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Border Delegations

Join a Labor  Solidarity Delegation to the Mexican Border
Piedras Negras y Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila

NEW

Reflective essay from the October 2007 delegation:

Elvia R. Arriola, Exec. Director, WOB, The delicate balance between life and death: a child with hemophilia, a single mother and maquiladora worker in Ciudad Acuña (2007).

October 12-14, 2007 (Fri -- Sun)

For over five  years Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera has been organizing delegations to  visit maquiladora communities and maquiladora workers in Mexico.  You  are invited to be a part of this powerful experience.

The delegation  will be hosted by a maquiladora workers' organization, the Comite  Fronterizo de Obreras (Border Committee of Women Workers or CFO).   Our hosts are workers coming together and representing themselves in the  ongoing struggle for human rights, justice and dignity.    We  will meet with workers in their communities and homes to listen, observe and learn about their strategies in confronting the realities of  globalization.  Our visit will offer insight into the training of CFO  organizers and the close bonds formed between amongst these workers.

The delegation  provides a truly unique opportunity for anyone interested in understanding  the maquiladora "laboratory for the future" through the lives of those  working in the globalized economy. The intimate nature of the delegation  provides both insight and a direct relationship to those in the front  lines of the struggle against corporate led globalization.  Join us  for a trip that not only informs, but personally connects you to this  struggle.

Please act now if  you would like to join this delegation as openings are limited to allow an  intimate and unique experience. Cost is $200 - $300 (sliding scale), all  expenses included. Limited financial assistance is available, please  contact us. Full translation is provided.

Contact Judy Rosenberg   at chelarose@grandecom.net    or  512-494-8377.

 Austin Tan  Cerca de la Frontera is a project of the American Friends Service  Committee * TAO Region Austin Office.  For information contact AFSC  at 512-474-2399

Reflections from Delegations

• Elvia Arriola,"The delicate balance between life and death..." (an essay on meeting a maquiladora worker struggling with the care of a hemophiliac child) (Oct. 2007).
• Judith (Hoodeet) Rosenberg, "Doing Justice Work in Mexico," a letter written in the form of an essay written  for the benefit of the members of St. Hildegard's  Church in Austin, Texas, which supported the project to deliver food and material goods to the fired workers and their families in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila  following the Christmas fundraiser held in Austin, in Dec. 2001
  
• Judith (Hoodeet) Rosenberg, " Hoodeet's Reflections Trip to Reynosa, Tamaulipas and Visit with the CFO,"  June 6, 2001
  
• Judith (Hoodeet) Rosenberg, "Personal Report of Judy Rosenberg," Post Delegation by Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontier to Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, October 12-14, 2001
  
• Christina Murray, Fresh Report from the Border 7/15/04
  
• Immigration: A Great Debate About What It Means to Be American
  Political Affairs Magazine - New York,NY,USA
  ... University. Rieger is just back from a trip to the Texas border area, where he investigated the situations of Maquiladora workers. ...

  The Line Between Us
  Rethinking Schools Online - Milwaukee,WI,USA
  ... The mother works in a maquiladora and wants to stay living in the shantytown so that she can save money for the trek to the United States. ...

Books

• Norma Iglesias Prieto, Beautiful Flowers of the Maquiladora: Life Histories of Women Workers in Tijuana 8-9 (Michael Stone & Gabrielle Winkler trans., 1997).
• Devon G. Peña, The Terror of the Machine: Technology, Work, Gender and Ecology on the U.S.-Mexico Border 46-51(1997)
• Luis Alberto Urrea, By the Lake of the Sleeping Children: The Secret Life on the Mexican Border (1996)
  A powerful critique of the impact of American consumerism and free trade policy in the lives of Mexico's poorest of the poor, those who end up living off the dump of the city of Tijuana (sister city to San Diego, California).
• Luis Urrea, Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border (1993)
• Kathleen Staudt and Irasema Coronado, Fronteras No Mas: Toward Social Justice at the U.S.-Mexico Border (2002)

Films

"Maquilas: A Tale of Two Mexicos" 
Documentary film by Saul Landau and Sonia Angulo (Review)

Delegations Calendar (tba)