{"id":16137,"date":"2025-09-02T03:24:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T03:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/?page_id=16137"},"modified":"2025-09-02T03:26:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T03:26:44","slug":"masses-confront-ice-gestapo-defend-neighbors","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/volume-16-number-12\/masses-confront-ice-gestapo-defend-neighbors\/","title":{"rendered":"Masses Confront ICE Gestapo, Defend Neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nSAN GABRIEL VALLEY (California, USA), August 20\u2014 Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, 52, worked as a day laborer to send money for his four daughters in Guatemala. He was waiting with others at the Monrovia Home Depot (HD) on August 14 when \u201cla Migra\u201d (ICE) swept through. They kidnapped a dozen workers. They chased Carlos over a barrier and onto a freeway. A vehicle struck and killed him. But the fascist ICE agents were the murderers.
\nMany hundreds turned out the next evening for a vigil and march honoring Carlos. This, after another raid that morning at the HD in neighboring Pasadena. Many took copies of Red Flag. Speakers denounced the attacks on immigrants as part of a broader fascist assault. Almost $40,000 has been raised for Carlos\u2019 family.
\nSince ICE kidnapped six workers at a Pasadena bus stop in June, hundreds in this area alone (some immigrants, some not) have organized themselves to defend neighbors from the ICE Gestapo. \u201cWhat we do makes a difference,\u201d said an organizer of the Pasadena HD Community Defense Center.
\nWhen la Migra descended, volunteers there quickly sounded the alarm. One directed cars away from the now-dangerous parking lot. Others alerted day laborers so most got safely away. Word spread over Signal chats. More volunteers arrived. Some followed the kidnappers\u2019 vehicles. More neighbors were warned. At least one more was rescued. This went on for hours.
\nStill, many dedicated volunteers felt like they hadn\u2019t done enough. So some felt it almost like a slap in the face when a socialist speaker in Monrovia cried out, \u201cNot one more!\u201d Nobody wants any more racist kidnappings! But it\u2019s misleading to say just that \u201cbuilding a movement\u201d will stop them.
\nWe will only see \u201cnot one more\u201d kidnapping when there is \u201cnot one more\u201d fascist government agent to terrorize us.<\/strong> When there is \u201cnot one more\u201d capitalist to use their government to suppress our working class as they always do. When there is \u201cnot one more\u201d border to divide us.
\nThat is, capitalism cannot be reformed to end attacks on immigrant workers and on all workers. Sure, some things could change. There could be more food and blankets in the concentration camps called \u201cdetention centers.\u201d Immigration raids could target individuals instead of sweeps based on your skin color or your work.
\nBut the swerve to open fascism reflects the desperation of a US capitalist class in profound crisis. A declining world power whose bosses can salvage their profits only by squeezing workers harder and dividing us more. Who can try \u2013 but probably not succeed \u2013 to regain a dominant global position by fighting ever-growing wars with the workers\u2019 blood and treasure.
\nIs our goal a somehow \u201ckinder, gentler\u201d fascism? Or is it a communist world without hierarchy or exploitation? Where workers welcome each other everywhere. Where we produce for each others\u2019 needs and collectively make the decisions that shape our lives.
\nBecause if we want communism, that takes revolution. It takes a new kind of revolutionary party. Not one seeking to lead a hierarchical socialist state that manages an economy based on wages and markets. But a party that seeks to incorporate masses directly and immediately into the project of building a classless, moneyless society in every area we can liberate.
\n\u201cI love this community,\u201d reflected a Pasadena anti-fascist organizer. \u201cEven in the darkest of days, we know how to show up for one another and we know how to show up for our neighbors.\u201d
\nOur community is truly global. Our neighbors are everywhere.<\/strong>
\nMass migration worldwide shows how the world is shrinking. Networks of autonomous collectives cannot integrate our international working class into a force capable of communist revolution. They couldn\u2019t manage a global communist society.
\nFor those things, we need masses of workers, soldiers, and youth \u2013 not just an \u201celite\u201d few \u2013 to join the International Communist Workers\u2019 Party. Join to honor the memory of Carlos Montoya and so many more around the world.<\/p>\n

Front page of this issue<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY (California, USA), August 20\u2014 Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, 52, worked as a day laborer to send money for his four daughters in Guatemala. He was waiting with others at the Monrovia Home Depot (HD) on August 14 when \u201cla Migra\u201d (ICE) swept through. They kidnapped a dozen workers. They chased Carlos over … Continue reading Masses Confront ICE Gestapo, Defend Neighbors<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6495,"parent":16119,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16137","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16141,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16137\/revisions\/16141"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}