the task

“The revolutionary socialists must take up again the battle fought by the philosophers and pamphleteers of the bourgeoisie; they must march up to the assault of the ethics and the social theories of capitalism.”

Paul Lafarge

Slave labor in Florida

From: marxism-thaxis-request@lists.econ.utah.edu <marxism-thaxis-request@lists.econ.utah.edu>
Date: Dec 20, 2007 2:00 PM
Subject: Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 50, Issue 8
1. Slave labor in Florida (Charles Brown)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:08:14 -0500
From: "Charles Brown"
Subject: [Marxism-Thaxis] Slave labor in Florida
To: <marxism-thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu>

Slave labor in Florida

The Independent, 19 December 2007 09:05

Slave labour that shames America
Migrant workers chained beaten and forced into debt, exposing the human
cost of producing cheap food
By Leonard Doyle in Immokalee, Floride

Three Florida fruit-pickers, held captive and brutalised by their
employer for more than a year, finally broke free of their bonds by
punching their way through the ventilator hatch of the van in which they
were imprisoned. Once outside, they dashed for freedom.

When they found sanctuary one recent Sunday morning, all bore the marks
of heavy beatings to the head and body. One of the pickers had a nasty,
untreated knife wound on his arm. Police would learn later that another
man had his hands chained behind his back every night to prevent him
escaping, leaving his wrists swollen.

The migrants were not only forced to work in sub-human conditions but
mistreated and forced into debt. They were locked up at night and had to
pay for sub-standard food. If they took a shower with a garden hose or
bucket, it cost them $5.

Their story of slavery and abuse in the fruit fields of sub-tropical
Florida threatens to lift the lid on some appalling human rights abuses
in America today.

Between December and May, Florida produces virtually the entire US crop
of field-grown fresh tomatoes. Fruit picked here in the winter months
ends up on the shelves of supermarkets and is also served in the
country's top restaurants and in tens of thousands of fast-food outlets.

But conditions in the state's fruit-picking industry range from
straightforward exploitation to forced labour. Tens of thousands of men,
women and children ? excluded from the protection of America's
employment laws and banned from unionising ? work their fingers to the
bone for rates of pay which have hardly budged in 30 years.

Until now, even appeals from the former president Jimmy Carter to help
raise the wages of fruit-pickers have gone unheeded. However, with
Florida looming as a key battleground during the the next presidential
election, there is hope that their cause will be raised by the
Democratic candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards.

Fruit-pickers, who typically earn about $200 (?100) a week, are part of
an unregulated system designed to keep food prices low and the plates of
America's overweight families piled high. The migrants, largely Hispanic
and with many of them from Mexico, are the last wretched link in a long
chain of exploitation and abuse. They are paid 45 cents (22p) for every
32-pound bucket of tomatoes collected. A worker has to pick nearly
two-and-a-half tons of tomatoes ? a near impossibility ? in order to
reach minimum wage. So bad are their working and living conditions that
the US Department of Labour, which is not known for its sympathy to the
underdog, has called it "a labour force in considerable distress".

A week after the escapees managed to emerge from the van in which they
had been locked up for the night, police discovered that a forced labour
operation was supplying fruit-pickers to local growers. Court papers
describe how migrant workers were forced into debt and beaten into going
to work on farms in Florida, as well as in North and South Carolina.
Detectives found another 11 men who were being kept against their will
in the grounds of a Florida house shaded by palm trees. The bungalow
stood abandoned this week, a Cadillac in the driveway alongside a black
and chrome pick-up truck with a cowboy hat on the dashboard. The entire
operation was being run by the Navarettes, a family well known in the area.

Also near by was the removals van from which Mariano Lucas, one of the
first to escape, punched his way through a ventilation hatch to freedom
in the early hours of 18 November. With him were Jose Velasquez, who had
bruises on his face and ribs and a cut forearm, and Jose Hari. The men
told police they had to relieve themselves inside the van. Other migrant
workers were kept in other vehicles and sheds scattered around the garden.

Enslaved by the Navarettes for more than a year, the men had been
working in blisteringly hot conditions, sometimes for seven days a week.
Despite their hard work, they were mired in debt because of the punitive
charges imposed by their employer, who is being held on minor charges
while a grand jury investigates his alleged involvement in human
trafficking.

The men had to pay to live in the back of vans and for food. Their
entire pay cheques went to the Navarettes and they were still in debt.
They slept in decrepit sheds and vehicles in a yard littered with
rubbish. When one man did not want to go to work because he was sick, he
was allegedly pushed and kicked by the Navarettes. "They physically
loaded him in the van and made him go to work that day. Cesar, Geovanni
and Martin Navarette beat him up and as a result he was bleeding in his
mouth," a grand jury was told.

The complaint reveals that the men were forced to pay rent of $20 (?10)
a week to sleep in a locked furniture van where they had no option but
to urinate and defecate in a corner. They had to pay $50 a week for
meals ? mostly rice and beans with meat perhaps twice a week if they
were lucky. The fruit-pickers' caravans, which they share with up to 15
other men, rent for $2,400 a month ? more per square foot than a New
York apartment ? and are less than 10 minutes' walk from the hiring fair
where the men show up before sunrise. At least half those who come
looking for work are not taken on.

Florida has a long history of exploiting migrant workers. Farm labourers
have no protection under US law and can be fired at will. Conditions
have barely changed since 1960 when the journalist Edward R Murrow
shocked Americans with Harvest Of Shame, a television broadcast about
the bleak and underpaid lives of the workers who put food on their
tables. "We used to own our slaves but now we just rent them," Murrow
said, in a phrase that still resonates in Immokalee today.

For several years, a campaign has been under way to improve the workers'
conditions. After years of talks, a scheme to pay the tomato pickers a
penny extra per pound has been signed off by McDonald's, the world's
biggest restaurant chain, and by Yum!, which owns 35,000 restaurants
including KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. But Burger King, which also buys
its tomatoes in Immokalee, has so far refused to participate,
threatening the entire scheme.

"We see no legal way of paying these workers," said Steve Grover, the
vice-president of Burger King. He complained that a local human rights
group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers "has gone after us because we
are a known brand". But he added: "At the end of the day, we don't
employ the farmworkers so how can we pay them?"

Burger King will not pay the extra penny a pound that the tomato-pickers
are demanding he said. "If we agreed to the penny per pound, Burger King
would pay about $250,000 annually, or $100 per worker. How does that
solve exploitation and poverty?" he asked.

Burger King is not the only buyer digging in its heels. Whole Foods
Market, which recently expanded into Britain with a store in London's
upmarket suburb of Kensington, has been discovered stocking tomatoes
from one of the most notorious Florida sweatshop producers. Whole Foods
ignored an appeal by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to pay an extra
penny a pound for its tomatoes.

In a statement Whole Foods said it was "committed to supporting and
promoting economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable
agriculture" and supports "the right of all workers to be treated fairly
and humanely."

The Democratic candidates for the presidency do not often talk about
exploited migrant workers, but there are hints that Barack Obama will
visit the Immokalee fruit pickers sometime before Florida's primary
election on 5 February.

Jimmy Carter recently joined the campaign to improve the lot of
fruit-pickers, appealing to Burger King and the growers "to restore the
dignity of Florida's tomato industry". His appeal fell on deaf ears but
100 church groups, including the Catholic bishop of Miami, joined him.

.

Lakota withdraw from treaties, declare independence from U.S.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/12/lakota-withdraw.html

The Lakota Sioux Indians, whose ancestors include Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from all treaties their forefathers signed with the U.S. government and have declared their independence. A delegation delivered the news to the State Department earlier this week.

Portions of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming comprise Lakota country, and the tribe says that if the federal government doesn't begin diplomatic discussions promptly, liens will be filed on property in the five-state region. Here's the news release.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," said Russell Means, a longtime Indian rights activist. "This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically Article 6 of the Constitution," which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the U.S. and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent," he added during a press conference yesterday in Washington.

The new country would issue its own passports and driver licenses, and living there would be tax-free, provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship, he said, according to a report from Agence France-Presse.

The Lakota say the United States has never honored the pacts, signed with the Great Sioux Nation in 1851 and 1868 at Fort Laramie, Wyo.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children," said Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977.

Means said the "annexation" of native American land had turned the Lakota into "facsimiles of white people."

In 1974, the Lakota drafted a declaration of continuing independence. Their cause got a boost in September, when the United Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. The Bush administration opposed the measure.

(1855 portrait of Sitting Bull by David Frances Barry, Library of Congress)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supposedly Bolivia and Venezuela are going to recognize the new government.

the continuous scramble for africa

From the so called great scramble to the new scramble, I believe that there never really is any difference or change in scrambling. The imperialist tendencies and actions towards Africa have been concentrated in one continuous scramble - for resources: land, people, minerals, diamonds, timber, markets, etc. A continuous scramble and a systematic exploitation and looting of the African continent. Globalization and the global political economy are generally not looked at through the African perspective. While I can hardly offer that perspective, I work to understand.

For a long while many people, non-Africans, Europeans and African alike have understood the systematic destruction of Africa. Quoted in an article in Alternatives: A book written by Walter Rodney in the 1970s was titled "how Europe underdeveloped Africa" and Karl Marx noted in his Critique of the Political Economy that the "hunt for black skins" signaled the dawn of capitalism. It seems the African continent may have been doomed from the birth of the capitalist dream.

The Scramble for Africa began long before the Berlin Conference of 1884-5, when the African cake was divided by European powers for land claims and resources (slave trade). The scramble, however, did not end after that conference. The European powers were not appeased with just staking claim to the land. Oppressive and brutal remained in control and increased their thirst for more, and more. The Alternatives article notes that there now exists NEPAD, the WTO, EU, AGOA, EPA, and I think you could place any international agreement that places the wants of those in power over the long exploited African people.

The article also notes the increase and spread of the Chinese influence in African markets seeking to gain access to fossil fuels and resources. There is now considerable critique into the effects and practices of the Chinese (I have been part of this). However, this makes the practices of the EU and the USA almost completely fall from the picture. Well the Chinese may be pursuing extremely detrimental practices in Africa they cannot be left as the scapegoat for why Africa is "under-developed," exploited and robbed of resources to spur growth. The European powers and the USA need to be exposed and the ills of their actions need to be dissected and understood as well. These "historically-structurally disadvantaged societies" need leaders who will place the interests of their country-people above their own advancement. A lot needs to happen if the scramble is to end, but that requires a recognition to the problem and a plan to empower local communities. Resources do not have to be the downfall of a country. As long as the resources are used properly and agreements are in place so that the benefit reaches the people resource can be a positive. It is my opinion that African countries need to adopt a near protectionist policy in regards to socio-economic matters if the scramble and following exploit is to stop.

China is pouring money into Africa for "development" flooding markets and building infrastructure with money that will flow right back into China, the US is militarizing the continent at a frightening rate (nothing new) to "fight terrorism" and gain access to resources in their "triangle of interest," Brazil, India, Russia, and countless other countries are positioning themselves to yet again eat from the African cake. This competition can work as a positive for Africa, but only as long as the minority of elites need to recognize the great need of their people.

From the When not in Africa. . . blog.

Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.

rastafarian confusion

This summer while in Ghana, I befriended a group of Rastafarian drum makers and performers. The Rastafarians became the good friends and highlight of my study abroad group's time in Ghana, but I remained skeptical. The day that I first met the Rastas was a day in the market. I am an avid (extreme amateur) hand drummer and was drawn to their drum stand in the National Market for Art and Culture in the capital of Accra. Well these Rastas became our good friends and guides around the city we were constantly warned by others to be wary because Rastas are known to steal your things and women. I remained wary as the talks of their beliefs did not match up with their actions. I began to wonder what exactly were the beliefs of a Rastafarian and why? Why did they always seem high with happiness and love? "One love" was their favorite phrase. They would always tell us that we were all brothers ans sisters, no matter the color of our skin because we bleed the same underneath and we had the same color pupils. While many told us to be wary others revered the Rastas for the skills that they shared and the knowledge they imparted. With the great rhetoric they spoke, there always seemed to be an underlying end goal.

Upon returning to Ghana I immediately jumped on the knowledge train that we call the internet to learn more about the Rastafarian movement. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I is considered God incarnate and also as the Messiah of the Holy Trinity (in the Bible), since he is the only black leader of an independent African country. Rastafari comes from the Ethiopian term "Ras" which means head or the equivalent of duke. The religion employs the spiritual use of cannabis and a number of afrocentric teachings, inspired by the works of Jamaican, Marcus Garvey well known for his "Back to Africa movement in the US, 1920s. The Rastafari movement gained popularity through reggae music and well known artist, Bob Marley (his wife still lives in Ghana). The "first Rasta," Leonard Howell, built a commune that grew to over 5000 in Jamaica.

The teachings of Rastafari focus on love and respect for all living things. Born of an oppressed people, forced into slavery, Rastafari is seen as a response to the racist negation to black people. It gave cause for black people to have pride in themselves and their heritage. Stressing closeness to nature ganja, dreadlocks and ital foods are common characteristics of Rastas. Well there is a lot more to the belief systems of the Rastafari, one of my favorite teachings is the rejection of -isms because they have created so many schisms in modern society.

Back to my experience in Ghana - I saw some of these teachings espoused by the Rastas we met. However there was a gap in the actions and it seemed there was an undertone of making a profit off of the American students and getting close to the American ladies. But I cannot say that I have met anyone who has abided by the creed they profess in the lives they lead. No Christian, Muslim, Rastafarian, or any other follower of a doctrine (that I have met) has never swayed from their belief system. So well the Rastas in Ghana may have seemed to be shady individuals, they really taught me more than I could have imagined. From drumming and advice in Ghana, to my later pondering back in the US.

From the When not in Africa. . . blog.

Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.

The spectre of communism

Every time I meet a virulent anti-communist, I see a stampede of strawmen descending from the horizon.

The vicious anti-communist slams his feet against the floor and cries “Communism is a totalitarian system that demands bloodless altruists! Men are bad people!”

First let me point out that it is a shame that these individuals have such a negative conception of “human nature”—and in an ironic turn, of themselves. These dancing carcasses, have already willfully accepted death, because in their sad, misanthropic account of human nature, they enthusiastically accept the lie that all the Hiroshimas, Great Terrors, Kosovos, Iraqs, boredoms, humiliations…all the suffering is necessary to subdue that “bad human” inside everyone of us. We, the original sinners, are capable of nothing more than evil…yahoo!

Second, communism was never some grand, theoretical blueprint for some sort, of future, egalitarian and moralistic society. This is nothing more than a scarecrow argument built upon cold war hysteria and gutless hippyism. Communism is a tension--not a blueprint, towards the complete emancipation of humanity. It wishes nothing less that converting every individual into a master without slaves. It is not a blueprint precisely because it is a tension looking for a conclusion--it would be ridiculous to try to describe something very meticulously that hasn't come into being. People who criticized Marx for being to vague about communism misunderstood everything--because communism wasn't invented by Marx; he simply tried to create a theoretical framework for it.

Whether it was Spartacus leading a slave revolt, medieval anti-state peasant militias declaring war against the church, french revolutionaries decapitating the king, John Brown shooting down slave masters, Russian workers trying to take over the machinations of society through democratic councils, Hungarians decorating the trees of Budapest with the finest fruits of the secret police, Spanish anarchists declaring “no gods, no masters” and taking over the land and the factories, Argentine factory occupations…every outburst of complete, erotic desire for liberty—the communist ghost was trying to come into being.

There is nothing “altruistic” about the desire for complete liberation—it is not some sort of sacrifice for the greater “good”—in the contrary, it is the absolute self-realization of the individual. There is no sacrifice in taking control of our lives.

Neither the individual, or the collective, is the most important. Both are part of a dialectic that depends on each other to transcend. The worthless randinist argues for cutthroat "individualism", but he or she doesn't realizes, that in order for that society based on back-stabbing to work, everyone has to try to slit the throat of everyone else. This is the same thing with the dry, stalinist who argues that the collective is everything, without realizing that for the collective to work, the individuals have to embrace the collective.

Before, it wasn’t possible for communism to come into being—hence it was only a phantom, trying to show its head, but unable to hack through the thick concrete.

Today, however, Capital has simplified class relations and has developed technology to the extent that this community of masters without slaves is actually possible. The working class, having the economic infrastructure lying on its back, is therefore, the revolutionary class. The working class can do well without capitalists—and we cannot say the same about the latter.

Indeed, the destruction of the “master-slave” dialectic is completely necessary for the survival of humanity. As technology develops, class society has exponentially increased the nightmare—from some thousands of Athenians and Spartans dead, to the industrial holocaust of dozens of millions in WW II. Now, the ruling class has the technological capabilities to incinerate all our existence with the pressing of a few buttons.

Rosa Luxembourg, when sensing the imminent catastrophe of WWI, said it is either “Socialism or barbarism”. I say she was wrong, it is now “socialism or death”.

death by modernization

According to National Geographic, "Every 14 days a language dies. By the year 2100, over half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth — many of them never yet recorded — will likely disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and how the human brain works."

It has always been my opinion that language is free and language is fluid, but those two conditions cannot be met if a language dies. But why are languages dying? Both a difficult and nearly obvious answer exists. Earth is slowly developing into a single civilization. Traditional societies and languages are dying; disappearing and waves of rapid modernization aid in the erosion of tradition. The answer cannot be left at just that however, because there are many reasons, effects, and causes intertwined in the death of a language.

The most common 'cause of death' comes from globalization - colonization and the growth capitalism. Dominant languages forced on populations by colonization or global capitalism leave the traditional language to wither in the dust. Children then learn the dominant language and miss the traditions and histories of their traditional people since language is a huge factor in history and tradition. As with the growth of global capitalism, the rate of death for smaller languages is increasing rapidly.

There are programs working to document and revitalize dying languages. This past year my swahili professor, Deo Ngonyani, traveled to northern Malawi to learn and document a disappearing language. He has previously documented two other languages, but these were not in danger of dying out. He was given a grant for a few years study of the language and culture of the traditional people associated with the language. There is also an organization called Living Tongues, which is associated with National Geographic Enduring Languages program. Living Tongues works with communities to document and preserve languages in danger of dying out. They enter communities and train the people to document their own language. Intellectual property rights of the community is the primary concern of Living Tongues. The communities grant Living Tongues permission to document and disseminate the research they gain from the endangered communities. Living Tongues has said that extinction of traditional and ancestral languages is one of the greatest socio-cultural threats of the 21st Century.

Dominant languages become dominant by way of oppressive structures. It is difficult to say that this would not have happened - that civilizations would have developed differently, but we cannot try to rewrite the past. With booming technology, traditional societies are becoming whitewashed at the expense of political and economic gain. In the course of this boom entire histories and cultures of people are effectively erased. Can you imagine being erased from the face of the earth?

From the When not in Africa. . . blog.

Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.

YDS Reading assignment for winter break: The Communist Manifesto

Hey Comrades,

I just wanted to remind all of you that we will be discussing The Communist Manifesto early next semester, and that you should read it over break. It's only 45 pages! Even if you have read it before, i highly recommend rereading it, since you get more from it each time. If you do not own a copy, you can read it online: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm

In Solidarity,
-Peter

the sad racist

I was reading some of the racist comments posted on this blog, and it reminded me of something:

The sad racist is nothing more than the natural product of a society whose opus moderandi lays completely rooted both in isolation and in an exchange of insults and humiliation.

The atomization of society is in the heart of a paradoxical mode of production that refuses to acknowledge the division of classes in order to appear unitary, but at the same time, in its blindess to the concept of class, fragments itself into different "identities" in order to disguise exploitation. In a society were alienation is the norm; were capital subjects class brothers in a war against each other; it is completely reasonable that the individual tries to grip himself to an illusion, in order to psychologically sustain the continuing pummels of class society. Chicanos form their own gangs when confronted by the gangsterism of capital, gay people form their own churches and inclusive communities as a self-defense against puritanical ideology, and the racist white worker, facing the barbarism of capital, blames his class brothers for his plight.

The racial contempt of the racist worker, is generally, an incoherent knee-jerk--swiftly moving here and there--an irrationality completely product of the isolation, humilliaton, and alienation that is brewed by capital. There are those racists, however, that in their pitiful position as neither capitalists or workers; laying in the pressure point where both classes collide, can fall into the ugliest forms of ossified reaction. This middle man, that desires with all his spirit the position of master (the capitalist), but at the same time, feels contempt for the "riffraff"--creates his own ideological niche as the national intellectual--the culture warrior. The capitalist, having as a raison d'etre profit, most of the time expresses either a quantified racism that is merged with his economic self-interest, or an incoherent racism similar to the one of the racist worker. However. the middle man, the petty bourgeois, who, feeling contempt for both the upper and lower echelions of society and at the same time, looking for some sort of self-realization, embarks on the project of ideological chauvinism--raising his fist, riding his moral hobbyhorse, and shouting "I am righteous; I am different from this scum of the earth!".

We see these enemies of life shouting their empty slogans: christendom is being threatened, western civilization is going to shut down! They are reactionary from head to toes, for their modus operandi is nothing more than flopping their bellies while being mesmerized by some glorious "past" of christian puritanism and white domination.

These pathetic middlemen racists, do not understand that they are nothing more than the worst aspects of the decomposition of capital. They are completely alienated from everyone else, because they are neither masters, nor they are part of the bigger mass of slaves; therefore they find their own self-realization in dead culture. This is why, they were the cadre of the fascist movements of the 20s and 30s--when the organized working class threatened to pulverize class society--and with it, culture. Today, these racist ideologues play a very similar role to the one they did in the 30s: they try to gather, under their worthless banners, the most contemptous of the isolated workers, and use them as shock troops to concretize their extreme alienation in the most disgusting ways.

I cannot wait for the day when we are able to see the sky, and this vermin dissappear out of the sphere of my existence.

Emergency Alert: Senate Set to Cave on FISA

Dear Friend,

The ACLU Washington Legislative Office has just sent the urgent message below regarding legislation in the Senate that would completely eliminate warrants and court review of government spying. We urge you to read the message below and call Senator Levin and Senator Stabenow. We are still waiting to hear whether the U.S. Supreme Court will hear our lawsuit to stop the illegal spying of the National Security Agency; we must ensure that the Senate does not pass this damaging legislation in the meantime.

Sincerely,

Kary Moss, Executive Director
ACLU of Michigan

******************************************************************************

12/13/07 - Emergency Alert: Senate Set to Cave on FISA

As soon as tomorrow, the Senate will begin to debate legislation that would give the president greatly expanded powers to spy on Americans. There isn't a moment to lose. Call now.

Even though the Senate Judiciary Committee passed legislation that provides greater protections for privacy and doesn’t give amnesty to telecommunications companies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided to move the bad Senate Intelligence Committee bill. This is not good news for those of us who respect freedom, the rule of law and the Constitution.

Tell your senators and Senator Reid to vote against this awful legislation.

This Intelligence Committee bill, negotiated closely between the Bush administration and Senator Rockefeller, contains retroactive immunity for the phone companies that illegally turned over private phone and email records to the government and completely eliminates warrants and court review of government spying.

Instead of capitulating to the White House, senators should be listening to you. Recent polls show that 61% of American voters believe the government should have to get a warrant from a court before wiretapping the overseas conversations of U.S. citizens. And 59% of American voters reject amnesty for phone companies that may have violated the law.

Sadly, Senator Reid is asking senators to decide where they stand on spying after a secret meeting taking place today with Attorney General Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, a day before voting is scheduled to take place. Director McConnell played a central role in negotiations around the Protect America Act and, acting on behalf of the White House, used questionable tactics and misinformation to convince members to eviscerate the Fourth Amendment.

Because this meeting is secret, we obviously don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors. But if history is any guide, this meeting could be used to provide misleading information about the current threats facing America to scare your senators into continuing the Bush Administration’s secret spying free-for-all.

There isn't a moment to lose. Call now.

We each need to do our part. Senator Reid needs to lead. All of our senators need to vote against the Intelligence Committee bill, anything resembling the Protect America Act or any bill that grants immunity to telecommunications companies that have broken the law over the past six years. We are also asking senators to join the filibuster of any bill with telecom immunity.

Your call today could mean the difference between our continued freedom as Americans and a secret government operation with no accountability. Please join us now in fighting this bad bill, which goes against our democratic values.

Your continued actions and support have carried us this far; we cannot give up now. Don’t let history repeat itself. Make the calls, tell your friends and family and continue to carry the torch of liberty. Our country is counting on you.

Sincerely,

Caroline Fredrickson, Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office

****************************************************************

ACLU Releases New Report on Government “Fusion Centers”

Says They Must Be Open, Carefully Monitored and Subject to Restraints
http://www.aclumich.org/

December 12, 2007

Detroit -- Citing privacy concerns, the American Civil Liberties Union today released a report urging policy makers to closely monitor the expansion of new intelligence gathering institutions called “fusion centers,” which have been created in over 40 states around the nation including Michigan.

Although fusion centers are intended to improve the sharing of anti-terrorism intelligence among state, local and federal government agencies and the private sector, they raise very serious privacy and technology concerns. The 27-page ACLU report -- What’s Wrong With Fusion Centers? -- reveals that fusion centers lack oversight, boundary-setting, and checks and balances, which are crucial to protecting the rights of innocent Americans. Read about "fusion centers" in Michigan here>>

UK Parliament: Deaf Embryo selection to be made illegal

from this blog

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is currently passing through parliament, and currently in its second reading in the House of Lords. A bill is proposed law that passes through parliament, to be debated (and amended) before it becomes law. i.e. an Act of Parliament.

Clause 14

This week debate touched on Clause 14 which states:

(9) Persons or embryos that are known to have a gene, chromosome or mitochondrion abnormality involving a significant risk that a person with the abnormality will have or develop—

(a) a serious physical or mental disability,
(b) a serious illness, or
(c) any other serious medical condition,

must not be preferred to those that are not known to have such an abnormality.

That means you aren't allowed to select a deaf embryo, and this has been confirmed as parliament's intention through the passage of this Bill (and could be used for statutory interpretation later).

House of Lords debate

Baroness Deech (Crossbench)

In the scientific field, the Bill confirms the wider use of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. That is good. I hope that your Lordships will be pleased that the deliberate choice of an embryo that is, for example, likely to be deaf will be prevented by Clause 14.

This prevents selection of an embryo if it is known to be born deaf. It does not prohibit selection on the basis that a child will be born hearing, and prefers it. Since genetic testing will be common place in the UK in future, you are hardly going to be able to leave things to nature and 'wait and see', if a child is born deaf or hearing.

Huge Implications on deaf fertilisation

This could have huge implications for families where there is a genetic trait of deafness. Say e.g. you have a deaf gene in your family, and for whatever reason needed assisted fertilisation in order to get pregnant. If the embryos developed were known be deaf, a female would not be allowed to be made pregnant by a deaf embryo, and a hearing embryo must always be picked. This could also mean that deaf people are prohibited from partaking in assistance with fertilisation (donation of eggs, sperm). Do you agree with this?

Parallels of past historical oppression

To me this starts to enter eugenics and what Alexander Graham Bell was advocating. A lesser form of sterlisation of deaf people, what was practiced in Nazi Germany, to prevent deaf pro-creation.

Who is objecting to this, or speaking on our behalf?

What the hell is anyone doing about this proposed legislation? If it is ignored, by summer 2008 this will on the statute books and will be law. Who exactly is protecting deaf interest here, and statements by politicians that we are not equal? All those deaf organisations who make millions "on behalf of us" are doing what exactly? Sound asleep in a coma? Too hearing controlled or damn scared to say anything, through fear of upsetting their funders, and other chartiable philanthropists? Deaf voice and protection of interests is where exactly?

Sources:
They Work for You
Hansard

Further Reading:
The Origins Of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution, Henry Friedlander (Essay)
Crying Hands: Eugenics and Deaf People in Nazi Germany, Horst Biesold
Missing: Children of Germany's Deaf People
Alexander Graham Bell - Wikipedia

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This does not surprise me at all, it's plain eugenics like that of the Fascist 3rd Reich in Germany. Not only does it screw over the deaf and handicapped, but it also would prevent anyone that has genes that could cause heart disease or other health issues to not be able to have children through various forms of medical fertilization. Next thing you know, you won’t be allowed to have kids if you’re not “perfect”.

You could easily relate this atrocious legislation to the evils of capitalism. The last thing the ruling capitalist class wants is a worker who isn’t perfect. Someone who will have to have medical care or other special needs/services is the last thing that the rich and powerful elite who run this sick twisted show want.

On a lighter note...

ACLU of Michigan Action Alert Network (action@aclumich.org)

Dear Friend,

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is trying to sneak the invasive federal Real ID Act in through the back doors of the Michigan State legislature.

Despite a strong statement of opposition by Michigan citizens and our elected officials, Terri Lynn Land is supporting house and senate bills that comply with Real ID under the guise that they enhance the security of our driver’s licenses. Read more and take action here>>

In fact, these bills go far beyond securing Michigan driver’s licenses from fraud. The bills include the invasive provisions of the federal Real ID Act that Michigan citizens and legislators find so objectionable that we sent a message to Congress in late October telling them we want Real ID repealed.

A Real ID license is a national identity card for all Americans which will be linked to a massive database available to every state in the country and the federal government, creating a one-stop shop for identity thieves. The Real ID license will include a standardized "machine-readable zone" that will make it easy for anybody in private industry to snap up the personal data on these licenses.

In late October, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a resolution calling on Congress to reject the Real ID Act. Michigan's HR 176 puts Michigan in the company of 34 other states that have voiced their opposition to this expensive federal mandate.

E-mail your Michigan Representatives here and tell them to vote against sneaking Real ID in through the back door. Tell them you reject a “big brother” national ID card and that you don’t want your personal data included in a massive national database available to identity thieves and unreliable government oversight.

*************************************************************

Take action here.

solidarity to russians

From Revleft.com:

Russian workers at a Ford factory near St. Petersburg have embarked on an historic strike.Nearly all strikes in Russia last a day or so, and then are called off. Labour laws in that country make it very difficult for workers to strike for more than a day.

But this one has gone on for several weeks as Ford refuses to engage in meaningful bargaining.Your thousands of messages of support have been a real boost to the workers -- but now they need something more.

We have learned that it costs US $20 per day to keep a Ford worker in Russia out on strike. The union is trying to pay 700 workers this amount every day. The union needs to come up with $14,000 every single day. That's a lot of money anywhere, but especially in a country like Russia.

There's a saying in the trade union movement -- something along the lines of we can win a strike if we can last one day longer than the boss.

That's what we need to do here. We need to help Ford workers last one day longer than the company, to keep the strike going on long enough to compel Ford to come to the bargaining table.If we do that, it will send shock waves through the Russian trade union movement. It will mean that this historic strike has led to a historic victory. Here's what I am asking us all to do:Let's raise at least $14,000 -- to keep the strike going that one extra day. Let us each donate at least US $20.00 -- more if you can -- to the Ford workers special fund we've set up. Every $20 pays for one worker to be on strike for one more day.We want the union to see exactly how much we have given in real time and to make the process as transparent as possible, which is why we're using Chipin.

Click here to donate

And spread the word!

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I dropped a few dollars. I think it is a good cause.

Noam Chomsky: Is Capitalism Making Life Better?

Notice to all Revolutionary Times Readers

Due to several extremely racist comments on this blog, all comments will now have to be approved before they are published.


Good job on showing your true colors right wingers, very classy.

No to imperialist intervention in Sudan!

From the Free People's Movement:

http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?281


Large numbers of people around the world, including many Black people in the U.S., are justifiably disturbed by the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and turned many more into refugees.

Their despair has caused many of these well meaning people to line up behind the forces calling for intervention in Darfur, but as we’ll point out, such an intervention can only lead to increased agony for the Sudanese people.

The nature of the conflict:

Many of those calling for intervention in Sudan describe the situation there as a “genocide” of Black Africans by Arab Muslims. As horrendous as the situation is the Sudan is, what is occurring there is not genocide. Rather, it is a civil war between groups of Black Muslim nomads backed by the government, and groups of Black Muslim farmers in the South, with both sides carrying out numerous atrocities.

The ‘Save Darfur Coalition’:

The list of organizations that originally came together to form the ‘Save Darfur Coalition’ – which has called this and other demonstrations – reads like a who’s who of reaction. Christian fundamentalist groups like National Association of Evangelicals and ‘Sudan Sunrise’ (who seek to convert the people of Sudan to their particular religious doctrine) joined together with the pro-Iraqi war, neo-conservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Zionist Anti-Defamation League to form this coalition, while groups like the NAACP and Africa Action were originally excluded. In fact, many of the earlier rallies called by the ‘Save Darfur Coalition’ did not have a single Sudanese or Muslim speaker!

The reactionaries behind this coalition are now joined by a coalition of prominent liberals, Democratic and Republican politicians, labor organizations, and celebrities like George Clooney and Mia Farrow.

The one thing these organizations and individuals have in common is their call for intervention in Sudan; but this is something even George W. Bush and Tony Blair have gotten behind! Both of these war criminals called for a UN “peacekeeping operation” to back up an already existing African Union (AU) force of 7,000 at the UN General Assembly in late 2006.

So, what is the solution to the conflict in Sudan: the intervention of U.S. forces, a U.S.-led UN peacekeeping force, or a “multinational peacekeeping force” as the organizers of this march have called for? None of the above!

Troops in?

It is beyond absurd to appeal to the same government that left thousands of poor Black people to die in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to save poor Africans in Sudan. The politicians in the U.S. government represent the rich and their drive for infinitely increasing profits. They have absolutely no interest in the well being of the people of Darfur. This is the government of U.S. capitalism – which was built up on the backs of kidnapped African slaves – that we’re talking about!

It’s not just BushS

ome in the U.S. still harbor illusions that the Democrats will bring an end to the Iraq war and create a “peacekeeping force” to be sent to Sudan, but this ignores a fundamental reality: that the Democrats serve the interests of the same rich elite as the Republicans, just in a different way.

Indeed, a key criticism of the Bush administration by the Democrats has been that its policies in the Middle East have limited the ability of the U.S. government to invade other countries like Iran!

The last time the U.S. carried out a “humanitarian mission” in Africa was under Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993. While ostensibly in Somalia to “help out,” U.S. forced massacred over a thousand Somalis who opposed their presence. Not long after, in 1998, Clinton ordered U.S. forces to bomb Afghanistan and Sudan for supposedly “harboring Al-Qaeda terrorists.” The only thing they blew up were several civilians and the only pharmaceutical factory in Sudan.

While it’s true that some 300,000 Sudanese people have lost their lives in this civil war, it’s also the case that over 600,000 are dead as a result of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, which was backed by both the Democrats and Republicans. Calling for the U.S. imperialists to intervene to stop the civil war in Sudan is like calling on a group of rapists to stop a rape!

Popular pressure?

Even if the rich capitalist elite that rules the U.S. decides to send troops into Sudan, it will not be a result of popular pressure. It took years of constant and intense struggle by people in the U.S. and an unbeatable enemy to force the U.S. rulers to withdraw their forces from Viet Nam. A few small protests will never force them to send their troops in anywhere! No, if the U.S. rulers decide to send troops into Darfur, it will be because they perceive it to be in their interests, and they will do it in a way that they see fit!

And indeed, the U.S. government is already intervening to an extent in Sudan, and has been for some time. It is a documented fact that the U.S. government has funded “rebel” militias in Sudan since the late 70's, with the aim of overthrowing the Sudanese government, which supports the Palestinian people’s struggle against the occupation of their land, and has established strong economic ties with China. These “rebel” militias have carried out numerous war crimes, and have often refused to sign any peace treaties. They are no friends of the Sudanese people.

What about the UN and AU?

There are many who place their hopes in a “multinational peacekeeping force” to end the carnage in Darfur, but the reality is that such a force will only deepen the misery of the already suffering Sudanese people. The UN itself is dominated by the U.S. government and the imperialist governments of Britain, Germany and France – which are the very governments that have historically exploited Africa, through colonialism, neo-colonialism, slavery, etc., for their own gains. The current civil war in Sudan itself, like those that have preceded it, was born of divisions between the north and south of the country that British colonizers created in the first place!

The “fig leaf” of the UN is in reality a blood soaked whip. Several murderous campaigns – from Korea to Haiti – have been carried out under what revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara called “the discredited flag of the United Nations.”

Currently, an “international peacekeeping force” is carrying out the bloody occupation of Haiti, where a coup orchestrated by the U.S. government ousted democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. These “peacekeepers” have repeatedly attacked unarmed men, women and children, killing hundreds, and have prevented thousands from reaching the polls in local and national elections.The last thing the people of Sudan need is a similarly vicious armed force in their country, whether it carries out its occupation under the flag of the UN or the AU, or both!

What can we do?

The key task of those in the United States today is the fight for an immediate end to the decimating occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the prevention of any future attacks on Iran. The best thing those in the U.S. can do for their brothers and sisters in Darfur is to fight against “their own” rulers in Washington. Regime change begins at home! More Sudanese people are currently dying from easily preventable causes, like disease and hunger, than from bullets. The same system that spawned the civil war in Sudan keeps the people it effects most poor and hungry!

Then there is the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has raged on for years, leaving almost four million dead. This conflict – the bloodiest since World War II – is almost never mentioned in the mainstream capitalist press.The only lasting solution for the misery and poverty that hundreds of millions of Africans are forced to dwell in lies in revolution – to oust the rich parasites, from Khartoum to Washington, who live off of the exploitation of the toiling masses, and reorganize society to meet human need. No to imperialist intervention! UN “peacekeepers” out of Haiti! U.S./UN/AU hands off Sudan!


-----------------------------


Socialists should understand that the solution is not supporting ruling class gangsters against other gangsters.

dogmatic america

Disclaimer: This is a piece of writing that I did in my sophomore year of High School for a presentation to attend Close-Up in Washington D.C. I rediscovered it and thought how sadly it has remained relevant nearly four years later. It was also an interesting look at how I was reacting to the growing "war on terror."

11 November 2004

On one hand we are told by some that Bush is pushing war and bent on abandoning the international system of rules and instructions built up by previous presidents. Others argue that Bush has drawn a necessary line in the sand between America and a dangerous coalition of stateless terrorists and rogue nations.

As a presidential candidate Bush stressed the need for America to act like a humble nation in foreign policy and substitute narrow national interests. But, President Bush has led the nation in a less than humble manner. Since September 11th, the Bush Administration has aggressively deployed U.S. troops around the globe or has promised military aid to dozens of countries. Bush seems to have taken a very unilateral approach to global arms-control – all in the name of a “war on terrorism “. In these few months In these few months Bush has pledged or provided military aid and training to over two dozen countries, including Colombia, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in which the U.S. hope to establish a national army.

Some say it is because the Democrats had eight years to deal with challenges posed by Al-Qaeda and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and largely failed.

But, the real debate on Bush’s foreign policy is not discrediting Democrats or between divided political parties. Some argue that America is gaining overwhelming power and we strike out on our own with no allies. Unilateralism is putting the interests of the U.S. first in foreign affairs. This steps on the toes of our enemies as well as our allies. This policy produces anti-American sentiment which most recently has occurred in the Middle East.

Unilateralism and bypassing the UN are not new, however, there is a dramatically accelerated military build-up in response to September 11th, almost hidden from detection there are now U.S. armed forces all over the globe.

All these events go along well with a Pentagon document that was leaked. It plans for the world order enforced by the U.S. preventing the emergence of another rival world power. American military intervention will be seen as a constant and although the U.S. cannot become the world’s policeman it will assume selective responsibility for threats to American interests and that of its allies.

What is all this leading to? We know the Bush Administration can wage war well – what we don’t know is whether it can produce peace as well. Can Bush translate power into influence?

Israelis and Palestinians kill each other without American interference. North Korea marches on towards nuclear weapons as we argue who will negotiate with them. The conflict in Kosovo of ethnic cleansing is still not resolved. In the African country of Sudan hundreds of thousands are being murdered by their own government. Where is American intervention now? Today many countries fear American power more than anything. Our failure in international public diplomacy most likely is the cause for failure to build a UN supported coalition against Saddam Hussein. There is a rising violence in Iraq and it seems we are torn between being the sole player in establishing a democracy and letting outsider’s impact the politics of the small yet diverse country of Iraq.

The Bush Administration needs to apply the same energy and focus to peace making as it has, since September 11th, to war making. The transition may not be easy, but the greater risk our country now faces is the world population will become convinced that the U.S. is the enemy of positive progress and change. We need to show the people of our interdependent globe that America is not a risk.

We must demonstrate that we can be as unified and directed in the pursuit of peace as we have proven in war.

Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.

Draft Immigration pamphlet

This a work in progress by the CPUSA's Political Action Committee on the issue of immigration.
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INTRODUCTION

In the buildup to the 2008 elections, the right wing
Republicans have decided to make immigrants the scapegoat
for the failures of the Bush administration and the
shortcomings of the capitalist system. In this, they are
abetted by right wing personalities on cable TV, talk radio
and the print media. Many vicious lies are being told about
immigrants. This little pamphlet is designed to provide you
with the correct information about the impact of immigrants
, with or without papers, on the United States today. We
invite your comments and urge you to share this information
with co-workers, relatives and neighbors. Write to:
politicalaction@cpusa.org

WHY ARE SO MANY IMMIGRANTS COMING TO THE UNITED STATES?

*Mexico and other poor countries have been severely harmed
by their subordination to the interests of US and
international corporations via free trade pacts like the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

*After NAFTA came into force in 1994, 1.3 million Mexican
farmers were driven out of business by cheap US grain
imports, and undocumented Mexican immigration to the US
went up by 60%.

*Similar things have happened in other poorer countries,
leading to a massive worldwide labor migration to the
wealthier countries.



*Large scale employers in the United States have been glad
to take advantage of the cheap labor, and have sent labor
recruiters into economically depressed areas of Mexico,
Central America and elsewhere.

SO WHY DON’T PEOPLE IN THOSE COUNTRIES FIX UP THEIR
SITUATION AT HOME INSTEAD OF COMING HERE?
*When they do, the US government and corporations intervene
with threats, bribery and even military force to stop
change from taking place.

*The us has recently sponsored coups, civil wars and
dictators in Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and
Honduras, leading to the deaths of thousands, and put heavy
economic pressure on other countries, including Mexico, to
keep their economies open to US corporate penetration.

MY GRANDPARENTS CAME FROM EUROPE LEGALLY. WHY CAN’T PEOPLE
FROM MEXICO AND OTHER COUNTRIES DO THE SAME? WHY DO THEY
BUTT AHEAD IN LINE?

*Until after World War I, almost any white person could come
here legally to live and work, though non-whites from Asia
and Africa were barred.

*Now it is nearly impossible for most people who don’t have
relatives here or specialized skills to come at all.

*In 2005 the US government gave out only 5,000 permanent
legal resident visas for low skilled workers. Even people
married to US citizens sometimes have to wait years to join
their spouses.

*So it is not a matter of “butting ahead in line”, but of
being completely excluded from the line in the first place.

*Desperate to get money to support their families and
excluded from the visa system, many immigrants risk their
lives to come here without papers.

DO IMMIGRANTS CAUSE UNEMPLOYMENT?

*Most studies find that immigration does not contribute to
the overall unemployment rate.

*While immigrant workers, with or without papers, “take”
jobs, they also interact with the economy as consumers and
taxpayers, which creates jobs.

*Focusing on immigrants “taking” jobs blinds us to the many
other things that deprive people opportunities, such as
racism, the dismantlement of affirmative action, the
wasteful military budget, and weak labor laws.

DO IMMIGRANTS PULL DOWN U.S. WAGES?

*There is no doubt that some employers and industries use
the vulnerability of undocumented immigrant workers to cut
wages, benefits and working conditions. But they can only
do this because the immigrants don’t have legal rights.

*This is demonstrated by the way construction contractors
used the exploitation of immigrant workers to pull down
wages of African-American and other workers in New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina.

*Whether this brings down US wages overall is less clear.
Outsourcing and weak, poorly enforced labor laws are the
real culprits.

*If immigrant workers had rights on the job, they would not
tolerate being exploited in this way, and would join with
US born workers to fight for better conditions for all.

DO IMMIGRANTS JOIN LABOR UNIONS?

*8.5 percent of foreign born workers were members of labor
unions in 2006, similar to the national average of
unionization.

*Immigrants are joining labor unions in increasing numbers.
In 1996 8.9 percent of union members were foreign born,
while in 2006 this number jumped to 12.3 percent.

*Immigrant workers have been at the forefront of many recent
labor actions including organizing drives and strikes in
all areas where they are concentrated, including
agricultural labor, food processing, construction, retail
trade, hospitality and services.

*Employers regularly use fear of arrest and deportation as a
way of breaking up union organizing efforts and labor
actions where immigrant workers are involved.

DO IMMIGRANTS PAY TAXES?

*All immigrants, undocumented and documented, pay sales
taxes every time they buy something.

*They also pay all property taxes either on property they
own, or through their rent, plus all local government fees.

*The majority of undocumented and documented immigrant
workers pay their federal and state income taxes; most of
the rest would do so if they could find a way.

*Undocumented workers subsidize the Social Security Trust
Fund to the tune of $7 billion dollars per year: They pay
into it, but can not get anything out of it for fear of
being detected.

WHAT IS THE CRIME RATE AMONG IMMIGRANTS?

*Numerous studies show that the rate of violent and property
crime among immigrants, with or without documents, is lower
than that of comparable sectors of the US born population.

*As more immigrants have come into this country, the rate of
serious crimes has been declining, including in cities of
greatest immigrant settlement. Anti-immigrant agitators try
to give the opposite impression by highlighting a few cases
of shocking crimes committed by immigrants, but statistics
show the opposite.

*The rate of incarceration of immigrants is higher in
federal prisons, but the number of prisoners in state,
county and local prisons is nearly 8 times that of the
federal prison population, and shows a far lower presence
of immigrants.

WHAT IS THE HEALTH SITUATIONS OF IMMIGRANTS?

*Even though many new immigrants, especially undocumented
ones, come from conditions of poverty, they are healthier
than the overall US population, and use health care
services less.

*However, as immigrants stay in the United States, their
health situation deteriorates, because they are often stuck
in dangerous, dirty and underpaid occupations and in poor
neighborhoods without adequate health facilities.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP OF IMMIGRANTS TO TERRORISM?

*The vast majority of undocumented and documented immigrants
have nothing whatever to do with terrorism, and come here
only to work and to be with family.

*All of the 9-11 terrorists came here on legal visas issued
by the US government.

*Born US citizens such as Timothy McVeigh have also
committed terrorist acts.

*If economically motivated immigrants could have a legal way
of coming here, the danger of terrorists coming in secretly
would be lessened.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRANTS ON SOCIAL, HEALTH CARE AND
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES?

*As mentioned above, all immigrants pay local taxes and most
pay federal and state income taxes, which finance our
schools, health clinics and other services. They are not
getting a “free ride”.

*Immigrant workers generate fortunes for their employers.
However, Republican administrations since Reagan have given
the wealthy huge tax cuts. If these tax cuts were rolled
back, there would be enough money to finance needed
services for everybody, immigrant and US born.

*New immigrants are younger and healthier than the overall
population, and thus use fewer of the health and social
services needed by the aging population.

*Because they are younger on the average, new immigrants
have proportionally more children in school. However, they
pay property and sales taxes that in most areas support
school budgets.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION ON OUR ENVIRONMENT, AND ON
OVERPOPULATION?

*US overpopulation is a myth. The USA ranks 146th of the 196
countries of the world in population density.

*The real threat to the environment is the vast waste of
energy and natural resources by the rich and super rich in
this country, and the failure of the government to address
issues of renewable energy, environmental pollution and
global warming.

DO IMMIGRANTS THREATEN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND AMERICAN
CULTURE?

*There have always been other languages spoken alongside
English in the United States, including Native American
(Indian)languages, Spanish in the Southwest and Florida,
French in Louisiana, and Low German in Pennsylvania. This
has never represented a “threat” to the English language.

*While new immigrants may struggle a bit with the language,
the second generation always speaks English fluently, and
this is just as true of Latino immigrants today as it was
of other immigrants in the past.

*All over the country, classes to teach English to
non-English speakers are jammed full.

*The vast majority of new immigrants believe fervently in
democracy, freedom and social justice, and thus are a boon
to our values instead of a menace.


*The real threat to our culture and values comes from the
ultra-right which tries to undermine democracy, freedom and
social justice.

IF ALL THIS IS TRUE, WHY ALL THIS FUSS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS?

*Right wing politicians and their media supporters want to
distract the public’s attention from the failures of the
Bush administration and the Republicans in Congress, and
are using the “illegal immigrant” scare to do this.

*In local communities, right wing politicians are afraid of
losing power due to demographic changes, and try to stave
this off by using anti-immigrant campaigns to push Latinos
and others out of town.

*Big business interests want cheap labor but do not want
low-paid workers to have rights. So they connive in terror
campaigns against immigrant workers which have the effect
of keeping them quiet and underpaid, and the workers
divided.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

The solution is NOT to hang a “keep out” sign on the Statue
of Liberty’s torch, or to waste vast amounts of taxpayer
money on a useless and environmentally destructive border
fence. It is, rather, to carry out a comprehensive,
worker-friendly immigration reform with the following
components:

*Legalization of the current undocumented immigrants, as
quickly and cheaply as possible, with full labor and civil
rights and a clear path to citizenship.

*Changes in US visa policies so that ordinary people who
want to come here and live and work can do so without
violating laws or risking their lives.

*Avoid guest worker schemes that keep foreign workers in
conditions of serfdom without the right to defend
themselves or integrate themselves into our society.



*Give immigrant workers the same rights on the job and in
the community that other workers have, so that they can
fight together with their US born

*Fight for changes in US trade and foreign policy so that
poorer countries are allowed to develop their economies
without subordination to multinational corporate interests
or US government interference.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, HERE ARE SOME SOURCES:

Aviva Chomsky, 2007 “’They Take our Jobs!’, and 20 Other
Myths About Immigration”. Beacon Press, www.beacon.org.

Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson, 2007 “The Politics of
immigration: Questions and Answers” Monthly Review Press,
www.monthleyreview.org

Political Research Associates: “Defending Immigrant Rights:
An Activist Resource Kit” www.publiceye.org

And here are the places to start for researching this issue
on the Internet.

The Pew Hispanic Center has done many large scale studies on
the impact of immigration on the United States. Go to
www.pewhispanic.org

A major resource for studies of immigration and its
implications is the Migration Policy Institute, at
www.immigrationinformation.org

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The pamphlet looks really good, and i think it will be very effective in changing the hearts and minds of people who harbor racist notions about immigrants that they were fed by the ultra-right. My only suggestion is under the Do Immigrants Cause Unemployment? section to add that workers cannot take jobs from each other, only bosses take jobs. In some cases bosses may fire white workers so they can hire immigrants (documented or not), and pay them way less to maximize profits through racism. The notion that a worker can take a job from another worker is just another ploy that the ultra right uses to help divide the working class along race lines.

-PWK