T.O. 136: Are Immigrants Better Off? (corrected) / Revolutionary Youth Speak Out / Boeing Strike

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Four Years Later, Are Immigrants Better Off? (corrected version)– by E.J. Esperanza

• Second International Meeting of Young Revolutionaries– 90 young people from 11 countries declare: “Down with war, down with exploitation!”

• Revolutionary Youth from the United States Speak Out! – Interview with Sara, Roger and Petros

• 33,000 Boeing Workers on Strike! – by D.F.

• Who We Are and What We Stand For – Join Socialist Organizer!

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Four Years Later, Are Immigrants Better Off?

(Corrected and complete version; major additions at end of article)

By E.J. Esperanza

[E.J. Esperanza lived as an undocumented immigrant for over 28 years and, in 2015, became one of the first “DACAmented” lawyers admitted to practice law in the country.]By E.J. Esperanza. 

[E.J. Esperanza lived as an undocumented immigrant for over 28 years and, in 2015, became one of the first “DACAmented” lawyers admitted to practice law in the country.]

Every four years we are told to vote for the Democratic Party because it’s a lesser evil. Every four years, there’s a specific issue or vulnerable population, we are told, that is at stake in the election. In 2020, it was about saving immigrant families from President Trump.  

Those who opposed voting for the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020 were accused of being “privileged citizens” for not caring about immigrant families. United We Dream and nearly every national immigrant rights organization in the ever-growing nonprofit industrial complex endorsed Biden and Harris. This was, we were told, a “strategic” vote. To quote Angela Davis, “to campaign for and vote for Biden[-Harris]” in 2020 was strategic because a Biden-Harris administration “[could] be most effectively pressured into allowing more space for the evolving anti-racist movement.”

Four years later, the opposite is true. Anti-immigrant policies are more entrenched among both political parties than before—to the detriment of our immigrant community. (Not to mention, that this administration is funding a genocide against the Palestinian people; murdering, displacing, and creating refugees in hoards in what Palestinians call a second Nakba.)

Between 2017 and 2020, there was a vibrant immigrant rights movement in this country. In the streets, inside detention centers, at the border, at airports: a mass movement was demanding an end to family separations, an end to the Muslim Ban, and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—the federal agency responsible for terrorizing immigrant communities. Anti-ICE coalitions, 24/7 hotlines for undocumented immigrants to call during ICE raids, programs providing free attorneys, sanctuary policies protecting immigrants from ICE—all proliferated across the United States in a growing grassroots movement that shifted not only the national narrative about immigrants, but national policy, too. The influence of this movement pressured mainstream politicians to adopt the movement’s most radical demand: to abolish ICE.

The demand to abolish ICE was endorsed not only by progressives like Alejandra Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders; Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, NYC senator Kirsten Gillibrand, NYC mayor Bill de Blasio, and many other mainstream politicians endorsed the demand, too. In June 2018, this culminated in the introduction, in the House of Representatives, of the “Establishing a Humane Immigration Enforcement System Act,” legislation authored by Wisconsin congressman Mark Pocan, Washington congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, and New York congressman Adriano Espaillat. This legislation would have dismantled ICE and established a more humane process for immigrants.

This rising movement also largely thwarted the Trump administration’s plan for mass deportations, especially when compared to the record 3 million deportations carried out by his predecessor: Obama-Biden. In fact, by the end of the Trump administration, the number of people in immigrant detention centers dropped to a record 30-year low. In 2021, when Biden and Harris came into office, less than 15,000 immigrants were in ICE custody—the lowest since the 1990s.

Four years later, not only have ICE’s for-profit detention centers been repopulated by the Biden-Harris administration—to nearly 40,000 immigrants in 2024—Biden and Harris also kept in place Trump’s most draconian anti-immigrant policies at the U.S.-Mexico border. For a time, Biden and Harris continued Trump’s Title 42 expulsions, as well as his “Remain in Mexico” policy aimed at deterring asylum seekers. Biden and Harris also went further. In 2023, they enacted an unprecedented Asylum Ban, followed by a border proclamation in 2024 that effectively closed the border to asylees— two policies that the Trump administration could only have dreamed of enacting.

This Asylum Ban has all but eliminated the United States’ international obligations to refugees and asylum seekers, all while adding billions of taxpayers’ dollars to the further militarization of the border. This border policy, as I reported in October 2023, “will have one known outcome, regardless of the excuses: record deaths as migrants will be forced to risk more dangerous routes to seek refuge in the country.” Indeed, as I reported then, 2022 was the deadliest recorded year at the southern border, with “more than 890 deaths … making it the deadliest land route for migrants worldwide—a number many humanitarian organizations claim is an undercount.”

At the height of the movement’s reach and influence at the end of the Trump years, Biden and Harris on the campaign trail promised, within their first 100 days in office, a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the country—a promise also made by Obama and Biden in 2008 as a response to the historic immigrant rights mobilizations of 2006. This of course became another unfulfilled promise by Biden and Harris, despite the Democratic Party having a majority, albeit a slim one, in Congress. Even so, Biden and Harris could have passed legislation with a simple majority, through the special process in the Senate known as the “budget reconciliation” process. They didn’t do so. Their excuse: an unelected Senate parliamentarian recommended against it.

(Of course, such parliamentarians have been overridden before—most recently by Trump and the Republican Party in 2017 when they enacted tax breaks for the super-wealthy.) Harris, as vice-president, could have overruled the parliamentarian as the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, but instead she and the Democratic Party hid behind this unelected staff member.

For the immigrant community, this came as no surprise. We’ve been here before. In 2009-2010, the Obama and Biden administration—with super majorities in both chambers of Congress, including a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate—failed to deliver a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented population, infamously voting down the DREAM Act in 2010 that would have given a pathway to citizenship to so-called “dreamers”—undocumented youth brought to the country as children.

Today, the immigrant rights movement is a shadow of its former self. Some immigrant rights advocates have entered the Biden-Harris administration to enact change from within, while others have pursued lobbying efforts and accepted a “seat at the table.” These strategies have done nothing to stop the administration’s xenophobic, rightward shift.

As an immigrant, I ask myself, are we better off? Have we “effectively pressured” the Biden and Harris administration leftward toward a more humane immigration policy?

This dire situation is not unique to immigrants. For all oppressed and working people, campaigning and voting for the Democratic Party—not unlike supporting the Republican Party—goes against our material interest as a class. Campaigning and voting for the “lesser evil” is not a strategy; it’s a hostage situation. The strategy is in how we finally break this vicious cycle.

For now, and most urgently, we must rebuild our grassroots coalitions and our capacity to struggle against the growing fascist forces in this country—without sowing illusions that the Democratic Party will be a “movable” and thus supportable target that we must campaign for this election cycle, let alone capable of fighting back Trump and fascism when they in fact have enabled such reactionary forces. As we rebuild our movements and class organizations—and deepen the existing Palestinian movement which is the sole exception which has remained independent of the Democratic Party for obvious reasons—we must also discuss and implement a strategy so that in four years we are not in this same electoral trap.

Concretely, and humbly, I posit, to this discussion on the most important strategy question of our times—how to break from the Democratic Party (that mass graveyard of social movements)—the following contribution: that within our movements and organizations, including in the labor unions, that we begin building labor and community coalitions across sectors and movements that promote the running of independent, working-class candidates that are democratically elected from within these labor and community coalitions and assemblies, and who are truly democratically accountable to our organizations and movements (and thus also recallable), from the bottom up, and that we test our new party infrastructure in local elections—school board elections, city and county elections, and statewide elections—as a precondition for laying the foundation for an independent party of a different kind: a working class party of the people, that elevates our movements, deepens our level of organization and struggle, so that we can, once and for all, challenge and defeat the twin capitalist parties, and so that, in turn, we can begin the process of radically addressing the existential questions facing humanity and our planet, at home and abroad.

Today, this strategy takes organizational form in the national coalition, Labor and Community for an Independent Party (LCIP). Join us.

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Second International Meeting of Young Revolutionaries:

90 young people from 11 countries declare: Down with war, down with exploitation!”

We have come from Palestine, the United States, Mexico, Canada, Azania (South Africa), Russia, Ukraine, Portugal, Italy, Spain and France. We met on the occasion of the international meeting of young revolutionaries organized by the French section of the Fourth International.

This meeting is international in its composition, but also in its content. We said goodbye a year ago, after the first international meeting of young revolutionaries. A few months later, a major event shook, and continues to shake, the world situation: the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Young people all over the world are struck with horror and indignation at this situation.

What is happening in Gaza has something to do with the barbarity that has been taking place for over 2 years in the war in Ukraine. Because wars are not accidents, they are at the very heart of the laws of capital, at the very heart of the decomposing system of capitalist exploitation.

Young people are on the front line of the barbarity of imperialist wars. “We understand that for workers in Western countries, the main enemy is NATO. But Putin’s regime is also the enemy of the workers”, said a comrade from Russia. A Ukrainian comrade described how in his country “soldiers grab young people in the streets, force them into lorries and send them to the front.”

“We have no problem with the Jews, we are against Zionism. We cannot accept these deaths, these massacres, we cannot accept not having the right to live on our own territory,” declared a Palestinian comrade.

Everywhere, more and more, military budgets are exploding, billions are being spent on war, so that the massacres and barbarism can continue. These billions are what young people and the working class need to live properly and study.

More than ever, we reaffirm that young people are not each other’s enemies. “We unconditionally support the Palestinian people,” declared a comrade from the United States. Our enemy is our own war-mongering government. We want a future of peace and freedom!”

We discussed the war situation, the oppression of women, national issues and the right of peoples to self-determination, the destruction of the environment.

All these discussions lead back to the same problem: the capitalist system must be overthrown; it must be brought to an end!

More than ever, we must continue to strengthen the links between young people from all over the world. Together, we form the organizing committee of the third international meeting of young revolutionaries!

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Revolutionary Youth from U.S. Speak Out!

PRESENTATION

Sara, a union activist in New York, and Petros and Roger, activists with the Ujima People’s Progress Party in Baltimore, took part in the international meeting of young revolutionaries, organized by the youth of the French section of the Fourth International.

In a few months, the presidential election will take place in the United States. In an interview with Tribune des Travailleurs (Workers Tribune, Issue no. 456), they review their assessment of the political situation in their country and their views on Kamala Harris’s candidacy. Below is an abridged version of the interview conducted by Camille Adoue and Dominique Ferré. Below is an abridged version of the interview.

INTERVIEW

Question: In a few months the presidential election will take place in the United States. The media portray Kamala Harris as the “progressive” barrier against the fascistic Donald Trump. What do you and young people around you, think?

Petros: There’s a whole media campaign to make people believe that Kamala Harris is left-wing. This is not the case at all. Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are continuing to take away workers’ rights. The same basic policies are being pursued. Both parties represent the competing interests of the U.S. ruling class.

Sara: Kamala Harris is different from Trump in the way she presents herself. But if you look at the policies in place, it’s not so different.

There’s a rejection of Donald Trump for his persona and his gross way of talking, but I’d like to see more disgust at the policies he wants to implement.

I also hear a lot of people, especially young people, say that they’re fed up with it all and hate both parties.

The problem is that there is as yet no concrete alternative to fill this political leadership vacuum.

Roger: The United States is like a company with the president as its CEO. The ruling class will never allow a CEO to upset the status quo! Both parties play their roles well, but the Democrats have the more insidious role.

We are told that Republicans are the greatest evil ever, and Democrats are the only ones who can save us. But, in reality, the Democratic Party is opposed to any aspiration for real change. They exist to soak up the energy of any type of radical movement. It’s up to the working class to define for ourselves another way to build outside the duopoly.

If Kamala Harris were to be elected, she would be the first woman president. But we’ve already seen such “historic moments” in the past. Where I come from, we’ve had Black policemen, Black mayors, Black governors… all of whom never changed a thing when they were in office.

Question: Each of you is a labor activist. Can you tell us about your activities?

Petros: Today in Baltimore, as in other places, the resources allocated to public schools are being invested in charter schools. Meanwhile, there’s a shortage of teachers, and many stop working because of stress and poverty wages. There are quotas in universities, so fewer teachers are being trained.

The necessary resources are not being provided to the educational system while, at the same time, there’s a lot more funding for the police.

We are working with a number of political organizations to ensure that the money invested in the police should be reinvested for the needs of the working-class majority.

I work with the Black Alliance for Peace on a campaign against the Cop City project in Baltimore. This is a training campus for Baltimore’s police and firefighters that would cost $300 million.

 I’m also working with an NGO called Young People for Progress.

In Maryland, the police union has distributed a lot of propaganda to get the police into the schools. They do this, saying that the “kids are dangerous.” They want to lower the age of criminalization of youth to 12 or 13 years of age. And all this is happening just as Maryland elected its first Black governor, Wes Moore. He’s a Democrat, a former military man, who defends the police.

Roger: I work with Baltimore Renters United, an organization that seeks to organize tenants to help them improve their living conditions. There’s a big housing crisis in the United States, and those responsible for it are the same big-moneyed people who are financing the campaign of Kamala Harris.

We’re helping organize neighborhoods that have been destroyed by capitalist policies. There is a lot of insecurity. The buildings are unhealthy; many tenants are elderly, disabled people and single mothers. The first floors are often flooded. The elevators malfunction regularly!

The “community rooms”, which used to be communal living areas, have been closed in every apartment. This prevents tenants from congregating and discussing neighborhood problems. There’s no supermarket nearby, so there’s no access to fresh fruit and vegetables.

We’re trying to set up a food cooperative and to sell fresh food at a very low price and to grow our own food. We are helping tenants’ federations to get organized.
We know that eventually we’ll have to run our own candidates, tenants’ candidates that come from the people, so that they represent their own interests.

Sara: I’m involved with an independent union in New York. I work in two restaurants and we’re in different stages of the organizing process in both of them. There’s a very low rate of union membership in the United States in general and in the restaurant industry in particular. There are several reasons: first, the language barrier, because so many workers are immigrant workers. Also, there is a very high turnover rate, and most of the workers don’t know what unions are for.

In addition, there is a lot of legislation to prevent the creation of unions.
The election for a union was held a year ago in one of the restaurants where I work, and we still don’t have a contract. We’re pursuing a bargaining order, it’s a really long and arduous process. Several Starbucks locations across the U.S. have unionized since 2021, which is a huge deal because of the paucity of private sector and food service unions, but none of them have a contract yet. U.S. labor law is rigged against us.

We’re an independent union because the large unions that have money are in the pocket of the Democratic Party. They spend a lot of time and resources raising funds for Kamala Harris. And at the first opportunity, the Democratic Party betrays them. Like what Biden did two years ago when he broke the rail workers’ strike.

Question: Some left-wing organizations present DSA, and in particular its most visible representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as a truly left-wing alternative. What’s your take on this?

Petros: That’s a lot of rhetoric! They call on us to join the Democratic Party and change the Democratic Party from the inside out, pushing it to the left. But they don’t want to be pushed to the left; the Democrats have never shown the desire to actually be pushed from the inside. What they have shown is a very keen ability to co-opt movements and — and DSA and AOC are an example of that.

The Democratic Party and its candidates use a lot of progressive rhetoric to win voters. But once they’re elected, they simply continue the policies that were put in place before them, with a few changes to suit the specific interests of this or that organization or company.

Roger: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) can say whatever she likes about Kamala Harris or explain that she supports a ceasefire. She should be pushing Harris to stop arms to Israel. After all, it’s Biden who continues to deliver weapons to Israel. But she’s not doing that. It’s that you do, not what you say, that matters.

AOC is in New York; in Baltimore, no one is talking about AOC. They’re busy trying to pay the rent, feed their children and worry about whether they can get home safely at night. It’s unfortunate that she is considered the “left-wing”.

AOC and her supporters put forward a very radical image, but it’s not. The Democratic Party is a barrier against any aspiration for a radical change. Not long ago, she was asked: “Can capitalism and socialism coexist? She replied “yes!”

Sara: I completely agree: AOC betrays the working class and DSA is completely co-opted by the Democratic Party. She has become a mouthpiece for the will of the Democrats. Nevertheless, it’s worth pointing out that many people have been able to learn through their campaigns.

I started my political education with Bernie Sanders’ books, and I started organizing with DSA … and today I’m here at the international meeting of young revolutionaries! So, if you’re a member of DSA, there’s always hope!

–     Interview conducted by Camille Adoue and Dominique Ferré

Endnote

[1] Charter schools are financed by public funds but managed by private companies. They recruit their own teachers and staff, and they decide their own curriculums. They are helping to pave the way for the destruction of public education.

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33,000 Boeing Workers on Strike!

Thirty-three thousand Boeing workers, affiliated to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), rejected the proposed new collective agreement by 94.6%, and voted 96% in favor of strike action. The strike, which began on September 13, has paralyzed two major aircraft manufacturing plants in the northwestern state of Washington.

As is often the case in the U.S., the class struggle is taking on the most classic forms. The workers refuse to give up their demands: a 40% pay rise and a better pension system (which depends on each company).

On the one hand, if they have mandated their union to go on strike, it’s because they know they’ll have to paralyze production to hit the bosses in their wallets and impose a more favorable balance of power.

On the other hand, employers have also gone on the offensive. In an attempt to make the workers give in, management has frozen all recruitment and pay rises, and is threatening to put employees on short-time. The reason, it says, is “to preserve liquidity and protect our common future”. Preserving liquidity, to be sure.

But there is no “common” interest between workers struggling to feed their families and Boeing shareholders cashing in on dividends. What’s more, workers know that the airliner crashes in 2018 and 2019 and a flight incident last January cited by management are the result of the company cutting corners on quality control, to the detriment of flight safety.

Biden has become personally involved in the conflict, calling on management and unions to reach an agreement at all costs. The White House is concerned that the Boeing strike, in the middle of a presidential campaign, could inspire others. Another cause for concern for Biden: the position of Boeing and its “defense” sector, a key supplier of military equipment to Israel to perpetrate its genocide and to Ukraine as part of NATO’s war with Russia. — D.F.

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Who We Are and What We Stand For — Join Socialist Organizer!

The Organizer is the publication of Socialist Organizer, the U.S. section of the Organizing Committee for the Reconstitution of the Fourth International (OCRFI), which has sections in over 30 countries. Socialist Organizer is a multi-racial, multi-gender, working-class organization that aims to organize the working-class and all the oppressed to abolish capitalism, a system based on the private ownership of the means of production, which is leading humanity and the planet to destruction. 

We fight to end white supremacy, patriarchy, and all forms of bigotry. We fight for a clean break with the capitalists, including the Democratic Party, and promote a Labor Party based on the trade unions and communities of the oppressed and for an Independent Black Working Class Party linked to the struggle for a Labor Party. Our aim is to establish a workers’ government and create a worldwide socialist economy run democratically by and for the vast majority of humanity: working people. Join us!

You can contact us through our website: http://www.socialistorganizer.org — or at our mailbox (P.O. Box 1782, New York, N.Y.) or at the following: email: theorganizer@earthlink.net — or tel. 415 216 5346

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