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WAITING FOR REFUGE IN MEXICO CITY – Mexico City Streets
by David Bacon
On the Line – The Progressive – August 24, 2023
https://progressive.org/magazine/waiting-for-refuge-in-mexico-city-bacon-20230824/
https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2023/08/waiting-for-refuge-in-mexico-city.html
A Haitian refugee shows her frustration at not being able to reach her destination.
With all the attention on the detention centers on the border, U.S. media rarely if ever acknowledges that camps of migrants and displaced people exist all over Mexico. In documenting the impact of U.S. border policy on Mexico, I took these photographs in a settlement of Haitian migrants, who had been living for a month in Giordano Bruno Plaza in Colonia Juarez, in downtown Mexico City.
Over a hundred families were heading for the border after a long journey from Haiti when they realized that they would not be able to cross, or that if they tried and were unsuccessful in getting asylum (since hardly any Haitians do) they would be deported back to Haiti. In May alone over 4000 Haitians were put on the deportation planes by the U.S. government.
The Mexican government and the government of the city provide some minimal services to the Haitians, who were debating whether they should stay in Mexico. There is a process, albeit cumbersome, in which they can apply for permission to stay and work.
Next to the Haitian encampment is a planton, or occupy-style protest camp, set up by Otomi indigenous people and the association «United for Farmer and Indigenous Rights.» Some years before they had occupied an abandoned building and then were expelled. Refusing to leave they began living on the sidewalk outside, demanding decent housing and protesting gentrification. Their long-established camp provided the Haitians a place to wash.
The neighborhood authorities who maintain the plaza have painted on a wall behind the migrant tents, «Amor es el vinculo de vinculos» or «Love is the bond of all bonds.» It is an ironic statement, given the world’s (and especially the US’) hostility to migrants, but it is also a statement that the people of this neighborhood have given them the use of their neighborhood park as a place to rest.
The statement itself comes from Giordano Bruno, a revolutionary monk of the early Renaissance, burned at the stake in Rome’s Piazza de Fiori in 1600 for asserting that the earth was not the center of the universe. He is considered a hero of scientific and free thought. Bruno spent most of his life as a migrant and refugee, much like the Haitians, fleeing the Inquisition, before he was finally captured. Bruno’s statement of his mystical vision refers to the chapter in the Bible, Colossians 3:14: «And above all these things, clothe yourselves with love, which is the bond of unity.»
Returning a few weeks later, I found most of the Haitians had left. According to Josias Termot, they’d gone to the border, and some had been able to cross. Others were now living in the Casa del Migrante, a refugee shelter managed by the Cuauhtemoc local government a few blocks away. Many were without work, however, and during the day returned to the plaza to hang out with a new group of migrants from Venezuela, who’d just arrived.
Gina washes clothes in a bucket.
Berlande cooks for her family.
Neika is just trying to live as normal a life as she can on the road.
Fabienne cooks for her family.
Families in the camp’s tents cook their food for lunch
«Amor es el vinculo de los vinculos»
Josias Termot is a leader of the camp community..
Katia cooks for her family.
Katia cooks for her family
Peeling garlic
Sleeping on the sidewalk
Next to the camp of the Haitians is a protest planton of Otomi indigenous people, who offer washing and other services to the Haitians.
Two Haitian men ask to use the bathroom in the planton of Otomi
Daniel Alejandro Medina says he is from Westminster and wants to go back.
Michelle Medina nurses her baby Salome Comenal, and Milagros Tovar holds a Venezuelan flag, while a group of Haitian men look on.
The doorway of a church provides refuge .
PHOTO EXHIBITIONS / EXPOSICIONES DE FOTOS
MAS QUE UN MURO / MORE THAN A WALL
Photographs by David Bacon / Fotografias por David Bacon
International Meeting on Human Mobility 2023
Encuentro internacional sobre movilidad humana 2023
Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo
Palacio Nacional
Moneda 13, Centro Histórico
Centro, Cuauhtémoc
06000 Ciudad de México
CDMX, Mexico
Through October, 2023
ESSENTIAL
Exploring the daily reality of Latinx agricultural workers through visual art and poetry.
Wesaam Al-Badry, Abiam Alvarez, David Bacon, Hannah Baldrige, caleb duarte, Juan R. Fuentes, Ricardo Ruiz, Christie Tirado, Arleene Correa Valencia, and historic works from the collection of SFSU’s Labor Archives and Research Center
Guest curated by Brianna Montserrat Miranda
Fine Arts Gallery
Fine Arts Building Room 238,
San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132
August 12 to September 2, 2023
Opening reception: Saturday, August 12, 1 – 3 pm
Gallery talk Wednesday, August 30, 4 pm – Fine Arts Gallery
IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH/EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE
Photographs by David Bacon
Global Museum
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA
October 8 – December 3, 2023
WHEN WE SPOKE OUT AGAINST WAR
Unearthing the history of protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Photographs © by David Bacon
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/52759801492/in/album-72177720306862427/
BOOKS – LIBROS
MORE THAN A WALL / MAS QUE UN MURO
More Than a Wall / Mas que Un Muro explores the many aspects of the border region through photographs taken by David Bacon over a period of 30 years. These photographs trace the changes in the border wall itself, and the social movements in border communities, factories and fields. This bilingual book provides a reality check, to allow us to see the border region as its people, with their own history of movements for rights and equality, and develop an alternative vision in which the border can be a region where people can live and work in solidarity with each other. – Gaspar Rivera-Salgado
David Bacon has given us, through his beautiful portraits, the plight of the American migrant worker, and the fierce spirit of those who provide and bring to us comfort and sustenance. — Lila Downs
Published by El Colegio de la Frontera Norte with support from the UCLA Institute for Labor Research and Education and the Center for Mexican Studies, the Werner Kohlstamm Family Fund, and the Green Library at Stanford University
Price: $35 plus postage and handling
To order, click here:
https://david-bacon-
photography.square.site/
product/more-than-a-wall-mas-
que-un-muro/1?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
«The «border» is just a line. It’s the people who matter.» – JoAnn Intili, director, The Werner-Kohnstamm Family Fund
IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH / EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE
Photographs and text by David Bacon
University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte
302 photographs, 450pp, 9”x9”
paperback, $34.95 (in the U.S.)
order the book on the UC Press website:
ucpress.edu/9780520296077
use source code 16M4197 at checkout, receive a 30% discount
En Mexico se puede pedir el libro en el sitio de COLEF:
https://www.colef.mx
Los Angeles Times reviews In the Fields of the North / En los Campos del Norte – click here
WORK AND SOCIAL JUSTICE:
The David Bacon Archive exhibition at Stanford Libraries
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon/browse
Exhibited throughout the pandemic in the Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford. The online exhibition (https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon), which includes additional content not included in the physical show, is accessible to everyone, and is part of an accessible digital spotlight collection that includes significant images from this body of work. For a catalog: (https://web.stanford.edu/
dept/spec_coll/NonVendorPubOrderform2017.pdf)
Online Interviews and Presentations
Red Lens Episode 6: David Bacon on US-Mexico border photography
Brad Segal: On episode 6 of Red Lens, I talk with David Bacon.
David Bacon is a California-based writer and documentary photographer. A former union organizer, today he documents labor, the global economy, war and migration, and the struggle for human rights. We talk about David’s new book, ‘More than a Wall / Mas que un muro’ which includes 30 years of his photography and oral histories from communities & struggles in the U.S.-Mexico border region.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/71834023?fbclid=IwAR0BRhHYbrYU3BoeoAMFKU_zdHs5Xirmmt1LzQtfwf1yD8p9EYLXKhzzbDELetters and Politics – Three Decades of Photographing The Border & Border Communities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvs6SyXsM-4
Host Mitch Jeserich interviews David Bacon, a photojournalist, author, broadcaster and former labor organizer. He has reported on immigrant and labor issues for decades. His latest book, More Than A Wall, is a collection of his photographs of the border and border communities spanning three decades.
Exploitation or Dignity – What Future for Farmworkers
UCLA Latin American Institute
Based on a new report by the Oakland Institute, journalist and photographer David Bacon documents the systematic abuse of workers in the H-2A program and its impact on the resident farmworker communities, confronted with a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXKa2lHJXMs
David Bacon on union solidarity with Iraqi oil worker unions
Free City Radio – CKUT 27/10/2021 –
https://soundcloud.com/freecityradio/oct-27-2021-ckut-27102021-david-bacon-on-union-solidarity-with-iraqi-oil-worker-unions
Organizing during COVID, the intrinsic value of the people who grow our food
Sylvia Richardson – Latin Waves Media
How community and union organizers came together to get rights for farm workers during COVID, and how surviving COVID has literally been an act of resistance.
https://latinwavesmedia.com/wordpress/organizing-during-covid-the-intrinsic-value-of-the-people-who-grow-our-food/
Report Details Slavery-Like Conditions For Immigrant Guest Workers
Rising Up With Sonali Kohatkar
https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/report-details-slavery-conditions-immigrant-guest-workers
The Right to Remain
http://www.franknews.us/interviews/415/the-right-to-remain
Beware of Pity
http://www.franknews.us/interviews/525/beware-of-pity
En Español
Ruben Luengas – #EnContacto
Hablamos con David Bacon de los migrantes y la situación de México frente a los Estados Unidos por ser el principal país de llegada a la frontera de ese país.
https://rubenluengas.com/2021/03/video-mexico-estados-unidos-migracion-y-suenos-rotos-encontacto/
Jornaleros agrícolas en EEUU en condiciones más graves por Covid-19: David Bacon
SomosMas99 con Agustin Galo Samario
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWQSvM9s1lw
«Los fotógrafos tomamos partido»
Entrevista por Melina Balcázar Moreno – Milenio.com Laberinto
http://www.milenio.com/cultura/laberinto/david_baconm-fotografia-melina_balcazar-laberinto-milenio_0_959904035.html
David Bacon comparte su mirada del trabajo agrícola de migrantes mexicanos en el Museo Archivo de la Fotografia
http://www.cultura.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/0038-18
Online Photography Exhibitions
Documentary Matters – View from the US
Social Documentary Network
Four SDN photographers explore themes of racial justice, migration, and #MeToo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWl-uENA7SQ&t=1641s
There’s More Work to be Done
Housing Assistance Council and National Endowment for the Arts
This exhibition documents the work and impact of the struggle for equitable and affordable housing in rural America, inspired by the work of George “Elfie” Ballis.
https://www.thereismoreworktobedone.com/david-bacon
Dark Eyes
A beautiful song by Lila Downs honoring essential workers, accompanied by photographs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdC2gE3SNWw
A video about the Social Justice Photography of David Bacon:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14TvAj5nS08ENzWhw3Oxra4LMNKJCLF4z/view
In the FIelds of the North
Online Exhibit
Los Altos History Museum
https://www.losaltoshistory.org/exhibits/in-the-fields-of-the-north/
Virtual Tour – In the Fields of the North
History Museum of Tijuana
Recorrido Virtual de la Exposicion – En los campos del norte
Museo de Historia de Tijuana
https://www.facebook.com/542258639265202/videos/659536991515786
THE REALITY CHECK – David Bacon blog
http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com
Other Books by David Bacon – Otros Libros
The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration (Beacon Press, 2013)
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2328
Illegal People — How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008
http://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx
Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801473074/communities-without-borders/#bookTabs=1
The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520244726/the-children-of-nafta
En Español:
EL DERECHO A QUEDARSE EN CASA (Critica – Planeta de Libros)
http://www.planetadelibros.com.mx/el-derecho-a-quedarse-en-casa-libro-205607.html
HIJOS DE LIBRE COMERCIA (El Viejo Topo)
http://www.tienda.elviejotopo.com/prestashop/capitalismo/1080-hijos-del-libre-comercio-deslocalizaciones-y-precariedad-9788496356368.html
For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org and http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com
and https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums
Copyright © 2023 David Bacon Photographs and Stories, All rights reserved.
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