How can undocumented workers organize to change their status?
Can they vote? No.
They can engage in mass action - street protests. That's great, but it does very little economic harm unless they strike. Now they can strike here in America, with no jobs, or they can strike by going home to, admittedly, very poor jobs.
I believe in organized mass action for illegal aliens but too many people on the Left are really just accepting the status quo, which favors capital.
On 12/19/06, Julio Huato <juliohuato at gmail.com> wrote:
> boddy wrote:
>
> > Dude,
>
> Hey dude! Nice to read you again!
>
> > I have BEEN to Chertoff's private jail in Tacoma and gotten people
> > out. Me. Physically. I have been to immigration court and I've given
> > people off-line advice about how to deal with the system. I have
> > helped illegal immigrants time and time again and sometimes the best
> > thing they can do for themselves is to GO HOME.
>
> Yeah, dude, that should excuse all the shit you're spewing.
>
> > You HAVE to understand what the system really is, not some silly
> > Leninist notion.
>
> I'm trying to understand, dude. And, yeah, down with Lenin!
>
> > These ICE raids on the meatpacking industry come only after decades of
> > racketeering throughout the food industry where packers, producers and
> > distributors blatantly and deliberately import illegal labor to force
> > down wages. They were a slap on the wrist. They were done for
> > publicity. There's just no question about that.
>
> That's what matters! The "slap on the wrist" of the bosses. The
> motivations of the government. Who gives a damn about the human and
> material cost to those detained, possibly to be deported? They are
> "illegals," right? Or, as you say in perfect Spanglish-legalese,
> "illegales."
>
> > Are you on the side of Swift Meats? You think Swift is importing these
> > Mexicans to do them a fucking favor? By your theory, Swift is more of
> > a champion for Mexican rights than La Raza. Do you really think that?
>
> Good questions, dude. And when are *you* going to stop raping your sister?
>
> > Ask yourself this: why doesn't Swift just build a plant in fucking
> > Oaxaca or Chihuahua? They want the America subsidies, dude. American
> > subsidies plus Mexican workers - the best of both worlds.
>
> I don't know that. But I know this: You say fucking Oaxaca. I say
> fuck your mother. How about that?
>
> But wait. Before you go and do that, I think I see your point now.
> Since Swifts doesn't build the plant in Oaxaca or Chihuahua, then the
> government is doing the "illegales" a favor by terrorizing them,
> jailing them, and kicking them out of the country. Poor "nobodies"
> caught in the political dance between Swifts and the government. Good
> point, dude!
>
> > Homeland Security terribly mistreats the very small number of
> > immigrants it actually gets its hands on with IN ORDER to intimidate a
> > very large number of immigrants.
>
> Get real! This is profound. Let me read it again.
>
> > They do this with the FULL KNOWLEDGE
> > that they are pushing immigrants TOWARDS illegal status. They make the
> > formal system impossible to deal with so that immigrants will turn
> > illegal or stay illegal and thus remain cheap labor.
>
> This also sounds deep: They do it "with FULL KNOWLEDGE" (capitalizing
> for emphasis) "that they are pushing immigrants TOWARDS" (note the
> emphasis here too) "illegal status."
>
> But I thought they were "illegales" out economic necessity -- they
> needed to enter the country and stay. So some entered without
> documents. Some had documents, but overstayed their visas.
>
> But, hey, what do I know? You're the champion of immigrant rights.
> You physically get them out of Chertoff's private jail. So, I'll go
> with what you say. It is fear, intimidation by the government that
> pushes them to the illegal status.
>
> But wait -- isn't it the exact opposite? Doesn't intimidation pushes
> immigrant workers to... try and become legal residents -- if not each
> of them individually, using existing legal provisions, then by
> struggling collectively, marching, etc., demanding recognition and
> rights?
>
> > You act as though the US Government actually deports a significant
> > number of the people who have immigration judgments against them.
> > That's just a joke.
>
> Well, I'm a bad actor. But you're right. The raids are just a joke.
> Those "illegals" (and the hysterical left!) have no sense of humor.
> They can't put things in perspective. Swift says over 5,000 workers
> are being threatened by the raids. HS doesn't say how many have been
> arrested. Some news outlets say it's over 1,000 already. But what's
> 1 or 5 thousand "illegales" compared to the 6.6 or 6.7 billion people
> living in the planet as we speak? So much hysteria.
>
> > You can hardly FIND an immigrant who hasn't had a
> > negative finding or a deportation order against her at some time.
> > Any reasonable analysis of the US immigration system leads to one
> > conclusion - it is there to create a legal underclass. It's
> > practically straight out of Foucault.
>
> Oh, wow. That Foucalt was really fouc-ed up.
>
> > This image of the US Government sending herds of illegales South of
> > the border is just nonsense.
>
> Totally. In part, because "herds" are cattle... Oh, but "illegales"
> = cattle = meatpacking meat = packable meat. Same same.
>
> > Millions and millions of people have come
> > in SINCE 9/11 and the government did fuck-all about it. You think that
> > big fence proposal is anything more than a boondoggle for defense
> > contractors? Have you BEEN to the Chihuahan desert? It's ridiculous.
>
> Have you BEEN (note my emphasis) to the Gobi dessert? Or to the
> Sahara? They are even more ridiculous, dude. Not that I've been
> there, but seen them movies.
>
> > ICE could be deporting not thousands but hundreds of thousands if they
> > really cared. They don't.
>
> Careless ICE. You really dig a caring ICE, dude. Don't you?
>
> > The suffering of detainees and deportees is
> > BY DESIGN. The system is made for extra cruelty, not efficiency.
>
> You're right again. An efficient (and caring!) system would keep the
> cruelty to a minimum and the number of deportees in the hundreds of
> thousands per... I don't know... week? day? hour?
>
> > It is
> > there to intimidate, not deport or detain any significant percentage
> > of illegal workers.
>
> It sucks!
>
> > It's very, very, very clear what American capital wants.
>
> Wait, didn't your sentence need a couple of more very's?
>
> > The evidence
> > is overwhelming. American capital wants cheap, foreign labor.
>
> Thanks for clarifying these things for me. They are far from obvious.
> I've always been under the impression that American capital hates
> profits and likes expensive labor, foreign or native.
>
> > All the
> > better if that cheap, foreign labor is right here in the U.S.A.,
> > intimidated, ununionizable, without whistle-blowers, desperate for
> > hard currency for their families. That's what American capital wants
> > and THAT is why the system works the way it does.
>
> Okay. The distilled truth, dude.
>
> > The meat packing industry blatantly conspired in a racket to import
> > illegal workers. They condoned and supported identity theft and
> > EVERYBODY knows it.
>
> Oh, I didn't. But now I know. Thanks, dude.
>
> > These workers in Colorado and Iowa were building
> > their lives on a corporate lie.
>
> Right. And living on a corporate lie fragments their personality and
> causes irreparable damage to their ids. That's why they should thank
> Homeland Security. Yes, they will lose their jobs and be kicked out
> of the country, but that's focusing on the negative. On the bright
> side, they'll be saving thousands of dollars in psychotherapy! You're
> a genius, dude!
>
> > They thought they were building a
> > community on honest work, but it's better for Swift and American
> > capital if they realize that they are just replaceable nobodies.
>
> Self-deception, dude. Those "illegales" have to learn the hard way.
> Now let me memorize this:
>
> It's better for Swift and American capital if they (the "illegals")
> realize that they are just _replaceable nobodies_. Man! You hit the
> nail on the head! That's what American capital and Swift need to come
> to their senses and stop living on corporate self-deception! They
> need *the workers* to realize that they really are just "replaceable
> nobodies."
>
> This phrase really reveals your inner thoughts, dude.
>
> I don't think I can take thoughts deeper than these. So I'll have to
> filter out your postings or else my mind is going to be overwhelmed by
> exposure to so much brilliance and wisdom.
>
> > Wake up.
>
> I can't, dude. You lull me into deep sleep....
>
> ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
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