Photos From the September 4th 2006 Immigration Rights Labor Day March

The lead banner was the nauseating Let Day Laborers Live the American Dream, promoting the Big Lie that a worker can get rich in America by hard work only. THIS IS A VICIOUS LIE. The only way anyone gets rich is either by exploiting the workingclass or by promoting the exploitation of the workingclass either at home or abroad, commonly known as US imperialism abroad. In other words, only by promoting capitalism or being a capitalist can one become rich, and both are parasitical. As to advancement of the American workingclass as a class, which is of all colors including white, the wages of the American workingclass have not increased either in spending power or actual dollars for SIX YEARS, and the quality of life for the American workingclass has been declining since 1950 with the anti-Communist witchhunts that kicked communist/Trotskyist labor organizers out of the unions, and accelerated since 1973, when the disastrous effects of the wars against Korea and Vietnam finally came home to roost. That is because we have no LABOR MOVEMENT, which would put an end to anti-immigrant scapegoating and the endless wars perpetrated by the capitalist class to maximize profits, the primary goal of capitalism. The lead banner SHOULD BE LABOR UNION BANNERS, especially on LABOR DAY. Immigration is a LABOR ISSUE, FIRST AND FOREMOST. Local 2, the hotel & restaurant workers union, was there and should have led the march, closely followed by the outstanding IWW, which was notable with its red flags and LACK OF NATIONAL FLAGS, ALL OF WHICH ARE THE BOSSES' FLAGS. This demonstration consisted of at most 5,000 people in a city of 750,000 people, about 50% of whom are Asian-American, and most of those Asian-Americans are Chinese. The immigrant organizations in San Francisco need to learn REALITY OF THE USA: (1) There is no American dream and they should tell that to their members; (2) Waving any national flags at labor demonstrations is insulting to the entire workingclass as all national flags are the bosses' flags and the American flag in particular is a worldwide symbol of American imperialism; the red flag is traditionally the flag of the international workingclass although if one prefers, just do not wave any flag; (3) The Chinese workingclass community needs to be brought in full force to all San Francisco immigration marches. There are about 50,000 Chinese living in the Northeast sector of San Francisco, where this parade originated and around which it marched. Chinatown, as it is called, is workingclass, with vicious exploitation of immigrant Chinese, and no labor organizing taking place in all the tourist restaurants. Local 2 needs to do a lot more organizing in this town. The numbers would have at least matched the 100,000 who marched on May Day if this had been promoted as a LABOR MARCH, which an immigrants rights march is BY DEFINITION. This was, after all LABOR DAY. With this kind of decline in numbers from May Day's 100,000 to Labor Day's 5,000, we can only achieve what we already achieved in May: The defeat of the anti-immigant bills in Congress. We still do not have full amnesty for all undocumented workers. For that, we need a LABOR MOVEMENT.

The title to the above comment is ambiguous. It should there There Is No and Never Was An American Dream; Labor Must Lead.

I'm sure you intended to be offensive, otherwise the tone of your diatribe would have been a bit more respectful. You, who are so full of labor history knowledge should acknowledge that Labor day in the U.S. became a national holiday to thwart the far more popular and populist May Day - Labor's original day.

That being said, for you, so full of knowledge and answers, yesterday's march was not a march geared toward promoting 'Labor Day'. It was called specifically to promote immigrants' rights, which, in this country are virtually non-existent (even more so than the general 'workers rights'), to promote the hotel workers' fight, to call attention to massive over-gentrification in the Bayview, and to condemn the imperialist agenda.

I think it's a little short sided of you to look at a few pictures on indybay and condemn an entire march. Also, your antiquated outlook on the labor struggle is problematic, to be sure. Labor and immigration have always been or equal importance in the class struggle, and now this is more the case than ever before. And while I agree that wrapping oneself in a national flag seems to be anti-thetical to what we're ultimately trying to achieve, I also acknowledge that many people associate cultural and ethnic pride in the flags of the countries of their birth or residence, including the idiotic american flag. And when have we in the struggle ever been against the freedom of expression?

Also, your picking on the semantics of the banner that the SF Day Laborers created is just sad. Here are a group of workers who are exploited every day of the year, including stupid national holidays, and really all they want is to be able to hold their bosses to account when they're injured, or don't recieve a fair wage, or aren't paid at all, and all you can think to do is make an asinine and uninformed comment on the content of the sign?

Lastly, Chinese and Asian communities were well represented at yesterday's march. Were there enough people there? NO. There never is. That's why we keep doing this again and again. To get more people involved in the struggle. (By the way, I'm just curious, where were you organizing yesterday?)

Finally, if you're gonna get mad and offensive, hit someone that matters. All this re-attacking an already struggling movement is counter-productive, uninspiring and just pretty lazy.

Damn -- I feel like I took many of the same pictures. See <a href= 'http://happening-here.blogspot.com/2006/09/labor-dayimmigrant-workers-on-move.html'>this blog, though I tried to find some variety in the subject. What impressed me, beside the feeling of determination among people, was the amount of union presence. Where else should organized workers' outfits be anyway? Good to see them there.

The vicious Big Lie of the American Dream is reactionary which is why it is actively promoted by the capitalist class and is routinely taught in our reactionary schools at least since the 19th century. The US is portrayed by the Chamber of Commerce as the land of milk and honey where anyone who works hard can become rich. Within one generation, we all learn the reality: THERE IS NO AMERICAN DREAM. Unlike the 19th Century, in which May Day was born in the struggle for the 8 hour day, the US today is IN DECLINE. Just advancing from a $5.15-$12 per hour job to a $30 per hour job is difficult, given the decline of the school system, and one needs to make at least $100,000 a year (about $50 per hour) in San Francisco to raise a family without living in poverty; no worker makes that kind of money. And, of course, becoming rich by definition means exploiting the workingclass or promoting the exploitation of the workingclass at home and abroad. It is not a matter of semantics; it is a matter of REACTIONARY POLITICS to PROMOTE THE LIE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM.

The waving of all national flags, with the most frequently seen being the US imperialist flag, is utterly REACTIONARY. When I asked some people who are clearly immigrants as a direct result of the reactionary US imperialist policies why they were waving the American flag, they said it was because they live here. I told them, so do I and we, the workingclass, do not wave national flags; the red flag is the workers' flag all around the world.

AN IMMIGRATION MARCH IS BY DEFINITION A LABOR MARCH. That is of course why this march was held on Labor Day. May Day should be our holiday, but it is not. Most of us have the September labor day off from work, so this march should have been bigger than May's, but it was not because it did not reach out to the entire workingclass. In San Francisco, the largest immigrant population is Chinese. Yet, I ran into Chinese immigrants who had no idea that there was an immigrant rights march taking place on Market Street. Going from 100,000 in May to 5,000 in September means endless marching is not enough, and certainly cannot win amnesty. ONLY WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE ENTIRE WORKINGCLASS CAN UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS WIN AMNESTY.

Amnesty for the undocumented immigrants can only be won by threatening the profits of the capitalist class, the primary goal of that class. Maximization of profit is the primary law of any capitalist society. The reason the May Day labor strike of millions of workers in the US succeeded in putting an end to the anti-immigrant bills in Congress is because this labor strike threatened the profits of the capitalist class, with the closure of the meat packing plants in the MidWest, the withdrawal of labor's hand in the fields of California, and the closure of businesses across the country. This victory in May of ending the anti-immigrant bills did not come with flag waving or any prattle about the capitalist sales pitch to attract cheap labor, namely the big lie of the American Dream. It came by THREATENING THE PROFITS OF THE CAPITALIST CLASS. That is why LABOR MUST LEAD ALL IMMIGRANT RIGHTS MARCHES. There were lots of labor unions participating in the May Day marches. Those labor unions which participated in the September Labor Day marches should have led these immigrant marches because that would certainly be seen by the capitalist class as a threat to their profits. Waving the international red flag would also be a sign that these immigrant rights marches recognize the international power of labor to put an end to the private profit system. BY THREATENING THE PROFITS OF THE CAPITALIST CLASS, A LABOR MOVEMENT WILL WIN AMNESTY FOR UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS, AND ADVANCE THE NEEDS AND INTERESTS OF THE ENTIRE WORKINGCLASS.

I'm not quite sure why you persist with the diatribe. I don't disagree with you. However, I think that your tactic here on this server is abrasive, not at all inclusive, and a little heavy handed. You already brought up the point about 50% of the city being of Chinese descent and not nearly enough of this contigent was rrepresented at the march. Said and done. I ask you again, where were you on Monday? Did you organize before hand? Did you come to meetings regarding the march in an effort to promote your agenda?

I'd like to answer again to your vicious big lie argument, that for many people, including the people that I work with, the so-called american dream is often called the american nightmare. However, in a public setting, the american dream is metaphor which symbolizes the ability to find work with out fear of arrest, and, as I said before, the ability to work with out horrendous exploitation. Do you know what Day Laborers go through and are subjected to in this city? We're not talking about people who wanna own the big house on the hill and all the land that you can see from there. Let's try to keep things in context.

I want to say again that I don't disagree with your rhetoric, however you've yet to offer any real solutions, other than to just be really pissed off and I've been really pissed off for 28 years and it's still not working. I'd like to turn this concept of marching from one place to another on its head and offer people the opportunity to do something useful at the end of a march (since getting arrested and singing songs in solidarity is no longer effective.) I have a lot of ideas about this...

Lastly, I'd like to counter your belief that waving the american flag had nothing to do with the victories of May the First. In the immigrants rights' actions preceding May 1st, many people in California and throughout the so-called southwest waved the flags of their countries of origin; particularly dominant was the mexican flag. The capitalist mainstream media seized upon this and brought in countless pundits to talk about 'what this means', and in the end the american public felt less sympathy with immigrants than ever before because the prevailing thought went something like, 'If you love this country so much, then why are you waving another flag?' Asinine though this argument may be, it was used ad nauseum, and so many mainstream organizers were like, 'oh shit, better whip out the american flag to build support amongst whitey.' And sure as shit, when the mainstream capitalist media reported on the May 1st action, they showed countless people draped in the american flag -which effectively put a stop to the right's rhetoric about immigrants who just hate this country.
Also, the media coverage of the action on May 1st really put things over the edge in the house of saud, I mean, in congress. The media in SF could have easily focused on the Labor Day actions across the country, and they just didn't. Don't forget the media's incredible influence over matters of policy and debate in this country.

So thenmy friend, I say if you have ideas please implement them! We all know that there's not enough being done and that there's too much to do. What else can we be doing?