Laura Garcia, Tribuno del Pueblo, interviews Monami Maulik, Founder and Executive Director of DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving www.drumnyc.org
Tribuno del Pueblo : Tell our readers a little bit about your organization.
MONAMI MAULIK:
DRUM—Desis Rising Up and Moving—is a multi generational, membership led organization of over 1,400 low income South Asian and Muslim immigrant workers and youth across New York City. ‘Desi’ is a word in several South Asian languages which means people from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Tibet, and Trinidad. DRUM builds the power of people directly affected to win institutional change for immigration, education, economic, and racial justice through leadership development, policy change campaigns and movement building. Our long term vision is to build power of South Asian low income immigrant communities in the U.S to be a progressive force with other communities of color for human rights in the U.S. and globally.
TP:
What are the demands and goals of your organization on immigration reform?
MM:
For just immigration reform, our communities have come up with principles that will maximize legalization for all, while not undermining our same communities
with more enforcement and border militarization. In particular, we want:
1) A clear and shorter path to full legalization without large fines and punishment. 2) An end to deportations, detentions, border militarization and programs like criminal alien deportations and Secure Communities. 3) Workers’ rights for all, no to E-verify and no to guest worker programs that have no path to citizenship. 4) Address root causes—We are here because the U.S. is there. People have a right to migrate, but they also have a right to stay! End wars and occupation, free trade agreements, and neoliberal development programs on developing countries that force people to migrate.
TP:
What would be your message for those marching and gathering around May 1st?
MM:
Legalization, not deportation. We want legalization, but not as a trade-off for the deportation of half our families and communities or the blood of more of our brothers and sisters at the border.
We must keep campaigning and marching for a real and just immigration reform that does not criminalize our same communities even more for decades to come.
We have a long struggle ahead, despite what immigration reform is passed or not by Congress. Migrant rights are a global growing movement that is the other side of the coin of neoliberal globalization.
Global migrant rights now!
