- Los muertos... muertos estn? La poltica para las vctimas en Mxico, pg.

4 -

For a ruthless criticism of everything existing - Por una crtica despiadada de todo lo existente

The shrinking Lottery Scholarship

...and the unspoken alternative of tuition-free higher ed
BY ALAN DIcKER
Februarys short session in Santa Fe saw legislators pass a muchlauded fix for the Legislative Lottery Scholarships deficit crisis after years of debate and counterproposals. The scholarship has been increasingly unable to cover ever-rising costs of tuition for the states eligible postsecondary students with the money generated from the Lottery. By this semester, money in the scholarship fund was insufficient to pay tuition for recipients, leaving thousands across the state in limbo. Proposals to resolve the Lottery crisis generally consisted of injecting one-time amounts to prop up the fund while somehow reducing the amounts paid out to students and/or the number of students on the scholarship roll - by raising GPA requirements, reducing the number of semesters covered, or detaching the scholarship amount from the cost of complete cost of tuition. In the end, the solution to the scholarships troubles came in the form of a two-year injection of funds from a liquor excise tax, a reduction or the maximum number of semesters for which recipients are eligible for the scholarship from eight to seven, and an increase in minimum credit hours per semester from 12 to 15 at four-year schools (the new minimum is 12 at non-four-year institutions). Legislators passed these changes on the last day of the short session, February 20, with nearly unanimous approval from both parties. Legislators and the governors office had already agreed to utilize $11 million from the states general fund to cover the current semesters shortfall. The fix that isnt Even as greater restrictions are placed on the Lottery Scholarship - started in 1996 to neutralize the full cost of tuition at instate institutions for nearly all students who graduate from New Mexico high schools - the modifications passed in February are no guarantee of the funds long-term solvency, particularly if there is no significant jump in Lottery revenues (doubtful) and if tuition levels continue to rise (likely). Despite the rescue of the Lottery Scholarship, college students in New Mexico, as elsewhere, can look forward to having more and more of the costs for their education shifted onto their shoulders, necessitating an ever-greater dependency on loans. As our political class scrambles to keep scholarships for students, it remains completely unable to confront the roots of the increasingly prohibitive costs of higher education - mostly because they discredit any possibility of radical alternatives to the status quo. The unspoken alternative Lost amidst the hubbub about saving the Lottery Scholarship, as well as the doomsday predictions about the coming student debt bubble, remains the possibility for a radically distinct model: tuition-free colleges and universities. Instead of continuing to pes-

The GroundUp

- The bleeding edge of the Protestant Ethic, pg. 7 - El mundo del trabajo: El futbolista, pg. 10 Las Cruces, New Mexico (No) Price: Voluntary Contribution groundupnmsu.org

No. 4 - Spring 2014

Who was Rick Livasy?

Reports of a fatal on-campus fire in late January put the NMSU community on edge, until it was revealed the deceased was a homeless man. Who was Richard Livasy? And why did we never find out more about him? See pg. 5

What is the Domenici Institute, anyway?

Like it or not, a free market think tank is set to be a centerpiece of the NMSU campus. See pg. 8

- CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 -

Aumentar el salario mnimo no es suficiente!

El dinero es importante, pero tambin lo es la democratizacin del trabajo
Aqu en Las Cruces, es probable que haya un referndum en noviembre para gradualmente incrementar el salario mnimo hasta alcanzar los $10.10 por hora en 2017. Hasta ahora, 21 estados han implementado salarios mnimos por arriba del nivel federal actual de $7.25. Inclusive el presidente Obama y la lite del Partido Demcrata recientemente empezaron a presionar para un incremento en todo el pas. Sera de utilidad para los asalariados? Debemos apoyar esta campaa? O hay alternativas? Sin duda, los que trabajamos en la precariedad podramos aprovechar de cualquier aumento. Despus de pagar la renta, las utilidades, la gasolina, los seguros, y la comida, nos queda poquito para ahorrar. Casi la mitad de la poblacin norteamericana vive de cheque en cheque. Solemos tener mltiples empleos o buscamos horas extras. Muchos dependemos de las estampillas y otras prestaciones sociales porque nuestra paga simplemente no alcanza para una vida digna. Incrementar el salario mnimo suena bien. Despus de todo, nos beneficiaramos: ms dinero en la mano para cubrir las necesidades, guardar en el banco, y usar a nuestro gusto. Muchos temen que con un incremento en el salario se incrementar el desempleo, pero numerosos economistas han demostrado que tal efecto ser neutralizado, porque ms dinero en las manos de trabajadores significa ms consumo, lo cual, a su vez, crear ms empleos para cumplir con la demanda. Adems, no se beneficiaran nicamente los que reciben el salario mnimo: un salario base aumentado servir para subir todos los niveles salariales. Pues hay mltiples razones de apoyar la campaa para aumentar el salario mnimo. Sin embargo, no pensemos que con ello vayamos a curar todos los males. Salarios ms altos resultarn en mayor demanda para los productos en el mercado, lo que har que los vendedores incrementen los precios. Con precios ms altos, el poder adquisitivo de los aumentados salarios se ver reducido. Dentro de unos aos, tendremos que llevar al cabo la misma lucha para aumentar los salarios, y as repetidamente. Una solucin a este problemtica sera ajustar los salarios anualmente segn la tasa de inflacin as se incrementaran acorde los niveles de los precios. La propuesta en Las Cruces hara justamente eso y los demcratas lo estn discutiendo a nivel nacional. Sin embargo, nos decepcionaremos al creer que los patrones sea en negocios pequeos o en corporaciones gigantes dejarn de intentar limitar nuestra compensacin a travs de otros mtodos, como el reducir jornadas o prestaciones laborales. Aumentar el salario mnimo tampoco resolvera muchos de los problemas que afrontamos en el trabajo. Un aumento slo ser de tanta utilidad para la madre o el padre que es limitado a 25 horas a la semana por su patrn. Nosotros los trabajadores precarios podemos ser despedidos por casi cualquier cosa en cualquier momento. Muchos de nosotros nos dedicamos a trabajos no saludables, arduos, y hasta peligrosos. Los patrones pueden tratarnos como animales si as quieren. Las mujeres pueden ser acosadas sexualmente en el trabajo o pagadas menos por las mismas actividades. Las compaas que dependen de los trabajadores de salario mnimo utilizan todos los mtodos a su disposicin para mantenernos callados, apurados, y sobre todo fuera de sindicatos. Aunque aumentar el salario mnimo puede ser algo positivo, los activistas y polticos pueden terminar perjudicndonos ms que nada, si no se esfuerzan primeramente para organizar a los trabajadores para defender sus propios intereses en el lugar de trabajo. Entonces, cul debera de ser nuestra postura? Apoyar los intentos de elevar el salario mnimo puede ser un primer paso, pero an ms importante es empezar a organizarnos en el lugar de trabajo para mejorar nuestras condiciones y nuestros empleos. Eso significa solidarizarnos con nuestras hermanas y hermanos en el trabajo para confrontar a los patrones cuando estn en errores, presionarlos para lograr mejores salarios o condiciones, y apoyar a cualquier compaero en dificultades. Esto no necesariamente significa unirnos a las viejas burocracias sindicales: Pero s significa que ninguno ni pida un aumento ni presente una queja estando solo. Puede significar la utilizacin ms a menudo de nuestra herramienta ms efectiva: la huelga. Indudablemente significar unirnos a los trabajadores de otras compaas, industrias, y sitios de trabajo. Necesitamos que muchos compaeros se levanten, venciendo el miedo y colaborando con otros trabajadores para forzar cambios desde abajo. Tenemos que exigir la democratizacin del trabajo, no slo la mejor compensacin!

60 years since Salt of the Earth

New Mexicos most iconic piece of working-class cinema rightfully commemorated. See pg. 3

100 since Ludlow

Centennial anniversary of one of U.S. labor historys most infamous moments. See pg. 2

...and 1 since Rana Plaza

Remember the more than 1000 workers killed in April 24, 2013 Bangladeshi factory collapse.

- Raising the minimum wage is not enough! See page 12 -

The age of reforms at NMSU

Over the last few months, NMSU administration has pushed for a number of major academic changes that could have major impacts on the future of the university. Administration-favored reforms have been proposed and enacted in the areas of admissions, tuition rates, faculty compensation, and the statewide funding formula for higher education. Most recently, the Board of Regents approved a budget which would bring faculty salaries - for years among the lowest in the nation among peer institutions - up to market levels and also passed a tuition plan that would change the minimum number of credit hours considered full-time to 15, instead of the current 12. Under the new tuition system, next years costs would slightly decrease for students taking up to 12 credits, while there would be an increase for full-time students. The proposal, according to remarks by Provost Dan Howard, would provide relief to parttime students and make full-time students pay more of a fair share even while encouraging them to take 15-18 credit hours per semester. Taking a fuller load, Howard said, would move students towards graduation more quickly, which would ultimately reduce per-student costs in the long run. The new tuition policy comes on the heels of a similar plan adopted last year by the University of New Mexico as well as recent changes to the Legislative Lottery Scholarship, which increased the number of minimum credit hours per semester for recipients from 12 to 15. NMSU has also actively participated in a movement to modify statewide funding mechanisms, prompted by Governor Susana Martinez and head of the Higher Education Department Jos Garca, an NMSU professor, which prioritizes the use of outcomes-based formulae rather than the previous input-based model. Under the old system, universities primarily received state allocations according to measurements like the total number of credit hours taken or square footage of building floor space, which critics say, incentivized often unnecessary campus construction and did not ensure academic quality. Over the last few months, NMSU has led a push to implement formulae that would differentiate between research, comprehensive, and community college institutions. The one proposal that has met with significant opposition looks to raise admissions standards at the main campus. The proposal, which stalled in an April Faculty Senate meeting amid calls for further study and a demonstration of about 25 student protesters, would raise minimum GPA to 2.75 or ACT/SAT scores at or above 21/990, and require completion of specific courses in high school, including English with an extensive writing component and Algebra II. Local students who do not meet these requirements will still be eligible for open enrollment at NMSUs community colleges and qualify for a guaranteed track to be able to transfer to the main campus after completing 30 credit hours over two semesters with a 2.75 GPA. We can appreciate the rationale behind some of these reforms. Pay increases for faculty are long over-due. Provost Howard, for example, often speaks of the need to re-

Remember Ludlow
April 20 marked the centennial anniversary of the massacre of mine workers and their families at Ludlow, southern Colorado, a pivotal event in labor history. At least two dozen people, including 12 children, died during a militia attack and burning of their strike encampment, which was set up by the United Mine Workers of America union after strikers were forced out of their homes on company-owned land. The workers at Ludlow refused to labor without pay increases and better safety conditions in the John. D. Rockefeller-owned coal mines. As a result of the massacre, armed miners took to the hills to fight militia and private thugs, resulting in up to 200 deaths. The 1913-14 strike was part of a long-fought struggle between mine workers and owners allied with the government in Colorados coal fields and around the western U.S., stemming from issues of mine safety and union representation. Indeed, Ludlow was far from the deadliest or last conflict in the coal wars, far from an anomaly in U.S. labor history. We should remember Ludlow and all of those who struggle to secure a decent life for workers. We should always remember the lengths capitalists will go to protect their profits. Among the martyrs at Ludlow on April 20 was Louis Tikas, a young Greek immigrant who was murdered in custody of militiamen while attempting to secure safety for women and children in the tent colony. His fellow workers immortalized him in the following lyric:

Who knows what deeds on acient days Gave impulse, yearnings, tendencies? Who knows what blood flowed in his veins? Perhaps the blood of Pericles. He braved the assailants' iron might, Their brutal hate, unbridled, wild; His trust, the miners' naked home; His care, the mother and her child. And men in stress of coming days Shall win by strength his spirit gives; Who so for justice yield his life, He, dying, yet, immortal lives. Oh, Louis Tikas, gallant soul, Defender of the helpless, weak; Knight of humanity, you were More than American or Greek. Heroic spirits of all time Attest your manhood's strong avail; Extend warm hand-clasps as they cry: "Good brother, noble comrade, hail!"

- CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 The GroundUp is an alternative publication at New Mexico State University that seeks to provide a space for critical perspectives from the radical left on current issues both at and outside the university. Writing in The GroundUp reflects the opinions of individual authors, who may or may not be named. We publish material in English and Spanish and we encourage submissions in both languages. The paper is self-funded and has no price. Any monetary contributions will go towards the costs of printing and distribution; they can be arranged by contacting us at groundupnmsu@gmail.com. Con este peridico esperamos crear un espacio en la Universidad Estatal de Nuevo Mxico para perspectivas crticas desde la izquierda radical sobre temas de actualidad tanto dentro como fuera de la universidad. Artculos en The GroundUp reflejan las opiniones de autores individuales, quienes pueden o no ser nombrados. Publicamos material tanto en espaol como en ingls y damos la bienvenida a contribuciones en ambos idiomas. The GroundUp se autofinancia y no tiene costo. Cualquier colaboracin monetaria se utilizar para cubrir los costos de impresin y distribucin. Informes a: groundupnmsu@gmail.com.

The GroundUp
Submissions, comments, donations, etc:
Online: groundupnmsu.org Email: groundupnmsu@gmail.com Spring 2014

The GroundUp

The rap from around our border region Noticias de nuestra regin fronteriza

A Las Cruces coalition is attempting to pass an increase to the minimum wage. Led by Comunidades en Accin y de F (CAF), their proposal would increase the minimum wage in steps up to $10.10 in 2017, then tie the wage to inflation; it would also significantly raise the base pay for tipped workers, like restaurant servers, which is currently only $2.13 per hour. The city council could pass the measure on its own, but supporters are preparing to petition to include the measure on a citywide November ballot. A number of business owners recently responded to the initiative by calling on the city council to take preventative action and enact a $1.00 per hour capped increase that would be tied to inflation, stating they would formalize a proposal of their own. The minimum wage in New Mexico is currently $7.50, though Albuquerque and Santa Fe County have enacted increases locally. A measure to raise the statewide minimum to $8.50 passed the Legislature but was vetoed by Susana Martinez last year. Read more about our position on page 12. Una coalicin en Las Cruces pretende aprobar un aumento al salario mnimo. La propuesta, promocionada por la organizacin Comunidades en Accin y de F (CAF), aumentara el mnimo en escalas hasta alcanzar los $10.10 por hora en 2017 y posteriormente ajustarlo segn la tasa de inflacin. Adems, aumentara significativamente el nivel salarial base para los trabajadores propinados del sector de servicios, el cual actualmente est en slo $2.13 por hora. Aunque la propuesta podra ser aprobada por el consejo municipal, los organizadores se preparan para recolectar firmas y plantearla a los votantes en un referendo en noviembre. Recientemente, varios empresarios respondieron a la iniciativa al pedir una medida preventativa a la junta municipal que implementara un incremento de $1.00 y ajustara los salarios a la inflacin. Afirmaron que formalizaran su propia propuesta. Actualmente el salario mnimo legal en Nuevo Mxico es de $7.50, aunque se han aprobado aumentos en Albuquerque y en el condado de Santa Fe. Una propuesta para aumentar el sueldo mnimo a nivel estatal a $8.50 fue aprobada durante el ao pasado por la legislatura pero vetada por la gobernadora Susana Martnez. Lee ms sobre nuestra postura en la portada. In March, New Mexicans marked the 60th anniversary of the release of Salt of the Earth, a locally-produced film based on a 1950-52 strike by miners near Silver City against the Empire Zinc Co. to end on-the-job discrimination and improve living conditions. A main focus of the film is that participation of women and gender relations. Salt is one of the few films specifically targeted in the U.S. by a government-directed campaign of suppression, for its (real and imaginary) communist influence. NMSU hosted two conferences focusing on the film, while Grant County witnessed multiple commemorative events, many with the participation of people involved in the strike. Salt of the Earth can be found for free at public libraries and streaming online. En marzo, los nuevomexicanos celebraron el 60 aniversario de Sal de la Tierra, una pelcula producida en esta regin basada en la huelga de 195052 de operarios mineros cerca de Silver City contra la Empire Zinc Co., la cual pretendi acabar con la discriminacin en el trabajo y mejorar condiciones de vida. Entre los enfoques principales de la pelcula se destacan la participacin de las mujeres y las relaciones de gnero. Es conocida por ser una de las pocas pelculas que fue especficamente suprimida por el gobierno norteamericano por su influencia comunista (tanto real como imaginaria). Dos conferencias sobre la pelcula fueron dadas en NMSU, y mltiples eventos se dieron en el condado de Grant con la participacin de personas que vivieron la huelga. Actualmente Sal de la Tierra puede encontrarse sin costo en bibliotecas pblicas y en internet. NMSU and the local District Attorneys office failed to win convictions against two students both GroundUp contributors over a September 2013 protest of the National Security Agencys participation in a career fair in Corbett Center. After six months of hearings, motions, and trial delays, the prosecution dropped all charges against Alan Dicker - who was arrested while standing by the NSA recruiting booth with a sign reading Work for Big Brother. Apply today! Dicker was facing criminal charges of interference with a staff member, disorderly conduct, resisting an officer, and trespass. Months earlier, a charge of disorderly conduct was dropped against student Jared Domenico after neither police nor District Attorneys office representatives showed up to a court hearing. Police cited Domenico for dropping a copy of George Orwells 1984 on the NSA recruiting table after forcing a group of about one dozen demonstrators out of Corbett Center under threat of arrest. Multiple students involved in the demonstrations are considering a civil case against the university for repression of the right to protest and free expression. NMSU y el fiscal del distrito fracasaron en su intento de enjuiciar a dos estudiantes por su actuacin en una protesta contra la participacin de la Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (NSA) en una feria de empleo en el centro universitario Corbett en septiembre del 2013. Despus de seis meses de audiencias, peticiones, y retrasos jurdicos, todos los cargos aplicados contra Alan Dicker quien fue arrestado mientras se paraba al lado de una caseta de reclutamiento de la NSA con una pancarta en que se lea Trabaja para el Hermano Grande. Aplica hoy! fueron abandonados. Dicker enfrentaba cargos de interferencia con un empleado pblico, alteracin del rden pblico, resistencia a la autoridad, y permanencia ilcita. Meses antes, el cargo de alteracin al rden pblico contra el estudiante Jared Domenico tambin fue abandonado cuando ni la polica ni representantes de la fiscala llegaron a la audiencia. Domenico haba sido citado por la polica universitaria por dejar un ejemplar de la novela 1984 de George Orwell en la mesa de la NSA luego de una manifestacin que fue despojada del Corbett Center bajo amenaza de detenciones. Varios de los estudiantes involucrados actualmente sopesan una accin jurdica
Rosaura Revueltas in Salt of the Earth.

civil contra la universidad por represin al derecho a la protesta y la libre expresin. Two months after a February radiation leak that shut down the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a dump site for nuclear waste near Carlsbad, administrators still could not identify the causes of abnormally high levels of americium and plutonium that escaped from an underground storage area. Over a dozen workers were exposed in February, according to officials. An investigation team descended to the waste storage areas in mid-April. Department of Energy officials have reassured locals and the media that the low-level radiation released does not pose a serious safety risk. So nothing to worry about. Dos meses despus de una fuga de partculas radioactivas que caus un paro total de labores en la Planta Piloto para el Aislamiento de Residuos Nucleares en Carlsbad, administradores seguan sin poder identificar la causa de elevados niveles de americio y plutonio que se emitieron del complejo subterrneo. Segn fuentes oficiales, ms de una docena de trabajadores fueron expuestos a los istopos. Un equipo de investigacin descendi al depsito subterrneo a mediados de abril. Oficiales del Departamento de Energa aseguraron a residentes y los medios que la radiacin de bajo nivel no representa riesgos serios para la salud. As que no hay porqu preocuparse. Over 300 workers at TRAX International, a major contractor at White Sands Missile Range, carried out an eight-day strike beginning April 1 to protest what they viewed as threats to subcontracting protections and job security. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2515 remained on daily picket lines and eventually voted to accept a contract that included a 2.5% annual pay increase as well as pay guarantees for long-distance travel time in government vehicles. TRAX sells technological and management services for base operations, and union members on strike include electronics technicians, carpenters, and nuclear researchers. Ms de 300 asalariados de TRAX International, un contratista que opera en la zona militar White Sands Missile Range, llevaron al cabo una huelga de ocho das a partir del primero de abril en protesta de lo que consideraban amenazas a la estabilidad y las protecciones laborales. Miembros de la International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers seccin 2515 mantuvieron piquetes diarios y eventualmente votaron a favor de un contrato que inclua tanto un incremento anual de 2.5% como garantas de compensacin por viajes de larga distancia en vehculos gubernamentales. TRAX vende servicios tecnolgicos y administrativos para operaciones en bases militares y los sindicalizados incluyen electricistas, carpinteros, e investigadores en tecnologa nuclear. Chihuahuan state government representatives recently stated opposition to any act promoting homosexuality in public spaces, leading to fears of a prohibition of any openly-LGBT behavior. The statements came after a theatrical act in the central park of Ciudad Jurez prompted a homophobic denunciation from a major newspaper, El Mexicano. Later, the social communications coordinator for the state of Chihuahua was quoted saying that an act in which two men became boyfriends and kissed each other was neither prudent nor in accordance with the social reality, adding that a directive had been given to take steps to prevent such acts and admonish the cotton candy vendor who reportedly helped organize the event. This comes on the heels of an effort by one of Chihuahuas top legal organizations to officially define same-sex marriages (legal in Mexico) in the state as a lesser form of matrimony. On April 6, LGBT supporters responded with a demonstration against discrimination and released a Manifesto of Sexual-Affectionate Diversity in Ciudad Jurez, available at groundupnmsu.edu (Spanish). Oficiales del gobierno estatal manifestaron su oposicin a cualquier acto que promueva la homosexualidad en los espacios pblicos luego de que una actuacin teatral en el Parque Central de Ciudad Jurez provocara una denunciacin homofbica del influyente peridico El Mexicano lo que hizo que muchos activistas temieran una prohibicin de conductas abiertamente de la comunidad LGBT. El coordinador de Comunicacin Social para el Estado de Chihuahua coment al peridico que una actuacin en que dos jvenes masculinos se declararon novios y se besaron no consideramos prudente, ni acorde a la realidad social, agregando que se haba dado un directivo para prevenir tales comportamientos y para amonestar a un vendedor de algodones que facilit el evento. Todo esto sigue un esfuerzo por parte de una importante organizacin de abogados de definir matrimonios entre personas del mismo gnero (que son legales en Mxico) como una forma inferior de matrimonio dentro del estado. Aliados de la comunidad LGBT respondieron el 6 de abril con una manifestacin contra la discriminacin y lanzaron un Manifiesto contra la discriminacin, disponible en groundupnmsu.edu. People across New Mexico reacted with outrage after Albuquerque police killed James Boyd on March 17, resulting in multiple street protests and some use of repressive crowd control tactics by police. Boyd was homeless and living in a mountainous area on the outskirts of the city when he entered into a standoff with police responding to an illegal camping complaint. Though Boyd reportedly threatened cops and carried small knives, video shows that he did not attack the police and actually had his back turned when shot by three different officers; an attack dog and firearms continued to be used as Boyd lay face-down on the ground. Boyd had a history of mental illness. Since the Boyd shooting, law enforcement officials in Albuquerque have killed at least three more people in highly questionable circumstances. On April 10, the U.S. Department of Justice released the findings of an investigation that found the A.P.D. engages in unconstitutional policing by routinely violating citizens rights, using excessive force, and covering up violations by officers. Nuevomexicanos en todo el estado reaccionaron con indignacin ante el asesinato policaco de James Boyd el pasado 17 de marzo, lo que dio lugar a mltiples manifestaciones callejeras y el uso de las correspondientes tcticas represivas por parte de policas antimotines. Respondiendo a una queja por un campamento ilegal en el que Boyd viva en las afueras montaosas de Albuquerque, ya que no tena domicilio fijo, los varios oficiales entraron en una prolongada confrontacin con l. Aunque Boyd amenaz a los oficiales y cargaba unos pequeos cuchillos segn reportes, video de

El registro disidente Dissident blotter

- SIGUE EN LA PGINA 11 / CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 -

No. 4

The GroundUp

Los muertos... muertos estn?

POR SERGIO MNDEZ MOIssEN
Mndez Moissen es acadmico en la Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico y militante de la Liga de los Trabajadores por el Socialismo. Algunos artculos suyos pueden leerse en su blog, historiacomoarma.wordpress.com. Este ensayo plantea unas ideas a partir de una reciente visita de la historiadora Susan Buck-Morss a Mxico.

Do the dead die? The politics of Mexicos war victims is available in English at our website.

Olvidar, honrar, o redimir: Qu se merecen las vctimas de la guerra en Mxico?

Hace unos das Susan Buck-Morss visit la Ciudad de Mxico para dictar una serie de conferencias sobre lo que ella llam los movimientos sociales translocales y sobre su particular interpretacin de las Tesis sobre el concepto de historia del autor judeomarxista Walter Benjamin.1 En dicho seminario abord, en su ltima sesin, una polmica entre Walter Benjamin y Max Horkheimer sobre la muerte que nos parece muy actual en Mxico. Desde el ao 2006 con la llegada de Caldern al gobierno, Mxico se convirti en un panten lleno de muertos, desaparecidos y desplazados producto de la militarizacin del pas y de los efectos de la sujecin a los planes de combate al narcotrfico dictados desde los Estados Unidos. Buck Mors en dicho seminario seal: somos sobrevivientes de la historia pensando en nuestro pas Cmo no sera de ese modo si en menos de cinco aos fueron masacrados, asesinados, descuartizados miles de personas con el motivo de una guerra absurda? Derrida en sus Espectros de Marx insista que: ninguna tica, ninguna poltica, revolucionaria o no, parece posible, ni pensable, ni justa, si no reconoce como su principio el respeto por esos otros que no son ya () ante los fantasmas de los que an no han nacido o de los que han muerto ya, vctimas o no de guerras, de violencias polticas o de otras violencias, de exterminaciones nacionalistas, racistas, colonialistas, sexistas o de otro tipo; de las opresiones imperialistas.2 No es posible pensar en un mundo por venir, sin pensar en los que ya no estn y fueron masacrados por la guerra.totalitarismo. Si, la violencia, las muertes, las ejecuciones, las desapariciones, los desplazados, en Mxico siguen. El Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad (MPJD), que concentr el descontento nacional en contra de la llamada guerra en el ao 2011, contabiliz que entre 2006 y 2011 fueron asesinados ms de 100 mil personas ni ms ni menos. En ltima instancia estamos ante una verdadera catstrofe social de magnitudes histricas que, desde nuestro punto de vista, no ha sido comprendida en su total magnitud. Segn

Arriba: Obra del grupo Bordemos por la Paz en Jalisco (bordemosporlapaz.blogspot.com). Abajo: El Memorial a las Vctimas de la Violencia en Mxico (PROVICTIMA).

Horkheimer los muertos, muertos estn, intentar revivirlos, salvarlos, redimirlos, consista en una misin no filosfica y no materialista. Segn el fundador de la Escuela de Frankfurt la pretensin de Walter Benjamin en sus Tesis sobre la historia (de redimir a los vencidos de la historia) era una idea teolgica ajena al materialismo histrico. Pero, de tener razn Horkheimer Qu hacemos con nuestros muertos, los que fueron vctimas de una guerra absurda con tintes de limpieza social? Los olvidamos o los intentamos salvar, redimir de algn modo? Benjamin opinaba de otro modo. En su Tesis II sobre el concepto de historia recalcaba que Existe una cita secreta entre las generaciones que fueron y la nuestra. Y como a cada generacin que vivi antes que nosotros, nos ha sido dada una dbil fuerza mesinica sobre la que el pasado exige derechos. No se debe despachar esta exigencia a la ligera. Algo sabe de ello el materialismo histrico.3 Max Horkheimer argumentaba en contra de la tentacin teolgica de Benjamin: los muertos, muertos estn, y no pueden ser despertados de nuevo. En estos tiempos que corren la frivolidad es una regla: la detencin del Chapo es primera plana de todos los diarios nacionales (incluido el uso de drones), mientras el asesinato de periodistas como Gregorio Jimnez en Veracruz no merece una sola disculpa del Estado Mexicano. Hoy, el debate del uso legtimo de la violencia y, con ello de la muerte, sigue. Y en estos tiempos que corren la incomprensin tambin impera. El caso de las autodefensas de Michoacn es una revelacin de ello. Algunos pasaron de verlos como legtimos opositores al gobierno de Enrique Pea Nieto (EPN), mientras a escasos das tomaron un cliz similar a grupos paramilitares alentados por el mismo gobierno federal. Segn Hernndez Navarro Los claroscuros del movimiento son evidentes. Muchos michoacanos tomaron las armas para enfrentar a grupos delictivos y defender su territorio, sus bienes y su seguridad. Sin embargo, es inocultable el papel del gobierno federal en el auspicio de esos grupos civiles armados. Esta relacin pone en duda que los civiles armados sean slo una expresin autnoma de la voluntad de autodefensa popular. Las autodefensas son parte de una estrategia gubernamental, no resultado de su carencia.4 Entre la incomprensin y la frivolidad, los muertos, los ms de 100 mil siguen ah. Preocupados por ellos, Qu se merecen nuestros muertos?

- SIGUE EN LA PGINA 9 -

Lottery: Instead of scholarship fixes, could we simply abolish tuition?

- CONTINUED FROm PAGE 1 simistically observe politicians attempts to keep up with rising tuition prices, we could (and should) demand a fully-subsidized higher education system that wipes out the need for loans, grants, and scholarships in the first place. We could be talking about an entirely new system, not predicated on the students ability to pay. But were not. Were stuck in a revolving door, where education costs will continue to soar, public subsidies for it will be increasingly inadequate, and where the quality of education a young person can access is determined primarily by their socioeconomic class. Were stuck in a bubble thats due to burst - where we depend on a complicated, roundabout way of putting public money towards a public destination (often through opportunistic private intermediaries) and where student debt makes up the greatest single portion of the national debt. Nationwide, tuition could be abolished at all two and four-year public institutions, according to a recent paper by the Center for the Future of Higher Education, by repurposing little more than the total amount currently directed towards subsidizing tuition costs through financial aid programs and education tax credits. The organization Strike Debt! estimates that only $12.4 billion in additional funding, only a fraction of total spending in the federal budget, would be needed on top of what is currently spent on higher education to abolish tuition at public postsecondary schools nationwide while maintaining enrollment levels. In other words, to transform our public colleges and universities into places where ability to pay would not be a factor, we would need little more than the money were spending now. Is this plausible in our poor state? Lets do the math: $765 million was spent by state and federal governments on financial aid for students at New Mexico schools in 2012-13, about $118.5 million of that coming from the state Higher Education Department (including $62 million from the Legislative Lottery Scholarship), according to an HED report. Considering that around 150,000 students were enrolled in New Mexico colleges and universities in the Fall 2012 semester (and using a high estimate for average yearly tuition of $5,000 - the median tuition at comparatively high-priced NMSU was $6,500, while it was slightly over $1,000 at the states community colleges), we can estimate that the amount of their combined tuition was around $755 million over the course of the 2012-13 school year. If our (admittedly rough) numbers are correct, we may actually spend more in financial aid for New Mexico students than their total tuition costs. If we add indirect financial aid, such as tax credits for higher education, the difference would be even greater. Theoretically, then, all we need to do to rid ourselves of the tuition-based system is move money around. Tuition-free higher education Certainly, easier said than done. There would be many hurdles to creating a new, tuition-free model in New Mexico and across the country. State and federal education bureaucracies would need restructuring - and since the majority of our financial aid spending comes from Washington, abolishing tuition here would largely depend on cooperation at the federal level. We would need to confront questions about whether to continue subsidizing the costs of tuition for students at private institutions and how to determine admissions standards without the influence of market-oriented pricing. We would still need to answer how to provide need-based assistance for cost-of-living expenses (indeed, on top of $765 million in financial aid, New Mexicans took out nearly $354 million in student loans last year). We would need to determine sustainable funding formulae that guarantee broad access to higher education without the budget revenue generated by tuition. Despite the challenges, abolishing tuition is worth it. Such a system would not simply turn our colleges and universities into degraded slack-off factories, as many on the right would claim. Without the pressures of per-credit or per-semester prices, many of the incentives for grade inflation and unchallenging degree plans would disappear. We could attempt to raise academic competencies and overall quality without the financial punishment currently associated with retaking a class or enrolling in remedial courses. We could promote new ways for students to contribute to their schools, rather than spending their dollars on a product, and we could provide more freedom of choice and exploration in academic careers. The benefits from such a model would go far beyond simplifying the higher education funding system. Neither would it come close to a be-all-end-all for solving issues of social inequality in education; but tuition-free colleges could lead us towards the ideal of an open, innovative, and community-centered democratic education something seriously under threat by budget cuts, privatization, and the top-heavy business-oriented approach popular in the neoliberal era. Though it seems like a far-fetched, even utopian, idea in the current political climate, that is only because so few are pushing for any substantial alternative to the increasingly market-oriented model. Instead, we spend our time arguing about things like how to keep the Lottery Scholarship afloat. Substantial change in this area can only start to see the light if students and working people force the issue from outside the constraints of the two-party machine. We must start to demand tuition-free, rigorous, and democratic higher education.

THE BILLS ARE TOO DAMN HIGH! DONATE NOW.

Send checks to The GroundUp: 2400-B Jordan Rd., Las Cruces NM 88001 Info: groundupnmsu.org
Spring 2014

The GroundUp

From Flint to Las Cruces: the life of Rick Livasy

BY ALAN DICKER
For a brief moment in late January, news of a fatal, on-campus fire in a culvert under Interstate 25 was a major cause of concern in the university community. The victims body, partially burned but beyond recognition, was only identified as a male the day after the incident, January 28. More specific information was not released until a February 13 campus-wide email by NMSU Police Chief Stephen Lopez, which identified the deceased as Richard Livasy and described him only as a 55-year-old homeless man from Michigan who arrived in town in the 1990s. This was the last information released to the public, and the local press proved disinterested in finding out more about the man who died. So who was Richard Livasy? An individuals story is also that of the people and places around him, and Livasys began in Flint, Michigan in 1958. Flint was I was always scared that something practically built and run by General Motors would happen to him, the way that and famous for protracted and sometimes he traveled and the way that he lived. violent struggles between labor and maRichard Livasy in a grade-school photo nagement, culminating in the 1936-37 sit(above) and during a 2004 visit to his down strikes that led to the unionization family home in Michigan (left). of the auto industry under the United Auto After a shooting that left him with braWorkers. Livasys parents, Jerry Livasy and in damage when he was 19, Livasy left Diane Chappel, were long-time workers in home and began a life on the move. In the mid-1990s, he landed in Las area auto plants, and set up a home in nearCruces. In January, he died in a culvert by Davison. on the NMSU campus. News of an onFrom 1960 to the late 2000s, the populacampus fatality was rapidly dissemition of Michigans major industrial centers, nated, but information suggesting the Flint and Detroit, dropped by nearly 50%, deceased was a homeless man seeowing largely to the reduction in factory mingly put an end to public interest in operations that accelerated in the 1980s. the incident. Photos courtesy of Rick Like many emigrants from the Rust Belt, Livasys family. many Michiganders relocated to the south and southwestern U.S. Rick Livasy was part of that epic history of mass migration. What caused him to move away, though, had less to do with the economic forces shaping the world around him and more to do He was a pretty normal 19-year-old kid ... and he could have lived a pretty normal life. with a particularly dramatic point on which his life pivoted. Turning point the Lone Star state. In 1987, he married Shelly Nash Bryant day. When they learned of Livasys death, Beck and other By the time he was 19, Livasy had been honorably dis- in Corpus Christi, something he apparently avoided dis- library staff members sent condolences to his family. charged from a stint in the Army (he entered when he was cussing at length with his family. It was a turbulent rela17, choosing the military over continuing in high school). tionship, according to Chappel, but appears to have lasted Family ties Throughout the more than three decades he was away He went home. He had a girlfriend and following an ar- over a decade. Sometime in the 1990s, Livasy and Nash from home, Livasy kept in regular contact with his family gument with her was shot and confined to a hospital for Bryant came to southern New Mexico. by phone and email, and returned home for multiple visits. four months with brain damage. The shooting, like much Livasy was one of the first clients of the nonprofit agency Jerry Livasy said he actually grew closer to his son duof Livasys life afterwards, is surrounded by more questions Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, which opened in 1998, ring his years away. I wasnt a good father. When Rick was than answers - it is still unclear whether Livasy shot him- according to Lead Case Manager Sue Campbell. He receiyoung, I wasnt there for them because I was a drinker self or his girlfriend shot him. ved mail at a post office box there and accompanied his and a gambler, he said; but recounted that in 1981 I becaDoctors told Diane Chappel that her son would not wife in search of medical services. The last mention of Nash walk again, and she believed she witnessed a miracle when Bryant in the available records show that she was admitted me a Christian and I stopped doing all the stupid things I she entered his room one day to find him up and shaving. to the Casa de Oro nursing home in 1999. Chappel said her did when I was younger. After years with little contact, Jerry and Rick Livasy esShe added, however, that after I saw how he changed, I son told her Nash Bryant had died of a drug overdose. tablished a new relationship. We talked a lot. We would be didnt call it a miracle. While in Las Cruces, Livasy occasionally worked as a on the phone for hours sometimes. They shared a religious After [the shooting], he didnt seem to be comfortable day laborer, but he received some income from his mother. with a lot of people He would get mixed up, confused. Chappel said she sent her son money - $60 or $70 - every connection. About ten years ago was the first time, as an He cared about people but when he started getting close to month, though she added that he never asked her to. At ti- adult, his son told him he loved him. Results of the New Mexico Office of the Medical people he would get scared. He was quieter, but neverthe- mes he utilized the services of shelters and soup kitchens, Examiners investigation into Richard Livasys death were less acted in a way that at times frightened his three youn- and at some point began to study the Bible. They dont let released to the family on April 14. According to the finger sisters while living at home. you eat unless you quote from the Bible, his mother recalled dings, his death was natural, caused by atherosclerotic He also lost that aggressiveness he had when he was him saying; but the teachings stuck, and Livasy often spoke and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, a common cause younger, his father said; the shooting did away with that of scripture to his family throughout the rest of his life. of heart attack. Deputy Chief Bowen said investigations aspect of his personality. The picture painted of Livasy is Livasy lived in the vicinity of the NMSU campus for suggest Livasy passed away with a lit candle nearby. The of a person who went from a teenager who played foot- a number of years (at least seasonally, Chappel menball, ditched classes, and argued with his father over the tioned that he may have used summer and winter tun- flame, he said, may have spread after coming into contact length of his hair (he had a rebellious streak, Jerry Livasy nels), though no one is sure for quite how long. NMSU with adjacent combustibles. There are two anonymous memorials at the site of commented) to a traumatized and detached man after the police had an ongoing relationship with him, said the Livasys death: One is a small orange cross that was placed shooting. He lived a pretty tragic life after he was 19. Until departments Deputy Chief Andy Bowen, which included outside the entrance to the culvert; the other is a spraythat point, he was a pretty normal 19-year-old kid and calls about after-hours entry into buildings during winter, painted message about halfway through the concrete tunhe could have lived a pretty normal life. but no criminal conduct that warranted punitive action. nel that reads RIP Mr. Bum 2K14. He worked, his father said, but he couldnt keep a job, Bowen recalled that officers bought him meals on occaI wasnt surprised at all about his cause of death, his because he didnt appreciate being under the authority of sion, and said police believed he was still living living at father commented, saying he believed drinking and smoanybody. Livasy relied on the services of Goodwill and the a site near I-25 and Cholla Road, just south of campus on king took their toll on him. For a long time, he continued, Salvation Army, staying in their shelters for around two county land. Had they known Livasy was living on uniI didnt realize how bad his condition was. years. versity land, Bowen said, police would have considered it For Jerry Livasy, his sons passing was almost a relief, One day, he was gone. I had just bought him a brand- wrongful use of public property. because Rick was free from that terrible life he lived. new fishing pole, Chappel said, but when she arrived at The area had its advantages. Livasy didnt want clothes, To me Rick wasnt living a Christian life, but I have the the shelter to give it to him, personnel told her that he had because he said college kids were so spoiled that theyd hope that God will judge [him] according to what was left two days earlier. He finally called me one day and he throw away brand new stuff, his mother said. in his heart. was in Texas. Much of his time was spent in the campus libraries. He He made his choices, but the choices he made werent On the road was one of our community users who would come and go, the choices he would have made if [the shooting and brain Livasy apparently spent much of the next two decades often using the computers to watch movies, send emails, damage] hadnt happened to him. on the move. His mother recalled him living in Tennessee and listen to music, said NMSU Librarys Head of Access Livasy was one of about 1,300 people in Las Cruces and Arizona and talking about going to Florida for a job, Services Susan Beck. He was always polite and thankful - CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 but he seems to have spent the greatest part of his time in He was very quiet [and] would stay here sometimes all

No. 4

The GroundUp

DO HUMAN RIGHTS EXIST IN NEW MEXICO?

POLICE EXECUTIONS IN NEW MEXICO!1 PRISONERS TORTURED IN NEW MEXICO!2

ARBITRARY CAVITY SEARCHES IN NEW MEXICO!3

COPS SHOOT AT CHILDREN IN NEW MEXICO!4

Nationwide, the punitive system is out of hand and exacerbates the numerous social problems we face. Nearly one in every 31 adults in the U.S. is either in prison or on probation or parole, according to the NAACP. From 1980 to 2008, the prison population has risen from 500,000 to 2.3 million, the vast majority being non-white. Police are increasingly put on the streets in combat gear and encouraged to have a my way or the highway attitude, instead of prioritizing the rights and welfare of individuals and communities. These are problems that demand a radical change of direction. In New Mexico, this would start by outing the states current hard-line law enforcement administrators - like New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Director Jack Jones, who has recently encouraged even less restraint in use-of-force and a warrior mentality among ofcers - as well as demilitarizing police and reorienting their work away from catch-and-punish approaches towards horizontal engagement with the community to promote wellbeing. A new system would also include a commitment to reducing the prison population; banning private prison facilities; providing increased mental health services; and politically tackling the economic and social causes of crime, such as poverty, unemployment, unfullling employment, and weak community support structures - in short, the ugly outcomes of late capitalism. The criminal justice system provides little justice for working people, and we need to remake it in our favor. This is the message we want those in power to hear.
James Boyds brutal killing by the Albuquerque Police Department on March 16 is only one incident in a long history of abuse and brutality by authorities in Albuquerque (now documented and criticized by the Department of Justice) and the region. In the face of growing public anger, the new director of the state Law Enforcement Academy actually insists police are too restricted in use of force against evil. U.J. Garca, New police training puts fewer limits on use of force, Santa Fe New Mexican (Feb. 16); Findings Letter to Mayor Richard J. Berry, U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (Apr. 10, 2014). 2 Recent cases show prisoners have been regularly subject to abnormally long-term solitary connement, illegal strip searches, punishments including sitting in urine, and more. See newmexicoprisonwatch.blogspot.com. 3 A man in Deming was subjected to multiple cavity searches after a routine trafc stop in January 2013. This may not be an uncommon occurence: others in the region have come forward alleging similar tortures, including women in Border Patrol custody. C. Ramirez, 4 On Your Side investigates trafc stop nightmare, KOB (Nov. 5, 2013); A. Bracamontes, Woman sues over vaginal, anal exams... El Paso Times (Dec. 18, 2013). 4 New Mexico State Troopers garnered international attention in November after smashing a passenger window and shooting at a eeing minivan with ve children inside. A. Oxford and C. Quintana, Experts question use of force by state police in Taos minivan shooting, The Taos News (Nov. 20, 2013).
1

END POLICE VIOLENCE END THE PRISON BOOM

DEMAND A NEW CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM!
We invite you to organize with us around these issues. Contact:
ATTN: AGGIE SOLIDARITY aggiesolidarity@gmail.com
Spring 2014

The GroundUp

The bleeding edge of the Protestant Ethic

An essay on the deification and fetishization of labor
BY JARED DOmENIcO
Youre out of your preferred pain killer. Your toothpaste is running low. Chocolate or something sounds really good right now. To address these, you pull off the street and into the Walgreens parking lot. The shift was long, your legs are tired, sleep deprivation softly hammers your eyelids down and leaves your brain soaking in its hazeinducing metabolic waste. You step out of your vehicle and into glaring streetlight. Lock the door beside you, walk towards the sliding ones in front of you. Dodge the lazy bum, notice the liquor aisle is locked behind aluminum bars. Go to find your pharmaceuticals as the night shift ignores you for as long as youre not at a register or directly in their way. Stop. Look at your assumption. Lazy, that bum was. He had to be, after all, to have neither food or housing; to engage in the terminally unproductive activity of sitting outside the door and not bathing. Youre comparing prices of tylenol and ibuprofen as you weigh your existential value against his. Youre worth more, obviously. You work for a living, after all. Its not the best job, its not even that great. But, it is work, and if you keep working someday your life will be better. Youll earn a career, and no longer have to do things you hate for people who hate you. If you keep working you will be happy. The bum thought this exact same thing until he was stabbed in the back with a layoff from his construction job. A man who built houses soon cant even afford his own or an apartment, or a fucking trailer. Unemployment dries up, and hes forced to look lower and lower for work until he slams into the minimum wage. And even then, the shift managers at McWhatevers cringe when they see he is at least forty years old, prone to breaking down as often as the deep fat frier. The concrete slab on a pharmacy patio becomes his only domain, defended solely by his own stink. He thought that if he followed the rules and worked hard, the system would take care of him. The Calvinists thought that too, and were arguably the first to codify it. They were just one of the budding sects of the Protestant Reformation a mutation of Catholicism stripped lean of dogma and ritual but with that fundamental strain of that tenet of the Divine Christ intact in every cell. They took the name and quite a few ideas from John Calvin, theologian of the 16th century and competitor with Martin Luther over who could have the coolest new flavor of Christianity. One of those ideas, which became a signature of Calvinism, is that of predesti-

Livasy: After on-campus death, little information about the deceased

- CONTINUED FROm PAGE 5 without a proper home, according to Campbell at the Community of Hope. Most of these people have been chronically homeless for ten-plus years, she said, adding that the population is growing. Many have severe mental illness and no contact with family - and theyre aging. The nursing homes will not take them if they have mental health issues, Campbell said, adding that access to services like group homes has been greatly restricted since the Reagan years. These people will not be housed. Do they just die and rot? Last years nationwide point-in-time survey of the homeless population counted at least 610,000 individuals living in shelters or on the streets. Its important for people to realize that [homeless people] deserve respect just like anyone else, said Pamela Meyers, Livasys sister. I was always scared that something would happen to him, the way that he traveled and the way that he lived, Chappel said of her son. In recent years, she tried to convince him to come home for good, worried about his health. His last visit home was about five years ago, though Chappel sent him a Greyhound ticket in the summer of 2012. Not realizing that the Greyhound station had been moved from a spot on Valley Drive to a new location in Doa Ana, she said, he arrived to an empty building with a non-refundable ticket. He felt sorry that I had spent the money. Theres guilt that we didnt do enough for him, she said. We were able to bring his remains home at least. She recounted that Livasy told her he regretted treating her like crap, but continued that he was a good brother and I love him. It was great when wed get a call from him. You take it on yourself to say I could have done better, his mother commented. Theres just so much pain.

John Calvin. Calvinism emphasizes the concept of predestination.

nation: the extrapolation from Gods omnipotence that God is already quite aware of who is bound for salvation in Christ and an afterlife in heaven, or damnation in hell. This, essentially, makes the individuals need for repentance and salvation in Christ, made of their own free will, completely pointless. Free will becomes suspect when every decision is ultimately unambiguous, when there is no choice in the eyes of the deity. Why then would an omnipotent and supremely moral entity damn not only two individuals, but their entire multitude of descendants for disobeying an edict it issued to those two individuals that it knew they could not obey? For Calvinists, resolving this paradox was a lesser priority, and instead, they were absorbed in whether or not they personally were destined for heaven, and it was a great weight on their minds. With Catholicism, there was a harsh yet certain procedure for salvation: say this prayer, suppress your desires, divulge your guilt against some arbitrary and arcane moral code to this priest, ignore his hypocrisy, and do all those things until the day you die and you will go to a wonderful place beyond space and time, fear and want. The Calvinists, by mostly abolishing that structure, were left with no sure method for entering heaven. There was no longer any

indicator of virtue the priest had been traded for ones own judgement. They had forsaken the risk of excommunication, but were left with no confirmation. As Protestantism caught on with the elite of European society, they came to resolve that quandary: of determining who was destined for rewards in heaven. Obviously, it would be those who reap rewards on earth, who bend the wills of lesser damned men towards their own profit. Those few who would amass land and capital all financial and social were clearly blessed by God, in its good graces, and surely acting from a position of virtue. In short, the Elite who adopted the tenets of Calvinist Protestantism concluded that by mastering and exploiting the resources of the vulgar world, they were holy, beyond reproach. Its a remix of the Divine Right of Kings - spliced to apply to the growing bourgeoisie. This is the original Protestant Ethic, as elucidated by Max Weber the accumulation and disposal of worldly assets as a show of holiness. A post-hoc justification for an emergent upper class outside of nobility, or rather, an excuse for latent acquirers of capital to stand above and subjugate lesser people.

- CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 -

A wooden cross left at the site of Livasys death. Inside the culvert, a spray-painted message reads, RIP Mr. Bum 2K14.

The market: Music as artistic creation or commodity production?

BY GAbRIEL BARRIO
This article originally appeared at The Truant, thetruantlc.com.

A sterile room with no windows sits on the southeast corner of the towering high rise building in downtown Los Angeles. The room is occupied by a large wooden conference table with plush office chairs that surround it. The room is freshly stocked with 20 young men of different ages, social, political, and economic backgrounds. Each member of the group is assigned a seating position by the Group Data Research Panel. Each member of the group has a professional headset that is plugged into the audio output jacks in the center of the table. Each member is to listen to an entire album of a potential new rap artist that is being prepped for a saturation of the marketing and advertising apparatuses of, lets give it the moniker Company X. The members of the group are given 1.5 hours to listen to the album and re-listen to any of the songs they particularly enjoyed. Each members actions - skipping, rewinding, re-listening or repeating the entire album - are tracked No. 4

in a complex Microsoft Excel matrix that would determine the optimum presentation, outline and structure of tracks contained on said album. There is one wall shared between the group members who are testing the product in question and the Group Data Research Panel. This wall has a panel of two-way glass and an audio capturing device so the Group Data Research Panel can observe any organic movements in response to the music, as well as listen in on any conversations that might be taking place. There is generally a Group Data Research Panel member placed incognito in the group to ask questions or place the album in conversation with other contemporary popular culture artifacts. This member is to slightly influence the results of the Group Data Research Panel but mostly serve the purpose of continuing conversation and sparking debate amongst group members. After the group members listen, re-listen, skip tracks, talk amongst themselves, and debate concepts prompted by the planted Group Data Research Panelist, each group member leaves the room in single file and is thanked for their time and given a gift card to major

music retail outlets. This might sound like some strange world in which music has completely lost all sense of being an artistic expression, but sadly it is real. Market data shows that markettested products have a higher percentage of success during major roll-outs and album releases. Thus, the music industry has taken the human and art elements out of the equation and turned new artists and albums into carefully packaged products made for easy consumption. This process is so strenuous, detailed, and carefully thought out with every variable considered that each product that is the equivalent of a new fast food menu item when each Group Data Research Panel concludes. Something that has bright colors, mass market appeal, and enough generalities in it to make it so generic that every person can somehow relate to it and want to consume the product or at least want to make waves ripping it, which in turn creates larger market appeal through publicity.

- CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 -

The GroundUp

What is the Domenici Institute, anyway?

As construction wraps up, NMSUs free market think tank prepares to move in
BY THE GROUNDUP STAFF
Rising up behind a chain-link perimeter on the site of the old Hershel Zohn Theater, Pete V. Domenici Hall is primed to become the newest jewel of NMSUs building boom. By now, most NMSU students are aware of the construction project taking shape across from Frenger Food Court, but few know what the building will be used for. The hall will house the Domenici Institute for Public Policy, a project under the auspices of the College of Business, as well as classrooms and office space for Business graduate students and faculty. Also planned is office space for the Arrowhead Center, a semi-public industrial incubator on the south end of the main campus. Further, the recentlycompleted second floor of Branson Library will serve as a virtual extension of the Institute, housing Pete Domenicis congressional and personal archive. But what will the Domenici Institute do? The Domenici Institute was established in 2008, headed by then-Business College Dean and current NMSU President Garrey Carruthers. According to its website, the institute is dedicated to putting on an annual policy conference, Providing unique learning opportunities to students and the public to expand the development of free enterprise and inspire the next generation of New Mexican entrepreneurs, and Conducting sound science research regarding the policy areas of Senator Domenicis greatest influence. Speaking of the building renovation, Domenici was quoted in a Las Cruces Bulletin (April 19, 2014) article saying This is a great second life for a beautiful old building a life dedicated to free enterprise. Ironically, the soon-to-be home of this institute dedicated to the promotion of free enterprise is being largely funded by federal and state appropriations, lobbied for by Carruthers himself. No cause for worry, though: along with $10 million from the U.S. Senate and $5 million from the State of New Mexico, the project has received the financial support of numerous private donors. The list includes casino/horsetrack magnate Stan Fulton ($1 million; will have the halls atrium named after him), El Paso Electric ($55,000; the El Paso Electrictric Classroom), contributors to a 500 for $500 campaign, and Peyton Yates of New Mexico-based Yates Petroleum ($500,000; the Yates Auditorium). All in all, the Domenici Institute is growing into a free-market think tank with an industry-oriented political leaning. The center can be expected to not only serve Domenicis legacy in name, but also by promoting his ideological stances (largely shared by Carruthers, the business sector, and the College of Business administration) through its research and instruction. Whats more, many donors to the project, like donors to pro-industry departments in general, can reasonably expect a return on their gift investment. El Paso Electric is donating funds for distance education technology, a company spokesperson said in a press release, in part because some of [their] own employees are beneficiaries of the remote learning system! (exclamation in original), and because they recognize the value of having a well-educated pool of potential employees. Yates, who was named NMSUs first Executive in Residence and awarded an honorary doctorate for his contributions, commented in a separate press release that his businesses had tremendous success with a lot of NMSU graduates. Certainly, the executive class can feel good about supporting an institution that provides training for its skilled labor force! Moreover, that class can feel doubly-good about the institutes academic areas of focus, supposed to be aligned with the former senators topics of interest. These policy areas include natural resources, health care, national security, and economic development, assumedly all under the framework of a free enterprise model. Domenici was known during his tenure as a reliable ally of industry, particularly of oil companies, so it is no wonder that resourceexploitative companies like Yates Petroleum and El Paso Electric would support the projects work. The mention of sound science as one of the Domenici Institutes pillars may also be cause for concern, since it recalls its leaders past involvement with corporate-directed scientific research. Carruthers, shortly after leaving the New Mexico Governors office in the 1990s, was president of the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, which was funded by industrial giant Philip Morris and disseminated findings downplaying the risks of tobacco consumption and global warming. Carruthers role in the organization proved to be a major topic of contention in the universitys presidential selection process, but the incorporation of sound science advancement into the Domenici Institutes mission has received little attention. One of the institutes primary projects, the annual Domenici Public Policy Conference has given a platform to

Above: An artists rendering of the completed Domenici Hall, which will house the Domenici Institute for Public Policy, offices for the Arrowhead Center, and Business classrooms and offices (NMSU). Left: Garrey Carruthers, Manuel Pacheco, Pete Domenici, Mike Cheney, and Ken Miyagishima participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for the building in January (NMSU/Darren Phillips). Though Domenici Hall is primed to become a focal point for NMSU, few on campus are aware of its ideologically-charged foundation.

businesspeople, politicians, and high-ranking military/ surveillance personnel to promote their views. Not incidentally, sponsors are often organizations with a major stake in the focus areas, such as Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories, Intel, banks, and health insurance companies. Furthermore, some conference speakers have been drawn from the ranks of the same companies and agencies that provide funding. The institute will be a focal-point of our university for years to come. The questions that remain are whether we at NMSU want such a think-tank to be such an integral part of how our university is defined, and whether we should be directing resources to such a project in an age when there are already too many business-oriented think tanks shaping politics. Whatever the answer, its happening. Labor troubles in a free market paradise? Relevant to the story of the Domenici Institute, particularly considering its free-market orientation, is a labor conflict that made itself apparent outside the construction site last fall. On multiple days workers for El Paso Insulation Systems and an organizer for the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers stood outside the chain-link fence handing out handbills and holding a banner accusing EPIS of violating its employees human rights. EPI was contracted to work on the second-floor Branson Library renovation, being done in tandem with the Domenici Hall project. The company was brought on by Metro Mechanical, which was itself contracted by Jaynes Corporation. Jaynes was selected by the university to oversee the projects and was incidentally a sponsor of the 2011 Domenici Conference. When Jaynes contracted with EPIS, it also brought in a union campaign critical of the companys relations with its workforce. Employees of the company and Insulators union organizer Enrique Cabrera claim that EPIS has a history of violating workers rights and cutting corners on construction projects, putting its workers and the integrity of its projects at risk. Cabrera provided The GroundUp with numerous documents including Department of Labor citations charging the company with violations at Texas and New Mexico sites for lack of drinking water, unwillingness to provide protective equipment, defective equipment, and anti-union practices like intimidation of workers. The demonstrators claimed that, along with possible safety violations, EPIS was paying its workers about half of the prevailing wage,

which is similar to a minimum hourly wage for government contractors depending on region and occupation, enforced by state Departments of Labor. EPI, they argued, was avoiding paying the prevailing wage by misclassifying workers as common laborers instead of a insulators. Repeated requests to the companies involved as well as NMSUs Office of Facilities and Services - which oversees construction projects - to comment on this story and clarify facts were ignored or denied. One of the demonstrators was Jos Davila, who was fired from the company last year after an EPIS manager learned that he had joined the Insulators union. Davila filed suit and upon recommendation of the National Labor Relations Board was recently rehired. He did not work at the library site, though he has worked on other jobs at NMSU for the company, including the Corbett Center cafeteria. I didnt know about the union when I first started working in construction, he said, but found it necessary to organize to exercise [his] rights. Cabrera said he found NMSU uninterested in discussing labor issues. Instead, on one occasion, November 12 of last year, Jaynes superintendent Bill Lopez and NMSU OFS project manager Jon Padilla complained to university police, desiring the removal of the protestors. Police did not find any reason to have them removed, and a police report states that Lopez main contention was that the demonstrators were creating a bad publicity issue. About a half-dozen left students, some of whom are GroundUp collaborators, held a solidarity demonstration with the insulators on November 21. As a result of the bad publicity, Cabrera said, EPIS was removed from the project around the new year, though the reasons for this could not be confirmed through university or company officials. The Insulators organizer saw this as a positive step, and urged NMSU to insist on local, unionized contractors. Considering the interests behind the Domenici Institute as well as the labor issue surfaced during construction, the following may be worth pondering: Is it revelatory that a think-tank dedicated to promoting free enterprise (1) owes its existence largely to public financing and (2) experiences labor trouble during the construction of its building? In any case, we believe it is a sad statement about our university that promoting neoliberal ideology is a greater priority than setting across-the-board high labor standards for oncampus contractors or actively promoting workers rights. Spring 2014

8 The GroundUp

Muertos estn?: La poltica para las vctimas de la guerra en Mxico

- SIGUE DE LA PGINA 4 Es obvio que Horkheimer dira, ya est, los muertos no se les puede revivir. El gobierno no contento con la guerra adems homenaje a los vencedores del teatro catastrfico. Para muestra de ello no hace falta ms que recordar que Caldern en 2012 invirti 31.2 millones de pesos un memorial de las vctimas de la guerra al lado del Campo Marte que en realidad es un memorial de los militares cados en combate. Este memorial tuvo como objetivo congratular a las Fuerzas Armadas, en continuidad con la poltica de militarizacin del pas, homenajear a los victimarios, ms que a las vctimas. Segn Calderon este memorial es un homenaje a los ms de 205 soldados que murieron por la nacin.5 Es la Plaza al Servicio de la Patria, al servicio de los vencedores de esta guerra que contina. Segn Buck Mors hay diversas formas de integrar a las vctimas en el discurso racional de la historia. Si la historia es crucial en Hegel en este corpus intelectual se puede integrar el terror de la historia desde un punto de vista racional, sin que ello contemple su justicia, su redencin. Un ejemplo de esta idea en Mxico podra ser la que contempla la llamada Ley de Vctimas aprobada tambin por Caldern, solapada por EPN y avalada por el MPJD de Javier Sicilia que la vio como una triunfo histrico. Si bien una de las aportaciones del MPJD fue dar visibilidad a las vctimas de la guerra el movimiento vio en este iniciativa una victoria. Esta ley concit el apoyo de la Organizacin de las Naciones Unidas, de personalidades de la cultura como el msico Roger Waters y de decenas de organizaciones de derechos humanos en el pas. Para el MPJD esta ley da certeza a la situacin de las vctimas de delitos y violaciones a los derechos humanos, se crea el Registro Nacional de Vctimas, el Registro Nacional de Datos Forenses, un fondo para la reparacin y se anuncian los derechos de las vctimas como la restitucin, indemnizacin, rehabilitacin y garantas de no repeticin. Como decimos en otro artculo la conquista histrica del movimiento es una Fondo Nacional de Vctimas para reparar los daos a los familiares y un Registro Nacional para la memoria de los asesinados en la guerra. Se reduce a la constitucin de un fondo federal de aproximadamente 270 millones de pesos del Presupuesto de Egresos para indemnizar con 500 meses de salario mnimo (934 mil pesos aproximadamente) a quienes sufran violaciones a los derechos humanos.6 En ltima instancia registrar a las ms de 100 mil muertes con nombre en un registro y obtener una indemnizacin no significa, a nuestro parecer, redimir a los muertos, ni un poco. Se acepta que hubo una catstrofe social pero se indemniza con dinero la vida de miles de personas, el dinero no recupera ni un gramo de la vida de los que cayeron, al mismo tiempo los memoriales han servido, desde Auschwitz, para desactivar el pasado frvolamente. La memoria de las vctimas sucumbe a los tiempos y desactiva el pasado en el presente. Otra iniciativa ms social es lo que impulsa el colectivo Bordamos por la Paz que en todo el pas realiza acciones por la rememoracin de los muertos por la guerra. Tejen. En un tejido que se puede ver en su pgina de internet podemos leer las historias de las personas que han sido asesinadas por la guerra: 27 de marzo de 2013. Zapopan, Jalisco. Walter Benjamin Fueron asesinados dos hombres de 45 aos aproximadamente en la colonia Chapalita. Murieron por impacto de arma de fuego. 7 Esto podra ser un ejercicio de duelo consiste siempre en intentar ontologizar restos, en hacerlos presentes, en primer lugar en identificar los despojos y en localizar a los muertos () Es necesario saber. Es preciso saberlo. Ahora bien, saber es saber quin y dnde, de quin es propiamente el cuerpo y cul es su lugar -ya que debe permanecer en su lugar.8 Rememorar, salva para quin teje, salva en cierto sentido a los asesinados. Aun con ello, con lo maravilloso de su accin, pensamos que los responsables de la injusticia histrica de la guerra estn a salvo. La experiencia en individual, tambin para el que teje. Otra opcin, la ms complicada, consiste en recuperar una idea benjaminiana del potencial redentor de la revolucin. Benjamin, en sus tesis, insista que el proletariado estaba llamado a ser la ltima clase vengadora de los desposedos, los vencidos y los oprimidos del mundo. El odio de clase a los vencedores de la historia tiene un elemento revolucionario y demoledor que cuando estalla el mundo se sacude en todos su mbitos. Una poltica para los muertos no debe obviar que slo se redime en el combate. El no olvido, el de vencer a los vencedores, el de agregar odio y rencor por sobre de los que ya no estn. Solo estarn a salvo los muertos cuando los vencedores sean derrotados en el combate. Los muertos, no estn muertos si los recordamos codo a codo en la lucha de clases. Como deca Benjamin Por cierto, que slo a la humanidad redimida le cabe por completo en suerte su pasado. Lo cual quiere decir: slo para la humanidad redimida se ha hecho su pasado citable en cada uno de sus momentos. Cada uno de los instantes vividos se convierte en una citation lordre du jour, pero precisamente del da final.9
Buck-Morss es una renombrada intelectual marxista que ha escrito un sin nmero de trabajos sobre la Escuela de Frankfurt, el pensamiento hegeliano y sobre la obra de Walter Benjamin. De sus trabajos destacan Dialctica de la mirada, Benjamin y el proyecto de los pasajes (escrito en 1989 ao crucial para la izquierda mundial), Hegel y Hait: la dialctica del amo y el esclavo, una interpretacin revolucionaria y de Los orgenes de la dialctica negativa, Theodor Adorno y Walter Benjamin historia de una amistad. Buck Mors particip en el ao 2009 de un curioso congreso en la Universidad de Birkbeck en Londres sobre la idea de Comunismo junto a Alain Badiou, Slavoj Zizek, Judhit Balso y Toni Negri en el que ya, desde entonces, mostr su preocupacin sobre la cuestin de la historia y la potencialidad de mirar haca atrs para pensar la emancipacin desde un punto de vista a contrapelo. 2 Derrida, Jacques, Los espectros de Marx. Versin digital en http://www.jacquesderrida.com.ar/ 3 Benjamin. Walter, Tesis sobre el concepto de historia. Verisn digital en http:// www.jacquesderrida.com.ar/restos/benjamin_historia.htm 4 http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2014/02/04/opinion/017a2pol 5 http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/11/21/politica/018n2pol 6 http://armasdelacritica.org.mx/ 7 http://bordamosporlapaz.blogspot.mx/ 8 Derrida, op. cit. 9 Benjamin, op. cit.
1

El meme
GroundUp #4

Notes on the Olympics, World Cup, and human misery

As we look back on the Winter Olympics and events have skyrocketed in the last two decades. In ITATIO ACLE S PORATE P N PLO ECT R PE OR X forward to soccers World Cup, we cant help fee1988, South Korea spent around $4 billion to host P C E S ling a bit sick observing the celebratory spectacle the games, while spent upwards of $50 billion on of it all. In Russia, an increasingly repressive goverthis years version. The 2004 Athens Olympiad, nment and its favored oligarchs got their PR show which cost at least $15 billion, was one of the main and made purely symbolic gestures of goodwill igniters of Greeces deep debt crisis a few years later. D ICISM F BLIC EBT AN NAT U towards dissidents to placate the international meMost of that countrys pristine venues proved to be A P F dia. In Brazil, the rush to build mega-stadiums for only one-time use and now sit rotting (as in other this years World Cup and the 2016 Olympics has host nations, where no one is willing to take on the resulted in deadly workplace accidents and a blind cost of upkeep). The highly-touted tourism incomes eye towards extreme exploitation of workers. To these massive sports tournaments are supposed to make Brazilian cities safe for sports tourism, poligenerate often fall far short of costs, while those ce run rampant through big-city favelas, forcing out bringing in the greatest profits from the games are residents and bulldozing communities. The state corporate sponsors. This process contributes to a has spent around US$800 million of money gearing redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top. Prerequisites for hosting the World Cup and Olympics up to control massive street protests during the games. Last year, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo refused to In Qatar, already preparing to host the 2022 World Cup, have come to resemble the process by which cities secure exchange jerseys with Israeli national players after a match, immigrant workers (who make up about 80% of the po- major league teams in the U.S over the last 30 years. Team stating that he wouldnt swap tops with assassins, in referenpulation) are required to turn over passports to their em- owners, armed with the legal monopoly of their leagues, ce to the Israeli states occupation and ongoing war against ployers and regularly find themselves entrapped in debt demand massive public investments from the population Palestinians. We doubt whether Ronaldo or any other player bondage. On-the-job deaths occur at alarming rates due in the form of debt-financed stadiums and tax breaks in will make such a political statement about workers rights, to overheating, heart attacks, poor sanitary conditions, order to keep or attract teams. This blackmail is now stan- the clearing of favelas, or misuse of public funds by refusing and accidents. A recent report by the International Tra- dard practice. The host country selection process for the to play in the upcoming World Cup. Notwithstanding the de Union Confederation concluded that more than 1,200 Olympics and other large-scale tournaments has followed disturbing ethical problems these mega sports events raise, workers may have already died on World Cup-related pro- suit, practically becoming a race to offer the most extrava- the fanaticism they inspire is seemingly endless. jects since the tournament was awarded to the richest na- gant building project. We can only wonder how long we will continue to put our The costs of hosting the Olympics and similar sports thirst for athletic spectacle before the welfare of populations. tion on earth in 2010.
ITATIO N PLO EX
ORPOR IT C A OF

ATE PROFIT OR

CTACL E SPE LE

No. 4

D BLIC EBT PU

D BLIC EBT PU

FANATIC ISM IS IC

ATI FAN CISM

ITATIO N PLO EX
D BLIC EBT PU

ITATIO PLO N EX

FIT CO RP PRO TE
ICISM FANAT AT

ACLE SPECT CT

PE LE S CTAC AC

The GroundUp

Serie: El mundo del trabajo / The World of Work

El futbolista
POR GAsPAR ILOm

Esta crnica forma parte de una serie sobre la experiencia obrera en nuestra regin. Tienes una historia del trabajo que debemos leer? Envanosla a groundupnmsu@gmail.com. Find this piece in English at groundupnmsu.org. paisa de por all cerquita. Yo siempre iba con el navajo, porque no hablaba nada del espaol y yo serva como su intrprete, ya que los otros compaeros hablaban poco ingls. Un compaero desempeaba el mismo papel de intrprete con el gabacho. Una vez nos quejamos con los jefes porque adems de trabajar, hacamos ese servicio sin recibir sueldo extra, pero nada sali de eso. 11:30. Lonche, al fin. Almorzamos sentados en la arena, descansando en las llantas de las trocas y los carritos que manejaban los jefes y los electricistas, cada uno tratando de ganar un pedazo de sombra. Recuerdo que ese da no haba ni una sola nube. Pesaba el calor. En mis primeras semanas, an nos permitan ir al estacionamiento a tomar el almuerzo en los carros con aire acondicionado. Nos quitaron ese derecho porque, segn, tardbamos demasiado en volver al jale. Para nosotros fue un golpe, porque ya eran finales de julio y la temperatura sola topar los 100 grados. Entonces almorzbamos con las nalgas sobre la arena. Me com unos tamales de la gasolinera y pronto la media hora se acab. *** Ya casi eran las dos de la tarde y se acercaba nuestro descanso de 15 minutos. Se nos acab el pegamento para las tuberas y el electricista me mand al depsito a traerlo junto con unas tuberas. Me prest su carrito y fui con un compaero. Ya en el depsito, saludamos a dos compaeros que echaban fierros a un montacargas. Formaban parte de otro grupo, el que soldaba soportes de fierro en la altura de postes metlicos que luego cargaran los paneles. Slo conoca a el que manejaba el montacargas, Joaqun. Viva a media hora de Jal y jugaba ftbol los domingos. Agarramos los materiales y aprovechamos para usar el bao porttil al lado de la oficina, el nico que estaba medio limpio. Estbamos en eso cuando, desde el otro lado del depsito, omos un grito. Era Joaqun quien gritaba, dentro de la cabina de la mquina. An tena la tant abuses and absurdities of Christianity. The Protestant Ethic is a resourceful concept, and proved to be far more useful to managers and CEOs to simply let wither away like the rest of the popular faith. The divinity was stripped, but a great mythology grew in the place of holiness. It became assumed and spoken that hard work, ingenuity, and dedication towards ones job, whatever inconsequential drudgery it may be, would bring great rewards that you, laborer, could one day become the elite. You could come into money, esteem, and influence, but only if you devote yourself fully to whoever signed your paychecks. With the secularization of western thought, the phantasmal wealth of the spirit transubstantiated into what is far more tangible, but is just as worthless - consumer dross. We traded promises of jewel-encrusted crowns in heaven for something just as worthless: Rolex watches and diamond rings. Oh wait, this is 2014: iPads. Following this burning train of thought off the bridge and into the ravine, people come to see those who do have great wealth, income, and stuff in general as intrinsically superior. Just so, those who have nothing are nothing. So wheres your limousine? Arent you working hard enough for it? Do you want to wind up like that bum in front of Walgreens? Obviously youre doing something wrong. Youre not running a Fortune 500 company, flying from coast to coast in a private jet with a wine list. Whats wrong with you? Arbeit macht frei, you know. carga en alto, y su compaero se inclinaba para mirar dentro del montacargas. Mi compa sali del bao. Help! Shit! Come here and help me! El tipo nos grit pidiendo auxilio y fuimos corriendo. Mir dentro de la mquina. Uno de los fierros haba cado dentro del carrito mientras elevaba la carga, y como la pieza pesaba mucho, le machuc la tibia. O as me pareci. Le quitamos el fierro y se qued all, maldicindose, sangrando de la pierna. Pinche pendejo, how fucking dumb! Ni enojado ni desesperado, sino que estaba decepcionado consigo mismo. Su compaero fue a la oficina para pedir auxilio. El que vena conmigo le ofreci un frajo, que fue rechazado. Yo me qued medio menso. Cre que Joaqun estaba a punto de llorar. Llegaron los jefes, y Joaqun les explic lo ocurrido. A m y a mi compaero de equipo, nos dijeron que volviramos al trabajo. A Joaqun lo sacaron de la mquina y lo llevaron en troca al hospital. Ms tarde nos llamaron a la oficina para hacer un reporte del incidente. Me preguntaron si haban amarrado los fierros antes de levantar la carga. Le dije que no pero tambin que nunca amarrbamos nada, que ni tenan con qu. Me dijo que escribiera que esta vez la cagaron, que no siguieron el protocolo. Le dije que iba a escribir que sa era la forma habitual de hacer las cosas. Uno al otro nos gritamos. All sali la frustracin de todo el verano, y termin asegurandole que me ira al final de la semana. Unos compaeros fueron en la noche al hospital en Hobbs. El da siguiente reportaron que lo de Joaqun no estaba tan mal como se tema, pero que difcilmente se recuperara al cien por cien. En cuanto yo, aquel sbado fue mi ltimo da. No nos organizamos para mejorar las condiciones del trabajo. No hice ninguna denuncia a OSHA. Slo pens en irme de Jal. A veces pienso en si Joaqun habr vuelto a jugar ftbol. On a Tru Story. This album/product will be prepared for major media release and maximum radio, video, Youtube, Vimeo, and Facebook exposure. This is the future of music. I personally listen to just about everything. I cannot say I am clever enough or angry enough to keep from listening to mass produced media such as mainstream rap. I would have to say that its not so much a guilty pleasure but rather a pleasure that is shameful and enjoyable simultaneously. Something like eating an ice cream cone in front of a homeless man on skid row. I have no intention of destroying the sanctity of musical expression but somehow feel responsible for its death as musicians and musical expression are driven further down into some strange abyss where only radical, angry, or hardcore fans unite in order to save the dying form of art. Its some type of futuristic dystopian world in which real fans of artistic expression are driven underground, deep underground, like in the film Demolition Man. The rest of the population are those who have accepted this reality of a planned musical expression that will be pre-listened to, pre-determined if acceptable and then pre-packaged for the utmost safe listening so as to entertain but never invite sedition, free-thinking, peace, unification principles, or anything that might be a threat to the current status quo. Everyone in the know knows that it costs upwards of one million dollars to write, produce, record, and market a hit song. Most of that money goes towards radio station music directors so that these new hit tracks will saturate the airwaves until the population of the region has reached the point between being nauseated by a track, hating it and wanting to hear it just one more time. So yes I am a pawn, a sheep, I fall for it time and time again. I fall for it with cleverly marketed folks such as YG, T.I. (because I like southern rap), ASAP FERG, ASAP ROCKY, French Montana, Schoolboy Q, and the like. One common thread amongst all of these artists is that they have the same vision, ideas, and concepts presented in their music, shit they all might as well share the same lyric book. So if that wasnt enough to tip you off that they are a carefully constructed product made for consumption maybe next time you listen to mainstream rap, or any mainstream music, please think of the real artists. Until then we will have to hope for our benevolent Sylvester Stallone saviors return so he can kick the cryogenically frozen head off of Wesley Snipes (which really represents the evil music industry). Spring 2014

Fui al pueblo de Jal porque no crea encontrar jale para ese verano en Las Cruces. Acababa de terminar mi primer semestre en la universidad y an no conoca a nadie. Simplemente me fij en una solicitud que ofreca trabajo en aquel poblado desconocido y me fui. Se trataba de la construccin de una gran planta de energa solar para una compaa elctrica. Me emocionaba la idea de trabajar en un proyecto meramente industrial. Llegu al pueblo un viernes al medioda, y el enganchador me llev de una vez al sitio de trabajo. Nos adentramos en un llano desrtico salpicado de pozos petroleros. En el horizonte amenazaba una refinera que vomitaba nubes negras. Look, me dijo el tipo y me extendi un detector de gas amarillo. Lo tienes que llevar en todo momento. Si suena, chate a correr en sentido perpendicular al viento. Si algn vato se cae tras de ti, pos mejor no regreses para ayudarlo. Dont go back for him, que el gey ya est muerto. Fue la bienvenida. *** Jal. Se ubica a siete millas de la frontera con Texas y todo el mundo habla ingls como John Wayne. Con esa clsica entonacin texana, Jal se convierte en jail. Segn las estadsticas oficiales, tiene poco ms de dos mil habitantes; pero en verdad ese nmero parece exagerado, y cada vez son menos. Hay dos gasolineras en la entrada al pueblo, un sper, una high school que gradu a 12 jvenes ese ao, una avenida principal llena de edificios abandonados, y poco ms - menos la docena de iglesias utilizadas por no s quin. *** Era un mircoles y llevaba dos meses en el trabajo. En ese entonces andaba con los electricistas, lo que significaba excavar zanjas y hacer una red de tuberas que extendera por todo el sitio. Dentro de las tuberas se instalaran los alambres y seran conectados a los paneles y transformadores. Como siempre llegamos antes que saliera el sol y poco a poco empezaba a hacer calor. El jefe nos supervisaba desde su troca, y como siempre nos dividimos en tres equipos. En cada equipo, un electricista y tres o cuatro ayudantes generales. Los electricistas eran un navajo de Arizona, un gabacho de Dallas, y un

Ethic: Deification and commodification of work

- CONTINUED FROm PAGE 7 Memes are ideas that are contagious, prone to dissemination and mutation, and it need not be said that religious memes are especially virulent. Through mere exposure to their Protestant employers, their habits and words, the Catholicism of the unskilled laborers was gradually warped by their individual desires for better lives in this world, combined with heavenly salvation. These workers came to observe the guiltlessness of the elite, how they accrued and wielded more and more worldly power, and how this surely it must equate to riches hereafter. Through the slight reversal of cause and effect where once power was derived by grace, it came to be understood that grace was derived from power. Money, goods, services - all became sacred to the common laborer, above immediate material comforts. Thus, their acquisition through the worker selling their labor, becomes holy work intrinsically just and virtuous. The Protestant Ethic had jumped hosts. Business became akin to godliness. And the elite never bothered to correct this theological misunderstanding. It was far too useful in keeping the thralls in line. As Protestant Christianity infected more and more minds, through proselytization and colonization, the idea of the holy component of labor also spread, and was forcibly inflicted upon every population that the colonial powers could bind in chains. Every crack of a whip on a slaves back was punishment for the dereliction of a divine duty. Native Americans who took no part in industry had forsaken all human dignity and claim to dominion over the Earth and those animals that crawled upon it. From the lowliest laborer to the wealthiest industrialist, the Protestant Ethic (among other concepts) became an unknown known - an underlying assumption hammered into by every aspect of culture. The ideological camouflage of the Protestant Ethic would become only greater as the western world secularized, and rejected the outright bla-

The market: Changing how music gets made

- CONTINUED FROm PAGE 7 At the conclusion of Group Data Research Panel for Company X, they have successfully thought out all the variables and marketing strategies from their complex matrices of information and decided that after much work and consideration they will be releasing 2 Chainz Based

10 The GroundUp

Ms en / More at:

groundupnmsu.org
El Paso Chihuahuas: Whats in a name? The anxiety of identity in the borderlands Women unbound: Notes on gender in capitalism Manifiesto contra la discriminacin en Ciudad Jurez Coming soon: Digital archive of The Conscience, 1960s-70s radical paper at NMSU English translations of articles in Spanish

Reforms: Putting NM State on the right track?

- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 duce the debt burden for students, particularly those with low graduation levels. This is laudable and some of the reforms may bring some benefits to students; however, parts of the proposals seems to overlook a few major concerns. Moreover, their applicability should be analyzed within the framework of the larger vision for the university held by what we have previously termed the business-school administration. Instances where we worry the proposals may be insufficiently thought-through or likely to have adverse consequences include the over reliance on output-based funding in shaping our institutional focuses - which is la mode nationally but has just as many limitations as using inputs. Indeed, a singular focus on graduation rates can further incentivize grade inflation or prioritize the STEM fields at the expense of other areas. We also believe the class and GPA requirements in the admissions overhaul could disproportionately impact students from poorer and smalltown schools as well as continue to shift the burden for serving the unwanted plebeian masses onto the community college system. Since the admissions revamp was first proposed, serious questions have been raised about high schools ability to meet expectations and the viability of the guaranteed track (current requirements for transfer from a branch to the main campus are lower than those in the proposed track, which seems to not have been contemplated, for example). We could contemplate detrimental consequences ad nauseum - any policy change will have them; but what we think needs to be asked is whether these issues should even be our centers of focus, and whether these reforms are adequate to lay the foundations for NMSUs future, as our administrators seem to believe. Do the administrations proposals really allow us to start tackling the challenges facing our institution and higher education? The reforms, and the Carruthers administrations vision for the university more generally, do not put us down la Beca de la lotera estatal (Lottery Scholarship) que haba cado en la insolvencia. El ajuste reduce la mxima duracin de la beca de ocho semestres a siete para nuevos recipientes, aumenta las horas crdito mnimas a 15 en las universidades de cuatro aos y 12 en los dems, e inyecta dinero proveniente de impuestos sobre alcohol al fondo de la beca durante dos aos. Ms sobre la Lottery Scholarship en este nmero (ingls). At least 42 people detained at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement El Paso Processing Center reportedly conducted a week-long hunger strike beginning April 8 to protest their ongoing detention and lack of access to legal aid and personal contacts on the outside. The hunger strikers are men from the Indian region of Punjab, all of whom entered the U.S. near Columbus, New Mexico in June and July. Many, if not all, are Sikhs and have requested political asylum. ICE officials initially denied a hunger strike had taken place, and also denied claims by the North American Punjabi Association - which is attempting to provide legal counsel - that at least six of the men were hospitalized as a result of the strike. Just months earlier, the El Paso detention facility came under criticism from national immigrant rights organizations for protracted lengths of stay - sometimes spanning years - for low-risk immigration detainees as well as documents revealing ICE held at least 40 pregnant women there in 2013, often without adequate medical care.
New books we are looking forward to. Want to contribute to The GroundUp? Read one and submit a critical review.

SE BUSCAN COLABORADORES/AS COLLABORATORS WANTED

Submit writing or work with our staff as an editor, researcher, designer, translator, or fundraiser. Contribuir artculos o unirte a nuestro comit como editor/a, investigador/a, diseador/a, traductor/a, o recaudador/a de fondos. Indagaciones/Inquiries: groundupnmsu@gmail.com No promises.
BLOTTER / REGISTRO - SIGUE DE LA PGINA 2 / CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 la confrontacin demuestra que no intent atacar a nadie y adems daba la espalda a los oficiales cuando fue impactado por disparos provenientes de tres diferentes policas; posteriormente emplearon un perro de ataque y varias armas contra Boyd mientras quedaba incapacitado y bruces contra el suelo. El difunto padeca de enfermedades mentales. Desde este acontecimiento, oficiales policacos han matado al menos a tres personas ms bajo circunstancias altamente cuestionadas. El 10 de abril el Departamento de Justicia de EE.UU. public los resultados de una larga investigacin, en las cuales establecieron que el A.P.D. ha estado involucrado en patrones o prcticas del uso excesivo de fuerza, mismos que violan la Constitucin, y que son sistemticamente encubiertos. Legislators agreed on a fix for the insolvency-threatened New Mexico Legislative Lottery Scholarship, which includes reducing the scholarship from eight semesters to seven for new recipients, increases minimum credit hours to 15 for four-year schools and 12 for others, and injects funds from a liquor excise tax for two years. Read more about the Lottery Scholarship in this issue. Legisladores nuevomexicanos aprobaron un arreglo para

a path towards combating todays major obstacles to a humanistic education, including privatization, industryoriented specialization, increasing costs, and the hierarchization of the academy (remedial, technical education for the masses, elite education for a privileged minority - indeed, according to Department of Education statistics, the average bachelors degree recipient comes from an increasingly higher social class). Instead, the Presidents inner circle and the Board of Regents push for a more business-like model, where graduates are pumped out and incorporated into the workforce more quickly, in Regent Chairman Mike Cheneys words. According to this logic, we should simply focus on what we are good at already (drones, chile peppers, and kissing corporate ass?), even if it comes at the expense of other areas. Success will be measured in higher graduation rates, more private investment, and better national rankings. The reforms to the admissions standards, tuition levels, and funding model all fit nicely into this vision. Under this logic centered on competitiveness, the primary way to address the problem of low academic standards at NMSU (and it is a problem, as anyone who has taken a math- or writing-heavy upper division course will know) is to select for a better talent pool by increasing admissions requirements, instead of seriously rethinking the mission and methods of the university. While NMSUs upper administration seems to be focused on how to improve the schools image and competitive ratings, our staff believes we need to ask how the institution can best serve the interests of the regions working class. In the this issues The shrinking Lottery Scholarship and the unspoken alternative of tuition-free higher education (pg. 1), we lay out one idea for how to start moving in that direction. We continue to insist on the question: Are we here to have job skills loaded into our heads, or are we here to think critically, participate in decision-making, explore the diversity of knowledge, and become fuller human beings? We have our answer. The administration needs to make its position clear as well. Al menos 42 personas llevaron al cabo una huelga de hambre en el Centro de Procesamiento de la agencia de Inmigracin y Control de Aduanas (ICE, en ingls) en El Paso a partir del 8 de abril para manifestar su inconformidad con su proceso de detencin y la falta de acceso tanto a servicios legales como contactos personales. Casi todos los huelguistas son hombres de la regin india de Punjab que entraron a territorio estadounidense cerca de Columbus, Nuevo Mxico in junio o julio. La mayora, si no todos, pertenecen a la religin minoritaria sikh y han pedido asilo poltico. Oficiales de ICE al principio negaron que haba una huelga y luego hicieron lo mismo frente a acusaciones de la Asociacin Norteamericana Punjabi la cual intenta proveer asesoramiento legal que al menos seis de los detenidos fueron hospitalizados como resultado de la huelga. Pocos meses antes el mismo centro de detencin en El Paso recibi fuertes crticas provenientes de organizaciones nacionales pro-inmigrantes tanto por largos periodos de detencin que padecen personas de baja peligrosidad a veces abarcando aos como revelaciones que demuestran que ICE mantena al menos a 40 mujeres embarazadas bajo detencin en 2013, en muchos de los casos sin servicios mdicos adecuados. Around 500 campesinos from the state of Chihuahua converged on the principal El Paso-Ciudad Jurez border crossing on April 10 to demand measures from the Mexican government favorable to small farmers and consumers, saying free trade policies have created a crisis in rural areas. Demonstrators, accompanied by horses and donkeys, blocked commercial traffic carrying imports from the U.S. into Mexico for about six hours, which industry groups claimed may have cost over US$1 million in lost maquiladora production. In a statement, protesters urged the reorientation of the agricultural market, fair prices for producers and consumers, quality sustainable production, an end to the overuse of aquifers, as well as an end to hunger and rejection of mining and fracking-based megaprojects. Unos 500 campesinos del estado de Chihuahua descendieron al principal cruce fronterizo de El Paso-Ciudad Jurez el pasado 10 de abril para reclamar al gobierno mexicano medidas favorables para el pequeo agricultor y el consumidor, asegurando que las polticas de libre comercio han desatado una crisis en las reas rurales. Los manifestantes, acompaados de sus caballos y burros, bloquearon carriles comerciales en los que transitaban importaciones desde los EE.UU. a Mxico durante casi seis horas. Esto, aseguraron representantes del sector maquilador, puede haber ocasionado ms de US$1 milln en prdidas por interrupciones a la produccin. En un pronunciamiento, los manifestantes sealaron: Fuera mineras y mega proyectos sin el consentimiento del pueblo, el reordenamiento del mercado agroalimentario, precios justos al productor y consumidor, produccin sustentable de calidad, alto a la sobreexplotacin de acuferos, no al fracking y erradicacin del hambre.

Little red reading list

Melissa Gira Grant, Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work (Jacobin/Verso, 2013) Juan Gmez-Quiones and Irene Vsquez, Making Aztln: Ideology and Culture of the Chicana and Chicano Movement, 1966-1977 (UNM Press, 2014) Arundhati Roy, Capitalism: A Ghost Story (Haymarket, 2014) Fred L. Block and Margaret R. Somers, The Power of Market Fundamentalism: Karl Polanyis Critique (Harvard University Press, 2014) Enrique Dussel, 16 tesis de economa poltica: interpretacin filosfica (Siglo XXI, 2014) The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg, Vol. I: Economic Manuscripts I, Ed. Peter Hudis (Verso, 2013) Henry A. Giroux, Neoliberalisms War on Higher Education (Haymarket, 2014) Presente! Latin@ Immigrant Voices in the Struggle for Racial Justice/Voces de Inmigrantes Latin@s en la Lucha por la Justicia Racial, Eds. Cristina Tzintzn, Carlos Prez de Alejo, and Arnulfo Manrquez (AK Press, 2014) No. 4

Joe Glenton, Soldier Box: Why I Wont Return to the War on Terror (Verso, 2013) Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatshenoi, Coloniality of Power in Postcolonial Africa: Myths of Decolonization (CODESRIA, 2013) Leisy J. Abrego, Sacrificing Families: Navigating Laws, Labor, and Love Across Borders (Stanford University Press, 2014) (Direct Struggle Against Capitalism: A Peter Kropotkin Anthology, Ed. Iain McKay (AK Press, 2014) Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion, Ed. Ryan Conrad (AK Press, 2014) Dave Zirin, Brazils Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy (Haymarket, 2014) Crnicas negras desde una regin que no cuenta, Sala Negra de El Faro (Aguilar, 2013) Various, Polylux Marx: A Capital Workbook in Slides (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung/Monthly Review Press, 2013; online at polyluxmarx.de)

The GroundUp

11

Raising the minimum wage is not enough!

Pushing for better pay is important, but so is workplace democratization
Here in Las Cruces, there is a growing possibility that the minimum wage will be increased from its current level of $7.50 per hour. Activists, principally from the faith-based organizaiton CAF, have crafted a proposal that would gradually raise the minimum over two years to $10.10 and tie it to inflation, as well as increase the base rate for tipped workers. They hope to place the measure before voters in November. Business opposition became vocal in April, and numerous business owners urged the city council to pass their own measure which would raise the wage to only $8.50 with a capped cost-of-living adjustment. How should workers respond?

Here in Las Cruces, there will likely be a many of the other issues we face at work. ballot measure in November to gradually raiRaises will only do so much for the parent se the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by who can only get 25 hours a week. Those of 2017. 21 states have passed minimum wages us in low-wage jobs can be terminated for higher than the current federal rate of $7.25. pretty much anything at any time. We often Even President Obama and the Democratic do unhealthy, straining, and even dangerous Party elite have recently moved to raise the work. Our bosses can treat us like shit all nationwide minimum. they want. Women workers can be sexually Would this be a gift to low-wage workers harassed or paid less than men for the same like us? Is it something we should support? work. Companies that rely on unskilled and Or should we be looking for something dilow-wage workers use every tool they can to fferent? keep us quiet, hurried, and most imporWithout doubt, most of us that work in tantly out of unions. underpaid positions could use a raise. After While raising the minimum wage might rent, bills, gas, insurance, and food, we have be a good thing, the activists and politicians little left over for saving. About half of Amemight be doing us more of a disservice than ricans live paycheck-to-paycheck. We often anything if they dont build their efforts work more than one job or look for sidearound truly empowering workers starting work where we can get it. Many of us rely on in the workplace itself. food stamps and other government welfare So whats the answer? Supporting changes programs because our pay just doesnt cut it. to the minimum wage laws might be a start, So raising the minimum wage sounds but if we really want the ability to better our good to us. Overall, we would certainly beposition and better our workplaces, we need nefit: more money in pocket to cover our neto organize in the workplace. That means eds, put in the bank, and have some fun with. building solidarity with all our fellow worMany worry that increased wages would kers in order to confront the bosses when mean more unemployment, but numerous theyre wrong, pressure them for better pay economists show that the effect would likely and conditions, and support each other be cancelled out, because higher pays means when were in a tight spot. It doesnt necesmore spending and thus, more jobs created sarily mean we have to do it through the old to respond to the demand. Not just workers union bureaucracies: But it does mean joimaking the minimum would benefit either, ning together so that no one has to ask for a since a higher minimum will push up wage raise or make a grievance alone. It may mean levels across-the-board. using our most-effective tool more: strikes. Above: Service-industry workers speak at a December 5 demonstration organized So there are reasons for supporting a hig- by the nonprofit organization CAF in support of raising the minimum wage. CAF is It will certainly mean joining together with her minimum wage. However, its not a ma- pushing for a ballot initiative to increase the minimum to $10.10 per hour by 2017, workers in other companies, stores, and job gic pill to solve all of our problems. The be- tie it to inflation, and raise the base pay for tipped workers. Foto: Raise Up Las Cruces sites. We need workers to step up, overconefits probably wouldnt last too long: Higher me the fear, and plan with other workers to wages will spur higher demand for products, make change themselves from the bottomThe proposed change in Las Cruces would do this and which will cause sellers to raise prices. As prices increase, Democrats are talking about it nationwide. But we would up. We need to demand workplace democratization, not the benefits of our wage increase will start to be cancelled be foolish to believe that management whether in small just better compensation! out. In a few years, we will probably have to fight the same businesses or corporate giants wouldnt try to limit our battle to increase wages again, and again after that. One compensation in the other ways they have available, like Want to get involved in workplace organization or participate with us in the Raise the Wage Las Cruces campaign? solution to this problem would be peg wages to inflation cutting benefits and hours. the wage level would rise along with the cost of living. Raising the minimum wage also would fail to address Contact us at groundupnmsu@gmail.com to get connected.

Aumentar el salario mnimo no es suficiente!

- Este artculo en espaol en la portada Quieres mejorar tus condiciones de trabajo? Comuncate a groundupnmsu@gmail.com!

12 The GroundUp

Spring 2014