Under the Barack Obama administration, immigrant communities are endangered more than ever, with more people deported than under George W. Bush. U.S. Predator drones spy on the Mexican border. Politicians launch multiple attacks on education and health benefits for undocumented workers and their children. And Obama declines to censure officials like Republican state Rep. Virgil… Read more »
immigrant rights
Las “Comunidades Seguras” anti-inmigrantes
Bajo el gobierno de Barack Obama, las comunidades de inmigrantes corren más peligro que nunca, ya que se ha deportado a más gente que bajo George W. Bush. Los drones Predator espían la frontera mexicana. Los políticos lanzan múltiples ataques contra la educación y los beneficios para los trabajadores indocumentados y sus hijos. Y Obama… Read more »
DATELINE AUSTRALIA — Racist border war: politicians compete to keep out refugees fleeing war and persecution
Jayasaker Jayrathna was a young Tamil refugee, driven to seek asylum due to the brutal suppression of Tamils by the government of Sri Lanka. The 27-year-old, whose mother was murdered by that same government, was in indefinite immigration detention. Although the government recognised Jayrathna as a refugee, it was stalling on his security clearance. In… Read more »
SOAPBOX — Make justice prevail: one Guatemalan woman’s exile saga
I am an undocumented worker. I was trained as an accountant, a high school teacher and a psychologist, but that is another lifetime now. In 1995, I left my house and two children in Guatemala and came to the United States on a visitor’s visa with my youngest child. I had been radicalized in the ’70s… Read more »
BOOK EXCERPT: Estamos en la lucha: immigrant women light the fires of resistance
While it is true that those victimized by racism and xenophobia are the ones best prepared to deliver the blows against our own oppression, no group can defeat their oppression by themselves. … Revolutionary working class leaders of color, not only immigrants, and especially Black women with their inspiring history of militancy, are essential for… Read more »
Movie reviews: The Visitor, The Intouchables, Amreeka
The Visitor (2007, directed by Thomas McCarthy) is a sensitive story of two young, undocumented immigrants in post 9/11 New York. It does a fine job of exposing the human cost of U.S. immigration policies. The movie unfolds as Walter, a burned out college professor finds himself unexpectedly sharing his New York apartment with Tarek… Read more »
Waterfront workers versus bosses: “We’re all fighting the same enemy”
In July, the Seattle branch of the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) hosted a forum to help analyze and advance pivotal battles that are unfolding for labor on the docks. This article is based on a press release that captures insights from the discussion. Three rank-and-file labor leaders took to the podium Saturday night, July 21,… Read more »
¿Qué derecho a votar? Una cándida historia de la supresión de electores en los Estados Unidos
La supresión de electores en los EEUU estuvo presente en las noticias durante las elecciones recientes. Pero la cuestión de quién tiene el derecho a votar y quién no, es una larga batalla de clases entre las élites y los trabajadores. Aquéllos que ostentan el poder siempre han ejercido su influencia por medio de la… Read more »
What right to vote? A candid history of voter suppression in the United States
Voter suppression in the U.S. was much in the news during this recent election. But the issue of who has the right to vote, and who does not, is a long-running class battle between the wealthy elite and the workers. Those in power have always maintained their influence through voter exclusion and a rigged electoral… Read more »
El cruel engaño migratorio de Obama
La contienda entre el presidente Obama y las facciones del Congreso acerca de la reforma migratoria oculta un hecho básico. Ninguno de los planes que se han propuesto ofrece una mejor vida para los trabajadores indocumentados; al contrario, cada uno de ellos incrementaría el terror cotidiano al que se enfrentan estos inmigrantes. Es cierto por… Read more »