Newsocialist-Issue65

Obama, Race and Class SUBSCRIBE TODAY CANADA U.S. 4 issues $20 $25 Supporting: Add $20 Institutional and overseas international: $50 per year All prices in Canadian dollars Send cheques to: New Socialist Box 167, 253 College Street Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R5 Street-art on Albert Street in Winnipeg in response to escalating levels of police brutality, including the taser 2009 - 1 death of Michael Langan. Issue No. 65 $4.95 www.newsocialist.org newsocialist.org from the editors Anti-racism and the global economic crisis s this special theme issue of New SocialiSt goes reducing the number of people admitted as permanent resi- to press in March 2009, the global economic crisis dents. Migrant workers who are working in Canada under continuesA to deepen. The next issue of New Socialist will fo- the Temporary Foreign Worker program are particularly vul- cus on radical responses to the crisis, offering resources for nerable to layoffs, since when they lose their jobs they must resistance. This issue – produced by a special team of regular apply for another work permit or leave the country. and guest editors – is devoted to the theme of racism and In the UK, a Labour government slogan – “British jobs anti-racism. for British workers” – has been picked up by some UK-born The first truly global slump since the early 1980s is not people, fuelling both racism and hostility against white mi- just a financial crisis that has seen perhaps tentrillion dollars grant workers from other states in the European Union. (15 percent of world GDP) pumped into shoring up banks With the immigration minister making statements like “It’s and other financial institutions. It is also a crisis for firms been too easy to get into this country in the past and it’s that produce goods and services. As profits decline, employ- going to get harder,” it’s clear to see how governments are ers are making layoffs on a massive scale and often rolling fanning the flames of racism. back the wages and conditions of those who remain. From We can expect to see this pattern repeated as the global high-waged auto workers in the US and Canada to low-paid crisis deepens. workers in the export manufacturing industries of South and In short, the global slump makes anti-racism even more East Asia, people everywhere are feeling the impact of capi- important, not something to be downplayed in the name of talism’s crisis. a fake “unity” against bailouts, layoffs and cutbacks. Racism One of the many effects of the global slump will be the always needs to be fought for its own sake, because it is a intensification of racism and of hostility against immigrants. form of oppression. It is also true that efforts by unions and As insecurity gets worse and competition for jobs grows, community organizations to defend people from the impact many people blame those not born in the countries where of the economic crisis and mobilize against employers and they are now living for supposedly “stealing” jobs and hous- governments will not go far if they do not challenge racism ing from citizens and being a “burden” on social services. Al- directly. though this kind of response is common, it is not natural. We hope this publication will provide readers with ideas It comes from living in a world organized into a system of that will help to understand and combat racism, whether by states, each of which grants its citizens rights that are denied supporting the struggles for self-determination of indige- to non-citizens. States also cultivate nationalism, encourag- nous peoples, mobilizing for justice for migrants, challenging ing people to think of themselves as different from – and Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, or responding to racism in better than – people living within the borders of other states. the media and in toys for children. In addition to articles on The targeting of immigrants is a global threat. Recent those topics, we offer analysis that grapples with the relatio- years have seen, for example, violent attacks on Zimbabwean inship between racism and capitalism, with the significance migrants in South Africa and the mass deportation from of the election of an African-American as the head of state of South Korea of non-status Filipino workers. But in Europe the world’s top imperialist power, with the history of racism and the states founded by European settler colonialism – the in the US and Canada, and with other issues that are relevant US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – it is combined to anyone who wants to act against racism. We hope you will with deep-rooted racism against indigenous peoples and take what you read into efforts to fight racism individually people of colour. and, most importantly, collectively – in the movements for H In Canada, the Tory federal government is considering radical change we so urgently need to be building today. NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 Box 167, 253 College St. Toronto, ON M5T 1R5 [email protected] www.newsocialist.org Issue #65 2009-1 NEW SOCIALIST offers radical analysis sPeCiAL issUe oN rACism ANd ANti-rACism of politics, social movements and culture in the Canadian state and internationally. H theorY ANd HISTORY Our magazine is a forum for people who Capitalism and racial oppression ....................................David McNally 4 want to strengthen today’s activism and for those who wish to replace global Glossary of terms ......................................................................Heidi Mehta 8 capitalism with a genuinely democratic slavery, settlement and rebellion .................................. Dave Roediger 9 socialism. We believe that the liberation of the working class and oppressed Canada: a racist history ...................................................Harold Lavender 12 peoples can be won only through their Louis riél: hero and martyr, rebel and patriot ..............Adam Barker 17 own struggles. For more information about the publisher of this magazine, H the New Socialist Group, please see the PoLitiCs ANd CUrreNt FRONts of strUGGLe inside back cover. Obama’s victory and race and class in America ................Malik Miah 14 EDITORS the economic crisis and the global south .................... Adam Hanieh 18 Adam Barker David Camfield the durban declaration: examination and critique .......... Saron Ghabrasellasie & Natasha Vally 22 Kole Kilibarda Harold Lavender reflections on the BC treaty process .............................Adam Barker, Sandra Sarner Christine O’Bonsawin & Chiinuuks Ogilvie 24 Deborah Simmons Jewishness, israel and Palestine solidarity ........................... Alan Sears 36 Harsha Walia resource extraction in the maritimes ..Sherry Pictou & Arthur Bull 38 EDITORIAL AssoCiAtes Richard Banner racism in toys and media ................................................ Susan Ferguson 40 Susan Ferguson Morgan MacLeod H moVemeNt BUiLdiNG ANd orGANiZiNG desiGN White privilege in queer organizing ............................... Proma Tagore 27 Cover: Christopher Webb racism and democratic unionism in the U.s. ...................Malik Miah 28 Inside: Sandra Sarner roundtable on migrant justice and self-determination ...................... 30 Signed articles do no necessarily represent the views of the editors or H members of the New Socialist Group. time to organize........................................................................................................ 43 New Socialist is a member of the CMPA. New Socialist magazine welcomes debate. Letters will be printed on our website. We Printed at JT Printing, a union shop. encourage readers to submit articles engaging with the ideas put forth in our pages for publication either in print or on our website. Please send to the address or e-mail address above. Capitalism and Racial Oppression An historical look at what Marxist theory brings to the struggle to end racism by David McNally n the midst of today’s profound economic crisis, ties – in opposition to other groups, all cultural systems other many people on the Left are turning to Marxist political someone or some group. Ieconomy to make sense of events. Yet, while Marxist eco- For radical socialists, of course, such an outlook will not nomic analysis is enjoying something of a renaissance, the do. Committed as we are to a radically emancipatory politics same cannot be said for analyses of racism that work on the – a politics of thoroughgoing liberation from all forms of terrain of Marx’s theory of capitalism. In fact, there is a pow- oppression – the idea that racism will always be with us is erful reluctance in many quarters to seriously explore racism deeply problematic. Furthermore, there is a powerful body of as a phenomenon that is bound up with the class relations evidence to show that modern racism emerged with the rise of capitalism. of capitalism. And, if racism as we know it developed only This reluctance stems from at least two causes. First, over under particular social and historical circumstances, it fol- the years, many Marxists have advanced remarkably crude lows that it can, at least in principle, be eliminated. theories of racism, treating it as largely a reflex of capital- Since this assessment runs against the grain of so much ist economic relations. Race, after all, is a complex phenom- thinking today, it is best that we spend some time making enon with social, cultural and psychological dimensions, not the case. My approach to the issues will be largely histori- merely economic ones. Furthermore, crude Marxist theories cal and will draw on some of the most

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