Police Terrorism and the Global Economic Crisis: Implications for Workers and the Oppressed

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, covering the annual May Day demonstrations in southwest Detroit on May 1, 2008. (Photo: Alan Pollock).

As the capitalist downturn deepens state repression escalates against people in the U.S. and internationally

by Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Over the last several months, a series of dramatic cases involving police killings of civilians have brought to light the essential role of law-enforcement within capitalist societies. Numerous cities throughout the United States have seen a dramatic increase in the murder of African Americans by cops as well as the escalation of raids and deportations against immigrants both legal and undocumented.

Although the problem of police terrorism and repression has existed for well over a century in the U.S., even going back to the period of slavery and the post-civil war era, since the beginning of this decade, there have been disturbing trends indicating that the level of repression is reaching critical proportions. This rise in reported incidents of police brutality and killings of civilians is taking place at the same time as the economic underpinnings of low-wage capitalism continues to deteriorate.

[More at Pan-African News Wire]

Filed under: Economic crisis, Fighting oppression, Immigrant rights, Police brutality

Swine flu and capitalism

Marxists like to say that capitalism is irrational.  We sometimes refer to this as “the anarchy of capitalist production,” but some anarchists get offended by that and anyway it tends to create confusion.  So for the moment, at least, let’s stick with “irrational.”

Usually I might illustrate the idea of the irrationality of capitalism by pointing out that in the U.S. right now, we are experiencing a shortage of housing that has been created by…too much housing.  That is to say, the home construction boom sparked a crisis of overproduction and now there is “too much” housing that can be sold at a profit, but not enough housing to meet human needs.

But yesterday’s comments during a White House press conference on the swine flu crisis are perhaps an even better example.  Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano stated that:

the government can’t solve this alone.  We need everybody in the United
States to take some responsibility here. If you are sick, stay home. 
Wash your hands, take all of those reasonable measures; that will help
us mitigate, contain how many people actually get sick in our country.

Now, the main reason to stay home if you are sick is so that other people don’t get sick, right?  And other people getting sick is bad because, among other things, the more people get sick the more that it affects economic productivity.  In fact, if you are an employer, the last thing in the world you should want is for your employees to be coming to work sick with swine flu, passing it on to co-workers, and having lots of people lose work time because of it.  Even those who can “work through it” shouldn’t because they may infect co-workers who will wind up being incapacited by it.  Instead of a handful of workers losing a couple of days each, you could end up with ten times that number of workers all losing time from work.  And it will cost a lot of money.

So it makes sense that you would want your workers to stay home, right?

Only, if you don’t give them sick pay then they can’t.  And why don’t you give your workers sick pay?  Because it would cost a lot of money.  And many employers have a policy that if you can’t come to work – sick or not – you’ll be fired.

So we have the federal government telling people to stay home from work, but they can’t because if they do they may lose their jobs.  So they come to work like their boss told them . . . and in so doing harm the boss’s interests by infecting other employees.

Good move, boss.

Filed under: They're Not Like Us

Class perspective: Socialism or capitalism?

It’s all about your class perspective.

An editorial in this week’s socialist newspaper Workers World poses the question “Socialism or capitalism?” and points to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll showing that only 53% of Americans believe that capitalism is a better system than socialism. Interestingly, while the poll shows that only 20% of the 1,000 people interviewed preferred socialism, among people under the age of 30, the results were about evenly divided between those that preferred socialism, those that preferred capitalism and those that were undecided.  The WW editorial points to these poll results as an indication that working people are questioning a system that has left millions of us in free fall.

This only makes sense, right?  Even if you disagreed with socialist ideas you’d at least be able to comprehend that when the unemployment in your community runs to 20% or 25% with worse to come on the horizon, you might question whether the system that produces such horrors really reflects the best that we can hope for.  Even a devout believer in the wonders of capitalist production (and its cycles of boom and bust) could at least understand that many working people have reason to be skeptical.

Interestingly, some corporate media see just the opposite.  One newspaper’s coverage of reaction to the Rasmussen Report poll characterized Americans as “clueless about capitalism” and suggested that the poll shows that we lack “financial literary.”  I guess this is in contrast to the brilliant financial literacy demonstrated by the analysts at AIG or Bank of America or Citi who didn’t see the global economic crisis even while it was looming in front of them.  Another newspaper editor sees the poll results as a sign of “degeneracy” and claims that it shows that 47% of Americans are  “ignorant of our democratic principles, economics, history and what’s going on in much of the world today.”

Of course these interpretations of the poll are premised on one simple assumption: what’s good for the people who run this country is good for working people too.  Yet we live in a time when we are losing over 600,000 jobs every month and home foreclosures are at a record high.  No doubt if you are one of the very few whose earning power is in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars a year, you, too, feel the bite of the recession into your bank accounts.  The difference is that the boom and bust of capitalism won’t leave you homeless or unable to take your kid to a doctor.  And whether you live with that fear, the fear that is felt by every working person in a time of severe economic crisis, is determinative of whether you can reasonably and logically conclude that the continuation of the capitalist system is in your interest.

Filed under: Economic crisis, Must read, They're Not Like Us

Is the “stress test” for banks already outpaced by the crumbling economy?

Which way is the economy really headed? What should we make of reports that a recovery is on the way?  And even if there is, does that mean “prosperity is just around the corner” for working people?

It seems as if the only thing that has been consistent in this recession is the experts’ ability to underestimate its severity.  Keep that in mind in considering the “stress test” that the Obama administration wants to apply to U.S. banks. The idea is that this test applies an “adverse scenario” to a bank’s current assets to determine how likely it is to survive the economic crisis.

When it was devised, only a couple of months ago, the “adverse scenario” being used in the stress test was one in which unemployment rose to 10.4% by the end of 2010.  Now there is discussion of interpreting the results of the test more strictly because of critics who say that “actual data are already running worse than the worst case scenario.”  There is also concern that not all banks will publish the results of their stress tests, and that weaker banks that do not do so may actually make investors fear the worst about them.

If there is one rock-bottom truth the economic crisis has revealed for all to see is that the capitalist system is not only inherently unstable but also completely unpredictable.  The very same people who only a few years ago saw a no-end-in-sight capitalist boom now are arguing about just how bad it will really get.  No doubt for some at the commanding heights of the economy this can be as much of a thrill ride as a period of dramatic economic expansion such as we saw with the high tech boom in the 1990’s.  But this extreme degree of uncertainty, dislocation and misery should make people question whether capitalism itself has a future.

Filed under: Economic crisis

Unemployment, underemployment, and the right to a job

Today’s Courant gives a brief but helpful look into the difference between official unemployment statistics and the real world of Connecticut’s working class.  Titled “‘Hidden Unemployment’ Inflates State’s Real Jobless Figures,” the article examines the ways that people slip in and out of the category of “unemployed” and also identifies some – but by no means all – of the folks who are under the radar.

On the one hand, reporter Janice Posasa gives a human face to the unemployment statistics.  She also shows the inadequacy of categorizing someone as “employed” because after being laid off from a high tech white collar position they are now working as a bagger in a supermarket, or of not including someone as unemployed because after a year of looking for work they have – at least temporarily – given up.

But there is so much more to be said, including the barriers beyond the recession that keep people unemployed or underemployed.  Some should be obvious: the woman with two small children who, if she takes a minimum wage job, can’t afford carfare plus childcare and pay her bills – it’s literally a smarter economic decision from a survival point of view for her to be unemployed, even if staying out of the workforce longer will ultimately hurt her prospects for getting a decent job ever.  Other barriers are well known to the people who experience them but invisible and often not even believed by those who do not.  Example: employers who are using the surplus of job applicants to favor white applicants, or who will refuse to consider applicants with great credentials but who have a criminal conviction.

People have the right to survive . . . to keep a roof over their heads and feed their kids and access essential healthcare.  We need more than just “stimulus” that puts more money and power into the hands of private corporations and government bureaucrats.  We need real jobs and real access to jobs.  Ultimately, we need the recognition that there is a right to a job, a right to make a living, work with dignity and contribute to society that is as tangible and important as any other individual right.

Filed under: Economic crisis

Dollars & Sense blog: Skyrocketing Foreclosures

Banks have ended their voluntary halts on foreclosures, sending foreclosure rates skyrocketing 24% in the first three months of 2009.

Continued at Dollars & Sense blog: Skyrocketing Foreclosures
Posted using ShareThis

Filed under: Economic crisis, Housing rights

SUPPORT PRO-IMMIGRANT STUDENT ACTIVISTS IN NORTH CAROLINA

[The following statement by the University of North Carolina chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was forwarded to me by comrades from the International Action Center.  From the news coverage of the successful SDS protest against anti-immigrant bigot Tom Tancredo, it is already clear that there will be a backlash. UNC officials have already said that they plan to "investigate whether to bring charges" against SDS activists, who they accuse of interfering with Tancredo's right to free speech - or is it his right to hate speech?  In the process, racists that planned the event, the cops who brutally attacked the protesters, and former congressman Tancredo, who uses his "free speech" to whip up violence against immigrants will be held blameless.

As it says below, please send statements of solidarity to the SDS activists who successfully challenged Tancredo.]

SUPPORT PRO-IMMIGRANT STUDENT ACTIVISTS IN NORTH CAROLINA

Send letters of solidarity asap to SDS activists at Unc.sds@gmail.com

*Statement by UNC Students for a Democratic Society on the protest of Tom Tancredo*

Press contacts:

Linda Gomaa – (704) 737-2728

Tyler Oakley – (919) 537-8665

Scott Williams – (919) 794-1429

Carlos Montes, Southern California Immigrants Coalition – (213) 712-0370

April 15, 2009

Former congressman Tom Tancredo was invited to speak at UNC on April 14 by Youth for Western Civilization, a newly-formed white supremacist organization on campus. Many student organizations, including Students for a Democratic Society, organized protests and alternative responses to the event. The violence and extreme force used by the campus police against the demonstrators caused an escalation that led to the event being shut down.

Over 200 people, including multiple student and community organizations, used a diversity of tactics to protest Tancredo, who is a symbol of hate, racism, and the scapegoating of immigrants. Some organizations wanted to challenge Tancredo through debate at the event; others, including SDS, marched from the Pit to Bingham Hall to protest outside the event; still others wanted to shut down the event entirely. It is extremely unfortunate that a lack of coordination between the different tactics employed led to the Carolina Hispanic Association and others’ dissent being silenced.

SDS was part of the march to Bingham Hall. Some members also sat quietly in the audience to challenge Tancredo with questions at the end of the event. We are proud to see that so many people came out to participate in the demonstrations. At the same time, it is regrettable that police violence led to an escalation which prevented many individuals and organizations from expressing their dissent towards Tancredo through speaking at the event.

There have been many accounts of what happened outside; some are based in fact while others are wildly speculative and untrue. As participants of the outside protest, these are our accounts of what happened:

• The march route was planned to start in the Pit, pass through Bingham once, then hold a rally outside.

• Police stopped the march in the lobby of Bingham.

• A few minutes later, Tancredo entered the building. No one tried to block him, but some protesters were shoved into the wall by Tancredo’s entourage.

• Not long after, two women were dragged out of Bingham 103 by police and thrown to the floor in the lobby. Demonstrators chanted, “Shame on you,” and attempted to help them up.

• Five minutes later and without verbal warning, police started pepper-spraying. Contrary to police reports, the pepper spray was not “broadcast” into the air; it was sprayed directly at people’s faces.

• Officer Twiddy sparked his taser over people’s heads, threatening to tase them.

• Another police officer pulled a woman’s hair.

• Protesters were pushed out of the building, after which they continued to rally in front of Bingham for the duration of the protest.

• Shortly after protesters were ejected, a window of Bingham 103 was broken.

**It is our firm belief that the actions of the Campus Police caused the escalation outside the event. All organizations involved in the protest were non-violent. Rather, it was the violence employed by the Campus Police that created a climate of fear and chaos. The issue is not about a broken window; it is about broken families, deportation and xenophobia.

We would like to clarify that SDS did not participate in the event with the intent to shut it down, but we are not surprised that it happened. Tancredo is a national symbol of hate and racism. Thus, it is no surprise that his attempt to scapegoat immigrants garnered strong opposition. In this time of economic crisis, it is more important than ever to challenge bigoted and racist views. Standing up to his destructive rhetoric has given strength to groups around the country. Immigrants rights organizations nationwide are applauding the protest of Tancredo at UNC. Carlos Montes, with the Southern California Immigrants Coalition, said, “I support the students right to protest racist Tom Tancredo. Tancredo has to be confronted and exposed wherever he speaks. The students should be commended for their action.”

In response to the police conduct on April 14, we demand an immediate investigation into the actions of the Campus Police, and call for a standing student review board to oversee all police conduct on campus.

We further ask that organizations and individuals who are supportive of the protest that transpired express statements of solidarity with SDS, which is currently being attacked by anti-immigrant, right-wing forces on and off campus.

No human being is illegal. Solidarity with all immigrants!

Students for a Democratic Society

UNC-Chapel Hill

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.chapelhillsds.org

Filed under: Fighting oppression, Immigrant rights

May Day 2009

Filed under: Immigrant rights

To start Obama’s dialogue on immigration, stop the ICE raids!

Today’s New York Times says that President Obama has announced that he intends to begin a national discussion on immigration that would end with the passage of legislation aimed at comprehensive immigration reform by the Fall of this year.  The Times also says that Obama’s plans for this discussion including some avenue by which undocumented immigrants can attain legal status in the U.S.

Flyer for Great American Boycott, May 1, 2006

A national dialogue on immigration is long overdue.  So far the exchanges have been one-sided.  In 2006, tens of millions of immigrants and their supporters came out into the streets in May Day demonstrations across the U.S. to demand an end to an immigration policy that keeps them hiding in the shadows and that punishes them for merely wanting to work to support their families.  The national boycott, in which many industries with large concentrations of immigrant workers virtually came to a halt for 24 hours, was the first great political strike by workers in U.S. history.  In its wake, many civic organizations, community groups, churches and labor unions saw the justice in the immigrants’ demands and began to find ways of opening doors for them at the community level.

The response from the government, however, has been three years of repression, with Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) agents leading the charge, often with the support of local police departments, terrorizing immigrant communities through the use of gestapo-like tactics to round up, imprison and deport thousands of people.  Right behind them were racist public officials raising and often passing laws and ordinances that target immigrants, Spanish-speaking people, Muslims, and people of color generally.  And cheerleading for these thugs have been a parade of right wing radio, television and print “commentators” as well as hate groups like the Minutemen.

For that reason, one of the first conditions for a national dialogue has to be an end to ICE raids and the release of thousands of people who are currently in detention camps and prisons awaiting immigration court proceedings. This cannot be a discussion about immigration in which immigrants are not allowed to participate freely and openly, or a national dialogue about what “those people” do or do not deserve.

Sadly, Obama’s political allies seem to envision something very much like that.  The Times says that:

. . . Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, a Democrat from Mr. Obama’s hometown, Chicago, has been on the road most weekends since last December, traveling far outside his district to meetings in Hispanic churches, hoping to generate something like a civil rights movement in favor of broad immigration legislation.

However, it goes on to observe that in these church meetings “Illegal immigrants have not been invited to speak.”

May 1, 2009 will mark three years since those amazing and courageous demonstrations that swept the country.  The news that Obama will seek to begin a national dialogue on immigration should be seized upon by everyone concerned about social and economic justice.  May Day is the perfect time to begin that dialogue with large demonstrations by immigrants and non-immigrants together for the fundamental human right to live and work without fear.  Communities marking ths important holiday – International Workers Day, as it is celebrated around the world – should raise as a cental demand that Obama order an end to the ICE raids so that immigrants can participate in this discussion about their future in a meaningful way.

Filed under: Immigrant rights, Justice, justice

Fox TV: Making money from your misery

Television these days often feels like the land of guilty pleasures to me.  Bad sci-fi, much better cartoons than we had when I was a kid (except, of course, that we had Looney Tunes), a guy with spiked hair who travels across the country from one funky diner to another, and, of course, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow (mostly) relieving me of the desire to throw things at the tv when contemplating the day’s news.  That’s my idea of how to waste an evening.

And as much as we may like to make fun of them, a lot of us have reality tv weaknesses.  OK, I will admit it, I actually like watching the Food Network to see chefs competing against each other or the guy who has to prepare dinner for one hundred travel agents using only pre-prepared trays of airline food.

But Fox crossed the line, announcing it plans a reality tv show in which employees of a small business vote on which one of them should be laid off. The idea of trivializing the horrific experience of being laid off at a time when this is precisely what millions of working people face is just too much for me.

If this revolts you, then join me in contacting Fox and telling them that this is a bad idea and should be scrapped.  Turns out it’s very easy to do this by simply sending an email to askfox@fox.com.

Here’s what I’m sending:

Subject: Scrap plans for “lay off” show
I was astonished and angry when I read that Fox is considering a new reality tv show featuring people being laid off from their jobs.  <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_en_tv/tv_fox_layoff_show>

Working people in this country are facing the highest level of unemployment and the most serious lay offs that any of us can remember.  It’s possible before this is done that we will look at the current economic crisis as equal to or even greater than the Great Depression of the 1930’s.  And that means unprecedented levels of human misery in America: not just people losing their jobs but all of the insecurity, dislocation, anger and frustration that comes when the world we live in gets turned upside down.

Anyone can turn on the tv and see how this is affecting us.  Horrific tales of human beings killing each other and killing themselves because of the fear and anxiety, the shame and humiliation of suddenly losing a job on which they depended to survive or to feed their family.

To exploit that experience for profit, trivializing it by making our suffering into a little light entertainment is revolting.  This is a project that should be scrapped now, before it ever sees the light of day.

Filed under: Economic crisis