Month: August 2018

The Supreme Court has only supported progress when a mass movement of the people has forced it to. Their decisions uphold what was won in the street and are mainly an effort to stop the struggle from continuing. The Supreme Court was forced to uphold the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, despite the fact that more than one of the “honorable” justices—what a joke— were members of the KKK. This decision was not made out of respect for the law, or because the Democratic Party had any say in it, but because the mass movement and sacrifice of the people willed it. The entire American court system is one of the most racist, undemocratic, reactionary, anti-worker, capitalist institutions in the country.

The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy has recently brought concerns over the makeup of the Supreme Court back into the media. The careful balance of justices is often argued about, and worry over who will choose the replacements and who will replace which justices drives election campaigns across the United States. The truth is, no matter which capitalist party chooses the successor to Justice Kennedy, the Court will still be an institution that upholds the interests of the 1%.

As a lifetime-appointed, unelected body of only nine people with nearly absolute power to decide on the laws and policies that a ect our lives, the Court’s decisions cannot be disregarded. People live or die because of Supreme Court decisions. Policies that deny people basic needs have been upheld by the Supreme Court. When they can get away with it, they rule on cases like Citizens United, for which Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, defending the buying and selling of politicians by the super-rich. They overturn the will of the people. Regulations that protect workers have been sold o piece by piece by the courts. With a stroke of their pens, they wipe out civil and economic rights for the people and uphold growing repression, white supremacy and bigotry.

On the other hand, some cases have signaled major victories for the people. Roe V. Wade was won by decades of struggle in the women’s liberation movement; Lawrence V. Texas (which effectively legalized homosexuality) was won because LGBTQ people fought back against horrifying oppression. Each of these victories were fought for in the streets and in the courts. Without the power of the people to counter the arbitrary power of the Court, we would have won nothing from them. Yet after every major Court decision, the mainstream media touts the power of the Courts and ignores the power of the people. They declare the victory of the law, of the lawyers, of the ruling class, but not of the people.

The Supreme Court is not about upholding the constitution (inadequate as it is). The Court is a political institution. Both major parties squabble over the right to pick the next Justice, not because they care about the people, the law, or the Constitution, but because of the power it grants them to look out for their own capitalist benefactors. Cries of “Save the Supreme Court” merely deceive the people. We can expect even more decisions that attack the working majority but this should only make the Court’s illegitimacy more obvious.

Clearly, the capitalist class is determined to destroy every last shred of the limited rights we have won. Whether they’re attacking us with sexism or racism, they will go to any length to push workers further into poverty. But by organizing, by mounting mass resistance, we can push back against these attacks. At the same time, we will create new organizers with a true understanding of our enemy. The will of the people should not be overruled by the whims of nine unelected people who represent the worst of the capitalist class. We call for a Peoples’ Tribunal, elected and recallable by and from the working majority. We call to abolish the Supreme Court, not enhance their authority to commit crimes against the people.

By Quest Riggs

Since the revelation about the government’s separation of immigrant children from their families in mid- June, the struggle for the rights of undocumented workers and the struggle against ICE has exploded and reached new heights. The scale and spirit of this wave of resistance has highlighted the amount of solidarity with undocumented communities that already exists in the U.S. and the possibilities for a broader and stronger movement for justice.

Demonstrations swept the country on June 30, meeting the call for a national day of action. In every major city and in many small cities, the call to abolish ICE was heard around the country. In all there were over 700 actions on that one hot summer day, including a march in New Orleans from Congo Sqr. to Jackson Sqr. with 3,000 participants.

600 protesters were arrested in Washington D.C. as they occupied the Senate Office building. 100,000 marched in New York City along with tens of thousands more throughout the northeast. In Philadelphia an encampment in front of the ICE offce there from July 2 until July 5, when they were aggressively raided by the police. They then set up a new encampment with the same demands in front of City Hall.

The turnout was also good in other Southern cities, with thousands protesting in Raleigh and Atlanta. In Atlanta an encampment was held for a week at an ICE o ce until it was raided on July 9, with 39 arrested in the raid. Over 60,000 marched in Chicago calling for the abolition of ICE.

On the West Coast, large protest encampments were set up in both Portland and San Francisco, and 10,000 protesters rallied at the Seattle-Tacoma Federal Prison where hundreds of migrants are detained. The San Francisco encampment, like the Atlanta one, was held for a week before 39 were arrested when it was swept.

It is worth noting that federal police with the Department of Homeland Security, not just local police, were used against the protesters in many of the above cases. The repression of the movement against ICE is part of the total lack of democracy in capitalist society, just like the repression of the Black Lives Matter movement and the Standing Rock solidarity movement during the Obama presidency. The police at the local, state and federal levels are all controlled by the industries who pro t o of oppression. In the case of the Abolish ICE movement, the people pulling the strings are the profiteers of the prison-industrial complex, one of the most brutal white supremacist groupings in the U.S. ruling class.

But despite their commitment to mass-incarceration and genocide, our movement is getting stronger and solidarity is growing. It is important that we resist the attempts to misdirect this movement into legalistic and electoral directions. The Democratic party and its lackeys will never lead movements towards liberation or real change. If we blindly follow them just because they can pay lip service to justice, then the fascists in ICE and in the white house will only get stronger. Following the liberals means handing over all of our weapons of struggle to our oppressors.

In these barbarous times of capitalist hellfire all around us, the need to educate, agitate, and organize working class and oppressed people for a revolutionary struggle has never been greater.

On June 30, in over 100 degree heat, our communities united in a massive demonstration against the unjust policies of the Trump administration. Specifically, we marched against the construction of concentration camps for immigrant families, the separation of children from their families and the murderous behavior of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrols.

The demonstration was organized by a coalition of local working class organizations including the Congress of Day Laborers, Stand with Dignity, the Workers Center for Racial Justice and the New Orleans Peoples Assembly. Despite the extreme heat, over 3,000 people from New Orleans and the surrounding area rallied and marched behind this radical working class leadership.

This demonstration coincided with other massive marches in all major cities across the country against Trump’s inhumane attacks on immigrant and refugee communities. But unlike most of the other demonstrations, ours in New Orleans was not lead by any Democratic Party forces. There were no empty promises of reform or misguided calls to vote away our oppression. There were no two-faced politicians trying to put out the flame of the people’s rage.

Instead, the speakers at our demonstration were black and latinx workers and activists– day laborers, students, hospitality workers and those directly targeted by ICE. We in New Orleans recognize and made clear that ICE will be abolished and change will come only from the united and organized strength of revolutionary working class communities. Until then we workers must unite in solidarity to defend latinx families from Trump and his racist minions in ICE.

Ruby. Rosa. Bree. Takiyah. And now Therese. Black women have always been on the forefront of resistance, putting our physical bodies on the line to demand justice in highly visible ways. Therese Patricia Okoumou joined these revolutionary Black women on July 4th when she scaled the base of the Statue of Liberty. Therese, a migrant of the Republic of Congo, has made her home in New York for the last 10 years, and she has taken an active role in the struggle since 2009. Okoumou has been a part of Rise and Resist, the group that organized a banner drop at the statue earlier that day. Okoumou took a step further on the revolutionary road and climbed the statue saying that “…when they go low, we go high. And I went as high as I could.” Therese demanded that ICE be abolished, that the thousands of migrant children be released from detainment centers around the country and that she would not come down until “all the children are released.” Okoumou was arrested and charged with trespassing, interference with government agency functions, and disorderly conduct. At a press conference after her release, Okoumou said “Trump has ripped this country apart. It is depressing. It is outrageous. His Draconian zero-tolerance policy on immigration has got to go.”

En Español

Hay una cosa muy importante que le quiero decir a mi gente migrante- No somos ilegales, indocumentados, ni siquiera inmigrantes en nuestro propio continente.

El sistema no esta roto, ni es corrupto – en realidad está trabajando como fue planeado y está generando ganancias para las élites económicas y políticas – y si, esto ha estado pasando desde Obama y antes de el, asi que para los que dicen “donde estaba el enojo cuando Obama estaba deportando en masa?” la respuesta es “donde siempre, aquí, en pie de lucha en las calles” donde estabas tu?

Son las mismas políticas imperialistas de EU que han generado las crisis migratorias y de refugiados en el mundo actual – desde la explotación de recursos en África, las lucrativas guerras en el medio oriente y las intervenciones político-militares en Latinoamérica, estas técnicas imperialistas han sido usadas por este régimen desde su fundación, y no podemos olvidar que este país es producto este mismo colonialismo, que fue fundado en tierras robadas, con la esclavitud de africanos y el genocidio de gente indígena, la misma gente que al no poder quebrantar, decidieron que era mejor exterminar y que por más de 500 años, han estado tratando de hacerlo – pero aquí seguimos, y somos esos que hoy en día se nos refiere como “ilegales” “indocumentados” “inmigrantes” – nosotros estuvimos aquí mucho antes que el 45, mucho antes que EU y estaremos mucho después que este imperio caiga.

Todas las personas aquí, deberían estar más que encabronadas, como es que este gobierno, su gobierno está invirtiendo y movilizando todos sus recursos para crear campos de concentración para encarcelar a refugiados indefinidamente, pero tardaron meses para darle ayuda a Houston, Puerto Rico e incluso New Orleans después de los huracanes – es claro cuáles son sus prioridades! O ponernos en una jaula o dejarnos morir.

Esta lucha es interseccional – cuando decimos “Desmantelen ICE” también estamos diciendo “fin a la encarcelación en masa” “alto al terror policiaco” y sus estructuras de criminalización, las cuales ICE usa para detener y deportar a nuestra gente. En este momento se nos presenta una oportunidad de reunirnos y tener estas conversaciones. Hagámoslo, porque de eso depende nuestra supervivencia, literalmente.

Si eres un aliado (una persona que no está siendo directamente atacada por el estado o que históricamente no ha enfrentado opresión) se te necesita, se necesita tu energía y tus recursos. Pero detente, reflexiona en tus privilegios y no tomes iniciativa sin antes preguntar a gente que tenga más experiencia, hay gente que literalmente ha hecho esto la mayor parte de su vida, detente un momento y pídeles que te guíen. Se humilde y alístate para escuchar cosas que seguramente serán verdad pero no agradables, y si sientes vergüenza por el legado que tu gente ha dejado, no solo te frustres y reacciones, busca guía, de esa gente que sí ha sido afectada. Y cuando hagas esto, no sientas que le estas haciendo un favor a esa persona, en realidad te estas haciendo un favor a ti mismo, nos estas haciendo un favor a todos – porque el que nos importen estas cosas no debería de ser celebradas ni consideradas “valientes” “bondadoso” o “solidario” es integridad humana básica.

Ultima – aunque el problema que enfrentamos parezca un monstruo masivo de 80 cabezas, siempre hay algo que hacer, que por mas mínimo que sea, puede ayudar a que el monstruo caiga. Hay muchas cosas que podemos hacer, porque esta es una lucha de por vida y toma tiempo y trabajo, se hace por partes, así que encuentra tu parte y actívate.

English

There is one very important thing I want to share with my migrant community – We are not illegal, undocumented, or even immigrants in our own continent.

The system is not broken, nor is it corrupt – it is actually working as intended and is generating profits for the economic and political elites – and yes, this has been happening since Obama and before him, so for those who say “Where was the anger when Obama was deporting en masse?” The answer is “here where it is now, in the struggle, in the streets” where were you?

It is the same US imperialist policies that have generated migratory and refugee crises in the world today – from the exploitation of resources in Africa, the lucrative wars in the Middle East and the political-military interventions in Latin America, these imperialist techniques have been used by this regime since its foundation, and we can not forget that this country is the product of this same colonialism, which was founded on stolen land, with the slavery of Africans and the genocide of indigenous people, the same people whom they could not break, so they decided that it was better to exterminate, and for more than 500 years they have been trying to do so – but here we are, and we are those that today are referred to as “illegal” “undocumented” “immigrants” – we were here long before the 45th, long before the US and we will be long after this empire falls.

All the people here, should be more than pissed off, how this government, your government, is investing and mobilizing all its resources to create concentration camps to imprison refugees indefinitely but it took months to help Houston, Puerto Rico and New Orleans after the hurricanes – it is clear what their priorities are: to either put us in a cage or leave us to die.

This struggle is intersectional – when we say “Abolish ICE” we are also saying “end to mass incarceration” “stop police terror” and its structures of criminalization, which ICE uses to stop and deport our people. At this moment we have an opportunity to gather and have these conversations. Let’s do it, because our survival depends on it, literally.

If you are an ally (a person who is not being directly attacked by the state or who historically has not faced oppression) you are needed, we need your energy and your resources. But first stop, reflect on your privileges and do not take initiative without first asking people who have more experience, there are people who have literally done this for most of their lives, stop for a moment and ask them to guide you. Be humble and get ready to hear things that will surely be true but not pleasant. If you feel shame for the legacy that your people have left, do not just get frustrated and react. Seek guidance from those people who have been affected. And when you do this, do not feel that you’re doing that person a favor. You’re really doing yourself a favor, you’re doing us all a favor – because the fact that we care about these things should not be celebrated or considered “brave” “kind” or “supportive.” This is basic human integrity.

Lastly – although the problem we face seems like a massive monster of 80 heads, there is always something to do. However minimal it may be, it can help to bring the monster down. There are many things we can do, because this is a lifelong struggle and it takes time and work, it is done in parts, so find your part and get active.

On June 29, New Orleans mother and activist with Congress of Day Laborers (Congreso) Nancy Oliva Baca was arrested by ICE without explanation during a routine check-in. She had been having such “check-ins” at the ICE o ce downtown for years and had no reason to expect this one to be any di erent. However, this visit “coincidentally” happened the day before the huge Freedom for Families march called by Congreso and other working class organizations. Nancy was taken to La Salle Detention Facility in Jena Louisiana, 3 hours from New Orleans where her 3 children remain.

The shady circumstances around her arrest make it clear that it was done by ICE in retaliation for Congreso’s call for a large united demonstration against ICE brutality. These are Gestapo-like tactics to intimidate oppressed communities from standing up for human rights. These intimidation tactics are reason enough to abolish ICE and close down internment camps like La Salle Detention Center.

The Workers Voice has just learned that Nancy was denied a stay of deportation. Stop the deportations! Not one More!

Fleeing persecution, violence, and war, nearly 69 million refugees were forcibly displaced last year. Continuing a trend for the past five years, this number represents yet another record high. According to the United Nations High Command for Refugees, in 2017 there were over 25 million refugees, 40 million internally displaced people (who have been driven from their homes but remain in their native countries) and over 3 million asylum seekers. In response, the US and other European governments whose imperialist plundering and wars-for-profit have created this world-wide humanitarian disaster have imposed inhumane immigration policies that deny safe harbor to the millions of men, women, and children who have left their homes far behind, mainly in the Middle East and Africa. The extreme cruelty of these policies reflects the openly white supremacist character of an increasing number of US and European rulers.

By Quest Riggs

In late 2017 and early 2018 the Trump administration released two documents that most workers have never seen. First, the State Department released its periodical National Security Strategy (NSS) in December, and then the Department of Defense released its annual National Defense Strategy (NDS) report in January. They officially explained their worldview and strategy for maintaining and expanding the US capitalist empire.

The major issue in the reports is the confrontational position that they take towards Russia and China. With the Democratic Party practically calling for the invasion of Russia and claiming Trump is only its puppet, this may surprise some.

During Obama’s presidency the U.S. military buildup along the borders of the Russian Federation and the Peoples Republic of China kicked into overdrive. There were countless aggressive political and military acts such as the US-led coup installing a Nazi regime in Ukraine and provocative war-games in the South China Sea. And there was also no shortage of anti-Russian and anti-Chinese propaganda campaigns directed at the people here and the rest of the world, so that our minds are already conditioned to view the “Russian Bear” and “Red China” as hostile, subversive and out to rule the world.

Trump’s Secretary of Defense James Mattis said, “Our military is still strong, yet our competitive edge has eroded in every domain of warfare — air, land, sea, space and cyberspace — and it continues to erode.” And the document itself says “Inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in US national security… long-term strategic competitions with China and Russia are the principal priorities for the Department.”

U.S. foreign policy is no different than when the capitalist Henry Ford said: “Do you want to know the cause of war? It is capitalism, greed, the dirty hunger for dollars. Take away the capitalist, and you will sweep war from the earth.”

In March the Senate, Democrats together with Republicans, almost unanimously granted Trump the largest military budget in history for 2019, of $719 billion of our taxes. On top of this, Trump is spending billions of our tax dollars to build up a nuclear stockpile- with hellish intentions to rain fire on people in the name of U.S. imperialism. The military budget of the United States is more than China and Russia combined, as well as the next 10 industrialized countries together. The U.S. nuclear arsenal is massive already.

Trump, on behalf of Wall Street, has declared economic warfare on the world, which will create misery for millions globally and at home. But economic warfare can only be sustained by military force. The U.S. capitalist competition is the sole and only reason and has nothing to do with saving jobs, security or defense.

Trump’s National Security Strategy also took an aggressive pro-war stance in relation to smaller independent countries like Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. The people of these nations are already in direct danger of invasion by the imperialist war-machine. They are already living with the daily realities of economic warfare that keeps their economies underdeveloped. These are the people who are in the cross-hairs of Trump’s nuclear weapons systems.

Terrorism is the genocidal war that the U.S. is waging on the people of Yemen, with their royal partners the Saudi Kingdom starving and causing the deaths of millions of Yemenis.

Throughout the decades, despite changes in which party holds office, the war machine has steadily gotten bigger and more aggressive. Trump and his gang of war-hungry generals, bankers and oil executives have kicked this into overdrive. We must recognize that when they say “national security” or “national defense” they are only talking about themselves and their blood money.

They don’t care about us any more than they care about the workers in the countries that they bomb or starve. We workers, united and organized, are the only ones who can defend us. Security, for us and the people of the world, will only exist when this empire is overthrown.

“The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all… The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands – the ownership and control of their livelihoods – are set at naught, we can have neither men’s rights nor women’s rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease.”
―Helen Keller, Rebel Lives: Helen Keller

By Gavrielle Gemma

Trump’s goals are to: 1. ensure that the 1% get richer, no matter how many wars it takes, 2. make workers all over the world (including in New Orleans) poorer and poorer, and 3. give the private military corporations more of our federal tax budget (they already get handed $1 trillion).

A new tool in his arsenal of threats are trade wars. He and his filthy rich buddies try to make it seem like this will protect “U.S. jobs.” This is a lie! First off, the capitalists don’t care about workers or our jobs. Use us, discard us and pay the cheapest wages is all they know. He is attempting to build false patriotism about this, but as always under capitalism patriotism is used to defend wars and racism. This is not just “one country under god” but a class society with the workers and oppressed on one side and the capitalists on the other.

Trump thinks we can’t figure out the confusing trade wars issue as we are “just workers.” In the 1980’s the auto industry whipped up a “buy American cars” campaign to save the industry and workers’ jobs. This did boost profits, but they still demanded concessions meaning lower wages and fewer benefits. But this wasn’t enough for their greed. The labor of the auto workers produced so much wealth (not given back to them or their communities) that they used it to bring in high tech machinery and to move their plants overseas. The result was the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Trump just announced he will take $15 billion of tax payer money to give to agribusiness corporations because of lost exports due to his trade wars. Farm workers will see none of this money when they get laid off. Just like when Bush and Obama bailed out the banks but not workers who lost their jobs and homes.

Don’t believe us? Here what Money magazine has to say: “A group representing the solar industry says that the Trump administration’s decision to increase taxes on imported solar panels will cause the loss of 23,000 jobs this year, with more job cuts in the years ahead. The Council on Foreign Relations estimates that Trump’s 25% tax on imported steel would cause 18,000 to 40,000 auto-industry job losses in the U.S. by the end of next year. A study from the American Action Forum indicates that a 25% tax on imported cars and auto parts would result in “a net decrease of 157,000 jobs.” The Wall Street Journal reports that 2.5 billion pounds of U.S. beef is piling up in cold storage waiting for buyers due to new tari s on U.S. exports. Around the world millions of workers are also being displaced from their land and jobs.

The capitalist system is threatening all our lives. It is wildly murdering people in wars around the world, stealing our treasuries, impoverishing and incarcerating our people right here and still it cannot solve its internal problems. The working class produces the world’s wealth which the capitalists waste on their economic and military wars. We workers of the world urgently need to unshackle our minds and start to organize to overthrow the capitalist system. The stockpiling of food and other goods is proof that there is enough in the world for all people, and under socialism the people of the world will share in this abundance.

By Gregory Williams

Like many workers, I’m anxious around the first of the month. With a full-time job, I still struggle to make rent.

There are many reasons for these difficulties, all stemming from capitalism (the economic system we have, where a tiny few own almost all the wealth). We’re shackled with debt. For decades, wages have plummeted while living costs rise.

There is also a housing crisis. The problem isn’t a housing shortage; the U.S. Census says that, in 2017, 12.8% of housing units in NOLA were vacant. The problem is displacement and speculation. The rich make money gambling on the housing market, investing their enormous wealth (which is produced by our labor) in real estate speculation. They get rich, banks get bailed out, and working people end up on the streets.

But I want to raise questions specifically about rent and landlords. I’ve hated landlords since I moved into my rst apartment in a complex owned by a property management company. I was shocked when I was hit with various fines (like a $50 fee when rent was a day late), and cheated out of my security deposit. Now I know the score. Do we even need landlords, though? Is it necessary to have a system of housing where we pay rent to some owner? The answer is “no.” And we don’t have to turn to science ction for alternative models. In the 20th century, many countries had socialist revolutions, and all made great headway in abolishing exploitative housing arrangements, making access to housing a right.

Take the Soviet Union, the first socialist state. The revolutionaries faced extreme difficulties from the start. Housing was in short supply prior to the revolution. Immediately after the revolutionaries came to power in 1917, the Soviets were invaded by the capitalist powers, including the U.S. Basic housing construction was the main difficulty, and much of the progress was wiped out during WWII. The Soviets lost over a quarter of all dwelling places during the Nazi invasion. Nevertheless, they defeated the Nazis, set about rebuilding, and were able to ensure that no person was homeless. Most urban housing was communally owned or owned by the state, ensuring that everyone has access.

After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, many tenants were made home owners. Most others lived in state-owned housing, and by the mid-60s, were no longer paying rent. To this day, in the “poor” socialist countries of Cuba and North Korea, homelessness is unknown, whereas in the U.S., hundreds of thousands are homeless. The many socialist revolutions of the past century show that when workers take control of society, we can simply get rid of landlords and all the other exploiters. Under socialism, we can abolish rent. We can end homelessness.