100,000 rally for immigrant rights
By Anya Mujarki-Connolly
Queens, N.Y.
On Oct. 4 the historic Immigrant Workers
Freedom Ride--nine bus caravans carrying 1,000 immigrant
workers from locales around the country--culminated in a huge
rally in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, N.Y. Queens is the
most diverse county in the United States.
Rally organizers announced that over 100,000 people attended
the rally. Many of them sacrificed a lot to be here.
These oppressed workers came from all around the country
with their unions, senior citizen groups, community
organizations and families. This was the first successful
effort in recent memory to bring together people from labor,
from the Asian, African, Latin American, Carib bean immigrant
communities as well as the Black community to unite against the
racist, right-wing, divisive anti-immigrant laws.
Using the historic Freedom Rides of the civil-rights
movement of the 1960s as inspiration, the organizers first took
to the roads on Sept. 20. The bus caravans traveled to 100
cities in 42 states.
Along the way the immigrant workers and their supporters
drew attention to this movement's demands: legalization and a
road to U.S. citizenship for all immigrant workers, the right
to reunite families, protection of workers' rights on the job
without regard to legal status, and protection of the civil
rights and civil liberties of all.
The mobilization originated with the leaders of the Hotel
Employees and Restaurant Employees union, which pushed the
AFL-CIO to back it. HERE--along with other unions that count
many immigrant workers in their ranks such as UNITE, the Food
and Commercial Workers, and the Service Employees, especially
its Local 1199--was the driving force behind the Freedom
Ride.
But many struggles in the recent period compelled the labor
movement to organize this event. The struggles of the taxicab
workers in New York, the efforts of the Justice for Janitors
campaign and others of the most militant organizing drives have
been led by immigrant workers.
Speakers at the rally included AFL-CIO President John
Sweeney, HERE Local 100 President Bill Granfield, 1199-SEIU Pre
sident Dennis Rivera, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of Harlem, Rep.
John Lewis of Georgia, UNITE Vice President May Chen, Transport
Workers Local 100 Pre sident Roger Toussaint, HERE Pre sident
John Wilhem, HERE Vice President Maria Elena Durazo; Farm
Workers President Arturo Rodriguez and UNITE President Bruce
Raynor.
Most of the speakers blamed the Bush administration for the
conditions faced by immigrant workers today. Some speakers
talked about the "American Dream" and said that success of
workers coming to this country is measured by "working
hard."
In reality, worldwide imperialism is destroying the
economies and eliminating jobs in oppressed countries. This
creates the conditions that force millions of workers to
migrate to this country.
Here, these workers are super-exploited by the same
capitalist class that exploits their labor and resources in
their homeland.
There are an estimated 8 million to 10 million undocumented
workers in this country. They contribute some $730 million each
year to the U.S. economy. These workers face constant
harassment, intimidation, discrimination and
super-exploitation.
And it has all gotten worse since the Bush regime took
office, especially since Sept. 11, 2001. Not to downplay the
attacks on immigrants under the Clinton administration, but the
attacks on immigrants since Sept. 11 are the most repressive in
recent memory. They range from raids on work places and homes
to punitive detention and forced registration to
deportation.
So it is within this context that the Oct. 4 rally was most
significant. This effort proved to be the biggest mobilization
on the domestic front since the Bush regime took office.
The workers who took part in the rally are some of the most
oppressed workers in this country. They are also some of the
most class-conscious workers, as they come from countries
dominated by U.S. imperialism.
These workers have witnessed first-hand the effects of
imperialism. They understand that economic and military
colonialism go hand in hand, as most recently witnessed in
Iraq.
Thousands of leaflets in many different languages announcing
the national protest set for Oct. 25 in Washington, D.C.,
against the U.S. occupation of Iraq were distributed on Oct. 4.
Although the political message put out by the rally leadership
was mainstream, the masses showed that they were open to a more
progressive message. More important, they demonstrated that
they are able and willing to mobilize for their political and
economic rights as workers.
Reprinted from the Oct. 16, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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