Southern Sister

Centolia Maldonado Vasquez came and spoke in Missoula last Thursday and peeled back several layers of misconception we priviledged norte americanos cling to in our desperate need to rationalize. Centolia comes from the state of Oaxaca and explained the effects of mass migration to the north on her country, region, culture and family and then linked this calamitous phenomona with it's roots in US policy.

Whether white and affluent or colored and working class, most folks think of immigration only in terms of how it might spoil their little parade here in the land of the free, home of the brave, but there is of course another story and the more it is told the more these destructive myths can be shattered. To think of your fellow workers as the enemy is to be a stooge, the kind the bosses laugh at all the way to the bank.

She also spoke of the resistance movement in the region which arose from a teachers strike and then briefly flourished ,with solidarity coming from many social organizations, before being brutally repressed by state violence. It was a painful part of the discussion for Centolia as she recounted her dead , wounded and jailed comrades and she was obviously dismayed at the governments successful infiltration and suppression of the movement. Of course it is far from over.

The group Witness for Peace coordinated this event (along with CAJA and SESJ) and is facilitating Centolias tour throughout the northwest. They organize one to two week delegations to places like Oaxaca, Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela so folks can learn first hand the effects of US foreign policy on our neighbors to the south. And put a human face on what are to often abstract discussions.