from 2 – 5 PM
SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings

Since April 2005, the Minutemen Project- a racist border vigilante group- has conducted armed border patrols and lobbied for stricter immigration control in a post 9/11 climate where the “anti terrorist” paradigm has already resulted in increased abuses of migrants and racialized communities, including indigenous peoples affected by the violently-imposed border dividing their territories and communities.

The Minutemen are a present day example of a history of violence towards migrants. At least 464 died crossing the U.S. / Mexico border during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 as a direct consequence of Operation Gatekeeper. It also must be remembered that the U.S. invasion of Mexico resulted in the murder of at least 25,000 Mexican people for the land the Minutemen patrol today and that the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 has forced over 1.5 Million Mexican farmers off their land and created a multi-faceted crisis along the 2000 mile U.S. / Mexican border.

On October 1st of this year, the Minutemen spread their activity to the U.S. / Canadian border.

Join us in a discussion about groups like the Minutemen and the threat they pose to our communities, the ways in which the “the war on terror” legitimizes the actions of such groups, and the global neo-liberal realities of migration.

* Rosalinda Guillen: migrated to Washington state where she picked crops from the age of 10. Her tireless work resulted in the first-ever collective bargaining agreement for farm workers in Washington and she became NW Regional Director and National VP for United Farm Workers.

* Michael Vendiola: from the Swinomish Nation, and currently Ethnic Student Center’s coordinator at Western Washington University.

* Chinmoy Banerjee: former professor in the Department of English at SFU and founding member of the BC Organization to Fight Racism in the 1980s mobilizing against KKK violence.

* Lawrence J. Estrada: Associate Professor of Social Theory and Comparative/Ethnic Studies at Fairhaven College and Director of American Cultural Studies at Western Washington University.

* Mandeep Dhillon: organizer with No One Is Illegal Vancouver