Workers Everywhere Are “Our People”
GQEBERHA (South Africa), April 19— “We are all the same. The economic conditions immigrants are subjected to are the same as us,” said comrade X. This was during our meeting where ten comrades attended, and one joined via video.
Comrade Z began the meeting: “Comrades, today we will talk about xenophobia and the xenophobic attacks, especially considering what happened in East London last month”.
In March, a video circulating on social media provoked a mass xenophobic march in East London (in South Africa’s Eastern Cape) against Nigerian immigrant workers.
Comrade Z continued: “What happened was bad, comrades. We should fight against such nationalism, which is opportunistic and seeks to divide the working class further”.
The capitalist lackeys are trying to divert attention from capitalism’s own failures by blaming immigrants, particularly those of African descent. They pump propaganda all the time by pretending that the lack of service delivery is a result of too many immigrants in the country.
However, we are actively fighting against such propaganda and nationalism. This was evident in our meeting when comrade S said, “Look, even crime, comrades, and drugs. Many people blame foreigners, but it is our people that are selling drugs in townships and doing crime”.
Comrade Z replied, “Yes, comrade, crime is a result of the failure of capitalism. And we should be careful in our words such as ‘our people’. Our people should mean the working class. Those are our people and they are the majority around the world”.
He further said, “Capitalists divide us all around the world. In the USA, they blame immigrants from Latin America. And here in South Africa they blame immigrants from Zimbabwe and Nigeria. But the script is the same. That’s why we should reject that propaganda”.
A comrade asked, “Should we not react when immigrants sell drugs and do crime”?
Comrade Z answered. “Yes, we should fight crime. But crime is not an immigrant thing. It is not like we wouldn’t have crime if there were no immigrants. We have to unite with all the working class of the world. In our party, we have people from different countries. And if in South Africa we have an opportunity to meet people from different African countries, we should use that opportunity and mobilise them”.
The comrades vowed to fight and educate themselves on xenophobia and unlearn some of the nationalist notions they might have. We cannot be communist while still clinging to nationalistic prejudices. In the May Day event, we will again touch on xenophobia and the dangers it poses to the unity of the working class.
Read the ICWP manifesto Fight for the Day When No Worker Will Be Called Foreigner here
Read more about nationalism here