About the GPCA Organizing Resources Take Action Elections and Candidates Issues and Platform Latest News Home
Green Focus home
 




[ SUBSCRIBE ]  

Inside Green Focus

  Latest Issue
Elections & Strategy
Green Issues
Local Greens
Elected Greens
Opinion & Reviews
News Clips & Letters

About Green Focus

 
Subscribe
About
Submit Articles, Photos, Graphics
Advertise
Link to Us
Fall 2005 (current) [PDF] [HTML]

Back Issues

  Fall 2005 (current) [PDF] [HTML]
Summer 2005
[PDF]   
Spanish Version [PDF]
Spring 2005
[PDF]
Winter 2004
Fall 2004
Winter 2003
Fall 2003
Summer 2003
Spring 2003

Editorial: Fear of the 'enemy' masks the danger within

In this issue:

Turning the Green Party Black in 2003
Green candidates win fifty percent of local races
State election analysis presents challenges to Party growth
Whither To Grow?
Greens grow as a state force in California politics
PATRIOT Act takes US to McCarthyism, and beyond
Green Party of the U.S. Opposes Iraqi Invasion
Multiparty political system needed now
UCD Campus Greens take leading role in upgrading democracy
Endorsements matter in City Council race
Editorial: FAQ - What Does it Mean to Vote Green?
Editorial: Fear of the 'enemy' masks the danger within
Review: The War on Freedom - How and Why America was Attacked September 11, 2001
News Clips
In these troubled times, Green Party and coalition activism was able to secure a major victory in San Diego: the INS has released all lawful immigrants and allowed them to return to their families on Christmas.

by Karine Megerdoomian

As we were going to publication on the January issue of Green Focus, we received news of an estimated 500 to 2,000 Middle Eastern immigrants who had been detained in California by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), when male visa holders ages 16 and older from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria were asked to report to immigration offices to be fingerprinted and photographed. In Los Angeles alone, over 700 men were handcuffed and detained simply because INS did not have enough personnel to handle all cases. In fact, most had been awaiting the processing of their visa renewals and residency applications and were detained because of the failure of the INS to process their adjustment of visa status in a timely fashion.

On Wednesday, December 18, the LA Greens joined thousands of Iranian-Americans in a protest outside the federal building in Los Angeles. In San Diego, the Green Party formed a coalition with local immigrant rights, social justice and community groups, issuing a press release condemning the INS actions and organizing a press conference in front of the INS building. Representatives of various community groups and immigration lawyers met with INS in Los Angeles and San Diego and demanded that bond hearings take place immediately for the innocent detainees.

Thanks to the efforts of organizers and participants, INS has released all lawful immigrants allowing them to return to their families on Christmas, marking a victory for the political groups that organized united actions. In addition, INS has promised to add staff for the January 10 registration deadline, when the second group of immigrants from 13 additional (mostly Arab) countries is to report to INS offices.

The INS targeted people for differential treatment, including incarceration, based solely on their ethnicity and national origin. "This action threatens the rights of all Americans, said Sara Amir, Green Party spokesperson and an Iranian-American herself. "This massive escalation by Attorney General John Ashcroft is arbitrary and discriminatory.” It is important to note, however, that INS actions are part of a larger context of the “War on Terrorism” where in the name of national security, civil liberties and constitutional rights of immigrants as well as those of citizens are being curtailed every day. With the passage of the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act in Congress, with virtually no opposition from the Democratic Party and almost no media coverage or public debate, we are headed towards recreating the atmosphere that allowed the FBI to spy on dissenters and activists in the late 50s.

In a striking parallel to the McCarthy era, the government tries to make the general public fearful of the enemy, in this instance terrorists. The frightened and angry public is then ready to take drastic actions against them and concedes to the enemy’s imprisonment at home and military action abroad. While the hysteria of the “war on terrorism” keeps growing, our duty is to provide the public debate missing in our newspapers and Congress, and we should ask ourselves whether our freedoms were the problem?

Being a citizen these days can encompass many acts during the course of a week. With the help of many people, we were able to affect thousands of lives for the better, and still produce this, the second issue of the Green Focus newspaper, as a forum for discussion of issues, communication of statewide actions and an outlet for analysis of news with a Green perspective. There is no better method to effectively safeguard our freedoms than to be informed citizens. We hope you subscribe and submit your articles—it’s a great way to support both the statewide newspaper and the Green Party of California.


> Green Focus Home
> Subscribe to Green Focus