SFO Rally vs. Muslim Ban

SAN FRANCISCO, January 28—The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and friends joined hundreds of protesters at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on Saturday night to demand that all refugees be let in! It is the capitalists who create millions of refugees with their imperialist wars and racist violence. Then they use their borders to divide workers from each other. We need to smash Trump’s racist ban as we fight for a communist revolution that will eliminate all borders and end imperialist wars so that workers can build an egalitarian world without racism and sexism.
We were supposed to have a meeting that Saturday, but we quickly shifted our plans to join the protest. At first some of us were hesitant to cancel the meeting, but as soon as we got to SFO we were all energized. As we entered, people on their way out raised their fists and said, “Thanks for coming! We need people to replace us!” Hundreds of chanting protesters were at the international arrivals gate. The crowd was multiracial and was not divided by identity group or organization.
We joined the chanting, and we even led some chants. The crowd loved our chant, “They say go back, we say fight back!” While people gave speeches, we handed out fliers and CHALLENGE newspaper. After the apolitical women’s marches last weekend, this militant SFO rally was energizing. Mostly, the politics were limited to reforming immigration and criticizing Trump, but in conversations, people were open to making bigger connections. One comrade told us later that someone had responded to getting CHALLENGE with, “Of course the issue is capitalism!”
After the protest, we ate and talked about our experience. A comrade noted that the political vacuum left room for us to take leadership. Many people are mobilized now, but we must struggle to put revolutionary communist politics out front every time we fight back against these racist attacks on the working class. Another comrade agreed, saying that she noticed something similar amongst her friends. Many have reached out to her about politics more in the past few weeks and seem to be seeking political leadership.
As we deal with the fear and chaos so many people are experiencing, we have to be clear that “It’s not just Trump, It’s capitalism!” After all, it was Obama who laid the groundwork for Trump’s racist ban. Obama deported 2.4 million workers, more than any other president ever. Obama was first to list the seven mostly Muslim countries in his racist 2015 Terror Prevention Act (see front page). As those young, Black rebels in Ferguson said “The whole damn system has to go!” Join the Progressive Labor Party to make that happen.