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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
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face="Times New Roman">Tales of the Westside<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">By Alegria De La
Cruz</SPAN></STRONG>, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><FONT face="Times New Roman">California
Progress Report <o:p></o:p></FONT></I></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Created <EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">06/17/2010 -
2:38pm</SPAN></EM></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">For most Californians, the west side of the San
Joaquin Valley is the flat, sere and desolate country you pass through on your
way to someplace else. You’re more apt to remember the rest stops on I-5 than
the features of the surrounding landscape. But the “Westside” is special to me.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">My grandparents settled here in the 1940s. In
the 1970s, they co-founded one of the region’s first farmworker co-ops near the
small town of Raisin City. I remember picking and packing cherry tomatoes with
my cousins on our land. My husband, too, has deep roots in the soils of the
western San Joaquin Valley. When he was old enough to do physical labor,
he joined his parents, cousins and friends, laboring in the local fields and
dairies. His family still lives and works in the region, and we celebrate our
birthdays and anniversaries on their one-acre ranch near the small town of
Burrell. . </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">We thus represent one face of the Westside.
Another is represented by wealthy agribusiness enterprises; foremost among these
is the Westlands Water District. There is a misconception that Westlands
represents small family farmers who are struggling to survive, but that picture
couldn’t be farther from the truth. Run by a handful of powerful farming
interests, Westlands has received well over a billion dollars in federal
subsidies. The district exerts an iron hand over the region’s labor, land – and
most crucially for all Californians – the water. Under Westlands, the Westside
is essentially a feudal society, with powerful corporate farmers directing the
politics and the economy and an impoverished working class supplying the
labor. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Indeed, Westlands’ influence reaches far beyond
the confines of the San Joaquin Valley. It has established its dominance
in both Sacramento and Washington, and has succeeded in shaping water policy to
benefit its few hundred constituents at the expense of other agricultural
regions, our cities, our fisheries and our wildlife. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Several decades ago, my grandparents helped
establish National Land for People, a group that was successful in challenging
corporate control over the water delivered to Westlands. National Land for
People won a federal injunction to stop Westlands’ transparent attempt to
circumvent the requirements of the Reclamation Act in a series of land transfers
intended to maintain corporate farmers’ access to subsidized water. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Unhappily, this proved a paper victory. In
response to the court decision, Westlands’ corporate enterprises simply broke up
their vast acreages into subsidiary holdings. Some transfers were fraudulent,
and some Westlands growers were prosecuted for their attempts to circumvent the
law. My grandparents joked that some of the new “farms” on the Westside were
registered under the names of their owners’ favorite cows. Their black
humor was not far off the mark. In 1982, the Westlands again flexed their
powerful lobbying muscle when the Reclamation Reform Act was passed. Its
“reforms” included eliminating the residency requirement and increasing the
acreage limitation, eviscerating the original intent of the Act and benefitting
large and absentee landholders.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Recently, Westlands corporate farmers have
complained that they are not getting enough water due to protections for
threatened salmon and other fish. Through a sophisticated -- if utterly cynical
-- disinformation campaign, they have portrayed the issue as a matter of
social justice, claiming agricultural workers are losing their livelihoods due
to environmental restrictions – that it is a matter of “fish versus jobs.” This
claim is preposterous on two counts. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">First, the big farms of the western San Joaquin
Valley are not withering on the vine. Despite cuts in water deliveries –
cuts due to drought and not to protections for fisheries and the Bay-Delta
ecosystem – profits for the region’s farms are robust. Rather than
collapsing, agricultural employment and profits in Fresno County have grown in
the past year. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Second, the deep and abiding concern that
Westlands’ growers are expressing for the workers who labor in their fields is
altogether unconvincing. The 20th Congressional District, which
encompasses Westlands, is the poorest district in the nation. Corporate
farmers have done nothing to alleviate the poverty and suffering their practices
have caused. The tears they are now shedding must be seen as distinctly
crocodilian. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">What about the “spontaneous” demonstrations by
farmworkers marching under the “Fish vs. Jobs” banner? Go talk to the
laborers in the small destitute towns of the region such as Five Points,
Firebaugh, Mendota and Dos Palos. I have. If you can gain their
confidence, they’ll tell you, as they’ve told me: these demonstrations
were orchestrated by farm labor contractors and their employers. Workers
were either strongly “encouraged” to join the demonstrations with the
implication that their jobs were at stake, or were simply paid to march.
This is not meant as a criticism of the marchers; on the Westside, you cannot
afford to pass up a day’s wages. The system is designed that way.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">A just agricultural economy allows for fair
shares of resources and profits among all the players. California is a semi-arid
state, with limited water resources. Sadly, Westlands, representing only a
fraction of California’s agricultural base, perpetuates gross injustice by
grabbing the lion’s share of the water. This must change. Our water must be
shared equitably. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">What are we asking? Not much. We simply want
western San Joaquin growers to play by the same rules that govern the rest of
us. Water is a public trust resource that belongs to all the people of
California, not the just the few who are wealthy and politically
connected. <BR></FONT><I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt"><BR></SPAN><EM><FONT face="Times New Roman">Ms. Alegria
de la Cruz is the Legal Director at the Center on Race, Poverty & the
Environment.</FONT></EM></I></P>
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