CIW’s 2011 Year of the Worker Party gets ball rolling for Do the Right Thing Tour!

Last week, we took a swing through several ally communities mobilizing for the Do the Right Thing Tour, chronicling the gatherings, actions, and plans of Fair Food activists from Tampa, FL, to Portland, ME, all aimed at getting the word out about the upcoming tour (now just two weeks away!).

Today, our mobilization report wraps up where it all started, in Immokalee, where, as we enter the final stretch before heading north on I-95 to Boston, it was time for the 2011 Year of the Worker Party. The party — a tradition that began in 2000 — is a day-long community festival of music, games, and speeches that brings the farmworker community together like nothing else in Immokalee.

But this year, there was a new and special spirit to the festivities: Celebration of the victories of the past year and the changes already underway on several Florida farms! Those victories — and the urgent need to secure and deepen the changes they have made possible — fueled the Fiesta this year with a passion and optimism like never before. So, here are some pics from the day, as the Immokalee community gets ready to take the Campaign for Fair Food to the supermarket industry:

As always, the party was a family-friendly affair…	… kicked-off with traditional music, provided by the CIW’s own marimba conjunto.
The crowd gathered early and grew throughout the day…	… ably attended by a large and active Fiesta Committee, the water crew of which (shown here) was kept hard at work all day under a clear sky and strong sun.
The program included several presentations over the course of the afternoon, including this one by the Collier County Anti-Human Trafficking Unit…	… but the highlight, as it is every year, was the battle of the bands, seven bands in all, a mix of local and national groups, and — for the first time — an international band, Sobrevivencia (above) , on a tour of the US from Guatemala.
As the sun began to set on another successful Year of the Worker Party…	… the crowd stayed strong — drawn by the music and the message of community, of strength in unity, and of change.

Two weeks to go to the big march in Boston! Are you going to join us in Boston and Tampa? Write us, at workers@ciw-online.org, for more information on how you can make your voice heard in the fight for human rights in Florida’s fields.