http://themilitant.com/2015/7944/794402.html
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Vol. 79/No. 44 December 7, 2015
(front page, Socialist Workers Party statement)
Campaign against imperialist war!
Protest attacks on Muslims, mosques!
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.
Join us.
Related articles:
Washington, Paris ramp up war moves, attack rights
New York meeting: ‘Join fight against US war drive’
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