“Alongside farmworkers, we're creating - and walking - the path to a better world.” – Student/Farmwoker Alliance
 
As I sit down to write this, I am anticipating a roughly 24 hour long road trip to Tampa, Florida. A group of about 15 youth from the South Texas region (Rio Grande Valley and Houston) – myself included - are headed out this weekend to what is being called “The Farmworker Freedom March” – organized by the ever inspiring Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and its youth counterpart, Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) based out of Immokalee, Florida. This march - which will take place over a course of 3 days and will make its way across Tampa and Lakeland, Florida - is intended to put pressure on the giant supermarket company Publix (headquarters in Lakeland). Publix is one of the many purchasers of tomatoes from Southern Florida. They are also fully aware of the crisis in the fields from which their produce is coming from, but unlike other companies that have already taken a step in working with the CIW (Taco Bell, McDonalds, Burger King – to name a few) to ensure that their purchasing practices do not support deplorable working conditions for farmwokers or even modern day slavery, Publix has ignored the call to justice and fairer business practices. (Learn more about this at www.ciw-online.org)
 
I just want to take a moment to praise  both the CIW and the SFA, share my appreciation for the existence of these groups and my hopes that what is shaping up to be one of the biggest demonstrations of popular unity and solidarity (“The Farmwoker Freedom March”) in this country, this year, is a huge success.
 
My affiliation with, and admiration of these groups shouldn’t come as a surprise to those that are familiar with my political stances and ideologies, if you will, which could be generalized as anarcho-syndicalist with an understanding of critical pedagogy and critical thinking.
 
The SFA is a loosely organized, nationwide network that functions in a sort of federated structure with highly accountable staff in Florida, and a yearly elected “Steering Committee” made up of delegates from any area around the country with a group of students that wish to work in solidarity with the CIW; strategies and decisions are carried through - from beginning to end - in a grassroots democracy which could serve as an alternative model for political and economic institutions in our society. Local SFA chapters manage their own affairs and carry out their own actions according to the abilities and principals of their particular (local) group, so long as the overall goal of the CIW is reflected (IE: self-empowerment for the purpose creating social justice).
 
The CIW is a community based group (not your traditional labor union) that is lead and run by the people directly affected by the economic and political situation in Immokalee. They’ve been organized since 1993. They “fight for, among other things: a fair wage for the work we do, more respect on the part of our bosses and the industries where we work, better and cheaper housing, stronger laws and stronger enforcement against those who would violate workers' rights, the right to organize on our jobs without fear of retaliation, and an end to indentured servitude in the fields.”
 
Besides working on winning concessions in the forms of wage increases and fair treatment from farm bosses (which is very important if we ever hope to achieve any kind of decent society), the CIW and the SFA also play a major role in the international struggle for economic and social justice.  They support labor struggles around the country, they consistently show solidarity in the movement to shut down the School of the Americas (now known as WHINSEC), and are one the more vocal groups against the neoliberal model that is plaguing the world.
 
When I first encountered the CIW in late 2005, shortly after their victory in their campaign on Taco Bell, what stood out to me most was their organizing motto: "Consciousness + Commitment = Change". This opened up a new world to me of the old notion of praxis (action and reflection upon the world in order to change the world). At their events and actions, one could see that they take this approach very seriously - with their dialogue oriented workshops and their popular education style activities. That is to say that embedded in all their activities is the bold idea that enough knowledge of our collective and individual experiences, along with a will and commitment to change negative aspects of our shared world, will inevitably bring about social change for a better future.
 
The SFA is even more explicit in this regard:

SFA organizers facilitate educational activities through which students and farmworkers have the opportunity to come together in an exchange of knowledge and experience, cultivating a critical analysis that reveals the intersections between people on opposite ends of the corporate food industry. This includes worker- and student-led workshops, speaking tours, alternative spring breaks, and internships.

We are committed to building a base of members whose understanding of social change and injustice in the fields leads them to act in solidarity with farmworkers and simultaneously toward a broader vision of collective liberation. This includes supporting farmworker-led campaigns for better wages and working conditions and, more broadly, organizing toward a more just global economy.
 
All power to the people in Florida this weekend!