A world without borders (International Socialist Organization garbage)

Socialist Worker Online ^ | April 28,2006 | Elizabeth Schulte

[pravknight]

ELIZABETH SCHULTE makes the case for international solidarity and the need for a socialist alternative.

JOSÉ GUTIÉRREZ grew up an orphan on the streets in Guatemala before he came to the U.S. in 1997. That year, he was detained and later released by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In 2002, he became a Marine. A year later, he was one of the first soldiers to die in Iraq.

Only then was he awarded his U.S. citizenship.

The story of José Gutiérrez underlines the rank hypocrisy of all the talk about so-called “illegal” immigration. If you want to cross the border into the U.S. in the hopes of making a better life, you’re a criminal. But if you lose your life doing the U.S. government’s killing in Iraq, you’ve earned the right to be a citizen.

The fact is that borders only matter to the U.S. ruling class insofar as they help bolster its rule.

The U.S. military goes anywhere it pleases, regardless of national borders, and it claims it’s fighting for democracy and freedom. Corporate America demands the right to produce its products wherever it wants, and send its goods to any country it pleases, regardless of borders.

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IN REALITY, national borders are made by and for the rich and powerful--to enforce or ignore at their will. As Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote in 1848 in the Communist Manifesto, “The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere.” Corporations move across borders and conduct business however they please, but the same rules don’t apply to workers. Immigration rules and penalties are set up to control--but not stop--the flow of workers into the U.S.

And while the U.S. economy depends on a large pool of immigrant workers, the capitalist system thrives by keeping these workers’ wages low. Marginalized immigrant workers, susceptible to arrest and deportation, are more likely to work low-paid, dangerous jobs--and less likely to speak up for their rights.

So the terror that immigrants face crossing the border through harsh desert climates or wading across rivers doesn’t end there. It’s an inevitable part of punitive border policies. This is true everywhere in the world where poor or persecuted people flee their native countries in search for better lives.

All the while, immigrants are vilified by politicians who claim they are “stealing jobs” and “sponging off the government.” If they get away with this scapegoating, it can deflect some of the blame for stagnating wages, substandard living conditions or the gutting of social services away from themselves.

This age-old tactic is effective, but not always. The key is for all workers, no matter where they were born, to see who their real enemy is--the bosses and politicians who try to divide them. And beyond that, they must see the divisions in society created between workers of different ethnicities or nationalities as the means to keep each group divided to conquer all.

A united working class has the power to put an end to the exploitation and oppression of capitalism--and create a new socialist society in which the equality of all people is assured, and the priority is on meeting human needs, not enriching a tiny few.

Considering that national boundaries only benefit our rulers, it stands to reason that this society would dispense with these borders. Workers and the goods that people need would travel without restriction, from place to place.

Today, if a country is short of oil, its workers and the poor pay skyrocketing prices--or figure out how to do without. In a socialist society, workers from an oil-rich country would simply send this vital resource to those who need it. This would be impossible under capitalism, because there is no profit in it.

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THE KEY to this transformation is internationalism and international solidarity. In 1912, when 20,000 textile workers in Lawrence, Mass.--a total of 26 nationalities among them--went on strike for better wages and conditions, they announced, “The flaxen-haired son of the North marches side by side with his dark-haired brother in the South.” “They have toiled in together in one factory for one boss,” continued their proclamation, “And now they have joined together in a great cause.”

Today, with immigrant workers taking the initiative in mass protests around the country, all workers have an opportunity to build working-class solidarity and confidence. Let it be workers’ solidarity and struggle that “nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere.”

When workers organize together and win, unbelievable change can happen very quickly.

During the Paris Commune of 1871--an uprising that marked the first widespread experiment in workers governing society, if only for a brief time--French workers turned the warped priorities of class society on their head.

As Fredrick Engels described this revolution, “On March 30, the Commune abolished conscription and the standing army, and declared that the National Guard, in which all citizens capable of bearing arms were to be enrolled, was to be the sole armed force. It remitted all payments of rent for dwelling houses from October 1870 until April, the amounts already paid to be reckoned to a future rental period, and stopped all sales of articles pledged in the municipal pawnshops. On the same day, the foreigners elected to the Commune were confirmed in office, because ‘the flag of the Commune is the flag of the World Republic.’

“On April 1, it was decided that the highest salary received by any employee of the Commune, and therefore also by its members themselves, might not exceed [the average wage of a worker]. On the following day, the Commune decreed the separation of the Church from the State...On the 6th, the guillotine was brought out by the 137th battalion of the National Guard, and publicly burned, amid great popular rejoicing.

“On the 12th, the Commune decided that the Victory Column on the Place Vendôme, which had been cast from guns captured by Napoleon after the war of 1809, should be demolished as a symbol of chauvinism and incitement to national hatred.”

For socialism to succeed in any country, the struggle has to be international, embracing the demands of the working class of all nations and spreading those demands from country to country. In the words of Marx and Engels, “Workers of the world unite!”

We deserve better than the system we live under today--a world where no one is “illegal,” a world without borders, a socialist future.

[pravknight]

It seems the Socialists are coming out of their closets with One-World government crap.

There are too many articles on this Web site to post on FR that show the real face of the Red Menace behind these aweful demonstration.

Have a look, if you dare: http://www.socialistworker.org/index.shtml

[timsbella]

No borders...does this mean Jews will be welcome to visit the graves of their patriarchs/matriarchs even though they are in Arab territory?

[colorado tanker]

I'd like to buy the world a Coke . . . .

[stopem]

The miscreants are on the move and are poised to take over America.

[dead]

The story of José Gutiérrez underlines the rank hypocrisy of all the talk about so-called “illegal” immigration. If you want to cross the border into the U.S. in the hopes of making a better life, you’re a criminal. But if you lose your life doing the U.S. government’s killing in Iraq, you’ve earned the right to be a citizen.

Sums up the “socialist” mentality perfectly.

He joined the military to earn for himself something that he didn’t already have. Citizenship in a foreign nation.

But to the twisted mind of a leftist, working to improve your station in life is just a hypocritical crock. Confiscating that which belongs to others is somehow the more ennobling route to betterment.

I long ago gave up trying to wrap my brain around the effed up logic of the left.

[SierraWasp]

"Imagine there's no countries... and no religion, too..."

Lyrics of an old Beatles ditty!!! Get the whole set of lyrics for this song... it'll make your redblooded American skin crawl!!!

[plain talk]

They can't succeed now because there are too many of us old timers around that know what communism and socialism is all about. What I worry about is when we all are gone. These young kids don't have the same disdain for communism. It's just not on their radar.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Shall we do a quick review of the border policies of fully socialist nations (past and present)? We could start with Cuba, and the list is very very long . . .

[kinoxi]

unfortunately, you are correct sir

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

There are too many articles on this Web site to post on FR that show the real face of the Red Menace behind these aweful demonstration.

Pretty obvious, considering they chose May Day as the date for their walkout.

Of course, most of the people in this country have no idea what May Day represents anymore, so it's going largely unnoticed.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

No Thanks, down with the 60's stuff!

Once saw Clockworks...whatever...now that was wierd....

[SierraWasp]

Imagine

by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky

Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say,
I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day
You'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say,
I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day
You'll join us
And the world will be as one

[SierraWasp]

Clockwork Orange???

Check out Reply #12, just above. I worked a long time to format that sucker just for you, Sir!!! (knowing you'd disagree with it)

[pravknight]

Having been brought up at the tail end of the Cold War, I know what these Communist scum are. Revolutionaries always target the young because they are easy to control.

[P-40]

It seems the Socialists are coming out of their closets with One-World government crap.

I wonder what their average age is....12?

[hedgetrimmer]

"free trade"= "open borders" = global socialism

[SierraWasp]

Well... Let me tell you... Those lyrics are very seductive!!! They have already molded much of a couple of generations!!!

[Toddsterpatriot]

I'm for free trade, against open borders and against all forms of socialism.

[VOATNOW1]

Schulte fails to mention that socialism is a failure, unless it has a democracy to sell its products to. The USSR was a classic example of this. She also is unaware of the fact that women have little or no rights in socialist societies.

[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:

Notice that upside down American flag?


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.

---

Not yet added in updates is this:

Muslim Groups Will March with Illegals

Joining illegal immigrants in their march on May 1: radical Islamic front groups the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the Muslim Students Association (MSA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR): CAIR are now in the mix- will march with illegals. (Hat tip: Fjordman.) link: 240 comments

California Senate joins Muslims and gives it support to illegal immigration.

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/006862.php

Southern Border Crossings Not Just For Workers Any More

Thomas Joscelyn reports that transcriptions of Guantanamo Bay hearing uncovered plots by two different Islamist terror groups to send its volunteers into the United States through Mexico, exploiting the border we seem unwilling to credibly secure:

Read all of Joscelyn's post. Remember that we have long worried about the ability of terrorist groups to infiltrate the US through the porous southern border. It highlights the stubbornly naive approach taken by the Senate and endorsed by the White House in pursuing immigration reform. This underscores the need to secure the border first before we discuss normalizing those left inside the US. Comments (23)  "Hezbollah has been active in Colombia, as well. That strongly implies that FARC, Chavez and castro are all becoming loosely (at least) aligned and coordinated."