Amid all of this hate-filled rhetoric, very little of the truth gets out. Policies authored or strongly supported by the Republicans, such as NAFTA and other "free trade" agreements, have fostered conditions in other countries, especially in Central and South America, that force people where agricultural and manufacturing economies have been devastated to leave their homes in search of a better way of life. Indeed, dominance by US-based multinational corporations, with no local interests other than exploiting people and resources for huge profits, has wreaked havoc on the very countries from which immigrants are now escaping to the US.
As economist Richard Wolff notes in a recent article, poverty alone isn't enough to convince people to migrate. The breakdown of "deep structures of production and patterns of social life generally" cause people to pick up everything and move to other countries. Free trade policies have eroded the small farming sectors in many countries in favor of large multinational corporations. Promised employment from projected manufacturing booms as a result of "free trade" has failed to materialize.
Meanwhile, companies in the US actively recruit low-wage workers who can expect little security and few protections. Employers seek workers who are less likely to stand up for themselves or form labor unions to improve work conditions and pay. Companies shamelessly use the federal authorities against workers whom they know are undocumented precisely when those workers start talking about organizing labor unions. Companies who can pay undocumented immigrant workers less than other workers make billions in "super-profits."
So what's the solution? First, when high-powered media types like those mentioned above spew racist hate speech in order to get one group of working people to hate another, hold onto to your wallet. Savage, Gibson, O'Reilly and others of their ilk are not on the side of working people; they are the lavishly paid minions of corporate America.
Look at this way. As long as immigrant workers remain in a precarious position where they can't demand that companies pay better wages and benefits, their situation drags down real wages for all workers. As long as "legal" people resent their immigrant brothers and sisters and refuse to stand with them against hate mongering blowhards and corporate rip-offs, we all suffer.
Ethnic cleansing through mass deportation isn't the solution. That would be a terrible crime and would only exacerbate the problem. It would turn the US into a police state.
So what should immigration policy be? It should start with amnesty. It must include the protection of full civil, human, and workers' rights for every person in this country. In other words, everyone should have the right to speak up and be protected from unfair treatment in public and on the job. We should all have the right to join a union and stand with others to demand fair wages, benefits and treatment. And all newly arrived workers should have a real, fair and viable path to citizenship. These essentially were the demands of the massive public demonstrations by immigrant workers and their allies throughout April and early May.
Let's reject the racist demagoguery of the ultra right and the extremist Republicans. Theirs' is the dogma of the Nazis, the KKK, and the apologists of ethnic cleansing and genocide. We must firmly reject Bush's border militarization policy. We should also reject any "guest worker program."
Militarization will only intensify the dangers for people along the border, including US citizens, and would overstretch the already scarce resources of the National Guard. Guest workers programs simply force people to work under exploitative conditions here without any means of becoming a permanent resident and establishing their families here. Guest worker programs, by forcing down wages and worsening working conditions, have historically helped promote a race to the bottom for all workers.
Concern about the immigration issue for most working people comes from a deep interest in fairness, equality and justice. It comes from a basic desire to improve all of our lives. Let's not allow the right-wing demagogues to turn this concern into fear and hatred. We now recognize this demagoguery as a typical Republican campaign tactic, but we also know that it can never be the basis of a truly democratic society. The unity of all working people, regardless of nationality or race, is our best hope for winning a better country and a better world.
--Joel Wendland is managing editor of Political Affairs and will be door-knocking and phone-banking this fall to bring down the corrupt Republican Congress.
As economist Richard Wolff notes in a recent article, poverty alone isn't enough to convince people to migrate. The breakdown of "deep structures of production and patterns of social life generally" cause people to pick up everything and move to other countries. Free trade policies have eroded the small farming sectors in many countries in favor of large multinational corporations. Promised employment from projected manufacturing booms as a result of "free trade" has failed to materialize.
Meanwhile, companies in the US actively recruit low-wage workers who can expect little security and few protections. Employers seek workers who are less likely to stand up for themselves or form labor unions to improve work conditions and pay. Companies shamelessly use the federal authorities against workers whom they know are undocumented precisely when those workers start talking about organizing labor unions. Companies who can pay undocumented immigrant workers less than other workers make billions in "super-profits."
So what's the solution? First, when high-powered media types like those mentioned above spew racist hate speech in order to get one group of working people to hate another, hold onto to your wallet. Savage, Gibson, O'Reilly and others of their ilk are not on the side of working people; they are the lavishly paid minions of corporate America.
Ethnic cleansing through mass deportation isn't the solution. That would be a terrible crime and would only exacerbate the problem. It would turn the US into a police state.
So what should immigration policy be? It should start with amnesty. It must include the protection of full civil, human, and workers' rights for every person in this country. In other words, everyone should have the right to speak up and be protected from unfair treatment in public and on the job. We should all have the right to join a union and stand with others to demand fair wages, benefits and treatment. And all newly arrived workers should have a real, fair and viable path to citizenship. These essentially were the demands of the massive public demonstrations by immigrant workers and their allies throughout April and early May.
Let's reject the racist demagoguery of the ultra right and the extremist Republicans. Theirs' is the dogma of the Nazis, the KKK, and the apologists of ethnic cleansing and genocide. We must firmly reject Bush's border militarization policy. We should also reject any "guest worker program."
Militarization will only intensify the dangers for people along the border, including US citizens, and would overstretch the already scarce resources of the National Guard. Guest workers programs simply force people to work under exploitative conditions here without any means of becoming a permanent resident and establishing their families here. Guest worker programs, by forcing down wages and worsening working conditions, have historically helped promote a race to the bottom for all workers.
Concern about the immigration issue for most working people comes from a deep interest in fairness, equality and justice. It comes from a basic desire to improve all of our lives. Let's not allow the right-wing demagogues to turn this concern into fear and hatred. We now recognize this demagoguery as a typical Republican campaign tactic, but we also know that it can never be the basis of a truly democratic society. The unity of all working people, regardless of nationality or race, is our best hope for winning a better country and a better world.
--Joel Wendland is managing editor of Political Affairs and will be door-knocking and phone-banking this fall to bring down the corrupt Republican Congress.
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