Vol. 80/No. 3      January 25, 2016

 

Socialist Workers Party backs
defense of Somali meatpackers

 
“We met with workers in their homes, outside the giant Cargill meatpacking plant where more than 150 Somali workers were fired in December in a dispute over their right to pray, and in small stores affected by the firings,” reported Jacquie Henderson from Minneapolis. She was part of a team of members and supporters of the Socialist Workers Party from Colorado, California and Minnesota who visited Fort Morgan, Colorado, Jan. 9-11 to learn more about the workers’ fight and be able to build support for it.

“Many wanted to learn more about a party like ours,” she said, especially after seeing the Militant’s coverage of party leader Joel Britton joining Imam Musa Baldé in speaking at a meeting protesting an attack on a mosque in Alameda, California.

“Dozens of workers stopped to talk at Cargill’s afternoon shift change Jan. 11,” Henderson said. “Twenty-four bought copies of the Militant and one Spanish-speaking worker with 20 years at the plant subscribed. He disagreed with some of his co-workers who said that perhaps the Muslims were just trying to get more breaks. ‘I do think the Somali workers have a problem with the company denying them time to pray,’ he said. ‘The company has been trying to push all of us back on our break.’

“One Caucasian worker who was picking up his brother and got a copy of the paper said he wasn’t for companies and governments interfering in people’s lives, ‘like in Oregon, where the two guys were put in jail for taking care of their land,’” Henderson wrote.

“We have been taking initiatives in defense of Mohamed Harkat, who the Canadian government is trying to deport,” wrote Katy LeRougetel from Calgary, Alberta. Originally from Algeria, Harkat is one of the “Secret Trial 5” — Muslim Arab men subjected to arbitrary detention and threat of deportation using “security certificates.” The certificates allow the government to use secret evidence that neither the defendants nor their lawyers can see.

“Members of the Communist League here have spoken with co-workers about this attack on all workers’ rights,” said LeRougetel. “Several have signed letters opposing Harkat’s deportation. I spoke about the case at a candlelight vigil in front of City Hall Jan. 6, organized by the Hussaini Association of Calgary to protest the execution of Sheik Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia. There were lots of nods when I said that attacks on Muslims and mosques were encouraged by the government’s ‘war on terror.’”

In Miami, SWP member Amanda Ulman and Munawar Chaudhry of Muslims for Peace and the Al Ahmadiyya Muslim Community shared the platform at a Militant Labor Forum Jan. 8. In December the SWP participated in a public meeting that Al Ahmadiyya organized in Hallandale Beach as a memorial for those killed in the attack by Islamic State supporters in San Bernardino, California, and in response to attacks on several Florida mosques.

“We will continue to join with others in protesting these attacks,” said Ulman. “Washington uses the violent massacres in San Bernardino and Paris to justify its military policy in the Mideast. This is what encourages those who attack Muslims and mosques. Defense comes from public mobilizations.”

Chaudhry said that statements of solidarity “give strength to Muslims in times like this.”
 
 
Related articles:
Washington seeks bloc with Moscow, Tehran in Mideast war
 
 
 
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