Thousands of guest workers have been repatriated out of the US Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands due to the collapse of the notorious Saipan garment industries and thousands more are in limbo awaiting their fate as US Homeland Security holds May 19 meetings to make that determination, prescribed by the new law, PL 110-229.
CNMI workers and activists held a May Day March and rally for social justice in. Messages were read and speakers included CNMI Representative Tina Sablan, Wendy Doromal, Steve Woodruff, and many others. All NMI worker groups and associations were represented.
My comments are listed below. I full report on this never ending story with pictures can be found at Wendy Doromal's unheardnomore.blogspot.com
Chamberonomics 100...another march
Stalled until November 28, 2009, federalization of labor and immigration will end a two tiered system of servitude that has shamed America and the Northern Marianas Islands for a generation. Few usurpations compare to the immoral model advanced here by corporate greed founded in human exploitation.
Our economy is in ruin. Potable water is more costly than gasoline. Still, we could celebrate that justice, decency, and fair play were victorious over tyranny, except one issue, what to do with the long unrepresented disenfranchised workers. Our diversity is our strength, and someday, US history writers will document this case in disbelief.
Besides the stains of human exploitation, the status quo of servitude proponents created a plastic economic model that did not force textile profits back into our infrastructure, had callous disregard toward our environment, and provided nothing in the form of education, training, or opportunity for local young people. The damaging effects of our brightest indigenous young people leaving the Northern Marianas may be felt for a generation.
So today we had another march, appropriately on May Day. I’m not fond of marches because the effectiveness of a concerted action is not measured by pretty pictures of banners, but by the response it provokes. The December 7, 2007 Unity March was the largest percentage of people to ever participate in a concerted action anywhere, but the local government did not respond or repeal the Island Slave Law, PL-15-08. Instead, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce/HANMI/Fitial administration lobbied the US Congress again, both to stall the minimum wage increase and block the grandfathering clause from the federalization bill.
This case will never end until we address the grievances of the past workers, until we make the Jack Abramoff/Tom Delay bribery conspirators stand accountable for their actions, and until we provide a working status with an unobstructed path to US citizenship for CGWs and protect workers from deportation by our notorious Department of Labor before the US takeover. The corruption and perfidy in our DOL is unwarrantable jurisdiction from tyrants protecting the status quo.
The tyrant’s propaganda aims to distort our case and scramble it with US mainland immigration issues, but there are no similarities between the NMI and the Mexican border. It is a well documented fact that recruiters for the Saipan garment industry lured indigent third world workers to Saipan with promises of opportunity in America. They targeted uneducated non English speakers so their future workers would have no ability to communicate the dire situation or represent themselves against abuse. Colluding with lawmakers, the garment industry monopolized our infrastructure and created labor and immigration laws that denied workers their most important freedom, the ability to quit and/or change employers. Workers were financially controlled with textbook strategy. Behind spiraling wealth, the garment industry’s influence even controlled voting in the United States Congress and they openly bragged of their untouchable status. Financially handcuffed, many workers lived with fear, afraid to speak out or stand up against oppression. To summarize this case, industrial profiteers preyed on the friendly laid back nature of islanders with no industrial or labor experience to victimize impoverished alien workers.
People here that bribed the US Congress are lobbying in DC today, and they are the same participants suing America. My comments to Homeland Security asked "if these tyrants prevail in court, will the system of servitude here continue". The law requires a status recommendation for workers within two years and we have unyielding hope that Homeland Security will look closely at the facts and let them be submitted to an unbiased nation. In concern of the entire disenfranchisement of one-half the residents of this US commonwealth, we ask that this matter be addressed immediately.
With all this considered, it stands to reason that I do not support any form of CNMI residency and I do not support amending or altering the federalization law in any manner, as I feel this is a ploy by the powerful to block federalization and stall long overdue decency in our home.
We are thankful to have a new Homeland Security office in Saipan that will aid IR’s and others and we are thankful to finally have a member of the US Congress to speak for the people here.
Perhaps someday your contributions to social justice will be reflected by the reputations of the friendly residents of these wonderful islands. I thank each of you for supporting social justice with your presence today, and I will end with a quote from Fredrick Douglas.
"The moral government of the universe is on our side, and cooperates, with all honest efforts, to lift up the down-trodden and oppressed in all lands..."
Ron Hodges
Saipan