WORCESTER, MA, May 12 — PLP led a multi-racial demonstration of 150 workers and youth to oppose a racist Tea Party rally that was defending Arizona’s fascist anti-immigration law.
Prior to a May 11 City Council vote not to discuss a boycott of Arizona for that law targeting immigrants from Latin America, PLP members and friends formed a coalition of groups to present a resolution to the Council to boycott Arizona (see letter, page 6). Meanwhile the ACLU and the Mayor sent their versions of an anti-Arizona boycott to the City Clerk.
But yesterday, the racist Council voted not even to discuss it, even though it had previously voted on resolutions such as divesting from Darfur and passed a “no-hate” resolution against anti-Semitic graffiti. However, in this case the Latino community was raising its concerns about racial profiling and how it was targeting Latinos.
We continued to organize for a rally in front of City Hall. But when we heard that the Tea Party and the racist paramilitary MinuteMen would hold a counter-demonstration to support the fascist Arizona law, we fought for a large turnout to demonstrate against the Tea Party.
Many working people in the city were outraged that the Tea Party would show up so they brought their friends to the action. As usual, the TV and press never interviewed any anti-Tea Party groups, covering only the Tea Party and the City officials.
On the rally day, PLP’ers arrived at City Hall a half hour before the Tea Party and two of us established ourselves in the middle of the Plaza, forcing the Tea Party off to the side. Some wore confederate flags and seemingly included MinuteMen thugs.
The Tea Party racists began yelling at our comrades and friends, saying we were “illegal” and to “go back to Cuba.” We called them Nazis and yelled “death to fascist laws.” More and more people came, swelling the anti-racist boycott crowd to 150, overwhelming the 30 out-of-town Tea Party racists.
When the Tea Party gang saw us using our sound system, they tried to provoke us by pointing their bullhorn one foot from our ears. One of our comrades boldly blocked a Tea Party racist from harassing an anti-racist speaker on our open microphone with a sign that read, “Death to fascist laws!”
We continued to label them fascist and racists, while calling for multi-racial unity and for a worker-run society. We chanted, “Asian, Latin, black, and white, against racism we must unite!”; and, “Same enemy, same fight, workers of the world unite!” which many workers liked. We also chanted, “Working people have no nation! Smash racist deportations!”
The workers in the crowd became energized when one of our friends led a chant in Spanish, “Aqui estamos y aqui nos quedamos!” (“Here we are and here we’ll stay!”), a chant undocumented workers used in New Bedford, MA, when federal immigration cops raided a factory and arrested them. Many people said later that although the Tea Party intimidated them, they felt stronger when PLP members and friends stood up to the fascists.
The confrontation and the City Council’s racist vote caused such anger that people stepped up to call for a community meeting two days later to continue the fight against racism.J