9/11 repression spurs immigrant fightback
Mass protest set for Oct. 4 in Queens, N.Y.
By Teresa Gutierrez
Queens, N.Y.
One of the first U.S. soldiers to die in the
invasion of Iraq was an immigrant from Guatemala, Marine Lance
Cpl. Jose Antonio Gutierrez.
To die in an imperialist war for oil and colonial domination
is a tragedy for any worker. When one reviews the horrible
conditions for immigrants in the United States today,
Gutierrez's death becomes even more tragic.
Immigrants in the United States, especially those who come
from oppressed countries, face extreme exploitation reinforced
by deplorable work conditions, racial profiling, inhumane
prison detention with no legal representation, racist attacks,
and even out-and-out slavery.
The capitalist economic system in its bloodthirsty drive for
greater and greater profits super-exploits the labor of these
immigrants. And the capitalist government has been historically
complicit with this situation, carrying out policies that
facilitate the bosses' exploitation.
But a new situation exists in the United States today.
A growing movement among the immigrant population--both
documented and undocumented--indicates that they are playing an
ever greater role in the progressive and working-class
movements.
Much as during the early part of the last century when
Jewish, Italian and Irish immigrants carried out militant
struggles against the bosses, the situation today illu strates
the longstanding adage: Repres sion breeds resistance.
Immigrants and
so-called war on terrorism
On April 20, 2002, the biggest demonstration in solidarity
with Palestine ever held in the United States took place in
Washington, D.C., organized by the anti-war coalition ANSWER
(Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
One of the most exciting scenes at this important anti-war
demonstration was the sea of faces of activists not
traditionally seen at U.S. anti-war rallies.
The vast majority of participants at the march were
immigrants and children of immigrants from countries throughout
the Middle East and South and Central Asia. They came from
Latin America and Africa as well.
Despite--or perhaps because of--President George W. Bush's
so-called war on terrorism, immigrants and their children came
to say no to war in Iraq and to show solidarity with
Palestine.
The U.S. government, in launching its "war on terrorism,"
had expected to drive Arabs and others from the Middle East
into the shadows of this society. But the opposite
occurred.
Immediately after Bush's wave of repression was unleashed,
immigrants began to defend themselves from the onslaught. Their
allies, too, organized in their defense.
Longstanding organizations as well as new formations rose up
to protest the wave of racial profiling sweeping the
country.
On June 26, the Migration Policy Institute, a mainstream and
pro-government Washington think tank, issued a report saying
that more than 1,200 people had been detained in the year after
Sept. 11. The government has refused to say exactly how many or
who they are, according to the institute.
Nearly 77,000 non-citizen men from Arab and Muslim countries
were questioned, photo graphed and fingerprinted. About 13,000
are in deportation proceedings. Pro gres sive organizations
believe the numbers could be much higher.
Immigrants from other countries were also targeted. Workers
of color at airports throughout the country were held and
scrutinized. Many workers report being fired from airport jobs
just because they were born in Latin America.
Super-exploitation:
Nothing new in the U.S.
The so-called war on terrorism has particularly targeted
immigrants from the Middle East and South and Central Asia. But
it was calculated to have a chilling effect on all
immigrants.
The Bush administration and the bosses expected immigrants
to cower in fear as a result and perhaps stay quietly in the
underground economy. But that did not happen.
Instead, immigrants are organizing in increased numbers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2000 that the
number of immigrant workers in the United States had jumped to
15.7 million, up 17 percent from three years earlier. The BLS
estimated that nearly 5 million of these workers were
undocumented.
The report stated that immigrants now represent 12 percent
of the workers in the United States. This has a profound effect
on the work force and the economy.
Many immigrants who come to this country have a unique
perspective on the class struggle. They come from countries
devastated by hundreds of years of imperialist domination. Most
are forced to migrate to the United States because their home
countries can no longer provide a living.
So when the jobs they get are the worst jobs, it is easy to
understand why immigrants fight against these horrific
conditions. These jobs range from supermarket delivery that
pays an illegally low $3 an hour, to gardening or becoming
nannies, housekeepers or manicurists.
According to Immigration News Briefs of September 2000:
"There is a horrific wave of violations of the nation's labor
laws. Unscrupulous employers have refused to provide workers'
compensation or pay minimum wage or time-and-a-half overtime to
immigrants required to work 70 to 80 hours a week.
"Some female immigrants have complained that their bosses
sexually harass them, and they fear that if they complain,
their bosses will report them to the INS.
"One immigrant, Silverio Otero, a grocery store worker on
New York's Lower East Side, complained that for a long time he
was paid $240 a week even though the store owner required him
to work 72 hours a week. That came to $3.33 an hour."
This was three years ago, when the economy was still
booming. If anything, conditions are likely to be worse
now.
A woman from Cameroon was actually enslaved by a Silver
Spring, Md., couple who forced her to work for three years
without pay as a housekeeper and babysitter. (Washington Post,
March 28, 2002)
Given these awful working conditions, it is even more
shocking that immigrants risk losing their lives just to come
and work here.
A Washington Post editorial of Aug. 16 headlined "Death in
the Desert" predicted that the death toll among immigrants
trying to cross the border from Mexico into the United States
will break all records this year.
Five more migrants had been found that weekend alone.
The record deaths are partly due to an unusually fierce heat
wave and "partly to increased patrols along other parts of the
border," according to the Tucson Citizen.
And the danger is not just in the crossing. Not only has the
government carried out a racist witch hunt against some immi
grants and people of color, but the anti-immigrant climate has
spurred on many a racist attack.
Throughout the United States, immigrants of all
nationalities are beaten, spit on and chased down by racist
thugs. The home of a Latino family in Farmingdale, N.Y., was
recently burned down.
Out of the shadows
and into the streets
The wave of racial profiling, the intensity of the
exploitation and the brutality of the anti-immigrant hysteria
fostered by various legal and extralegal institutions in this
country give immigrants and their children no choice but to
organize in self-defense.
On Oct. 4, a national event for immigrant rights will occur
in Flushing, Queens, in New York. Caravans of labor activists,
students and immigrants from every corner of the United States
will converge there.
This event could have historical significance. It is being
spurred on not only by immigrant organizations of many
nationalities but by the labor movement. Called the Freedom
Summer Ride, it is taking on the character of a major
civil-rights movement, like that of the 1960s.
The fact that it is in Queens, a borough of New York City
where every continent on the earth is represented, could
indicate that the immigration movement is maturing. It has the
potential of being not just a movement where Latinos or
Pakistanis or Haitians work on their own, but where they and
all other immigrants come together in one mighty voice, with
one mighty fist, to say, "Enough is enough."
The event could also become, implicitly or explicitly, a
major demonstration against the colonial occupation of
Iraq.
Oct. 4 in Queens: Will it be the day when all can see that
"there are no borders in the workers' struggle"?
Reprinted from the Sept. 4, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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