This show broadcasted live on Labor Day of 2025, the first day of Omar Dieguez‘s 30-day hunger strike to end the spraying of pesticides near Watsonville area schools. MOT host Ami Chen Mills and Dieguez are joined by Providencia Martinez Alaniz, who also announced her hunger strike with Omar in this Moment of Truth breaking-news exclusive.
Ana Barrera, a teacher from Salinas, speaks to the many spray days by various companies around the school where she works, and Alaniz–whose family is also in farming–describes the meeting she was part of with Driscoll’s former CEO, current Board Chair and major county benefactor Miles Reiter. Driscoll’s is the largest berry company in the world.
Covered in this episode:
- Why a hunger strike now?
- The story of Providencia’s child and her exposure to pesticides
- The role the Driscoll’s company has played in our community
- The history of pesticides and farm workers; plus the story of one farmworker family currently suffering from cancer
- How to reach out to the Committee for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture (CORA), the Center for Farmworker Families and how to track the hunger strike on social media with Omar and Providencia.
Notes:
The name of the current Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner mentioned by Ana Barrera is Juan Hidalgo. See the Ag Commissioner website (above) to get in touch.
Relevant and Highly Educational Past Shows:
“Immigration and the Apocalypse” with Yii-Jan Lin, author of the book by the same title. Includes a history of the Bracero program and Chinese immigrants and their de-humanization and propaganda campaigns based on the Christian Bible as filthy and unclean, leading to the spraying of DDT on Mexican immigrants.
“The Roots of the Migration Crisis,” with Dr. Ann Lopez, Director of the Center for Farmworker Families and a lead campaigner for CORA.
