Mediterranean Sea-World’s Most Dangerous Border here ♦ Racism in Sport here ♦
Demonstration in Pylos, Greece, June 14, 2023
Mediterranean Sea: The World’s Deadliest Border
May 19—Naima Hassan Aden along with her six-month-old son, Sulekha Abdullahi and her six children, were piled into a small boat and abandoned by the Greek Coast Guard to die. They were among eleven piled on a small boat. Mahdi and Miliyen were also among the group from Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia who were thrown into the Mediterranean waters.
The Greek Coast Guard sentenced them to death, but they did not die as thousands of others have. All trying to escape imperialist wars, climate change, famine. All caused by a capitalist system in crisis and its preparations for World War III. Many members of our working-class family are fleeing from parts of Africa that are at war and where they cannot find jobs to survive.
Greek government abuse of immigrants seeking asylum happens daily. It’s not easy to protest because those most affected are denied a voice.
The entire European Union toughened its immigration policies after 2015 and 2016, when more than a million refugees arrived from Syria, Iraq, and other conflict areas. Ukrainians are the big exception. Poland, Italy, and Lithuania are also passing laws to make it easier to expel immigrants.
Germany and other rich nations are financing refugee camps in Türkiye. They finance and arm the murderous Greek Coast Guard. Two ways to keep refugees out of Europe. Candidates in the recent election in Türkiye and the upcoming election in Greece run on anti-immigrant platforms.
The same thing happens in the Americas. The Darien jungle is the first wall to stop migrants from reaching the United States. Meanwhile the US rulers authorize the Mexican government to stop immigrants from all over the world, including Afghanistan, not just those from South America.
The capitalist and imperialist classes are increasing fascism to try to maintain their borders. Each border represents the bosses’ control over millions of workers. These governments must foment nationalism and racism against other workers to continue to maintain their good life, based on the misery and theft of our unpaid work. They need it to win us to kill other workers in a future world war.
Only communist revolution will end the borders. A communist world will not need borders because there will be no bosses to defend them. No workers will have to leave a place where they feel safe and happy, because they will have what they need to survive.
When the workers control society through our Party, the ICWP, they will be able to travel or settle where they want and feel comfortable there. No one will stop them.
Read Our Pamphlet:
Fight for the Day When No Worker Will Be Called Foreigner
Racism in Sports: Players Suffer, Capitalists Profit
Real communism is the only way to eliminate this plague along with the rotten capitalist system!
Ultra-right groups have engaged in continuous racist attacks in La Liga of Spain, one of the world’s most profitable elite leagues. Racist chants target Vinicius Jr., a Black Brazilian football (soccer) star who plays for El Real Madrid.
Vinicius Jr. says Brazilians know that Spain is a country of racists. Historically, Black people have suffered racism in Brazil as well!
Javier Tebas, La Liga president, cold-bloodedly declared that neither Spain nor La Liga are racist. He represents the interests of his masters in denying reality. If Tebas doesn’t think that racist chants in the stadium are racism, then he’s the real racist.
Sports bosses are no different from any other bosses. They have created a mega-industry for profit, and do not intend to end racism.
Players receive exorbitant salaries and are marketed as heroes. Their salaries are an insult to the working class who are squeezed and exploited to their last drop of sweat, working just to survive. Yet even these “heroes” are not immune to racist attacks.
Discussions in the US and in Spain
In Los Angeles (USA), a comrade described her grandson in Costa Rica. He was passionate about soccer but faces discrimination by his school teammates due to his African heritage. Instead of the game being joyful, it has affected his (and many kids’) self-esteem and caused high levels of anxiety.
A comrade in Spain talked with friends in an amateur league. A Spaniard said, “In our team we have guys from Equatorial Guinea, Ecuador, Romania, and Spain. I will never see my teammate as anything less than that!”
The Ecuadorian goalie said, “The problem of racism should disappear everywhere.” The comrade added that being Black doesn’t mean you can’t be racist; Vinicius has used racist insults himself.
The comrade in Spain also talked about this at work with co-workers from Rumania, Bulgaria, and Latin America. “The problem in soccer is complicated, because there are Nazis among the groups of fans,” said a worker from Chile. These extremely violent groups like the fans of Atlético de Madrid, los Biris del Sevilla and Boixos Nois from Barcelona represent the interests of the team owners. They build divisions among the working class whenever there’s a soccer match.
The greatest damage that capitalist sports inflict on the working class is diverting the anger of millions away from the oppressive racist conditions imposed by capitalism. Instead of rebelling and seeking a revolutionary communist alternative, they spend their energy and creativity pursuing the illusion of a professional sports career.
Team sports can help people learn cooperation and collectivity, but rigid competitiveness and individualism lead to burnout stress in many athletes. Spectators take the “us against them” to the workplace, families and to the barracks. It becomes an obstacle to organizing on a class-conscious basis for communist revolution.
In communist society we will encourage each other to participate in exercise that emphasizes collectivity and allows everyone to participate according to their ability and mainly for health and well-being.
—Written collectively by Red Comrades
Read Our Pamphlet:
“To End Racism, Mobilize the Masses for Communism”