They Are Coming for the Immigrants... and What the Hell Are People Doing?!?

July 15, 2019 | revcom.us

 

As we write this, the utterly illegitimate ICE—the special federal police force that acts against immigrants—has begun raiding the houses of hundreds and possibly thousands of immigrants around the U.S., aiming to deport them as quickly as possible. This comes on top of the 80,000 immigrants already locked up by the Trump/Pence regime, including the thousands being kept in utterly inhumane conditions on the border.

Some, but not enough, have seen the clips of what goes on at the border. The horror of the children screaming for their parents, and their parents not knowing where their children are but only that they are being tormented, sickened and possibly killed, will now be expanded to a whole other level. Now yet other children, those born here “legally,” will still find their parents torn from them. They will either be seized by ICE or else left to fend for themselves.

What Kind of World IS This?

In the world we need—in the world that is actually possible—those hit by environmental and social disaster would NOT be made into pariahs, confined as if in prison and then tortured if they dare try to leave that prison. No! They would be given the aid of their fellow humans, and then made part of working to figure out how to solve the disaster. Again, the means exist to do this in this highly developed and interconnected world.

Yet what do we see instead? The ascension to power all over the world of the most repressive elements of an already-oppressive system—of fascists—who make these policies even more nightmarish. If this were the plot of a science fiction movie or video game, it would be criticized for being too obvious and heavy-handed. Yet it is not fiction at all, but the reality that billions are being forced to live... and hundreds of millions are complicit in. What stands between what is actually possible and badly needed, and what is actually going on is: THIS CAPITALIST-IMPERIALIST SYSTEM. And what we need to do—the only solution—is to get rid of this system.

Bob Avakian (BA), the leader of the revolution, has said that the orientation of the revolution we need and are fighting for is that we would welcome everyone to this country who wants to build a new world. This is given substance in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which BA authored. This solution must be made known to millions, and thousands must be organized right now into this, and this is covered elsewhere on this site.

Needed: Massive Resistance

At the same time, and also very immediately, there is an urgent need for massive and sustained resistance by all kinds of people to the doubling down of this outrageous offensive. The planned raids that began this weekend should be and must be actively resisted, and anyone with a beating heart and functioning conscience should be part of that. The spirit and content of the actions taken last week—especially by those Jewish groups who put something on the line and said NEVER AGAIN—should be learned from and taken further.

Some of this began with actions on Friday and Saturday. While thousands came out, to all appearances this did not come close to matching the outpouring of a year ago. Yet things have gotten worse since then. Trump has not only not relented, he has redoubled his offensive. And the Democrats just recently went along with this, registering some verbal outrage but approving the money for ICE that makes these raids possible.

The question must be posed sharply to people: What the hell are you thinking? Why are you NOT acting?

At this point, to sit on your hands and hope for the Democrats to “do something” is complicit. The leaders of the Democratic Party—including very prominently Fuck Schumer and Nancy Piglosi—are neck-deep in these crimes, having presided over the funding of ICE with barely any restrictions and uniting with fascists to do so. As for the two dozen candidates mumbling out of both sides of their mouth, this is BEB (bourgeois electoral bullshit)! They have no answers to what is going down and still less to the horror that is looming, because they are locked within the requirements and terms of—and will defend right down to the end—the same capitalist-imperialist system that the fascists now run.

Yet not only do we need hundreds of thousands and millions in the streets around this outrage. This badly needed resistance should and must be built as part of a fight to drive out this fascist regime, through sustained, nonviolent resistance, day after day, night after night, with the same resilience and focus now on display in Hong Kong and Sudan. This is the mission of Refuse Fascism, which has been out in these protests while it fights to build this larger, and urgently needed movement, against the whole regime.

And yet... there is still not anything close to what is needed. So we ask our readers: Why are people NOT acting? How do we solve this problem? To quote the old song, there are “lives in the balance”... and even more. Write to us (at revolution.reports@yahoo.com) with your thinking and experience on this.

 

 

Bob Avakian's Answer to People Who Complain about Immigrants Crossing Borders

Watch BA’s whole speech, Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution