February 19—As the civil war in Syria continues, a humanitarian crisis has developed. There are now 900,000 refugees from the fighting in North West Syria, overwhelming the capacities of the UN and other refugee relief agencies on the border between Syria and Turkey. This is just the latest example of an ongoing humanitarian disaster.
Immigrants must now be numbered in the thousands, for them to count. They travel hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles trying to escape the capitalist hell. They come up against the harsh reality: capitalism is all over the world.
Many who escape war and racism in the Middle East and Africa fix their eyes on Europe. That’s the Europe of bosses, who at a meeting in Berlin in 1884 settled the fate, conquest, colonization, and enslavement of millions in Africa and, later, in Asia Minor.
Hundreds of thousands are trapped in subhuman conditions in camps in Turkey, Greece and other European countries. They sleep in tents at the mercy of the winter cold with little clothing, food or water. As many as 75 line up to use overcrowded toilets and bathrooms.
Many immigrants try to lead a ‘normal life’ despite the overcrowding in the camps and years of waiting and despair for a refugee visa. They work and help out where they can. Some set up small businesses, cut hair, make bread, repair cell phones for other inmates. In almost every camp, the refugees themselves give language, art, or music classes to the children.
The language barrier has not prevented them from fraternizing with immigrants from other countries and helping each other. They try to keep their problems under control. But sometimes the problems escalate because of the individualism, desperation and hunger of those who, in some cases, have committed serious crimes. Thefts and rapes have increased in the camps.
All this has led to the desperation of the migrant families. Many times, in caravans of thousands, they have tried to break down the barbed wire walls on the Croatian border. They have fought off riot police and gangs of racists who swarm into cities and towns across Europe.
Those immigrants who have been able to arrive in European cities have faced a series of aggressions, including abandonment, and sometimes denial of medical services. Access to jobs is restricted and has led them to accept less pay than local workers. And they have rebelled
In Italy, undocumented African immigrants have marched and confronted the police and “Ndrangheta”, the Calabrian mafia, over the slave-like conditions in the orange fields where they work.
In Barcelona, African immigrants confronted the police for several hours after the police killed one of their comrades.
Fascism is growing all over the world. The bosses are trying to divide the working class with xenophobic rhetoric. But at the same time mass movements are growing that in one way or another are in solidarity with immigrants and fighting against xenophobia and racism. Native and immigrant workers are building a mass anti-fascist movement with huge communist potential.
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