By sending his immigration police, the infamous ICE, into towns led by Democrats, Trump thought he could brutalize and deport immigrants with no consequences and flatter his far-right base. He thought he could set workers against one another and have them all toeing the line. It isn’t working the way he thought it would and thankfully so!
Oh the gangs of masked and heavily armed thugs have spread terror and it’s not over yet! Three thousand ICE police have invaded Minneapolis and carried out many violent arrests. They have illegally broken down doors, smashed car windows, thrown people, including pregnant women and people with disabilities, to the ground and assaulted them; raided a high school, arrested a five-year old child… ICE cowboys have kept on increasing their abuse.
Renée Good, a 37 year-old mother and Alex Pretti, also 37, an ICU nurse, were both shot at point blank range as they tried to intervene and protect immigrants. They were both murdered so that any will to resist would be broken. But that will is still there and still strong!
The resistance that is bothering Trump and his racist brutes isn’t coming from the justice system or Democrat authorities. Nor is it coming from companies that have no qualms about working for ICE. One of France’s leading IT companies, Capgemini, has had its U.S. subsidiary sign a multi-million dollar contract to divulge the location of immigrants to Trump’s henchmen.
It’s the population that’s resisting. Residents, neighbors, women and men who could carry on their lives and look the other way but just can’t bear such a lack of humanity.
Renée Good and Alex Pretti were gunned down by police. In order to discredit them, Trump has labelled them “activists and professional agitators” and even “dangerous terrorists”. The footage showing these murders prove that what Trump says is grotesque.
The truth that the billionaire in the White House wants to hide is that solidarity exists! Racism, contempt and crass individualism are claimed on the upper levels of society and set the tone on TV. But, in the working-class areas where there are workers from all kinds of backgrounds, links of neighborliness, friendship and solidarity are formed every day. And those links are stronger than xenophobic propaganda.
The protests against ICE are increasing in the U.S. and are bringing together more and more young people. But mobilization goes beyond just protests. These are neighbors looking out for one another and protecting one another, whatever the origins or their situation, despite fear.
Every day, residents keep watch, using whistles to warn of police patrols, intervening, filming arrests, protesting in front of retention centers. They reassure and replenish those who keep their heads down, afraid of being arrested and deported thousands of miles away from their families. It doesn’t stop immigrants from being arrested but it makes mass roundups much more difficult.
Here in France, we can learn from this, as we see what ordinary men and women can do using their own resources. Faced with the arbitrary actions of the state, the growth of authoritarianism and the blows from bosses, there’s a lot we can do, as long as we don’t stay isolated but get organized.
There is a lot more solidarity and awareness in this society than we are led to believe.
In the U.S. but here too, many workers understand that racism and speeches against foreigners and Muslims have only one goal: to divide and weaken the whole of the working class. Violence against immigrant workers is used to intimidate everyone, starting with those who want to make demands and protest against injustices and exploitation.
We can be protected against the reactionary evolution of society by being aware that we are all being targeted and need to react together. Obviously here too we have our own little Trumps – people like Retailleau, Le Pen and Bardella.
Don’t expect anything from the legal system or political leaders. Everything depends on our ability to act.
All over the world but also in our workplaces and our working-class areas, long live solidarity and the bravery of those who resist authoritarianism, racism and exploitation!
Nathalie Arthaud