The Militant - October 6, 2003 -- Socialist Workers campaigners join San Francisco immigrant rights sendoff rally

Vol. 67/No. 34 October 6, 2003

Socialist Workers campaigners join
San Francisco immigrant rights sendoff rally
(front page)

BY MARK GILSDORF
SAN FRANCISCO— Carrying signs with demands such as “Stop immigration raids and deportations” and “Jobs for all” in English and Spanish, half a dozen Young Socialists for Britton marched here September 20 with other demonstrators to City Hall, where a rally of 2,000 was held as a sendoff to the Immigrant Worker Freedom Ride.

The young socialist campaigners, marching next to contingents of roofers and other unionists, joined in the lively chants demanding rights for immigrant workers. Their signs identified them as supporters of the Socialist Workers candidate for governor of California, Joel Britton.

The action was marked by the participation of several large union contingents, including the Laborers International Union and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 2, which has been involved in a series of union organizing drives and contract fights at area hotels. Also marching were contingents from community and immigrant rights groups.

Democratic governor Gray Davis and a number of other capitalist politicians spoke, sounding a chorus of “No to the recall.” Davis expressed sympathy for immigrant workers “who toil under the hot sun to put food on our table.”

When asked, however, he declined to express a position on the goal of the Freedom Ride—legalizing the status of undocumented workers, saying it was a “federal issue.”

The Socialist Workers campaigners joined others in protesting factory raids and deportations by immigration cops. They celebrated the success of the struggles by workers that recently led the state government to pass a law reversing restrictions on undocumented workers’ access to a driver’s license. And they championed the demand of the march that the government guarantee legal protections to all undocumented workers.

At the rally in front of City Hall, demonstrators were drawn to a two-table display of revolutionary literature by a colorful banner urging workers and youth to “Campaign with Young Socialists for Joel Britton for Governor, Deborah Liatos for Mayor, Ryan Scott for District Attorney.”

Ryan Scott, Socialist Workers candidate for district attorney in San Francisco and a spokesperson for Young Socialists for Britton, met a contingent of 15 students from California State University in Monterrey, where Scott had previously attended school. Five among the group were from the campus chapter of the Chicano student group MEChA and said they were excited about having Joel Britton come to speak on their campus September 24. A professor at the campus had already invited Britton to speak there.

Nattely Gutierrez, a leader of the Monterrey campus MEChA chapter, said she was angered about Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamente’s attempts to distance himself from his past membership in MEChA. Gutierrez said she appreciated the Socialist Workers campaign’s defense of the Chicano organization and Britton’s activity in support of the Chicano struggle. She invited Britton to address the MEChA chapter while he is in Monterrey.

Five of the youth from CSU Monterrey signed up to find out more about campaigning with the Young Socialists for Britton.

One member of the Service Employees International Union stopped by the campaign table and expressed his support for Davis and his opposition to the recall, but he also bought a copy of Teamster Rebellion by SWP leader Farrell Dobbs and agreed to get back to the socialist campaigners to discuss what he read.

A student from San Francisco State University who stopped by the campaign table picked up the Militant and The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, and left her name to be contacted about helping set up speaking engagements for the socialist candidates.

By the end of the day, rally participants had bought 25 copies of the Militant, 6 copies of Perspectiva Mundial, and $50 worth of Pathfinder books.

Appeals Court rules California
recall vote stays October 7
(front page)

BY PAUL PEDERSON
LOS ANGELES—The full 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled September 23 that the California recall election will be held October 7 as originally scheduled. The ruling reverses an earlier three-judge decision in favor of a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which had argued that the election should be held off until punch-card voting machines used in six counties were replaced.

The State of California had settled an earlier suit by the ACLU, agreeing to replace this equipment by March 2, 2004. If the ruling by the three judges had stood, the recall election would have been postponed until then.

In reinstating the October 7 date, the court cited “the enormous resources already invested” in the election. It also opposed “interference with an election after voting has begun”—a reference to the hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots already cast. The ACLU has said that it will not appeal.

Related articles:
SWP takes ‘not voting’ stance on Proposition 54

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