Hawkeye Pearce said:
A ..It seems that some of us agree that immigration is mainly another scam run by the ruling class at the expense of both those who come over here and are forced into sometimes dangerous and horrendously underpaid work and the working class as well.
B ..So my question is what is the best way to approach this issue from a standpoint that opposes capitalism? As it is clear that the so called far left are largely failing to do this in any remotely satisfactory way?
HP i agree with A..
EXCEPT that the main left current in this country the SWP and its fellow travellers ( who i call PC liberal lefties ) still do not get it!!
.. and they do have an influence out of all proportion to their size, on the left and how it is seen generally .. and have had a disasterous effect in this area along with their foolish allies of the ANL/UAF etc
B .. well first i think we need to be honest about immigration and why it is happenning .. i think only then will people take the left seriously ..
as i have stated repeatedly ( and incredibly been ridiculed by swpers who should theoretically agree) i belive their is a simple and clear w/c solution
first that the trade unions/Left come out and actually say what is going on
second a mass TU/Left campaign inside and outside of work/industry against casualisation/privaisation and specifically against recruitment abroad / and or for lower wages than the going rate
third a campaign in the left/TU's for revival of the closed shop
fourth a campaign against firms using cheap imported labour to cut costs ( as was done with the seaworkers Irish Ferries campaigns)
fifth to campaign that both work and housing should be allocated locally to sons and daughters ( regardless of race .. whatever that may be
) to create sustainable communities
and finally, but only as part of the above, a campaign for legitimisation of illegal workers so they can be recruited into unions and thus AGAINST immigration controls ... this should be combined with a campaign to confront racism and to explain that it is not immigrants who are the problem but capitalism that uses immigration and ABUSES immigrants
and i can guarantee there is not a single thing in these solutions that the neo libs can agree with ..