Labor in the Trump Years

Labor in the Trump Years: Trump, Musk & Co. are gunning for unions. Herewith some strategies for survival.

Refuse, Resist

“As President I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America. We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, terminate the Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals (CBP One App), revoke deportation immunity, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala’s illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration). I will save our cities and towns in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and all across America.” President-Elect Donald Trump can’t be faulted for not telling us what’s on his mind. And on this matter, he doesn’t flinch at numbers of 20 million or so to be expelled from our borders, undocumented or otherwise. This means temporary legal status for refugees, like Haitians ‘eating our pets,’ will be abolished. He not only tells us this racist nonsense, he does so repeatedly, drawing the greatest ‘red meat’ fascist chants during his rallies, even those held in locations with hardly any recent immigrants of any sort or status. Trump offers his crowds a rung on a hierarchical socio-economic ladder where they always have ‘the Other’ to view as beneath them. But what Trump doesn’t reveal is the core irrationalism of his immigration program. Set aside the 20 million overall goal for a moment. To deport just 1 million over one year would cost the taxpayers nearly $90 billion, or about $90,000 for each deportee. Why is the cost so high? We’re not even including the moral cost, which is immeasurable. After all, no change is needed to U.S. law to start deportations. Being in the U.S. without proper immigration status is a civil violation, with a fine starting at $25. Six months in jail is an option, and penalties are doubled for repeat offenders. Some are surprised at the small scale. Many traffic offenses draw harsher terms. But what matters is the ‘criminal’ label. That’s what turns a civil offender into ‘the Other.’ And deportation is considered the core legal civil penalty for it.  For mass deportations, two things are required. The most important is instilling fear. Why so? Because it motivates self-deportation, the cheapest option. We can see it at work today in the increase of Haitians fleeing the city of Springfield, Ohio at the sight of armed Nazi militias near their homes. Fear leading to self-deportation was a major factor in Mexicans and Mexican-Americans fleeing to Mexico in large numbers during the ‘Wetback’ raids of the 1930s and 1950s. It was seen as better to cross the border without a police record than as the result of one. The former held the promise of an easier return when the fear subsided.  The Israelis are also good at using fear. Self-deportation is one reason why we have Palestinian communities in many U.S. cities, although with less hope of return within them. But truth be told, the Israelis had much to learn from us. Our entire history is rooted in mass removals through fear. The Trail of Tears, where Andy Jackson, turned over Cherokee land to European-American settlers ,is only the most remembered. But what is the second factor? Arrests are far from removal. Mass deportations require money, large quantities of it. And the money is not thrown into the winds. It’s massively transferred from the taxpayers into the coffers of those who profit from deportations. Arresting people is one thing, and the cost is relatively minor. But detaining them, judging them, and then exporting them by the planeloads is where the costs, and the profits, can soar. Our Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, can’t do this work alone. In 2024, Congress only allowed them the funds for 41,500 ‘detention beds,’ less than 5% of what might be needed. At the same time, as of September 2024, some 3.7 million immigrants, arrested and now awaiting resolution of their cases, were obviously not jailed, but ’at large.’ They were living with friends or relatives, and working ‘off the books’ along with tens of millions of others neither arrested nor detained but ‘living in the shadows.’ It’s why we hear the refrain that ‘our immigration system is broken.’ Indeed, it's capable of many decent reforms, but not on Trump's watch. As of the end of September, 2024, 3.7 million people in the county were waiting for their claims for asylum, resident status or work permits to be resolved. And even if they were judged negatively and sentenced to deportation, many still could not be deported because their designated countries of origin had not agreed to accept deportation flights from the United States, or at least they likely would not accept anything like the numbers Trump hopes to dump on them. The truth is Trump has no practical plan for mass deportation. We might say, as he said about health care reform, that he has ‘a concept of a plan.’ And that concept can be reduced to another irrationalism, ‘use the military.’ Here, Trump wants to rely on Sections 25- through 255 in Title 10 of the United States Code, aka ‘The Insurrection Act.’ It dates back to 1798, but was most recently used when U.S. troops were sent to Los Angeles to suppress the revolts around the Rodney King crisis. It’s the exception in U.S. law that allows for setting aside the standing Posse Comitatus Act forbidding the use of U.S. troops to enforce the law within the U.S. It’s been used every two or three decades throughout our history, most notably in recent times by FDR to imprison Japanese Americans and by JFK to enforce school desegregation in the South. Trump’s projected use of the military, however, would be larger by several orders of magnitude. Rather than several hundred to 20,000 engaged in violence or a projected threat of it, Trump is aiming at tens of millions living and working peaceably in large cities or rural farms. Imagine what would happen in the Pilsen area of Chicago, 93% Mexican, or East Los Angeles, 95% Latino, if platoons of 30 or so federal troops, accompanied by a handful of ICE agents, began breaking down doors in search of those without papers. Let’s just say that passive acceptance is the least likely outcome. And even if it was, where are all of those seized to be detained? Tent cities put up by FEMA and surrounded with barbed wire? People still have agency and allies, and wire cutters can be obtained in any hardware store. Trump is deluded with several irrational assumptions. First is thinking that only he and his troops have a vote on this matter. They do not. We all have a say, whether he gets it or not. Second is the assumption that his troops will obey unjust orders, especially over long periods, and in platoons where ‘whites’ may be a minority. Third is that a divided Congress will not cut off the funds for his stupidities. Our old comrade Tom Hayden, RIP, once remarked: ‘Wars end when three things happen. The streets become ungovernable. The soldiers refuse to fight. And Congress cuts off the money.’ Here we will add a corollary: the three points apply even more so when the wars are being waged against tens of millions of people within our borders. Trump’s dream of restoring a ‘White Republic’ is really a bloody nightmare for the rest of us. Thus it falls upon us to do everything required to make sure it never happens, or it’s stopped early in its tracks. How do we do it? First, we start where we are, at the local and state levels, asserting a progressive version of ‘states rights.’ (See Van Gosse’s article below). We begin by gathering the information and contacts required for systematic non-cooperation.  We can talk to our local police and sheriffs about refusing to assist ICE and other federal efforts, starting with not using our local jails for detentions. Many of them may not agree at first, but some will. If nothing else, they will recognize the stupidity of Trump’s delusions and the cost of it. Then we organize legal aid teams for those subject to arrest. We oppose any secret courts or closed hearings. We talk to every local, county and state elected official. If we can’t convince them to ignore Trump’s demands on them, we can convince them they will be removed from office or their office will be made ‘ungovernable.’ Finally, in addition to the justice of it all—most of us do not want to be the ‘Good Germans’ in this movie—we need to expose and educate all concerned around its true cost economically. ‘A Day without Immigrants’ is a good instructive example. Ask people, in going about their usual day's activities, how many times do they come into contact with immigrant workers, including those likely without papers? Who gets the veggies in our markets? Who works in our restaurants? Who cares for our elders? Who works on tough construction sites and landscaping? Who cares for children in day care centers? Trump captures your attention with delusions about ‘the economy,’ but what happens as he tears out much of its heart and wrecks it? Don’t let this Chump take an inch without a fight. And get to work on it now.

 

Student Debtors Could See Hopes Vanish Under Trump

Student Debtors Could See Hopes Vanish Under Trump: Not just mass debt relief, but borrowers promised debt relief through various programs could be denied those benefits in the next presidential term.

Democrats Must Choose: The Elites or the Working Class

  

 

Editors’ note. 

As a first step. Note.  74,118,950 people in the US voted for our positions. They voted for a continuation of democracy. That is an incredibly strong force to work within.  In California 9, 036, 667 voted against the Trump campaign and 5,220, 663 voted in favor. 

 

Certainly the left lost.  And, some in the left contributed to the loss including the elected leadership of DSA. That issue requires some deep thinking. 

 

Democrats Must Choose: The Elites or the Working Class

Bernie Sanders.  November 12, 2024.

 

The results of the 2024 election have confirmed a reality that is too frequently denied by Democratic Party leaders and strategists: The American working class is angry — and for good reason.

They want to know why the very rich are getting much richer, and the CEOs of major corporations make almost 300 times more than their average employees, while weekly wages remain stagnant and 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

They want to know why corporate profits soar while companies shut down factories in America and move to low-wage countries.

They want to know why the food industry enjoys record breaking profits, while they can’t afford their grocery bills.

They want to know why they can’t afford to go to a doctor or pay for their prescription drugs, and worry about going bankrupt if they end up in a hospital.

Donald Trump won this election because he tapped into that anger.

Did he address any of these serious issues in a thoughtful or meaningful way? 

 

Absolutely not.

What he did do was divert the festering anger in our country at a greedy and out-of-touch corporate elite into a politics that served his political goals and will end up further enriching his fellow billionaires.

Trump’s “genius” is his ability to divide the working class so that tens of millions of Americans will reject solidarity with their fellow workers and pave the way for huge tax breaks for the very rich and large corporations.

While Trump did talk about capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent, and a new trade policy with China, his fundamental explanation as to why the working class was struggling was that millions of illegal immigrants have invaded America and that we are now an “occupied country.”

In his pathologically dishonest world, undocumented immigrants are illegally participating in our elections and voting for Democrats. They are creating massive amounts of crime, driving wages down, and taking our jobs. They are getting free health care and other benefits that are denied to American citizens. They are even eating our pets.

That explanation is grossly racist, cruel, and fallacious. But it is an explanation.

And what do the Democrats have to say about the crises facing working families? What is their full-throated explanation, pounded away day after day in the media, in the halls of Congress, and in town meetings throughout the country as to why tens of millions of workers, in the richest country on earth, are struggling to put food on the table or pay the rent? Where is the deeply felt outrage that we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care for all as a human right while insurance and drug companies make huge profits?

How do they explain supporting billions of dollars in military aid to the right-wing extremist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has created an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Gaza that is causing massive malnutrition and starvation for thousands of children?

In my view, the Democrats lost this election because they ignored the justified anger of working class America and became the defenders of a rigged economic and political system.

This election was largely about class and change and the Democrats, in both cases, were often on the wrong side. As Jimmy Williams Jr., the president of the Painters Union, said, “The Democratic Party has continued to fail to prioritize a strong, working-class message that addresses issues that really matter to workers. The party did not make a positive case for why workers should vote for them, only that they were not Donald Trump. That’s not good enough anymore!”

As an Independent member of the US Senate, I caucus with the Democrats. In that capacity I have been proud to work with President Biden on one of the most ambitious pro-worker agendas in modern history.

First They Came for the Socialists

 First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

 

This quote is attributed to the prominent German pastor Martin Niemöller. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a poem. 

After World War II, Niemöller openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today.

 

On our blog.

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/first-they-came-for-the-socialists

 

 

 

Labor and Strategy

 LABOR & STRATEGY BOOK TALK

Join us for a conversation with former ILWU organizing director Peter Olney on building working class power by organizing chokepoints, the topic of his new edited book "Labor Power and Strategy."

Thursday, Nov. 21st at 6pm
Location: Beers Books, 712 R St, Sacramento, CA
RSVP here

Too Many Americans See the Democrats as a Hostile Elite

Too Many Americans See the Democrats as a Hostile Elite: Even though that perception is partly the creation of right-wing media, the Democrats surely need to hone their identity.

HAROLD MEYERSON, 

The Resistance Starts Now !

 

The Resistance Starts Now

I still have faith in America, but we must mobilize to protect those at risk if Trump achieves his worst impulses.

ROBERT REICH

NOV 06, 2024

•  

Friends,

I won’t try to hide it. I’m heartbroken. Heartbroken and scared, to tell you the truth. I’m sure many of you are, too. 

Donald Trump has decisively won the presidency, the Senate, and possibly the House of Representatives and the popular vote, too.

I still have faith in America. But right now, that’s little comfort to the people who are most at risk.

Millions of people must now live in fear of being swept up by Trump’s cruel mass deportation plan – documented immigrants, as he has threatened before, as well as undocumented, and millions of American citizens with undocumented parents or spouses.

Women and girls must now fear that they’ll be forced to give birth or be denied life-saving care during an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.

America has become less safe for trans people – including trans kids – who were already at risk of violence and discrimination.

Anyone who has already faced prejudice and marginalization is now in greater danger than before.

Also in danger are people who have stood up to Trump, who has promised to seek revenge against his political opponents.

Countless people are now endangered on a scale and intensity almost unheard of in modern America.

Our first responsibility is to protect all those who are in harm’s way.

We will do that by resisting Trump’s attempts to suppress women’s freedoms. We will fight for the rights of women and girls to determine when and whether they have children. No one will force a woman to give birth.

We will block Trump’s cruel efforts at mass deportation. We will fight to give sanctuary to productive, law-abiding members of our communities, including young people who arrived here as babies or children.

We will not allow mass arrests and mass detention of anyone in America. We will not permit families to be separated. We will not allow the military to be used to intimidate and subjugate anyone in this country.

We will protect trans people and everyone else who is scapegoated because of how they look or what they believe. No one should have to be ashamed of who they are.

We will stop Trump’s efforts to retaliate against his perceived enemies. A free nation protects political dissent. A democracy needs people willing to stand up to tyranny.

How will we conduct this resistance?

By organizing our communities. By fighting through the courts. By arguing our cause through the media.

We will ask other Americans to join us – left and right, progressive and conservative, white people and people of color. It will be the largest and most powerful resistance since the American revolution.

But it will be peaceful. We will not succumb to violence, which would only give Trump and his regime an excuse to use organized violence against us.

We will keep alive the flames of freedom and the common good, and we will preserve our democracy. We will fight for the same things Americans have fought for since the founding of our nation – rights enshrined in the constitution and Bill of Rights.

The preamble to the Constitution of the United States opens with the phrase “We the people”, conveying a sense of shared interest and a desire “to promote the general welfare”, as the preamble goes on to say.

We the people will fight for the general welfare.

We the people will resist tyranny. We will preserve the common good. We will protect our democracy.

This will not be easy, but if the American experiment in self-government is to continue, it is essential.

I know you’re scared and stressed. So am I.

If you are grieving or frightened, you are not alone. Tens of millions of Americans feel the way you do.

All I can say to reassure you is that time and again, Americans have opted for the common good. Time and again, we have come to each other’s aid. We have resisted cruelty.

We supported one another during the Great Depression. We were victorious over Hitler’s fascism and Soviet communism. We survived Joe McCarthy’s witch-hunts, Richard Nixon’s crimes, Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam war, the horrors of 9/11, and George W Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We will resist Donald Trump’s tyranny.

Although peaceful and non-violent, the resistance will nonetheless be committed and determined.

It will encompass every community in America. It will endure as long as necessary.

We will never give up on America.

The resistance starts now.

 

  

Michelle Obama : Electing Kamala Harris

 Michelle Obama on Electing Kamala Harris.

 

On our blog.  Video.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/michelle-obama-full-speech-about-kamala-harris

Brighter Future | Harris-Walz 2024