Uprooted is about shifting the terms of the immigration debate by encouraging and enabling migrants and their allies to share their stories.  Our video trainings are an integral component of this project, because they allow those without  video production capabilities the opportunity to produce a piece for inclusion in the project.

Check out this piece from one of our interns who learned basic video production while working with us. The piece illustrates the complexity of the double life undocumented migrants often must lead. Descriptions of the difficulties of living in the US without proper documentation– from the labor abuses, to becoming estranged from their country of origin and having limited opportunities here– are juxtaposed with footage of the undocumented doing quotidian activities, like preparing a meal, playing video games and doing homework.

Corporate news media often filter migrant justice issues through a nativist lens, reducing the millions of undocumented people in the United States to cultural bogeymen, if not criminals.  As Uprooted develops into a 10-part video series, we will be contextualizing the idea of “opportunity” that is interwoven throughout this piece– why are there more opportunities here than in global south? What social and economic policies have created the opportunities of the developed world and subsequently forced people of the global south to uproot themselves?

Want to produce media addressing migration issues? We can help!

Already have media on migration issues you’d like to see shared with an international audience: submit it to Uprooted for potential inclusion in our 10-part tv/dvd series!

The horrific murder of 76 people in Norway on July 22nd underscores the fact that, much like in the United States, migration is a giant issue facing Europe. The 1,500 page political manifesto released by Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed killer, blends together racist, anti-feminist and anti-marxist rhetoric with islamophobia and anti-immigrant vitriol. Yet Breivik’s diatribes are not such a far cry from the political tide gaining strength in many countries of Europe. New laws in France and Belgium banning the veil and the burqa and the rise of anti-immigrant political parties have served to strengthen an extreme right wing agenda on the European continent.

One of the goals of Uprooted is to draw connections between migration and other social / economic phenomena. What are the forces in the contemporary world that push people to leave home, family, neighbors, the familiar to cross barriers of mountains, oceans, deserts and language to go to other, often hostile countries?

Why does the extreme right focus on immigration? How does xenophobia reinforce the imperialist, white, male hegemony, so blatantly promoted by politicians and much of the media? And most chillingly of all: are attacks, like those perpetrated in Norway, the logical next step to arise from the political ideologies espoused by the far right – little examined,  frequently underplayed or even at times rationalized in the corporate media.

Deep Dish TV and the Uprooted team are working with European filmmakers and activists to develop a series of short documentaries that focus on the dimensions of the migration conflicts in Europe, including No Borders a group that challenge the very concept of nation-states and borders.

The following video is from a 2007  No Borders camp on the California/ Mexico border:

Uprooted will help to create an alternative to the mainstream medias discourse on immigration, which finds expression in and  fuels the rise of hate groups and the extreme right.

In their search for a narrative through which to filter the tragic attacks in Norway, many media outlets framed the bombing and shootings in an all too familiar way. Many outlets first pointed fingers at “Islamic terrorists” before anything was even known about the cause for the attacks. The Sun and the Washington Post, not only assumed the tragedies were the result of Muslim militant groups, but that they were attacks on “Western values,” tactical strikes in the so-called “Clash of Civilizations” between “the West” and Islam. In reality however, it was those very theories that state that Europe or “the West” is at “war” with Islam that drove Breivik to his actions. Those actions that he claims were a preemptive strike against the “Islamization” of Europe.

As Glen Greenwald points out in an article for Salon.com, the news media immediately stopped calling the attacks “terrorism” when they learned that the perpetrator was a white European nationalist. This is because, as Greenwald puts it, “Terrorism has no objective meaning and, at least in American political discourse, has come functionally to mean: violence committed by Muslims whom the West dislikes.” With attitudes like this perpetuated by the so-called “liberal news media” is it any wonder that members of the ultra-right have stated that they ideologically agree with Breivik, even if they don’t condone his violence?

The mainstream media has labeled Breivik a “madman,” an “extremist,” and even a “psychopath”. By dismissing him as a crazy individual they neglect to place his racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric in its rightful context: within the rise of right-wing extremism and white supremacy in Europe. The “lone madman” interpretation of events ignores the fact that in the past few years the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant hatred of the so-called “extremists also finds congruence within mainstream “reasoned” political discourse . Last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel commented that multiculturalism had “utterly failed.” Shortly before these comments, a German politician released a book criticizing Germany’s immigration policy for engendering the same “Islamization” of Germany and Europe that Breivik feared. Both British PM David Cameron and French President Sarkozy have cast multiculturalism as a threat to their societies.

In his manifesto, Breivik listed Dutch anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders as one of his greatest influences.  Wilders has compared the Quran to Mein Kampf. While Wilders has hastily denied any connection to Breivik, his influence, and that of others like him cannot be denied. As author, journalist and professor Jeff Sharlet stated in an interview on Democracy Now!, the right wing politicians and pundits “are engaging in a rhetoric that sort of walks right up to that step of violence, and Breivik took the step. And it’s a little disingenuous for them to say, ‘Well, we never imagined anyone would do that.’ Painting Islam and immigrants as a threat to ‘western society’ that cannot be reasoned with and must be stopped at all cost paves the way for violence.”

In a well reasoned argument on Democracy Now!, renowned Norweigian peace activist and scholar Johan Galtung, compared Breivik’s philosophy to Nazism in no uncertain terms. He also stated however, that, ” This is exactly the ideology of the Washington-led attack on Muslim countries.” Citing the bombing of Libya and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as policies that take the same philosophy used by Breivik to its logical conclusion. These are scary realities to confront.

Nevertheless, Galtung did offer some words of hope for a solution. He stated that what is needed is a renewed call for dialogue; with the extreme right as well as with those groups which they so fear. “What a fantastic symbol this would be” he said, “leaving these rightists behind, saying, “You are not a part of our history. You belong to the past. Come and join us in this endeavor. Talk with the Islamic people you are so afraid of.” And you will find them 99.99 percent very, very reasonable.”

Fighting dehumanization in this way is the best strategy for challenging the largely white, straight, male political and cultural establishment that so fears the power of a more culturally integrated generation. That is why Uprooted is devoted to reclaiming the humanity of migrants both documented and undocumented. By telling their stories and giving them a place to have their voices heard Uprooted hopes to contribute to this dialogue for peace. By examining how migration relates to labor, imperialism, patriarchy and globalization Uprooted will contribute to the arguments that stand against xenophobia and racism. We hope that this project will be a tool that can be used to help stem the flow of hatred and challenge the pathological path advocated by those like Anders Breivik.

To learn more about Uprooted and how you can get involved just click here!

We will be working with Desis Rising Up & Moving (DRUM), a community based organization of working class South Asian immigrants in New York City; VAMOS Unidos, Vendedores Ambulantes Movilizando y Organizando en Solidaridad (Street Vendors Mobilizing and Organizing in Solidarity), a community social justice organization, founded by low-income Latino/a immigrant street vendors; The New York State Youth Leadership Council(NYSYLC), an undocumented youth led organization fighting for access to higher education and the empowerment of migrant youth; and with the youth group of The Arab American Association of New York, a social service organization that seeks to support and empower the Arab immigrant community.

Click on the links above or watch the videos below to learn more about the amazing work of these four organizations!

DRUM- Youth Speak Out Part 1

DRUM- Youth Speak Out Part 2

Georgia 6- Felipe by the New York State Youth Leadership Council:

Balady Presents- Arab American Association of New York:

These groups all represent different sectors of the wide and diverse immigrant community in New York City. They don’t all take the same positions. For example, VAMOS Unidos opposes the DREAM Act because of its military provisions, where as the NYSYLC is fighting for its passage. All of them however, are dedicated to the empowerment of their communities and the struggle for migrant justice.

“Shifting the terms of the immigration debate” means presenting new dialogues and new perspectives. It means that although we may be at odds with one another on certain points, debates should be based on a premise that everyone, regardless of their origin or immigration status, is entitled to respect, dignity and human rights. All of these groups share that mission and work towards it everyday. They strive in their communities to “shift the debate” and to enable their members to articulate an understanding of their rights that challenges the mainstream discourse searching to dis-empower them.

Another thing all four of these organizations share is the work that they do with youth – training the next generation of leaders in their communities. The Uprooted team is very excited to work with these youth and other leaders on media skills: shaping documentaries, video shooting and editing.

By working with them and the tools they already have at their disposal, Uprooted hopes to build their capacity to document their struggles and tell their stories in a way that no one else can. We hope that the video training sessions will provide members and constituents of these groups with the tools to produce their own submissions for Uprooted. We are eager to hear their stories, and to share them with you!

Re-contextualizing migrant justice issues within other struggles for democracy and equality involves the recognition that media representation and access to communication technologies is a constitutive factor in how we understand and respond to the realities of migration.

Some collaborative grassroots fundraising with our allies at Paper Tiger TV and People’s Production House enabled the Uprooted team to connect with amazing media folks and social justice organizers at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. Working with innovative organizers who are dedicated to amplifying the voices of those edited out of mainstream media has underlined the importance of facilitating a multiplatform media project by and for the migrant justice movement.

Participating in the conference taught us more about the potential AT&T – T-Mobile merger and how it would specifically target low income communities of color, especially Latin@s. We learned more about the prison phone justice movement and began brainstorming ideas for creating media tools for similar campaigns in detention centers.

What’s inspiring about the AMC is that while there is no shortage of panels dedicated to sharing knowledge and policy analysis– there is also a free flowing energy of innovation and response. We’re not just railing against the system, we’re actively building a new one based on mutual association and collaboration. It is a space where innovators like Vozmob can share an exciting new platform that allows migrant workers to easily document and distribute their stories with mobile phone technology. Check out this video to get a better sense of this cool new platform.

In the spirit of radical DIY media that Deep Dish TV pioneered and that Uprooted embodies, Vozmob uses accessible technology to enable migrant communities and their allies to represent themselves! Consider using this platform as a means to contribute media to Uprooted! Learn more about getting involved with Uprooted!

This compelling video produced by Rights Working Group and the Restore Fairness Campaign at Breakthrough* foregrounds the prevalence of racial profiling and how it affects different communities of color in the US. It allows us to see how a pregnant Latina woman jailed for not having a driver’s license is part of the same system of oppression that enables the TSA to humiliate and force Muslim women to remove their hijabs. This video draws the connection between a Kurdish American male who is pulled over and strip searched for driving in the ‘wrong neighborhood’ to the scores of black Americans who continue to be victims of racial profiling and police brutality.

This video fits well with Uprooted’s goal of creating an alternative to the mainstream media’s narrative of migration issues. By bringing together these diverse personal experiences of racial profiling, this video better enables us to envision interracial and interethnic alliances in the struggle for social justice. Racist, unconstitutional provisions, like Alabama’s HB 56 are spreading like wildfire throughout the US (see embedded map). It is crucial that we continue to form and fortify broader, more inclusive coalitions to combat the onslaught of anti-immigrant legislation that encourages racial profiling.

*The video was shot, directed and edited by Breakthrough.

This video by the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON), skillfully captures the inspiring organizers fighting against the Right Wing’s strategy of Attrition through Enforcement.

In his letter to attendees, Pablo Alvarado, Director of NDLON explains the importance of grassroots organizing for migrant justice as follows, “By organizing block by block, the affected people become subjects of change…Building to the Turn the Tide means organizing barrio defense committees wherever conditions exist, challenging all forms of police and ICE collaboration and asserting our right to remain in a country that enjoys the fruits of our labor and the wealth of our culture, but does not accept our humanity….It means creating spaces for us to tell our own stories and tirelessly working for legalization from the bottom up.”

Uprooted turns the tide by creating a space for migrants and their allies to document and distribute their narratives. We want to support and amplify your work– connect with us, together, we can build a more just and humane immigration system!

What does building to Turning the Tide mean to you and your community?

At the demonstration Uprooted chatted with activist Leilani Montes of the Association of Feminist Filipinas Fighting Imperialism, Re-Feudalization and Marginalization (AF3IRM), a “national organization of women engaged in transnational feminist, anti-imperialist activism”. AF3IRM, like Uprooted looks to tie together social issues which overlap and intersect, such as how modern day imperialism leads to migration and to laws that violate workers rights, much like the upsurge in temporary worker programs.

In the clip featured below, Leilani explained her opinion to us about the ways in which labor and migration issues mix together:

How do you feel labor and migration issues are related? Share your thoughts!

In a post on peopleofcolororganize.com, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz deconstructs the myth of the United States as a “nation of immigrants.” For Dunbar-Ortiz, that myth sanitizes the fact that the United States as we know them began as a colonial enterprise. The first European men and women to settle this land were not “immigrants,” as there was no already-established nation to emigrate to, save for the nations of Native Americans already present. Those arrivals should, instead, be remembered as settlers that dehumanized and displaced millions of indigenous Americans while taking their land through a strategically administered combination of force and diplomacy. The “nation of immigrants” theory also erases the histories of African slaves and economically exploited European peasants. These two groups arrived in millions during the 18^th and 19^th centuries and formed a crucial part of the labor force as the US grew into an industrialized world power. The “nation of immigrants” theory creates the illusion everyone in the U.S. chose to be here. It also minimizes the crucial role that US foreign policy, especially Manifest Destiny, has played in the politics of immigration.

In her article, Dunbar-Ortiz poses questions that anyone concerned with the true meaning of immigration must consider, answering them as she goes:

“Are “immigrants” the appropriate designation for the indigenous peoples of North America? No.

Are “immigrants” the appropriate designation for enslaved Africans? No.

Are “immigrants” the appropriate designation for the original European settlers? No.

Are “immigrants” the appropriate designation for Mexicans who migrate for work to the United States? No. They are migrant workers crossing a border created by US military force. Many crossing that border now are also from Central America, from the small countries that were ravaged by US military intervention in the 1980s and who also have the right to make demands on the United States.

So, let’s stop saying “this is a nation of immigrants.”

Unfortunately, few writers and politicians are prepared to heed Dunbar-Ortiz’s call. Presidents from Obama to Kennedy have emphasized that we are “a nation of immigrants.” For some thinkers that idea has served as a call to multiculturalism and liberalization of immigration policy, replacing the assimilatory “melting pot” theory that dominated the early 20^th century. For others, the idea that we are a “nation of immigrants” serves as a reminder that those who were born with the “gift” of US citizenship had predecessors who got into this country “the right way”. In this way it implies that undocumented immigrants should “wait in line” to be sifted through the legal immigration process. Nonetheless, many of these migrants do not have the time to wait. Visa proceedings can take years to complete and even those who meet every requirement are often turned away after years of waiting.  The “nation of immigrants” is not as welcoming as its name might imply. How could such a contested notion be taken at face value?

In Uprooted our goal is to address this question and others like it.  How do we decide who gets accepted into “American” society and who doesn’t? What does it even mean to be “American”?  Most importantly, how do we create and change the national dialogue and rhetoric surrounding immigration and migration issues? Who is shaping our national consciousness about these issues and how?  The themes explored in Uprooted will ask these and other questions by examining how social systems such as the media and the education system mold our national discourse.

Most children in United States classrooms learn very early on about the brilliance of the Founding Fathers and the nobility of their fight against the British monarchy. Soon after, they learn about the how the “melting pot” helped form the social foundations of “the greatest country in the world.” They rarely learn about what ingredients were outlawed from the “melting pot” in the first place. There was the Naturalization Act of 1790, which made citizenship available only to “free white persons” and governed US immigration policy for decades. In the Mexican-American War a group of Anglo settlers sparked an internal revolution that wrested Texas from the hands of the Mexican government and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was distorted at the last moment by Congress to make it harder for Mexicans to reclaim their land.  The Plessy v. Ferguson and Dredd Scott decisions relegated blacks to second-class citizens and paved the way for Jim Crow laws. Not to mention the Page Laws, Chinese Exclusion Act, Gentlemen’s Agreement and other laws curtailed the flow of Asian migrants into the US. Unfortunately, very few elementary school children can claim to know the significance of any of these events, or even that they occurred.

Why, then, did the Arizona legislature pass HB 2281, a.k.a. ARS 15-112, which effectively bans ethnic studies in its school districts? Many ethnic studies courses seek to provide alternative perspectives on American history by detailing the contributions minority populations have made to United States culture and examining the history of those groups within the country. ARS 15-112 does not mention “ethnic studies” by name but criminalizes academic programs that “(1) promote the overthrow of the United States government, (2) promote resentment toward a race or class of people, (3) are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group or (4) advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” This statute, under the pretense of “American” nationalism, makes several very slippery assumptions. It uses racially-coded language to deter any substantive critique of US history by suggesting that critical studies of history promote resentment towards certain people (white people) and are designed solely for the benefit of “particular ethnic group[s]” (nonwhite people). It dehumanizes black and brown children by suggesting that their history is not important enough to be taught in the same classes as “regular” US history. It assumes that ethnic solidarity is somehow contrary to “American” individualism and places us in the very real danger of re-enacting history. Most of all, it capitalizes on Barack Obama’s election to push a vision of a post-racial US, despite the ongoing problems the we have with racial inequality. It is an extraordinary way to whitewash history and call attention away from the ways citizenship has been systematically denied to nonwhites in the midst of a racially charged immigration debate. Tucson Unified School District’s K-12 ethnic studies program, which was the primary target of HB 2281, is currently the only one in the country. Once again, the debate returns to what is fundamentally “American” and what is not.

Arizona is not the only state in which ethnic studies have come under attack, nor is this the first time such attacks have occurred. 40 years ago, students and professors had to fight extremely hard for ethnic studies to even be instituted in the first place. Today many university students are determined to continue that struggle. Despite the fire their program has come under, Tucson ethnic studies teachers remain committed to their curriculum.

Check out this video to see more:

We are pleased to announce that Ian Deleon has submitted his work “Y Sin Embargo, Te Quiero” or “And Yet, I Love You” for inclusion in the Uprooted series. This work deals with the effects of the decades old economic embargo placed on Cuba by the United States. It symbolically examines the ways that this policy affects Cuban migrants living in the States as well as, the ways in which US foreign policies often times create the conditions that lead to migration.

Y Sin Embargo, Te Quiero (And Yet, I Love You) from ian deleon on Vimeo.

Ian describes the meaning of his work in the following terms:

“With this piece, I wanted to use the long-standing economic blockade on Cuba as a symbol for historical and ongoing interventions by the United States against foreign governments. Having, myself, cultural ties to the Cuban situation, I found the subject of the island’s refugees to have great potential for a visual metaphor of the foreign policy of the United States.

Initially, the embargo on Cuba was put in place by the United States with the hopes of crippling the popular uprising of Fidel Castro and his group. Castro, however, refused to let the embargo stop the momentum of the Cuban Revolution and has continued to blame the U.S. for the economic crisis of the small Caribbean nation, while at the same time implementing strict rations on its provisions.

Paradoxically, Cuban-American exiles (often the most staunch supporters of this embargo), such as those living in South Florida communities, are often the most affected interest group (from the American side), as the embargo makes it extremely difficult to travel or send supplies to Cuba to aid their family members.

Though the Cuban government, more so than the U.S. embargo, may be the largest obstacle in the way of a free Cuba, it is undeniable that this five-decade-long crusade against socialism (having roots in the power struggles with the Soviet Union since the end of the Second World War) has failed and has done little to contribute to the enhancement of freedoms for the Cuban people.

In seeking to force an economic standstill that would result in a counter-revolution to topple Castro’s regime, the United States may have done nothing more than strengthen the anti-imperialist views of Castro supporters and make the situation just a little bit more difficult for Cuba’s citizens. Presently, the embargo is being weakened under U.S. President Obama in order to foster more communication among the people of the island and their American expatriates in order to promote what he calls a grassroots democratic movement through word of mouth. While the Cuban embargo may be given up altogether in the years to come, the United States’ tendency to meddle in foreign affairs has not abated. It remains true that the U.S. often does not act out of a sense of moral obligation to help a people in need, but rather it is motivated by selfish economic interests.

The contradictions in this situation were represented through the treatment of iconic symbols of American culture (and its global presence). Whereas the Cuban refugees may come over and celebrate the unfamiliar taste of a Coca-Cola, or proudly display an American flag on their window and violently defend the honor of the country that welcomed them, my irreverent use of these icons within the installation hint at the deeper problem of America’s continued involvement in foreign affairs and the disreputable actions of American corporations across the world.”

In this show artists from NEW WORLD BORDER use art to express their opinions on the border wall constructed between the US and Mexico.

Dates & locations for traveling show:

• The Hive, Phoenix, AZ, April 1 – 30, 2011
• Freehold, NJ, April 30 – May 15, 2011
• De-Bug, San Jose, CA, May 1 – 15, 2011
• Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, May 21 – July 30, 2011 (showing those posters in traditional print techniques)
• Inkubator Press Cocoon Gallery, Kansas City, MO – July, 2011

Check out the New World Border website for updates. BOOK your show today!

Take a look at some of the outstanding works from these amazing artists!

Art by Calixto Robles

Art by Nancy Hom

Art by Emory Douglas