Towards an Other America

Driven off their land by multinational corporations, driven out of their communities by U.S. funded death squads; searching for work and a better quality of life, many people come to America. When they arrive, however, they discover the streets are not paved with gold, and the political system is un-democratic.

Like the Irish, German, Japanese, and Italians that came to the states before them, the families coming from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Honduras, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guinea, Dominican Republic, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the African continent, and the Middle East, are marginalized politically and exploited economically. With elections coming up, politicians are lashing out against immigrants to cash in on a racist sentiment, created by wartime hysteria. Across the country, mass deportations target immigrant workers from South America (as in Danbury , see ICE article). At the Border, politicians want to erect a wall, dividing North and South AmericaÑsimilar to the wall separating Israel and Palestine, but also the one which divided East and West Berlin.

White supremacists, like the Minutemen and Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Reform, are using this opportunity to push their agenda into mainstream American politics.

"Guest worker programs" are also on the table for discussion, which would effectively turn migrant workers into indentured servants.

Indeed, the future is very grim, if those above are allowed to dictate it. But amidst all this, a new movement is emerging, from below and to the left, across boarders-- which cannot be contained by razor wire or handcuffs-- the globalization of rebellion.

From Buenos Aires to the Gaza Strip, Paris to Miami, people have rejected global capitalism in favor of self-government, direct democracy and social justice. These principles have revitalized the struggle for equality in the United States.

In Connecticut , as in anywhere else, we must meet repression with resistance. Racist policies must be met with anti-racist mobilizationsÐincluding general strikes of workers and students, across cultural and national divisions. We are all subject to the same system, so we all have to work together to overcome it.

Tear down the borders! No one is illegal!