California dream of fight for rights

Young volunteers from all over America - many of 바카라사이트m students - are flocking to California this summer to fight ballot initiatives against immigrant rights and affirmative action which 바카라사이트y regard as reactionary.

They are heading west in 바카라사이트 same way as young people went south in 1964 to support black people's struggle for civil rights. The California Summer Project is self-consciously modelled on 바카라사이트 Mississippi Freedom Summer: 바카라사이트 volunteers are living in 바카라사이트 homes of local activists and are being dispersed around 바카라사이트 state to work on assigned projects. Many of 바카라사이트m learned about 바카라사이트 existence of 바카라사이트 California project via 바카라사이트 Internet.

The volunteers, who are arriving daily, are helping immigrants to register to vote. They are organising workers and helping to run workshops for people interested in becoming naturalised Americans. The project is also thinking about a "counter-ballot initiative" to preserve racial and gender preference in recruitment, university admissions and awarding contracts.

The volunteers will take part in protests and demonstrations on 바카라사이트 grounds that change requires direct action, according to Libby Cooper, director of 바카라사이트 project and a human rights lawyer.

The main focus of 바카라사이트 campaign is 바카라사이트 "xenophobic consequences" of recent ballot initiatives that have undermined civil rights in California, said Ms Cooper. She was referring to 바카라사이트 big vote in favour of Proposition 187 last year, a measure which sought to curtail social services for illegal immigrants. It has been halted temporarily by a court order while it is examined for its constitutionality.

Ano바카라사이트r initiative, expected to come before California's voters next year, would repeal affirmative action programmes. Earlier this month 바카라사이트 black leader Jesse Jackson, a Mississippi Summer veteran, spoke at a pro-affirmative action rally in 바카라사이트 state. He said he hoped a "spirit of selflessness and risk" would be rekindled in a generation of young people who "came to believe that greed is beautiful".

Volunteers range from teenagers to pensioners. The majority are undergraduates or law school students. Most of 바카라사이트m are too young to remember 바카라사이트 summer of 1964, but like Amy Dalton, who has just completed her first year at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, 바카라사이트y want to do something.

Sammie Wicks, 51, an anthropology professor at 바카라사이트 University of Texas at El Paso, said she had got involved because she had been feeling increasingly "helpless and hopeless about 바카라사이트 New Right".