Voting Rights For Immigrants In New York City

There is a strong possibility that 2006 will become the year when immigrants earn voting rights in New York City. So where does that put the Nepali community in the city? Are we too late to the feast? Are we too small in numbers? Are we irrelevant to the momentum underway? Will we make little or no difference to the outcome even if we do not participate? If so, why bother?

I think there is a strong case to be made as to why we should participate and we should participate in gusto. The right to vote is fundamental to empowerment, but political empowerment merely begins at that point. The political infrastrucutre we will build to earn the right to vote will come in handy after that right is earned. Earning the right will be a beginning, not an end.

Less than 5% of the Nepalis in the city are organized. This campaign will give us a strong pretext to organize a much larger proportion of Nepalis. And this is of direct relevance to everyone. This is about the here and now. This is about the dignity that comes with the right to vote. You gain currency. Politicians are after you trying to please you, trying to do your work. People who can vote make more money than those who can't. It is because voters are factored into how the system works.

And it is a shame that Nepalis in the city who have done so much to help the Nepalis in Nepal earn back their right to vote themselves stand disenfranchised and don't even know it.

I think we stand to make a quality difference in the movement.

Do Events, Blog Events

You can get a basic camcorder for less than $100 at eBay. You get the video camera, audio recorder and regular camera all in one thin machine. Video, photos and audio can be hosted online for free. (Blogger, Google Video, YouTube, BlastPodcast, Devnagari)

We can try and organize one large rally of 10,000 Nepalis or we can break that down into 1000 House Parties and blog each, and have all linked to at one place. Of all organizations in the city, Hamro Nepal is best suited to take the lead on this one. It is a digital democracy organization.

Expand Existing Organizations, Revise Charters, Launch New Organizations

The simple message is: get organized. Most Nepali organizations are geared to the happenings in Nepal. That is good. But they also need to expand their horizons to include New York City.

There is so much room to launch new organizations.

The Ecosystem Concept

We all can have one shared goal, but can be many different organizations. As long as we do events, and blog events, we do not all have to be part of the same organization.

How To Conduct A Meeting
1000 House Parties
Community Center Idea: A Few Options
Nepali Community Center
Alliance, GFIPN: Audio, Video
Business Ideas
April Convention: Creating A Glowing Core

Nepali, Desi, Asian, Blac

The beauty of do events, blog events is it allows us to reach out to Nepalis across the nation without any travel involved. We want Nepalis in other cities also to get voting rights. We want Nepalis across America to get voting rights. And New York City will take the lead.

Beyond that the high tech way will also make it seamless for us to reach out to other ethnic groups. It will allow us to expand our identity. A Nepali is also a Desi. A Nepali is also Asian. A Nepali is Blac.

blac

Power is in numbers. Power is in unity. Power is in building coalitions.

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Free Trade, Social Segregation, Rising Tide, Iceberg
August 20: India Day Party
Cross Cultural Interactions In A Diverse City
The Thing About Racist Comments
Cloud, Pyramid, Glass
Barack The Glass Walls, Ceilings, Smash 'Em
Three Pillars, Draft 2
Immigration, Duh
Race, A Few Different Angles
The First Major Revolution Of The 21st Century Happened In Nepal

What Happens At The House Party

You gather 10-20 people. You organize a discussion around the idea of voting rights. What are the disadvantages of not having the right to vote? What can be done to earn that right? What will be the benefits of having the right to vote? And you record all or most of the discussions. You take pictures. You upload all that online. You share that link to whoever is organizing all the links at one place. You keep it brief. 90 minutes should be enough.


On The Web

The Immigrant Voting Project the politics and practices of noncitizen voting, chronicling the rise and fall - and re-emergence - of immigrant voting in the United States. In addition to making the case for noncitizen voting ..... New York City Council Members Charles Barron and Kendall Stewart, along with several of their colleagues, re-introduced the historic Voting Rights Restoration Act, now known as Intro 245, on April 5, 2006. This landmark piece of civil rights and government reform legislation would allow noncitizen residents 18 years of age or older to vote in New York City elections if they have been lawfully present for six months....... More than one million tax-paying New Yorkers have been disenfranchised in their local community because of their citizenship status. At least 15% of the residents of most New York City Council districts are non-citizens, with that percentage above 35% in the populations of several districts.
The New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights
Documented Immigrants Demand Vote in New York City - The NewStandard
Documented Immigrants Demand Vote in New York City - The NewStandard
AALDEF: Voting Rights
Citizenship and Voting (Gotham Gazette. August 25, 2003)
Giving the Newest New Yorkers the Vote (Gotham Gazette. July, 2006)
New Voices / Voting Rights and Citizenship
Migration Information Source - Immigrant Voting Rights Receive ...
The New York Times > New York Region > Push Is On to Give Legal ...
The CUNY News Wire » Blog Archive » Voting Rights and Citizenship ...
[PDF] POLL POSITION: GROUPS PUSH FOR VOTING RIGHTS
IPA NY Voices That Must Be Heard
[PDF] Voting Rights for Immigrants
civilrights.org -- Immigrants Swell Numbers Near New York
Immigrant Solidarity Network for Immigrant Rights:: Aug 27 Speak Out! Widely practiced during the first 150 years of U.S. history, immigrant voting is now undergoing a revival across the United States as communities embrace the idea of universal enfranchisement. In more than 20 countries in Europe, immigrants already have voting rights, which they have held for decades. New York City is now home to 1,361,007 immigrants of voting age who are not yet citizens. That means one 1of 5 New Yorkers of voting age can't vote. These city residents are subject to all the laws that citizens must observe. They contribute in countless ways to the economic vitality and social and cultural life of this city that serves as the unofficial capital of the world.
New York Daily News - Boroughs - Albor Ruiz: Immigrants voting for ...
The New York Times > Washington > Immigrants Raise Call for Right ...
Citizens for NYC - Programs & Resources - Diversity and Immigrants
[Mpls] Some Information on Immigrant/Resident Alien Voting
Immigrants unite to gain rights and legal standing Oakland Tribune ...
aliens voting rights in Massachussets
Push Is On to Give Legal Immigrants Vote in New York
Push Is On to Give Legal Immigrants Vote - Wired New York Forum
People's Weekly World - City urged to uphold rights of immigrants
Should noncitizens vote? | csmonitor.com
The Voting Rights Act: 40 Years After “Bloody Sunday” - Urban ...
Effort to Allow 'Alien Suffrage' Has Reemerged - November 12, 2004 ...
People's Weekly World - Backlog blocks many immigrants from voting
Election Updates: New Ron Hayduk book on immigrant voting rights
Understanding Anti-Immigrant Movements : Immigrants' Rights : AFSC
New York debates if immigrants can vote
The Sikh Coalition
New York Daily News - Boroughs - Albor Ruiz: Immigrants ...
Brooklyn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[PDF] A Nation of Immigrants:
Immigrant Rights Movement - Learn More
Who We Are - Advancement Project, Multi-racial Democracy, Voting ...
Dominican American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SAMAR | Why the "Gay Rights Movement" is Anti-Immigrant Rights
Immigrant status stirs host of issues / Noncitizens persist in ...
American Renaissance News: Immigrants Raise Call for Right to Be ...
New York City Bill of Rights Defense Campaign - Interview with ...
New York Immigration Coalition
Amazon.com: Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrants and ...
The Evolving Civil Rights Movement: Old Civil Rights and New ...
Race, Civil Rights, and the New Immigrants:
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement -- Voting Rights History
Immigrants Rights and Advocacy
Migration Information Source - Understanding Immigrant Politics ...
FOXNews.com - Immigration Rights Advocates Plan 'Day Without ...
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
BrothersJudd Blog: RESTRICT THE FRANCHISE AND LET IMMIGRANTS VOTE ...
Resources : Immigrants' Rights : AFSC
DiverseCity - Immigrants Voting Rights Campaign
David Montgomery | Racism, Immigrants, and Political Reform | The ...
USATODAY.com - Immigrant groups' aim: Turn marchers to voters
Article | Why unskilled immigrants hurt America
AsianConnections.com: Celebrating the Best of All Things Asian!
[PDF] Citizens, non-citizens and voting rights in Europe
Haitians in New York
USATODAY.com - For a Mississippi town, Voting Rights Act made a change
Transforming Our Common Destiny: Hispanics in the United States
Asian American: Definition and Much More From Answers.com
[PDF] From Naturalized Citizen to Voter: Context of Naturalization and ...
Immigrant Rights Commission: About Us
[PDF] Race, Ethnicity, and Politics in American History
Illegal Immigrants Are Here To Stay - Bakotopia.com - The ...
[PDF] Transnationalism in New York City: A Study of Remittance Sending ...
[PDF] Immigrants and Citizenship Today:
Race-Based Coalitions Among Minority Groups: Afro-Caribbean ...
How about a day without illegal immigrants protesting their legal ...
The Origins of Women's Activism: New York and Boston, 1797-1840 ...
Latino Pundit A Latino Blog Born Out Of Underrepresentation
Ron Jacobs: Voting Rights and Multilingual Ballots
A MILLION SAY: LET US ALL STAY / HISTORIC DAY: Across the nation ...
Table of contents for Encyclopedia of African American history
Center for Arab American Studies
[PDF] COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF LAW ON RACIAL CONFLICT
Time To Terminate Foreign-Language Ballots
eBay Guides - Traveling to New York City Plenty Of Fun Things to Do
Panamanian Americans
Immigrants Make Their Presence Felt In Marches, Walk-Offs During ...
[PDF] New Americans Vote! New Americans Vote!
Campaign to Give Non-Citizens the Vote - TalkLeft: The Politics of ...
Urban Legends Reference Pages: New Immigrants
What Can Foreign Embassies Do for Immigrants? | RaceWire Article
AmericanHeritage.com / A Nation of Immigrants
American Renaissance News: Pa. City Puts Illegal Immigrants On Notice
RaceandHistory.com - Bill O'Reilly's Racist Distortion of History
PEP, May 2006: DC 37 marches for immigrant rights
Amazon.com: Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic ...
A CHRONOLOGY OF THE DISABILITY RIGHTS MOVEMENTS 1817 - The ...
[PDF] Noncitizen voting rights: Extending the franchise in the United States
Rock the Vote Blog: Voting Rights Infringement in Georgia
civilrights.org -- Op-Ed: Discrimination Not Illegal Immigrants ...
Asian Americans in US Politics
[PDF] Immigrant groups’ aim: Turn marchers to voters

Civil Rights Movement Timeline
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) - Wikipedia ...
Civil rights movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Civil Rights Movement 1955-1965: Introduction
We Shall Overcome; Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement ...
African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era (Part 1)
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement
CNN -The Civil Rights Movement
Encyclopaedia of USA History: The Struggle for Civil Rights
US Civil Rights Movement in the Yahoo! Directory
The Greensboro Sit-ins - Launch of a Civil Rights Movement
Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
Voices of Civil Rights
Civil Rights Movement
The National Civil Rights Museum
Civil Rights Movement Heroes
Martin Luther King Jr.
Yahooligans! - Around the World:Countries:United States:History ...
Civil Rights Movement
ALA | The Civil Rights Movement
Free At Last: The Civil Rights Movement
Psychedelic 60s: The Civil Rights Movement
Civil Rights Movement in the United States - MSN Encarta
African American World . Timeline | PBS
TIME Newsfile: Civil Rights Movement
A Photographic History of The Civil Rights Movement
Dept. of State: International Information Programs: Publications ...
National Civil Rights Movement
Civil Rights Movement
Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching
The Civil Rights Movement--US History lesson plan (grades 6-8 ...
Mt. Zion Albany Civil Rights Movement Museum
Immigrant Civil Rights Movement | Z
Atlanta in the Civil Rights Movement
Civil Rights Movement: March on Washington 1963
American Women in the Civil Rights Movement
Immigrant Civil Rights Movement | Z
Civil Right and Civil Right Movement

Hate speech - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hate Speech
EXAMPLES OF HATE SPEECH
Religious Right Hate Speech
American Civil Liberties Union : Hate Speech on Campus
Wired News: Europeans Outlaw Net Hate Speech
WorldNetDaily: 'Bible as hate speech' signed into law
Hate speech of the left - The Boston Globe
hate speech: Definition and Much More From Answers.com
firstamendmentcenter.org: Free speech on public college campuses ...
A Generation Of Hate: Hate Speech
When hate speech becomes accepted | Exclusive | Advocate.com
Hate-speech law in Sweden protects persons of all sexual orientations

[PDF] 1 Women's Rights and Empowerment: Gender Equality in the New ...
Open Directory - Society: People: Women: Women's Rights
Women's Empowerment
UNFPA: POPULATION ISSUES: Promoting Gender Equality
GFW | Beijing +10: Defending Women's Empowerment
Feminism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UNIFEM - United Nations Development Fund for Women
Foreign Affairs - The Payoff From Women's Rights - Isobel Coleman
Working for Women, Worldwide: The US Commitment
feminism: Definition and Much More From Answers.com
GFW | Young Women's Declaration in the Asia Pacific
BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | Women's rights: Ask Mary Robinson
Afghan Women Empowerment Act of 2006

How To Conduct A Meeting

How To Conduct A Meeting

You earn democracy. And then you have meetings. Meetings after meetings after meetings. Meetings can get out of hand, they can start late, and last forever, and you might end up not getting much of substance. That can lead to frustration. The morale of the group might go down.

Show up on time. Show respect for others.

I have never been fond of the strict versions of the Robert's Rules Of Order, but then my number one rule there is don't let the rules bog you down. You can simplify the procedures. The simplest rule is there is one leader, only one person speaks at a time, and decisions are taken through vote. When the goal of the group is clear, the meeting can move fast. A smaller core group can set the formal agenda beforehand. That can save time.

But sometimes if people come in with a hidden agenda to slow down progress, their desire might be to prolong the meeting and lead it to an indefinite conclusion. This can be seen when you are talking issues like social justice. When that happens, you have to remember each person still is worth one vote, and each person has a right to be heard, and there you go to the elaborate Robert's Rules Of Order. Otherwise you invite chaos.

The Robert's Rules Of Order is not exactly Nobel Prize for Physics category stuff. People have been holding meetings for thousands of years. People get heard, people make decisions. But this guy I guess put it down on paper. White guy.

My preferred method is to combine face time with screen time. Create a group blog for free so each person has unlimited space to say whatever it is they want to say. If they are having to put it down in writing, people are also kind of forced to summarize what they are having to say. And you have bridge activists who blog on behalf of a group.

But then this is a high tech version. You are assuming people have internet access, and are comfortable blogging.

The plus point is the group blog idea throws Robert out the window. You free people of both space and time constraints. Internet access is quite wide in Nepal also. And blogging is as easy as email.

Revolutionary zeal makes it easier to have meetings. When the goal is clear - end a dictatorship - meetings run fast and smooth. The thing to realize right now is that the revolution is still on. All the concrete achievements are still ahead of us. We have to articulate the ongoing revolution. And meetings will get easier all over again.

The guide to action still is to create common minimum programs.

Proposed Constitution
Who Will Tie The Bell Round The Cat's Neck

On The Web

Robert's Rules Of Order

The Official Robert's Rules of Order Web Site
Robert's Rules of Order Online - Parliamentary Procedure and ...
Robert's Rules Online - Parliamentary Procedure and Parliamentarians
Robert's Rules Of Order | Quick Reference
Robert, Henry M. 1915. Robert’s Rules of Order Revised for ...
Robert's Rule of Order - Some Basics
Parliamentary Procedure According to Robert's Rules
Robert's Rules of Order Revised
Robert's Rules of Order - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trout's Top Ten Rules of Order

How To Conduct A Meeting

[PDF] HOW TO CONDUCT A MEETING
Salary | Advice | How to Conduct a Meeting: Ground Rules ...
[PDF] HowtoConduct a Meeting
[PDF] Helpful Hints on “How to Conduct a Meeting”
[PDF] Conduct a Meeting
How to Conduct a Meeting
[PDF] How to Conduct a Meeting
[PDF] How to Conduct a Meeting – Tips Don’t use meetings to disseminate ...
[PDF] Conduct a Meeting
HOW TO CONDUCT A MEETING

Icebreakers

Educational Icebreakers
Icebreakers - Break the Ice in Classrooms or Meetings
Icebreakers to Inspire Communication : Eslflow webguide
Icebreakers, Warmups, Energizers & Deinhibitizers
Leadership - Icebreakers, Warm-up, Review, and Motivators Activities
The Top 10 Icebreakers for Meetings and Training Seminars
Ice Breakers - Business Fundamentals
Group Skills (Committees, Teams, Focus Groups, etc.)
Internet Icebreakers
Free Icebreakers, teambuilding exercises, corporate icebreakers
Ice Breakers
Selected Student Generated Ice Breakers and Exercises
Ice-breakers - Games, icebreakers, ice-breakers
Warmup Activities
Icebreakers
Anagram Ice Breaking Activity
Icebreakers
10 Ways to Break the Ice
Sizzlin Session Starters

Blogging

Blogger: Create your Blog Now -- FREE
Blog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Google Blog Search

Taking Minutes

Taking Minutes at a Meeting
Taking meeting minutes
Taking Minutes - Useful Tips
ALA | Tips for Taking Minutes
Taking Minutes Like a Pro
Taking Minutes at a Meeting - How to take minutes of a meeting
Taking Minutes Whose Job Is It And Why?

Leadership Skills

Leadership Skills - leadership development - building trust ...
leadership tips, theory, skills, training and development
Leadership Skills
Developing Your Leadership Skills
Mind Tools
The Eleven Skills of Leadership
Motivational Management - Developing Leadership Skills
Presentation skills effective communication team building ...
Leadership Skills from Mind Tools - Discover the leader within you
VOA News - West African Female Politicians Learn Leadership Skills
Leadership Knowledge Base: Build Effective Leadership Skills

Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolution Network - Home page
CRN The Twelve Skills
Conflict Resolution Skills
Conflict Resolution: A Core Competency?
Social Skills: Handout 9
Out on a Limb: A Guide to Getting Along
Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution in the Classroom
CENMI.ORG - Focus on Results - Dispute Resolution

Be A Good Friend

The Friendship Page: How To Be A Good Friend
Are you a good friend? A quick and easy quiz to help you figure ...
be a good friend on 43 Things
Wired News: See If You're a Good Friend
Making (and Keeping) Friends: A Model for Social Skills ...
Top Tips to Help Kids Build Social Skills and Make Friends
Social Skills: Finding Friends and Persuading People
Making And Keeping Friends - Building Skills That Enhance ...

Productive Meetings

Mind Tools - Running Effective Meetings & Writing Meeting Minutes
9 tips for running more productive meetings | 43 Folders
Article 295- Creative and Productive Meetings
Top 7 Strategies for Productive Meetings
How To Have Productive Meetings: iVillage
Effective/Productive Meetings
Co-op Tools : Tips for Productive Meetings
Creating Productive Meetings
Making Meetings Productive
The Obvious?: Productive meetings
Planning and Leading Productive Meetings
Organising productive meetings
How to Have a Productive Meeting