Leftists blame local struggles on capitalism (Old Left, New Left, Gay Left and the left-behind Left)

The Houston Chronicle ^ | May 2, 2006 | DUDLEY ALTHAUS dqalthaus@yahoo.com

[Cincinatus' Wife]

MEXICO CITY - Mexican immigrants and their U.S. boycott were on the minds and lips of tens of thousands of unionized workers and leftist protesters who marched Monday through the heart of Mexico City.

"Immigrant brothers, we are with you," chanted a cohort of street merchants arriving for a midday protest that began in front of the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy and coursed for several miles to the sprawling central plaza downtown. "Open the borders."

But while support for the U.S. boycott ran wide among the marchers here, it didn't seem very deep nationwide. Despite calls for a boycott of U.S. brand businesses, commerce seemed brisk as usual at many of them.

And at the marches themselves, the immigrant issue seemed tacked on to more traditional leftist demands and complaints: curtailing capitalism and U.S. power, condemning the U.S. government and President Bush, denouncing President Vicente Fox and about every other Mexican politician as lapdogs of the American empire.

"Fox is a puppet of the empire," said Arturo Guerrero, a 56-year-old educator, who said he has participated in leftist protests since 1968. "This isn't just against Fox but against all the capitalist system that has been imposed upon us."

Monday, after all, was May Day. That's Labor Day here and in much of the world. And since it began more than century ago to commemorate the police killings of protesting workers in Chicago in 1886, May Day has been the holiday of holidays for left-thinking people nearly everywhere.

A game for the rich

The tens of thousands who gathered at the embassy — marshalled by Subcomandante Marcos, the leader of the failed 1994 Maya indian uprising who remains an icon of rebellion here — presented a kaleidoscope of dissent.

They came from the Old Left, the New Left, the Gay Left and the left-behind Left. Trotskyists marched alongside transsexuals, Stalinists bumped shoulders with socialists.

T-shirts blazoned with the likeness of Che Guevara, the icon of the Cuban Revolution, covered many a belly. Hats of the sort favored by Latin American peasants or China's long-dead Chairman Mao, shielded heads from the sun.

Activists hawked newspapers, magazines and pamphlets parsing every splinter of leftist thought.

By the marchers' logic, illegal immigration to the United States is but one more result of a game rigged to benefit the rich, another blow against the U.S.-dominated global capitalist system.

"We want to tell our brothers and sisters struggling north of the border that we are with them," Marcos said in the speech in front of the embassy, before leading the crowd to the Zocalo, as the central plaza is known. "We are struggling for another Mexico, one that doesn't obligate its workers to migrate somewhere else to find a dignified life."

"Workers to power!" shouted a small group of mostly young marchers, who arrived carrying the hammer and sickle flag of the former Soviet Union and large portraits of Marx, Lenin and Stalin.

Little effect on business

Thousands of unionized workers who marched earlier in the day echoed that support for the immigrants. But their ire was directed mostly at Fox, whose government has been disputing with the unions since deposing the head of the national miners union in February.

The union marchers called for better wages and working conditions. They demanded that Fox's government stay out of the internal affairs of unions. They called for a system fairer to labor.

Of course, the big problem facing Mexican workers is that there are many more of them than there than there are jobs to be filled.

That reality — which has existed for decades as Mexico's population expansion far outstripped its economic growth — has driven millions of Mexicans north of the border, many of them illegally.

"We are not against the United States, we are against the big corporations," university student Rodrigo Uribe, 18, said in English as he held one end of a posterboard U.S. flag that had American corporations names where the stars might be. "It's not fair that the rich make deals among themselves while the workers suffer."

As they made their way downtown, those marching with Marcos hiked past the hundreds of farmers who have been holding naked protests demanding resolution of a decades old land dispute. As the march streamed by, the peasant protesters stripped in solidarity.

Though activists here and across Mexico had been calling for a boycott of Wal-Mart, McDonald's and other American brand business, it seemed to have little effect.

Several dozen diners filled the tables at a McDonald's in downtown Mexico City, just a few yards from where the protest march passed on the way to the downtown plaza.

"In reality, this is a day like any other," said Nayely Madrid, the 21-year-old assistant manager at the restaurant.

[Darkwolf377]

Monday, after all, was May Day.

The marchers sure did get the message about carrying US flags, I see, but they just couldn't resist their commie roots.

[MaineVoter2002]

Yes they are in USENET & GOOGLE POLITICAL NEWSGROUPS trying to blame republicans and capitalism

[backhoe]

I have been covering, ( Or, as Seamole calls it...-backhoe's pseudoblog--... ) psuedo-blogging, for years, a couple of the elements in WWIV ( III being the Cold War ), in which we find ourselves engaged.

The first element?

Islam, a Religion of Peace®? ( links, blogs, quips, quotes, aggravating pictures ) is located here- click the Pic, and scroll backwards:

The other, somewhat interlocking element is this one:

"Thunder on the Border," click the picture:

What is happening under the radar is that the alien lobby, certain elements of radical Islam, and some on the Left share common goals, tactics, and exploitations of our system and society.

See "ANSWER" in the poster?

Work backwards on my links to see all the shady left-wing and terrorist-enabling organizations backing this nonsense.

[oblomov]

And since it began more than century ago to commemorate the police killings of protesting workers anarchists in Chicago in 1886

[Always Right]

We would be so much better off under a Communists style system and their gulags....

[Rte66]

Some illegal immigrant protest participation numbers on TV just now:

400,000 Los Angeles

400,000 Chicago

30,000 Florida

20,000 New York City

15,000 Houston

Effect on the economy: 0

[cricket]

These people should be beating a path to Bolivia. . .why not go where the politics are now being served up in true communist style.

[wolfcreek]

Mexicans don't like Capitalism???

[Andy from Beaverton]

[groovejedi]

oh sure these are exactly the kind of immigrants that built America. /s

We are in big trouble if we don't build a border fence and stop this soon!

[MileHi]

You can add 75,000 in Denver.

[Thombo2]

Good point.Americans haven't seen anything yet,and we're already in big trouble.As far as a fence is concerned don't expect the feds to do it.We've been sold out:(

[groovejedi]

What is it going to take from us to get these things done, like get a fence built, and enforce immigration laws already on the books? I mean, what can we do.... actually? I wonder if there is anything that can be done to reverse this tidal wave.

[Turbopilot]

Arturo Guerrero, a 56-year-old educator, who said he has participated in leftist protests since 1968

38 years and still oppressed and downtrodden, huh? Looks like fighting the Man isn't quite working out for Arty here...maybe it's time to try something else.

"We are struggling for another Mexico, one that doesn't obligate its workers to migrate somewhere else to find a dignified life."

Fantastic. 'Cept all the protestors hate the big corporations who generate the jobs and economic growth that give the illegal immigrants a reason to come here in the first place. The fewer eeeeeeeeevil big businesses they have in Mexico, the more Mexicans they'll have in the U.S. I just don't understand how it's possible to agitate for two completely contradictory and mutually exclusive goals at the same time.

[Thombo2]

"What can we do...to reverse this tidal wave?"Realistically....nothing.Even if a tough no-amnesty law were passed(unlikely),it would simply not be enforced at the local/state level.Expect the illegal invasion to continue.As the illegal pop continues to grow(illegals and their dependants)local gov will not be able to function.Flight from these areas by the tax base(middle and upper middle classes)that finance services(police,fire,etc)will hasten the decline.Localities in the border states will be first.

[groovejedi]

I can't help feeling like there HAS to be somethign that can be done, that will be done. Obviously we cannot continue on this path and expect to remain a civilized nation for very much longer. There has to be an alternative to just allowing the nation to spiral into chaos

[okie01]

I just don't understand how it's possible to agitate for two completely contradictory and mutually exclusive goals at the same time.

Nuance. It takes nuance.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Great graphic!

Thanks!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

See "ANSWER" in the poster? Work backwards on my links to see all the shady left-wing and terrorist-enabling organizations backing this nonsense.

Bump!