Strike Action
This is a warning from the beginning...this is a political post, it will be long, the great majority of people will not agree with me. With that said, I do not care because most people will not read it all the way through anyway.
Yesterday, May Day in much of the world (a day that originated in the US, but more on that later), was marked in the US by large-scale demonstrations. I feel privy to speak on these because I am an undocumented immigrant living unassimilated in a foreign country. Fortunately I am not hated here for this very reason, but who cares for details anyway. I also feel like I should speak on this because labor issues in an internationalizing economy, community, and identity are essentially my area of expertise.
I read a few reports on the demonstrations yesterday and one caught my attention, a column by Lou Dobbs on CNN. The reason this particular article caught my attention was because of its reference to "radical groups" leading the demonstrations. This is, for those of you that do not know, a typical move made to marginalize popular movements in America...its sort of a catch-all buzzword that brings up negative connotations in the American mind. First of all, effective radicalism in the US is a non-issue, and on this I can speak from first-hand experience, so you can loosen the grip on your TiVo remotes and start enjoying that cheap immigrant cultivated dinner again. Secondly, in an issue as hopelessly short of ideas as American immigration why not a radical approach? The infusion of the same non-approaches for decades has done nothing but make the problem worse. Besides, who in their right minds (pun, sorry) would not suggest that armed citizens patrolling the borders (minute men militias) are radicals? Often a radical approach from both sides suggests an acceptable middle way for the queasy American stomach.
Just who are the "radicals" that have managed to tap such a widespread nerve in a country hardly known for Progressivism? ANSWER, an organization ostensibly aimed at "ending racism" (another formerly radical idea in America). ANSWER is accused of being a front organization for a radical leftist group. It is essential to point out that a legitimate public action can be hurt by reactionary populism in America, and on the other side it can be hurt by bad leadership. These kind of "front" organizations do exist and usually they are headed by a bunch of out of touch buffoons who moonlight as activists after their day job of arguing whether "permanent revolution" or "socialism in one state" is the right approach. In other words they are impotent dinosaurs. I do not know anything about ANSWER and they may be of that ilk, but I should point out that radical left groups would support movements like this without "leading" them. A short history lesson, the first group in America to begin to bring cases to the courts and organize demonstrations against segregation was the American Communist Party. It is a non sequitur to suggest that involvement of obviously allied radicals in a good movement makes the movement bad.
What is the make up of this "radical" front organization? They are really a "Stalinist" political party! Oooooh! Are you kidding me? Are we really still having this conversation? We really need to work on some new public bogey men if Stalin is all we have when the alleged foe does not look like an Arab. May I suggest also that it is all too convenient in a world where 1) Stalin is dead, and 2) Stalinism has been dead for over 50 years that anytime a protest that threatens American conservative hegemony crops up all of a sudden the frightening Stalinists start crawling out of the woodworks and are found to be "heading" the demonstrations. Please, please, please! Think for yourself, and think about how stupid this sounds.
The next thing that caught my attention was when Dobbs did his short and wrong explanation of May Day, keeping with the prevailing theme of the Red menace guiding this existential threat to American bigotry. Dobbs argues, "it is no accident that they chose May 1 as their day of demonstration and boycott. It is the worldwide day of commemorative demonstrations by various socialist, communist, and even anarchic organizations." For the real truth about May Day read the following article on Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2140846/. Briefly though, May Day began in America in the 19th century to commemorate the American workers victorious demand for an 8 hour work day (a lot of good that has done). We switched from May Day to Labor Day as a propaganda move to separate the American labor movement from the European, Asian, African and Latin American labor movements...a blow that labor has not yet recovered from. I will point out that despite the fact that May Day is so obviously an evil conspiracy of the haunting specter of world communism it has often occasioned movements for liberation from under that very specter...but who needs the truth anyway?
I got an email from someone suggesting that in order to demonstrate against the immigrant demonstrations I ought to buy an American product. Leaving aside the fact that I do not live in America, I will address this issue. I support the idea, but I call for care and a slight extension. Buy an American product, but make sure, make positively sure, that there is no foreign labor involved anywhere in the process. Be certain that the raw materials did not come from another country, that the factory is not located in another country, that the companies call center is not in another country, that their local warehouses are not staffed by immigrant labor, that they are not delivered and retailed by foreigners. The point is, it is not the 18th century anymore, you will not find a purely "American" product on the American market. If you could find them then the cost of commodities would quickly outstrip our inexhaustible appetite for consumption in America. How about you buy a product that does not involve exploited labor anywhere in its process of production and marketing? Good luck.
The cries for "assimilation" bring up the same issue. There is a two-fold and contradictory demand being voiced. Assimilate to allay our xenophobia, but stay foreign to keep the prices down. If the foreign element in our goods and services were to be Americanized then their demands for labor protection, and basically to be treated like human beings much less Americans, would crush the American commodity market. An American without commodities is not American at all! So much for assimilation. Put your money where your mouth is!
This issue is crucial for the future of global socio-economics and politics. I am not surprised that a mass movement came about, I did not anticipate it, but in retrospect it is obvious. Again, refer to the slate article above. The international element of the American labor movement was effectively wiped out by our government a long time ago. This built a million contradictions into our economy. Our economy is absolutely not purely national, but our labor movement is. The problem with this asymmetry is evident in the misunderstandings and fear aroused by "immigrants taking our jobs" and "outsourcing our jobs" to other countries. Here is a bit of news for anyone who may not know, in capitalism you have no "right to a job." An alienable labor market is essential to market liberalism. For a contrast see the French demonstrations this year where the students were protesting proposed changes that would take away the X-year minimum job guarantee they have. The new scheme would create limited "at-will" employment, the kind of labor characteristic of a capitalist labor market, and characteristic of the American economy in an "unlimited" form, where labor can be freely alienated at any point.
This issue is a bottom-up reflex against the untenable situation that has come about given an international market and a nationalist labor movement. We thought we had disproved Marx with New Deal labor reform and persistently cheap goods. The secret was that we had cheap and dehumanized labor in American women and African-Americans. So with the equality of women and racial equality (if you believe this then I should offer you my beach front condo in Nebraska) and still persisting cheap goods we had proven the flawlessness of American capitalism, right? Wrong again! The market began to globalize and pockets of exploitable labor arose (persisted) in foreign and undocumented labor.
Several things have happened in the last few years that should strike Americans as fundamental heralds of a new era. First of all, we were attacked in our own nation...we are vulnerable to heinous and large-scale attack from abroad. Second, a hurricane devastated an American city and what we saw in the aftermath was a desperately poor population of Americans living in our midst. Third, the illusion of American military potency has been shaken. A man in a cave with a walkie-talkie and a rifle has alluded us for years now, semi-organized villagers in a "developing country" have killed far too many of my peers and ground the most powerful military in the world to a halt in a desert half way across the world. Finally, the ground is shaking in America and the sound, if you place your ear to the ground, says from both sides that our systems of identity and production are untenable. New ideas, or our fate may be sealed.
This is a warning from the beginning...this is a political post, it will be long, the great majority of people will not agree with me. With that said, I do not care because most people will not read it all the way through anyway.
Yesterday, May Day in much of the world (a day that originated in the US, but more on that later), was marked in the US by large-scale demonstrations. I feel privy to speak on these because I am an undocumented immigrant living unassimilated in a foreign country. Fortunately I am not hated here for this very reason, but who cares for details anyway. I also feel like I should speak on this because labor issues in an internationalizing economy, community, and identity are essentially my area of expertise.
I read a few reports on the demonstrations yesterday and one caught my attention, a column by Lou Dobbs on CNN. The reason this particular article caught my attention was because of its reference to "radical groups" leading the demonstrations. This is, for those of you that do not know, a typical move made to marginalize popular movements in America...its sort of a catch-all buzzword that brings up negative connotations in the American mind. First of all, effective radicalism in the US is a non-issue, and on this I can speak from first-hand experience, so you can loosen the grip on your TiVo remotes and start enjoying that cheap immigrant cultivated dinner again. Secondly, in an issue as hopelessly short of ideas as American immigration why not a radical approach? The infusion of the same non-approaches for decades has done nothing but make the problem worse. Besides, who in their right minds (pun, sorry) would not suggest that armed citizens patrolling the borders (minute men militias) are radicals? Often a radical approach from both sides suggests an acceptable middle way for the queasy American stomach.
Just who are the "radicals" that have managed to tap such a widespread nerve in a country hardly known for Progressivism? ANSWER, an organization ostensibly aimed at "ending racism" (another formerly radical idea in America). ANSWER is accused of being a front organization for a radical leftist group. It is essential to point out that a legitimate public action can be hurt by reactionary populism in America, and on the other side it can be hurt by bad leadership. These kind of "front" organizations do exist and usually they are headed by a bunch of out of touch buffoons who moonlight as activists after their day job of arguing whether "permanent revolution" or "socialism in one state" is the right approach. In other words they are impotent dinosaurs. I do not know anything about ANSWER and they may be of that ilk, but I should point out that radical left groups would support movements like this without "leading" them. A short history lesson, the first group in America to begin to bring cases to the courts and organize demonstrations against segregation was the American Communist Party. It is a non sequitur to suggest that involvement of obviously allied radicals in a good movement makes the movement bad.
What is the make up of this "radical" front organization? They are really a "Stalinist" political party! Oooooh! Are you kidding me? Are we really still having this conversation? We really need to work on some new public bogey men if Stalin is all we have when the alleged foe does not look like an Arab. May I suggest also that it is all too convenient in a world where 1) Stalin is dead, and 2) Stalinism has been dead for over 50 years that anytime a protest that threatens American conservative hegemony crops up all of a sudden the frightening Stalinists start crawling out of the woodworks and are found to be "heading" the demonstrations. Please, please, please! Think for yourself, and think about how stupid this sounds.
The next thing that caught my attention was when Dobbs did his short and wrong explanation of May Day, keeping with the prevailing theme of the Red menace guiding this existential threat to American bigotry. Dobbs argues, "it is no accident that they chose May 1 as their day of demonstration and boycott. It is the worldwide day of commemorative demonstrations by various socialist, communist, and even anarchic organizations." For the real truth about May Day read the following article on Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2140846/. Briefly though, May Day began in America in the 19th century to commemorate the American workers victorious demand for an 8 hour work day (a lot of good that has done). We switched from May Day to Labor Day as a propaganda move to separate the American labor movement from the European, Asian, African and Latin American labor movements...a blow that labor has not yet recovered from. I will point out that despite the fact that May Day is so obviously an evil conspiracy of the haunting specter of world communism it has often occasioned movements for liberation from under that very specter...but who needs the truth anyway?
I got an email from someone suggesting that in order to demonstrate against the immigrant demonstrations I ought to buy an American product. Leaving aside the fact that I do not live in America, I will address this issue. I support the idea, but I call for care and a slight extension. Buy an American product, but make sure, make positively sure, that there is no foreign labor involved anywhere in the process. Be certain that the raw materials did not come from another country, that the factory is not located in another country, that the companies call center is not in another country, that their local warehouses are not staffed by immigrant labor, that they are not delivered and retailed by foreigners. The point is, it is not the 18th century anymore, you will not find a purely "American" product on the American market. If you could find them then the cost of commodities would quickly outstrip our inexhaustible appetite for consumption in America. How about you buy a product that does not involve exploited labor anywhere in its process of production and marketing? Good luck.
The cries for "assimilation" bring up the same issue. There is a two-fold and contradictory demand being voiced. Assimilate to allay our xenophobia, but stay foreign to keep the prices down. If the foreign element in our goods and services were to be Americanized then their demands for labor protection, and basically to be treated like human beings much less Americans, would crush the American commodity market. An American without commodities is not American at all! So much for assimilation. Put your money where your mouth is!
This issue is crucial for the future of global socio-economics and politics. I am not surprised that a mass movement came about, I did not anticipate it, but in retrospect it is obvious. Again, refer to the slate article above. The international element of the American labor movement was effectively wiped out by our government a long time ago. This built a million contradictions into our economy. Our economy is absolutely not purely national, but our labor movement is. The problem with this asymmetry is evident in the misunderstandings and fear aroused by "immigrants taking our jobs" and "outsourcing our jobs" to other countries. Here is a bit of news for anyone who may not know, in capitalism you have no "right to a job." An alienable labor market is essential to market liberalism. For a contrast see the French demonstrations this year where the students were protesting proposed changes that would take away the X-year minimum job guarantee they have. The new scheme would create limited "at-will" employment, the kind of labor characteristic of a capitalist labor market, and characteristic of the American economy in an "unlimited" form, where labor can be freely alienated at any point.
This issue is a bottom-up reflex against the untenable situation that has come about given an international market and a nationalist labor movement. We thought we had disproved Marx with New Deal labor reform and persistently cheap goods. The secret was that we had cheap and dehumanized labor in American women and African-Americans. So with the equality of women and racial equality (if you believe this then I should offer you my beach front condo in Nebraska) and still persisting cheap goods we had proven the flawlessness of American capitalism, right? Wrong again! The market began to globalize and pockets of exploitable labor arose (persisted) in foreign and undocumented labor.
Several things have happened in the last few years that should strike Americans as fundamental heralds of a new era. First of all, we were attacked in our own nation...we are vulnerable to heinous and large-scale attack from abroad. Second, a hurricane devastated an American city and what we saw in the aftermath was a desperately poor population of Americans living in our midst. Third, the illusion of American military potency has been shaken. A man in a cave with a walkie-talkie and a rifle has alluded us for years now, semi-organized villagers in a "developing country" have killed far too many of my peers and ground the most powerful military in the world to a halt in a desert half way across the world. Finally, the ground is shaking in America and the sound, if you place your ear to the ground, says from both sides that our systems of identity and production are untenable. New ideas, or our fate may be sealed.
posted by Lenin | 9:09 fm
2 Comments:
no one commented on this but i'd like to say i agree and enjoyed the read. always fun to learn about politics from you.
We have political problems all of the time! Recently, the biggest problem has been Uncle Jun. And what about Vito? Forgetaboutit!
Tony S.
P.S. Many have probably been wondering where I have been. It seems Uncle Jun and I had a little how shall I say,misunderstanding. I am better now and am pretty much back to my old self. And may I say, God forbid something bad should happen to Uncle Jun....
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