Eclipse of Dreams

Eclipse of Dreams: The Undocumented-Led Struggle for Freedom (2020)
collectively written and edited by: Marco Saavedra; Claudia Muñoz; Mariela Nuñez-Janes; Stephen Pavey; Fidel Castro Rodriguez; Pedro Santiago Martinez

"What if our dreams, the very scope of our horizons, what we hoped for ourselves and others, was limited by the framework in which we expressed them, the American Dream itself? What if, out of our real pain and desire for freedom, we had become pawns in a system where freedom is an illusion?" – from the prelude

After the DREAM Act failed, many young undocumented activists understood that pinning their hopes on a piece of legislation had been a bad idea. They also saw that the DREAM Act would have fragmented communities, families, and social movements, because it designated only a subset of immigrants as worthy of assimilation (and its rewards), while others, who often lived under the same roof, would be further criminalized.

Eclipse of Dreams creatively tells the stories of a new generation of young people, awakened “Dreamers” who see the injustice built into the American dream. Using a collective writing process, as well as testimonials, photography, poetry, and art, this book is an invitation to reconsider the myths we tell ourselves, in order to find another way forward for migrant justice and human dignity, one that might allow us all to recover our global humanity. From direct action to the infiltration of immigrant detention centers, these youth are leading a movement for human liberation.

The book can be purchased directly from AK Press.