MEXICO CITY, November 11—On November 4, the first caravan of Central American migrants, mostly Hondurans, arrived in Mexico City. The city opened the Jesús Martínez “El Palillo” Stadium as a temporary shelter.
The ICWP club in Mexico City club carried out a series of actions to show international solidarity.
A group of young people took us to the shelter to donate food and warm clothes for the cold weather. We were able to witness firsthand the fatigue, hunger and fragile state of health of some of the thousands of people who were staying there.
A young man from San Pedro Sula told us that when he heard about the caravan, he didn’t hesitate a minute to join it and set out for the United States. He told us that those who suffer the most along the way are mothers with small children.
We wrote a leaflet “Internationalist Solidarity with Central American Migrants” (available on our blog:icwpweb.wordpress.com/) calling on students to support the caravan with donations and to join our communist study circles .
A couple of days later we carried out the plan. Our teacher comrade requested permission from his colleagues for us to hand out the leaflet and speak to their classes.
Our comrade began every presentation by saying “We are members of an international organization that wants to put an end to capitalism, we want to build Communism.” Then he explained how capitalism and its crisis is the fundamental factor affecting migration today but that migration is as old as humanity itself. Meanwhile the young people distributed the leaflet to all the students in the class.
The teacher ended his presentation and then gave a young comrade from El Salvador the opportunity to speak to the class. The students paid more attention when he mentioned his place of origin.
He explained that the Central American migrants are fleeing from conditions of poverty and violence caused by decades of imperialist policies imposed on the region, which favor the interests of the ruling class. He said that therefore not only are donations urgent but also communist mobilization. He ended by inviting students to the Party study groups that begin this week in the city.
The majority of students said that they agreed with the ideas that were put forward. Many read the leaflet attentively while some others were indifferent.
Another teacher comrade, who was teaching at the time, invited his students to ask questions or make comments.
Some said that it did not seem reasonable for a single person to accumulate as much wealth as Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. Others expressed their doubts and questions about the possibility of building Communism because of the errors of the past. There were also some comments about the possibility of Mexico giving work visas to migrants. Some argued that the country was not in a position to make this possible since there were Mexicans without jobs who should be given priority.
We answered that capitalism functioned so that a few would accumulate wealth and power for the subjugation of the majority. We said that we must learn from past and present errors in order to carry out a new communist revolution.
We addressed the issue of work visas and unemployment by saying that there is no lack of work that needs doing. We need a lot of work to meet everyone’s needs but in capitalism this was not a priority. In order to intimidate active workers, the capitalists need a permanent reserve army of the unemployed.
We said that borders and countries only serve to divide us. They were created to benefit the local bourgeoisies, not to benefit humanity. After the discussion many became interested in the study circles.
We ended the week of activities by marching through the school together with dozens of students carrying red flags. A teacher made speeches attacking capitalist education. He called for international solidarity and communist organization. It was a week of very good actions and communist political struggle.
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