by Karen Crump

Karen Crump is ISLA's editor and outreach coordinator. She can be reached at isla@lmi.net.

Cross-border grassroots organizing has become one of the most promising aspects of the progressive movement today, as was made evident during the in the Second Annual Meeting on the Border Environment held in Tijuana, México on April 21-25 1999. ISLA participated in the conference, organized by the University of Arizona and Proyecto Fronterizo, and which attracted a wide array of activists from Mexico and the U.S. working on border issues. The confernece's main objective was to link people on both sides of the border to protect our mutual living place. It set the stage for a successful set of strategies toward that end. ASU contacted representatives from groups heavily impacted by border abuses and provided a unique opportunity for these voices to be heard. 

Speakers reflected the many constituencies touched by border environmental issues: labor, the poor, farmworkers, Native Americans, government agencies and representatives, environmentalists, parents, and people of all classes who would like to live a healthy life... that is to say, all of us. The conference informed activists of the struggles taking place on both sides of the border, identified how they are intertwined, and encouraged people to work together. Many of the Mexican participants drove 20 hours or more to reach Tijuana for the conference, and spoke without having had a good night's sleep; such was the importance given to this meeting and its potential for improving a critical situation.

The need for cross-border organizing was highlighted by one anecdote from the speech given by Rufino Domínguez , Secretary General of the Binational Oaxacan Indigenous Front (FIOB). He noted that the same pesticides people struggled to ban in the U.S. are being used in México. Not only do the pesticides affect workers there, but they are used on produce exported to the U.S., to the detriment of the same consumers who fought against them here (see related article). This sequence of events repeated itself countless times, driving home the importance of cross-border organizing.

Among those most heavily impacted as a community are Native Americans on both sides of the border. For the O'odham, the existence of the U.S./Mexican border failed to take them into account as a nation already existing in the area. As happened with the Yaquis, the O'odham residing on the north side of the border were cut off from sacred religious sites lying to the south when the national boundaries were established after the Mexican-American war in the mid- 1800's. Harassment by the Border Patrol has created obstacles to exercising their religion, maintaining their language and cultural identity, governing themselves as a nation, and defending the land they live on. Three representatives from the O'odham spoke at the conference. Jo Joaquin, from the Tohono O'odham nation's Cultural Affairs Department spoke eloquently of their efforts to work with the U.S. and Mexican governments, as well as environmental groups, none of which seem to want the O'odham to have any decision-making power. Several people from the Yaqui nation were also present, as well as Rufino Domínguez from the Mixteco community of Oaxaca. 

Although we are all affected by border environmental abuse, low-income people of all ethnicities are those who suffer most directly. Migrant workers are sprayed with pesticides while at work, and return home to housing built over toxic waste dumps. Children from poor communities play in water contaminated by pesticides from surrounding farms, toxins seeping from factories, and untreated waste dumped by major corporations. Cancer is appearing at alarming rates among migrant Oaxacans who had never even heard of such a disease. Representatives from organizations such as Puentes de Amistad, Campesinos sin Fronteras, Asistencia para Proyectos de Salud, the Frente Indígena Oaxaqueño Binacional (FIOB) and AYUDA spoke of positive efforts to inform workers of the dangers they are exposed to and how to protect themselves. Organizations such as RAPAM actively support alternatives to agribusiness and pesticide use.

Likewise, maquiladora workers are extremely vulnerable to environmental abuses. They work long hours in factories and are exposed to numorous toxic substances. Miriam Alfie of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Azcapoltzalco branch) spoke of her study of maquiladora workers in Matamoros. The situation in Matamoros provided a unique opportunity to study the long-term effects of working in these notorious sweat-shop assembly plants, since the turn-over rate is very low. Some effects clearly identified by the study were a marked increase in respiratory problems, miscarriages, and birth defects compared to other populations. Miriam's full report, titled "Globalización y medio ambiente en la frontera norte: el caso de Matamoros" was published in the journal El Cotidiano #92 (e-mail: cotid@hp9000a1.uam.mx). Another group, the Chihuahua-based Proyecto 3000, is currently involved in a struggle to curtail the polluting activities of a textile maquiladora. The city of Chihuahua alone has about 100 maquiladoras.

Groups engaged in struggles to protect the waterways, forests, desert and all types of nature preserves abounded at the conference, and were among the most interesting examples of cross-border activism. This seemed to be where the U.S. universities became most engaged, including the University of Arizona, the University of New Mexico and UT-Austin. The Mexican universities tended to engage more in environmental abuses as they directly impacted human health. 

Although next year's conference has yet to be funded, participants are hoping to see a third annual conference on the border environment. Meetings such as these provide a rare opportunity for merging as a binational movement, embracing and encouraging the participation of both women and men, and people of various cultures. 

Obstacles to cross-border organizing continue to exist; such as language differences and unequal access to phones, computers and fax machines, disposable income and free time to do volunteer work from one side of the border to the next. People on the north side of the border are going to have to reach out and work to overcome these barriers if we are truly interested in creating an environment in which we all can flourish.