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Stop the Terrorist Threats Against the Squad!

By Jennifer Lin and Gregory William

Trump is leading the racist, sexist attacks against especially Ilhan Omar as well as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley (aka ‘the Squad’). They are all progressive women of color, and this upsets white supremacists. These attacks show how completely intolerant Trump and his rich backers are of people of color and women having a voice, or a vote, or a different point of view even when elected.

At a campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump attacked Ilhan Omar, inciting the racist crowd to chant “Send her back.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says that she has received so many death threats that she stiffens when someone knocks on her office door. The right-wing attack is not confined just to incendiary racist rants but also includes the threat of outright violence.

As Trump continues to attack the Squad, Black, Brown and LGBTQ people are being murdered in the streets, and workers are being stripped of rights and getting poorer. Children are dying in migrant prisons run for profit. Each year, $1 trillion goes to the Pentagon rather than to education, healthcare, housing, and families.

The scapegoating of migrants and extreme racism is always the tactic of fascists and cannot be ignored. In his rise to power, Hitler whipped up racism and other reactionary tendencies to turn people’s attention away from the capitalists that had just created the devastating depression. That Trump is doing exactly this should be deeply concerning to us. This is not to say that full-blown fascism is here…yet. But if we workers do not defeat the ruling class, our society may degenerate into a fascist regime. Every time politicians hand over more taxpayer money to the Pentagon, they increase the already outsized power of war-profiteering monopolies who are headed by the most fascistic wing of the capitalist class. These capitalists have long been ready to facilitate an outright fascist takeover of the state and are only waiting for the majority of capitalists to come to the agreement that fascism is necessary to maintain a capitalist system in crisis. Brazil, India, and the Ukraine (all staunch U.S. allies), give a grim picture of a possible future for the U.S.

Many people have been inspired by the Squad, Bernie Sanders, and other political figures; however, these politicians are being used to keep young people and progressives, who are hungry for change, tied to the capitalist pro-war Democrats. The main function of the Democratic Party has been to stop the independent action of the workers and youth. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through on a multi-billion-dollar bill to fund ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, with none of the migrant protections that are backed by progressives. House Democrats recently united with Republicans to hand over a record $738 billion to the Pentagon, which will only worsen U.S. militarism and imperialism. Representatives Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez were among those who supported the budget. These progressives’ calls for a Green New Deal mean nothing unless they commit to dismantling the war machine.

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Another “Great Recession?” Lesson from 2008: Capitalism Breeds One Crisis After Another for Workers

By Gavrielle Gemma

Trump’s tax cuts went into the bank vaults of billionaires, instead of creating jobs. The treasury is being looted by military war profiteers, banks are reaping record profits, and wages can’t buy the products workers need to get by. Around the world capitalists are sending workers on a race to the bottom. These factors are intensifying the inherent tendency of capitalism to produce crisis after crisis with the working class and oppressed picking up the tab every time.

The monopoly for-profit media (in all, six companies) are sounding the alarm of an imminent new recession. Hundreds of articles are being written but not one considers what a crash would mean for working people, only how best to save the capitalist system and the obscene profits that it guarantees the rich.

While imperialist countries cooperate to occupy and loot other countries and scour the world for arms contracts and cheap wages (enforced by U.S. weaponry given to local puppets), they also are fierce rivals for market domination. This led to both WWI and WWII, which left hundreds of millions dead. Both the Republican and Democratic parties are united in their devotion to the imperialist cause. That is why both vote to increase the military budget time and time again. Different style, same outcome.

In 2008, the “Great Recession” began.

The last inevitable bust happened when Bush Jr. was in office, and the capitalist government ran to bail out the banks and others who caused the crash. First, they instantly found $700 billion ($700,000,000,000) of our money and gave it out to the banks and insurance industry in a program called TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program).

Obama was elected in 2008 and many workers, Black and white, believed he would feel their pain already under way. Instead, Obama continued the bank bailout and allowed the Federal Reserve Bank (the Central Bank of the U.S.—with our money in it) to hand out $14.4 Trillion dollars ($14,400,000,000,000) of free money, without interest, to desperately prop up the teetering capitalist system. A University of Missouri study says $29 Trillion, but the true figure is kept a state secret. Other Central Banks around the world did the same. Nothing was done to stop the bleeding in the working class.

Immense suffering of the people ignored.

Demonstrations by workers and youth demanded to bail out the people, not the banks, but this did not happen with the force needed, a point we’ll come back to again. Here’s what did happen.

30 million jobs were lost. Nine million homes were foreclosed. (The current Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin was named “foreclosure king” for his role in this massive swindle). Pensions were cut by more than 25%, and in some cases completely wiped out. Across the globe more than 90 million jobs were lost and poverty soared.

Recovery for corporate profits not workers’ wages.

While many jobs have replaced those that were lost, most are at much lower wages and without benefits, and millions are temporary or part-time jobs. Banks, however, are reporting record profits of $240 billion, with just six raking in $100 billion, in part because of the sickening tax cuts and handouts to the rich, sold to us as incentives to create jobs, which is a lie. The banks also make massive profits from low wages, opioid deaths, destruction of the environment, mass incarceration of U.S. and migrant workers, and the warfare capitalist state. The banks and corporations either hoarded tax savings or used it to buy their own stocks. Goldman Sachs Bank (GS), best friend to Trump, Obama and the Clintons, scored especially big from the tax cuts. The current Trump cabinet has 5 Goldman Sachs executives running our lives. The ex-president of GS, Gary Cohn, is president of the Economic Council.

Repeat history or organize?

It is often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Whether in 2020 or 2022, capitalist recession or depression is inevitable. Relying on saviors such as the Democratic Party, warfare or bailing out bosses is not the way to go. We need to understand how capitalism is a dying system of total anarchy meant only for the 1%.

The global workforce produces all the wealth in society which is stolen by capitalist free loaders who scapegoat the poor and immigrants while they hide in their gold-encrusted mansions. The election of social democrats to capitalist government will not stop this, and most often they collaborate with the capitalists to enact anti-worker measures and cuts to social programs. It is this collaborationist policy that has led millions of workers in Europe who have historically voted socialist to look to the fascist parties as happened during the period of depression in Germany when the Nazis rose to power.

As revolutionary socialist workers, the New Orleans Workers Group is building an independent organization of workers fighting for our own class interests. We need to prepare now in our minds and work to get this message of struggle, global solidarity, workers unity and independent action out. Join us.

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While the Amazon Burns and Louisiana Drowns…

Cuba tops the list of countries with the most sustainable model of development on the planet, according to the environmental group World Wildlife Federation. The group considers both human development—for example high life expectancy and literacy—and the “environmental footprint” of a country. Despite the criminal U.S. embargo and near constant attempts by U.S. imperialists to undermine Cuba’s socialist system, the Cuban government and the Cuban people are determined to show the world that a better world is possible.

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From Gert Town to Gordon Plaza: Residents Demand Non-Toxic Homes

By Nathalie Clarke

Residents of Gert Town, a working-class, Black neighborhood, have been exposed to toxic, radioactive waste for years. There has been no action by city government. Leaked emails from 2013 show city officials discovered the radioactive materials underneath the roads on Coolidge Court and Lowerline Street near the site of an old chemical plant. Because of the Super Bowl, the fat cats and politicians, seeing the potential for massive profits, decided to ignore the problem despite concerns from an environmental consultant.

The land, purchased in 1931 when Gert Town was a white working class area by Thomas-Hayward Chemical Co., has been the site of pesticide and herbicide production, which are both notorious pollutants. Many of the toxic chemical byproducts these chemicals produce remain in the ecosystem for years after the source of pollution has been removed. Basically, it doesn’t matter that the company moved from Gert Town in the 1980s; they left their trash.

The radium-226 found in the soil is an unstable chemical compound that decays and emits radiation. Long-term exposure to radiation is known to increase the risk of cancer and can sometimes cause irreversible damage to DNA. Generations of workers have probably spent thousands of dollars on medical complications—all because of a few greedy CEOs and politicians who serve the interests of the rich bosses and never the workers.

Current residents of the area told the Workers’ Voice they had known for years about the radiation and had been complaining about the dust and smell since the 1980s. “There have been folks getting sick because of this,” one resident told the Workers Voice. “The city would have done something if this was a bunch of white folks on St. Charles,” another resident said.

Capitalism will always prioritize profit over people and the environment. From Cancer Alley to Gordon Plaza to Gert Town, the capitalist ruling class has shown time and time again that they do not value the lives of workers. They care more about stuffing their pockets and hoarding the wealth that we, the working class, produce. Residents of Gert Town deserve fully funded relocation. All human beings deserve homes on land that won’t give them cancer.

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Struggle for Fully Funded Relocation Heats Up

By Antranette Scott

On a Thursday morning, Shannon R, Lydwina, Marilyn A., and Jesse P., residents of Gordon Plaza, walked out the doors of City Hall to a press conference. The Residents of Gordon Plaza just finished meeting Mayor Cantrell to discuss the next steps towards a Fully Funded Relocation for the Upper Ninth Ward community. Since the Residents discovered that the homes sold to them through a program targeting Black residents of the Desire Project were on toxic soil, they have been fighting for relocation.

Four weeks before the press conference, the Residents of Gordon Plaza, along with the New Orleans People’s Assembly, engaged in a weekend of outreach during Essence Fest, a yearly cultural festival sponsored by Essence magazine that brings in 500,000 people to New Orleans and generates between $10-11 million annually. July’s issue of Essence magazine ran a story about the fight for relocation. After 1 year and 3 months of attempts to get a meeting with the mayor, the Residents took their story to the streets, the meeting rooms, and the stages of Essence Fest.

Throughout the weekend’s events, organizers handed Mayor Cantrell copies of a letter signed by over 40 community organizations who support fully funded relocation for the Residents of Gordon Plaza. After constant pressure from the People, Mayor Cantrell posted a message on all of her social media platforms saying, “my administration is actively working on a solution.”

After this statement, there were 4 weeks of silence. The day before the press conference, the Mayor’s office scheduled a meeting for an hour before the planned event.

At the press conference the Residents restated that any resolution must include: (1) a fully funded relocation; (2) a timeline for when the relocation will happen; and (3) the inclusion of the Residents in planning the relocation process. The Residents reported that Mayor Cantrell promised some movement on the issue in September. They will not, however, be tempered by words; only concrete action will do. The Residents of Gordon Plaza and the community will keep up the fight.

You can hear more about the residents and the fight for relocation on September 5th at The American Dream Denied: Gordon Plaza Seeks Relocation, an exhibit at Newcomb Art Museum on Tulane University’s main campus. The exhibit will have an opening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. that includes a reception and informational panel. This event is free to the public. The exhibit will be on display through December 14th and is free and open to the public.

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Workers’ Rally Says Mass Action Needed to Fight White Supremacy

Photo credit: Fernando Lopez
By Jennifer Lin

On Sunday, August 11, Take ‘Em Down Nola hosted a “Rally to Unite and Fight Back Against White Supremacy” in response to recent white supremacist attacks waged by ICE and the El Paso, TX shooter. Several hundred people gathered in front of Jackson Square to hear community members speak, including representatives from the New Orleans People’s Assembly, New Orleans Workers Group, the Hospitality Workers Alliance, Congreso de Jornaleros/Congress of Day Laborers, New Orleans Renters Union, and the American Federation of Government Employees.

The ICE raids in Mississippi and the massacre in El Paso are violent expressions of the white supremacist ideology that the U.S. was founded upon. From the genocide of indigenous peoples and the enslavement of Africans to the for-profit imprisonment of immigrants and people of color, racial hatred continues to be a tool used by the rich, mostly white ruling class to keep workers and oppressed people divided. When the people are divided, they cannot effectively challenge the institutions that oppress them.

Ashlee Pintos, a member of the Hospitality Workers Alliance and the New Orleans Workers Group, spoke to the importance of showing solidarity for migrant workers who are at risk of being deported the moment they step foot on U.S. soil: “We have to build up our communities so that we can actually protect our community members.” Her words were echoed by Yolanda, a member of Congreso, who denounced the El Paso shooter for claiming that America was being threatened by the “Hispanic invasion.” She called the ICE raids the “true invasion,’’ emphasizing the need for solidarity with migrant workers.

Jessie, a resident of Gordon Plaza, warned the crowd of the extent to which white supremacy has been internalized and institutionalized in New Orleans. Speaking of Mayor Cantrell, who had refused to acknowledge the residents of Gordon Plaza until recently, he said, “The white supremacists control the Black puppets…If we had been white, we would have been relocated.” The residents of Gordon Plaza have been fighting for over 30 years to be relocated off of a toxic landfill. The city has always had more than enough money to provide the residents with a fully funded relocation; however, 63% of the city budget continues to be allocated towards jails and the police, who uphold white supremacy and capitalism.

White workers must also organize to educate one another and dispel the propaganda that continues to fuel racism in the U.S. As Gregory, a member of the New Orleans Workers Group put it, “We have to build a movement that can bring white workers into the struggle as well, along with workers of color, who are sick and tired of this brutal system, who are sick and tired of being murdered in the streets by crooked, racist cops…We have to stand united.”

Our political power lies in our ability to organize against our oppressors. If we want to see a better world, we must actively create that world by organizing in our communities and by educating ourselves and others. We must collectively resist all forms of oppression: capitalism, racism, sexism, imperialism, and attacks against LGBTQ people. Only then can we begin to build a world in which people are truly free.

Photo credit: Fernando Lopez
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Mass Shootings Are Part and Parcel of US Political Culture

By Malcolm Suber

“Violence is as American as cherry pie.” These words were first spoken in 1967 by H. Rap Brown (now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin), a Black revolutionary leader of the Student National Coordinating Committee (SNCC). A reporter had asked whether Brown would renounce calls for violent resistance to the oppression of Black people. He replied that the U.S. white ruling class has always embraced violence against those whom they want to control. They have no right to request from the oppressed that which they will not renounce for themselves.

The entire settler state created by European colonizers was founded on the violent taking of indigenous lands and the kidnapping and forced enslavement of Africans.

Throughout its history, the U.S. ruling class has been determined to wipe out indigenous peoples through genocide. Following the Civil War, to maintain the now-freed Black workforce as cheap, exploitable laborers, the ruling class imposed over 150 years of racist tyranny through Klan terror, public lynchings, and racist pogroms such as those in Rosewood, FL and Tulsa, OK. To this day, white supremacist terrorists serve as an auxiliary to police forces, from the FBI down to the local cops. The USA has created the world’s largest police and prison system, primarily to contain and control its Black, formerly enslaved population as well as other non- whites and poor people within its borders.

Despite all the posturing by Republican and Democratic party spokespeople, there is no admission of the violent nature of the U.S. state or criticism of the murderous history of white supremacist rule.

The U.S. has a 500-year history of using mass killings as way to enforce its will on other countries and peoples. The crocodile tears now being shed by the white supremacist ruling class over the mass shootings in Gilroy, CA, El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH are just a cover to hide this history. Despite all the posturing by Republican and Democratic party spokespeople, there is no admission of the violent nature of the U.S. state or criticism of the murderous history of white supremacist rule.

The ruling class media and leaders of the twin parties of capitalist rule have finally had to call the armed white nationalist right wing “terrorists.” These latest atrocities have even compelled white supremacist-in-chief Donald Trump to verbally condemn “racism, bigotry and white supremacy.” However, U.S. police forces from the FBI on down are reluctant to attack their auxiliary forces. That is not the enemy they joined the police force to subdue. Their racism forces them to identify with fascist elements.

The military budget consumes 60% of all U.S. tax dollars. These funds are transferred to the billionaire owners of Pentagon-contracted companies that comprise the Military Industrial Complex. Domestically, the white supremacist rulers allow the mass distribution of weapons to right-wing armed white supremacists as well as urban gangs. These urban gangs engage in fratricide that helps to create a lack of trust among the working class masses.

The U.S. is the world’s largest arms dealer. It forces its junior partners to purchase its weapons and disperses millions of weapons and ammunition to right-wing governments and reactionary fascist movements all over the world. As a result, from Venezuela to Yemen, thousands of innocent people die daily.

The intent of the U.S. ruling class is to keep the multi-national working class divided. Our task as class-conscious freedom fighters is to uproot these white supremacist poisonous weeds that have been and are presently being sown by the U.S. ruling class. We must overcome their efforts to divide us and unite to overthrow the capitalists and their state.

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Halt Property Tax Increase

Real Estate Tax Hikes = Evictions for Black Homeowners

Mayor Cantrell issues a new press release daily praising new programs. Working class New Orleanians, especially the Black community, need to ask ourselves a few questions. Is my situation today better or worse? Have my rents, taxes, utility bills gone down? Has my income gone up? No! The main policy of the city is to displace New Orleans communities to make way for the high paid, mostly white yuppies who are moving here. Black music, food and traditions draw tourism bucks but communities aren’t seeing any benefits from it. The government proves once again that it works for the capitalists, not the people.

Despite the Sewerage & Water Board illegally squandering tens of millions of dollars, not one former Board member has gone to jail—even worse, they’re collecting huge pensions on our dime. The S&WB gives out huge profit-making contracts with no accountability. Meanwhile, the S&WB workers’ jobs have only been getting harder and more terrible.

A new Board has been appointed headed by Neil Abramson, a major Cantrell backer, who works with real estate developers and who pushed through the destruction of public community education in favor of charter profiteering. The new Board is mainly made up of millionaires. Like before, the City Council, with all their contributions from big business, tries to pretend they have no role and can do nothing. So whose interest are they really representing? Now they want us to pay for higher bills with a new drainage fee on the October ballot.

In 1999 a new fee and higher rates increased bills by 50%. Thousands are still struggling with the robbery the S&WB carried out with false high bills. A fee is a pretty word for a tax, and we cannot afford another expense coming out of our stagnant or falling incomes. We need an elected S&WB run by working class people, not the robber barons.

VOTE NO TO NEW DRAINAGE FEE
NEW TAX ASSESSMENTS are ANOTHER WAY TO GENTRIFY

RACIST REAL ESTATE VULTURES RESPONSIBLE, GOVERNMENT AIDS THEM

The new tax assessments, some 50% higher, are pushing thousands of working class and middle-class homeowners into foreclosure and eviction. This is a crisis for those on social security, pensions, and disability especially, but with low wages and no raises this is devastating. Taxes and insurance are swallowing incomes up, and this crime is abetted by government officials—city and state—who are owned by the developers and insurance industries.

Many Black communities like Treme are barely recognizable as rents and home prices and new taxes are driving Black people out. Hospitality workers can no longer afford to live in areas close to the Quarter or CBD. Gentilly homes are now selling for $350,000 because that’s what real estate vultures charge. So, based on that, long-time homeowners are seeing their homes that were purchased for $80,000 reassessed for higher amounts, regardless even of condition.

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Workers Have No Interest in Another Rich Men’s War for Oil

Who’s threatening whom? Dozens of U.S. military bases and 125,000 U.S. troops surround Iran.

“Of course it’s about oil, it’s very much about oil, and we can’t really deny that.” —Four Star General John Abizaid, the former commander of CENTCOM, speaking about the U.S. war on Iraq

“People say we’re not fighting for oil. Of course, we are. They talk about America’s national interest. What the hell do you think they’re talking about? We’re not there for figs.” —Former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel speaking about the Iraq war in 2007

“I’m interested in Libya if we take the oil. If we don’t take the oil, no interest.” —Donald Trump, one month after the US/NATO bombing of Libya in 2012

“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It was like—
we had entire training courses.” —Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at Texas A&M University, April 15, 2019

Beware Of Lies To Justify War on Iran

Lie: In 1964, the U.S. went to war because North Vietnamese small boats fired on a U.S. warship in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Fact: In 2019 it is confirmed this was a total lie to get us to back a war. Former navy pilot James Stockdale reported from the air, “There was nothing there but black water and American fire power.” The result: 3 million Vietnamese and 56,000 U.S. troops dead and thousands of Vietnam veterans left homeless in the streets.

Lie: Iraq attacked the World Trade Center towers. That’s why the U.S. went to war with Iraq.
Fact: The 9/11 commission confirmed that Iraq had nothing to do with the World Trade Center tragedy. The U.S. invaded Iraq and took over the country and its oil fields. After 500,000 Iraqi children died, Bush finally admitted on 9/11 2006 in a TV speech that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had no hand in 9/11.

Lie: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that threatened the U.S.
Fact: From November 2002 to September 2004, 1,625 US and UN inspectors searched 1,700 sites and found no weapons of mass destruction. It has since been admitted this was a lie to justify the invasion and occupation.

Lie: The U.S. wants democracy in Iran and Iran’s 80 million people want U.S. intervention.
Fact: In 1953, the CIA carried out a coup against the democratic and secular president Mossadegh. They put in power the Shah (means king) who ruled the country with an iron fist until 1979. Iranian people will never forget his reign of terror.

Lie: On June 13, Iran attacked oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman with a mine.
Fact: The Japanese crew of one of the damaged ships stated that this was not true. The crews of both tankers were rescued by Iranians in their territorial waters. On the same day, the Japanese Prime Minister was in Iran for a historic meeting with the leader of Iran, the first meeting of its kind in over forty years. An attack on a Japanese vessel would be the last thing Iran would want to do.

Lie: Iran is a threat.
Fact: Iran has not invaded or attacked another country in 100 years. Over the same time period, the U.S. has carried out over 100 invasions. UN inspectors stated that Iran was not building nuclear weapons and it was the U.S. that pulled out of the nuclear deal, not Iran. The U.S. has recently pulled out of other international arms treaties such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia. There are 125,000 U.S. troops in bases circling Iran.

Lie: This is about national security.
Fact: This is about oil and selling weapons for profits. The federal budget is being looted by giant war profiteering companies for $1.2 trillion a year. This money could be used to meet people’s needs.

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FIFA Uses Slave Labor For World Cup

By Joseph Rosen

Fans looking forward to the Men’s 2022 World Cup ought to know about and show their outrage over the conditions of slavery that many of the workers suffer from in Qatar. Construction work for the World Cup in Qatar is mainly carried out by so called guest-workers who make up over 90% of the country’s workforce.

Mainly migrating from South Asia, these workers are tricked into paying high recruitment fees and then are forced to work in order to pay off the impossible debts that their companies saddle them with. Held against their will, workers often have their wages withheld and are denied exit visas by their bosses. An investigative report by the German broadcaster WDR recorded the testimony of some of the workers: “We are captured,” said Nepali worker Dil Prasad.

“Every day we nourish ourselves on water and bread. Without money we can’t do anything else. Month on month our situation gets worse and worse.”

The hiring companies often warehouse these workers in crowded, dirty and unsafe labor camps. Many of the enslaved workers are forced to work in the extreme heat without the proper safety precautions. The Nepali government reports that 1,426 migrant workers in Qatar have died between 2009 and 2019. This year, at least 111 workers have already died, many on the job.

In 2016, the Global Slavery Index estimated that on any given day there were 403,000 people living in conditions of modern slavery in the United States.

Of course slavery is not unique to Qatar. In 2016, the Global Slavery Index estimated that on any given day there were 403,000 people living in conditions of modern slavery in the United States. Many of these people care for the sick and harvest our food. Many labor in detention camps and prisons.

In Louisiana less than 10 years ago, more than 350 Filipino guest-workers were defrauded and held in debt bondage by labor contractors. These workers—many teachers in the East Baton Rouge Parish School District—had their passports and visas confiscated by their recruiters. They were forced into unfair contracts under threat of deportation.

In Mississippi more than 590 Indian welders were lured to work for Signal Corporation, a company that got contracts to repair oil platforms in the gulf that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Promised permanent resident visas by their recruiters, many of these workers took on debts that were equivalent to two or three years’ salary in India. They were housed in guarded labor camps on the company’s property—24 men to a 24-by-36-foot trailer. For “room and board” each worker had more than $1,050 per month deducted from their pay. The company never delivered on their permanent residency visas.

If you are worker trapped by your employer, contact the New Orleans Workers Group for help.

None of us are free if one of us is chained!