STATEN ISLAND, NY, July 2- Once again, the racists rear their ugly heads on Staten Island, organizing a rally against migrants. Once again Progressive Labor Party (PLP), showed up to oppose them! NYC has been one of the epicenters of the racist anti-migrant crisis. Kkkop turned Mayor Eric Adams is mandating local churches to become shelters rather than find permanent housing for all workers. This particular church in Staten Island which has agreed to shelter 15 single migrant men nightly is now under attack by racists. As the capitalist system spirals deeper into decay and the global migrant crisis intensifies tens of millions of workers’ from Gaza to Latin America, to the U.S. are displaced by capitalist crises like genocidal imperialist wars, racist unemployment, super-exploitation, sky-high costs of housing, and the twin crises of capitalist driven climate and homelessness
It is under these inhumane, unbearable circumstances that capitalism forces workers to risk their lives to flee all that they know, and that's when arch-racist Scott LoBaido, a Trump loving, racist goon, called for a rally to attack migrants on Instagram. Unfortunately for Lobaido and his band of racists on Staten Island, PLP mobilized our antiracist, multiracial, multigenerational contingent made up of members and friends to shut these racists down. Fighting these racists in the streets is a crucial step in organizing workers to smash this racist capitalist system and its rotten borders and replace it with the only system welcoming and nurturing to the entire international working class: communism!
Planning to shut the racists down
Lobaido, who gained notoriety for building a racist base on Staten Island to attack migrant workers, mobilized his racist followers on instagram to stage an anti-migrant protest at the church. Alerted by a friend who monitors LoBaido’s racist, pro-Trump Instagram ravings, PLP members instantly organized a plan to fight back. Friends in Peace Action Staten Island and SI4 Palestine were contacted to join us at the church. We were welcomed by the pastor to gather on the church steps to oppose the racists, who were standing behind a police barricade across the street.
LoBaido used a bullhorn to address his followers and attack our group. We began to use a bullhorn, too, but the police stopped us. They said that LoBaido had a sound permit, while we did not. One of our members then pointed out to the cops that it was illegal for anyone to use a sound magnifying device within 500 feet of a church. Of course, the cops, who are never neutral, ignored us and allowed the racists to continue to use the bullhorn. Undeterred, all of us began to chant antiracist, pro-migrant slogans to drown out the racists. Everytime the racists chanted “USA”, we chanted “KKK” and managed to drown out many of the racists’ leaders who got on the mic including former mayoral candidate KKKurtis Sliwa, the leader of a racist vigilante group called the Guardian Angels.
After more than an hour, the various racist speakers, almost none from the neighborhood, ended their vile rants and left with their followers. Although LoBaido claimed that he was representing neighborhood sentiment, almost all the racists left in cars. Further disproving his lie, Party members who sold CHALLENGE and distributed pro-migrant leaflets before and after the rally were well received. A high point was when a car was stopped waiting for a traffic light, and the driver blasted his horn the whole time to drown out the racist speaker. He applauded us and took a CHALLENGE and a leaflet. After the racists finally departed all of us, including those who came from Peace Action and Staten Island for Palestine, left in an organized manner.
Small and Big Fascists: a threat to migrant workers
LoBaido represents the Small fascist, openly racist wing of the U.S. ruling class, most of them Trump supporters, including Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican Congresswoman representing Staten Island and part of Brooklyn. Politically, the Republicans dominate Staten Island. However, last week, when Staten Island politicians gathered at the church for a press conference to condemn the migrant shelter plan, one of the most vehement in opposition was Democratic Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks. The liberals are fascists in waiting.
As the migrant crisis continues, public officials, including Black Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, continue to fail to plan to adequately care for them. To save money, the migrants are to be sheltered in six Staten Island churches, including the one today. Happily for the capitalist rulers and their lackeys like Adams, this policy also stirs up racism and divides workers. While the Big Fascists lackey politicians and institutions use identity politics and intersectionality to divide our class, while ramping up racist, anti-migrant and sexist attacks on workers around the world. In contrast, Small Fascist Trump supporting misleaders like Lobaido play on workers’ disaffection with liberal rulers by scapegoating migrants, winning many Black and Brown workers to buy into the racist trope of migrant men being unvetted predators and joining the Trump style domestic rulers ranks of small fascists in the process.
It is vital for the Party to militantly oppose the open racists like LoBaido and his followers and to work in other organizations to build antiracism and win workers and students to our line. However, we want workers to see that it is the Big Fascist main wing of the ruling class, represented by scum like Adams, Hochul, and Biden, that poses the greatest danger to our class. They still dominate the state and are doing their best to prepare for the war they hope will enable them to maintain their position as the world’s top capitalist dog. We let Lobaido know that as long as PLP is around we will be there to run the racists out of town.
The only way to stop them once and for all is with communist revolution. Communism means building a world without borders, imperialist wars, and racist and sexist profits because workers from Gaza to Staten Island and beyond will be in charge of meeting all our needs, not profit nationalist hungry bosses. If you agree, Join PLP so we can build this world together!
