The July 23-25 national antiwar conference in Albany, N.Y., was an extraordinary advance in the fight against imperialist war and for social justice. To an extent greater than in any other decision-making conference of recent decades, this was a broad, determined, and united political mobilization against all of the ongoing and threatened U.S. wars, interventions, and occupations. And by the same measure, the conference was the most thorough repudiation of the government’s “bail out the banks” antisocial agenda at home.

The United National Antiwar Conference’s (UNAC’s) open and democratic gathering included representatives of virtually every major national antiwar group in the U.S. as well as hundreds of local, state, and regional antiwar organizations. Equally important was the presence and participation of leading representatives and activists from many of the country’s most vital social movements, all of whom aimed to link the fight against U.S. imperialism’s wars to the fight for social justice, democratic rights, and civil liberties.

The conference’s power, scope, program, and unity were a direct response to the world economic crisis, which has directly affected the lives of tens of millions of Americans and driven the nation’s corporate rulers to a series of endless and murderous wars across the globe.

After hours of debate—at times contentious and sharp—the conference unanimously adopted a 24-point Action Plan of antiwar activities culminating in mass demonstrations in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles on April 9, 2011.

The Action Program represents a critical turning point for the U.S. antiwar and other social movements and an important political break from the widely held illusion that the 2008 presidential election would have ushered in “change we can believe in.” It is a harbinger of the powerful movement that will take to the streets in renewed, massive, and repeated mobilizations to demand a fundamental re-ordering of social priorities and an immediate end to all U.S. wars and occupations.

At least 776 antiwar and social justice activists from across the country, and including small delegations from Canada and Latin America, registered to participate. Scores of others flooded the giant auditorium without registering—putting the total attendance at well over 800. With the assistance of the Albany-based Sanctuary Media, 17,000 more witnessed the conference and many of its 30-plus workshops via video-streaming (http://mediasanctuary.tv/crows/).

The conference was initiated by the National Assembly to End U.S. Wars and Occupations and sponsored by UNAC, a group representing 31 national antiwar and social justice organizations. The conference adhered throughout the proceedings to an open and democratic, “one-person-one-vote” procedure. The central demands that the conference adopted were:

• Immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. troops, mercenaries, military contractors, and war dollars from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

• Money for jobs, education, health care, pensions, housing, infrastructure, the environment, and human needs in general—not war.

• End U.S. aid to Israel—military, economic, and diplomatic. End U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the blockade of Gaza.

The third set of demands was incorporated into the Action Program by an overwhelming majority vote, following a long and vigorous debate on the relationship between the antiwar movement and the Palestinian freedom struggle. A comprehensive resolution on Palestine, including support for “boycotts, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) against Israel was also approved at the concluding session, this time by a unanimous vote.

Varying strategies presented

Renowned social activist, linguist, and historian Noam Chomsky keynoted the conference via a 30-minute video telecast that reviewed the machinations and disinformation campaigns surrounding U.S. imperial policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chomsky presented grave warnings regarding the dangers of recent U.S. preparations for a war against Iran. Also keynoting the conference was South Carolina AFL-CIO President Donna Dewitt, who sharply focused her remarks on the need to broaden and unify the movement to include the wide range of constituencies required to build an effective struggle against U.S. intervention and for social justice.

Muralist Mike Alewitz made a stirring dedication speech for the cloth mural draped behind the conference stage—a memorial to the four students at Kent State University (in Ohio) killed by National Guard troops on May 4, 1970, and to the two students murdered by police at Jackson State College (in Mississippi) 10 days later. Alewitz was a young participant in the Kent State antiwar rally that the National Guard fired upon. It had been called in solidarity with nationwide protests against the invasion of Cambodia ordered by President Nixon a few days earlier.

“These young lives,” Alewitz said, “were snuffed out as an example to others to stop the protests. But Nixon had greatly misjudged the mood of the country. Instead of curbing the protests, he provoked a national student strike. For every one of our martyrs, tens of thousands took their place.”

“That spirit lives,” Alewitz declared. He said that the UNAC mural was dedicated to the latest martyrs, “the nine brave activists of the Freedom Flotilla, who said to the world that we will never turn our backs on the Palestinian people.” And the real memorial, he concluded, “is sitting before me—the living movement.”

Two major Friday and Saturday evening panel discussions, with some 12 speakers each, presented a wide range of strategies and tactics to advance the antiwar movement and to highlight the multitude of issues that the organizers deemed essential to building a broad-based, inclusive, and effective fightback.

Representing the National Assembly, Chris Gauvreau reviewed the essential ingredients of the mass movement that needs to be constructed today. Key to the movement’s success, she concluded, was the construction of a united and democratic political movement that operates independent of the Democratic and Republican parties. (Her speech appears in this issue of Socialist Action.)

The conference was not without serious debates over critical issues, the most intensely contested of which were the amendments submitted to the Draft Action Program by a recently formed Palestine Solidarity Caucus. This group of 15-20 Palestine solidarity activists began its deliberations via a series of national conference calls and finalized its proposals and tactics at a well-attended conference caucus meeting of about 75 participants.

Two major plenary sessions discussed and debated some 45 wide-ranging amendments and resolutions that had been submitted prior to the conference, as well as others offered at the conference itself. The amendments expanded the scope of the initial nine-point Draft Action Plan, originally presented unanimously by the 31 co-sponsoring organizations, to about 24 distinct actions over the course of the coming nine months.

Aug. 28 & Oct. 2 labor mobilizations

These activities will begin with UNAC supporting the Aug. 28 Detroit and Washington, D.C., labor and civil rights groups’ mobilizations “to create jobs and stop moving money out of education and into wars and prisons.” These actions will also commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic March on Washington. The Aug. 28 actions are also aimed at countering the reactionary, racist, and provocative Tea Party gathering also slated for Aug. 28 in the nation’s capital.

The UNAC conference endorsed and voted to build an antiwar contingent in the Oct. 2 national march for jobs in Washington, D.C., supported by the AFL-CIO and initiated by the NAACP and the SEIU-affiliated Local 1199. The Oct. 2 national mobilization’s inclusion of antiwar themes represents an important opportunity to link labor’s fightback at home with the struggle against the present trillion-dollar corporate war budget aimed at colonial expansion and horrific death and destruction abroad.

A number of conference speakers, including Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report, while expressing support for the Oct. 2 labor mobilization, cautioned that this effort not be turned into a pre-election rally for the Democratic Party. The thunderous applause that greeted Ford’s critique of the policies of the Obama administration was a powerful indication that today’s antiwar and social movements are increasingly looking to independent forms of struggle.

Ford, citing a recent poll, was also critical of the still strong illusions in Obama, especially among Black Americans. Ford talked about the culture of resistance that in past decades made Black people the most dependable antiwar demographic in the U.S. But Obama’s presence, Ford noted, has served as a “narcotic” for the Black population. “Breaking the Obama spell is the must-do task for a renewed movement for social justice and peace,” he added. “There is nothing complicated about it. You simply tell the truth. Obama works for Wall Street and the militarists. That is the truth.”

Similar concerns were expressed by Albany conference immigration-rights activists who pointed with alarm to the Oct. 2 march organizers’ demand for “comprehensive immigration reform,” a term that has come to be associated with President Obama’s support for the notorious anti-immigrant and punitive bill sponsored by Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY).

The above concerns are certainly legitimate—and especially so in light of labor’s decades-long history of bureaucratic functioning and subordination to the Democratic Party. But the fact that labor and moderate civil rights leaders feel compelled to organize mass protests in the nation’s capital that challenge the government’s war and social policies is new to American politics and reflects the deep disillusionment of the ranks with the status quo of war, racism, and ever deepening attacks on working people.

The decision of the UNAC to actively participate and build the Aug. 28 and Oct. 2 actions and march alongside civil rights and labor activists far outweighs the fact that march officials will undoubtedly use the occasion to advocate support to Obama and his warmongering Democrats while placing the blame for today’s social crises on “obstructionist Republicans.”

Few mass actions of this sort meet the “test” of “political purity.” Tens of thousands of antiwar fighters carrying placards like “Jobs and Justice, Not War: Bring the Troops Home Now!” and “End All U.S. Aid to Israel!” while marching alongside their fellow workers and discussing the critical issues of the day would far outweigh the expected deferential remarks of a bankrupt labor “leadership” that has stood silent in the face of the greatest capitalist offensive against workers since the Great Depression.

A broad plan of protest action

The 24-point Action Program included endorsement of an Oct. 7 national day of student-led protests against education cutbacks, demanding “Money for Education, Not for Occupation;” a mid-October week of actions to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan; support to the Nov. 15-19 “Remember Fallujah” week to mark the horrific and virtual leveling of this Iraqi city by U.S. troops; and a national effort to initiate various city council, town, and village antiwar meetings and antiwar voter referenda/ballot initiatives as well as lobbying efforts.

The Action Program also included nationally coordinated teach-ins in mid-March 2011 to mark the eighth year of the Iraq War and to prepare for the culminating April 9 bi-coastal mass demonstrations in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. A full-scale national effort was approved to begin immediately to gather broad endorsements for the April 9 bi-coastal mobilizations.

Additional actions approved include a week of local antiwar lobbying in April, national speaking tours, and the mounting of “rapid, broad and nationally coordinated protests by antiwar and social justice activists” in the event of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran.

The Action Program also called for support to actions to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and for protests in the event of U.S.-backed military action by Israel against Palestinians, aid activists attempting to end the blockade of Gaza, or attacks on other countries such as Lebanon, Syria, or Iran.

The program called for solidarity with Iraqi trade-union leaders who are under attack by the puppet Iraqi regime. In fact, just days after conference attendees returned home, it was announced that the Iraqi government had raided and closed all offices of the electrical workers’ union, underlining the importance of heightened solidarity.

The program urged support to actions aimed at dismantling the Cold War nuclear, biological, radiological, and chemical weapons and delivery systems. It called for solidarity with GIs, veterans, and military families and support for their campaigns and calls for action. And it called for actions against war profiteers, including oil and energy companies, weapons manufacturers, and engineering firms whose contractors are working to insure U.S. economic control of Iraq’s and Afghanistan’s resources.

The Action Program noted the necessity to link the antiwar movement with mass actions demanding urgent social needs such as jobs, health care, housing, education, and immigrant rights.

A Continuations Committee was approved, consisting of one representative of each of the 31 co-sponsoring conference organizations. This committee was empowered to expand its membership with additional forces in agreement with the conference’s adopted program. It is expected that the expansion will result in the broadest unified antiwar effort in decades.

Workshop discussions draw crowds

Two-dozen conference workshops provided critical spaces for movement activists to discuss and debate many of the movement’s most hotly contested subjects. This was the case with a workshop that attracted 120 participants entitled, “The Rise of Right Wing Populism and the Tea Party: Do We Need a Right-Left Coalition?” Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin and Kevin Zeese of Voters for Peace argued that the idea had merit in attracting some of the forces who have been inadvertently attracted to right-wing solutions. Chris Gauvreau and Glen Ford rejected such an alliance, arguing that it would only serve to drive away the very forces that are a prerequisite to the antiwar movement’s success.

A workshop entitled “Israel and the Palestinian Struggle: Is a Two-State Solution Possible or Desirable?” drew some 80 participants, most of whom rejected a “two-state solution,” a far cry from previous conferences where mere mention of a Democratic Secular Palestine was considered anathema to any serious discussion. The panelists detailed the historic conditions that led to the formation of the Zionist Israeli state and its constant expansion as well as the dramatic impact of the murderous blockade and siege of Gaza and the Israeli army killings aboard the flotilla boats carrying humanitarian relief to Gaza.

There was also a workshop featuring Palestinian activists speaking on boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel and other strategies. It was more than evident from the workshop discussions and the overall UNAC deliberations that this conference marked the sea change in politics that has deeply permeated the consciousness of the broad antiwar movement.

The July 23-25 UNAC conference opened the door wide to a return to the streets of a reinvigorated antiwar movement. Nine months of coordinated actions have been placed on the movement’s agenda. The fulfillment of the conference’s promise depends now on the capacity of the hitherto divided movement to come together to reach and exceed its immediate potential.

Unity in the antiwar movement, not to mention in the radical and socialist left, has never come easy. Divisions remain deep and profound. But mass-action united-front politics and practice have always proved decisive in bringing together the broadest layers on the basis of widely held principles. Today these principles boil down to the key slogans, “Bring the troops home now!” “Money for jobs and all associated human needs, not war,” and “End to all U.S. aid to Israel!”—chief agency of U.S. and world imperialism in the Middle East. The stakes are high. The future of humanity could well depend on the outcome.

The conference ended with Jerry Gordon, national secretary of both the National Assembly and UNAC, reviewing the accomplishments of the conference and noting the importance of forging a lasting unity in the movement.

Gordon humorously awarded Marilyn Levin of New England United and Joe Lombardo, representing the Albany area peace and justice community, the title of “the conference’s Most Valuable Players (MVPs).” Marilyn headed a team that solicited and organized some 128 speakers into various workshops and panel presentations, the effect of which was to provide participants with a well-rounded and broadly representative spectrum of the movement’s political views. Lombardo headed an on-site logistics team of some 40 activists who for several months had meticulously planned and organized almost every aspect of the conference’s functioning.

Gordon noted the important role of the conference’s four co-chairs—Jim Lafferty, executive director, Los Angeles National Lawyers Guild; Michael McPherson, co-chair United for Peace and Justice and past executive director of Veterans for Peace; Kathy Black, national co-convener, US Labor Against the War and leader of the Philadelphia-area Coalition of Labor Union Women; and this writer, national co-coordinator of the National Assembly.

Special mention was also given to the conference’s broadly representative presiding committee—Kathy Kelly, Center for Creative Nonviolence; Michael Eisenscher, national coordinator, USLAW; Blanca Misse, UC Berkeley student leader and central organizer of the March 4 statewide anti-budget-cuts strike; Mary Nichols-Rhodes, Ohio state coordinator of Progressive Democrats of America; and Marilyn Levin, co-national coordinator, National Assembly.

Gordon concluded with a statement of his personal appreciation for the collaboration, advice, and meticulous attention to detail of USLAW’s Michael Eisenscher in a wide range of endeavors critical to the conference’s functioning.

Following Gordon’s remarks, conference participant Adam Shils from Chicago rose for a special point to unanimously affirm the key role of Jerry Gordon in the conference’s success. The meeting ended with a standing ovation for Gordon’s leadership and tireless efforts and for the unity he had so effectively fostered.

UNAC promotes solidarity with political prisoners

A special Saturday box-lunch session allowed the Albany antiwar conference time to counter the government’s broadside attacks on civil liberties and to express the antiwar movement’s active solidarity with the Arab and Muslim communities. The victims of the government’s post-9/11 “anti-terrorism” raids, mass incarcerations, and “pre-emptive persecutions” were properly seen as key components of the new antiwar movement.

Leaders of the Project Salaam (Support and Legal Advocacy for Muslims), a national organization formed to defend Arab and Muslim victims of government persecution and a co-sponsor of the conference, were joined by representatives of CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations), as well as friends and family members of Arab and Muslim political prisoners who have been incarcerated under false charges. This critical issue was prominently featured throughout the event—from plenary sessions and workshops to the one-mile march that concluded the conference.

Conference participants were joined by local Muslim community activists in a display of solidarity that began at the Crowne Plaza Hotel conference site and proceeded to a brief rally at the New York State Capitol Building. From there the march continued along a route through Black and Muslim communities and concluded at the Masjid-As Salaam (House of Peace) mosque, where two years ago an FBI raid seized two Muslim worshippers without any evidence of wrongdoing. Typical of the times, the government, citing “national security” concerns, found no incriminating evidence and has to this day refused to specify charges against these alleged terrorists.

The mosque’s imam welcomed the demonstrators to a rally, where the daughter of one of the Albany detainees as well as a family member of the similarly detained Fort Dix Five from the Philadelphia area recounted their terrifying experiences at the hands of government witch hunters. Ralph Poynter, husband of imprisoned civil-liberties attorney Lynne Stewart and leader of her defense committee, and Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin also addressed the crowd of some 250 conference and community activists.

The luncheon session at the UNAC conference also featured talks by representatives of the defense committees of innocent political prisoners Mumia Abu-Jamal and Lynne Stewart as well as Guantanamo detainee representative and Center for Constitutional Rights attorney, Pardiss Kebriaei. Ralph Poynter read a powerful statement to the conference from Lynne Stewart, whose original 28-month sentence on frame-up charges of “conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism” was a week earlier increased in a vindictive Federal District Court re-sentencing hearing to 10 years in prison.

This writer, speaking as the West Coast coordinator of the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee and as a national co-coordinator of the National Assembly, announced that the National Assembly had decided to retain the imprisoned Stewart on its Administrative Committee despite her 10-year jail sentence. Also featured was a resounding pre-recorded antiwar address to the conference from Mumia Abu-Jamal, on death row in Pennsylvania. Chants of “Free Mumia!” and “Free Lynne Stewart!” rocked the jam-packed rally.  –by Jeff Mackler

by the Editors of Socialist Action newspaper

In the pre-dawn hours of May 31, Israeli commandos deliberately murdered at least 16 and perhaps as many as 29 members of the Free Gaza Flotilla who were bringing aid to the besieged people of Gaza. The bulk of the deaths and injuries occurred on the largest ship, the Turkish-registered Mavi Marmara. Firing (with bullets paid for by U.S. tax dollars) began even before the commandos boarded the ships, and continued once these new pirates of the Mediterranean rappelled down from helicopters.

The overwhelming majority of the activists offered no resistance, yet were the targets of indiscriminate fire. Fifty to 60 were wounded badly enough to be put in hospital. Survivors among the over 700 flotilla participants from over 40 countries were detained in Israeli prisons, and all access to them by family, lawyers, and the media was barred.

On board the Mavi Marmara were hundreds of Turks organized by the Turkish charity IHH. Their involvement—and verbal expressions of support before and after the attack from the Turkish government—has had all the more impact given that Turkey has been one of Washington’s staunchest allies in the Middle East, and has been on good diplomatic terms with Israel.

Every aspect of this operation was illegal under international law, starting from the fact that the blockade of Gaza itself is illegal. The 14 Zionist ships that carried the commandos attacked the flotilla in international waters more than 60 miles off the coast of Gaza.

Most importantly, the attack was part of a train of violent incidents since before Israel’s founding designed to steal and hold on to land, and to terrorize, and if need be kill, those who resist.

A small minority of the activists, especially from among the Turks, tried to defend themselves and their fellow passengers (who included a mother with a one-year-old baby, and an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor). The only tools of self-defense available to them were kitchen knives and wooden sticks. Numerous international legal experts have stated unequivocally that they were entirely within their rights to do so against a violent, illegal boarding operation. Their resistance, however hopeless given the relationship of forces, inspired millions around the world.

Regardless of how many activists exercised their right to self-defense, the raid as a whole was carefully planned, and its operational details approved by Israel’s political leadership, who knew that by beginning with gunfire rather than crowd dispersal techniques or negotiations, deaths were virtually inevitable.

The flotilla was carrying 10,000 tons of badly needed food, medicine, medical equipment, toys, workbooks, chocolate, as well as cement for the reconstruction of the thousands of homes destroyed in the attacks of 2008-2009. Every international aid agency has documented the continued deaths, malnutrition, homelessness, unemployment, and dependence on charity affecting the overwhelming majority of Gazans; yet their steadfastness has not wavered for one second. Gazans have said repeatedly that they welcome eagerly efforts like the flotilla even more because of the political solidarity it shows than for the material aid.

The response of the Zionist government was typically brazen and callous. The lies it spun to justify the murders were reminiscent of those used by the U.S. whenever it kills civilians in their beds in Afghanistan. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon described the flotilla as “an armada of hate,” and said its organizers had connections with Hamas and al-Qaeda. He made these assertions despite common knowledge that the overwhelming majority of participants were members of organizations that as a matter of tactics or principle or both believe only in nonviolent activism.

Numerous governments, both imperialist and neocolonial, issued statements condemning the Israeli assault, a handful even recalling their ambassadors to Israel.

The U.S. Palestinian Community Network said the attack was “consistent with [Israel’s] long history of disregard for non-Jewish human life,” citing numerous massacres from 1948 until this year.

Al-Awda NY: the Palestine Right to Return Coalition noted that “some of the fallen had been resilient Palestinians, exiled by Zionist militias in 1948, withstanding Israeli massacres in Lebanon in 1982, attacked in 2006, and killed on the Aid Flotilla, determined to see Palestine again and be part of its liberation from Israeli Forces.” The attack, said Al-Awda, was “part of the ongoing Israeli Zionist agenda to effect the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, beginning in the 1900s and continuing, with international complicity, today.”

The attack also stands as more proof that the “peace process” is nothing more than a joint effort by the U.S., Israel, and the quisling Palestinian Authority to institutionalize Israeli apartheid in the entire land of historic Palestine and as an excuse to attack anyone resisting this project.

Mass protests broke out immediately around the world. There have been protests every day since the attack, and as we go to press on June 2 there are many more planned. The most common demands at these rallies have been the immediate lifting of the siege; unconditional release of all members of the targeted flotilla, and publication of the names of the dead, injured, and detained; a war crimes tribunal; and, in the U.S., an end to all aid to Israel.

Two of the seven boats that were part of the flotilla remained at sea because of engine problems. On June 1 it was announced that one of them, the Rachel Corrie, was sailing on to Gaza, and that a second flotilla would sail in coming weeks. While continuing to organize protests against the murders, supporters of Palestine should participate in and defend every boat on its way to Gaza until the siege is broken!

And for activists in the U.S., we have a unique opportunity to broaden and deepen support for these activities and the overall Palestine liberation struggle by attending the United National Antiwar Conference in Albany, N.Y., July 23-25.

“The decay of reason in politics” is due in part to the “classes and types of individuals to whom the world as it is offers no scope, but who see no hope in Socialism…” (Bertrand Russell, “The Ancestry of Fascism”).

My friend George, a white Italian-American male in his mid-fifties, has found a home with like-minded people who make up the tea-party movement. In April, the Tea-Party Express held a rally in Boston that drew approximately ten thousand spirited protestors whose most enthusiastic moments came when they applauded the crowd-pleasing punch-lines delivered by a gushing Sarah Palin.

Nonetheless, the beliefs which motivate George and thousands of others go far beyond the rather tepid notions of a Republican ex-governor.

For years, George has been looking to Fox News for information and ideas, as he still does. He is also a believer in chain-mails, that perverse subculture of political pornography, which he takes as good coin. These emails, written to incite fear, send a chilling message: the Democrats are creating in the U.S. the same social conditions that led to Nazi Germany. This email as George will quickly point out, was “written by a history professor, you know” – thus, it must be true.

So, the circumstances are dire. Totalitarianism is the likely future of the United States unless the “Demofascists” are stopped by stout-hearted patriots. Preposterous? Of course. Unbelievable? Yes. But google “Obama is Hitler,” and see for yourself.

Thus, George’s near-visceral hatred is directed primarily against the “unholy trinity” of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. This contemptuous dismissal of politicians who are merely moderate Democrats is also summed up in the word “Obamunists.”

Now, George has found a political home in the ranks of the tea-partiers who affirm his social resentments and anger and who seem to offer a way out of “the mess this country is in.”

Like them, George detests and fears the “Three Bigs”: big government, big business, and big labor (never mind that the union movement today is at an all-time low). He hates illegal immigrants who he believes are the cause for the economic collapse in the housing market and who are largely responsible for the overall economic troubles in the United States. In some vague way George “knows” that Jews are guilty, too.

George would not appear to be a likely recruit to a movement that contains many of the essential elements of mid-twentieth century, European fascism. His years on a job and his experience in the class struggle might have led him into a different direction.

George recently retired from the United Parcel Service (UPS). After many years as a laborer, in his last decade with the company he occupied a position that might be described as lower level middle management. This promotion, or this circumstance – the phrase “caught in the middle” is accurate – left him emotionally twisted, tangled, and confused. He despised “the big bosses” at UPS, especially the managers, and he deeply resented the company rules that were (and are) mechanically applied without reason or compassion, much less common sense.

George had ideas which he believed could have improved efficiency at UPS and made more money for the company. He hoped to gain a hearing, get recognition, and maybe even earn a small bonus. Nothing like this ever happened. At UPS, the ideas flowed in only one direction: from the top to the bottom. For George, continued frustration led to lingering disgust and permanent resentment with the bosses and their system.

Not infrequently, adherence to company rules rendered George unproductive or even counter-productive, yet he lacked the authority to make even the most modest of changes that would have benefitted the company. Like most workers, George wanted to be of use. He offered ideas in a work environment in which ideas were forbidden. His requests and pleas were routinely ignored, until, finally, he shut up. It didn’t do him much good; George’s feelings were transparent, and before long he was labeled a “troublemaker.”

George daily endured multiple humiliations, in matters small to large, from a management that did not even derive satisfaction from the humiliation it inflicted on its workers: to enjoy the debasement of its workers, UPS would first have had to notice them as people. Instead, workers were “resources,” not unlike loading docks or a fleet of trucks.

Yet, George would not look for help to fellow workers, the union, or the labor movement. If he despised the arrogance and stupidity of the bosses, he especially feared the power of the union. After all, George was a junior member — but still a member — of management.

During the UPS strike in 1998, the company assigned George to drive delivery trucks through picket lines as part of a failed effort to defeat the Teamsters union. He did as he was told. For his troubles, George was rewarded by rocks and bricks hurled at the windshield of his truck. Caught, literally, in the middle of the class struggle, George blamed the workers for violence and excused the policies of the company which provoked it. Siding with established authority was the easiest thing to do.

Today, the tea-party movement is becoming that “authority” with which it is easy to side. Its members largely consist of people who look like George, who live in neighborhoods like his and who share his experiences — not the “immigrants and scum,” who unfairly receive the benefits of the Obama government which is leading America to ruin.

Politics never occurs in a vacuum. With the continuation of an economic crisis in the United States and the increase of fear among the millions of Georges whose financial and social stability are not at all assured, comes an anxiety and panic that resembles the fear of people in turbulent waters about to be drowned. In desperation, hoping to become survivors instead of victims, they clutch at anything, whatever is at hand, in hopes of keeping afloat.

In times of social turmoil, when financial institutions collapse, when companies dissolve, when pensions disappear, when homes lose the value of their cost, people feel themselves victims of incomprehensible, inexplicable but overwhelmingly powerful forces. “All that is solid melts into air” – and who can explain why?

With the absence of a left alternative, with the numerical weakness, especially, of the socialist left, frightened people retreat to identity, religion, and scapegoating. They embrace false solutions. It’s like taking poison to cure an illness.

It’s not the first time in history that poison has been mistaken for medicine. George’s fear and resentment of immigrants, Blacks, and some of the most exploited among the working class resembles the picture Karl Marx drew of the self-defeating beliefs of the English workers in the 1870s. Writing in a letter to a friend, Marx observed:

“And most important of all! All English industrial and commercial centres now possess a working class split into two hostile camps: English proletarians and Irish proletarians. The ordinary English worker hates the Irish worker because he sees in him a competitor who lowers his standard of life. Compared with the Irish worker he sees himself a member of the ruling nation and for this very reason he makes himself into a tool of the aristocrats and capitalists against Ireland and thus strengthens their domination over himself. He cherishes religious, social and national prejudices against the Irish worker…

“This antagonism is artificially sustained and intensified by the press, the pulpit, the comic papers, in short, by all the means at the disposal of the ruling classes. This antagonism is the secret of the impotence of the English working class, despite its organization. It is the secret which enables the capitalist class to maintain its power, as this class is perfectly aware.”

(Karl Marx, The First International and After, “Marx to Mayer and Vogt, 9 April 1870,” p. 169).

It’s a lesson confirmed more than once by history: People frightened enough will grasp at any solution – even false ones. After all, a false solution at least seems to resolve social and personal turmoil by providing an apparently satisfactory explanation of the troubles that beset a nation and its people. So, the tea-partiers rally in favor of the Constitution, call for lower taxes, and demand a smaller government – a smaller government with an ever-growing military budget and with iron-clad guarantees of continuing Medicare and Social Security benefits. And, meanwhile, blame the “illegals,” the Mexicans, and Jews, the unions and the liberals, including the moderate Republicans or RINO’s (Republican In Name Only) for every one of the real social ills.

Unfortunately, false solutions can lead to real consequences. Instead of joining with others who suffer from the same social system, instead of building and strengthening links to workers, national minorities, and immigrants, George and those like him confuse their enemies with their friends.

George and his tea-party crowd march along a well-defined road, unaware of and unwilling to see their ultimate destination.

College tuition increases, problems with affordability of health care, bailouts for the big banks and the pros and cons of various forms of socialism dominated an animated presentation and discussion held by the UConn Youth for Socialist Action held in a classroom at Arjona last night.

Standing in front of a blank green chalkboard that would later be bear the names of people waiting to express their views, Christopher Hutchinson, from the CCSU branch of the organization, gave a presentation on world problems and possible socialist remedies.
Hutchinson advocated a struggle for a socialist government system. He said that most reforms in the past “were not passed down from above.” Then he asked the question, “How can we create a world to fulfill our social and economic needs?”

A large portion of the discussion involved the differences between socialism and capitalism. The amount of violence that has historically occurred in each system was a source of debate. Hutchinson said that capitalism was responsible for many deaths through conflicts such as the world wars and the Vietnam War while some audience members pointed out deaths that occurred under socialist governments such as Mao in China.

Saeed Ahghari, a 58-year-old South Windsor resident and emergency room doctor, was one of the discussions oldest participants. Ahghari said that his experience growing up in a colonized country and now living in a colonizing country has shaped his views. He spoke about the economy, saying, “happiness is not money in the pocket. We’re one of the most unhappy nations on earth. Countries who are happy don’t start wars.”

Hutchinson also covered the issue of rising college tuition, which he attributed to the “privatization” of universities. He said that money used to fund the military could fund education at home.

Other topics of discussion included immigration, which also involved a debate on whether to call people not officially registered in the U.S. “undocumented” or “illegal,” and health care.

The debate reached a point where people began to speak out of the order established on the board, prompting Hutchinson to ask the audience to respect the time of each speaker.

“Tensions were high,” said 2nd-semester English major Carolyn Friedman. “It stirred productive conversation, but at least they’re passionate.”

“It was more fiery than I expected,” said Jason Ortiz, a 7th-semester public and community engagement major and Daily Campus columnist. “I was happy to see diversity in the crowd. This event drew layers of opposing ideologies. It’s not something that you can find in any meeting or class.”

A Q&A session followed the event.

This letter was initiated by the Grassroots Immigrant Justice Network, a group which was recently formed by leaders in the immigrant rights and labor movements across the country. Initial members include Isabel Garcia, David Silva Villalobos, Carlos Arango, Juan Jose Bocanegra, Nativo Lopez, David Bacon, Lisa Luinenburg, Cristobal Cavazos, John Steinbach, Daniela Ortiz-Bahamonde, George Shriver, Jason McGahan, and Domingo Gonzales.

Although the political climate seems uncertain, we are proposing a different approach to discussing Comprehensive Immigration Reform. We need to generate a national debate based on immigration as a labor mobility and human rights issue, not as an issue of national security and enforcement. Immigrants have made vast contributions to the U.S., and they should be granted the right to live here legally and without fear. We should recognize migration as the global phenomenon it is and address the root economic causes of migration.

The principles guiding the national debate around immigration reform should consist of:

1. Build bridges between the peoples of the U.S. and Mexico instead of walls that segregate them and turn them into competitors in a struggle for survival. Take immediate action to stop the deaths along the border and end border militarization.

2. Analyze the effects of free trade agreements like NAFTA on the economies of “sender” countries. End all economic and foreign policies that leave people in “sender” countries with no choice but to migrate in order to support their families.

3. Provide a clear and easy legalization program for the millions of undocumented immigrants who have built their homes here and contributed greatly to the prosperity of the U.S. economy. All immigrants deserve the full rights accorded to U.S. citizens, not a second-class status.

4. Clear the backlogs of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have been waiting to legalize their status since the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Allow more families to reunite with their loved ones by expanding the definition of “family” under current immigration law.

5. Bracero-style guest worker programs and other forms of labor exploitation should be eliminated, and the labor system made to benefit workers and their families, not corporations and agribusiness. Increased labor protections for immigrant workers should also include the freedom of movement between jobs and across national borders.

6. End the criminalization of work through the use of 1-9 audits, E-verify, “silent raids,” and other tactics used to carry out mass firings of workers. All workers, immigrants included, have the right to work and seek work without the fear of retaliation.

7. Immigrants and their families have the right to live in their communities without fear. Stop the raids and deportations, end ‘enforcement first’ policies like 287(g) and Secure Communities, eliminate the privatization of the detention system, and decriminalize the status of undocumented workers. Extend equal rights to all by ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers.

Many people in the immigrant community look with hope towards the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP), recently introduced by Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL). The bill does make some positive and much-needed changes to the immigration system, including the suspension of 287(g) and Operation Streamline and improvements in the detention system, and the elimination of all bars related to undocumented status (although security and criminal bars cannot be waived). However, it fails to change the basic ‘enforcement first’ structure of the U.S. immigration system. The bill also falls far short of meeting the just demands raised by the grassroots immigrant rights movement, including an end to the raids and deportations and the militarization of the border, increased protections for immigrant workers, and a fair legalization for all.

Below is a list of concerns being raised by immigrant rights organizations and leaders across the country:

1. On Border Security: The bill increases militarization of the border, guaranteeing the continued deaths of thousands of desperate workers instead of addressing the root causes that fuel immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border. Although 287(g) and Operation Streamline will be suspended, the bill increases collaboration between police and ICE agents along the border.

2. On the Immigrant Detention System: The bill fails to ban the privatization of the detention system, which has led to an increasing number of human rights abuses at the hands of for-profit, non-transparent corporations. Although some improvements are made to conditions in detention centers, immigrants will continue to be criminalized under the current system of enforcement.

3. On Enforcement Activities: While providing a few protections for vulnerable populations picked up in raids, the bill does not guarantee due process procedures for those being deported. At the same time, while in theory suspending the 287(g) program, or polimigra, the bill also seeks to accelerate (at least in border areas) the process of integrating local and state law enforcement agents into the detention and deportation of immigrant workers.

4. On Employment Verification: The proposal mandates the use of the Employment Verification (E-Verify) system by all employers within three years. It also requires employers to fire workers whose social security numbers don’t match Social Security Administration databases. This results in the criminalization of immigrant workers and gives employers another tool to break unions and degrade workers’ rights across the board.

5. On Family Unity: Although increasing the numbers of family visas available and giving the government greater discretion to waive unlawful presence bars to family reunification, the proposal keeps in place the 1996 law that requires the undocumented to leave the U.S. for 3-10 years in order to become eligible to legalize their status. This law has resulted in unnecessary family separation and immense suffering.

6. On Legalization: The bill will not grant a fair and fast path for the millions of undocumented immigrants who deserve a chance to legalize their status quickly and affordably. Instead, the bill creates a new conditional non-immigrant status (CNIS) visa. Those with CNIS status could apply for legal permanent resident (LPR) status, but no Green Cards would be issued for 6 years after the proposal’s enactment (unless existing immigrant backlogs have been cleared). The path to citizenship would likely take many more years.

7. On Agricultural Jobs: The Gutierrez bill includes the AgJOBS Act of 2009, which would provide temporary “blue card” visas to undocumented farm workers who have been living in the United States. In the past, temporary visa programs like the infamous Bracero program have been rife with abuse, benefiting growing companies and not workers.

8. On Students: The Gutierrez bill also includes the DREAM Act, which aims to offer in-state tuition rates to the children of undocumented immigrants. But it conditions the college loans and grants that these young people need on a type of ‘community service’ which includes military service. This is unacceptable.

9. On Future Flows of Immigrants: The bill creates a Commission on Immigration and Labor Markets to determine the future quotas of temporary legal immigration visas. Any changes in immigration and labor policies will be based on the report of that commission. The establishment of this commission is the first step towards setting up an expanded guest worker program.

Immigrants have fought for justice for many years, and in 2006 they reminded our legislators and politicians just how strong and intelligent their voices are. Now is the time to engage with our communities in honest dialogue and continue to hold our elected officials accountable to the vision of justice coming from the immigrant communities that make up our nation. We shall overcome! ¡Vencerémos!

*To sign and support this open letter, check out the Grassroots Immigrant Justice Network.

Socialist Action and YSA activist Chris Hutchinson is running for the U.S. Congress in Connecticut! Chris is running for office to encourage working people to begin taking political action in their own names and to build a massive fight-back against the corporate and government attacks we are enduring. He pledges to use his campaign to support demonstrations, strikes, and other mobilizations of working people in their own interests!

Chris Hutchinson: Age 27, is an art teacher in Hartford area schools, a popular political cartoonist and a longtime activist in the state anti-war organization, CT United for Peace. Entered the student movement in 2002 when he joined an effort to prevent cuts to public education. He has been involved in the fights to defend the Danbury 11 and to end the anti-immigrant ICE raids. He just recently returned from Cairo where he participated in the Gaza Freedom March, an effort to break the siege of this occupied territory.

You can find out more about Chris’s exciting and important campaign at www.votesocialistaction.wordpress.com and via facebook.