Transcript of Woodbridge Worker's Committee workshop on Zapatista organizing

Jim Macdonald

On Saturday, March 3, 2007, members from the Woodbridge Worker’s Committee in Woodbridge, Virginia, spoke at a workshop at the DC Social Forum about their experience organizing with immigrant communities using the Zapatista model of organizing.

What follows is a transcript of the discussion, which involved presentations by members of the worker’s committee. They spoke about the links between neoliberal globalization and immigration, about some of the particular experiences of members of the groups as it relates to immigration and globalization. They also spoke about the experience of the Woodbridge Worker’s Committee in general as well as the non-hierarchical, community-based, autonomous organizing they do in following Zapatista principles.

Afterwards, a discussion ensued. The session was small with not more than a dozen people in the room. Many of the participants themselves worked with immigrant worker communities in Herndon, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Much of the discussion was about non-hierarchical organizing principles and how easily they may be applied into situations where such organizing was not the norm.

The Woodbridge Worker’s Committee, working with Mexicanos Sin Fronteras (of which they are a participating organization), have an event in solidarity with the people of Oaxaca, and will be protesting at the Mexican Embassy at 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW at 4PM on Tuesday, March 6. There is also a reception of the Oaxaca Human Rights Delegation on Monday, March 5, at 6:30 PM at Alfishawy People’s Media Café, at 4132 Georgia Avenue NW.

Here is a rough transcript of the workshop, which was in both English and Spanish.

Teresita facilitated the discussion and opened with a discussion of Zapatista principles.

Teresita: Several members of the Woodbridge Worker’s Committee followed Zapatismo following these principles (see, for example, What is it that is different about the Zapatistas?)

Here are some of the principles:

No leadership

Ask questions; no real answers (We want to keep our comments brief because we don't believe we have real answers.)

Ricardo is coordinator, but we are all in charge; that is we are non-hierarchical.

Mutual respect

Collective organizing and collective partnership

Mexicanos sin fronteras are regional, but every committee is autonomous (autonomous organizing)

No one person or no one head decides for anyone else what’s good for a place

It is very important to include women in the organizing; the voice of women is essential for the movement, but the voice of women are used to promote not women but the work of the movement.

John will begin by talking about globalization and the impact on the work.

John: I work with the presumption that people understand what globalization is:

Neoliberal globalization has been especially strong since 1980s…(though globalization has as a process gone on much longer). The purpose is to secure access to resources from the South, secure access to labor, secure access to markets.

It manifests itself through institutions like the World Bank, the IMF, and other IFIs, and it manifests itself through military force and military alliances to enforce financial arrangement.

Neoliberalism has been a disaster for the poor everywhere. The gap between rich and poor has increased, and there has been an increase in internal oppression and repression in the South.

Neoliberal globalization is linked with the issue of migration; this migration is a global phenomenon, and it has directly led to migrant workers coming from the South. If you destroy economies, then people become desperate and they move to where the jobs are.

So, we need to understand the current situation as being of workers and exploited communities. We need to understand that the situation calls for being in solidarity with the immigrant workers here.

There are powerful workers working right now trying and succeeding in dividing us; black and white; non-citizens and citizens; our strength lies in our unity. Where there are divisions that have been created (like brown and black) (labor movement and immigrant labors), we need to have honest straightforward face-to-face, frank discussions, and talk directly to each other.

The last thing I want to say is that when we look at immigrants rights struggle that we need to see it in a broader struggle; environmental struggle, Iraq war, immigration, globalization are all connected.

It’s very sad to go to the workshop this morning with the day laborers and to see a room of day laborers and organizers who work with them and an absence of people from the broader community.

Teresita: Ricardo is next.

Ricardo: I am an immigrant and been here for 11 years, worked in construction. In my experience, asking questions about it…the reasons I left Mexico and the experience with brother and sister immigrants...I have had the opportunity to travel and meet with different immigrant workers in apple fields in New York, with Massachusetts factory workers, New York City day laborers, and to Woodbridge. I have also met workers in North Carolina, and I find the experience the same across these places, at least in general terms.

I am here because of the consequences of globalization.

In Mexico, a lot of people from the small town I come from, worked in agriculture, thought there were some professionals. People are losing their jobs. People are getting poor, and that’s why he’s here. That’s globalization for me.

The struggle that we are making here with day laborers and others are against the way things operate; we see for example the laws don’t fit with the reality. The system is very old; when we arrive as immigrants, we don’t fit in the system. There is exploitation and no protection of labor rights, but these laws and the policies of this country, and those with the economic power are the base of the system. My conclusion is that the system is an oppressive system for us.

In a specific case of my experience and our experience with Woodbridge workers and mexicanos sin fronteras, we are confronting a real aggressive campaign against immigration. Politicians are backing the interests of economic power people. I don’t know if you agree with me, but if we assume that the oppression favors the exploitation and that it supports the system that is in operation, we see that the politicians favor this. The last month in Virginia, there were 50 anti-immigrant bills introduced to the General Assembly. We’ve had struggles against local ordinances, abusive police, and everything is supported by politicians. We have to struggle, and we have had some successful struggles.

So, here is the question related to Zapatistas and immigrants; I know the story of the indios in Chiapas; their example of organizing around these principles. Is that really an option in organizing in response to globalization? The Zapatistas were successful in some terms. I think it will work. How can these principles be applied to our organizing in practice? The basic thing is volunteer work; no one will get paid. The second thing is that all the decisions are under consultation. Then, everything is done through the collective. We’ve gotten a group of workers with Woodbridge Workers. All the organizing is part of the struggle against this economic model (legal, economic, and, political struggle). The people of the United States have the last word. Thank you.

Teresita: Salvador is speaking, a member of the Woodbridge Workers Committee:

Salvador: I represent the Woodbridge Workers Committee. I’m going to tell you my personal story and the story of the town that I come from. I come from a town; our main work is to grow coffee in Puebla. About 15 years ago, the price of coffee came down. At first, it was 50 cents a kilo (and is much lower now). Many times we have to abandon our lands because it is no longer profitable to cultivate coffee, and so many of us who were involved in that kind of work went to a bank to ask for a loan, often leaving our title to the land with the bank in order to be able to grow our product. And, those of us who are no longer able to sustain our work have to turn our lands over to the bank. So, we are forced to come north to this country and leave our families and our land. We come in order to be able to resolve our economic situation and to take care of our families. We come here leaving our children, our families, our wives…

In Woodbridge alone, this is my personal story, but I imagine this is the story of my brothers and sisters across Central and South America. In Woodbridge alone, there are 300 of us who come from that one town. In my personal case, we suffer many things, all of us do, in my personal case, my father gave me his blessing to come north. I will not see him again. I came to pay for his leukemia expenses, but he died. We were not able to help; when I return, I will not be able to help him. We have come here to work honestly, to struggle so that our families will have what they need. We come to suffer dangers, and they suffer there without us. Part of our experience here is to come here to work and to struggle to organize as workers to struggle for our rights.

Thank you for your attention.

Teresita: Nancy is our Legal Coordinator; any troubles with the law we throw at her.

Nancy: We have no answers but a lot of questions. I’m really big on not having the answers!

Salvador’s story is the story of many of the people who come here and the reason we do the work that we do. We understand the impact of globalization on a very personal level when we hear his story. In order to fight the struggle of globalization, it becomes very necessary to meet the needs of individuals who have come here and suffered the impact of globalization who are now suffering the oppression that happens when they come here.

Virginia happens to be one of the most repressive states in the United States given its history of slavery. You can see the repression against blacks and against slaves are being used against the new immigrants. That is one of the reasons why we are trying to make the connections between the black and the brown communities. We’ve been around and been a member of mexicanos sin fronteras for 4 or 5 years now and try to meet the needs of the immigrant community.

What we try to do is first of all wage recovery, which is the biggest issue we face

We have health issues with people being injured on the job and the health workers of families that come from living in this system.

We also have the legal issues. About 2 or 3 years ago, we had a round up in Prince William County where workers were charged with loitering, the police turned them over to ICE.

We also have some over zealous politicians who are trying to enter into relationships with ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) through memorandums of understanding. It is a relationship of understanding between the police department and the jail – Those with the memorandums of understanding are trained as police officers and can detain people, sending them to immigration to have them deported.

There had been only about 3 or 4 counties with memorandums of understanding, but now it’s becoming very popular in Virginia and around the country.

Then, on top of the legal issues, we have the daily issues of food and clothing. The construction industry in Virginia has been in recession; a lot of the men don’t have food or clothing, and so we work on that on a regular basis.

We try to act as a voice for the workers and for the immigrant community and as a resource when negotiating with the county and other levels of government, but there is always the voice of the workers and their families when talking about whatever action that we take.

Thank you

Teresita: Now everyone has the chance to ask for questions and share experiences; we want to know from you about your experiences. We want to learn from you. We want you to tell us a bit about yourself.

Bill (from the Herndon day laborer center): I have a question/comment, I really admire the work that they’ve been able to do; they use a philosophy with a high level of consultation, no one is paid, no one is designated worker, and I have had a chance to talk with Ricardo; I admire it; I found in Herndon; we had a political opportunity to start a center, but the workers are themselves not as involved in the process, and it was hard to figure out how to start a center; we started the center first, and then we decided to pull workers in. Is it possible when you’ve missed the early opportunity, that is, is it possible to capture participation in the worker community later? For instance, I’m known as “El Jefe” (the chief) at the center, and I am paid, and that’s how I am known.

Rachel: The comment made me think of Suburban Sweatshops by Jennifer Gordon, who had a similar problem in the center she started, but eventually it became a self-sustaining organization. She was able to leave it, and they are now more of a collective. My sense is to tell you yes. She was able to move it to be a worker-run organization and that you will be able to do it.

Nancy: There is something about the paid position that makes it difficult; people feel you are being paid, and you have to do the work. Through time, if you could act over the years to step back, back off the paid position, split the paid position into 3 or 4 or 5 positions. It involves a dialogue to start the process to say what you just said.

Jose: I’m from the trabajadores of Washington, DC. I wanted to make a comment about globalization. I know that globalization and privatization are things that go together as well as restructuring (structural adjustments). By comparison, this is what’s happening in El Salvador; I know through university studies…I know these factors always benefit the rich and the transnational companies. It’s hard to get rid of that economic force, but maybe with support of people who support us as collaborators and community organizations, then with the strength and effort with all of us who are immigrants and immigrant workers, we could get rid of that neoliberal system. And, I ask, then what can we do to survive in these neoliberal politics on a local level. And, how can the volunteers and the people who support us help us?

John: I am a temp; I make little more than minimum wage with no benefits. I think the point is that it has to be more than support. It has to be solidarity. We have to understand that our mutual struggles are linked. I want to say that Teresita talked about the principle of mutual respect; part of that is the question of being transparent…telling each other the truth…the way things are…to respect the impeccability of the word - to borrow the phrase of a famous author - that the word has meaning. If the reality is that my Spanish is not very good, but that my companeros (Salvador, for example) still respect me.

Ricardo: I am very concerned about the question Bill had; I wanted to respond to that before we go on to other questions. In this workshop, we are talking about principles. We are talking about the applications of Zapatista principles in their own struggles as an option to take in our own way of organizing. I’m only going to say that Zapatista principles are an option to apply in Herndon, but you should meet and talk with the workers to talk about what will regulate and govern your actions with each other. In our organizing experience on the streets of Woodbridge and Washington, we meet in the morning, I have to start thinking that I am not different than you because I’m an immigrant and we are humans. As an immigrant, as a principle, I will do nothing to hurt another immigrant. If I hire Salvador as a representative, we must respect him - as a principle. People bring in principles, then we ask if we can all respect that. We nailed a paper in the tree, and we wrote our principles out. In the process, we are making some ideas and we make sure they are consistent with the principles and the rules.

The other question is very quick; Jose asked what we can do to survive under globalization. Thinking about the examples and principles of the Zapatistas, there is an important principle, live in your community. What I am saying is that under the example of the Zapatistas and their principles, they decide to live in community; it is very important here because the individual way and ownership of material possessions, to have more than others, is a preference over the community relationship and community possessions. Living in communities is very important.

(female participant in the room whose name I did not catch): How do you organize into committees? In my experience, some people feel more comfortable speaking out, hording space, how do you allow for finding space for people who tend to speak out more than others who need different space?

Ricardo: On the first question on how we organize without hierarchy, we have commissions. We share commission responsibilities; nobody has a position that can’t jump over the work over the other. John coordinates volunteer work and Nancy coordinates legal work; Teresita coordinates education, Salvador coordinates a lot of practical work on the corner (like food distribution). I never make a decision; I don’t go over Nancy’s responsibilities. I never meet with other groups if John doesn’t do his work. So, we meet when we have a problem when responsibilities overlap and make decisions together. Where we have issues, we have an assembly with every member.

Salvador: (on the second question) We consult with the workers always to hear what their words are, to hear what their situation is, to hear what their economic situation is, to decide together what we need to do. All of us are part of the work; all of us are part of the situation. There is no one person who is above any other; if we all have strength, all of us have strength; if some of us are weak; all of us are weak. If we are physically in need, if we are sick, we tell the workers that they must speak up, to tell what it is they are ailing with; we encourage everyone to speak their needs to speak whatever their reality is. Now, we have come to know these people here (including Teresita and Nancy and John) who have done their job among us. We did not come to discover and tell the workers that this is your reality; they already were communicating with each other about the same thing. We on this committee are the ones who have been discovered. We aren’t bringing gifts; we discovered each other. It’s not patronizing; we have simply become part of their lives.

John: a brief story, during the immigrant solidarity network (at American University), people were talking about popular education and how people with white skin and gender privilege, that we should go out and educate Salvador about his reality. So, I raised my hand, "But, I work with the Woodbridge Workers Committee; many of them are very politically sophisticated, and they teach me." But, I wasn’t heard, and I felt lonely.

Teresita: We are all under the same economic yoke; we are all workers; we need to look at each other that way (whether teachers, laborers, etc.) So, we try to break down that barrier that says we are privileged because we are white, men, educated. The education is in our families. We as a committee, as part of the workers, we have the privilege of receiving more than we actually give. My privilege is this language, that I can speak two languages, that we are able to go out with the workers. We give nothing in reality.

Ricardo: At the end of this experience, we are strongly unified because of the trust. Trust is the key. When you are not over someone, when you respect different opinions or different aspects of themselves, when you do it the collective way, you trust. My partners on the Woodbridge Workers, they have trust and faith in my personal work and vice versa.

(and with that, the workshop ended)