Caravan forum builds international solidarity

NEW YORK CITY, January 3— A Progressive Labor Party (PLP) club rang in 2019 with a forum in New York City to raise awareness about the plight, of our longsuffering sisters and brothers fleeing Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and who are now desperately seeking refuge at the Tijuana-U.S. border.
After an intense week of preparation, 35 workers attended. PLP panelists sharply contrasted the horrors refugee workers experience under capitalism, with that of a liberated worker-run society devoid of economic and physical violence, and artificial borders.
The discussions and experiences that we shared inspired workers to become more deeply involved in struggle to help our fellow migrant workers. The forum began with a panel talk that gave a historical and political overview of the current crisis. In his introduction, the PL’er spoke about how U.S. imperialism destroys the countries of Latin America socially and economically through U.S. interventions militarily and politically in these countries and also about how workers there led the resistance against the criminal U.S imperialism.
This panel was followed by a talk from a member of a community organization who was in Mexico with a group of volunteers. She spoke about her experiences with workers in the caravan, who she built relationships with, and she shared some of their stories. These stories gripped the audience and brought many of us to tears as she laid bare the harrowing conditions these families are experiencing. Many,she explained, are going hungry without food, clothing, or shelter, and many others suffer illnesses due to lack of medical attention and unhealthy conditions.
Nevertheless she counter-posed these with stories about the solidarity, and selflessness that workers from Mexico and the U.S are showing these families in their darkest hours. They lend a hand by donating food, supplies, and their time in order make worker’s lives more bearable. These examples are bright spots of hope that remind us that only our class is truly capable of protecting, and caring for others in times of need.
Another young woman in the panel, working with the sanctuary movement, also told us about the work they are doing to help the members of the caravan in different ways, from fundraising to volunteering in order to meet worker needs. Finally a young worker concluded the panel by sharing her inspiring work in the sanctuary movement. She and her mother created a group to help immigrants who face deportations, which presently boasts 670 members.
After the presentation we opened up the panel for discussion and Q&A, and we had the opportunity to express some ideas and at the end we also had the pleasure of distributing CHALLENGEs. By the end of the discussion, we came to the general consensus that the workers were fleeing from violence, the corruption of governments, poverty, hunger, misery, lack of work, lack of opportunities and repression, and that the bosses—not workers—profit from borders. More importantly, we discussed ways to help our brothers and sisters who are already on the border, and several proposals were made. In the future we agreed to:
 Elaborate and present workshops in all the committees of the community organization about the caravan.
 Prepare a list of volunteers to go to the border in support of the migrants.
Collect funds and supplies to help the members of the caravan and deliver it to the Sanctuary Movement.
Carry out protests or action plans of the committee within the organization.
Work with a PLP member who works at CUNY (who during the forum also participated and gave a speech about his anti-racist work at his campus).
Finally, we concluded with a fundraiser. We gave the funds to the Sanctuary Movement to contribute to the organizing efforts at the border. Perhaps the most valuable gain from this event was that it demonstrated the willingness of the workers to challenge the system and to fight for the things we really care about.
Although we are working inside a reformist organization run by the liberal rulers, this was a small victory for the members of PLP and our friends. We know that with this, we need to continue on the path of larger struggles for communist revolution and workers’ power.