Vol. 79/No. 46 December 21, 2015
SWP fights against rulers’ scapegoating of Muslims
In face of the campaign smearing and targeting Muslims by capitalist politicians and media, the Socialist Workers Party and its sister Communist Leagues in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are campaigning to protest increased acts of violence and vandalism, and tell the truth about the rulers’ drive to gut the political rights of all working people. It’s a key part of campaigning against the stepped-up war drive by the imperialist rulers from Washington to Paris and London.
“About 100 people took part in the Dec. 5 Unity Walk in Falls Church, Virginia, to protest the planting of a fake bomb at the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque,” wrote Glova Scott from Washington, D.C. Supporters of the Socialist Workers Party joined the action, which included a march to the mosque from a nearby church. Organizers also collected coats and blankets for refugees from Syria and Iraq, who have been a political target of the anti-Muslim campaign.
“It’s hard enough to find a job even without the hijab, with it it’s even harder,” Maubouba Riahi, originally from Tunisia, told Arrin Hawkins. She commented on the prejudice Muslims face, saying, “A few people have shouted at me to go back home.” Riahi’s daughter is a member of the Muslim Student Association at J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church. The group meets at the mosque and has been fighting to change the name of the school, which is taken after a prominent Confederate general.
Riahi subscribed to the Militant and five others bought copies to learn more about the party and its campaigns.
Jonathan Silberman, Communist League candidate for mayor of London, was among 250 participants in a Dec. 4 protest responding to an attempted arson attack on the Finsbury Park mosque. Many expressed opposition to London’s decision to join the Washington-led coalition in carrying out airstrikes in Syria.
Communist workers also campaign in working-class communities, at strike picket lines and protests against police brutality, and anywhere else workers are debating what way forward.
“We went door to door in an apartment building in a Brooklyn neighborhood where workers from many different countries and religions live,” Seth Galinsky reported from New York. “A worker originally from Bangladesh bought a subscription. Just to pay the rent he has to work both as a cab driver and in a restaurant. He said he agreed with those fighting for $15 an hour, and that Muslims, Jews and Christians shouldn’t fight each other.
“At another door, a woman who is from Israel disagreed with many things we said, but wanted to talk. When we said most Muslims don’t like Islamic State she argued, ‘Maybe so, but all terrorists are Muslims.’ After our discussion, she got a copy of the Militant.”
Supporters from Atlanta found interest in what the SWP had to say — and some debate — among the thousands attending a Nov. 30 rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Macon, Georgia.
“Something has to be done about so many jobs being lost in the small towns,” Joe West, a union electrician, told SWP member Janice Lynn, who responded that none of the Democratic and Republican candidates have a program to provide jobs. “That’s why working people need to come together, organize unions and build a labor party to fight for the things we need.” West gave Lynn $5 for a Militant and said to keep the change.
A few people passed out a flyer demanding the Georgia legislature stop financing refugee resettlement, Rachele Fruit reported. Others opposed the scapegoating of Muslims, some who were going in to hear Trump and others who came to protest against him.
“I’m not sure who I would vote for now,” said Kimberly Greenway from St. Petersburg, Florida, who was selling buttons and T-shirts outside. “I believe that when you hurt a human being, no matter where, what color, race or size, you hurt yourself.”
In all 25 people got copies of the Militant and one subscribed.
Join in the campaigning effort! Contact the party branch
in your area, listed on page 8.
Related articles:
US, Paris use terror attacks to go after Muslims
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