Combat concentration camp in Newburgh

“When Newburgh is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” My mom organized my partner and me to attend a rally against plans to build a new ICE concentration camp in Newburgh, New York, around 60 miles north of New York City. We joined about 400 people, who brought homemade signs with slogans like “ICE Melts Under Resistance” and “United Against ICE.” It was yet another example of workers refusing to accept the bosses’ racist attacks against members of our class. I handed out a dozen CHALLENGE-DESAFIO (all that I had with me) and pointed out the front page articles about workers fighting back against ICE at Delaney Hall in New Jersey and in Hyattsville, Maryland. One protester read my sign that said “Unite to Smash Racist Borders!” and said, “That’s a great sign!”

Liberal misleadership was on full display. Unfortunately, the speakers were mostly politicians, including U.S. Representative Pat Ryan, who is posturing himself as a strong, brave force “raising the alarm” against the detention center.  Ryan, however, has accepted more than $440,000 from AIPAC, a fact that reveals the hypocritical, racist fraud that he actually is. There is absolutely no way we can trust a genocide-supporter to lead any type of fight against fascism. Only when the working class, armed with communist ideas, takes state power, will we smash these racist concentration camps once and for all.  

When a county legislator announced, “Just moments ago, ICE killed someone in Houston,” many people started yelling and chanting, “F*** ICE!!!” The rage in the crowd was palpable. The speaker responded by asking everyone to observe a moment of silence. After the silence, several members of the crowd shouted again. The speaker pretty much ignored them and continued on with her speech. Seemingly in contradiction to one speaker’s assertion that “No one is coming to save us—we must save ourselves,” we protesters were bombarded with reminders to vote and make calls to politicians. The demonstration was in a park, isolated from other workers and with little potential to energize people who weren’t already there. The experience reminded me that workers are angry and that the role of liberal politicians is to pacify this anger. Communists know we need to harness our rage at the ruling class, as well as our love for the working class, to power our fight for a better world, a world without racism, nationalism, or these fascist, two-faced politicians!
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Retirees resist racist end of TPS

Here in New York City, DC 37 Retirees are in the process of getting back in control of our retiree association. We  had been placed in receivership by AFSCME, the nationwide union of state, county and municipal workers, because of our support of efforts to stop the city and top union leaders from forcing retirees into inferior health coverage. At the first meeting the newly elected leaders  discussed and passed a resolution calling for the Retiree Association to take an active role with others in protesting  the loss of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for Haitian and Syrian migrants.

All were in agreement  on the essential work done by people with TPS status: in food production, construction, and in health services in hospitals, nursing homes and home health care. Our diverse group understood how working folks are forced to flee their country because of war, mass starvation, climate disasters, gang violence, mass unemployment and state repression. They saw clearly  the racist nature of the anti-immigrant actions like the ending of TPS. Bringing up issues like TPS allows communists to build solidarity beyond local issues in mass organizations and help workers understand the nature of class society and the international repercussions of capitalism.
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Immigrant defense committee prepares to challenge Mamdani

May, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made plans to visit our high school to commemorate a new pool in the building. I shared with our building’s immigrant defense committee, which is mostly made of teachers, that this was an opportunity to send an anti-racist, anti-ICE message and demand more for our students. I asked that we discuss a response at our weekly meeting. I brought articles about Mamdani defending the cops for arresting anti-ICE protestors, his walk-back of class size rules, and his plans to keep racist “gifted and talented” programs in almost every grade. Members of the committee also expressed anger about his retreat from supporting Palestine. In addition, they pointed out that our school needs other improvements and that some classrooms in the building don’t even have air conditioning. We made plans to make signs to hang in the school when Mamdani and his team came. The slogans we discussed included things like “ACs not ICE” “Stop backing down on Palestine,” “No delay, lower class size today,” “Desegregate our schools from K-12,”  “Freeze the rent, melt the ICE,” and “What will you do to protect our schools and hospitals from ICE?”  

Mamdani ended up canceling his visit, but members of his office and other NYC politicians visited the pool later in June, on a day when not many students were around due to state testing. One member of the committee made signs with some of the slogans from our collective discussion, and she and I posted them outside the pool. We aren’t sure that the mayoral staff saw them, but we know some staff in the building did, which is a bigger win. Next time, I am hoping we will have a bigger and more collective action, with students involved. 

Workers and students deserve way more than these politicians have to offer. No matter how many good intentions Zohran Mamdani may or may not have, his job is to manage rising fascism, not smash it. Electing so-called progressives will not protect our class from racist attacks by ICE or on our students’ education, because the ruling class needs racism to divide the working class and exploit us all. Mamdani and his ilk will continue to disappoint us with promises they cannot keep.

In the committee’s last few meetings of the year, we discussed ideas for next school year. I plan to be bolder in pushing our Party’s line as we struggle for a more anti-racist culture at our school. 
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