The decision by the conservative Dutch government to restore Hirsi Ali’s citizenship after much public outcry strikes a blow for a right working people hold dear.

In nonunion mines and other workplaces in the United States and elsewhere, workers are often willing to speak out only on condition of anonymity to avoid losing their jobs. Coal miners interviewed about unsafe conditions in Alabama mines, for example, were quoted anonymously in the Tuscaloosa News in February because “they would face certain punishment or possible termination if they spoke out publicly against their employers.”

When writing articles to describe a struggle they are involved in, these workers often feel the need to use pen names, as did coal miners in Utah who fought to unionize the Co-Op mine.

The Militant defended this right in response to an article by the Salt Lake Tribune in March. That article, by Jennifer Sanchez, attacked a Spanish-language weekly, Mundo Hispano, for using pen names, arguing there was no basis to do so “in a democratic society, with guaranteed freedom of the press.” But as the recent harassment lawsuit by C.W. Mining in Utah against the Co-Op miners, United Mine Workers of America, the Militant, and other newspapers—including the Tribune itself—showed, that’s clearly not true. And the Tribune changed its tune. An editor’s note at the beginning of an article by Sanchez herself only a month later read, “To protect the identity of undocumented immigrants, only first names are used in this story.”

The labor movement must defend the right of workers and others to be quoted anonymously or use pseudonyms so they can speak out about dangerous conditions before people die on the job. And we must defend the right of pro-labor and other news media to use these practices to protect workers from retribution by the bosses.
 
 
Related articles:
Stripping deputy of citizenship causes uproar in Netherlands  
 
 
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