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¡Panameños, presente!

by Eric Jackson, with information from Roger Kelley and other media

The very concept of what's happening in this photo is sure to infuriate many an American, given the current state of disdain that many have for all foreigners and all immigrants. But California has an immigrant governor and many voting citizens who are foreign born, and many other residents who are non-citizens, some with legal status and many living and working in the USA illegally.

Last year immigrants from many places but primarily Mexico and other Latin American countries formed the Coalicion Primero de Mayo to demand better treatment of immigrants --- including an amnesty for illegal aliens --- and to demonstrate the US economy's dependence on foreign workers via a May 1 work stoppage.

(Those of you who regularly read the opinion columns of The Panama News will know that those who regularly or frequently contribute to this publication have divergent and strongly held opinions about this matter.)

Then there is a large minority of Americans that not only supports foreign wars but considers even native-born US citizens who oppose these overseas adventures to be traitors of a sort, and tends to get apoplectic if immigrants express an antiwar opinion. But the Coalicion Primero de Mayo is against the Iraq War and it took to the streets of San Francisco as part of the January 27 antiwar protest there. (A much larger crowd marched in Washington DC that day.)

Here we see a huge collage of the flags of various nations from whence members of the Coalicion Primero de Mayo come, including, as you can see in the upper right corner of the photo, Panama's. The photo was taken as the group marched on San Francisco's Market Street.

There are Panamanians and Americans of Panamanian origin scattered all around the USA, and in particular there is a substantial Afro-Antillean community that traces roots through Panama in Sacramento, California. Many members of this community acquired the right to live in the United States and US citizenship through service in the US Armed Forces or by working for the Panama Canal when it was under US administration. Despite the largest US military veterans' organizations' support for the Iraq War and the Bush administration, there are many veterans in the antiwar movement.

Americans of Panamanian origin who oppose the Iraq War find themselves in agreement with about two-thirds of their fellow US citizens, if most of the various opinion polls are to be believed.

Some Americans who oppose the Iraq War, however, would object to people getting involved in US politics flying any other country's flag and especially so if these people are not US citizens. In many countries it's illegal for non-citizens to become involved in national political issues and almost everywhere it's considered bad manners.

However, starting with the US government and wealthy conservative campaign donors those strictures have been breaking down for some time. Certainly in Panama we had governmental entities from the United States and the People's Republic of China intervening in last year's canal expansion referendum, and we probably also had large multinational corporations contributing to the yes campaign. (We can't say for sure about the latter point because one of the immediately broken promises was the pre-referendum pledge that the major private yes committees would divulge the sources of their funding.) One individual, Lord Michael Ashcroft, is known to be the top financial backer of conservative politicians in at least three countries, Belize, Australia and the United Kingdom. On the other hand, in several of the dozen Latin American elections of the past year, most notably Nicaragua and Peru, interference by foreign governments or leaders in national elections offended voters and had the opposite of its intended effect.

Panama is one of the few Latin American countries where most people have a favorable opinion of George W. Bush personally, but nevertheless a huge majority --- polls have said more than 80 percent --- has opposed the US invasion of Iraq from the outset. Criticism of this war from the left side of the Panamanian political spectrum is the smaller part of the phenomenon, which is mainly driven by the Catholic Church's antiwar opinion.

Also in this section:
Legislative steamroller slowed by Penal Code debate
¡Panameños presente! in US antiwar protest
Panama News Briefs