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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 28-Mar-06
Mass Latino demonstrations protest proposed immigration bill

Web Log - March, 2006

Mass Latino demonstrations protest proposed immigration bill

The fury between Latinos and non-Latinos has substantially increased in the last few months, especially since plans for a new immigration bill, including a fence separating Mexico from the United States, were announced last year.

You just have to listen to economics journalist Lou Dobbs and pundit Jack Cafferty rant and rave on their respective slots on CNN to understand how deep the hostility towards Mexicans has become among many Americans.

There were over 500,000 Latino marchers in Los Angeles <font size=-2>(Source: aztlan.net)</font>

There were over 500,000 Latino marchers in Los Angeles (Source: aztlan.net)

And you just have to see how mobs of Latinos in cities across the country -- over half a million in Los Angeles on Saturday, many carrying Mexican flags -- are protesting the proposed legislation and demanding immediate citizenship for undocumented Mexicans.

The debate going on in Washington is not "whether" to crack down on undocumented Mexican workers, but on how hard to crack down.

The most aggressive legislation would (supposedly) erect a wall all along the Mexican-American border, and would (supposedly) make it a felony to be an undocumented worker.

The more easy-going legislation, supported by political enemies President George Bush and Senator Ted Kennedy, would permit undocumented workers to continue working under strictly defined rules, and eventually qualify for citizenship over a 12-year period.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, all such legislation is a waste of time. With millions of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants living and working in the American Southwest and in other American cities, and millions more pouring across the border, there's no longer any legislative solution to the increasing level of conflict, short of war. The idea of building a fence is so ridiculously impossible, you'd think that a politician would be embarassed to even mention it, but being stupid has never stopped a politician before.

What's more important is the increasing hostility on both sides. The legislation being discussed today is much harsher than anything that would have been considered even a year or two ago.

And Latinos have been mobilizing as never before. Of particular significance is a shift in loyalty of the second-generation native-born Latinos. Formerly they identified more with white Americans, but now they're identifying more with undocumented Hispanics.

Thus we see a classic fault line forming between two identity groups -- the non-Lation Americans and the Mexican community - legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and native-born second-generation Mexican immigrants.

As we wrote last August, violence is increasing throughout Mexico, with a fault line between the indigenous peoples and those of European ethnicity.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, Mexico is well into a generational crisis period. Mexico's last crisis war was the Mexican Revolution of 1910-20. Historically, 87% of all crisis wars begin less than 85 years after the previous crisis war, and so Mexico is more than ready for a new crisis war. This war will have two components: a civil war between Mexican factions, and a war with Americans in the Southwest. Of course it's impossible to predict the outcome of such a war, but one possible scenario is that Mexico may regain some of the land that it lost in the Mexican-American war of the 1840s. (28-Mar-06) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 28-Mar-06 Mass Latino demonstrations protest proposed immigration bill

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 28-Mar-06
Mass Latino demonstrations protest proposed immigration bill