Today the world-wide movement against genocide continues.  Many supporters of Palestine wave Palestinian flags proclaiming “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free.” But nowhere have national liberation movements achieved anything beyond instituting capitalist states, even if painful apartheid measures have been abolished. Let us instead identify ourselves across borders with banners that demand an end to genocide, racism, exploitation. Proclaim that: “From all the rivers to all the seas, the working class must be free.”  “Working People have NO Nation. Smash Borders & Deportations”

No flag but the red one!

We always have a problem when we go to a protest in the U.S. against war, injustice or workplace abuses and see some demonstrators waving the American flag.  Those who hold it up, even while protesting, are declaring that their country is fundamentally sound and just needs a little correction; a tweak to fix whatever is the temporary problem.  And the Israeli flag? Forget it. Whether fluttering down 5th Ave at the Israel Day parade or plastered on Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem “legally” seized by Jewish settlers, we know it represents the Zionist state apparatus.

Not one thread stands for the rights of Arab citizens of Israel or an end to military occupation/genocide. But often, at protests against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the uncountable injustices & genocide that that result, the Palestinian flag is carried high by both Palestinians & their Jewish and other allies.

So is there a difference when the members of a colonized or oppressed people wave their flag? The implication is that all members of the nation stand together and have the same interest in opposing the oppressor power. Sometimes it’s called the “nationalism of the oppressed”, which is supposed to be justified, as opposed to the nationalism of the oppressor. The strategy that flows from this analysis is that first there will be a struggle for national liberation and internal problems will be dealt with later.

Israeli, Palestinian capitalism both dead ends 

A Little History: “I, a PLP member, will never forget the initial moment of my first visit to the West Bank in 2005. Previously, I had only seen media images of death and rubble wrought by Israeli soldiers and bulldozers. But there I was in Ramallah, confronted by fancy commercial billboards, restaurants patronized by well-dressed customers, and elegant government buildings. Palestine, too, was a class society, albeit  one under a military occupation. Traveling from the city center to the outskirts to villages, it was clear that a similar chasm between rich and poor existed as in my own New York City, albeit with many particular differences.” Not only is Palestine a capitalist society with an especially great divide between rich and poor, but the rich are intimately tied to Israeli and international capital. As Ali Abunimah documents in The Battle for Justice in Palestine, “a small Palestinian elite has continued to enrich itself by deepening its political, economic and military ties with Israel, the U.S., often explicitly undermining efforts by Palestinian civil society to resist”... Israel, too, is a capitalist and highly unequal society. Eighteen ruling families have incomes equal to 77 percent of the national budget in 2006 and take in 32 percent of the profits from the 500 largest companies. 

The three largest banks preside over 80 percent of the market and take 70 percent of the profits.  The income gaps between the 90th and the 50th percentiles, and between the 50th and the 10th are the highest in the world.  Since most job growth is in the high-tech sector, inequality in education and lack of social mobility, especially for the Arab minority, ensure the growth of these differences.  Since 2001, tax cuts have benefited the wealthy, industry has privatized and unions have lost their clout. So dire is the situation that 80 percent of the population supported the massive 2011 protests against unemployment and unaffordable housing.

Workers are the only solution

What is the alternative to waving the nationalist flag, the banner of the ruling class of whatever nation? Let us raise the red flag and banners of worker, student, sibling solidarity across borders, for the demands for which we fight. Let us not falsely depend on or unite with our so-called state leaders who, universally in the world today, have more in common with each other than they do with us. Let us not be bamboozled by patriotic or nationalist rhetoric; let Arab and Jewish and American workers fight together for what we need. Let us be part of an international movement for an antiracist, anti-sexist, non-capitalist world where migration is not a crime.  Progressive Labor Party (PLP) learns from the history of national liberation struggles. We strive to build a movement for share and share alike, communism.

Organizing to protect students

Dear CHALLENGE,

I’m a communist teacher, organizing in my school for two decades. This is the first time I have been in a room with a multigenerational group of 25 Asian, Latin, Black, and white teachers who were planning on how to fight against ICE entering our school building. More teachers were interested but had other duties during the time and so couldn’t attend. They will be followed up soon.

An event like this and of this size has never happened in our building. Teachers expressed how they need to bring in other teachers from different schools who had experience to help facilitate and train them in the struggle ahead. Several first year teachers didn’t care about their tenure; they cared more about their students. A teacher a year away from retirement and others talked about how we were going to be arrested if they came for our students by locking arms and not letting ICE in the building. 

It was my Progressive Labor Party (PLP) club that got me to make sure this inspiring meeting happened. Different Party teachers discussed what they were doing in their own schools, and I carried out what needed to be done in mine. I reached out to my Chapter Leader who put our meeting out in a chapter update. I talked to different teachers throughout the building, making sure to lead with a CHALLENGE to get the conversation going. Many teachers in my meeting proudly discussed what they had heard other teachers were doing in other schools. 

I also made sure to build with my students as I used the “Know Your Rights” information to facilitate classroom conversation. Several students have agreed to come to a future study group. We need to continue to seize this time to continue to fight back and build PLP. We can end all borders.
*****

Racist Amazon firings

Amazon is a racist company that supports tech for apartheid across the world, including Israel and the U.S. border. Amazon blames their subcontractors, which they call Delivery Service Providers (DSP), for the exploitation of drivers. Recently they retaliated against workers as one worker I’ve been in touch with noted "they fired basically everyone who striked... Another worker I talked to reported “They have let over 30 people go (fired). It’s been a hilarious fiasco and definitely movie (popcorn emoji) worthy.” 

I asked one worker if they went back to work or got fired. "Neither [crying laughing emoji]" was their response. Six people gave me their contact information. Some of the workers quoted above were Asian, Latin and Black. They all lost their jobs. The other two workers who gave me their contact information were white. They both kept their jobs. This demonstrates the racist nature of the company. One of these workers appeared to be in a leadership role coordinating with the Teamsters staff organizers and DSA. They told me there were "normal post peak layoffs" after the strike "but most strikers are left standing and carrying on the struggle."

There were also mixed reactions about the union’s role with one worker saying, “Theunion is supporting everyone really well and trying to help us.

It was a step in the right direction but we need a stronger move next time." and another worker contradicting that statement: “The Teamstersused us [as] pawns in their power grab. There is a part in my song that says the working man [is] a sucker. After this ordeal those bars took on a deeper meaning...spread the word!" 

The Teamsters signs said "follow the law," and many drivers, teamsters, and local politicians emphasized the right to strike and the labor law protections against being fired for striking. Workers made this promise to encourage their coworkers crossing the picket line to join the strike.

These workers who stayed in touch with me felt they were fired for striking and being "laid off" was a pretext. Promising the bosses' state will protect workers' "rights" adds a second betrayal.

We can't blame unions for the bosses' racist firings, but we also can't make excuses for them. We should be aware that Chris Smalls, the Democratic Reform Caucus, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are three groups within the Amazon Labor Union. Other communists and left wing intellectuals from the picket line helped explain these important distinctions, and it is important to base build with them as well. We need to be aware of the political relationship of these groups as we continue to build a base in the working class, smash racism and sexism, join and lead working class fightback, and turn strikes into schools for revolution.
*****

Bosses to blame for LA fires

One aspect of the recent L.A. fires that was not discussed in the recent article is the role of the utility companies. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) have been allowed to ignore basic safety for years. Most wildfires start when trees fall or dead branches fall against power lines and create a spark that then ignites the dry vegetation below. Very rarely do they replace old equipment so that power lines will not fall down, they do not trim plant life near power lines or insulate them, they do not install automatic shut off devices or build lines underground instead of stringing them across combustible landscapes. 

Until now, the worst fire in California history was the Camp Fire in Paradise in 2018 that killed 80 people, caused by a 97 year old worn PG&E wire. In 2021, the huge Dixie fire was also caused by PG&E wires, and this company was found responsible for over 1500 fires from 2014-17. SCE is now being sued by Altadena residents as a video shows the fire starting at the base of one of its towers nearby.

Although PG&E has been found guilty of over 80 counts of involuntary manslaughter over fire deaths, had to file for bankruptcy, and committed to spending billions to protect its grid, it has done little. In fact, it has laid off thousands of workers and is raising rates 18 percent this year. As with climate change, brought on by the profit gouging fossil fuel industry, capitalism is the basic problem. As long as making money for large industries is the driving force of the economic system, as long as workers are dispensable, deadly wildfires will recur. One more reason why we must urgently build a movement for a society we workers run in our interest - a communist society.
*****

Appearance & essence The Brutalist

I went to see the new film The Brutalist recently and was reminded of the ingenuity of capitalist culture to replicate and reinforce its ideology. To be sure, the film is a majestic tour-de-force, with stunning cinematography and powerful acting throughout. But beneath all the bombast, the film gives little to no message to benefit the working class.

The main protagonist (played by Oscar winner Adrien Brody) is László Tóth, a Jewish architect from Hungary who arrives in the United States after surviving the Holocaust. Much of the first act shows his efforts to try to assimilate into his new environment as a “fish out of water,” taking odd jobs until he is recognized for his architectural talents by a wealthy capitalist and subsequently grows in professional stature.

The film is insightful in showing that no matter how much superficial praise historically marginalized persons can receive in class society, racist and sexist prejudice, violence and discrimination remain par for the course. But instead of reaching the liberating conclusion that such a society is inherently flawed and that we should find ways to collectively struggle to overcome it, The Brutalist instead offers the recurrent example under capitalist art of turning to decadent self-pity and destruction to cope and escape. 

To this end, László is shown regularly engaging in extramarital affairs and struggling with a heroin habit. Even as he later finds the strength to overcome his demons, the end result is not a rejection of a capitalist system that through its violent contradictions almost has annihilated him and his loved ones but rather making an uneasy peace with it as it still gave him prestige and wealth. Collective solutions to capitalist alienation and violence are not even on the table; László instead has escaped from the living nightmare of the Holocaust only to wall himself behind the edifice of his mastery of architecture.

A lesson to take away is the misleading allure of so-called “high art” under capitalist society. Even as we are awed by its shiny appearance, we can’t overlook its role in upholding the dominant ideology that is always looking for ways to lead the masses away from the need to organize for communist revolution.
*****

Bosses’ mouthpiece sends warning to elites

New York Times, 1/15–The secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, has said that the West is not prepared for the challenges that will come over the next five years and that it’s time to “shift to a wartime mind-set”… while World War III has not begun, “a world war is approaching”...closer cooperation among China, Russia, Iran and North Korea make a coordinated attack more likely, meaning we may have to fight three or four regional wars simultaneously…China’s shipbuilding industry has a capacity more than 230 times that of the United States. 

Capitalism leads to dying societies

CNN, 1/18–The rooms are filled with elderly residents, their hands wrinkled and backs bent. They shuffle slowly down the corridors, some using walkers. Workers help them bathe, eat, walk and take their medication. But this isn’t a nursing home – it’s Japan’s largest women’s prison. The population here reflects the aging society outside, and the pervasive problem of loneliness that guards say is so acute for some elderly prisoners that they’d prefer to stay incarcerated…With little family support, Akiyo had stopped caring about the future, or what would happen to her. Her 43-year-old son, who lived with her before she was imprisoned, often told her: “I wish you’d just go away.”

A fighter reminds us to forget the fairytale of progress on racism

New York Times, 1/24–[From obituary of Thomas Gaither PhD, one of the founders of the militant civil rights movement of the early 1960’s] “No question, the South has changed tremendously,” he said in 2011. “But the fundamental infrastructure of racism and segregation that called the shots in the South in 1960 are still in place. They have slightly different labels, they accomplish their goals by slightly different means, but there has been no real fundamental shift in who really calls the signals.”

One-third of U.S. workers are tapped out

Financial Times, 12/24/24–U.S. credit card defaults have surged to their highest level since 2008, reflecting mounting financial pressure on low-income households amid persistent inflation and high interest rates, with analysts warning of further economic strain in 2025...Due to years of high inflation and high interest rates, low-income consumers have been hit the hardest, and "the credit card debt bubble is popping"...Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, also noted…"High-income households are fine, but the bottom third of U.S. consumers are tapped out," he told the Financial Times. "Their savings rate right now is zero."

Racists get ready to rejoin the fight

BBC, 1/23–Leaders of the far-right organisations at the forefront of the Capitol riot who were released on Donald Trump's orders say they are planning to regroup. In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes defended his actions during the 6 January 2021 riot and said he was "very grateful" to President Trump for commuting his sentence. Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison on a number of charges including seditious conspiracy, or plotting to overthrow the government. Meanwhile, Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, former head of the Proud Boys, indicated to reporters that he had rejoined the all-male group.

Mass incarceration is a tool of Israeli fascists

Al Jazeera, 1/24–When the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced on January 15, Ghassan Alyeean says his first feeling was relief that the mass killing of his countrymen might finally end…But the next day…Israeli soldiers raided Alyeean’s home in Bethlehem and abducted his 22-year-old son, Adam, who was supposed to sit university exams in the coming days. “They took him for no reason”...Since Israel captured and occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel has imprisoned some 800,000 Palestinians across the occupied territory, according to the UN and B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation. “[Mass incarceration] is part of the apartheid regime”...

On the 15th anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, our working-class sisters and brothers there are reeling yet again from an onslaught of violence by armed groups of small capitalist gangsters. Within the last month, these bloodthirsty gangs have gone on a series of murder sprees, massacring more than 350 people (New York Times, 1/6). This horror is just the latest chapter of a story of racist violence that began when the French first arrived in Saint-Domingue (the former name for Haiti) in the early 1600s. From then to now, one gang after another, from the French and U.S. imperialists to small-time local bosses, has subjected workers to vicious exploitation. Yet the history of the working class in Haiti, who overthrew slavery and French colonial rule,  also reminds us that workers never sit idly by in the face of oppression. Workers fight back!

Indeed, on the 221st anniversary of their historic defeat of colonial rule, workers in Haiti are fiercely fighting back today against the raw brutality and racism of capitalism. Like their counterparts in Gaza and Sudan, workers in Haiti hold no illusions about capitalism’s absolute inability to provide a decent life for our class. It is for this reason that Progressive Labor Party sees the leadership of Black workers as essential for revolution. Equipped with communist ideas, Black workers can lead our entire class out of the misery of capitalism and into a new world, where racist exploitation is outlawed, where all workers will be free to contribute to society, no matter where they were born or what they look like. 

Destroying the French slave system

Brute force and violence defined French imperial control of Saint-Domingue from the start. Under dreadful conditions, masses of enslaved people stolen from Africa toiled on lucrative sugar and coffee plantations day in and day out, filling the coffers of greedy French capitalists on the island and in France. The despicable business was so profitable  that the colony became the principal exporter of sugar to Europe. 

The enslaved workers fought back. In 1791, they set off the Haitian Revolution, which would deal a final and historic blow to the French slave system. Under the leadership of Jean-Jacques Dessalines and others, workers organized and fought until 1804, when they defeated a combined force of the leading colonizers of the time: France, Britain, and Spain. When the ashes settled, Haiti became the first country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery. This heroic revolt inspired enslaved workers and struck fear into slave owners throughout the world.

Then the capitalists struck back. Under threat of invasion, Haiti agreed to France’s demand for payment for the loss of their human “property.” This crippling debt, alongside continuous oppression and exploitation from other imperialist powers, has impoverished Haiti to this day (NYT, 5/2022). Haiti is now the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (World Bank, 11/2024).

Duvaliers, Clintons, cops from Kenya—gangsters all

Well into the 20th century, workers in Haiti were oppressed by a series of foreign and local gangs. In 1915, the U.S began a 19-year occupation, followed in the 1950s by a murderous 30-year reign of the father and son duo, “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvalier. These U.S. puppets used their feared militia, the Tonton Macoutes, to kill and torture thousands of workers and force thousands more into exile. In the wake of the 2010 earthquake, Bill and Hillary Clinton, like the rapacious imperialist dogs they are, exploited the catastrophe to impose a neocolonialist nightmare on Haitian workers. Their capitalist cronies stole fertile land from farmers in the north, drove rural workers into the cities, and opened the infamous sweatshop factory Caracol, which paid starvation wages while making clothes for Gap, Walmart and Target.

As in other times, workers fought back—not only against the U.S. exploiters, but also against President Michel Martelly, who’d welcomed the Clintons into Haiti. As reported in CHALLENGE (2/2014), GREPS, (Group for Reflection on Social Problems), a student activist group, put out a leaflet titled, “President Martelly, Enemy of Haitian Students!”

Now the workers of Haiti face a new onslaught from armed gangs that are seizing on Haiti’s instability, created by centuries of capitalist exploitation, to grab all they can. The tools of their trade: drug trafficking, kidnappings, murder, and rape. Last year, more than 5,600 workers were killed and more than one million forced to flee their homes (UN News, 1/7). Children make up 50 percent of the displaced and up to 50 percent of recruited gang members (Aljazeera, 11/22/24). As these warring gangs continue to tighten their grip, access to already limited healthcare, education, and other basic services is becoming unattainable. 

Worldwide bosses strike

In their latest bid for imperialist control, the U.S., France and Canada have committed to send in 2,500 troops to try to make the island stable enough for foreign investment. The force will be led by cops from Kenya, who began arriving last June and are notorious for the violent abuse of civilians (BBC, 6/26/2024). Such predators are unfortunately all too familiar to workers in Haiti.  Before and after the 2010 earthquakes, UN “peacekeeping” troops murdered and raped their way through the country. They also brought an epidemic of cholera that killed more than 10,000 workers, on top of the more than 300,000 that died in the earthquake. 

For anyone seeking more evidence that identity politics and nationalism are deadly for the working class, we need to look no further than the Dominican Republic, Haiti’s eastern neighbor. DR is another longtime target of imperialist brutality, notably a U.S. occupation from 1916 to 1924. Racist exploitation of workers there has its own brutal history. Taking a cue from Donald Trump’s fascist playbook, the Dominican bosses are building a wall along the Haitian-Dominican border and using racist terror, including the mass deportation of more than 250,000 Haitians in 2024 alone (CNN 1/2). The photographs of workers trapped in cages as they await their expulsion are graphic evidence that we cannot have a just world without smashing nationalism and borders.

No strangers to resisting capitalist oppression, workers from Haiti are fighting back. Many are building solidarity with one another through mutual aid organizations. In neighborhoods controlled by small gangsters, they have united in groups like Bwa Kale for protection, turning the guns around on known gang members. Local self-defense groups have blockaded neighborhoods to keep out gang activity (Washington Post, 5/18/2023) 

In one sense, the history of Haiti is a chronicle of one group of savage gangsters after the next,  whether French enslavers, U.S. imperialists, local Haitian bosses or the hundreds of street gangs that rule much of the country today. They’ve all sought the same thing: to turn a profit on the sweat and blood of Haitian workers. But the history of Haiti is also a history of fightback, from the great revolt that ended slavery to now. Wherever we can, we should build solidarity and collective struggle with  the courageous workers in Haiti. The working class has no borders, only a common need to rid the world of racist bosses and their bloodsucking profit system. Progressive Labor Party aims to be the force that leads this fight. Join us!