EDITORIAL
Solidarity with all immigrants
Published Apr 25, 2010 7:41 PM
It is now of utmost priority for all class-conscious workers to show solidarity
with immigrants, documented and undocumented.
The Arizona State Legislature has passed an anti-immigrant law that surpasses
all past ones in viciousness — the most repressive action since the 1920s
Palmer raids and the 1940s internment of Japanese-origin people. Few
immigration laws could be more destructive of class solidarity than
Arizona’s.
Gov. Jane Brewer’s signature will now turn Arizona from the Grand Canyon
state to the state of totalitarian intolerance and xenophobia. Arizona was
already headed there, with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio ready to take his
place in the Pantheon of world-class villains, alongside Sheriff Bull Connor of
Birmingham, Ala., infamy. Connor turned attack dogs on Civil Rights
demonstrators. Both are criminals in uniform.
This Arizona about-to-be-law is reason enough to awaken a call for solidarity
among all U.S. workers. But the actions of the federal government have taken it
even further. Helicopters whirring overhead, some 800 masked agents from
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI and other misnamed Homeland
Security, some armed with assault rifles, launched a military operation against
Latino/a and Indigenous neighborhoods in Tucson, Phoenix and Nogales.
Arizona is re-enacting the Nazi days of Hitler’s Third Reich. Arpaio
supplies the know-nothing Storm Troopers. The feds supply the professional
Gestapo. By wearing masks to hide individual cops, the federal officials tore
the mask away from U.S. imperialism’s steel-toothed apparatus of state
power. Like the Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram prisons, like the leaked
videos from Iraq and the civilian slaughter in Afghanistan, the raids in Tucson
show the real face of the U.S. ruling class.
They also make this year’s May Day demonstration of vital importance. The
marches will be the immigrant community’s show of strength. They will
also be an opportunity. All workers in the U.S. — especially those who
don’t need to fear the immigration Gestapo — can and must show the
strongest solidarity. Above all this must be solidarity to stop the raids. And
it must be solidarity to win legalization for all workers in the U.S. and
reinforce the unity and solidarity among all workers.
Unity, unity, unity
Legalization of all workers was the demand of the grassroots immigrants at the
huge rally in Washington on March 21. This demand is just and right for
undocumented workers. Winning it would strengthen the hand of the entire
working class in this country against the rapacious capitalist class that is
attacking workers’ rights and income every day in every way. Workers
World newspaper supports the demand for legalization 100 percent.
Thus we are opponents of the “immigration reform” promoted by Sen.
Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and supported by
President Barack Obama. This “reform” is completely inadequate for
winning the legalization that immigrant workers want and need. On top of this,
it imposes oppressive biometric identification procedures on all workers.
Nevertheless, we applaud the decision of the immigration coalitions in Los
Angeles to hold a united May Day march even while they may hold different
positions on this question. Unity in action strengthens solidarity within the
immigrant community. It also makes it possible for non-immigrant workers to
demonstrate solidarity without backing one march over another. The different
leaderships can argue their respective positions while marching together. This
should happen in every city where May Day is celebrated.
In New York, the May 1 Coalition, led by immigrant workers and some others, is
calling an action in Union Square on May Day for the fifth consecutive year,
demanding legalization. Another group from some of the trade unions is calling
its first action further downtown, demanding reform. The initiative of these
trade unionists, with the announced goal of revitalizing May Day as a
workers’ holiday, would be completely progressive — if it did not
counterpose itself to the May 1 Coalition march.
By calling a separate rally and march, the second group unnecessarily risks
dividing the working class. We hope its leadership will make use of the
remaining 10 days until May Day to find a way to agree on a united action that
all progressive and class-conscious workers in the city will want to join.
Solidarity and unity are both important this May Day.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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