Leading up to the turning of the clocks into the new millennium, Washington issued a number of "worldwide terrorism warnings" as it beefed up the cops at its border. The arrest of several individuals who were originally from Algeria fits in with the rulers' drive against immigrants, and its slander of toilers who hail from parts of the world where Islam is a leading religious belief.

Pakistani rights activist Tariq Khokhar is absolutely correct when he points out, "The issue here is not just an individual alone, but how they make the whole Muslim community the criminal."

In the name of combating "Islamic terrorism" the U.S. rulers and their cops show utter contempt for established legal and civil rights. Slander, innuendo, paid informers - all have been used in the absence of evidence.

Some are being arrested for visa violations and then charged in the media with being part of an international terrorist network. The rulers want us to assume those rounded up and arrested are guilty who must prove their innocence. But you're innocent, innocent, innocent - unless they can prove you're guilty.

When Abdelwahib Hamdouche was picked up at Kennedy Airport on New Years Day, the judge ordered that the complaint against him be held in secret. This is part of an increased use by the government of secret trials and secret evidence. Some 20 individuals remain incarcerated in U.S. prisons without even knowing what they are being charged with.

The arrest and imprisonment without bail of the Taiwanese-born scientist, Wen Ho Lee, is another government frame-up that should be condemned. Lee is essentially accused of downloading classified information from government computers while being of Chinese descent. The campaign against Lee fits into Washington's increased economic and military drive against the Chinese workers state.

Despite Washington's anti-terrorism hype, it is the biggest source of state organized terrorism in the world today - from the bombing of Iraq, which continues to this day; to the recent bombardment of Yugoslavia; to the decades-long economic embargo of Cuba.

The rulers are probing and setting the stage for deeper attacks in the future against workers and farmers resisting the growing disorder of capitalism. They hope to foster the belief that the government should curtail democratic rights in order to protect "us" in the United States against "them."

The raids conducted in Montreal and Brooklyn and the calculated propaganda offensive over the new year are designed to intimidate us. But such campaigns do not necessarily have the intended effect, as evidenced by those who have spoken out in protest against them. Working people, including those who are immigrants, are not inclined to allow themselves to be cast as outlaws.

The labor movement needs to take a stand alongside these allies to help organize them in political action. This is the road forward toward overcoming the divisions fostered by the rulers that weaken our ranks. "We" is working people the world over who are exploited and oppressed by "them" - the billionaire ruling families who are driving against our rights at home and toward more military assaults abroad.  
 
 
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