Category: Immigrants’ Rights
Statement of the KKE on International Migrants Day – بمناسبة اليوم العالمي للمهاجر
worker | December 19, 2017 | 7:14 pm | Communist Party Greece (KKE), Immigrants' Rights, Imperialism | Comments closed

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Statement of the KKE on International Migrants Day – بمناسبة اليوم العالمي للمهاجر

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/12/statement-of-kke-on-international.html
On the occasion of International Migrants Day, the KKE expresses its solidarity and support for the refugees and economic migrants living in our country, as well as Greek immigrants living and working abroad. It calls upon them to organize and struggle in the ranks of the class-oriented labour movement to join with the KKE:
– Defending and expanding their labour, social and democratic rights

– Asserting their right to go to any country they choose – against the decisions and the agreements of the capitalist states, the EU, NATO

– Demanding decent housing, food, healthcare at the premises and structures that house refugees and immigrants so as not to risk dying from the cold for as long as they remain in Greece. For their children to go to school.
– Not to be threatened by the minions of the bosses and the system; i.e.; the Golden Dawn forces and other fascist racists when they go or return from a long workday, such as the case of the immigrants at Aspropyrgos and Menidi, or when they are in the ‘hospitality’ compounds, such as with the family of the small Afghan Amir.
– To be free of the system of exploitation, from imperialist wars and poverty, which massacre the people, plunging them into misery, forcing them into mass immigration, to become refugees. 
This year’s Migrants Day finds the people confronted with even greater risks of war breaking out in old and new arenas of monopoly competition. The EU, the US, NATO and other capitalist powers are intensifying preparations for imperialist wars and interventions. US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is directed against the rights of the Palestinian people and pours yet more oil on the fire of the rivalries of the imperialists in the region. The Greek government, like the EU, has tremendous responsibilities as it increases its military, political and economic cooperation with Israel that murders the Palestinian people, and has not formally recognized the Palestinian state, despite the decision made by the Greek Parliament to do so. It provides bases for NATO and the United States and actively participates in and facilitates imperialist plans. It is jointly responsible for the increased risks posed to the Greek people and other peoples. 
The EU is revealing more and more clearly its real face towards the peoples, especially towards refugees and immigrants. Tusk’s proposals to abolish this remaining measure of the allocation of refugees to EU member states is not a sign of discord. It is a confirmation of the EU’s policy of entrapping refugees in Greece, of funding slave auctions in Libya and drowning immigrants in the Mediterranean. Gate controls at German airports for passengers coming from Greece are not an exception; they are an application of the Schengen Agreement. With the Schengen and Dublin Agreements, the EU Border Guard, and the additional measures of putting people on file, all show that the EU and its member States only want capital and its services to circulate freely; they want ‘selective’ groups of workers to pass the border, cheap labour without rights, in order to increase the profits of the business groups. 
The Greek government, which does not even guarantee the protection of the lives of the refugees on the islands’ miserable hotspots, bears enormous responsibilities because it supports this policy. It enforces the totally unacceptable EU-Turkey agreement that has double-locked refugees on the islands and strikes deals with the Turkish government making the agreement even more barbaric. It is readying fast track expulsions into the hell of imperialist war. In the name of ‘a more rapid asylum procedure’, it is formulating amendments that will strike the final blow to the right to asylum. 
It has delayed organizing the education of refugee children for yet another year. At the same time, it refuses to solve the problems with the Greek schools for the children of Greek immigrants abroad. 
It does not provide long-term free residence permits for the thousands of migrants living and working in our country in a number of industries and businesses under a regime of sheer exploitation. It does not provide simple and free procedures for those who are entitled to and wish to acquire Greek citizenship. 
At this time, the workers’ struggle in each country is becoming more and more necessary and timely to overthrow capitalist barbarism and build a new socialist society where workers will take the means of production into their hands and work them in a way designed to serve their own needs. The Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia opened this path 100 years ago, proving that capitalism may be strong but it is not invincible.
* * * 
بمناسبة اليوم العالمي للمهاجر
يعرب الحزب الشيوعي اليوناني عن تضامنه ودعمه للاجئين والمهاجرين الاقتصاديين الذين يعيشون في اليونان و مع المهاجرين اليونانيين الذين يعيشون ويعملون في الخارج، بمناسبة اليوم العالمي للمهاجر. ويدعوهم إلى الانتظام ضمن صفوف  الحركة العمالية ذات التوجه الطبقي  والكفاح من خلالها و لمواكبة الحزب الشيوعي اليوناني من أجل:
– الدفاع عن حقوقهم العمالية والاجتماعية والديمقراطية وتوسيعها.
-        المطالبة – ضد قرارات واتفاقات الدول الرأسمالية، والاتحاد الأوروبي، وحلف شمال الأطلسي – بحقهم في الذهاب إلى البلد الذي يريدونه.
-         ظروف سكن لائق، و تغذية، و صحة، ضمن البنى التي تستضيف اللاجئين والمهاجرين، لكي لا يكونوا عرضة لخطر الموت من البرد على مدى فترة بقائهم في اليونان. و لتمكين أطفالهم من الذهاب إلى المدرسة.
-         و أن لا يتعرضوا للخطر الناجم عن نشاط أزلام أرباب العمل والنظام، أي فاشيي منظمة الفجر الذهبي وغيرهم من العنصريين الفاشيين عند ذهاب المهاجرين أو عودة من العمل، على غرار ما يتعرض     له المهاجرون في اسبروبيرغوس و مينيذي، أو عندما يتواجدون في بنى الاستضافة مثل أسرة الفتى اﻷفغاني، أمير.
-         للتخلص من نظام الاستغلال والحروب الامبريالية والفقر، التي تذبح الشعوب وتغرقها في البؤس، و تدفعها نحو النزوح  و اللجوء والهجرة الجماعية.
و يلاقي يوم المهاجر هذا العام، الشعوب و هي في مواجهة مخاطر أكبر متعلقة باندلاع حروب في بؤر مزاحمات للاحتكارات، قديمة و جديدة. هذا و تقوم القوى الرأسمالية للاتحاد الأوروبي والولايات المتحدة وحلف شمال الأطلسي و غيرها، بتكثيف استعداداتها للحروب الإمبريالية والتدخلات. حيث يقوم اعتراف الولايات المتحدة بالقدس عاصمة لإسرائيل ضد حق الشعب الفلسطيني، بصب مزيد من الزيت على نار المزاحمات الامبريالية الجارية في المنطقة. و تقع مسؤوليات هائلة على الحكومة اليونانية، كما و على الاتحاد الأوروبي، لأنهما يزيدان من تعاونهما العسكري و السياسي والاقتصادي مع إسرائيل، التي تقتل الشعب الفلسطيني، و نظرا لعدم اعتراف الحكومة رسميا بالدولة الفلسطينية، على الرغم من وجود قرارا من البرلمان اليوناني ينص على ذلك. كما و تقوم الحكومة بمنح قواعد عسكرية لحلف شمال الأطلسي والولايات المتحدة، وتشارك بنشاط في المخططات الإمبريالية و تقدم التسهيلات لها. وهي مسؤولة بنحو مشترك عن زيادة المخاطر التي يتعرض لها الشعب اليوناني والشعوب الأخرى.
ويظهر الاتحاد الأوروبي بشكل أوضح وجهه الحقيقي نحو الشعوب، ولا سيما تجاه اللاجئين والمهاجرين. حيث ليست مقترحات توسك بإلغاء المقياس المتبقي لتوزيع اللاجئين في الدول الأعضاء في الاتحاد الأوروبي، عبارة عن صوت منعزل. بل هي عبارة عن تأكيد على سياسة الاتحاد الأوروبي التي تحتجز اللاجئين في اليونان، و تمول سوق الرقيق في ليبيا و تغرق المهاجرين في البحر المتوسط. و ليست عمليات تفتيش الركاب القادمين من اليونان في المطارات الألمانية عبارة عن استثناء، بل هي تطبيق إجرائي لمعاهدة شنغن. حيث تثبت تدابير المرقبة الاضافية وفق  شنغن ودبلن وحرس الحدود الأوروبية، أن الاتحاد الاوروبي يريد حرية حركة رؤوس الأموال والخدمات بين الدول الأعضاء في الاتحاد الأوروبي، و عبوراً انتقائياً لعمال شديدي الرخص  دون حقوق،  من أجل زيادة أرباح المجموعات الاقتصادية.
و تقع مسؤوليات هائلة على الحكومة اليونانية، التي لا تضمن حتى حياة اللاجئين في النقاط الساخنة البائسة على الجزر، و ذلك  لأنها تدعم هذه السياسة. و تطبق الاتفاق غير المقبول بين الاتحاد الاوربى وتركيا الذى يحتجز اللاجئين بنحو مزدوج في الجزر و تقوم بالمساومة مع الحكومة التركية لجعل هذا الاتفاق أكثر بربرية. و تقوم بإعداد عمليات ترحيل على وجه السرعة نحو جهنم الحرب الإمبريالية. بذريعة التسريع في البت بإجراءات اللجوء، و تقوم باﻹعداد لتغييرات من شأنها أن تعطي الضربة النهائية لحق اللجوء.
وهي تؤخر سنة أخرى تنظيم تعليم أطفال اللاجئين. وفي الوقت نفسه، ترفض حل مشاكل المدارس اليونانية لأطفال المهاجرين اليونانيين في الخارج.
و لا توفر تصاريح إقامة طويلة الأجل وغير مدفوعة الأجر لآلاف المهاجرين الذين يعيشون ويعملون في بلدنا، في عدد من القطاعات والشركات، في ظل نظام استغلال شديد. وهي لا توفر إجراءات بسيطة ومجانية لمن يستحقون الجنسية اليونانية ويريدون الحصول عليها.
حيث يغدو صراع العمال الموحد في الوقت الحاضر، أكثر راهنية و ضرورية في كل بلد من اجل  إسقاط الهمجية الرأسمالية وبناء مجتمع اشتراكي جديد، حيث يستحوذ العمال على وسائل الإنتاج و سيشغلونها بنحو مخطط من اجل خدمة حاجاتهم. إن ثورة أكتوبر الاشتراكية العظمى، دشنت في روسيا هذا الطريق قبل 100 عام، و اثبتت أن الرأسمالية يمكن أن تكون قوية ولكنها قابلة للهزيمة.
ICE arrest over 100 people in LA immigration sweep
worker | September 29, 2017 | 8:19 pm | Immigrants' Rights, struggle for latino equality | Comments closed

https://news.cgtn.com/news/7759444e78597a6333566d54/share.html

ICE arrest over 100 people in LA immigration sweep

World
CGTN
10071km to Beijing
2017-09-29 15:58 GMT+8

In Los Angeles, California, over 100 people were arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of a four-day nationwide sweep of the so-called “sanctuary jurisdiction”, federal authorities said on Thursday.

Photo from CBS Los Angeles

ICE officials said this sweep, codenamed “Operation Safe City” which ended on Wednesday, mainly targeted people who had “violated US immigration laws, prioritized aliens with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, known gang members and affiliates, immigration fugitives and those who re-entered the US after deportation.”

Roughly 500 people were arrested across the country in the past few days.

AP Photo

Besides in Los Angeles, raids were also made in San Francisco and San Jose, and in other states like Illinois, Colorado, New York, Oregon and Massachusetts.

“Sanctuary jurisdictions that do not honor detainers or allow us access to jails and prisons are shielding criminal aliens from immigration enforcement and creating a magnet for illegal immigration,” ICE Acting Director Tom Homan said.

“As a result, ICE is forced to dedicate more resources to conduct at-large arrests in these communities.”

Reuters Photo

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) began tightening the crackdown on illegal immigration when Donald Trump was sworn in as president in January, but the move has been hindered by “sanctuary cities.”

The DOJ then threatened to cut federal funds to these cities, but this initiative was challenged by the “sanctuary cities” themselves. In particular, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago filed lawsuits with the DOJ.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)

10071km

 in a four-day nationwide sweep

US President Donald Trump Pardons Reviled Ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio
BREAKING:
BREAKING

US President Donald Trump Pardons Reviled Ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio

US

Get short URL
119810

On Friday, US President Donald Trump granted a pardon to former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. A political ally of Trump, Arpaio dubbed himself “the toughest sheriff in America.” He was pardoned less than a month after being convicted in a criminal contempt case stemming from his department’s racial profiling activities.

Trump strongly hinted that he would pardon Arpaio in an August 14 interview with Fox News, saying he was “seriously considering” it, adding, “He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”

MORE DETAILS TO COME.

KKE: “The 65.6 million refugees are victims of a system that brings war, horror and death”
worker | June 21, 2017 | 8:18 pm | Announcements, Communist Party Greece (KKE), Greece, Immigrants' Rights, Imperialism, political struggle | Comments closed

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

KKE: “The 65.6 million refugees are victims of a system that brings war, horror and death”

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/06/kke-656-million-refugees-are-victims-of.html
Giant banners raised by the KKE at the
Acropolis, in support of the refugees, Oct. 2015.
In a statement regarding the World Refugee Day, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) points out the following:
 
“The 65.6 million refugees and domestically displaced people are not just a “humanitarian crisis”. It is the tragic confirmation of the actual character of a system which, when it cannot give solutions to its contradictions by crushing peoples’ rights, resorts to war sowing horror, death and refugees. The imperialist war crushes whatever imperialist peace leaves intact. 
 
The SYRIZA-ANEL government, which cultivates the myth of the supposedly humanitarian stance towards the refugees, isn’t innocent. It is responsible for the entrapment of 62,000 refugees in (mainland) Greece and the double entrapment- under miserable conditions- in the islands. It brought the special NATO naval force in the Aegean, using the refugees and immigrants as a pretext. It gives 2.4% of the GDP, 4 billion euros every year- stealing from workers, unemployed, pensioners, young people- to the murderous NATO machine. 
It offers to the NATO-US imperialists multiple facilitations and services, the upgrade of the Souda base and extends the time of its use. It participates in the imperialist missions and the imperialist war, serving the goal of the domestic capital’s geostrategic enhancement. It implicates the people, deeper and deeper, to the dangerous plans of the USA-NATO in the region. It bears responsibility for the uprooting and the refugee flows.
 
The KKE, steadily struggling against every imperialist war and every imperialist alliance such as NATO and the EU, calls the Greek people, the refugees and immigrants to struggle united and organised:
 

– Against the imperialist plans and any participation of the country in these.

 
– For the closure of all foreign bases and military infrastructure. To get NATO out of the Aegean and the Balkans. “Neither soil nor water to the murderers of the people”.
 
– No tolerance to nationalism and racism.
 
– Solidarity with the refugees and immigrants.
 
– Release of the refugees and demand of their right to move to the destinations they want, against the agreements and rules of the EU. 
 
– Decent living conditions for the refugees and their children, for as long as they stay in Greece, far from mechanisms established and funded by their own offenders, such as the NGOs”.
 
Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.
Demonstration against HPD Enforcement of SB 4 on Saturday, May 20
worker | May 15, 2017 | 7:50 pm | Announcements, Houston Socialist Movement, Immigrants' Rights, police terrorism, political struggle | Comments closed
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
A demonstration against Houston Police Department enforcement of Senate Bill 4 will be held in front of HPD Headquarters, 1200 Travis St., on Saturday, May 20, 3-5 pm. Afterward, we will march to Discovery Green, 1500 McKinney, to join the Black Lives Matter Rally being held from 5-7 pm.

The enactment of Senate Bill 4 presents a significant danger to undocumented immigrants, to people of Mexican descent in general, and to other people of color. This new “Show Me Your Papers Law” will lead to more unjustified deportations, more separation of families, more racial profiling, more violations of supposed constitutional rights, more unreported crimes, and more pain and misery for many people.

The Houston Police Department already has a long, ugly history of murdering and abusing people. Now HPD Chief Art Acevedo says he will make sure his officers enforce SB 4 even though he opposed its passage. To this, we can only say: Hell No! SB 4 is a racist, anti-worker law, and it should not be enforced! HPD should not serve as immigration agents! No more deportations! Stop breaking up families! End racial profiling! Stop police murders and brutality!

This action is being organized by Brown Berets de TejAztlan, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Houston Socialist Movement, Latinos Inmigrantes Triunfadores, MORENA-Houston SW, and Party for Socialism and Liberation (list in formation). If your organization would like to endorse this demonstration, or if you would like more information, please contact the organizers at 832.692.2306 or 281.935.9248 or Ryonboyw71@gmail.com.

In solidarity,
HSM
Final Reminder: International Workers Day/Day Without Immigrants Rally Tomorrow, May 1, 5:30-8 pm, in Guadalupe Plaza
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
This is a final reminder that the International Workers Day/ Day Without Immigrants Rally will be held tomorrow, Monday, May 1, 2017, 5:30-8:00  pm, at Guadalupe Plaza, 2311 Runnels Street, in Houston. This event will highlight the historic achievements and contemporary struggles of workers of all nationalities and also emphasize the imperative need for solidarity with our immigrant sisters and brothers, who are increasingly under attack. Working class, this is your cause! Join us!

The Rally will include some very special guest speakers, speakers from sponsoring organizations, poets/spoken word artists, music, banners and signs, chants, and the dramatic smashing of a Donald Trump piñata. This event is being organized by and for workers, whose labor makes life, society, and aspirations for a better future possible. Workers of all backgrounds are welcome. There will be no government officials or politicians on the platform.

Together, we will demand: Unite against Trump! Stop the deportations! Stop racist police terror! Black and Brown lives matter! Defend the Muslim community! Stop the attacks on women and the LGBT communities! Fight for $15/hour minimum wage, jobs for all, and the right to a union! Housing, health care, education, and retirement security for all! Stop the rise of fascism! End U.S. imperialist wars! Stop the destruction of Mother Earth! End capitalism before it ends us!

The Rally is part of a much larger set of actions across the country. A national coalition has called for a strike on May 1, and we encourage workers not to go to work, not to go to school, and not to go shopping tomorrow. In addition, a four-day boycott of Walmart will run through tomorrow, and there is an ongoing boycott of Wells Fargo over its role in the DAPL. We strongly support these actions, and we hope you will, too.

This Rally is being sponsored by Asamblea Popular de Houston, Brown Berets de TejAztlan, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Houston Communist Party, Houston Socialist Movement, International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran-Canada, International Socialist Organization, Latinos Inmigrantes Triunfadores, MORENA-Houston SW, Organizacion Latino Americana Pro-Derecho Del Inmigrante, Party for Socialism and Liberation, People’s New Black Panther Party, and Students for a Democratic Society. We also look forward to the participation of many other organizations.

Parking will be available in the section of the Talento Bilingue Houston parking lot adjacent to South Jensen Street (not the rest of the TBH parking lot) and in the FiTMiX Yoga and Latin Fitness Studio parking lot at 2311 Canal Street. Restrooms will be available in TBH. If you would like more information or have any last-minute questions, please call us at 832.692.2306, 713.447.4106, 832.660.3084, or 281.935.9248.

In Solidarity,
HSM
Communist Youths in Thessaloniki: “Solidarity with the refugees. Our enemy is capitalism”

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Communist Youths in Thessaloniki: “Solidarity with the refugees. Our enemy is capitalism”

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/04/communist-youths-in-thessaloniki.html
Singing the ‘Internationale’ with the fists raised.
In a political event held in Thessaloniki, Greece on Saturday afternoon, communist youth organisations from six countries (Greece, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Serbia and Germany) declared their internationalist solidarity to the refugees. The event was organised by the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) and was attended by representatives of five communist youths:
The Socialist German Workers Youth; The Collective of Communist Youths – Spain ; The Young Communists Front – Italy; The League of Yugoslav Communist Youth- Serbia and the Communist Youth of Turkey.
The event was addressed by the representatives of the communist youths who delivered greeting messages, as well as by KNE’s Secretary of the Central Council Nikos Abatielos. Among other things, Abatielos expressed the solidarity of the young communists of Greece towards the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) which faces the authoritarian and repressive policy by the Turkish government.
In a joint declaration, the six communist youth organisations call for solidarity towards the refugees and for the strengthening of the struggle against the imperialist wars and capitalism which produces crises, wars and refugees. In their declaration, the young communists strongly comdemn “the murderers of the people, NATO and the European Union” and, on the occasion of the centennial of the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution they reaffirm the need to “invigorate the struggle for the only actual alternative to capitalist barbarity, socialism”.
The event also included a cultural part with songs and music dedicated to the refugees and immigrants.
Info: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism ©.