OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Nominated by: OneWorld editors

© speakoutnow.orgMigration has long been a hot-button issue for human rights activists, ultra-nationalists, and others in Europe and around the world. But the issue launched onto center stage in the United States as well in 2006 as lawmakers pushed immigration "reform" to the front of the political agenda.

With signs and slogans saying "No human being is illegal" and "Today we march, tomorrow we vote," millions of immigrants and their supporters responded with nationwide demonstrations to ensure that all people's rights are fully protected.

In San Francisco, attorney, long-time social justice activist, and leader of La Raza's Day Laborers Project Renee Saucedo was an outspoken advocate of those rights throughout 2006. In March, Saucedo organized a hunger strike to protest a law that would criminalize many immigrants and those who assist them.

Over the next few months, she played a central role in developing San Francisco's fledging movement into a sensation as tens of thousands turned out for an immigrants' rights march on May 1, joining millions around the United States.

"It took someone with organizing skills, a broad vision, and determination to make it happen: Renee Saucedo was that person," wrote San Francisco journalist Randy Shaw.

© Independent Media Center / Liz HighleymanOne of the most amazing aspects of the immigrants' rights movement in the United States was the speed at which it emerged and blossomed among a community long-marginalized and considered politically insignificant by many of the country's elites.

Though the growing movement was spurred on by organizers like Saucedo, social activist and journalist Elizabeth Gonzales notes the power of non-traditional leadership in the movement as well.

"Everyone was a leader, showing the traditional activists that the people carry all the capacity to defend themselves," Gonzales wrote after a demonstration in March. "This gathering wasn't passed along on a mass e-mail, or coordinated by progressive organizations--it was communicated through the radio stations that people connect through. From there it was word of mouth among families and friends....We didn't need to ask the permission of anyone to express our outrage."

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