Protests score Trump’s hate-mongering agenda

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On Jan. 20, Donald Trump will be sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, and a new Republican ad­ ministration will take control of the U.S. govern­ ment’s executive branch. The election of this bigoted billionaire sent shock waves throughout the commu­ nities that were the targets of his racist, sexist, and anti-immigrant diatribes.

Angry demonstrations and student walk-outs took place in a number of U.S. cities immediately following the election. Shouting anti-racist and feminist slogans such as “My body, my choice!” thousands marched on Nov. 9 in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago, Oakland, Portland, Seattle, and elsewhere. In the San Francisco Bay Area, students marched out of several high schools while chanting, “Not our president!”

The popular vote tabulated on the night of Nov. 8 had Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton nar­ rowly edging Trump by .2 percent of the nationwide vote total. But Trump amazed many by winning over large numbers of working-class voters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and other states normally considered solid Democratic Party territory. By early the next morning, Trump had easily surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to be declared victor and president-elect.

This year’s presidential election was unique in the way that it focused on the unsavory personal char­ acteristics of the candidates, and in the harshly of­ fensive tone of the national discourse. Trump made effective use of Hillary Clinton’s anti-working class, “unscripted” and supposedly “private” comments at a fundraising event attended by many of the Demo­ cratic Party’s richest campaign donors.

For her part, Clinton wrote off supporters of Trump as “deplorable” and “irredeemable,” comments that convey her distain for working people, and the ab­ sence of any recognition of the desperate situation they face under the heels of a severely depressed economy.

A big part of Trump’s campaign message concen­ trated on nationalistic and protectionist “America First” appeals to workers, and racist attitudes to­ ward Mexican Americans, Blacks, Muslims, and im­ migrants. Trump’s sexist attitudes and behavior were also prominently on display, including a tape-record­ ed comment he made admitting his involvement in sexual assault. In one instance, Trump made vicious comments and gestures mocking a disabled reporter. Early in his campaign Trump tried to provoke his supporters to inflict physical harm on Black Lives Matter protesters.

A young Muslim woman, speaking on a PBS call-in show the night after the election, expressed the fear that the Trump victory has produced in minority communities. She stated, “Everyone here is in shock. … Even though I was born and raised in this country, if feels as if I am not a full American by Trump’s stan­ dards. … His rhetoric has emboldened the racists and bigots.”

Trump’s campaign drew international attention, particularly its racist aspects. The newly anointed “president-elect” received congratulatory messages from far-right, anti-immigrant nationalist leaders, in­ cluding Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front in France and candidate for the French presidency.

However, the notion that Trump’s victory reflect­ ed deep and growing racist and sexist sentiments among U.S. workers is far from accurate. Virtually the same electorate chose the nation’s first Black presi­ dent four and eight years earlier. Trump prevailed in (continued on page 5, in “Labor’s Trump Card: Build a Labor Party!”)

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We support the struggles of those who are specially oppressed under capitalism— women, LGBT people, national minorities, etc. We support the right of self-determination Socialist Action is a national organization of activists committed to the emancipation for oppressed nationalities, including Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. We are of workers and the oppressed. We strive to revitalize the antiwar, environmental, labor, internationalists, and hold that workers of one country have more in common with workers anti-racist, feminist, student, and other social movements with a mass-action perspective. of another than with their own nation’s capitalist class. We seek to link struggles across Recognizing the divisions that exist on the left and within the workers’ movement, we seek national boundaries, and to build an international revolutionary movement that will facilitate to form united front type organizations around specific issues where various groups have the sharing of experiences and political lessons. That is why we maintain fraternal relations agreement. In this way we seek to maximize our impact and demonstrate the power and Socialist Action believes that the capitalist state and its institutions are instruments of the In the process we hope to bring activists together from different backgrounds into a ruling class, and that therefore they cannot be used as tools of the working class but have revolutionary workers’ party that can successfully challenge the wealthy elite—whose profit- to be smashed. That is why we fight for revolution. When we fight for specific reforms, we driven system is driving down living standards and threatens all life on this planet. do so with the understanding that in the final analysis real social change can only come We are active partisans of the working class and believe in the need for independent about with the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of a workers’ government, and the working-class politics—not alliances with the bosses’ parties. That is why we call for workers fight for socialism. Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic, environmentally sustainable, and in the U.S. to break from the Democratic and Republican parties to build a Labor Party egalitarian society organized to satisfy human needs rather than corporate greed. We invite you to join us in the struggle to make the world a better place!

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Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, President Obama signed the PROME­ SA debt-restructuring bill into law, im­ posing a Federal Control Board onto Puerto Rico that is comprised of seven appointed U.S. officials who will be in charge of the economy.

I see PROMESA as a threat to the livelihood of my friends and family in Puerto Rico. It is a blatant disregard for the people of Puerto Rico and a culmi­ nation of the sad history that Puerto Ri­ cans have suffered in the hands of the United States from the Ponce Massacre of 1937, where 19 unarmed civilians marching peacefully were brutally mur­ dered by police, to the illegal Mordaza and Law 53 created to suppress the in­ dependence movement.

Let us not forget the bombardment and contamination of Culebras and Vieques. The U.S. has been a constant threat to Puerto Rico!

PROMESA clearly shows us the colo­ nial status of Puerto Rico. I realize that this problem is more deeply rooted than just one bill that was passed into law and that the problem stems from U.S. imperialism. The United States has been fraudulently manipulating Puerto Rico’s politics and economy from the moment the U.S. military took over the island and made it a colony.

Sure, they gave us the title of U.S. citi­ zens through the Foraker Act but only to hide the true colonial status it has main­ tained. We are considered U.S. citizens yet Puerto Ricans on the island have no right to vote for the president and have no representation in Congress. If there effectiveness of mass action. based on the trade unions. designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor. Name City State Phone E-mail was ever any doubt in the past, PROME­ SA has made it quite clear that Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States and that the people of Puerto Rico have no autonomy or self-determination.

Since 2010, Puerto Rico’s legislature has faithfully fulfilled the demands of creditors and bond-rating agencies: It has laid off workers; raised prices for water, gasoline and electricity; increased property, sales and smallbusiness taxes; cut public pensions and health benefits; raised the retirement age; and closed schools.

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Address Zip Christine Marie / Socialist Action The debt amount is questionable too and must be investigated. The United States has created much of the debt through the Merchant Marine Act (Jones Act), which requires all prod­ ucts entering or leaving Puerto Rico to be carried on a U.S. ship, and to top it off, the import fees are paid to the mer­ chant marine, not to the Puerto Rican Treasury!

Puerto Ricans on the island and in the U.S. are realizing that political and economic decisions made by the U.S. for Puerto Rico are corrupt and rigged. with the Fourth International.

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[email protected] (Left) No to PROMESA contingent at Sept. 18 Puerto Rican Day parade in Springfield, Mass.

They exist to benefit the U.S. at the cost of the livelihood of Puerto Ricans on the island. PROMESA is part of the big scam, and the only promise PROMESA is keeping is to close more schools down, to make Puerto Ricans lose their pensions, and to reduce their wages. For example, the minimum wage will be lowered for anyone under 25 to a mere $4.25 an hour! This is not a livable wage. And they plan to make it a federal crime for workers to strike against all of these changes! It is a trap!

PROMESA will further increase the unemployment rate, making even more Puerto Ricans leave the island on top of the 400,000 who have already left. His­ tory is repeating itself. As I recall from the past, the U.S. government overly in­ creased taxes on Puerto Rican farmers to the point that they had to take bank loans, which ended up making them lose their lands.

Puerto Ricans in the U.S. have a close tie to Puerto Rico and to our culture. We do not want our families to be forced to leave our beloved island because of the conditions set forth by the United States’ corrupt politics and economics, which have not only oppressed Puerto Ricans for decades but also led to the current debt crisis.

How can we survive these conditions? PROMESA threatens the livelihood of our friends and family in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans on the island and in the U.S must stand together against it! n For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, (510) 2689429, [email protected] Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org WHERE TO FIND US • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected] (401) 952-5385 • Salem, Ore.: [email protected] • San Francisco Bay Area:

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