WHY WE ARE MARCHING
(MONTREAL, May 5, 2007) We are marching to demonstrate against the deportation and detention of migrants and refugees, and for a comprehensive, inclusive regularization program, meaning STATUS FOR ALL.
Everyday approximately 500,000 undocumented people across Canada -- at least 40,000 in Montreal -- live in daily fear of detention and deportation. They are our neighbors, co-workers, classmates, friends and families.
Without status, they are the most exploited in the workforce, invisible in our system of capitalism and economic apartheid. They work in restaurants, hotels, cabs, factories and warehouses, as domestics, or agricultural workers picking fruits & vegetables.
You cannot spend a day in Montreal without meeting someone without status, whether you realize it or not.
We march to refuse the division between “citizen” and “non-citizen”, between “good” and “bad” immigrant, between “guest” and “permanent” workers, between those who deserve rights, and others who don't.
There is no such thing as "illegal" human beings, only unjust laws and illegitimate governments.
For true economic justice, all workers -- whether citizens or not -- must unite in a common struggle against the governments, bosses and corporations that exploit us. Immigrant rights are workers' rights!
We march in solidarity with Mayday demonstrations worldwide, recalling that May 1 commemorates the Chicago Haymarket martyrs of 1886 - both immigrants and “citizens” - who died fighting for the 8-hour workday that we now take for granted. In the United States, this past May 1, 2007, hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers again took to the streets in the second “Great American Boycott: A Day Without an Immigrant."
We march today for all our friends and allies who have been removed, detained, forced underground, forced into sanctuary or victimized by security certificates. We also march inspired by those who have successfully resisted deportations and remain in our communities.
Police and deportation agents continue to enter our homes, schools and workplaces, creating fear in our communities. But, instead of the fear and paranoia promoted by the government, we organize to support each other, in a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid, to create a social movement that can fight for justice.
We are demonstrating as part of a struggle for self-determination as migrants and refugees, and as precarious workers, supported by our allies.
We refuse to be invisible; we refuse to live in fear. We demand STATUS FOR ALL! Join us, as we organize to win.
INFO:
sansfrontieres@resist.ca / 514-848-7583 / www.solidarityacrossborders.org
