[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] A United Front of the Working Class: San Joaquin County Stands Together Against the Persecution of Immigrants and the Intimidation of Workers
Published by WCU • 3 min read
WHAT WE FACE
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] Across the country, immigration enforcement and police surveillance disrupt daily life in neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and churches. Our coworkers and our neighbors are questioned and detained with little regard for fairness or due process. Though we are not seeing the same level of activity as Chicago and Los Angeles, we must not let that make us complacent.
WHO WE ARE
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] We are farmworker committees, tenant unions, religious congregations, and union members in San Joaquin County. Our commitment is simple: this is our Central Valley, we will protect one another, and we will act together.
OUR PRINCIPLES
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] We are organizing to prevent fear from dividing the working class. Fighting each other over crumbs to cover the costs for healthcare, housing, and survival has always been a fools game. The labor movement's slogan "an injury to one is an injury to all" remains true. We understand when immigrant workers are targeted, the wages, well-being, and power of every worker are weakened.
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] But our response must not be panic. Instead, we must organize and fight in a disciplined manner. Our anger, outrage, and compassion must be transformed into deliberate and long term organizing and solidarity.
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] Speak the language of class. No employer or official should be able to use immigration status to silence workers, steal wages, evict families, or break unions. Immigrants' strength is part of the strength of the whole American working class.
A UNITED FRONT
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] A united front brings together working-class organizations around shared goals. It is independent of the two major parties and institutions of the capitalist class. This is not a popular front that subordinates us to the program or candidates of the Democratic Party. We cooperate with those who respect our independence and the leadership of working-class organizations.
WHY WE MUST STAND TOGETHER
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] Large corporations, and their allies in government, impose exploitation and war abroad, forcing millions to migrate to survive. The same ruling class then blames immigrants for crises caused by corporate greed, hoping to fracture the working class and keep wages low. When undocumented workers are kept in fear, employers can threaten deportation to crush organizing and drive down pay. That hurts the entirety of the working class. The answer is not to turn on each other; the answer is to unite and fight the bosses together.
WHY NEITHER DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICANS WILL SAVE YOU
Democrats
Democrats offer kinder words but have presided over mass deportations and expanded enforcement, while leaving working-class cities to shoulder costs of migration without support.
Republicans
Republicans campaign on open attacks against immigrants and unions. Both parties answer to big money.
The result is predictable: people already struggling with housing and services are pitted against new arrivals for resources neither group should have to fight over. We reject the propaganda that our only choices are one party's cruelty or the other's empty promises. We build independent, organized working-class power.
NOT SLOGANS ALONE - ORGANIZING AND PERSUASION
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] The immigrant struggle cannot be confined to viral slogans as if words alone could change reality. Outbursts of energy must be converted into patient, disciplined organizing rooted in workplaces, neighborhoods, schools, and congregations. We must explain our situation clearly, do the hard work, and persuade.
OUR LONG-TERM DEMANDS
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] We fight to defend San Joaquin County, and a country, where every worker can live and work with dignity, safety, and equal rights.
- [Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] Due process and civil rights
- [Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] Freedom of speech and association
- [Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] Real enforcement of labor rights for all workers, regardless of status
- [Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] Citizenship for all who are already here and real pathways to citizenship for future immigrants
OUR PLEDGE
[Punjabi Translation Coming Soon] We will not abandon our neighbors. We will not be divided by papers, race, language, party, or zip code. We will build a united front of workers in San Joaquin County, one independent of the politicians and corporations that profit from our fear. We will organize where we live, work, and worship until no employer can threaten a worker into silence and no family faces these crises alone. Join us today.
Add your name in solidarity.
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