PHOENIX, AZ, July 29 — On the day Arizona’s racist anti-immigrant law SB 1070 was scheduled to take effect, Progressive Labor Party participated in a march to the state capitol building carrying a banner that read “From Arizona to Afghanistan, fight racism and imperialism with communism!”
A federal judge placed an injunction on some of SB 1070’s provisions, which require local Arizona cops to check for immigration status. Protests were still ongoing in Los Angeles and Arizona, as the injunction changes very little on the ground.
In Los Angeles nearly 200 protesters blocked an intersection near the headquarters of a company that does business with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, and in Arizona several dozen protestors were arrested in front of the racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s downtown Phoenix office. Arpaio denounced the injunction and vowed to carry on the raids that have terrorized the immigrant community in Arizona. The day of actions culminated in a march and rally in front of Arizona’s state capitol, continuing the more than 100-day vigil to protest SB1070.
In the bus caravan to Arizona organized by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, PLP put forward the connection between immigration reform and ruling-class efforts to build support for their imperialist wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
At a community forum organized in a local Phoenix church, PL’ers sat with a group of law students who participated as legal observers. We talked about how the DREAM Act was being supported by the Obama administration, the Pentagon, and Democrats to create the illusion that U.S. capitalism can meet the needs of working-class immigrant youth. One of the law students agreed, pointing out that only a very few undocumented immigrant youths are able to afford college, and since the DREAM Act does not make them eligible for financial aid , they will have to consider other options. Besides two years of college, the second option, or “pathway to citizenship” offered by the DREAM Act is joining the U.S. ruling class’s imperialist army. Their immigration reform is actually a call for workers and troops for imperialist war.
During the march to the Arizona state capitol, the PL contingent carried a red flag in contrast to the many U.S. flags distributed at the union-sponsored event. PL’ers led chants including, “queremos un mundo sin fronteras, tendremos un mundo sin fronteras! (“We want a world without borders, we will have a world without borders!”) and “working people have no nation, smash racist deportations!” One of the main organizers of the event became visibly upset with the PL contingent because it was leading anti-racist cop chants, twisting the vague chant of “no justice no peace,” and adding to it “no racist police!” Later, one of the same law students, now acting as a legal observer, approached a PL’er and expressed her approval for our leading militant anti-racist cop chants.
Injunction or not, during crisis time blatant racism is on the rise as capitalists need scapegoats. We can see this with the raids and traps conducted in Arizona: “jaywalking? Show me your papers.” Other examples include the recent ICE raid of a factory in Southern California, as well as the proposal to “ban” immigrants from a town in South Carolina. Every night Spanish-language media use these news items to make the case for “comprehensive immigration reform” and the DREAM Act, but as CHALLENGE has repeatedly pointed out, immigration reform is not the answer; communist revolution is.
PLP’s presence was important, placing the debate on immigration within the context of the needs of U.S. capitalism and imperialism. We called for workers to smash borders and build international, working-class solidarity in the struggle for a communist world. Finally, it gave PL’ers plenty to talk about in the near future with old and new friends who participated in these protests.