Alejandro Abarca
Day laborer organizer ‘served the people’
By
Heather Cottin
Published Jul 7, 2008 8:57 PM
Black/Brown unity in action: Alejandro Abarca, right, with Rev. Andre McGuire, who offered his church as a safe haven for day laborers in 2003.
|
Alejandro Abarca, leader of day laborers in New Jersey, died last week in
Mexico. His death at the young age of 32 marked the untimely end of a life
devoted to the struggle of the oppressed.
Like millions of Mexicans, Alejandro Abarca was forced to migrate to the United
States. He settled in the Borough of Freehold, New Jersey, where a sizable
number of Mexican workers tried to survive as day laborers. Abarca immediately
embroiled himself in working for the dignity and rights of Freehold’s
Mexican workers. Most of them had been forced from their homeland by the North
American Free Trade Agreement. Based on the greedy profit motive of U.S.
transnational corporations, NAFTA effectively drove the Mexican farms out of
business. Some of these families moved to Freehold to work and to live in
peace.
But there was no peace. Abarca said, Freehold “officials did not show any
respect” for the immigrant population. He said officials profiled all
Latin@s, “assuming that all dark-skinned Latin@ people are in the United
States illegally.” (New Jersey News) So he organized the Workers
Committee for Progress and Social Welfare, which called for an immediate end to
harassment and intimidation and for the right to be respected. (NJ News)
Abarca became a leader of Casa Freehold, which was organized to defend the
rights of Latin@s in their homes, at work and in the streets. He devoted his
life to a simple concept: “Serve the people.”
For Latin@s, life in Freehold was difficult. The Borough of Freehold was
settled by the English in 1683 who stole the land from the Lenne Lenape tribe.
Descendents of the original settlers show open racism against residents
speaking Spanish at Borough of Freehold town meetings. Representing 30 percent
of Freehold’s population, the Latin@ community has faced official
harassment in their homes, in the schools and in their freedom to assemble.
When men, seeking work as day laborers, gathered at a “muster zone”
on a road outside the main part of town, local police hounded them.To defend
the workers’ rights, Abarca organized with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense
and Education Foundation, National Day Laborers Organizing Network,
International Action Center and the Workers Committee for Progress and Social
Welfare. The PRLDEF won the case guaranteeing the right of Freehold day
laborers to seek work in public places.
Cognizant of the difficulty Mexicans have in establishing bank accounts and
other financial and legal activities, Abarca brought the Mexican Consulate from
New York to Freehold to issue “matricula consular” identity papers
to hundreds of people in the borough. (Asbury Park Press) Organizing with his
community for his community, Abarca also spearheaded a struggle to win day
laborers $10 an hour for their work. In 2006, when the national May 1
organizing began, Abarca brought the Freehold workers into the national
struggle for immigrant and workers rights.
Speaking at a 2005 anti-Iraq war rally in New York, he said, “In Latin
America, we understand occupation, and we know that the transnational
monopolies have been occupying us for years, but the moment is coming when the
people will tolerate this occupation no longer.” (La Ventana, March 21,
2005)
One year ago he suffered a severe accident and returned to his native country
to undergo a series of operations. “Probably he died of complications
from one of these operations,” said Rita Dentino, who worked with him.
“Alejandro made Casa Freehold into a broader organization against the
war, against racism, for women’s reproductive rights. His life was
dedicated to social justice.”
Alejandro Abarca Presente!
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email:
[email protected]
Subscribe
[email protected]
Support independent news
DONATE