Witness For Peace-NE Spring events exploring the Roots and Realities of migration were a great success. Padre Uvi, a tireless human rights supporter from Oaxaca, Mexico was joined by speakers from ADP Worker Center/Casa Obrera (Springfield, MA), Western MA Coalition for Immigrant & Worker Rights (Greenfield, MA), and Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (Boston, MA).
During several half day and evening conference events, we explored such issues as:

• Who migrates from family and home--and why?
• What is life in NE like for migrants who come to work here?
• What is the economic impact of immigrant workers--why are immigrants hired?
• What US policy changes could improve lives on BOTH sides of the border?

The events gave me much to reflect on. Migration is a fact of life. In the distant past, it was a necessary part of the life cycle, a mechanism for survival. As seasons changed, so did the need for shelter and food sources. As communities formed and laid claim to land and resources, people were forced to migrate either for suvival and safety. Is it so different today?

As they needed to follow the food chain during the changing seasons, other patterns of migration have became clear. People migrated voluntarily to escape opressive leaders or involuntarily to alleviate over-crowded prisons. They left voluntarily to seek a piece of land, control their destiny or involuntarily to work on plantations as slaves creating someone else's destiny.

I find it troubling that centuries later, we have not evolved very much. In many ways, we have become our forefathers, as an abused child becomes an abusive parent. Here in the US, empire has been created with fear as the weapon by which to control. Borders and policies have been created to protect our assets and those same policies are destroying lives.

In addition, a monster that we have no idea how to tame has been created. Debt has become a master that threatens to consume us. The empire is crippled and we are suffocating from its debt. So what do we do? Do we continue strutting our stuff at the masquerade ball?

It is clear that capitalism, as it has developed, divides people. Unchecked, it destroys families and relationships. It crushes our humanity and paralyzes our creativity. I see a great spiritual void created and in the longing to feel whole we succumb to advertisers and credit cards. We are blinded and have given away our personal power. Sooner or later we will, in the words of the Grateful Dead, “Wake up to find out that [we] are the eyes of the world.”
This ethical blindness allows real and violent wrongs to continue. As a country, we remain complicit in this negative spiral of consumerism.
Listening to the stories of the speakers caused me to to critically examine my own assumptions and consumptions. It is time to get creative and speak up with new and radically liberating possibilites.

Thanks to all the participating organizations that helped to make this event a success:
• Peter Buck–Equal Exchange,
• Tim Fitz–ADP Worker Center/Casa Obrera
• Abbie Jenks–Western MA Coalition for Immigrant & Worker Rights
• Shu Ohno–Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
• Kate Kressley–Minds Alive Program, South Church, Portsmouth, NH
• Linda MacKay, Boston College
• WFPNE Steering Committee

Remembering the Tapestry
By Joanne Ranney

In Oaxaca the streets and sidewalks remain both holey and holy. It is not possible to reach your destination without remaining mindful. You first re-member the ancient paths of the first natives, the second natives, the conquistadors, neo-liberal invaders and the resistance. Secondly you remember your vulnerability. You risk both physical and spiritual injury when you fail to re-member history.

Repaving the surface is useless without re-weaving foundations.