Urban Unrest

23 January 2007 | Politics | Ernesto Aguilar

Just before drive starts, I decided to catch up on some reading. For those of you into good books (and who isn’t), I had two recommendations for you:

Targeted: Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration by Deepa Fernandes is a quick, engaging read on a plethora of topics related to what is among the country’s most controversial topics: immigration. But moreso than your typical tome of Minutemen and protesters, Deepa Fernandes (host of WBAI’s WakeUp Call) compiles a series of sobering facts, figures and testimonies on the matter of immigration as a transaction of capital and politics. Her writing is poignant, passionate and political. From travails with hate-group infiltrators to investigative reporting on what Fernandes terms the immigration-industrial complex, Targeted is spellbinding. Deepa is one of the most insightful writers out there.

Homage to Chiapas: The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico by Bill Weinberg is one of the most impressive books I’ve read about political movements in Mexico. I can think of no better a person to write this than Bill Weinberg, who’s been covering indigenous uprisings since at least the 1980s. His insights, blissfully, go beyond the EZLN/Zapatistas (whose personage has been capitalized on by virtually every writer) and delve into the more real and present-day insurgencies happening in the motherland. Weinberg is quick to put the Zapatistas in context, but moves quickly beyond that to the jungles, barrios and meetings where new revolutions are stoked every day. His prose is stunning. Through it, you learn how what the Zapatistas mean to American progressives is far different than how they’re regarded by Mexican radicals, who are themselves organizing a much more clearly political movement aimed at upending imperialism and the power structures in the palaces of Distrito Federal. Homage to Chiapas is essential reading. Not easy to find, but well worth seeking.

Unfortunately, we won’t be offering these books during drive, but they’re available elsewhere, so check them out.

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