Since early June, demonstrations have erupted in Los Angeles to protest
mass arrests carried out by the US immigration agency. Faced with the
government and the military deployed to quell the riots, our American
comrades from the Black Rose/Rosa Negra organization published a
statement, which we translate here. They also provide some suggestions
for fighting state oppression that could be useful to us in France. Last
weekend in Los Angeles, the provocative ICE raids[1]sparked violent
protests, as community members mobilized to prevent the kidnapping and
terror inflicted on their neighbors and loved ones. As the situation in
Los Angeles appears to be worsening with Trump's mobilization of the
National Guard and the spread of protests to other cities, our Bay Area
chapter, working with members in Los Angeles and San Diego, has drafted
this statement on what the situation currently demands.
White Supremacy at Work
The Trump administration has made the violent defense of white supremacy
through mass deportations its number one priority. Last Thursday, Los
Angeles residents stood up and opposed Trump's racist plans by
mobilizing to block ICE raids. Families, neighbors, and coworkers
resisted kidnappings in their communities and defied federal agents in
ICE detention centers, setting a powerful example for all those who want
to know how to resist the attacks of an increasingly authoritarian regime.
Several protests have erupted following ICE deportations and raids, such
as this one in Times Square in New York City.
Swinxy/Wikimedia
The fact that California is a blue state (a Democratic state) and Los
Angeles is a "sanctuary city" has not prevented the Los Angeles Police
Department and its SWAT units[2]from supporting the raids and
suppressing dissent. In fact, ICE could not operate in Los Angeles if
local police and sheriffs were not there to suppress protesters and
defend ICE property.
Democrats: Silent Accomplices
Today, instead of challenging Trump's military invasion of their city,
Democratic Party officials are following their usual strategy of lying
down and playing dead, calling for calm and declaring that their police
forces can suppress protests without the help of the National Guard.
Despite their lamentations and feigned protests against ICE's
activities, local, regional, and national Democratic politicians have
steadily stepped up efforts to suppress immigration and the widespread
opposition to deportations. The use of military force is not the result
of opposition from Democratic Party officials but rather the fact that
they are paving the way for its proliferation through border repression,
abusive housing policies, anti-worker laws, and police collaboration
with the Department of Homeland Security.
Fundamentally, the power of both parties rests on a world of borders
that sustain the violence of extraditions to indefinite detention and
torture, the violence of declaring some people worthy of basic
livelihoods and others not, and the violence of eradicating populations.
From Los Angeles to Palestine, our fight is against the Empire, its
agents, and the borders created to maintain its domination.
A world without borders is a world founded on community, solidarity, and
human flourishing. Achieving such a world would require a social
revolution that supplants the current power of government and capital.
In the meantime, we must mobilize the combined strength of social
movements and mass organizations in this fight. Only the grassroots
power they wield can put a stop to the deportation machine.
In the short term, our power is most visible when we mobilize en masse
to confront ICE activities in our communities. While Trump and MAGA
forces[3]are eager for this confrontation-believing it will demonstrate
the "chaos and disorder" of Democratic-run cities-the reality is that
Trump's deportation campaign is extremely unpopular. Seeing the National
Guard beat and gas people in order to remove the workers and families
who are the foundation of our cities will likely cause more people,
rather than fewer, to revolt.
Just as the burning of the Minneapolis 3rd Precinct during the 2020
uprising generated massive solidarity and support, seeing oppressed
people effectively defend themselves can generate immense sympathy, far
more than patiently following the law and playing it safe. We must seize
this opportunity to escalate and expand the confrontation to other
cities by protesting outside ICE offices and detention centers and
preparing neighborhood and workplace organizations capable of responding
to raids when they occur.
Organizing to Better Counter Them
For those of us already part of organizations like unions, we have more
power than we realize if we organize ourselves to mount a stronger and
more coordinated response. For example, unions possess significant
resources-money, experienced organizers, and people power-that could be
harnessed to slow and stop the machine that threatens to crush us. If
you've struggled to push your unions toward more militant action and
doubt the potential of these structures, the arrest of SEIU California
President David Huerta may inspire more opportunities for change from
within than we've seen in decades. Let's not miss this opportunity to
demand that our unions use our resources to end ICE.
To counter ICE's mass kidnappings of immigrants, our American anarchist
comrades seek to foster mass unity and self-organization. BRRN
Simple steps can, over time, strengthen our ability to fight ICE and
other "unprofessional" institutions through our unions, for example:
* Drafting and then organizing the adoption of concrete resolutions with
our union executive committees;
* Organizing union-sponsored anti-ICE educational events with colleagues
and union members;
* Printing pamphlets about your rights for your coworkers;
* Preemptively forcing our employers to protect us against ICE through
petitions and workplace protests;
* Enforcing provisions in your collective agreement to protect you from
workplace raids;
* Bringing your coworkers to the next off-site protest.
Tenant unions, student organizations, and activist groups can build on
these same principles and tactics. Organizing grassroots assemblies that
develop action plans for the defense of the entire community can help
coordinate these efforts. Now is the time to deepen our understanding of
how to act collectively and more militarily as groups of neighbors,
workers, and students.
The Power Is in Our Hands
For the majority of us who are not yet part of any organization, now is
the time to look for ways to connect with the people around us. We have
more power in mass movements than in small or isolated ones. We must
take this power seriously if our goal is not just to fight, but also to win.
We may not be able to erase borders from maps and dismantle the military
power that enforces them tomorrow, the day after, or the day after, but
we must strive to make that our goal today.
To defend ourselves against ICE now, we must act; To prevent them from
entering our neighborhoods and workplaces, we must organize.
This statement was written by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of
Black Rose Rosa Negra (BRRN) and endorsed by the Boston and Durham
chapters. It does not reflect the position of the Federation as a whole.
San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Black Rose/Rosa Negra
Submit
[1]Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. federal immigration agency.
[2]Special Weapons and Tactics, the U.S. police intervention unit.
[3]Make America Great Again, Trump's campaign slogan that has become a
term for the president's supporters.
[4]Service Employees International Union.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Etats-Unis-S-organiser-pour-chasser-l-ICE
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
mass arrests carried out by the US immigration agency. Faced with the
government and the military deployed to quell the riots, our American
comrades from the Black Rose/Rosa Negra organization published a
statement, which we translate here. They also provide some suggestions
for fighting state oppression that could be useful to us in France. Last
weekend in Los Angeles, the provocative ICE raids[1]sparked violent
protests, as community members mobilized to prevent the kidnapping and
terror inflicted on their neighbors and loved ones. As the situation in
Los Angeles appears to be worsening with Trump's mobilization of the
National Guard and the spread of protests to other cities, our Bay Area
chapter, working with members in Los Angeles and San Diego, has drafted
this statement on what the situation currently demands.
White Supremacy at Work
The Trump administration has made the violent defense of white supremacy
through mass deportations its number one priority. Last Thursday, Los
Angeles residents stood up and opposed Trump's racist plans by
mobilizing to block ICE raids. Families, neighbors, and coworkers
resisted kidnappings in their communities and defied federal agents in
ICE detention centers, setting a powerful example for all those who want
to know how to resist the attacks of an increasingly authoritarian regime.
Several protests have erupted following ICE deportations and raids, such
as this one in Times Square in New York City.
Swinxy/Wikimedia
The fact that California is a blue state (a Democratic state) and Los
Angeles is a "sanctuary city" has not prevented the Los Angeles Police
Department and its SWAT units[2]from supporting the raids and
suppressing dissent. In fact, ICE could not operate in Los Angeles if
local police and sheriffs were not there to suppress protesters and
defend ICE property.
Democrats: Silent Accomplices
Today, instead of challenging Trump's military invasion of their city,
Democratic Party officials are following their usual strategy of lying
down and playing dead, calling for calm and declaring that their police
forces can suppress protests without the help of the National Guard.
Despite their lamentations and feigned protests against ICE's
activities, local, regional, and national Democratic politicians have
steadily stepped up efforts to suppress immigration and the widespread
opposition to deportations. The use of military force is not the result
of opposition from Democratic Party officials but rather the fact that
they are paving the way for its proliferation through border repression,
abusive housing policies, anti-worker laws, and police collaboration
with the Department of Homeland Security.
Fundamentally, the power of both parties rests on a world of borders
that sustain the violence of extraditions to indefinite detention and
torture, the violence of declaring some people worthy of basic
livelihoods and others not, and the violence of eradicating populations.
From Los Angeles to Palestine, our fight is against the Empire, its
agents, and the borders created to maintain its domination.
A world without borders is a world founded on community, solidarity, and
human flourishing. Achieving such a world would require a social
revolution that supplants the current power of government and capital.
In the meantime, we must mobilize the combined strength of social
movements and mass organizations in this fight. Only the grassroots
power they wield can put a stop to the deportation machine.
In the short term, our power is most visible when we mobilize en masse
to confront ICE activities in our communities. While Trump and MAGA
forces[3]are eager for this confrontation-believing it will demonstrate
the "chaos and disorder" of Democratic-run cities-the reality is that
Trump's deportation campaign is extremely unpopular. Seeing the National
Guard beat and gas people in order to remove the workers and families
who are the foundation of our cities will likely cause more people,
rather than fewer, to revolt.
Just as the burning of the Minneapolis 3rd Precinct during the 2020
uprising generated massive solidarity and support, seeing oppressed
people effectively defend themselves can generate immense sympathy, far
more than patiently following the law and playing it safe. We must seize
this opportunity to escalate and expand the confrontation to other
cities by protesting outside ICE offices and detention centers and
preparing neighborhood and workplace organizations capable of responding
to raids when they occur.
Organizing to Better Counter Them
For those of us already part of organizations like unions, we have more
power than we realize if we organize ourselves to mount a stronger and
more coordinated response. For example, unions possess significant
resources-money, experienced organizers, and people power-that could be
harnessed to slow and stop the machine that threatens to crush us. If
you've struggled to push your unions toward more militant action and
doubt the potential of these structures, the arrest of SEIU California
President David Huerta may inspire more opportunities for change from
within than we've seen in decades. Let's not miss this opportunity to
demand that our unions use our resources to end ICE.
To counter ICE's mass kidnappings of immigrants, our American anarchist
comrades seek to foster mass unity and self-organization. BRRN
Simple steps can, over time, strengthen our ability to fight ICE and
other "unprofessional" institutions through our unions, for example:
* Drafting and then organizing the adoption of concrete resolutions with
our union executive committees;
* Organizing union-sponsored anti-ICE educational events with colleagues
and union members;
* Printing pamphlets about your rights for your coworkers;
* Preemptively forcing our employers to protect us against ICE through
petitions and workplace protests;
* Enforcing provisions in your collective agreement to protect you from
workplace raids;
* Bringing your coworkers to the next off-site protest.
Tenant unions, student organizations, and activist groups can build on
these same principles and tactics. Organizing grassroots assemblies that
develop action plans for the defense of the entire community can help
coordinate these efforts. Now is the time to deepen our understanding of
how to act collectively and more militarily as groups of neighbors,
workers, and students.
The Power Is in Our Hands
For the majority of us who are not yet part of any organization, now is
the time to look for ways to connect with the people around us. We have
more power in mass movements than in small or isolated ones. We must
take this power seriously if our goal is not just to fight, but also to win.
We may not be able to erase borders from maps and dismantle the military
power that enforces them tomorrow, the day after, or the day after, but
we must strive to make that our goal today.
To defend ourselves against ICE now, we must act; To prevent them from
entering our neighborhoods and workplaces, we must organize.
This statement was written by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of
Black Rose Rosa Negra (BRRN) and endorsed by the Boston and Durham
chapters. It does not reflect the position of the Federation as a whole.
San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Black Rose/Rosa Negra
Submit
[1]Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. federal immigration agency.
[2]Special Weapons and Tactics, the U.S. police intervention unit.
[3]Make America Great Again, Trump's campaign slogan that has become a
term for the president's supporters.
[4]Service Employees International Union.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Etats-Unis-S-organiser-pour-chasser-l-ICE
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten