PHOTO/TED QUANT
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) welcomed the New Year by raiding and terrorizing our communities. Though raids won’t stop immigration, they do serve to terrorize our communities and keep them in check so that people don’t protest injustice and organize for their human rights.
Immigration is not the problem—capitalism is. Capitalism is an economic system that cares only about exploitation and extracting profits for the corporations.
Worldwide migration is emerging today under the new conditions of globalization of the market. Globalization is dismantling national borders and creating an international production process that guarantees maximum profits for the global capitalist class.
With globalization, production of goods and services flow to the low-wage areas while labor naturally moves to countries where workers see hope for jobs and higher wages. Consequently, the greater the globalization, the greater is the immigration. This is economic reality.
Globalizing production without globalizing the producer—that is, without allowing workers to migrate freely, does not work. Workers will continue to migrate to survive, whether they are fleeing economic crisis, poverty or war. In doing so, millions of workers are becoming aware of their class interests.
Immigration sounds the political death knell of the capitalist system. The slogan “Workers of the world, Unite!” takes on new meaning. The birthing of a world class struggle brightens an otherwise dark and dangerous tomorrow.
