{"id":2473,"date":"2009-09-17T00:45:35","date_gmt":"2009-09-17T04:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=2473"},"modified":"2009-09-17T00:53:38","modified_gmt":"2009-09-17T04:53:38","slug":"roger-calero-of-the-socialist-workers-party-caleros-joins-jerry-gonzalez-and-his-georgians-for-safer-roads-atlanta-protest-for-drivers-licenses-for-illegal-aliens-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/17\/roger-calero-of-the-socialist-workers-party-caleros-joins-jerry-gonzalez-and-his-georgians-for-safer-roads-atlanta-protest-for-drivers-licenses-for-illegal-aliens-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"Roger Calero – of the Socialist Workers Party Caleros – joins Jerry Gonzalez and his Georgians for Safer Roads organization Atlanta protest for drivers licenses for illegal aliens – 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"

From The Militant <\/em>– the newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party
\nAugust 25, 2003 <\/p>\n

Vol. 67\/No. 29<\/p>\n

Calero joins Atlanta driver\u2019s license protest
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n

BY ELLIE GARC\u00cdA <\/p>\n

ATLANTA\u2014\u201cFrom the point of view of someone fighting against deportations, in my own case and those of many others, it\u2019s important to see the fight for the right of immigrants to have a driver\u2019s license as one of many struggles working people in the United States are participating in,\u201d said R\u00f3ger Calero <\/a>at a meeting of over 100 people here July 22. The gathering had been called by Georgians for Safer Roads<\/a>, an organization that campaigns for driver\u2019s licenses for undocumented workers. It was held at the offices of the Latin American Association in Atlanta. <\/p>\n

The meeting was called to protest a bill Georgia\u2019s governor Sonny Perdue signed into law May 31. The legislation prohibits immigrants in the state from buying a vehicle, or renewing license plates for one they already own, without having a valid Georgia driver\u2019s license. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have lived in Georgia for seven years. I own a small construction business and I\u2019m very interested in how this law is going to affect me,\u201d Arturo Castej\u00f3n, a Mexican immigrant, told the gathering. \u201cI own three pick-up trucks and I won\u2019t be able to keep using them for my job.\u201d <\/p>\n

Thousands of people have been affected in a similar fashion since the law went into effect, with many opting to move to other states as a result. <\/p>\n

Crews of construction workers, electricians, concrete workers, contractors, and others came from work to the 11:00 a.m. meeting to discuss the problem, after an announcement that the gathering was taking place was broadcast on Spanish-language radio. <\/p>\n

Most people there called for actions to demand that the law be repealed, including a work stoppage and a march. A Direct Action committee was formed to organize such mobilizations. Calero <\/a>joined the discussion with workers on the importance of fighting to win and supporting other struggles. He pointed to a UNITE organizer present and encouraged everyone there to back the efforts of workers to organize unions. <\/p>\n

Three people who took part in the driver\u2019s license meeting came to a public event next evening featuring Calero. The panel of speakers included James Harris of the Socialist Workers Party and Adelina Nicholls<\/a>, vice president of the Coordinating Council of Latino Community Leaders of Atlanta (Coordinadora<\/a>). Nicholls is a local leader of the driver\u2019s license struggle. <\/p>\n

\u201cCoordinadora is organizing the first Latino Rights Forum for September 28,\u201d Nicholls<\/a> announced. Among the workshops is one on driver\u2019s licenses. The conference will be on the same weekend that the buses for the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride <\/a>will set off from Atlanta and join with riders from nine other U.S. cities headed toward Washington to focus attention on struggles of immigrant workers against discrimination on the job and their right to live in the United States. <\/p>\n

Calero pointed out that because attacks on immigrants are at the spear point of the ruling class offensive, \u201cdefense of the rights of immigrant workers\u2014opposition to \u2018no match\u2019 Social Security letters, repealing of laws such as those restricting immigrants from obtaining driver\u2019s licences or renewing car registration, ending factory raids and deportations\u2014is a question for the entire labor movement.\u201d Organizing to press for these demands, as the protest meeting the day before set out to do, can increase the self-confidence and unity of working people. \u201cIt makes us stronger,\u201d Calero said. <\/p>\n

Harris thanked everyone for coming to the meeting, on behalf of Calero\u2019s party, the SWP,<\/a> and for joining the struggle that pushed back the government in its attempt to deport Calero…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From The Militant – the newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party August 25, 2003 Vol. 67\/No. 29 Calero joins Atlanta driver\u2019s license protest BY ELLIE GARC\u00cdA ATLANTA\u2014\u201cFrom the point of view of someone fighting against deportations, in my own case and those of many others, it\u2019s important to see the fight for the right of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}