Futility March

Well the “unity” march is in the books. Organizers claim thousands more attended than others saw. Whatever the real number it was a lot of them. Self congratulatory back pats are flying around as if it actually accomplished something other than wearing down some shoe leather (Payless and Sportica probably think that is good enough in itself).

Did it ‘unify’ the island? No it further polarized it.

Did it accomplish its published goal of changing the stifling and unworkable PL 15-108? No, nor is it bloody well likely to.

Did it get the long-term foreign contract worker provision put back into US HB-3079? No, nor is it bloody likely to. (In fact if they manage to ‘win’ on that account it will spell near certain doom for the bills passage in the Senate)

Did the entire US Congress tune in breathlessly to the live coverage of the ‘unity’ parade a la Macy’s Day and decide en mass to vote for overall federalization of labor and immigration in our Commonwealth? No, but should they decide to do so in a later vote, I’m sure the organizers here will be standing in line to take credit for the entire fiasco. Like Gore, they will have invented the internet and swayed the whole US Congress to do their bidding. Yeah right. (They will conveniently forget that a few months ago in the face of multiple protest marches by hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of folks wanting improved immigration status back in the US, that the Congress voted it down).

Did the business community (which nearly unanimously dislikes the labor bill) come out and join the ranks in any sizable way? No.

What am I saying? Just what I said before the march. That it was a feel-good exercise in futility. I may have erred in saying they would get a few new paying members of the desperately naïve club. If they did so, they hid the receipt books. No enrollment sales pitch was seen this time. No violence either, that is a very good thing.

Bottom Line? The march accomplished none of its goals. It did give marchers a sense of false and unrealistic short term hope.

It did prove that the First Amendment still lives (no surprise there). It did prove that 3000 or 6000 or some number of contract workers want to stay here and not go home (no surprise there). It did prove that a small number of vocal haoles and foreign worker organizers can stage a parade (oooh). It did prove that Wendy Doromal can ride on an airplane for 21 hours and look dour afterwards. If it proved anything else, I didn’t see it.

So what would I like to see? Something, anything at all, some tiny glimmer of real evidence that these people can change any of the forces acting for good or for ill on the citizens and on the guests of the Commonwealth…then do it….then and only then hold a celebratory parade. Otherwise it is just grandstanding BS.

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Glen Doutrich sees it far more positively. His comment that “This will be a profound statement to the U.S. feds that they must consider when writing the final version of a new labor and immigration bill, this will carry way more weight than the governors weak unfounded ignorant assessment of the ‘it will ruin the economy’ letters.” shows a possible scenario that I just don’t think will happen. As mentioned above, a few million Mexicans marching right down Main Street USA didn’t seem to phase Congress except to make them back off. Why would a paltry 6000 marching 10 thousand miles away make a dent? Glen seems to have an uncanny knack for calling these kinds of things. Maybe he will be right on this one too. My opinion meter, however, is stuck on “futility”.