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The following statement was released Nov. 25 by Norton Sandler, chairman of the New York Socialist Workers Party.

The New York Socialist Workers Party protests the mounting witch hunt by both Democrats and Republicans and by the state and federal governments against Muslims in the U.S., and Washington’s war drive. The party calls on workers, farmers and all defenders of political rights to join in opposing this campaign by the rulers, which has big stakes for the working class.

In the wake of the reactionary Islamic State terror attacks in Paris, politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties are cranking up anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry to bolster the propertied rulers’ drive to war and escalate Washington’s military intervention in Syria and the entire Middle East. Simultaneously they seek to create a pariah status for Muslims as they increase spying on Muslim organizations and infiltration of mosques. With this they are moving to restrict political rights of all at home and increase use of spies, frame-ups and cop disruption.

Examples include:

◆ Calls for the New York Police Department to step up spy programs initiated after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that sent undercover cops into Muslim neighborhoods to spy on conversations and compile detailed files on where people ate, prayed and shopped. Mosques are a special target in this effort.

◆ 31 governors — Democrats and Republicans alike — say they will not accept refugees from Syria in their states.

◆ The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill which, if enacted into law, would delay acceptance of Syrian refugees until each individual is signed-off on by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence. The rulers already have in place a vetting requirement that takes two years before a refugee can get in.

◆ Leading Republican presidential contender Donald Trump calls for registering all Muslims in a special government database, says that cops should infiltrate the mosques and forcibly shut down those they deem suspicious and favors reintroduction of waterboarding while interrogating suspected terrorists.

◆ The Democratic Party mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, backing measures to restrict the entrance of refugees, pointed to the example of the internment of U.S. citizens of Japanese origin during World War II.

In this atmosphere, threats and attacks on Muslims are spreading from San Diego to Brooklyn.

There are some 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. The U.S. rulers argue through their big business media that Islamic State and its supporters are growing like wildfire. But the reality is that the reactionary outfit is a tiny cult, hated by Muslims worldwide. Muslims have mounted protests against the IS attacks in Paris itself and from India to Belgium.

Muslims and Arabs are the biggest victims of IS terror, and of Washington’s brutal response.

When a section of the population comes under attack as Muslims are today, the working-class vanguard must immediately come to their defense. We oppose the U.S. rulers’ campaign to curb the constitutionally guaranteed space for political organization and activity and to step up the use of U.S. military intervention in the affairs of working people abroad.

The ultimate target of the rulers’ assault on Muslims is the working class.

The New York Socialist Workers Party, and the Socialist Workers Party nationwide, is taking this fight against Washington’s war drive and in opposition to their witch hunt against Muslims and mosques to working-class neighborhoods across New York City, to workers fighting for $15 and a union, participants in Black Friday protests at Walmart stores demanding higher pay and regular schedules, to those protesting assaults by the cops and ultra-rightists, and more.

Campaign against imperialist war! Protest attacks on Muslims, mosques!

Campaign against imperialist war!
Protest attacks on Muslims, mosques!