On Jul 22, 6:10=A0pm, nada <dwalters...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Neither had much to do or effect up immigrations from a legal stand
> point, but both encourage immigration as they dislocate local
> economies in favor of profit, which is why the ONLY way to address an
> influx of immigrants is to fight back against this form of 'forced'
> emigration when economies collapse. Everything, and anything else, is
> plain ol' jingoism.
>
But you give every indication of opposing basing the fight against
NAFTA explicitly on ending the immigration influx it causes. Resulting
from those holding positions like yours, workers may oppose NAFTA AND
oppose excessive immigration, yet see no connection between the two.
(In your terms, they remain jingos, because they are not given an
internationalist approach to the immigration question, out of fear
that raising the question of immigration in itself arouses jingoism
and offends the open borderism that you equate with defense of
immigrant workers.
An exception to this abstentionism on opposing the immigration influx
resulting from NAFTA by expliciting tying it to immigration may be the
Socialist Organizer, as the McKinney campaign they sup****t has this to
say:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN QUOTED MATTER
"Cynthia McKinney On =91Free Trade=92 And Immigrant's Rights
[Note: Following are brief excerpts from an interview with former
Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The interview was conducted
for the ILC International Newsletter by Alan Benjamin, editor of The
Organizer, on January 5, 2008.]
Question: Sister McKinney, as someone who is running for president of
the United States on behalf of the Power to the People electoral
coalition, how do you view the issues of =93free trade=94 and immigrant
rights?
Cynthia McKinney: We have to put a stop to these =93free trade=94
agreements, and quickly. After 14 years of NAFTA it is absolutely
clear that unemployment in the United States has risen as a result of
this treaty. We are losing jobs -- especially jobs with living wages
and benefits -- to all these =93free trade=94 agreements, be it NAFTA,
CAFTA, the Caribbean FTA, the U.S.-Peru FTA, you name it.
The American workers are not benefiting from these agreements. Their
jobs and communities are being destroyed. Nor are working people in
the rest of the world benefiting from these agreements. Quite the
contrary: Their working conditions and living standards, which were
already bad, are deteriorating exponentially. Only the transnational
cor****ations are benefiting. They are reaping super-profits.
This new =93globalization=94 has become a race to the bottom. And now the
American workers have joined in this race.
On the subject of immigration, the cor****ations, the mainstream
politicians and their mouthpieces in the media have found scapegoats
for their failed policies. They tell us the =93illegal immigrants=94 are
responsible for the massive loss of jobs in this country. This is a
bold-faced lie. What is illegal is the way that U.S. economic policies
treat workers in this country and throughout the world.
It is impossible to discuss the issue of so-called =93illegal
immigration=94 without addressing the reasons millions of people are
forced to flee their countries to come to the United States. It=92s our
economic =93free trade=94 policies and our military interventionist
policies that destabilize countries the world over and create the
massive movements of people escaping their plight in the hope of
sup****ting their families.
You have to address the underlying problems behind the immigration
boom by implementing policies internationally based on the respect for
the sovereignty of the peoples and nations of the world, based on
respect for the principles of self-determination and human rights --
that is, policies aimed at promoting genuine cooperation -- not
oppression and exploitation.
And as you do this, you have to put a halt to policies at home that
criminalize the victims or treat them as second-class citizens. These
are all union-busting and wage-depressing tactics couched in terms of
making the victim appear to be the perpetrator.
An amnesty program, such as was instituted in the 1980s, would be a
way to deal with this question equitably while the economic conditions
producing the massive flight of people from their countries is
addressed."
END QUOTED MATTER
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srd
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