Connecting the Movement: Sindy Avila
Today, we continue “Connecting the Movement” with Sindy Avila, a recent graduate of Portland State University.
How’d you get involved with SLAP?
I recently become involved with SLAP by attending Turning the Tide National Summit in Virginia. Turning the Tide Campaign is a collective effort of communities and organizations across the country unified to confront the growing wave of criminalization and separation of immigrant families. The campaign is rooted in local organizing that resists hatred, and division in order to advance human rights, tolerance, and inclusion. I am currently working with a group of students in Portland, Oregon to create a SLAP chapter at Portland State University.
What are the biggest problem facing workers in the country?
Anti-immigrant policies created by mass displacement, economic reforms, structural adjustment programs, trade liberalization and reduced worker protections. Illegality is used to install unequal power relationships that determine the social and legal protections of workers in the United States. Today the word “illegal” not only means a person without immigration papers but rather, it refers to a person that is placed in a category of exclusion; a category that has roots in U.S. policy due to capitalism. Illegality denies peoples humanity by eliminating social and legal protections. People under this categorization are not seen, treated or accepted as members of society. The denial of legalized labor and human rights is essentially the denial to equal opportunity. Migrants have become a vulnerable second-class population that continues to be exploited by economic reforms, and reduced worker protections.
What is the importance of having students in the fight for workers rights?
Students have valuable tools and resources to contribute in the fight for economic justice. It is important to simultaneously acquire knowledge, organize and create alternative solutions to build strong, diverse and loving movements. Acquiring knowledge about our current social/political/environmental/economic reality must be backed by action. It is essential to organize and resist structural and institutionalized forms of oppression like many grassroot organizations headed by low-income, mujeres, people of color are currently doing around the nation. The challenge is to inspire, agitate and motivate people to become active in the struggle. Fighting for justice is not a religion so people cannot be converted or forced. They must want to participate and organize. At the same time, collective power must include multi -faced solutions because we are all part of multiple and complex communities. These multi-faced solutions must continue to be created by communities worldwide/students. You only get what you organize to take!
What campaigns have you and your group been working on this year?
I have worked on the Immigrants Rights campaign where I have collaborated with grassroots organizations and facilitated workshops that educated and strengthen base building within Chicano/Latino communities. I have also completed formal training in public speaking and political messaging to effectively establish workplace standards for domestic workers in California. I’m currently interning with Portland Central American Solidarity Committee (PCASC) and the Safe Communities Project. We are a coalition of immigrant and civil rights organizations, working to end local law enforcement collaboration with ICE (due to detriments it causes in public safety).
What are you most excited for at the Jobs with Justice national conference?
I can’t wait to meet and speak to organizers throughout the nation about strategies for base building! I want to know the strengths and weaknesses of tactics that people have used in their communities. This experience will not only be insightful but necessary because it’s vital to intersect our struggles in our mutual fight for liberation.
