Chicago Street Vendors Organize to Fight Harassment
Street vendors of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood document their daily struggle to a make a living in one of the United States’ most vibrant Mexican communities
Street vendors in Chicago were being constantly harassed by city officials. Their elotes, tamales, freshly-cut fruit were often seized, doused in bleach, and thrown in the dumpster. Fines of up to $500 were not uncommon.
The AVA has been asking to be regulated, but Chicago, unlike other major cities, does not issue licensing and permits to street vendors.
Brick-and-mortar businesses were often the most vocal in opposing the street vendors. But as those interviewed in this video mention, the eloteros, tamaleros, and other vendors bring increased foot traffic and a liveliness the streets that benefits all.
This video takes a look at the street vendors of the Little Village neighborhood, or “La Villita,” as its more commonly known by locals. La Villita is the largest Mexican neighborhood in the entire American Midwest. Centered around the 26th Street corridor, Little Village is also one of the largest Mexican communities in the United States; certainly, one of the most vibrant.
Little Village is often lauded by Chicago city officials for the millions in tax revenue this business district generates for its coffers. The AVA should be regulated within reason and allowed to work without the harassment of inspectors and other officials. Their hard work and long hours bring a countless number of visitors from throughout the region to the La Villita. The dignity of working in peace is the least they deserve.
Mobile Mural Lab co-founder Roberto Del Hoyo describes what murals and muralism in Los Angeles means to him as an artist and an educator.
As part of its ongoing L.A. Xicano exhibitions in the Getty’s city-wide “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980” initiative, the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center held its first “Undocumented Event” at the Boyle Heights Farmers Market. This free event was co-produced by the Mobile Mural Lab (MML), a mobile art space created by Los Angeles-based artists to foster dialogue and engage community around matters of public art. L.A. Xicano artist Sandra de la Loza was a co-organizer of this event.
This Undocumented Event engaged issues around the Los Angeles mural moratorium, instituted in 2002 but under review by the City Council for possible revision. The MML truck included a question-driven chalkboard piece for public commentary, outdoor video screenings, a mini-exhibit and research center, and dialogue with artists about the history of muralism in Los Angeles and its role in community development.
Noam Chomsky: Banning of Mexican American Studies Is an “International Disgrace”
While in Tucson to give a lecture at the University of Arizona,
Professor Noam Chomsky addressed TUSD’s banning of the Mexican American Studies (MAS) program and its reading list.
“When you start banning books of Chicano history … Rethinking Columbus, the classics and so on, it’s an international disgrace,” said Chomsky, one of the world’s leading intellectuals. “That’s reminiscent, I’m afraid, of Nazi Germany.”
Mr. Chomsky notes that a lot of the recent hostility toward the Mexican community is a calculated response to the displacement of millions of campesinos who were forced to seek opportunities in the United States when NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, came into effect.
“There used to be a pretty open border … it was militarized, strikingly, in 1994,” said Chomsky, referring to the year NAFTA was enacted.
Much of the issue behind the banning of MAS is about literally trying to re-write this history.
“…in the case of Arizona and banning of Mexican Studies programs, it’s particularly ironic because this is Mexico,” commented Chomsky.
But, ultimately, it’s about us. Do we accept the outlawing of our history and culture or do we, as MAS students have been doing, fight back?
The students and teachers of MAS have made this choice very clear. Fighting back is our only option.
Hoy, la activista Norma Andrade anunció que dejará el país tras haber sufrido un segundo ataque la semana pasada, sin embargo, no especificó donde se refugiará.
“Aun cuando me duela mucho, lo voy a tener que hacer. Somos muchos los activistas que hemos sido atacados”, afirmó la activista mexicana en entrevista con Milenio TV.
Además, agregó que al momento del segundo ataque -perpetrado afuera de su nuevo domicilio en el Distrito Federal- no contaba con protección, ya que las medidas cautelares fueron dictadas a su hija.
“Quiero pensar que es por desestabilizar su gobierno, ahorita no sabemos de dónde viene la cosa”, comentó la activista.
Discussion: The Economic Exploitation of the 2012 “Mayan Prophecy”
As the end of the Mayan long count calendar approaches, countries such as Mexico, Guatemala and Belize have launched tourism campaigns aimed at promoting travel to renowned Mayan cultural sites. The interpretation of the calendar has led to the belief among some that Dec 21, 2012 marks the end of civilization.
Mexico, for example, is planning to spend millions of dollars in states that make up parts of the Mayan world and host hundreds of cultural events. But will the tourism boom benefit the Mayan people?
Indigenous Mayan claim they have not been entirely included in these plans and that their communities will benefit minimally. There are also concerns that their culture is being misrepresented.
Turn on any radio or television in Mexico and almost every other ad is government propaganda.
This is one of many anti-ads produced in recent weeks in response to the federal government’s ‘Vivir Mejor’ campaign, the Calderón administration’s slogan.
This United States funded and led drug war has cost Mexico more than 50,000 lives.
It’s time the US gets out of Mexico. And don’t forget to take Felipe Calderón with you!
Javier Sicilia is a novelist and a poet. In 2009, he was awarded Mexico’s prestigious Aguascalientes National Poetry Prize. This September, he read a poem dedicated to his son, Juan Francisco, at a rally:
There is nothing else to say
The world is not worthy of the word
They drowned it, deep inside of us
As they asphyxiated you
As they ripped your lungs apart
And the pain does not leave me
All we have is a world
For the silence of the just
Only for your silence and my silence, Juanelo.
This was the last poem Sicilia wrote. His son was murdered in the central state of Morelos in March, along with six other people, by members of a drug cartel.
Javier Sicilia renounced poetry and became the leader of a national protest against the drug war. Yet he says poetry has been an integral part of the “Peace with Justice and Dignity” movement.
“Poetry has been present, the poets have been part of it,” Sicilia says. “The problem is that the mass media don’t like to cover it and don’t understand that this movement was born out of poetry, and the reason why it’s important is because it’s filled with a poetic content that has transformed the language. And behind all of this is a profound ethics, as with all poetry.”
Sicilia says the poet has a moral responsibility to tell these stories.
Other artists are also reacting to the violent realities in Mexico today. Singer Lila Downs addresses the violence in a song that deals directly with the consequences, called “La Reina del Inframundo” — Queen of the Underworld. The lyrics read:
“Six feet underground, it’s for a certain kind of weed, for which the bosses up north are making us kill each other off, and now I’m the queen of the underworld, and my crown is a tombstone …”
ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, makes SOPA look like child’s play. It would establish an independent multi-national governing body focused solely on enforcing the intellectual property rights of major corporations. Learn more here.
