German pilots saved 222 asylum-seekers from deportation between January and September, 2017 by refusing to take off with them on board. Most of the flights were to Afghanistan, which is still a war zone even though the German and UK rulers, bowing to xenophobia, call it “safe.”
In England, after anti-deportation protesters talked to other passengers boarding a flight, a pilot did the same. He refused to take Samin Bigzad, an Afghan refugee, to the city where the Taliban had threatened to behead him.
“You’re not going to take him; I’m not flying,” the pilot said. “Someone’s life is at risk.”
The German pilots didn’t cite moral reasons, which could have left them open to disciplinary action. Instead they cited safety concerns: If a potential deportee says “no” when asked if they wanted to take the flight, and is forced to stay on board, they might freak out and endanger other passengers.
These pilots, nonetheless, have demonstrated the power of workers organized at the point of production. The #WelcomeUnited campaign regularly protests deportations at German airports. The pilots could actually stop them.
Without transportation workers, nothing and nobody moves. Without industrial workers, nothing is manufactured. Without farmworkers there is no food.
In a communist world without bosses, everything that workers like these produce will be shared among the masses and used to meet our needs. There will be no borders and no deportations because workers everywhere have common interests.
To fight for and win this communist world, we need to intensify efforts to build collectives of the International Communist Workers’ Party in concentrations like industry and transportation. The power of workers organized at the point of production must be directed toward mobilizing masses for communism.
Sign on the Left Says “No Person is Illegal”