Letters of February 22

Yemeni Bodegas on Strike
Last week a couple of my women ESL students from Yemen told me about a protest by Yemeni bodega and deli small business owners in NYC. So I went. More than 1000 deli owners shut down their stores for 8 hours across NYC and more than 5000 headed to downtown Brooklyn to protest against the Trump ban forbidding entry to the US from 7 mostly Muslim countries. Yes, there were a lot of American flags, a mass prayer observance and the usual Democrat politicians. But things are not always as they seem.
After the prayer service the crowd (men) got energized, chanting “Justice now” and “No ban , no wall, US for all.” My comrade circulated and distributed 65 Challenge newspapers. I carried my sign “No ban, no wall. Refugees and immigrants, welcome here. Don’t blame for refugees for imperialist wars!” Many stopped to take a picture. As they did I said, “It’s not about terrorism, it’s about imperialism. I was born here, but I don’t carry that flag. A flag that stands for bombing countries like Syria and Yemen off the map for control of oil.” Serious faces. “Yes, that’s true.” “Thank you lady.” “We need more like you.” I also said, “This is a big protest. Imagine if the women were here, it would be twice as big.”
Later my students sent me my picture with my sign that was circulating on Facebook. One texted me, “Good job, my teacher!” That evening in the housing committee in the organization I work in, I taped my sign to the wall of the meeting room and reported about the protest, the sign and its meaning. The Latino immigrants clapped. Next up, big fight against deportations and suspension of DACA. And of course the crucial, ongoing, long term effort to spread PLP’s ideas and build the Party.

Solidarity with Muslim, Refugee & Immigrant Workers
I am a member of a church, and I’m happy to say that our church had a swift response to Trump’s fascist travel ban! Four activists from the church went to the NYC Battery Park protest on January 29 which drew tens of thousands of outraged antiracists. Most important, one of us distributed 125 CHALLENGEs indicting capitalism as the root cause of this upsurge of fascist terror. Another carried a poster proclaiming, “Unite in solidarity with our Muslim, refugee, and immigrant sisters and brothers,” with contact information for the church. Scores of people photographed our sign and took flyers describing six different struggles we are leading or involved in. Some people we met promised to contact us further.
Another member of the church went to the antiracist rally in his town with his family. His son carried a poster comparing the American Empire with the Roman Empire and predicting a similar end for American fascism. His granddaughter made her own poster decrying the unfairness of a law that victimizes her Muslim friends at school. Many of his relatives and friends saw these pictures on Facebook.
Massive social media protest turnouts are very encouraging. However, by themselves they will not build the vital revolutionary communist movement essential to doom the ruling class once and for all. This vital task challenges PLP to bring our politics to the actions. Then we must bring the energy of our experience and the contacts we make back into the mass organization in which we are daily building a base for communism!

Inspiring Antiracists at JFK
My wife and I went to JFK airport on January 28 to join the mass rally against the detention of eleven travelers —all with green cards or visas—from Muslim countries that are on Trump’s travel ban list. There were many thousands of people there, both native and foreign born, young and old. The protest pulsated with defiance and anger, with deafening chants of “Let Them In!”, “Resist!, Fight Back!, This Is Our New York!”, and “[epithet] the Wall, We’ll Tear It Down!”
Other chants were “Say It Loud, Say It Clear, Immigrants Are Welcome Here!”, “Refugees In, Racists Out!”, “No Hate, No Fear, Refugees Are Welcome Here!”, “No Borders, No Nations, Stop Deportations!”, “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA!”, and “Here to Stay, Here to Fight!”. I think we should use some of the above chants for May Day on April 29.
We also learned that NYC taxi drivers were joining the protest by refusing to work at the airport. If CHALLENGE readers get a chance to attend any of these rallies in support of Muslim immigrants, take it! They’re occurring all over the country. They’re really important, the spirit of resistance is exhilarating and it’s going to spread to campus, without a doubt!
In the words of the communist playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht, “Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.”

Not Just Racist DeVos
DeVos is that high-speed train wreck for public education that many feared but few wanted to admit was coming. This racist path towards the destruction of public education, the criminalization of our students and the ruination of unions and pensions started a long time ago. Remember No Child Left Behind? Duncan? King? Vouchers? Charter Schools? These people and policies do nothing for us, the working class. They are unable to. They are part of the system-the capitalist system-that only seeks to enrich itself. Under Clinton it was ‘zero tolerance’. Our children were criminalized and incarcerated. Under Bush’s NCLB a single test determined the future of our children and tied the hands of our teachers. Obama accelerated the move towards Charters. In fact the latest education bill, ESSA has provisions for moves towards more privatization and the enrichment of testing companies like Pearson. Do not forget! All of these administrations carried out racist and anti-student policies.
At every opportunity, both Republican and Democratic administrations chipped away at public education. Insane regulations have been imposed on public school teachers, tying our hands on innovation and just plain good teaching while Charter schools continue to get a pass. They get the freedom to profit off the backs of (predominantly Black and brown) students while we are denied the freedom to teach.
DeVos has to go but that is not enough. We have to do everything to put the power back in Workers’ hands. As history shows us, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can do this. The capitalist state will never do for workers what we can and must do for our class. Every time there is a minor change, we accept it as ‘enough for now’. History shows us that until we, the workers control society, those crumbs will never be enough. History shows us that a vote for students must mean a vote for communism.

New Student Fighter vs. Racism
I attended the San Francisco Airport protest, my second protest ever (the women’s march in San Francisco was my first). It was really refreshing to be in an environment where everyone truly was there because they cared for the cause. It was so spur of the moment, so people had to make a decision to prioritize it really quickly. People weren’t there to take pictures and show off.
I was really surprised at how many people were there and how united everyone was. I thought there would be people with their own separate agendas that would complicate things, like some people deciding to be more violent, which wasn’t what I signed up for. I was really glad that people were united and made the victims of the racist oppression the focus, and not Donald Trump. There were some anti-Trump chants, but I thought it was more important that people focused on uniting people with their families and getting their human rights secured.
In a weird sense, I truly realized how terrible Trump’s policies are. It’s not like I thought it was no big deal when I heard his policies on immigration, but seeing all those people made it real. The fact that there were so many other people who were willing to show up and protest shows that it’s not something we can brush off. I felt like, “This stuff is happening and there is something to be done. I’m not crazy to think this is a big deal because other people do too.”

College Student: Lessons for the Struggle
Alongside strangers, friends from my college, and comrades, I demanded the release of the refugees being held at San Francisco Airport after Trump’s executive order banning immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries. We chanted, discussed politics, and listened to speeches. The time my comrades and I spent in the international arrivals was as invigorating as it was necessary.
I began thinking of truisms to remember in the coming months: Inaction places you on the side of the oppressor. Compliance is a crime. There is nothing better than being united for a single, just cause. In this current political sphere, it it imperative we unite and fight. Unite and fight or become the one being fought. There is no victory if one controls all. Do not accept this as normal.  Support your comrades and yourself. Esoteric language helps no one. Whose side are you on?