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"Farmingville" (http://www.activevoice.net/farmingville_home.shtml)
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388935/)
Directed by Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini
New Video Group
NR
2004
Reviewed by a contributor November 15, 2004
Only in the litigious, parasitic united $nakes can one day laborer randomly win a million dollars from McDonalds because of a lawsuit(1), while other day laborers face regular robberies at gunpoint for their money.(2) The pigs are pinning the recently reported robberies, assaults and killings in Jacksonville, Florida, on "black men" and portraying the incidents as "crimes of opportunity," rather than an oppression of the different Latino nationalities who make up most of the day laborers in the united $tates. In Canton, Georgia, however, there may be "deeper rifts" between whites and Latinos.(3) White supremacists robbed and brutally assaulted Domingo Lopez Vargas and other Latino day laborers. Among other things, the undocumented status of many day laborers and lack of English proficiency make it difficult for day laborers to use the pigs against their attackers even if they desire to defend themselves in this way.
In Farmingdale, New York, citizens(4) are trying to drive out Latinos. "The village resurrected a proposal to condemn and redevelop, under eminent domain law, the buildings in a part of town where much of the Latino population lives."(5) Advocacy groups such as La Fuerza Unida are involved in providing the tenants with legal assistance. Slightly less obvious schemes to drive out day laborers include arresting unlicensed contractors who may hire day laborers, and enforcing traffic laws to discourage any contractor or employer from hiring day laborers. The same mayor who supported the enforcement of traffic laws also supported a designated hiring site for day laborers and contractors to use.
Generally, supporters of designated hiring sites seem to be more "progressive" than their opponents, but the hiring sites are often presented by supporters as a middle ground between well-meaning "citizens' concerns" and day laborers' interests.
Bias crimes and "Farmingville"
In Farmingville, 25 miles away from Farmingdale, white supremacists assaulted two Mexican day laborers on September 17, 2000.(6) The documentary "Farmingville" takes this event as its starting point and looks at the surrounding struggle to find "solutions" to the presence of day laborers on sidewalks in the middle-class town and the alleged noisy nuisance of unfamiliar, unknown day laborers crowding into rented houses.
In opposing the building of a hiring hall for the day laborers and contractors, the Sachem Quality of Life (SQL) group works with the larger, immigration-focused groups American Patrol(7), California Citizens for Immigration Reform, and the Federation for Immigration Reform. During the nine-month period in 2001 that "Farmingville" covers, SQL seems to adopt an increasingly intense rhetoric of country, patriotism, taxpayers, children, "hard-working" citizens, nation, inept federal government, white wimmin being sexually victimized, and Latino immigrant invasion. According to "Farmingville," the openly nationalist Northern Alliance and World Church of the Creator showed up to distribute literature in Farmingville. Since the filming of "Farmingville" ended, there have been more attacks against day laborers by white supremacists.(8)
SQL and its supporters in the Suffolk County Legislature have resorted to slandering Farmingville day laborers in a way that not even the local pigs agree with(9), saying that day laborers are responsible for a crime wave in Farmingville.(10) However, "Farmingville" repeatedly shows SQL co-founder and President Margaret Bianculli-Dyber and others insisting that they are not "racist." They claim that use of the word "racist" to describe anti-"illegal immigrant" activists in Farmingville is an attempt to silence them.
Non-socialists whom I have talked with have characterized the fascist activists and other speakers depicted in "Farmingville" as being "nativist" or "xenophobic," implying that Margaret and Louise's sentiments are universal and could spontaneously arise anytime, anywhere where there is mixing of peoples. Viewers in Mexico have "said the movie could help Mexicans understand prejudices in their own country, where lighter-skinned citizens often look down on indigenous workers or undocumented laborers from Central America."(11) The difference is that in Mexico some workers have false consciousness in failing to unite with all oppressed nationalities. It would be in the interest of the Mexican people to unite against imperialist exploitation with workers from other nations oppressed by imperialism. In the united $tates, the situation is different with oppressors simultaneously repressing and benefitting from day laborers. Without the repression and chauvinism, the wages would not be so low.
Framing the debate
"Farmingville" is good to see for persyns who have no understanding of how fascist activism has the potential to develop in any enclave of Euro-Amerikans. My only criticisms of "Farmingville" have to do with the way the day-laborer debate is framed in the documentary. "Farmingville" portrays day-labor hiring activity on public streets, and day laborers' living in crowded rented houses next to long-time, home-owning residents, as a problem that needs to be "solved." The sentiment expressed throughout "Farmingville" is sympathy for both the Latino workers and the so-called concerned citizens.
The implication at the end of "Farmingville" is that white Farmingville resident Louise has legitimate concerns and isn't necessarily a racist. The so-called advocates who come to Farmingville to rescue the day laborers agree with this view of Louise, who apparently disagrees with SQL's language and tactics only. Even one of the directors of "Farmingville," Carlos Sandoval, panders in an opportunist way to persyns who believe that the so-called middle class (typically a reference to households that get less than $50-75,000 a year; the Euro-Amerikan "middle class" is clearly part of the imperialist bourgeoisie when we look at where the value is going) is being burdened by "frequently wealthier surrounding communities."(12)
Immigrant populations (in particular illegal immigrant populations these days) tend to concentrate in communities that are ill-equipped to handle them while frequently wealthier surrounding communities, who benefit from the labor, can avoid the cost of housing the very labor force that benefits them. (12)
In 1999, the median household income in Farmingville, New York, was US$69,148; the median family income was $72,750; the per capita income was US$23,755.(13) These are all above average compared with the united $tates as a whole.
Almost trying to outdo Sandoval's opportunism, co-director Catherine Tambini implies that just because Margaret, whom "Farmingville" shows harassing, intimidating and photographing day laborers, has helped persyns from "Hispanic backgrounds," she can't be a racist:
I'd kind of rather not speculate about her. I think that she's a woman who is trying to protect herself and her home and the future of her family and that's the way that she is going about it, but I don't think she's a racist. She's got a list an arm long of people that she has helped from Hispanic backgrounds. (14)
"Farmingville" is supposed to be a documentary, so there are questions about editing and splicing that do not arise as much in the context of fictional movies. For example, in a particularly in-your-face manifestation of reactionary nationalism, Margaret belts out "God Bless America" after a legislative victory against the proposed hiring hall, but maybe Margaret was just as reactionary in 1998, when SQL was founded.
Viewers should not treat "Farmingville" as a record of what really happened, but as an illustration of what has happened in many localities in the united $tates(17) and what could happen, and as an opportunity to study how supposedly pro-Latino "advocates" without any foundation in Marxism, but only feel-good sentiments, can inadvertently give verbal support to fascist politics. This reviewer has seen other documentaries, for example, "Culture of Hate: Who Are We?" (KPBS, 2001, http://www.kpbs.org/Television/DynPage.php?id=78) that do a lot to "understand" the point of view of white supremacists, and the local social and economic changes that give rise to fascist politics, but which portray fascism as a matter of failed or inadequate social control of youth, and white supremacists' underlying legitimate concerns about disinvestment, poverty, unemployment, and so on.
"Farmingville" is also useful for studying how persyns can gravitate toward fascist politics on the basis of sentiments alone and without any clear understanding of fascists' philosophies and theories. It is so bad that dark-skinned persyns such as Ezola Foster and Terry Anderson can fall into the same camp as Margaret and give Margaret legitimacy as a non-racist (because, you know, you can't be racist if you have Black friends—sike). Blacks, Latinos--anyone can be an Uncle Tom for the white power structure and while it won't be Black racism perpetrated, it will be white racism perpetrated by Blacks. It may be gut-level fascism among oppressed nationalities who feel displaced by other oppressed nationalities or who enjoy the exploiter role in Amerika and seek to keep the wages of Latino workers down with their repressive attacks.
If these activists were not fascists and supposedly so concerned, they would target the Amerikan employers alone to raise work standards and leave the day laborers out of it. Even if we bought into a view of U.S. borders as legitimate, the conflict should be between Amerikans and Amerikans, but it is classic labor aristocracy politics to attack the day laborers just enough to keep them down so that Amerikans can benefit from ultra-cheap labor.Although the filmmakers do not explicitly say that Margaret, for example, is a racist (the film has little narration), "Farmingville" sets up a false dichotomy between racists, who are openly prejudiced against Latino workers, and well-meaning, non-racist concerned citizens. This is misleading, ignoring what these racists and non-racists have in common economically, their similar attitudes toward a federal government that has allegedly allowed illegal immigrants to concentrate in suburbs such as Farmingville, their shared concern for the safety of their children even when there are few anecdotes available proving that day laborers present a particular risk to children's safety, and so on. Even with racial-profiling proposals, it is difficult to say that this or that policy proposal is backed by only openly prejudiced racists, which suggests that racism and non-racism in the context of white, middle-class persyns opposing Latinos are really just shades of gray of fascist politics. The racist anti-immigrants and the supposedly non-racist anti-immigrants differ mainly in the level of development of their fascist thinking or fascist-leaning sentiments. Neither have any legitimate concerns, or they are legitimate only from the viewpoint of "middle-class" and "working-class" Euro-Amerikans, the vast majority of whom are exploiters. Both Margaret and Louise's demands to forcefully exclude day laborers from Farmingville are objectively fascist. Here, according to the movie, racism is a matter of form, not content. So, whether their demands are racist is a matter of form, or how the anti-Latino proposals are presented, not content.
Another problem with "Farmingville" is the shared assumption of the advocates more in favor of open borders, and the different activists and legislators, that Latinos should prove that they do not really have a negative impact on the neighborhoods that they move into, or that any negative impact is outweighed by the Latino workers' usefulness to the country. The various anti-Latino speakers, the various pro-Latino speakers, and Eduardo, one of the few non-Amerikans whose interviews are actually shown in "Farmingville," are focused on debating the usefulness of immigrants to the united $tates, whether they take Amerikan jobs, whether they are an integral part of the u.$. economy, whether they must lower the quality of life, and so on.
Although day laborers who talk in "Farmingville" seem to be convinced that Margaret is a racist, whether any of the various anti-Latino speakers really deserve to be called "racist" is beside the point. At some point, a spade needs to be called a spade. The imperialist-country parasites benefit from the exploitation and repression of Latinos and other oppressed nationalities in the world. The Farmingville residents are not oppressed by the day laborers and have no legitimate concerns. All of their concerns have to do with maintaining their highly parasitic quality of living and standards of living.
Imperialist-country parasites have no right to be comfortable or safe even if Farmingville residents really are suffering sexual harassment and traffic accidents related to day laborers' waiting on sidewalks for employment. Tough shit. Euro-Amerikans are free to fight the system that creates the uneven distribution of day laborers in the united $tates if they want. National oppressor Margaret is free to stop harassing and photographing day laborers if she wants. She should put her energy into international minimum labor standards--minimum wages, guaranteed jobs for all etc.
The impact of day laborers on u.$. workers
Although some studies show that undocumented workers do contribute to the u.$. economy overall and even increase u.$. "natives'" wages, whether or not legal or illegal immigration is beneficial to u.$. workers is not the criterion by which real progressives oppose repressive immigration policy in the united $tates. In fact, it is the criterion that both anti-Latino and pro-Latino white nationalists use. For different reasons, lower u.$. "natives'" wages may actually represent less surplus value-extraction from the Third World, so depressed Amerikan wages isn't even necessarily a bad thing.
Fascist organizing among middle-class neighborhoods
It is important to recognize that there are differences among the various white nationalist organizations such as National Alliance, the Creativity Movement, and Hammerskins. For example, National Alliance seems to organize among educated and professional middle-class persyns, while Church of the Creator reaches out to middle-class youth. Fascists may appear to have different class origins (to the extent that the Euro-Amerikan "middle class" and "workers" represent different class origins, which they do not fundamentally), and social characteristics such as age. "Farmingville" illustrates how fascist organizations, whether American Patrol or National Alliance, may make inroads into the enclaves of middle-class, suburban, white adults. Fascism may rear its ugly head among "hatecore" fans, but its respectable face can look like your grandmother.
Notes:
1. "Ex-homeless man given $1 million," 2001 September 3, Associated Press News Services , San Diego Union-Tribune , p. A-8, from LexisNexis database
"United States: McDonald's gives day labourer $1M," 2001 September 3, Ottawa Citizen , p. A9, from LexisNexis database
However, Patrick Collier is not a Latino day laborer.
2. Ron Word, 2004 November 10, "Jacksonville police warn of attacks on day laborers," Associated Press News Service , from Tallahasee.com : http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/politics/10147667.htm
Tiani Jones, 2004 November 10, "Hispanic day laborers targeted by thieves," First Coast News, http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=27464
3. Mark Niesse, 2004 May 11, "Georgia beatings reveal vulnerability of Hispanic day laborers," Associated Press News Services , from LexisNexis database
4. Compared with the u.$. population, Farmingdale village's population has an above-average number of "White alone, not Hispanic or Latino" individuals:
2000 Decennial Census of Population and Housing: U.S. Census Bureau, Summary File 1 (SF 1)
5. Campbell Robertson, 2004 November 14, "Immigrant policies take a more aggressive turn," from The New York Times on the Web , http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/14/nyregion/14LI.html
6. Robert Gearty, 2000 September 22, "Day Labor Site Urged : Assault fuels call for center," Daily News , from LexisNexis database
7. James E. Garcia, 2001 May 1, "Immigrant laborers are here to stay," PoliticoMagazine.com , from AlterNet , http://www.alternet.org/story/10798/
8. Bart Jones, 2004 June 26, "Mexican immigrants attacked : Robbing the poor : Police charge Pennsylvania man with posing as a contractor in Farmingville, picking up day laborers and stealing their money at gunpoint," Newsday , p. A03, from LexisNexis database
Also see:
Dulce Reyes, 2001 August, "The anti anti-immigrant movement," from GothamGazette.com , http://www.gothamgazette.com/immigrants/aug.01.shtml
Eugene O'Donnell, 2004 November 14, "Don't sic the police on day laborers," from Newsday.com , news/opinion/ny-vpodo144041665nov14,0,5349766.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines
"Immediately after this victory, both the National Alliance and the World Church of the Creator, two supremacist hate groups, began to flyer anti-immigrant hate rhetoric. They all seemed vindicated and reinvigorated," says Darren Sandow, a program officer for the Long Island Community Foundation, one of the organizers of the subsequent effort to counteract all this hate.
9. B. G., 2000 November, "Day laborers victimized," The People , vol. 110, no. 8, p. 3, http://www.slp.org/pdf/pdf_thepeople/nov00tp.pdf
"Both police officials brought in to speak gave evidence to the contrary. The total number of arrests in Farmingville in 1995 was 463, but only 40 of those were noncitizens. The number of immigrant arrests since then is dwarfed by the total arrest record of citizens in Farmingville. As of Aug. 28, only 19 noncitizens had been arrested compared with 204 citizens" (p. 3).
See footnote 6.
For whatever reason, "Suffolk police denied there was any crime wave."
10. "Resolution no. 689 - 2000, Authorizing litigation against the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to mitigate illegal alien public safety impact in Suffolk County," 2000 August 31, "Twelth day : Regular meeting : August 31, 2000," from Suffolk County Government Web site, http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/legis/clerk/Proceedings/2000/08-31-00.htm
11. Letta Tayler, 2004 October 6, "Mexicans view LI movie : 'Farmingville' not just a movie," Newsday , p. A27, from LexisNexis
12. "Ask the filmmakers," 2004, from PBS Web site, http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/farmingville/behind_ask.html
"PBS: P.O.V. Farmingville : PBS Program," 2004 July 23, from washingtonpost.com , http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48870-2004Jun17.html
13. 2000 Decennial Census of Population and Housing: U.S. Census Bureau, Summary File 1 (SF 1) and Summary File 3 (SF 3)
14. Adam Matthews, 2004 June 17, "Immigrant song : Farmingville dissects the war over day laborers," Long Island Press , http://www.longislandpress.com/v02/i24040617/arts_02.asp
15. Abel Valenzuela, Jr., 1999 May 30, "Day laborers in southern California: preliminary findings from the Day Labor Survey," working paper, from Center for the STudy of Urban Poverty Web site, http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/csup/pubs/papers/item.php?id=3
16. Abel Valenzuela, Jr. and Edwin Melendez, 2003 April 11, "Day labor in New York: findings from the NYDL Survey," working paper, from Center for the Study of Urban Poverty Web site, http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/csup/pubs/papers/csup3.php
17. For example:
Matt Cota, 2004 November 16, "Life on the line," from KSBY Web site, http://www.ksby.com/home/headlines/1195611.html
Keith Walker, 2004 October 29, "Day laborers' arrests open dialogue," from PotomacNews.com , e%2FWPN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031778819729&path=%20&path=&tacodalogin=no
Joyce Blay, 2004 October 27, "Day laborers' hiring at issue in town," Tri-Town News , http://tritown.gmnews.com/news/2004/1027/Front_Page/001.html
"Redondo Beach police arrests day laborers in crackdown," 2004 October 22, Associated Press News Service , ynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_valley/9991195.htm?1c
Matt Cota, "Life on the line," from KSBY Web site, http://www.ksby.com/home/headlines/1192436.html