Obama, Race and Class

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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: ...... Saron Ghabrasellasie & Natasha Vally. 22 Kole Kilibarda examination and critique 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. economyI 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 thoughtful work by have little capacity to account for why so many white work- Marxist theorists and historians addressed to issues of race ing class people participate in rac- and racism. ist practices. Irish, Indians and Origins In addition to this problem, of Racial Oppression there is the fact that, in academic and many activist circles over the n September of 1880, a past 25 years, a variety of “post- writer in the Times of Lon- modern” social theories have donI commented that the larg- held sway. What postmodern ap- est English newspapers “allow proaches share is the idea that no occasion to escape them of language – or “discourse” – drives treating the Irish as an inferior social life, rather than the social race – as a kind of white ne- practices involved in reproducing groes.” This observation ought our material existence. to make us pay close attention Rather than seeing racism as to how race and racism are his- an historical product of specific torically constructed. After all, forms of social life, postmodern the Irish eventually became theory tends to understand it as an white – they were admitted to inherent feature of any and every the ranks of the racially domi- culture. Since, according to many nant group, earlier in America, postmodernists, every language perhaps, than in Britain. But and culture inevitably involves for a long time they were ex- groups of people defining them- plicitly judged to be non-white. selves – constructing their identi- From Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, April 1880, When Britain conquered collection of Maggie Land Blanck: Fuel For The School Ireland in the second half of David McNally is the author of Another Fire, County Mayo. Irish children attended secret the 17th century, Irish Catho- World is Possible: Globalization Hedge schools, often held in caves, barns or behind lics were evicted from their and Anti-Capitalism, and a frequent hedges as the Penal Laws made it illegal for Catholics lands. A series of statutes were contributor to New Socialist. to teach about Irish heritage. passed, known as the Penal

4 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 Laws, that forbade Irish Catholics from voting, sitting in yet map onto the distinction between the free and the unfree. parliament, possessing arms, operating schools, attending The Americas knew both unfree whites and free blacks. But a university or practicing law. A virtual system of apartheid key problem for the colonial elites in the Americas – control was created. Tens of thousands of Irish men were sold by of the labouring class – eventually forced them to choose a British adventurers to foreign armies for use as soldiers, or strategy of racial domination. The result would be new forms as indentured servants to plantation owners in Virginia and of oppression whose wretched effects continue to shape the elsewhere. world in which we live. But English colonizers faced a problem: how could they The Emergence of White Supremacy justify treating fellow Christians this way? They solved this problem with a cunning ideological move, s Theodore W. Allen shows in his major study, The claiming that, because they were not civilized, the Irish could Invention of the White Race, racialized slavery emerged not be Christians. To “prove” the point, a whole series of rac- asA the ruling elite’s solution to disciplining rebellious groups ist stereotypes were constructed depicting the Irish as licen- of white servants, Indians and black slaves that populated the tious, incestuous, and pagan – as savages. In representing the Anglo-American colonies. Irish in these terms, English writers drew freely on Spanish The essential problem for the plantation owners had to do justifications for murder and pillage against native peoples in with the rebellious culture of the lower classes. In Virginia the Americas. in the 1660s, for instance, the mixed “rabble” of the lower classes – “an amalgam of indentured servants and slaves, of Race, Capitalism and Unfree Labour poor whites and blacks, of landless freemen and debtors,” as he Irish experience provides an important con- one historian puts it – regularly resisted the violence and op- firmation of the pioneering argument made by the pression of unfree labour. On occasion, this resistance could TTrinidadian historian Eric Williams in his landmark book, pass over into insurrection as it did most memorably in 1676. Capitalism and Slavery (1944). Arguing that slavery must be Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 was the largest popular up- understood principally as a social-economic institution out heaval in the history of colonial America. Of 15,000 par- of which racism grows, Williams ticipants in the tumultu- wrote: “Slavery in the Caribbean ous events, a majority were has been too narrowly identified A key problem for the colonial elites in bond-labourers – 2,000 Af- with the Negro. A racial twist has the Americas – control of the labouring rican-Americans and 6,000 thereby been given to what is ba- European-Americans. These sically an economic phenomenon. class – eventually forced them to choose a well-armed rebels plundered Slavery was not born of racism; property, demanded freedom racism was born of slavery. Unfree strategy of racial domination. from chattel servitude and labor in the New World was brown, set the capital ablaze. In the white, black and yellow; Catholic, Protestant and pagan.” process, the royal governor and his entourage were sent into Williams’ argument, while one-sided in some respects, hiding. contains a profound truth: that unfree labour in the Americas Determined to eliminate the threat of revolution from was not initially based upon race. At its beginnings, bonded below, the owners devised a new system of social control. labour in the Americas was, as Williams says, “brown, white, Seeking a buffer group from the lower classes that could re- black and yellow.” inforce the established order, they relaxed the servitude of For more than 150 years, over half of the white emigrants white labourers, intensified the bonds of black slavery and to North America came as indentured servants. These la- introduced a new regime of racial oppression. bourers were bound to a master for a defined period of time, From about 1660, a steady stream of legislation sought typically five to seven years. Considered property in law, in- to separate black and white servants and to prevent “mixed” dentured servants were not legal subjects. Their masters had marriages and the procreation of “mixed-race” children – a the right to beat, maim and even kill them. Typically, their crime known as miscegenation. Increasingly, colonial law status did not differ considerably from that of black slaves. imposed lifetime bondage for black servants and their off- They could not marry without permission and they could be spring. (Prior to 1660, many black servants appear not to sold, put up as stakes in bets, inherited, or used to pay debts. have been indentured for life.) Central to this process was For these reasons, Williams claimed that the origin of political disenfranchisement: the denial of the right to vote black slavery “had to do not with the color of the laborer, but which most Anglo-American colonies had previously grant- the cheapness of the labor.” ed to free blacks. At this stage in history, differences in skin colour did not In these ways, a system of white supremacy and black in-

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 5 feriority was constructed in which freedom was increasingly human, could their un-freedom be defended. identified with race, not class. White supremacy was thus As bondage became fixed on Africans in 18th-century meant to give white workers a “racial stake” in the system. America, the concept of race was created. Previously, Euro- And a new mental universe – the ideology of modern racism pean-Americans had not described themselves as white. As – was constructed as an inherent part of this process. a rule, they referred to themselves in terms of nationality – as Englishmen or Spaniards, for example – or with reference to Colonial Capitalism and the Invention of Race religion – as Christians. The appellation white was still quite he claim that modern racism emerged in Anglo- rare. Yet, by the early 18th century, that term was occurring America largely as a strategy for capitalist control of the with some frequency. Tlabouring class is often met with disbelief. After all, preju- And such talk was dressed up with scientific-sounding dices toward outsiders and foreigners have existed through- claims. Methods associated with the natural sciences were out different human societies across many historical periods. distorted to “prove” the inherent differences among various Yet, only in the era of modern capitalism do we get the idea “races” of humans. Anatomical differences and skin colours that there are physically distinct races of humans with radically were now linked to fundamental differences in moral char- different characteristics and attributes. acter. And the rights appropriate to humans were said not to In ancient Greece and Rome, for instance, bondage was apply to the “sub-human” species. not associated with skin colour or physical appearance. Simi- These racist ideas became a centrepiece of the age of em- larly, while both Islamic and Christian societies condoned pire in the 19th and 20th centuries, as European powers slavery, it was not justified on the basis of colour. In fact, conquered huge chunks of the planet and tens of millions of for both cultures, persecuted individuals could lose their people who lived there. oppressed status by religious conversion. Only in the era The Wages of Whiteness of modern capitalism did persecution get accounted for in terms of inherent and unchangeable features – the “race” – of acism is thus a social-historical creation, not a specific group. something eternal. But this powerful insight still begs What was it, then, about the development of capitalism anR important question. After all, racism is not only some- that gave rise to modern racial ideology? thing imposed from above; it is not merely a conspiracy of The key issue here is the contradiction generated by capi- the powerful. It is also a social relation perpetuated in and talist claims for “freedom.” In its through the activities of most inception, capitalism often mo- white people. Racism could not bilized large groups of people to have had its durability unless break down pre-capitalist forms large numbers of working class of power and privilege. After peoples in Europe and North all, the feudal system of politi- America had been invested in cal titles and offices granted by seeing themselves as “white.” monarchs often kept capitalists This dimension of racism, its excluded from the inner circles power of attraction for white of power. workers, was brilliantly ana- To break down their exclu- lyzed by the historian W.E.B. sion from important realms of Du Bois in a famous passage in property and privilege, bour- his book, Black Reconstruction in geois representatives invoked America. Explaining the wide- ideas of freedom and equality. spread racism of poor whites in They opposed hereditary rights, the US South, Du Bois wrote: preferring market power to he- “It must be remembered that reditary power. But if everyone the white group of laborers, is allegedly free and equal, what while they received a low wage, could justify chattel slavery? were compensated in part by a How could some people be de- sort of public and psychological prived of freedom and equality wage. They were given public in a society that claims these deference and courtesy because ideals? Only by arguing that they were white. They were ad- certain groups were not in fact Cane cutters: slaves from Africa in the Caribbean mitted freely with all classes of

6 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 white people to public functions, public parks, and the best were considered unruly, dirty, lazy, rebellious and lascivious. schools. The police were drawn from their ranks . . .” Racism and Internal Repression Du Bois’ notion of public and psychological wages ­– the wages of whiteness, as historian David Roediger puts it – n order for the Irish in 19th-century America to directs our attention to the role of white supremacy in af- claim whiteness and respectability, they were driven to fording exploited white workers a sort of subjective compen- intensifyI the internal psychic repression that is integral to sation for their inferior economic status. Smarting from their industrial capitalism – the subordination of desires for recre- treatment as degraded wage-labourers, white workers are al- ation, drink, festivity, sex and social celebration to employers’ lowed to bask in the significantly better treatment they re- demands for a sober, industrious and disciplined workforce. ceive in public places, before the police and courts, in schools Yet, as invariably happens, severe internal repression involves and job interviews, and as members of the dominant cultural projection. Seeking respectability, the Irish projected onto group. We can see the blacks the very charac- attractions and patholo- teristics they strove to gies of whiteness at work repress in themselves. in the case of the Irish in As Frantz Fanon noted America. about this phobia: “The The millions who left civilized white man re- Ireland for America – tains an irrational long- as indentured servants ing for unusual eras of or economic refugees – sexual license . . . Pro- were not only poor, they jecting his own desires were also members of a onto the Negro, the despised and ostracized white man behaves ‘as group. So oppressed if ’ the Negro really had were the Irish, so ghet- them.” toized into the most Thus, racist psychol- dangerous jobs, that on ogy nurtures powerful average they lived six Illustration of factory scene from early days of industrialization. desires to reclaim the years after their arrival very things – joy, festiv- in America. ity, sexual license – that Furthermore, the Irish had closer personal relations with capitalism and imperialism deny. It seethes with resentment. African-Americans than did any other group at the time. Because whiteness comes at such a great psychological cost, Blacks and Irish often lived together in squalid apartments. it can assume pathological and violent dimensions. And the In cities like New York and Boston into the 1830s, the ma- desires it represses reappear – in racist projections – as larger jority of “mixed” couples involved Irish women and black than life, as monstrously destructive. men. This was the context in which the Irish were often re- At the heart of racism, therefore, is a profound anxiety ferred to as “white negroes,” or “niggers turned inside out.” (often related to sexuality), a fear among whites that they Indeed, some commentators argued that the Irish were part too might be identified as outsiders to civilization – as black. of a “dark” race, one that had probably originated in Africa. Such identifications are allowed small outlets today – in To racists, it made perfect sense to target both blacks and sports and music, for instance – only so that they can be Irish, as rioting whites did in Boston in 1829. more effectively controlled. As racism was reorganized in the middle of the 19th cen- But for anti-racist and socialist movements, understand- tury – a result of the intensification of industrial capitalism ing both the economic and psychological roots of racism in- in the US North – the Irish found that social advancement volves two things. First, it means seeing racism as historically might be possible if they could stake a claim to whiteness created and thus eliminatable. And, second, it means under- and respectability. This was no easy matter. In contrast to standing that we need to organize simultaneously against many other “white” immigrant groups, Irish Catholics had the economic conditions that foster racism and against the not had generations of cultural adjustment to the “Protestant ideologies and practices of white supremacy that distort our work ethic” – the exacting disciplines of industrial labour and humanity and block working class people from discover- the repression of sexuality, recreation and festivity that ac- ing their common interests and their necessary solidarity. It company them. Like others who came from societies that re- means, in short, being unconditionally and simultaneously H tained elements of non-capitalist cultural life, Irish Catholics anti-racist and anti-capitalist.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 7 Scapegoating: Blaming a group for a Anti-Racism Glossary problem to deflect attention from the cause. Commonsense racism: Term used by The following is abridged from a longer glossary by Heidi Mehta. Himani Bannerji that describes “normalized” racism. The exclusion of migrant live-in Colonialism: Foreign occupation and conditions, rather than biology. Laws caregivers from the Labour Standards Act, domination of indigenous peoples and their distinguished Irish servants from black slaves for example, is used to justify their second- resources. Canada is a colonial country in to divide people by race so that they would class status. which racism has been used to justify theft not align themselves in class solidarity. Internalized racism: The violence of native land. Systemic racism: Institutional practices of oppression is that it replicates within Multiculturalism: Should mean that that directly or indirectly maintain white oppressed people, thus the global popularity all cultures co-exist but it is an ideology dominance, a historical example of which is of light-skinned Bollywood actors. devoid of an analysis of power. Canada the Chinese Head Tax. Reverse racism: Term devoid of an is portrayed as a tolerant, multicultural Racial stereotyping: Negative analysis of power used to undermine anti- society, but excludes racialized communities categorizations about disempowered groups, racism initiatives. Teaching black history, for from the national narrative and was built by such as security guards that harass non- example, is not reverse racism since white an exploited, racialized labour force. white youth because they are all seen as history dominates the history taught in Race: Socially constructed grouping of troublemakers. schools. people, based on political and economic Tokenism: False inclusion without status without biological basis. For example, challenging power or changing root under South Africa’s apartheid laws, the practices. For example, in a union, people Japanese were considered “Black” until they of colour may be portrayed on publicity, became economically powerful and were yet only white people may be hired as considered “White.” organizers. White privilege/white supremacy: Cultural appropriation: Selectively Historically- based, institutionally taking parts of a culture for use or profit, perpetuated system of advantage into such as the recent bindi fashion fad that which people are born based on having appropriates South Asian culture and voids white skin. For example, the reasonable it of cultural significance. accommodation debate in Quebec is white supremacist, as it is based on the People of colour: Although assumption that white people are the homogenizing, it is a term for non-white standard to which all cultures must people united by a common experience of assimilate. Prejudice: Bias based on stereotypes. The racism. judge who convicted Mumia Abu-Jamal was Racism: A system of economic, social, Ability to appear as a member known to be prejudiced against black people, Passing: political and cultural oppression based on of the dominant group. For example light- for example. race. It includes attitudes and actions that skinned people may, sometimes, be accepted disadvantage people of colour, regardless of Discrimination: Practice of exclusion in the dominant white society. intent, due to the power imbalance inherent based on prejudice, such as refusing to hire a Ally: Person who actively challenges their to systems of oppression. worker wearing a hijab. privilege to end oppression. White people Racialization: Process whereby groups Xenophobia: Fear of certain racialized must work in solidarity with people of are given racial markings depending on groups; attempts to ban the kirpan, for colour as anti-racist allies. changing socio-political and economic example, are rooted in xenophobia. Intersecting oppressions: Dynamic Heidi Mehta is a Montreal-based activist and community organizer with over 15 years of local and of living multiple oppressions, for example international experience, including involvement in the Toronto New Socialists. She currently works at an out lesbian of colour may face choosing the Montreal Assault Prevention Centre and is on the board of the South Asian Women’s Community between culture and community when Centre. She also does anti-oppression workshops, training, and consulting. She has been greatly seeking support. H influenced by the works of Frantz Fanon and Himani Bannerji.

8 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 Slavery, settlement and rebellion How race was made in British North America by Dave Roediger www . newton . k 12. ma .u s / bigelow/ classroom / moore harlem early a century ago, US civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois captured how uneasily modern racism sits within the longer run of world history. “The dis- Ncovery of personal whiteness among the world’s peoples,” he wrote, “is a very mod- ern thing.” Du Bois continued by adding, “The ancient world would have laughed at such a distinction,” and by further noting that, in the Middle Ages, skin colour would have provoked nothing more than “mild curiosity.” Du Bois was, character- istically, right. As late as the beginning of the 17th century, even male western Eu- ropean elites – those whose enterprises would create race in the modern sense – did not see themselves as physically white, and were still further from imagining that the word “white” had uses as a noun.

Insofar as Du Bois gives clues as to how that anti-Semitism, anti-Islamic crusad- he dated the transition to modern racism ing and the conquest of Ireland created in what would become the US, his math “others” against whom a “Christian Eu- takes us back to the series of rebellions rope” and its various empires could begin in mid- and late-17th century Virginia. to fashion themselves, personal whiteness Recent historians agree, identifying the would have to await the slave trade and W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963): “The central such conflict, Bacon’s Rebellion of the settler-colonial conquest of indig- discovery of personal whiteness among 1676, as a turning point. It marked the enous peoples in the Americas. The no- the world’s peoples is a very modern start of an increased importing of Afri- tion that one could own a skin colour thing.” can slaves as well as the creation of racial – what the legal scholar Cheryl Harris division as a strategy of class rule pursued calls “whiteness as property” – came into of social control to the loyalty of poor by elites who were shaken by the 1676 being alongside the reality that, increas- whites, took time to develop. So did, in demands of European and African rebels. ingly, only peoples who were defined by their modern senses, the very categories This brief article tells such a story of their colour could be owned and sold as of black and white. the origins of race but complicates it by slaves. It matured alongside the equally Written mainly in the shadow of an emphasizing that settler colonialism en- brutal notion that land on which the sud- anti-Nazi war and during the modern sured that white supremacy developed denly “nonwhite” peoples lived would be civil rights movement, the historical lit- by identifying American Indians as well better managed by “white” people. erature on the turn from indentured ser- as African slaves as racial outsiders and vitude of Europeans and Africans to the Challenging Assumptions victims. Indeed even the interracial rebels slavery of the latter group as a basis for joining Bacon saw settler colonialism as Reflecting both the gains of the civil plantation agriculture in North America part of the solution to their class prob- rights movement, and that movement’s has carried the political point that racism lems. need for hopeful lessons from history, is anything but natural. Nor was the idea Earlier Europeans did at times note post-World War 2 historians saw a 17th of “race” separable from the actual social differences between their skin colours century colonial world in which “race practices of white supremacy contained and those of non-Europeans, but the relations” were less than hierarchical in plantation slavery and the disposses- idea of “personal whiteness” – something and fixed. At their best, these accounts sion of the Indians. The historical litera- that could be owned as an asset and as joined Du Bois in challenging assump- ture on the rise of race in colonial Virgin- an identity – was surely a “very modern tions about the existence of race relations ia uproots the reactionary common sense thing.” Though influenced by the ways throughout much of human history. Es- idea that races exist outside of historical pecially in studying early Virginia, his- circumstances. It locates the rise of per- Dave Roediger teaches history at the University torians showed that the bloody logic of sonal whiteness squarely in the material of Illinois and is the author of How Race premising a system of production on the realities of class division and class rule. Survived US History. sweat of slaves, and anchoring a system What happened in Virginia shows

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 9 that white supremacy did not arise Although, as Edmund Morgan as a result of agitation, or even senti- argues, labourers in early colonial ment, among poor whites desiring to Virginia were brutally exploited – on preserve and extend social distance the rationale that they were “selected between themselves and Africans. for that purpose” from among those Rather than being an expression of deemed “useless” in Europe – many white unity and common interest, the of them refused to live within such turn to racial slavery was a response limits. They resisted servitude and to sharp class divisions among settlers came to regard grueling work in the and sought to create an ersatz unity colonies as a prelude to, and a claim among whites, by creating “white” it- on, future landowning prosperity. As self as a social and legal category. a result, in the two decades from the As the early centre of African slav- 1661 Servants’ Plot – when inden- y forkids . org ery in British North America and the tured servants rose up in a rebellion cradle of revolutionary leaders and over inadequate food rations – to the . histor presidents, Virginia has been the fo- tobacco riots of 1682 – when cutters

cus for those wanting to understand www and pluckers destroyed their crops how a social system could suddenly Virginia was the early centre of African slavery and those of neighbors to protest be built around the idea of “white- in British North America. overproduction – at least 10 popular ness.” Detailed accounts of the early revolts shook Virginia. Like everyday history of the colony by such leading century of Virginian settler colonialism, life expec- life among the poor, insurrections scholars as Edmund Morgan and tancy was so dire, and female servants were so few, brought together Africans and Eu- Oscar Handlin show that there ex- that in many cases there was little practical point ropeans. isted at the outset only vague distinc- in insisting that Africans and their descendants be Bacon’s Rebellion tions between black and white, and enslaved for life. Moreover, Africans constituted between servant and slave. Though relatively few of the colony’s workers. As the col- The most spectacular example of Virginia was anything but egalitar- ony matured, however, life expectancy grew longer revolt, Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676, ian in its treatment of the Indians and child mortality diminished, and attempts to took Virginia to the brink of civil and in its labour policies, it neverthe- define Africans and their children as slaves for life war. Broadly arising from the desire less connected the concepts of slav- increased. This development coincided with the for good land among European and ery and race only gradually. Its early increasing determination in Europe that enslave- African servants and ex-servants, African labourers sometimes worked ment of Europeans ought not to occur while Af- the rebellion also had anti-Indian for a term of service alongside simi- rican slavery could. However, in the colonies, the dimensions, demanding and imple- larly indentured Europeans. Black situation remained fluid a half-century after the menting aggressive policies to speed and white indentured servants shared first permanent Virginia settlement. Patterns of settlement onto indigenous lands. alcohol, death, escapes, sex, and mar- sociability, love and resistance continued to bring Bondservants, joined by those who riage across the “colour line” or rather together Africans and Europeans. Some Africans had recently served out their time, before it. The gendered dimensions acquired land and, along with it, the confidence to were united under the leadership of of this history are brilliantly charted insist on their rights, including the right to com- the young English lawyer and venture by Jennifer Morgan, Kathleen Brown mand the labour of others. Race, as a series of capitalist Nathaniel Bacon. The rebels and others. post-1660 rebellions would show, had little firm lay siege to the capital in Jamestown, Indeed during the first quarter- meaning in such a land of flux, force and death. burned it, drove Governor William

Coming Soon: NS66 Radical Responses to the Crisis Resources for Resistance

The current economic crisis is rapidly changing the political map. It has shaken the confidence of CEOs, presidents and prime ministers in their stock neo-liberal responses. At the same time, it has created huge challenges for activists in unions and movements faced with major attacks on trade union and immigrant rights. This issue will look at the causes of the economic crisis, its political consequences and the challenges for rebuilding the Left in these circumstances.

10 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 Berkeley into exile and sustained an numbered Europeans held for a term in Virginia, “with ease beene destroyed.” Linking insurrection for months. Authorities South Carolina, and Maryland. By systematizing the liberty of the people to Indian re- offered freedom “from their slavery” distinctions between Europeans and Africans, the moval, Bacon’s Rebellion was an in- to “Negroes and servants” who would ruling elite secured their control and, in the pro- terracial movement of the European come over into opposition to the re- cess, created race in its modern sense. and African poor, but it was never bellion. Rebels meanwhile feared that The grandeur and compelling political force of only that. Especially in its early stag- they would all be made into “slaves, such a narration of the origins of race has tended es, in the winter and spring of 1675 man, woman & child.” Both the to elbow out of the picture the complicating fact and 1676, class-based anti-colonial promise of liberation and the lan- that settlers also fashioned themselves as “white” resistance was mobilized around de- guage registering fear of retribution out of the process of confronting and dispossessing mands for a more thoroughly geno- suggest how imperfectly class predic- those whom the British would eventually call “red cidal anti-Indian policy. Rebel leaders aments aligned with any firm sense of Indians.” But the skins and values of African and were less willing than colonial offi- racial division. European labourers’ bodies cannot be the whole cials to countenance even temporary story of the sudden, durable rise of race-thinking alliances with peaceful tribes, and Widening Oppressions in British North America. Including Indian “oth- more willing to regard obscure local In coming years, elites in England ers” in the story of the emergence of personal disputes as a cause to destroy whole and Virginia responded to threats of whiteness forces us to see the powerful and lasting peoples. rebellion by committing to a system ways in which white supremacy transformed set- Not Simply Interracial in which much more of the colony’s tlers’ identities by attaching itself to freedom and work fell to slave labour. and, sig- to ideas about gender – even in colonies without Yet Bacon’s Rebellion’s anti-In- nificantly, by widening differences significant commitments to slave-based econo- dian character has been somewhat between the oppression of African mies. The logic of dispossession created changes in eclipsed by accounts that take un- and European labourers. With the how “whites” thought of themselves, their house- derstandable but potentially exces- reorganization of the Royal African holds and their lands, as well as how they thought sive inspiration from a desire to see Company in 1685, and with impe- of those removed from the land. his rebellion as simply “interracial.” rial authorities smiling on “a trade Further attention to Bacon’s Rebellion offers an These readings often separate his ini- so beneficial to the Kingdom,” slave opportunity to see the ways in which the gendered tial activities, centring on anti-Indian trading became a lynchpin of impe- invention of the white race took shape around adventures, from his nobler focus on rial policy in North America. The settler colonialism as well as slavery. Bacon’s July, a mobilization of the poor for civil turn to a labour force defined by racial 1676 “Declaration in the Name of the People” war, if not social revolution, later in slavery happened with startling speed denounced Virginia’s Governor Berkeley for hav- 1676 [he died in October of that in the late 1600s. By 1709 Africans in ing failed to move decisively against the Native year]. But his commitment to the ex- slavery for life overwhelmingly out- Americans, “barbarous heathen” who might have termination of Native Americans, the “barbarous heathen,” cannot easily be waved aside, as it positioned him to lead a movement of white indentured servants who, having worked their time, harbored dreams of freedom centred on gaining possession of va- cated land. White supremacy thus situated it- self at some times in opposition to a “red” other and at others to a “black” one. It came as part of – and justifica- tion for – both settler colonialism and slavery. As such, like the expanded capitalist productive relations whose rise it fuelled and mirrored, it came into the world “dripping in blood,” to borrow Marx’s great phrase. Mani- festly irrational, white supremacy also possessed ruthless logics born of its encarta turns towards slavery and settlement. H Painting depicts Bacon’s Rebellion: artist unknown. We live with those logics.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 11 Canada: A Racist History by Harold Lavender

anadian racism has its roots in white settler colonialism. Many settlers historicallyC viewed Canada as a white na- tion and society, ignoring the pre-existing indigenous populations. Successive waves of immigrants settled the land. Asian im- migrants settled primarily in BC while Classroom in an blacks settled mainly in the East. They Indian residential endured a bitter history of racism. school: First In 1907, future-Prime Minister Mack- opened in 1869, enzie King wrote, “It is desirable, natu- the last of these ral and necessary that Canada remains a white man’s country.” Immigration poli- racist institutions cies either severely limited or banned im- did not close migration of non-white groups, ensuring until 1984. that immigrants would overwhelming be of white European origin. By the 1850s, the aim was to gradu- recognized authorities were the imposed In 1950, Canada’s population was 98 ally civilize the “Indians” and extinguish Band Councils. percent white. Large-scale non-white their separate identity as a people. This The Act defined who was an Indian immigration began after 1967, when policy would be become fully institution- (Indigenous women and their descen- changes in immigration policy intro- alized after Confederation. In 1867, the dents who married white men automati- duced the current points system. Today, new Dominion of Canada engaged in a cally lost status). Indigenous ceremonies the population in the Canadian state is nation-building process that included ag- and cultural traditions such as the pot- 80 per cent white and 20 percent “visible gressive settlement of the newly acquired latch became illegal. Indigenous groups minorities” and “aboriginals.” West and the construction of a transcon- were forbidden to raise funds to defend tinental railway. The RCMP was formed their rights. Aboriginal people required a Colonization and Racism to police the northwest in 1872. pass to travel off reserves. European colonial empires (and what Conflict with Métis and indigenous Non-indigenous people were permit- became the US) vied for control of the peoples increased. The most important ted to develop resources on reserves. The land. Indigenous nations were variously act of resistance was the 1885 Riel rebel- government was supposed to put the allies and enemies in colonial wars. lion, which was crushed by large-scale money acquired into a trust fund, but in Mercantile capitalists sought to ob- military force. The Métis leader Louis 1927 this $72 million fund was liquidated tain furs from indigenous people to make Riel and eight Cree people were hanged, into general revenues for social programs. profits. Missionaries sought to civilize while 30 others received long prison sen- The main instrument of cultural the Indians and steal their souls. The tences. genocide was the government-funded, pre-contact population collapsed due to Treaties were made under which the religious-run residential schools, first diseases introduced from Europe, such indigenous population was confined opened in 1869. An amendment to the as smallpox, and other consequences of to small land reserves that did not cor- Indian Act allowed the government to colonization. respond to traditional tribal territories. forcibly remove indigenous children from Britain’s 1763 Royal Proclamation The large majority of BC has never been their parents and place them in residen- sought to regulate relations with native ceded and is in effect stolen native land. tial schools where a central goal was to nations. A process of consent was re- The 1876 Indian Act (and subsequent kill the Indian in the child. quired prior to settlement: “without treaty amendments) imposed a comprehensive Over 100,000 children passed through or purchase the Crown has no jurisdiction system of racism. Power rested in the the system before the last school closed. over Aboriginal people on their lands.” newly created Department of Indian Children who spoke their own language Affairs. Traditional indigenous forms of or engaged in traditional practices were Harold Lavender is an editor of New Socialist. self-government were outlawed. The only severely punished. There was severe

12 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 physical and emotional abuse and sexual Court of Canada ruled segregation was sions of the War Measures Act, 23,000 abuse in the schools. legally enforceable. Japanese Canadians were rounded up, The schools were grossly underfunded, New black immigration to Canada removed from the Pacific Coast and de- overcrowded and unsanitary. Nutrition was highly discouraged. A 1910 Order- tained in internment camps until 1947. was very poor, contributing to exception- in-Council allowed the government to Their property was confiscated and sold. ally high mortality rates and to the spread refuse landing rights to any “Negro per- Only after a very lengthy community of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. son deemed unsuitable to the climate and campaign was an apology and compensa- The most draconian and discrimina- conditions of Canada.” tion granted in the late 1980s. tory measures in the Indian Act gradu- Chinese people first came to Canada Full rights as citizens were granted to ally became unacceptable, especially after with the BC gold rush. In 1875, Chinese Asian Canadians in the post-war era. World War II, and were repealed over migrants were forced to pay a head tax to The 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights of- time. Indians on reserves won the vote in enter Canada. In the early 1880s, Chinese fered equality protection for all citizens, 1960. workers were imported to build the BC and the Charter of Rights of Freedoms In a 1969 white paper, then-Prime section of the CPR. They did the hard- formally prohibited racial discrimination Minister Pierre Trudeau and Indian Af- est and most dangerous tasks (with high in 1982. fairs minister Jean Chrétien proposed to rates of mortality), and were paid as little Post-1967 immigration policy does abolish the Indian Act. But they refused as half the wages of white workers. They not formally discriminate on the basis of to recognize any special status or indig- were barred from voting and government race, but is heavily tailored to the needs enous rights. Aboriginal organizations employment and from many professions. of the capitalist labour market. However, protested and blocked the changes, and many third-world migrants lack the req- later ensured that aboriginal rights sec- Post-1967 immigration policy uisite skills, education and knowledge of tions of the 1867 British North Act were English or French to gain entry under included in the repatriated Canadian does not formally discriminate the points system. Constitution. on the basis of race, but is There is now a fundamental distinc- Since then, court decisions have par- tion between citizens who have rights tially recognized and extended aboriginal heavily tailored to the needs of and non-status migrants and temporary rights. Government policy has centred the capitalist labour market. workers who don’t. Programs allow tem- on treaty negotiations, prioritizing ar- porary residence for domestic workers eas of resource development. The goal of The Anti-Asiatic exclusion league was (often trained professionals), initially federal (and BC) treaty negotiators is to formed in 1907 as a mass-based cross- from the Caribbean, and under the cur- extinguish aboriginal title and make ab- class movement. That year, a parade (of rent live-in caregiver program from the original government similar to municipal up to 30,000) turned into a race riot, Philippines. The seasonal agricultural governments, subject to both provincial causing widespread damage in the Chi- worker program brings in workers from and federal authority. nese and Japanese communities. Mexico and recently other Latin Ameri- The Canadian government categorical- The 1908 Continuous Passage Act re- can countries. ly rejects the right to self-determination, quired all immigrants to arrive in Canada In the globalized economy, migration including full sovereignty for indigenous via a continuous journey from their point has greatly increased while borders have nations. Defenders of the land who re- of origin. In 1914, the Komagatu Maru, hardened, leading to a large influx of sist corporate capitalist and government carrying 376 South Asian passengers, non-status super-exploited migrants. A incursions on their land continue to be was prevented from landing in Vancouver new wave of racism targeting Arabs and repressed. and left after a month’s privation. From Muslims has launched under the name of 1914 to 1920, only one Indian was able the “War on Terror.” Racism Against People of Colour to immigrate legally to Canada. Racialized communities will continue Slavery in New France (which held Anti-semitism was also widespread in to suffer from wide-ranging social and 1,500 slaves at the time of British con- Canada, especially between the world economic injustices, racist policing and H quest) was not abolished until early in wars. A 1938 memo from government racial profiling. the nineteenth century. In the 1850s, in officials reveals that they did not wish to a brief moment of freedom, Harriet Tub- take in any of the Jewish refugees flee- The factual material for this history was man’s Undeground Railway led almost ing Nazi persecution although they did primarily drawn from the following, which 1,000 escaped slaves to refuge in Canada. not want to say this publicly. As a result, go into far greater detail: noii-van.re- But instead of freedom, black communi- Canada took fewer Jewish refugees than sist.ca/?page_id=94; vsw.ca/Documents/ ties in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia any other western government. RRTimelineJune1thFINAL.pdf. The gener- were subject to segregation and discrimi- Japanese immigration was limited but alizations, interpretations and formulation nation. As late as 1939, the Supreme never banned. In 1942, under provi- are my own. HL

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 13 Barack Obama’s Victory What it means for race and class in America by Malik Miah

here was euphoria in every black community household November 4.T High fives and tears of joy. No one could believe it. It didn’t matter Barack Obama’s politics. A black man had won! The election of the first black president of the United States has a dual meaning: social and political. Not just African-Americans cheered: The crowd at Chicago’s Grant Park was multiethnic – whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians, all together. Obama’s victory was overwhelming (two to one in the Elec- toral College) with more than seven mil- lion votes over his Republican challenger. On January 20, the day Obama was sworn in as president, some two or three million or more people were expected in Washington, D.C. Every black person would like to be present. Fae Robinson from State College, Pennsylvania, who b y milo hess photo villager attended the famous 1963 March on New Yorkers in Foley Square Washington where Martin Luther King, celebrate Obama’s inauguration. Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, put it on the night of Obama’s victory: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the great “I told everybody, ‘I’m going.’ I don’t liberal, however, never invited an Africa- have to have a ticket. I just want to be American to stay the night. somewhere close. I have to be there. Just Presidents Kennedy and Johnson at to be there is going to be overwhelming.” the height of the civil rights battles never The social meaning is obvious. When dared invite Martin Luther King Jr., or Barack and Michelle Obama and their other civil rights figures, to sleep as guests two girls walked into the White House at the White House. These ”friends of on January 20, it marked an event that slavery. civil rights” clearly didn’t want to cross few if any black Americans of the civil Frederick Douglass, the 19th Cen- their Dixiecrats in the South and bigots rights era thought possible. tury black abolitionist, visited President in the North. Guests at the White House Abraham Lincoln three times at the Amazingly it was President Rich- White House. Yet he was never invited ard Nixon in 1973 who invited the first The White House was built by black in to sleep as a guest. After Lincoln’s sec- African-American guests, Sammy Da- men and women (most were slaves). They ond inauguration and an open house to vis Jr. and his wife, to sleep in the White were invisible to the founding fathers, the public, Douglass was turned away at House. (Davis turned down the Lincoln even those who professed opposition to the door because of a standing order that room out of respect of the “Great Eman- blacks were not allowed to enter for the cipator.”) Malik Miah is a 20-year mechanic at United celebration. So it is not surprising that most Amer- Airlines in San Francisco and an editor of the Detroit-based magazine Against the Current In the 1930s when first lady Eleanor icans, including socialists, prior to the (ATC) where he writes a column on “Race and Roosevelt invited black guests to the victory of the civil rights movement, did Class.” This article is reprinted from ATC 138, White House, which she did often, the not believe it possible that a black man January-February 2009. press sharply criticized her. President could ever be elected president. It was a

14 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 common view before the overthrow in and of itself is powerful, because of Jim Crow that the end of legal of the country’s racist history. It is segregation would take a violent that symbolism that every African- confrontation with, if not the over- American understands, including throw of, the government. many of those on the right. It is also The dirty pact between the slave- that symbolism that inspires the op- holders and manufacturing capital- pressed in every imperialist country ists at the founding of the United – from London, Paris, Frankfurt to States (to delay an immediate break- Sydney and Tokyo. up of the new country) created a The question is: what follows? defective Republic. Slavery was not Blacks will give Obama a long mentioned in the US Constitution. honeymoon. They have high hopes Black people were not part of “we that he will bring real change, but the people” much less citizens in the there are few illusions. Blacks con- Declaration of Independence or the tinue to suffer twice the unemploy- Constitution. ment rates as whites. Blacks have the Karl Marx wrote later that the worse housing and schools. More seeds of the civil war were planted young black men are in prison than at the founding of the United States. in college. There is institutional dis- Marxists supported the capitalist crimination on every level of society. North in that war with arms in hand But even if Obama in the White Malcolm X argued that full black equality is to defeat the slaveholders, although impossible under the monopoly of the twin House doesn’t do much for the black some socialists of the day believed parties of capitalism. community directly, it means some- that a war between opposing prop- thing to have a black family running erty owners was not “our” war. the place. Similar debates occurred dur- rights revolution. This is the historical context of Beyond Race? ing the fight for equality after the Obama’s election victory. For the black commu- rise of Jim Crow segregation. Since nity it is not about Democrat versus Republican, What does Obama’s election tells full equality was not possible under lesser evilism or anything else. (Even the first black us about race and a “post-racial” capitalism, should the focus be on woman Republican Secretary of State, Condoleez- America? “working-class unity” and not tak- za Rice, choked up the day after Obama’s win). Race does matter but it is not what ing on racist views of white workers? For most African-Americans, including myself, it was even 20 years ago. Socialists understood that the fight Obama’s election is first and foremost an unprec- I grew up in Detroit in the 1960s for equality even led by liberals was edented victory – a blow against 400 years of black in a segregated environment. By the a battle that they had to be in and slavery, legal segregation and institutional racism. 1980s with years of white flight, De- actively support. I watched the returns on November 4 with simi- troit became a basically black city. When blacks finally won the vote lar emotions that other blacks expressed in rural The suburbs are where most white and could be elected to public office, towns and major cities. I knew history was being auto workers live. The term “Reagan supporters of independent politics, made and cheered Obama’s win being announced Democrats” applied to these workers, including socialists, supported many as the California polls closed. who didn’t like the changes brought of those campaigns even though we Did this mean I think Obama is the answer to by the civil rights movement. They knew their election to office would racism and black self-determination? No. Blacks felt that blacks had gained privileges not end racism. The issue was the are realists about what his victory represents. they did not have. democratic right to hold any public I know, as many others know, that Obama’s Before the election the media fo- office, which both major parties had party represents everything I oppose. I agree with cused on these white workers identi- prevented up to the adoption of the Malcolm X (assassinated in 1965) who said that fied as “bigoted” and unable to vote 1964-5 Civil and Voting Rights Acts. the road to full black equality is impossible un- for a black man to be president. The der the monopoly of the twin parties of capitalism. Republicans believed it and ran bla- Context and Symbolic Significance Malcolm, however, understood the power of the tantly racist ads in areas like Ma- In view of that history, the No- mass civil rights movement and preached the need comb County, which is near Detroit. vember 4 election of an African- for black unity, self-reliance, alliances and black It had worked for over 20 years. American father (a bi-racial black power. It didn’t work this time. Stanley man) as president marks the high- Obama’s victory, more than symbolic, repre- Greenberg, a Democratic pollster, est electoral point of the post-civil sents a change in attitudes. But the symbolism wrote in the New York Times, “Be-

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 15 fore the Democratic convention, programs like affirmative action, but nearly 40 percent of Macomb Coun- It is wrong to think Obama’s advances in social and political con- ty voters were ‘comfortable’ with the election means the country has sciousness — the heightened self- idea of Mr. Obama as president, far gone “beyond race.” confidence over time will expand below the number who were com- throughout the black and minority fortable with a nameless Democrat. populations. It is widely reported But on Election Day, nearly 60 per- The same has occurred when anti-immigrant that non-white ethnic minorities as cent said they were ‘comfortable’ demagogy was used to confuse many working a whole will become a majority of with Mr. Obama. About the same people and led them to vote against their own self- the population by 2050. number said Mr. Obama ‘shares your interests. Republicans won many elections in the Until the victory of the civil rights values’ and ‘has what it takes to be past by convincing white workers that their loss revolution and the gains won after- president.’” of jobs and opportunities was because of “special wards, it was common to believe in From 1972-1988, the Demo- rights” supposedly granted to blacks. “two Americas” – black and white. cratic presidential candidates run- The change of attitudes on race are particular- While that is still broadly true, it is ning in Oakland County (also next ly seen among the younger generations — those more accurate to say that the class door to Detroit), lost the election by born after the victory of the civil rights movement. disparities – the divide between cap- 20 points. In 2008 Obama won the In general they (all races) are less racist than their ital and labour – will become more county by 57 to 42 percent. parents’ and grandparents’ generations. pronounced as the minorities in the The economy clearly trumped race Yet it is wrong to think Obama’s election means middle and upper classes gain more and racism. But more than that, race the country has gone “beyond race.” We aren’t in prominence and power. baiting failed because many of these a post-racial “colour blind” country. Racism and Race will still play a unique role workers have children who sup- bigotry, and institutional racism, still exist. What within both capital and labour. ported a black man and told their Obama’s win does is encourage all minorities in What’s new is that the rising mi- parents so. Even in southern states whatever fields they pursue to believe more is pos- nority upper class will be more in- Obama lost, he did better than most sible. tegrated into the corporate, political expected. He won North Carolina, There is a psychological change in the popula- and government/state structures. Virginia (home of the old Confed- tion that can’t be fully quantified. But it is genuine. The class dynamics, in this evolving eracy) and Florida. Unless there is a legal (and likely violent) reversal social context, will become sharper within these oppressed communi- Reverse Bradley Effect of these gains – and I’m not talking only about ties. Not to recognize the evolution of It is not that any black man or attitudes since the 1960s is to deny woman (or of any ethnic group) can reality. While gains in affirmative do what Obama did as a standard action have been pushed back and bearer for a major party. The first many positive programs that helped time, however, is why the success blacks and other minorities no lon- of the rising black privileged class ger exist, the number of minorities in is seen as a positive model to the

elected office is the highest ever. The y P rojects black community. But that example number of black executives and size can’t resolve issues of discrimina- of the black middle class is unprec- tion in jobs, housing and education edented. equality. The “Bradley effect” (whites and On the one hand, the great excite- others saying they would vote for a ment of the “first-time” election of black in public then deciding not to) a black president – this unique mo- was a negligible factor in the elec- and C ivil R ights H istor ment – changes all discussions of tion. In fact I now believe a reverse race. On the other, it means that the Bradley effect occurred when many democratic socialist vision of how to demonstrably voted for Obama to permanently end racism and con- make a point against bigotry. front the broad crisis of capitalism While some may dismiss these can get a broader hearing. societal changes in racial attitudes as The debates and discussions about

simply a reflection of economic in- L abor N orthwest acific race and class going forward will P security, in previous hard economic surely be more complex and pro- H times playing the race card worked. 1960s civil rights march in Seattle, Washington. found than any we’ve seen to date.

16 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 Hero and Martyr, Rebel and Patriot Manipulating the meaning of Louis Riel

conflict. The textbooks do not cover the by Adam Barker rampant anti-Métis and anti-mixed blood ouis Riel Jr., the “founding father” of sentiment of the second half of the 1800s. Lthe province of Manitoba, an iconic Few know that, long before he became figure to the Métis, and a symbol of the leader of a rebellion, a Member of francophone nationalism, was never in Parliament and self-proclaimed prophet, control of his own legacy. Riel defied Louis Riel was denied a marriage because the conventions of his day by refusing the parents of his bride-to-be objected to contribute to burgeoning Canadian to her marrying a Métis. Just as few nationalism. He would not be part of a know that the man who would become state that defined itself by oppressing the rebel leader was an intelligent and those deemed undesirable and rewarding accomplished student, a former law those who conformed. Riel embraced clerk and an independent-minded man his indigenous ethnicity and his peoples’ who wrote poetry as he worked his way unique language and heritages. He from Quebec to Chicago to St. Paul and, demanded respect and autonomy to eventually, home to the Red River. the point of leading two short-lived Perhaps most importantly, few know rebellions against the state. that it was not Riel and Métis who Yet Riel’s legacy was never his own sparked the conflicts between the Métis to make. Instead, his words and actions and Canada. It was the Canadian state have been twisted and reinterpreted to policy of frontier expansion which justify Canadian imperial aggression and steered many settlers to the Red River, encouraging white, anglophone, Protestant domination, both before and long after Riel’s Turtle Island lived under the official authority settlers to flood the Métis camps and death. In his day, Louis Riel was considered of the Hudson Bay Company’s proto- villages. These invaders were motivated everything from a criminal to a madman, government of Rupert’s Land, later to be the by eastern authorities, anxious to gain a despite the very different perceptions of North West Territories. At the time, Riel’s foothold that would justify the transfer him held by the Québécois, the Cree and people, the Métis, were a social and cultural of authority for Rupert’s Land from the other indigenous peoples, and especially by mix of a number of indigenous peoples, Hudson’s Bay Company to the new Canadian the Métis of the Red River Valley. And, as including Cree and Anishiinabeg, as well as state. It was this act of colonization – and an time has passed and Canada has become a French- and Scottish-descent Europeans. act of war, if the Métis had been considered bastion of expansive liberalism, Riel’s image They spoke – and still speak – their a nation on par with Western nations – that has been “rehabilitated” to that of a hero – own language, and formed self-governing sparked the famous Red River Rebellion. Riel but a state-sanctioned hero. This flies in the communities of traders, guides, farmers, was thus thrust to centre-stage in Canadian face of his significance to those outside of hunters and craftspeople on the “frontier” politics and history, culminating in his exile the Canadian Anglo-white majority. – what would later become Manitoba and to America and the farce of his repeated The story of the two open conflicts Saskatchewan. The Métis, as a growing social elections to a Parliamentary seat that he between the Métis and indigenous nations and political force in the unstable frontier, could scarcely occupy. of the eastern plains, and the authorities of were almost destined to rub up against the Many things can be said of Riel in the final the young Canadian state, are a well-known new Canadian government under its first analysis. He suffered from mental illnesses, staple of the Canadian narrative. They even Prime Minister, the hard-drinking, hard- including depression, following the Red River warrant a Heritage Moment TV clip. Riel, a nosed, Anglo-supremacist, John A. Macdonald. Rebellion which forced him to flee to New charismatic figure and exceptional motivator Of course, every child learns about “the York. He became increasingly influenced by and organizer, came of age in a time when Red River Rebellion” in school, usually Catholic Church officials, specifically those large numbers of people in the north of tied to the story of the creation of the in Quebec who had vocally supported this heroic North West Mounted Police –­ the French-speaking man against the ambitions forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Adam Barker is a settler Canadian in Coast of “English” men from Upper Canada. He Police – and the first paramilitary force Salish territory, working on issues of identity and spent years composing theological texts power in politics and social organizing. He is a deployed to the North West Territories. guest editor for this issue of New Socialist. Few, though, understand the context of the See Riel: Page 21

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 17 The Economic Crisis and the Global South Making the world’s poor pay by Adam Hanieh

he current global economic crisis has all the World Trade Drops Tearmarks of an epoch-defining event. Mainstream econo- mists – not usually known for their exaggerated language his crisis hits a world economy that, for the – now openly employ phrases like “systemic meltdown” and firstT time in history, is truly global. Of course, exports “peering into the abyss.” On October 29, 2008, for example, and the control of raw materials have always been impor- Martin Wolf, one of the top financial commentators of the tant to capitalism. But up until the 1970s, most capitalist Financial Times, warned production was organized that the crisis portends nationally. Throughout “mass bankruptcy,” “soar- the 1980s and 1990s, both ing unemployment” and a production and consump- “catastrophe” that threatens tion began to be organized “the legitimacy of the open on an international scale. market economy itself … Today, all markets are the danger remains huge dominated by a handful of and time is short.” large companies operating There is little doubt that internationally through this crisis is already having interconnected chains of a devastating impact on production, sub-contract- heavily-indebted Ameri- ing and marketing. Almost can households. But one every product we consume of the striking character- has involved the labour of istics of analysis to date – thousands of people scat- by both the Left and the tered across the globe – in mainstream media – is the the production of raw ma- almost exclusive focus on terial inputs, research and the wealthy countries of Workers in call centre in India: capitalist production and development, assembly, North America, Europe consumption is now organized on an international scale with transport, marketing and markets dominated by a handful of large companies. and East Asia. From fore- financing. At one level, this closures in California to interconnectedness of pro- the bankruptcy of Iceland, the impact of financial collapse is duction expresses the fact that human beings have become rarely examined beyond the advanced capitalist core. one social organism. At the same time, it continually runs The pattern of capitalist crisis over the last 50 years should up against a system organized for the pursuit of individual, alert us to the dangers of this approach. Throughout its his- private profit. tory, capitalism has functioned through geographical dis- This interconnectedness has taken a very particular form placement of crisis – attempting to offload the worst impacts over the last couple of decades. The world market has been onto those outside the core. This article presents a short sur- structured around the consumption of the American – and, vey of what this crisis might mean for the Global South. to a lesser extent, European – consumer. Goods produced in low-wage production zones such as China and India, us- Adam Hanieh is a PhD candidate in political science at York University and ing raw materials mostly sourced from other countries in an activist with the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. He can be contacted the South, are exported to the U.S. where they end up in at [email protected]. This article originally appeared as an issue of the ever-expanding homes of an overly-indebted consumer. The Bullet. Control of this global chain of production and consump-

18 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 tion rests in the hands of large US, European and Japanese measures the cost of long-distance shipping for commodi- conglomerates. ties such as coal, iron ore and steel. From June to Novem- This structure helped to fracture and roll-back national ber 2008, the BDI fell by 92 percent, with rental rates for development projects across the globe. Coupled with the large cargo ships dropping from $234,000 to $7,340 a day. debt crisis of the 1980s, export-oriented models of devel- This massive drop reflects two factors: the reduction in world opment were imposed by the International Monetary Fund demand for raw materials and other commodities, and the (IMF) and other financial institutions on most countries in inability of shippers to have their payments guaranteed by the South. Many of the elites of these countries bought into banks because of the credit crisis. this development model as they gained ownership stakes in Falling commodity prices also demonstrate this drop-off newly privatized companies and access to markets in the in world trade. Copper prices, for example, have recently fall- North. en by 23 percent. Chinese consumption of this metal, criti- The ever-expanding consumption of the US market was cal to much industrial production, fell by more than half in predicated on a massive rise in indebtedness. US consum- 2008. ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, stated on ers were encouraged to take on vast levels of debt – through November 5, 2008, that its global output would decline by credit cards, mortgages, “zero-down” financing, etc – in order more than 30 percent. The World Bank – which has consis- to maintain the consumption levels that underpinned global tently underestimated the severity of the current downturn demand. The dollars that enabled this growth in debt came – is now predicting that global trade volumes will shrink for from financial instruments that were purchased by Asian the first time since 1982. central banks and others around the world. These institu- Devastating Impact tions lent dollars back to the US where they were channeled to consumers through banks and other mechanisms. The US real estate market was just one of the financial his drop in world trade will have a particularly bubbles that permitted this treadmill of increasing indebt- devastatingT impact on those countries that have adopted edness to continue. People could continually refinance their “export-oriented” models of development. This model was mortgages as real estate prices went up. But with the collapse heavily promoted by the World Bank, the IMF and most of this bubble, global world demand is suddenly drying up. economists over the last couple of decades. As global de- Because of the interconnectedness of world trade, this will mand shrinks, countries reliant on exports will be faced with have a very severe impact on every country across the globe, collapse of their core industries and potential mass unem- particularly in the South. ployment. This will place further pressure on wages as new One measure of this is shown by a relatively obscure labour reserves put pressure on already high levels of unem- economic indicator, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI). The BDI ployment.

Workers in China: In recent years, Chinese exports have been important to the vast US consumer market. With the current economic crisis, exports from China have dropped dramatically, causing unemployment in China to rise. lawrence cameron

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 19 International bank Stan- percent of Sri Lanka’s textile dard Chartered estimates, for and garments exports – some example, that Chinese exports 43 percent of total foreign ex- could tumble to “zero or even change earnings – went to the negative growth” in 2009. US in 2007, while another 45 Global financial services percent went to the European company, JP Morgan Chase, Union (EU). These exports is predicting that Chinese will likely be decimated by a exports will fall 5.7 percent generalized collapse in de- for every one percent drop in mand. The weakening of the global economic growth. This Sri Lankan rupee over the last is not just a matter of getting few years has contributed to by on smaller levels of still a 20 percent increase in in- positive growth. China needs flation, with high food prices to create 17 million jobs a year hitting the poorest most heav- in order to deal with the large ily. numbers of farmers mov- y media India has seen its foreign ind ing from the countryside to exchange reserves drop by 17 urban areas. This means that percent since March 2008. the country must maintain Bolivian water wars, 2005: Popular struggles thwarted Over $51 billion US left In- high rates of growth. Even if government attempts to privatize water. It will take similar dia during the third week of growth drops from 11 to 12 struggles to prevent workers from bearing the brunt of the October, 2008, the largest fall current economic crisis. percent to eight percent annu- in eight years. The Indian tex- ally, the country faces poten- tile industry, which makes up tially huge social dislocation. Already, workers in China are the second largest component of the country’s labour force protesting in the millions as their factories close and owners after agriculture, exports 70 percent of its product to US and abscond with unpaid wages. European markets. It is expected that textile and garment

Meltdown and Collapse orders will decline by at least 25 percent over the winter of 2008-09 and mass layoffs have already begun. On October 29, 2008, the Association of Chambers of Commerce and A collapse in world trade is not the only poten- Industries of India predicted that companies in seven key tially devastating threat this crisis presents to the global pe- industries (steel, cement, finance, construction, real estate, riphery. Like the 1997 Asian Crisis, the rapid withdrawal aviation, and information technology) would need to cut 25 of foreign funds from stock markets and other investments percent of their workforce. This at a time when the country in the South could cause the meltdown of currencies and struggles with an immense gap between rich and poor. The the collapse of industries already reeling from slowdowns in wealth of the richest 53 people in India is equivalent to 31 trade. A quick survey of a few countries demonstrates the percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), yet deadly mix of capital outflows, high inflation and drops in according to the World Bank, 42 percent of the population export earnings. lives below the official poverty line of $1.25 US a day. In Pakistan, foreign-currency reserves have dropped more These patterns are repeated across the globe. Countries than 74 percent in the past year to about $4.3 billion US. The including Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina and country is teetering on the edge of total collapse and urgent- South Korea as well as the poorer countries of Eastern and ly requires $6 billion in order to pay for imports and service Southern Europe are faced with collapsing growth rates, its existing debt. The dire situation of foreign outflows led capital flight and declines in the value of their currencies. the German foreign minister to state on October 28, 2008, In many cases, these problems have been exacerbated by a that the “world has just six days to save Pakistan.” At the proliferation of low-interest loans taken by individuals and time of writing, it looks like Pakistan will get this money in companies that were denominated in foreign currencies, the form of loans from the IMF and/or countries of the Gulf such as Swiss francs, euros and dollars. These loans initially Cooperation Council. offered better rates of interest than domestic currencies but, Sri Lanka has lost nearly 25 percent of its foreign reserves as local currencies have dropped in value, the amount of since the beginning of August 2008, as foreign investors re- money to be repaid has increased dramatically. Business Week patriate their dollar holdings from the country. Nearly 50 estimates that borrowers in so-called “emerging markets”

20 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 owe some $4.7 trillion US in foreign-denominated debt, up loans in the poorer countries in the Global South will be 38 percent over the past two years. This is the reassertion of much more stringent than those imposed on these Euro- a debt crisis from the 1980s that never really went away, but pean countries. There is little doubt that these countries will only partially subsided. face massive job losses, intense pressure to privatize public

The IMF Returns resources, and slashing of state spending on welfare, educa- tion and health in the name of “balanced budgets.” Whether these attacks on the social fabric are successful, however, will his unfolding social crisis has returned the IMF ultimately depend on the level of resistance they face. toT centre stage. Typically, the IMF lends to those countries facing potential collapse and, in return, demands the fulfill- Authoritarian State ment of stringent economic conditions. The scale of bor- rowing is already immense: Iceland ($2.4 billion), Ukraine n 11 October, 2008, a meeting of progressive ($16.5 billion), and Hungary ($15.7 billion) have been ex- economistsO in Caracas, Venezuela, issued a statement warn- tended loans with Pakistan, Serbia, Belarus, and Turkey like- ing that the dynamic of this crisis “encourages new rounds of ly candidates in the near future. capital concentration and, if the people do not firmly oppose The conditions that come with this latest round of IMF this, it is becoming perilously likely that restructuring will lending have been particularly opaque. The policies that occur simply to save privileged sectors.” This is an important Ukraine is expected to implement, for example, are not point to understand. Capitalist crisis doesn’t automatically yet known, despite the fact that the country has essentially lead to the end of capitalism. Without effective resistance agreed to take a $16.5 billion loan from the IMF. Hungary and struggle, the crisis will eventually be resolved at the ex- has agreed to cuts in welfare spending, a freeze in salaries pense of working people – particularly those in the South. and canceling bonuses for public sector workers, yet the final This could be one of the most serious crises that capitalism details have not been made public. Iceland was required to has faced in living memory. But we should not be fooled into raise interest rates to 18 percent with the economy predicted thinking that the system will somehow be reformed or its to contract by 10 percent and inflation reaching 20 percent. contradictions solved through peaceful and orderly means. We can certainly expect that the conditions attached to The most likely immediate outcome is a hardened, more au- thoritarian state that seeks to restore profitability through ratcheting up repression and forcing people to accept the loss of jobs, housing and any kind of social support. In the South, Riel this will inevitably mean more war and military repression. Continued from Page 14 If this is not prevented, the system will utilize this crisis and coming to believe that he was a divinely-ordained leader of the to restructure and continue business as usual. This is why re- Métis. But all of this must be a footnote to Riel’s role in the petty sistance – both at home and abroad – will be the single most power-play of the young Canadian state which led, ultimately, to Riel’s important determinant to how this crisis eventually plays return from exile to rejoin the Métis – pushed westward, now, into out. In Latin America, for example, attempts to restrict capi- Saskatchewan – to present their grievances to the government. tal flight, place key economic sectors under popular control, Macdonald denied ever seeing the missive presented by Riel, and and establish alternative currency and trade arrangements this marginalization influenced the Métis and their indigenous allies are important initiatives that point to the necessity of solu- to rise against Canada a second time, even knowing that the odds tions beyond capitalism. In the Middle East, popular resis- of success were more remote than during the Red River conflict. tance to the political and economic control of the region has While the failure of the North West Rebellion and the subsequent undoubtedly checked the extension of US power. hanging of Riel are also a well-known narrative, it is important to Any displacement of crisis onto the South means playing remember why this happened: because Riel, and by extension the different groups of people against one another. For this rea- Métis, simply had no place in Canada’s ambitious plans. This assault on an entire people, genocide by contemporary standards, stands son, the ideological corollary of war and military repression in stark contrast to the image of Riel presented by the government abroad is likely an increasingly virulent racism in the North now: a “father of Confederation” and national hero. – directed at immigrants, people of colour and indigenous Riel, denied a voice because of his heritage, language, religion and populations. This means that, for activists in North America, homeland, would likely object to this treatment. Of course, as much the question of global solidarity and resistance to racism as times have changed, one thing has not: mainstream Canada retains must be a central priority of any effective fightback. Any at- the power to define “others.” Riel, a symbol of so many different tempt to turn inwards or dismiss international solidarity as things to so many different peoples, remains a commodity to be less important in this phase will be disastrous for all working H H traded in the politics of a quietly racist state. people – at home and across the globe.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 21 UN World Conference Against Racism Many flaws in support for Palestinians

On April 20-24, 2009, United Nations representatives will meet in Geneva for the Durban aggression and does not provide practi- Review Process. This is being put forward as an opportunity to review proposals adopted cal steps towards overcoming this racial at the World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. The aim of discrimination. Neither was there a UN the review process will be to set a date for the next world conference against racism and to mechanism put in place to assess and tar- explore how the program of action from Durban is being implemented. get racism against the Palestinian people. In the following article, Saron Ghabrasellasie and Natasha Vally examine Since the adoption of the DDPA, Is- and critique the program of action adopted at the 2001 Durban conference as it applies to rael has continued to prevent refugees Palestine and the Palestinian people. They also look at the controversies surrounding the from returning – by force and law – and upcoming review process. has persisted with a program of aggres- sion including the bombing and attack Strengths and Limitations of UN- tions. The peace process is clearly flawed on Lebanon in 2006 and, most recently, Backed Processes and the Role of Civil since none of the critical issues such as the siege and starvation of Gaza with a Society Organizations refugees, Jerusalem or the settlements are swansong in December 2008 of the bru- The Durban Declaration and Pro- adequately addressed. Similarly, the cur- tal bombing of Gazan civilians. gramme of Action (DDPA) adopted in rently proposed two-state solution will Starkly different to the DDPA’s failure 2001 by The World Conference Against certainly lead to a “Palestinian state” that to acknowledge Israel as the perpetra- Racism (WCAR), composed of 122 para- would be no more than a series of bantu- tor of racism and racial discrimination graphs and a preamble, was a framework stans. There is also the acknowledgement toward Palestinians, civil society organi- for the UN and states to target racism, of “the right to security of all states in the zations and non-governmental organiza- xenophobia and associated intolerance. region, including Israel,” an acknowledg- tions (NGOs) – expressed at the 2001 In this document, the questions of the Is- ment that once again reinforces the vic- NGO Forum in Durban – have consis- raeli state and the Palestinian people are timhood of an aggressive, colonial, occu- tently framed Israel as a racist, colonialist featured prominently. pying power. and apartheid state. This claim is substan- Palestinians are explicitly mentioned The DDPA has not been effective in tiated by the experience of Palestinian in the section on victims in the DDPA holding Israel responsible and curbing its people, as well as by historical research ­– although no reference is made to the aggressor or the source of systematic ra- cial discrimination. Also mentioned are people of African and Asian descent, migrants, refugees, women and children. While it asserts that all states should fa- cilitate the safe and voluntary return of refugees, it does not explicitly position racism and discrimination as critical fac- tors in the Palestinian plight. Instead, it goes on to reiterate the failed and vio- lated UN resolutions relating to Palestin- ian people and the Israel-Palestine “peace www process.” Here it is clear that the rhetoric of the peace process and a two-state so- . blacklooks . org lution is maintained. Both of these have been criticized by civil society organiza-

Saron Ghabrasellasie is a member of Students Against Israeli Apartheid at the University of Toronto. Israel’s illegal apartheid wall annexes the best land and resources for Israeli Natasha Vally is an anti-apartheid activist in settlers and isolates Palestinian villages and communities from each other and South Africa. from their lands, livelihoods and access to education and health care.

22 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 and UN human rights mechanisms, racism and discrimination at the WCAR. man rights agenda as a narrow agenda among others. Civil society organizations This resulted in the WCAR being labeled of a specific region – implying that the have asserted that 1948 was the starting an orchestrated “hate fest.” The Indian WCAR process itself was overtaken by point for Israeli legislators and govern- government, for instance, tried to keep “special interests.” ments who, in conjunction with Zionist the discrimination of the Dalits off the What’s more, the accusation of anti- organizations and their subsidiaries, have agenda. There were attempts by some semitism is often used to discredit and established and developed a regime of in- governments to prevent discussion of silence criticism of the state of Israel. stitutionalized racial discrimination that the intersections of racism with gender, The irony is particularly apparent when caters to the interest and advantage of the sexual orientation and caste. The Bush Palestinians and their supporters de- dominant group and maintains the infe- Administration was dissatisfied with dis- scribed racially-motivated human rights rior status of the indigenous Palestinian cussion of issues around reparations for violations perpetrated against them with people and oppresses them systematically. the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Together specific reference to international human Practically, civil society groups inter- with Israeli delegates, the US also ob- rights and humanitarian law standards nationally have engaged in educational jected to the tabling of issues relating to and norms, including in relation to acts campaigns to alert the public and their the discrimination and plight of the Pal- of ethnic cleansing, discriminatory leg- states to Israel’s apartheid history and to estinians. In the end, the US and Israeli islation, systematic perpetration of war assert the inalienable rights of the Pales- delegations walked out of the conference. crimes and the crime of apartheid. tinian people. Following the suggestions In fact, the central allegation levelled At a meeting in 2006 the UN general of the 2001 NGO Forum in Durban and against the WCAR was that it expressed assembly decided to convene a Durban Israel’s consistent disregard for interna- Review Conference in 2009 on the im- tional law – including the blatant dis- plementation of the Durban Declaration missal of the 2004 International Court Starkly different to the DDPA’s and Programme of Action. That draft of Justice advisory ruling that the wall failure to acknowledge Israel was adopted by a recorded vote of 179 being constructed is illegal – civil society in favour to two against (Israel, United groups have called for and instituted a as the perpetrator of racism States), with four abstentions (Australia, Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and and racial discrimination Canada, Marshall Islands, Palau). Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until such Preparations for the Durban Review time as it complies with international law. toward Palestinians, civil society Conference have been accompanied by an hysterical campaign of manipulation, Worldwide, members of churches, aca- organizations and NGOs have demic unions and solidarity committees threats and economic/funding intimida- – initiated in Europe and North America consistently framed Israel as a tion. The Bush administration opposed the review conference, and the Canadian – have implemented and pushed for di- racist, colonialist and apartheid vestment from companies implicated in government, succumbing to this pressure, Israel’s illegal and criminal regime, boy- state. impulsively withdrew. This decision was cotts of affiliated institutions, goods and made without consulting organizations services, and calls for sanctions. In 2005, representing people in Canada most af- over 170 Palestinian unions, associations, anti-semitic sentiments. Anti-semitism fected by racism, some of whom were NGOs and their networks, reflecting the is defined as racism and racial discrimi- present in Durban and have worked for three major sectors of the Palestinian nation against Jewish persons on grounds the past six years with the Canadian gov- people – those under military occupation, of their membership of that religious or ernment on critical anti-racism initiatives Palestinian citizens of Israel and refugees ethnic group. The WCAR was certainly stemming from the WCAR. in exile – launched a strategic call for a not racially attacking Jewish people. In With Obama at the helm, the US at comprehensive BDS campaign currently fact, quite to the contrary, it supported first dithered on its refusal to participate being spearheaded by the Palestinian the plights of vulnerable people world- but has now announced that it will not BDS National Committee (BNC) in co- wide. Debates and discussions embraced attend. As we go to press in early March, ordination with the International Coor- the plight of the Dalits in India, the the US, Canada and Israel are the only dination Network on Palestine (ICNP). Roma in Europe, indigenous people and three countries upholding the boycott, with reactionary forces in Denmark Why Have There Been Concerns immigrant workers around the world, Around and Boycotts of The Durban reparations for slavery, and foreign oc- and Holland applying pressure on those Review Conference and the DDPA? cupation and numerous other pressing countries to join. As for Canada, its re- issues. In focusing so overwhelmingly fusal to participate is sadly consistent Clearly there were governments and on the Palestinian question, critics of with an abysmal track record on stand- individuals uncomfortable with the space the WCAR have misrepresented the ing up for human rights, and Palestinian provided to scrutinize issues related to H Durban conference’s broad, inclusive hu- rights in particular.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 23 Reflections on the Business As Usual? BC Treaty Process By Adam Barker, Christine O’Bonsawin and Chiinuuks Ogilvie

his past year, 16 years since the enous peoples from their lands without simple title may be transferred to a given creation of the British Columbia convincing both indigenous peoples First Nation government, but underlying TTreaty Process (BCTP), heralded cel- and settler Canadians that indigenous title reverts to the Crown. The recently- ebrations of three new treaty settlements. peoples’ cultural and historical relation- developed Tla-o-qui-aht incremental A close examination, though, reveals co- ships to the land are outdated and have treaty agreement is similar to both the lonial business as usual. no place in a capitalist state. Tsawwassen and Maa-nulth agreements, The Tsawwassen and Maa-nulth First Most people have never seen the requiring the development of tourist cen- Nations were the first groups to reach BCTP work from the inside. Each meet- tres. The treaty clearly states that forest agreements with the government, ratified ing begins with a prayer, sometimes even lands transferred to the band are admin- by a community vote. These agreements in a traditional language. But the lan- istered – not owned – by the Tla-o-qui- were met with lavish praise from the guage of the meeting quickly shifts. From aht. government and media, but encountered talk of relationships to the land and an- The government approaches “negotia- much more controversy in indigenous cestors and respect for each other, there is tions” with a number of non-negotiables communities. The Tla-o-qui-aht First a transition to the language of “underly- beforehand: the ability to hand-pick par- Nation followed suit, accepting a deal ticipants (insistance on exclusive nego- that will give them money and control of tiations with “First Nation governments,” some forest lands in exchange for stay- From talk of relationships otherwise known as Band Councils); underlying title to land reverts to the ing at the negotiating table and accepting to the land and ancestors some government provisions. Crown; and capitalist economic develop- The ratification of the Tsawwassen and and respect for each other, ment is necessary. Ultimately the power Maa-nulth “treaties” – not treaties at all, structure of the Canadian state is rein- but financial and governance agreements there is a transition to the forced by the new BC treaties. – and the “incremental treaty agreement” language of “underlying The Price of Treaties with the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation are ominous signs of a continuing colonial title” and the value per Indigenous peoples’ entrance into the state system comes with a fee. The nego- agenda, pushing onward to a sanitized unit of specific sites. and homogenized Canadian society free tiations themselves involve travel, legal of meaningful difference. bills, research, and votes, all of which cost large amounts of money which usually Land: A Commodity? ing title” and the value per unit of specific sites. The land is reduced to a commodity. is acquired in the form of government The critiques of the BCTP have been The Tsawwassen and Maa-nulth loans. According to a 2002 Report of numerous and varied. However, com- agreements include provisions requiring the Tripartite Group entitled Improving mentators rarely draw the connection be- the respective band governments to build the Treaty Process, $255 million has been tween the BCTP and racial and racializ- centres for tourism and economic devel- negotiated in support of BCTP – $204 ing processes. In reality, the two go hand opment with the monies received from million in the form of loans and only in hand. It is not possible for the state to the negotiations (whatever’s left over af- $51 million in the form of contribu- tighten its grip on indigenous lands un- ter the legal bills). Further, each of these tions. Those loans come due as soon as an less it weakens the ties between the in- agreements solidifies the supremacy of agreement is put into force, immediately digenous peoples and the lands on which the state over all lands, giving the state clawing back many of the financial ben- they live. It is not possible to pry indig- the right to annex any piece of land. Fee efits that a band might otherwise receive through the deal. Band governments, al- ready dependent upon funding from In- Adam Barker is a guest editor for the current issue of New Socialist. Christine O’Bonsawin is a member of the Abenaki nation, and is the Director of the Indigenous Studies dian and Northern Affairs Canada, will find themselves not only deeper in the Program at the University of Victoria. Chiinuuks (Ruth Ogivlie) is from the Tla-o-qui-aht and Checlesaht nations, a mother of two, pockets of the government, but also in the pockets of the consultants, contrac- and balancing PhD studies and involvement in the struggle against the BC treaty process. tors, and service and tourism corpora-

24 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 tions standing ready to build the closes off one of the few spaces that new post-treaty economic infra- women and youth have had to ex- structure. press themselves. The importance Why would any person affected that many indigenous cultures place by one of these agreements vote in on womanhood and the teaching favour of ratification? This is a fair of young people has helped women question. It is important to under- and youth to have their voices heard. stand how much of the negotiating However, to date, no BCTP agree- happens behind closed doors. The ment has included a committed ini- manner in which the agreements tiative to involve women or youth. are made is rarely presented to vot- Some of us have attended meetings ing members. Final agreements and raised the question of violence between negotiators are publicly against women and youth; during presented as a fait accompli in a the treaty process the response is al- simplified, decontextualized for- ways “we’ll deal with that when the mat while opponents, if there are deal is signed.” Nothing in the his- any, are still trying to sift through tory of the BCTP lends credence to the information. that promise. This is why the ratification failure Few outside observers appreci- of the Lheidli T’enneh agreement ate the difficult position that all in early 2007 was so stunning. Of dissenters face with regards to the course, this setback merely inten- BCTP: the choice is to oppose both sified the pressure to complete the the vast Canadian system and your First Nations activist Art Manuel leads a group Tsawwassen and Maa-nulth agree- launching a legal challenge to the BCTP. own community, with the threat of ments, and subsequent stepping- poverty and violence hanging in the up of bribes like the incremental air, or to stay silent and pretend, as treaty agreement, which provides engineered and supported this. In recent negotia- many others do, that you do not benefits before treaty settlement. tions with the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, the see the chains being wrapped ever It is important to understand Treaty Commission made the blatantly token ges- tighter around your community and the history of colonization to ap- ture of having the hatwiah (traditional chiefs) sign nation. This is not a choice that any- preciate the difficulty facing these into the treaty process, but without empowering one would wish to face. This much communities. The Maa-nulth and them to have a voice at the table. They were never is true: without a safe space to ex- Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, as provided with the correct knowledge and language press dissent, and discuss the impli- members of the Nuu-chah-nulth to engage with the Western side, and attempts to cations of the BCTP and other poi- peoples, have only been in contact bring traditional culture and values into the dis- sonous “partnerships” in a way that with Western colonizers for about cussion were ignored. will having meaningful impacts, 275 years. For many Nuu-chah- When the traditional chiefs and other leaders, dissenters can be simply left behind nulth, the culture and sense of long the unspoken heads of the major opposition by the entire process, voices in the “who we are” remains. But facili- to the BCTP, begin to discuss land in terms of wilderness. tated by the influence of residential real estate values, contracts with mining compa- Emerging Dissent schools, Western ideas of progress nies, and labour market development strategies, it and being a “good citizen” have is clear that the BCTP has gained serious trac- A critique of BCTP has slowly started to take hold. Many Nuu- tion. The cooptation of traditional leaders also begun to develop among indigenous chah-nulth people end up being students and scholars at universities pulled between traditional ways of and colleges. These are safe spaces being and introduced ideas. The Treaty Commission made for dissent. But the debate now must be taken back into the com- Coopting Traditions the blatantly token gesture of munities, if it is to be meaningful. Some leaders, traditional and having the hatwiah (traditional Beyond the universities, there are political, know the culture and the a number of indigenous groups that traditional ways, but speak of it in chiefs) sign into the treaty are emerging in response to BCTP. one breath, only to adopt Cana- process, but without empowering Well-known organizer and activist dian political language and pro- Art Manuel is leading a group of cesses with the next. The state has them to have a voice at the table. people who are launching a legal

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 25 challenge to the BCTP. Elsewhere, the The debate now must lead-up to Vancouver 2010, there has Common Table – a Saskatchewan initia- been considerable organizational oppo- tive providing a forum for First Nations be taken back into the sition on the part of indigenous groups and government representatives – advo- and others to resist the Olympic Games, cates better deals with government. These communities, if it is to with the slogan “No Olympics on Stolen activities indicate that the willingness be meaningful. Indigenous Lands.” The unfortunate re- still exists to try and exhaust all means of ality is that the Olympic engine will not confronting the system by using the tools be stopped and the Games will take place of the system. about the BCTP, in some cases for the on unceded indigenous territories. But More inspiring, though, are people first time. this organizing is not a waste if the criti- emerging within communities, operat- In many cases, these people are residen- cal thinking and capacity to resist that is ing with little or no capacity, but who are tial school survivors, or are the children developed in the anti-Olympics move- generating discussion by speaking out. of survivors. For them, going through ment can be turned to the still-unre- They are “nameless people”: mothers in the treaty documents is difficult given solved questions surrounding the BCTP. families, aunts, and even young men who their lack of education in Western legal As the world, albeit briefly, turns its at- argue that treaties will “finish off assimi- and political complexities. But they are tention to Vancouver, British Columbia, lation.” From an organizational perspec- pulling together in a family way and try- and Canada, indigenous peoples, activists tive there is little evidence of resistance, ing to cut through the jargon. They need and supporters must take this opportu- but those living in the communities can support in being able to articulate their nity to inform and educate national and see that there are people who are collec- concerns. international audiences on the political tively gathering their strength. People are That support may come from those and everyday lived realities of indigenous H meeting together over coffee and talking organizing against the Olympics. In the British Columbia. First Nation ‘partnerships’ and the Olympics

The new BC Treaties are framed in the international events as theatres for context of preparations for the Olympics. garnering recognition for Canada as It is no surprise that the Tsawwassen a leading Western imperial power. At agreement was the first completed such events, the “Indian spectacle” under the BCTP. This secured the serves as confirmation that a Canadian uninterrupted functioning of the major identity is not contingent on European passenger and shipping ports for the ancestry and traditions. The insertion lower mainland. A disruption to either of of the “timeless Indian” into the global these ports, with the eyes of the world spectacle also demonstrates that Canada on Canada, up to and during 2010, would has successfully colonized and contained have been a massive embarrassment. its own indigenous populations.

The new treaties require First Nations At the same time, VANOC has partnered to develop tourist centres that flaunt with First Nations to sanitize the image indigenous cultures to national and of the Olympics under the rhetoric of international visitors. As we approach “sustainability.” According to Agenda 21, 2010, there can be little doubt that this the International Olympic Committee’s initiative is directly linked to the agenda global action plan, bid planners and of the Vancouver Organizing Committee Poster from Week of Resistance organizers are required to partner with for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Against the 2010 Olympics held in “major groups.” Accordingly, upon entering Winter Games (VANOC). VANOC has Vancouver in December of 2007. into the bid process, Vancouver planners successfully unveiled indigenous “inspired” officially entered into protocol agreements symbols including the inukshuk logo and mascots drawn from with the Four Host First Nations (FHFN). Indigenous indigenous lore. Despite expressions of outrage from indigenous communities throughout British Columbia have openly people, VANOC has refused to even consider withdrawing these contested and questioned this partnership as it is considered appropriations of their culture. to be a “sell-out” arrangement that ignores the realities of Canadian governments and elites have long prioritized grandiose indigenous poverty and oppression in BC. H

26 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 White privilege in queer organizing by Proma Tagore

ueers for Peace and Justice (QPJ) Qis a broad-based movement that grew out of worldwide protests against US imperialism leading up to the inva- sion of Iraq in 2003. With large contin- gents in New York City and San Francis- co, QPJ consisted of a coalition of queer, anti-war, anti-racist, labour and socialist activists that called out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, transgender, trans- sexual and intersex organizations to stand in opposition to the war on terror. Initial callouts highlighted the state and media’s manipulation of people’s emotions and grief after 9/11, and the silencing of dis- sent perpetuated by colonial wars. In Victoria, on the unceded territories histories are often erased or coopted by wait without necessities for months as of the Lekwungen peoples, a group took the white middle class. white citizens marched in the thousands up this call by organizing protests both as to “keep Canada white” – 60 percent of Racism and Homophobia a response to the impacts of racism and sodomy trials in BC were against Sikh increased racial profiling in our lives and White privilege within organizing men. This statistic shows how racialized to confront the pervasiveness of white takes many forms. A recent case is the bodies, especially resistant ones, are cast privilege that many of us, as queer people reporting of a gay-bashing on Davie as sexually deviant and policed by means of colour, had faced in experiences with Street in Vancouver in 2008. Within me- of detentions and incarcerations. Hetero- mainstream queer organizing. dia reports, white queer organizers cited normativity is also reinforced through the As we gathered to make banners, we the “infiltration of Davie Street by South domestication of bodies to uphold a rac- felt the words of activist J.D. recorded Asian youth from Surrey” as the reason ist and capitalist state. at a San Francisco anti-war rally: “Every for the gay-bashing and increased vio- Intersections of struggle day we’re told that we don’t exist. Well, lence. An article in the local queer news- that’s a lie like everything else. We have paper listed the handful of arrests that So why must challenging white privi- to combat that lie with our presence.” We took place on the basis of homophobic lege be important to queer movements, took our signs – No Pride in Occupation! hate in 2008, and almost all of the names just as challenging heteronormativity – and marched “unofficially” in the local listed were racialized names. These ac- must be to anti-racist organizing? As Au- pride parade (white organizers had de- counts not only make invisible the perva- dre Lorde writes, “there is no such thing nied us an official spot the previous year) siveness of homophobic and transphobic as a single-issue struggle because we do to reclaim the historical foundations of violence, but also erase the facts of police not live single-issue lives.” Queer critic pride, with people of colour, poor and brutality and continuous systematic tar- Jasbir Puar speaks of how queer activists working class people, and transgender geting of racialized communities, while of colour, in the context of 9/11, allied and transsexual activists leading struggles replaying stereotypical ideas of who be- more with mainstream anti-racist orga- against police and state regulation. These longs where. nizations in the face of white privilege in Delving into the history of anti-immi- queer politics. This division of our com- Proma Tagore lives and has been working as gration legislation, filmmakers Ali Ka- munities and allegiances is a typically co- a poet and teacher in Victoria and Vancouver, Coast Salish territories. She is the editor of In zimi, John Greyson and Richard Fung lonial strategy. It not only breaks up our Our Own Voices: Learning and Teaching report that in 1915, the year following movements and the force of our resis- Toward Decolonisation and the author of the Komagata Maru incident – where a tances, but breaks those bodies that are The Shapes of Silence: Writing by Women of ship carrying 300 South Asian men was marginalized on multiple fronts, making H Colour and the Politics of Testimony. refused entry into Canada and made to them disappear.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 27 Racism and the battle for democratic unions in the US by Malik Miah

he deepening recession in the TUnited States is impacting the fight for democratic, independent unions and trade unionism in general. Unions in the US represent fewer and fewer work- ers – 12.1 percent overall, with the rate in private sector even lower. The number one issue in the eyes of most working people today is keeping their jobs. All other issues seem secondary. Racist workplace discrimination is still there. Racial profiling continues, espe- cially if you are a black male. Yet there have been changes. Racism on the job, W a especially in union jobs, is not the num- yP oints ber one concern of African-American workers. When layoffs occur, blacks in union jobs know that the seniority sys- United Airlines mechanic: a court-imposed consent decree opened up jobs for tem is their best protection. Favouritism black and other workers of colour. in non-union jobs where management is still mostly white is another matter, but is withering away. More highly educated played a major role when progressive federal and state laws do provide more middle-class layers have been driven back unions opposed discrimination and sup- job security than ever before. too. ported civil rights. That was the case in the airlines. At the same time, union seniority Unions doesn’t help when an entire industry is The Case of United Airlines shutting down. Black workers work dis- It’s clear why unions are especially im- proportionately in industries in decline, portant for African-Americans. But the For example, at United Airlines, where including auto and steel. This is impor- union movement is in crisis. Unions like I work, in the 1970s several African- tant because African-Americans are the United Auto Workers and United Americans filed a lawsuit against racism more dependent than whites on higher- Steel Workers have received blows from in the workplace. The charge was against paying manufacturing jobs to get “middle earlier waves of restructuring and are now both the company and unions that re- class” incomes. being hit hard by the deepening world re- fused to end institutional racism. The decline in jobs in manufacturing, cession. The court ruled in favor of these work- which was traditionally heavily union- All US unions are in retreat and have ers and imposed a consent decree. The ized and where many workers had decent been since the early 1980s when Presi- court mandated full integration of the wages and benefits, has been replicated in dent Reagan fired striking air traffic con- workplace in skilled jobs from which other industries, especially in those where trollers and broke their union. Organized blacks had been excluded or in which a requirement of high school education labour must push back and demand funda- they faced discrimination. It led to the or two-year college or trade school de- mental changes that benefit all working peo- first black pilots and more black mechan- grees are more prevalent. The significance ple – not just try to hang on. Without the ics and supervisors. of these jobs losses is great: the so-called rise of a new militant union movement The court imposed fixed hiring goals “middle class” – actually the unionized or a movement of unemployed workers on the company for supervisory posi- working class – of the black community as occurred in the 1930s, labour will con- tions and on the unions for higher skilled Malik Miah is an editor of Against the tinue to shrink and weaken. positions. The union contract had to be Current. In previous struggles, black workers changed to modify the seniority system

28 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 – something union officials strongly op- in the 1950s and 1960s, many qualified Unions are especially posed. The officials argued that only con- black mechanics were not hired as me- important for African- tract negotiations could alter the collec- chanics. They had to take lower classifica- tive bargaining agreement, not the courts. tion jobs, such as ramp and storekeeper Americans. While in general I would agree with positions. The civil rights victory led to this stance, in this case, racism required cracks in the companies’ hiring policies an outside body to force management that increased the number of black me- have had anger among workers at the ex- and union officials to fundamentally chanics who, if they had been given jobs isting unions. In the last five years. we’ve change social relations on the job. The like their white co-workers, would have had three unions – two were decertified – civil rights laws likewise forced state and already had many years of mechanics’ se- and racism was not a factor. The big issue federal governments to end legal segrega- niority. The consent decree gave back that was job security after a phony employee tion and forced employers to change hir- full seniority for layoff purposes. ownership scheme established in 1994 ing and promotion practices. Significantly, this contract modifica- and bankruptcy in 2002. Both the activist Historically unions have used the de- tion occurred outside of normal negotia- opposition and the new union leaders are fence of contracts and seniority rights tions. It has not only helped blacks, but racially mixed. as a way to accept the status quo of race also at least as many other workers. Every The central issues are rank and file discrimination. The consent decree mod- worker gained from that anti-discrimi- control, how to fight the boss, and union ification at United Airlines was an im- nation lawsuit. As generally is the case, transparency. Should negotiations be portant positive change. It led the other when an oppressed group wins a gain, it open to the rank and file? The leaders of airlines to open the doors to better jobs benefits all of society. the Teamsters, the current union of me- for workers of colour without a court or- Of course, there is still racism preva- chanics, reject this. They advocate and der. It forced the airline unions to begin lent at United Airlines and other union- practice complete secrecy from the mem- to change their attitudes and leadership ized carriers. But the racism is not what bers. The previous union, the Aircraft composition. it was. The blatant discrimination of the Mechanics Fraternal Association, not In the case of the workers represented pre-consent decree era is rare. Moreover, only advocated democracy and openness by the International Association of Ma- the companies, because of the laws, are but practised them. Sadly, it didn’t matter chinists union, including baggage han- more forceful in responding to acts of in the end, because of job losses and fear dlers, storekeepers and, most importantly, discrimination. of the impending economic crisis. mechanics, it meant that company-wide Union Democracy Key Point seniority would protect workers in higher skilled jobs from layoffs once they bid In cases like this, building democrat- My basic point is that the issue of rac- and qualified for those positions. No lon- ic unions is more about issues that cut ism in difficult economic times is, at best, ger would high seniority blacks in lower across racial lines. The building of rank only one factor in the minds of rank and classifications refrain from taking jobs as and file unity today will be on basic eco- file workers seeking change in leader- mechanics for fear of being laid off in the nomic issues and union democracy. ships. No one tolerates prejudice and future. In my situation at United’s major discriminatory actions by the company or This was a significant change because, maintenance base in San Francisco, we within the union. The old battle to inte- grate the employers and unions and end segregation was won. It remains a fact on the ground nearly everywhere in the US including the South. The new fight A recent to build democratic unions will require a study reports that 55 similar if not greater effort. percent of Blacks are equally a part of existing union jobs union leaderships as well as opposi- lost in 2004 tion groups that advocate progressive were those independent unions. This is a positive of black development for both racial and class workers with reasons. It means the debate over ideas black women such as democratic unions, how to bring comprising 70 percent about fundamental change for working of union people, and the devastating cost of wars u

jobs lost by aw and occupations is more clearly on the H women. table.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 29 allison

No One Is Illegal Rally in Toronto, May 2008 robert Organizing for migrant justice and self-determination A conversation with Mostafah Henaway, Nandita Sharma, Jaggi Singh, Harsha Walia, and Rafeef Ziadah. Reprinted from the 30-year anniversary issue (2007) of Fuse Magazine, www.fusemagazine.org

Over the past several years, groups and movements have coalesced around themes like “No One is Illegal,” “Solidarity Across Borders,” and “Open the Borders.” In their day-to-day work of organizing with and for migrants, such groups are working against increasingly restrictive immigration policies, the heightened detention and deportation of migrants and the repressive national security apparatus that discriminates against racialized migrants through mechanisms like Security Certificates. At the same time, such movements are deeply connected to global movements, resisting further expansion of the capitalist system and wars and occupations – in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine – that are the root causes of people’s migration and displacement in the 21st century. Finally, the integrated focus on the relationship that exists between the colonization of diverse indigenous people and the subjugation of migrants portrayed as “not belonging” in Canada, has enabled such movements to make the connections between the dispossession of people from their lands and livelihoods from the global South and the encroachment onto indigenous lands throughout the Americas. Always alert to the danger of trivializing the serious differences that have come to form between groups, there is, at the same time, a recognition that without attempts to work against the idea, for example, that the social justice demands of indigenous people and migrants are inherently at odds with one another, we will contribute to the propping up of a global system that ensures our mutual destruction.

30 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 Movement for Migrant Justice to ensure that it does not become simply about service provision and that those directly affected are constantly Harsha: I think the migrant justice movement as it has involved in empowering themselves through the process. evolved over the past few years has really been able to push a radical analysis on migration and has challenged the tra- Nandita: I think the relationships being established and ditional dichotomy of ‘legitimate’ versus ‘illegitimate’ mi- work being done by No Borders movements are full of grants. The very name “No One Is Illegal” is very powerful great potential but they also continue to be highly tenu- and rejects any reformist approaches to ‘improving’ Ca- ous. There is much excitement as we recognize our deep nadian immigration policies. Such movements have been relationships with one another across the borders of “race” able to articulate an analysis that challenges the power of and “nation,” for instance as migrants groups act in soli- the state to construct categories that control peoples’ right darity with indigenous struggles. to self-determination and links local and global issues of At the same time there is much hesitation to let go of migration, race, nationalism, capitalism and imperialism. exclusive and divisive identities since these are so tied up However, we still continue the struggle to build a more with what it means to access power. For example, ideas comprehensive movement on the of being “at home” are still very ground because we are fighting a The very name “No One Is Illegal” much racialized or nationalized. system that has been successful in That is, many people continue dividing, isolating, and individu- is very powerful and rejects any to think that everyone has some alizing the struggle for immi- “natural homeland” and that this, grants, refugees and non-status reformist approaches to “improving’” and only this, is where they “be- communities. This often gets in- Canadian immigration policies. long.” This is tied up with the cur- ternalized as the “model minor- rent world order where only ‘na- ity” syndrome, where migrants tions’ are seen as having any right themselves internalize ideas of who is “worthy” and who to ‘self-determination” but such notions are, ultimately, is “unworthy.” hostile to people’s migration. Unfortunately, such an anti- migrants politics is not only part of the Right but also, in Mostafah: One of the major ongoing debates in the mi- many cases, part of the thinking of the most radical parts grant justice movement is the issue of casework, which is of the Left. the constant need for tangible support work – including

legal defence – for individuals and families going through The Ideologies of Displacement and Settlement the immigration or refugee process. There is a clear un- derstanding that the professional immigrant and refugee Rafeef: I believe the same definition of settlers applies to service industry and infrastructure has contributed to both Turtle Island and Palestine. In Palestine/Israel, any- channeling migrant’s experiences into victimization and one who espouses the ideology of Zionism and identifies dependency. So instead, we try to do support work in a with the project of Zionism is a settler. There is a tiny way that is part of a larger political context of organizing minority of Israelis who are anti-Zionist and I do not see and helps build larger cultures of resistance. them as settlers as they are with us in the fight. There Direct casework is necessary in order to support those are also migrant workers, for example North African Jews who are affected by the repressive policies of Citizenship and Arab Jews, brought into Israel to work in specific and Immigration Canada and to build a movement that industries. Unfortunately, they too have internalized the is rooted in people’s lives, but it is an ongoing struggle Zionist ideology and despite their second-class status in

Mostafah Henaway is a second generation Egyptian who has been involved with Toronto Taxi Drivers Association, Solidarity Across Borders Montreal, Block the Empire Montreal, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, and the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. Nandita Sharma is an activist scholar who is part of a loose network of No Borders groups that challenge the legitimacy of national border controls with their regimes of citizenship and also work to ensure that everyone has the ability to both “stay” and to “move” as they so desire. Jaggi Singh is a writer, activist, and anarchist living and organizing in Montreal. He is a No Borders, anti-capitalist, immigrant and indigenous solidarity organizer involved in a wide range of movements. Harsha Walia is a South Asian organizer and writer currently based in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. She is involved in migrant justice organizing, feminist and anti-racist collectives, South Asian community organizing, indigenous solidarity, and anti-imperialist networks. Rafeef Ziadah is a third generation Palestinian refugee who lost her parents in the 1982 Massacre at the Shatilla Refugee Camp. She is a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and Sumoud (a Palestinian political prisoner solidarity group), and a political science student in Toronto.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 31 Israel, they believe themselves to be one level above the To suggest that anyone who migrates is a Palestinians. Settlement is not only physical occupation; it is also an ideology. Therefore you could have people who colonizer is a perverse logic that has embedded are physically on the land who are not settlers, while also within it a deep hostility to the whole process of having settlers who are not physically on the land, for ex- ample Zionists in New York who fund the physical settle- human migration. ment and occupation of Palestine. In terms of Turtle Island, the same logic applies. Immi- grants or others who come from backgrounds of oppres- ine a single place in the world today that is not occupied sion and occupation do not absolve themselves of being territory. settlers. Immigrants are settlers, especially as immigrants To say that people should not move to places that rise with class mobility. However, immigrants who decide are occupied would in fact be an argument that people to fight for indigenous self-determination free themselves shouldn’t move. For example in Hawaii there is one part of being settlers. It is horrible for Palestinians to imag- of the anti-occupation Hawaiian sovereignty movement ine ourselves as being settlers; therefore it is even more that calls for a Hawaiian governing body (that is a na- important for us to commit ourselves to fighting for the tional state in all but name) that would issue passports liberation of Turtle Island. and implement border controls. Such practices are very dangerous as they are not at all transformative and only Nandita: To me, not all those who live on occupied lands change who rules rather than eliminating the colonial can or should be considered colonizers (which is really practice of a group of elites ruling over others. To me, that what is meant when people are called “settlers”). To sug- kind of movement is not going to get us anywhere. gest that anyone who migrates is a colonizer is a perverse logic that has embedded within it a deep hostility to the Rafeef: I do not believe anyone claims ownership over whole process of human migration. The process of colo- land. Capitalism is a political and economic system that nization (in which the term “settler” colonist was devel- has created the framework private property ownership oped) refers to a specific kind of relationship in which and ideas about entitlement to land. I believe in the phi- some people attempt to destroy previously existing societ- losophy of ‘indigenism’ in which no one owns the land; ies in order gain privileged access to land, resources and instead, everybody shares it. And certainly such a phi- labour. We must recognize that not all migrants do this losophy is not about ownership or entitlement; rather it and that most migrants today, including many indigenous is a radically anti-capitalist idea about living with respect people, are caught up in a vicious circle of displacement with one another and with the land. An ultimate goal for and migration. If we see the entire process of capitalist me is to have the liberation of a Palestine that is not ex- globalization as a form of colonization, it is hard to imag- clusionary and where your rights are not based on religion and ethnicity. This is in contrast to the Zionist Eurocen- tric project where Zionism claims a fascist and exclusion- ary identity.

Jaggi: I believe active struggle against colonialism – and ideas for radical change for indigenous sovereignty and self-determination – is the main point here. Settlement is as much an ideolo- Subscribe today gy as a practice, and the only way to escape complicity with settlement is active opposition to it. I do organize All subscriptions are for 4 issues. on the basis of a vision for no borders and free move- In Canada: $20 In the US: $25 ment. But, I have never heard of an indigenous theory Supporting: add $20 Overseas International: $50 of decolonization that is about expulsion – expulsion of Institutional: $50 a corporate mine perhaps – but never of people who mi- ALL PRICES IN CANADIAN DOLLARS grate to achieve dignity in their lives. The Mohawk Two SEND CHEQUES TO: New socialist Row Wampum, which represents the idea of natives and Box 167, 253 College Street non-natives traveling side-by-side in mutual respect, pro- Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R5 vides us with one example of a basis for understanding www.newsocialist.org a relationship of respectful and just coexistence between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

32 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 Six Nations protesters at Caledonia in 2006 create a blockade to defend land rights claims: over 500 years after colonization, indigenous peoples on Turtle

. ca . weblog . garth Island are still fighting for justice. www

“Decolonization” – understood as the active practice of italists who want to follow the project of economic de- self-determination against colonialism and neo-colonial- velopment and private indigenous ownership, and there ism by non-natives – is something we need to actively are those who believe in the values of common use. The be thinking about and taking responsibility for. That only vision I support is this non-industrial model of common happens in the context of on-the-ground, day-to-day or- use and self-sufficiency. So we need to shift the debate ganizing, and creating and cultivating the spaces where from who has the entitlement to do something with the we can begin dialogues and discussions as natives and land to what do you want to do with the land. non-natives, within a shared terrain of struggle. Harsha: The crucial idea around the identification of Nandita: We must deal with the fundamental issue of oneself as a “settler” is a way to acknowledge and take colonialism and recognize that after 1492, the relation- deep responsibility as a person on an occupied land and ship between people and place is crucial; is there a con- to understand how we all, regardless of our oppressed nection that is timeless that allows no room for migration? backgrounds, do benefit in various ways from this process The concept of who is indigenous to a land needs to be of colonization. This awareness leads itself to the neces- rethought. Indigenous people are displaced and become sity of engaging in a struggle of decolonization, acting in migrants too. For example, 25 percent of migrants from tangible solidarity with indigenous peoples, and building Mexico are indigenous. So to me those dichotomies of in- greater awareness within and across communities. How- digenous/migrant and displacement/homeland are false. ever, I also think we need to delink the idea of migration People need to see themselves as part of the whole world from settler-colonialism, which is a capitalist and colonial that they live in and we need to forge ideology. We have been condi- new identities that are transforma- tioned to believe that all those tive in breaking down the structures We need to expand on a radical who migrate are settler-colo- that oppress us, while also challeng- praxis that acknowledges the nialists because the migration ing ourselves about who we see our- of the “discoverers” is celebrat- selves in the struggle with. inherent claims to land and ed by a colonial education sys- All people have an inherent re- territory that diverse communities tem. Although the distances lationship to land; the question and frequency with which becomes which land. The divisions hold, while maintaining an ethics people migrate has rapidly are not between indigenous and mi- of anti-segregation as cultures are expanded; people have always grants; rather the divisions are be- moved, traded, and connected tween different ideas of what to do constantly refounding themselves. with each other without being with land. There are indigenous cap- colonizers.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 33 Therefore, we need to expand on a radical praxis that acknowledges the inherent claims to land and territory that diverse communities hold, while maintaining an ethics of anti-segregation as cultures are constantly refounding themselves. This does not suggest a simple call for “unity” across our differences – in particular those that are rooted in systems of power and privilege – but to struggle from our specific locations while building genu- ine alliances with each other. This requires us to exercise our sover- eignties differently, to think of our identities as a place of connection rather than exclusion, and to radi- cally reconfigure our kinship and solidarities based on shared experi- Palestinians comprise one of the largest refugee populations in the world. These ences and visions. girls are among more than four million Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip In terms of the relationships be- and the West Bank. Others live in neighbouring Arab countries like Jordan and tween immigrant and indigenous Lebanon as well as scattered throughout the world in diaspora. communities, I think we have a shared experience of racism and colonization. However, I would be cautious in over-sim- World is equally becoming a space for fighting national plifying the relationship. Certainly comments such as “our liberation struggles in the South as the South itself is. An struggles are the same/equal” are patronizing and deny extension of the right to remain in your home in Algeria, the current violent reality – the genocide of indigenous Palestine, or Iran is your right to remain in your home in people – that is distinct from the colonial agendas we have Montreal and fight your deportation. fled in the South or are facing as migrants in the North. Nandita: National liberation does not produce liberation Jaggi: I also want to note that the presumed link between and if we continue to romanticize that, we are setting up diverse communities is not natural. The term “people of future generations. People are not coming to grips with colour” is too generalized (as most folks who use it ad- how things changed with 1492. One of those things is mit). It lumps migrants from diverse backgrounds, with human migration and the ways in which the encounters descendants of slaves, with indigenous peoples, in a really of people have intensified. Yet many of us are behaving as crude way. Again, it’s through on-the-ground organizing if we are living in a world where continents are separate or that meaningful alliances are created, as well as meaning- that it is desirable for them to be separate. For me, unless ful “identities” that flow from struggles, rather than being we are able to acknowledge the impossibility and undesir- abstracted onto them. ability of that, we cannot move forward. For example, do we want to live in a world where Right to Remain and the Right to Migrate someone like me can only claim rights to use the land in a place where I was born (India) but where I do not Mostafah: Migration is an extension of foreign policy. live or have significant ties to? Such arguments basically Most people in the world today migrate because their get boiled down to a right-wing politics of “everybody go right and their ability to remain in their homes is being home,” where home becomes a static idea, which is con- violated by Western imperialist governments. The further trary to human reality. South that the Northern governments outposts extend into, the further North the Southern migrants enter. The borders between the so-called First World and the so- Harsha: I do not think the struggle for the right to re- called Third World have shifted rapidly, and the First main and the struggle for the right to migrate are con-

34 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 tradictory; I think they are the paramount struggles we The Way Forward face globally today. The reality is that we struggle for a Rafeef: I want us to imagine a struggle that is more world in which no one is forced to migrate against their united and less sectarian. All over the world people are will, and also for a world in which people are able to calling for our solidarity and I wish more people under- move freely. The reality of migration today is that mil- stood the absolute necessity of political engagement and lions are forced to migrate due to colonial, capitalist, and struggle. We need more people to commit to the work of oppressive forces. However even without these forces, daily organizing and to build a base of meaningful orga- people should have the right to migrate and I think we nizing. I think we also need to critically think about the need to challenge the assertion that people are only able difference between political work and simple sloganeer- to migrate if they are ‘forced’ to do so. In the ideal anti- ing and constantly question the effectiveness of what we capitalist world that I wish to live in, the borders between are doing and whether it is grounded in the lived realities fighting in the homeland/fighting in exile disappear as of people. the idea of ownership and entitlements to different spaces is eradicated. Mostafah: I feel that sometimes our analysis is com- prehensive and all-encompassing, but in reality and in Rafeef: In the context of Palestine and Palestinian refu- practice, we need to build stronger connections between gees, I see no conflict between demanding the right of diverse issues and movements. People need to come to return for Palestinian refugees to their homes before the terms with the reality that the borders of national libera- 1948 Al-Nakba, while at the same time demanding that tion and of the global South really do extend out to North the Canadian state not deport Pal- America. An effective movement estinian refugees. There were, for In reality and in practice, we need to must profoundly shift how we example, some Arab community negotiate the borders that sepa- leaders in Canada who were trying build stronger connections between rate us and prevent us from mak- to suggest that Palestinian refu- diverse issues and movements. People ing meaningful connections in gees should “stay” in Palestine and the fight for a more just society. fight for Al-Awda (right of return) need to come to terms with the reality and that the struggle against de- that the borders of national liberation Nandita: Our greatest chal- portation of Palestinian refugees lenge is to build a strong, grass- in Canada was undermining the and of the global South really do roots movement demanding free struggle in Palestine. I believe, extend out to North America. mobility within the context of however, that the underlying mo- a world where people are not tivation amongst the people mak- continuously displaced by the ing those arguments was a desire to maintain their privi- daily practices of global capitalist wars, plunder, and de- lege and an unwillingness to confront the Canadian state’s struction of our environment. This is tied to the way we ongoing practices of deportation. think about our relationships with one another and our self-identities. Our most effective models to disrupt these systems are those that are attentive to changing both the Jaggi: Yes, in that example, the seeming contradiction is way we think and identify and to changing the dominant just for those who are removed from the situation. There structures of our world. is no contradiction whatsoever between both asserting the right of people to move, and at the same time asserting Harsha: I think we face various challenges – to build the right for people to not be forcibly displaced from their more sustainable movements, more effective move- homelands. It’s a false debate, imposed by people with a ments, more nurturing movements, more transforma- superficial understanding of what it means to be ami- tive movements, more comprehensive movements, more grant. Free movement, and the right not to be displaced, anti-oppressive movements, more community-rooted are two essential elements to the assertion of collective movements, more creative movements, more relevant and individual self-determination. That’s exactly the movements, more emancipatory movements, more dis- premise from which the day-to-day organizing work of ruptive movements. But I do believe that the only way to groups like No One Is Illegal comes from, and why activ- come closer to achieving any of these is to actually engage ists in such groups see no contradiction between engaging in the struggle for liberation and freedom and to actively in indigenous solidarity work while fighting deportations participate in the collective organizing to build the move- H and repressive border regimes. ments that we desire and demand.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 35 Jewishness, Israel and Palestine solidarity by Alan Sears

ewish women occupied the Is- nationalism, the idea that the best raeli consulate in Toronto this past way to overcome anti-Semitism and JanuaryJ in protest against the brutal ensure the future of Jewish people, Israeli assault on Gaza. German Jews was to form a separate national state, published an open letter condemn- emerged as a minority stream in de- ing Israeli policies, and in New York bate with Jewish universalism. there was a large demonstration of Jewish universalism, which has now Jewish voices in protest. been largely marginalized, argued The Israeli attack on Gaza has that the future of a minority, diaspor- pushed a small counter-current in ic community depended on winning Jewish communities to greater activ- widespread freedoms that applied to ism and visibility in support of peace all members of society. That meant and justice for Palestinians. that in Canada, for example, the Jew- This counter-current is the result of ish population was historically very tireless organizing over a long period active in struggles for a wide range of of time by Jewish critics of Israeli social rights and against the idea of dennis fo policy and anti-Zionists. This coun- Canada as a Christian nation. Boston protest against Israel’s war on Gaza, ter-current challenges the dominant The domination of Zionism since January 2009. x establishment of Jewish communi- the founding of the State of Israel ties, which equates the fate of the has largely silenced Jewish universal- ers of Israeli policy routinely attempt to direct our Jewish people with the State of Israel. ism. The defence of the State of Israel attention to abuses happening in other places and The simple equation of Israel and is now portrayed as the single legiti- insist that a hidden agenda must underlie any fo- Jewishness is one of the powerful mate expression of Jewishness, even cus on Israeli brutality in this unjust world. ideological bases used not only to de- by organizations like B’nai Brith that This argument would lead to paralysis in human fend every action of the Israeli State, historically acted as universalistic hu- rights activism by trying to claim that one must but also to silence criticism and erase man rights organizations. Criticism address all cases at once, or only the “worst” cases. Palestinian existence. It is impor- of the State of Israel is seen as an This would lead us to tell Rosa Parks, who refused tant for those of us who are Jewish attack on the Jewish people and cat- to go the back of a segregated bus in Alabama to challenge this equation, and the egorized as anti-Semitism. in 1955, to quit whining as conditions were even myths associated with it. Of course, the official Jewish orga- nizations always concede that there is worse in South Africa, or colonized Kenya, or for Myths of the Israeli State in principle such a thing as legitimate that matter for Palestinians in refugee camps. The first myth is that the State of criticism of the State of Israel, but ac- The Different Standard Israel is the single outcome of the tual criticism of Israel is virtually al- If anyone is holding Israel to a different stan- history of the Jewish people, the final ways attacked as explicitly or implic- dard than other nations, it is in fact its support- end of generations of diasporic exis- itly anti-Semitic. Indeed, criticism ers. Every Israeli act of aggression is qualified as tence. It turns the Zionist project of of Israel is the basis for the so-called defensive; every violation of international law is a Jewish nation into the monopolistic “new anti-Semitism” that many Jew- portrayed as legitimate. This requires a massive re- politic of Jewish establishment orga- ish establishment organizations have writing of history, one that makes the Palestinians nizations. constructed as a threat. and their own aspirations disappear. The crudest The Zionist ideal of a Jewish na- The idea that criticism of the State version of this casts Israeli settlers in the role of tional state is relatively recent, dating of Israel is explicitly or implicitly “making the desert bloom,” erasing the record of from late in the 19th century. Jewish anti-Semitic rests on the notion that Palestinian habitation and Zionist ethnic cleans- Alan Sears is a member of the Toronto New Israel is selected for undue criticism Socialists. because it is a Jewish state. Defend- ing so well documented by Ilan Pappe and others.

36 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 Opponents of Israeli policy or the caust, and long battles for full citizenship, destroy “our” way of life (“Jewish Com- Zionist project do not criticize Israel did Jews become “white.” munism” and “Muslim Terrorism”). (overtly or covertly) on the basis of the The virulent anti-Semitism that Given the equation of Israel with Jew- ethnicity or religious convictions of its blocked the immigration of Jews fleeing ishness, those of us who are Jewish have population, but rather because of a brutal the Nazis, and which daily confronted a specific responsibility to speak out in history of terror, expropriation, demoli- Jewish residents of Canada with violence solidarity with Palestinians. If we do not, tion and oppression aimed at dislocating and discrimination, has declined as Jews the establishment Jewish organizations and marginalizing the Palestinian popu- of European ancestry gained access to will continue to offer unconditional sup- lation to allow Jewish settlers to stake white privilege. This does not mean that port to Israel in our name. The growing their claim to a state on someone else’s anti-Semitism has disappeared, but it visibility of a small counter-current of land. certainly has lost some of its power for Jewish people protesting the assault on The equation of Israel with Jewishness Jewish people who are accepted as white. Gaza is certainly a hopeful sign. sometimes leads to problematic myths in Indeed, there are powerful parallels be- At the same time, we must recognize solidarity movements as well. People in tween the condition of Jewish people in that our access to white privilege gives the Palestine solidarity movement will the Canadian state before World War 2 our voices undue access to means of ex- sometimes explain the silencing of Pal- and people of South Asian, West Asian pression while those of Palestinians re- estine within the Canadian context in and North African descent today. Not main silenced. We have a responsibility terms of Jewish power within Canadian only are there sweeping similarities in to speak out and an obligation to work in society. This is a problematic formation, the processes of racialization and specific concert with Palestinians, supporting the which disguises Israel’s role in a broader stereotypes, but also specific parallels in expression of those whose voices are most H project of imperialism and capitalist in- the attribution of a subversive project to excluded from the debate. tensification in the region. The silencing of Palestine and support for the State of Israel in the press and across the spectrum of “official” politics in Canada is not the result of Jewish power. Rather, it draws on the so-called “war on terror” that identifies the peoples of West Asia, South Asia and North Africa as a special threat to “western civilization.” This idea did not appear out of nowhere on September 11, 2001, but rather draws on a long history of imperialism and ra- cialization. “Why did the This takes a particular form in North Equity Office at America, where there are marked paral- Carleton ban this lels between Zionist project and our own poster? Could histories of colonization. Does our own this poster be settler solidarity lead North Americans to construed in any accept Israel’s accounts of ethnic cleans- way as anti- ing to create a “land without a people” Semitism or for settlers? The erasure of Palestinians is hate speech? A easier to accept given its resonance with serious freedom the experience of First Nations peoples of speech battle on this continent. is under way on Racial Identities our campuses This process also draws on the dera- about the right cialization of Jewish people in the North to discuss, American context. Before World War 2, portray and Jews (along with others from Southern organize around or Eastern Europe) were seen as a racial the realities of group with particular given characteris- Palestinian life.” tics. Only after the horrors of the holo-

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 37 Resource extraction in the Maritimes Historic links with racism By Sherry Pictou and Arthur Bull

n the context of colonialism, both past and present, deeply rooted racism and histories. Along the path there have been Iindustrial extraction of natural resources seem to go hand in hand. Both are many moments of insight and inspiration aspects of the fragmentation that lies at the heart of the colonial enterprise. On that have pointed us in this direction – the one hand, the social fragmentation caused by racism is required in order more than can be related here – and some of these have become teaching stories in to prevent effective resistance. On the other, the ecological fragmentation is their own right. needed for natural resources to be mapped, privatized, commodified and ex- One such story that has been told ploited. This is especially true in Nova Scotia, where cultural divisions and con- many times took place at the height of flict, hardened into longstanding patterns in the 18th century, have always been the tension following the Marshall Deci- overlaid with patterns of untrammeled exploitation of natural wealth, especially sion. At a critical meeting between chiefs in the fishery and forestry sectors. and lobster fishermen’s representatives in southwest Nova Scotia, at a point where Most recently, this twinning of racial cause between the struggles of First Na- violence seemed imminent, the whole conflict and resource exploitation has tions and non-native coastal communi- direction of the meeting was radically been set out in stark outline once again. ties. After all, both communities are be- changed by the suggestion of one of the This became very apparent after the Su- ing hurt by these forces. In many cases chiefs – former Chief Frank Meuse of preme Court’s Marshall Decision on our communities have been kept apart by the Bear River First Nation – that the fisheries in 1999, which recognized the deliberate effective “divide and conquer” meeting be held as a talking circle with treaty rights of Mi’kmaq, Maliseet and tactics of the federal government. In re- an eagle feather. Furthermore the partici- Passamaquoddy people to participate in sponse to this, the activist in us wants to pants were to speak, not for themselves, the commercial fishery. What followed say: “Ok, get on with it – let’s form the but for their grandfathers or grandmoth- was a period of conflict between First coalition and start acting in sol- Nations and local non-native commercial idarity.” It seems simple enough. fishermen. In fact we have found from But this conflict did not happen in a our solidarity work in south- vacuum. It happened against a back- west Nova Scotia that it’s a ground of privatizations and industrial little more complex than that. overexploitation in the Atlantic com- Our experience has been that mercial fisheries, which was part of ac- this work of coalition-building celerated corporate onslaught against the is as much cultural as political. region’s natural resources. In this context, Discovery of common ground racism is not simply an individual prob- and taking common actions has lem, but an institutional and histori- called for the creation of alter- cal one. Systematic racism has colonial native cultural forms. Different threads interwoven through time up to ways of meeting, different kinds the globalization of the present and con- of “safe spaces” where we can tinues to play a critical in the ecological share stories, as well as cultural crises of the present. production such as video and photography, creative writing – Finding Common Ground all these have made it possible For many of us, the key to resisting to link the struggles of people these twin threats is to realize common who have been divided in their

Sherry Pictou is a writer, educator, activist and former Chief of the Bear River First Nation and Co-Chair of the World Forum of Fisher People.

Arthur Bull is a writer, musician and community organizer who lives on Digby Neck in NS. Clam digger Terry Wilkins.

38 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 edge production. Groups like the local clam diggers association now videotape all meetings with government officials as way of keeping them on public record. These examples are offered not as prescription, but simply as lessons that we have learned here in Nova Scotia. Many more examples could be cited. The main point is that this kind of solidar- ity work requires alternative approaches and spaces, and that cultural production plays a key role in the process. Without this, we are at risk of following the same old pre-ordained patterns that again and again have left us isolated as victims, ers. The effect was transformative, both and British Isles heritage to share mu- replicating fragmentation that under- for the situation (serious violence was sic and food and dance. Indigenous and lies very colonialism we are struggling averted), but also for all the individuals in non-indigenous fisher people have also against. the meeting. This resulted in real cross- been engaged in learning circles to de- Finally, our experience in southwestern cultural learning, on the one hand about velop analysis and strategy, using a vari- Nova Scotia had another dimension that the fishing industry, and on the other ety of means. We have met together at is critical to understanding the nature about the Mi’kmaq community. And this the local level; we’ve been involved in of this work: it presented opportunities learning has provided the basis for long “telelearning” sessions bringing together for much reciprocal learning from the term interaction and solidarity. coastal and arctic peoples who have a perspective of both the facilitator/activ- In the ten years since then there have common interest in defending traditional ists and the people directly victimized by been many examples of meeting in dif- subsistence economies; we’ve organized privatization in their ongoing struggles ferent alternative ways, creating spaces in study tours to learn about community- to protect their livelihoods. which to meet in different ways. based fisheries management in BC and We entered into a space of reciprocal, New England; and we’ve made links with intentional learning because the situation Solidarity on defending the Bay of wider struggles, both national and inter- demanded a more complex response than Fundy against a US megaquarry: This national, through organizations such as “Let’s just get on with it.” This reciprocal was an intensive schooling for all of us the World Forum of Fisher Peoples. Al- learning happened when the experience about how industrial development hap- ternative social spaces like these can sup- of victimization turned on its head, and pens in rural Canada. It also enabled port transformative learning that leads to the alternative ways of knowing inherent members of Bear River First Nation to joint action. in cultural and livelihood practice were learn about their own traditional attach- Cultures of Resistance shared and developed. Some of this kind ment to the Bay of Fundy, in some cases of learning had been already happening from non-Native elders of Digby Neck. We have found that cultural produc- in an unintentional way. tion, especially the use of community- Our unintentional learning was based Opposition to privatization of clam based video, has played a key role. In 2004 on our never-ending experience of reac- beaches: This struggle revealed to all the Bear River First Nation temporarily tion to what we now realize was misin- of us that privatization will exclude all entered the fisheries on its own terms, formation and deliberate divide and con- members of all communities, regardless with support of local small-scale fishers, quer tactics. These tactics have most often of treaty rights, labour rights or funda- rather than through an industrial, state- been presented as part of government mental human rights. It also showed that monopolized, privatized model. Some policies of “economic growth.” In fact, a community organization, in this case key moments were witnessed on video- these represent an agenda for privatiza- the Marine Resource Centre, can force a tape. This process was also documented tion of our places, the living things that public process that allows for voices from in a film by Martha Stiegman that was inhabit them and the communities that all communities to be heard. influential in our communities in its own depend on them. It is an agenda that ex- In connection with these struggles right. Since then the Marine Resource cludes the possibility of both indigenous we’ve sought to build relationships Centre and Bear River First Nation have and non-indigenous small-scale harvest- through a series of “dialogue din- sponsored a number of workshops using ing cultures and economies. In the end, ners” bringing together communities of video and photography as a means of wit- it is only those who are living this night- H Mi’kmaq, African-Canadian, Acadian ness, expression and alternative knowl- mare who can transform it.

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 39 Yes Virginia, there is racism . . . and a lot of other bad stuff in toys and media By Susan Ferguson

here is a famous experiment con- ducted during the segregationist 1940sT in the US. New York psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark placed a black baby doll and a white baby doll side by side on a table. They then asked 253 black children which doll they wanted to play with and why. Two-thirds of the children chose the white doll. In 1985, and again in 2005, similar experiments produced the same results. (A short film of the lat- est version called A Girl Like Me can be viewed online at wwwmediathatmatters- fest.org/6/#.) The children’s reasons for choosing the white doll were also consis- tent. It was “more beautiful,” and “nicer,” while the black doll was “bad” and “dirty.” The 1947 experiment proved, said the In experiments done in the 1940s and repeated in more recent years, the majority Clarks, the extent to which segregation of both black and white children chose a white doll over a black one. harmed black children’s self image – a conclusion cited in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka trial that its appeal to sexual and violent fantasies. But the extent to which these shows ended official segregation. The consistent Bratz doll clothing and facial expressions are evidence of real progress in TV-land pattern in the results, however, points to are decried as too “sexy” for the six-year- is questionable. First, it’s important to something socialists have long argued: olds who play with them. Pokémon fig- note that they do not exist because of a it takes more than a change in the law ures and spin-offs celebrate aggression sudden interest in promoting the com- to overcome the deeply rooted racism of and competition over compromise. Video munities they represent. They are first modern society. It also, however, points and online games, like Grand Theft Auto and foremost a response to the fact that to an issue socialists haven’t spent much and EverQuest, turn children into virtual advertisers are now willing to buy time time thinking through: how children’s Columbine-like killers. for shows that are targeted to those com- munities they judge to have sufficient interactions with toys speak to fantasies Cultural Stereotypes of a better life, fantasies that are bound purchasing power. But more significantly, to be inflected with the racism, sexism Intriguingly, race and racialization are however ironic, they generally fail to se- and class elitism that penetrates capitalist rarely at the forefront of such panics. Per- riously challenge dominant ideas about society. haps that has to do with the more numer- race – or gender – or about the natural- That the multi-billion-dollar toys, ous and arguably more positive – if still ness of such social divisions in the first games and media industries both exploit overwhelmingly stereotyped – represen- place. Indeed, the alternately self-depre- and fuel those very fantasies in their prod- tations of racialized communities on tele- cating and ironic humour only confirms uct designs and marketing is the source vision. Since the 1990s, racialized com- the perception that “other” cultures are of a longstanding social unease. The mor- munities have increasingly taken centre essentially different from the dominant al panic about children’s culture discussed stage in shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel Euro-white culture. in the popular media tends to focus on Air or Little Mosque on the Prairie. And Most such shows, especially those often now, an irony-laden script draws on aimed at young children, are also vehicles Susan Ferguson is an editorial associate of New cultural stereotypes in order to poke fun for conveying highly moralistic messages Socialist. at them – however blandly. about individualism, generosity and self-

40 NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 improvement. For example, two popular A click through the Toys R Us seem made up. This has the marketing “educational” TV shows geared to the advantage of both drawing on the cool- very young, Go Diego Go and Dora the website reveals that maybe up ness of urban multiculturalism without Explorer – both of which feature smart to five percent of its catalogue alienating potential buyers who may find and adventuresome Latinos – relentlessly some dolls “too ethnic.” Mattel, in fact, push the message that any child can over- listings are “ethnic” baby dolls. responded in 2005 by launching a Barbie come the odds if they just try – or think – line – called My Scene – that follows a hard enough. Indeed this is THE formula Mattel introduced the “Coloured Francie” similar formula. If it’s risky to market a – a formula that, however well-meaning, Barbie in 1967 but the designers failed to doll from somewhere, why not market it has little to offer to the daughter of a mi- adequately “ethnicize” her. Initially criti- from nowhere? grant worker who doesn’t even have the cized for her Caucasian hair and facial Erasure from History legal right to attend school, or the kid features, a more “Afro-Americanized” who goes to school on an empty stomach. Christie came out the following year. The erasure of race and oppression When it comes to toy characters, the Today, Mattel produces an international though is most evident when the toy and action figure market appears to have line of Barbies, including an Arab, Fili- media industries tackle history. Films bypassed issues of race and racism be- pino and “Oriental” Barbie, among many like Disney’s Pocahontas is a prime ex- cause of the immense popularity of the others. Distinguished mostly by their ample. The historical tale is sketchy, but monstrous and mechanical. But while fashion and accessories – which empha- we know this much: white colonists kid- Transformers, to take one example, aren’t size stereotyped cultural traits – they are napped Matoaka, a young, married, Pow- human enough to be assigned particular all endowed with the same tiny waist and hatan woman around 1613 in Virginia. races, racialization is naturalized in the long flowing locks of the 1959 original. After a year of living with her captors, very fact that the market line is based on (Mattel actually thickened Barbie’s waist she married tobacco businessman and two competing races, the Autobots (good from a real-life equivalent of 18 inches to settler John Rolfe, who took her to Eng- guys) and the Decepticons (bad guys). 21 inches in 1997.) land where she was produced before elite Now there may be, as psychiatrist Bruno Meanwhile, MGM Entertainment’s society as evidence that North Ameri- Bettelheim argues, good reason to gear Bratz line of fashion dolls pursues a dif- can natives could be “civilized,” and the children’s stories and toys into more sim- ferent racialization strategy, one that may burgeoning colony was safe for further plistic categories as suggested by battles be responsible for the considerable head- settlement. She died shortly thereafter, between good and evil – as play helps way they’ve made into the Barbie market. in her early 20s, and is now buried in an children cope with their relative physical Bratz dolls are intentionally unknown grave in England. Rather than and social powerlessness by enacting con- of indiscernible ethnic- dealing with these uncomfortable facts, flicts between opposing forces. But too ity. Even some of their however, Disney tells the story of a na- often the bad guys are also “otherized,” names – Jade, Yas, tive teen who rebels against her father’s invaders from foreign lands or planets, Eiton, Koby – patriarchal ways as she falls deeply in while the good guys are “Americanized” love with a white man, but nonethe- in voice, and through the (Western) hu- less remains loyal to her people, refus- man connections they make on earth. ing to go with the man she loves. Her As far as the girl-targeted doll market own premature death thousands of miles goes, the realism of the dolls makes race away, and the subsequent decimation of more directly present. Among baby her Powhatan Confederacy is, of course, dolls, where the French firm Corrolle absent from the Disney story. dominates the North American mar- A popular line of historical dolls simi- ket, whiteness (and femaleness) reign larly plays fast and loose with historical supreme. An unscientific estimate, fact, sanitizing and romanticizing it to based on visits to Toronto toy stores, is wash it clean of anything that might con- that less than one percent of shelf space is tradict the notion that things are exact- given over to black (or boy) dolls. A click ly as they should be. American Girl through the Toys R Us website reveals dolls are designed and marketed as that maybe up to five percent of its cata- healthy alternatives to Barbie and logue listings are “ethnic” baby dolls. The Bratz dolls – with little girl figures chances of finding a baby doll that is both and conservative clothing. They black and male? Next to zero. come in a multicultural array of Decepticon: the Inscribing fashion dolls with particu- “otherized bad guy” designs, each packaged with sto- lar ethnic identities has a longer history. ries describing historically-based

NEW SOCIALIST 2009-1 41 adventures. As feminist children’s lit- erature scholar Elizabeth Marshall de- scribes, the Mexican-American War fig- ures briefly in the story of the Latina doll, Josephina. After explaining that when the war ended in 1848, America “claimed most of the land that is now the south- western United States,” the story goes on to state that while she never would have imagined it, Josephina “would one day be an American – and the cultures and tra- ditions of the New Mexican settlers and their Pueblo neighbors would become part of America too.” Isn’t that grand? The destruction of the Pueblo com- munities and lives that this entailed are conveniently not part of this history. As Marshall quips, “Let’s just say I don’t an- ticipate a Black Panther American Girl doll to turn up any time soon.” And, as with Barbie and Bratz, the American Girl doll line is all about acces- Bratz dolls: designed to encourage the purchase of ever more accessories and accountrements and encouraging capitalist consumerist values. sorizing. There are endless fashion acces- sories and accoutrements, such as horse saddles, necklaces and grass skirts – the strategy” – Barbie, like the razor handle, tended messages. What’s more, there is latter for the Hawaiian American Girl of remains constant, while her accessories, something distinct about play itself – it’s course – that children can (must!) buy to like the throwaway blades, are constantly open-endedness and inherent freedom get the most out of their dolls. Just as the renewed and updated. – that, at the very least, runs against the ethnically-sensitive TV shows for young The commoditoy strategy brings us grain of the instrumentalist messages and kids draw on and reinforce the middle back to the issue of children’s play fanta- intended meanings of marketed toys. sies and social oppression highlighted so class ideology of individualism and Children’s Rights self-improvement, the ethnicized doll well by the Clark’s 1947 experiment. For, industry pumps up capitalist consumer- in stoking a longing for the novel, Mattel Still, as play is one of the crucial ways ist values and practices. Australian soci- and other toy companies both play into through which children come to know and strengthen all the racialized, gen- the world and their selves (become sub- dered and class elitist norms that have jects of history to use a Marxist phrase), Children bring their own seeped from children’s lived experiences the stuff of play – what form it takes, who interpretation to and their own into their play fantasies. And because produces it, and how kids play with it – they flood the market, such toys leave merits our critical attention. And while mode of interacting with these little room for alternatives. it’s hard to know the impact of the chil- products – one that can and often With all this in mind, I want to end dren’s culture industry on actual children, by stressing an important caveat when it we can, and should, push for children’s does resist the intended messages. comes to assessing the impact of such an right to access media that is divergent industry on children’s hearts and minds. and progressive in its messages. What if ologist Beryl Langer has a lovely term to There is no doubt that the toy and media children had at their disposal a variety of describe this trend, the commoditoy – a markets promote appallingly regressive toys and media that spark and resonate toy whose commodity features outweigh ideas about race, gender and consumer- with alternative fantasies, ones that dis- their play features. The commoditoy, ism. But their promotion, and a child’s rupt dominant, socially sanctioned ideas never complete in itself, stimulates rather absorption of those messages, are two and feelings? The more toys and media than satisfies longing by showcasing the different things. In fact, plenty ofre- are sanctioned, distributed and patrolled additions and updates that are necessary search suggests children bring their own by the forces of capitalism, the more such for the (never quite) complete play ex- interpretation to and their own mode of alternatives will be edged out by toys, perience. In the 1950s, Mattel manage- interacting with these products – one games and media that reproduce racist, H ment referred to this as the “razor blade that can and often does resist the in- sexist and class elitist norms.

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