TACOMA (USA), September 1 – “It’s great to see you here!” said J to a comrade at a Labor Day demonstration at the Northwest Detention Center. NWDC is the site of thousands of deportations and/or jailings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is the fourth largest immigration jail in the US, with a capacity of 1575 workers.
Over 850 people attended the “All Out for Migrant Defense” rally. Many traveled by car caravan and school buses from Portland, almost 150 miles away. The enthusiasm of the overwhelmingly young people, many immigrants or children of immigrants themselves, reflected courage and commitment to this fight against fascist detention and deportation.
J is an organizer for a group that fights for human rights in the Philippines. He met our comrade at a convention protesting the 2023 meeting of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference. He has now invited the comrade to an upcoming conference in San Francisco.
Boeing workers and other International Association of Machinists union members talked not only about fascist deportations, but also about weaknesses of the union leadership. They are organizing a rank-and-file group to reform the union but have been very open to the ideas in Red Flag. They have consistently invited a comrade who worked at Boeing to their Zoom meetings.
The rally was very multiracial, with speeches in English, Spanish and Tagalog. Melissa Chaudhry, the wife of Zahid Chaudhry, spoke out. Zahid, originally from Pakistan, has lived in the US for 25 years.
Zahid is president of a Veterans for Peace chapter in Olympia (WA). He sustained severe injuries while training to go to Iraq. Before that, he served in both the Army and the National Guard. He has been fighting against deportation and for citizenship since 2004, but the government has consistently delayed his case. His wife says it’s because he refuses to give names of Pakistani activists to the CIA. He is now imprisoned in the NWDC.
After looking at Red Flag, a minister told a comrade that she was brought up to stay away from communism. She acknowledged that the younger generation is open to communist ideas. In fact, some young activists have told her that they need more communism to survive!
“These interactions with people at the rally were encouraging,” a comrade reported. We distributed over 150 papers. We plan to attend these protests and rallies consistently. We expect to meet more people who recognize our Party and Red Flag and welcome us. We have plans to get together with people we’ve met so far.
We know that rallies and voting will not stop the fascist bosses’ plans for war and exploitation. We must get rid of capitalism. And to do that will require a communist revolution. As we build more communist relationships, the workers, students, and soldiers we are meeting now will be leading it!
” What will replace capitalism?” young activists ask. This is the one question the liberals and reformers cannot answer. But we know that the answer is communism. And that is the most important thing we can do: to explain communism. To show the possibilities of a world without exploitation, borders, wars, poverty, starvation, disease, etc. is essential.
People get discouraged and depressed if we just talk about the horrible condition the world is in without any answers. Our work is hard but important. We have a vision and a plan.
Join ICWP! We have a world to win!!
Read our pamphlet Fight For the Day When No Worker Will Be Called Foreigner: here