(Photos)

We have been called many names.  Illegals.  Aliens.  Guest workers.  Border crossers.  Undesirables.  Exiles.  Criminals.  Non-citizens.  Terrorists.  Thieves.  Foreigners.  Invaders.  Undocumented.

Our voices converge on these principles:

1. We know that international connectivity is the reality that migrants have helped create, it is the place where we all reside.  We understand that the quality of life of a person in a country is contingent on migrants' work.  We identify as part of the engine of change.

2. We are all tied to more than one country.  The multilaterally shaped phenomenon of migration cannot be solved unilaterally, or else it generates a vulnerable reality for migrants.  Implementing universal rights is essential.  The right to be included belongs to everyone.

3. We have the right to move and the right not to be forced to move.  We demand the same privileges as corporations and the international elite, as they have the freedom to travel and to establish themselves wherever they choose.  We are all worthy of opportunity and the chance to progress.  We all have the right to a better life.

4. We believe that the only law deserving of our respect is an unprejudiced law, one that protects everyone, everywhere.  No exclusions.  No exceptions.  We condemn the criminalization of migrant lives.

5. We affirm that being a migrant does not mean belonging to a specific social class nor carrying a particular legal status.  To be a migrant means to be an explorer;  it means movement, this is our shared condition.  Solidarity is our wealth.

6. We acknowledge that individual people with inalienable rights are the true barometer of civilization.  We identify with the victories of the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement, the advancement of women's rights, and the rising achievements of the LGBTQ community.  It is our urgent responsibility and our historical duty to make the rights of migrants the next triumph in the quest for human dignity.  It is inevitable that the poor treatment of migrants today will be our dishonor tomorrow.

7. We assert the value of the human experience and the intellectual capacity that migrants bring with them as greatly as any labor they provide.  We call for the respect of the cultural, social, technical, and political knowledge that migrants command.

8. We are convinced that the functionality of international borders should be re-imagined in the service of humanity.

9. We understand the need to revive the concept of the commons, of the earth as a space that everyone has the right to access and enjoy.

10. We witness how fear creates boundaries, how boundaries create hate and how hate only serves the oppressors.  We understand that migrants and non-migrants are interconnected.  When the rights of migrants are denied the rights of citizens are at risk.

Dignity has no nationality.

Immigrant Movement International
November 2011

This document was created in collaboration with immigration academics, activists, politicians, and community members at a convening at the IM International headquarters in Corona, Queens on November 4^th and 5^th.