the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Feb 12, 2024
The Wall Street Journal recently published a column entitled "Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital."
This outrageous, inflammatory, racist, Islamophobic garbage did not come from some extreme right-wingers like Gary Jones or Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Wall Street Journal is a major newspaper that speaks for a section of the American capitalist class.
The column basically labeled Arab Americans of Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb in Metropolitan Detroit, as dangerous terrorists. Why? Because Dearborn, Michigan has a majority population of Muslims and Arab Americans, the largest concentration of Arab Americans in this country?
Racist hardly begins to describe their stereotyping.
The Wall Street Journal, like the majority of bourgeois press, has supported the policy that the U.S. and Israeli governments are carrying out in Gaza and the Middle East. That amounts to support for the massacre of Palestinian people, if not in words, in the omission of any protest.
Using rhetoric like this, calling Dearborn America’s Jihad Capital, is dangerous and outrageous. It will be used by the far-right, by the Republican right currently fomenting attacks on all immigrants to enflame hatred. It is a call to attacks and open violence on the Arab residents in Dearborn because it insinuates that people living among us, be it in Dearborn or Detroit, are the enemy.
It is not just The Wall Street Journal that is pushing this anti-Arab hatred. It also comes from other media and other organizations. This racist propaganda has led to other attacks on Arab Americans, like the protester recently stabbed in Texas, the 6-year-old boy killed near Chicago, and the three students shot in Vermont.
Like many around the world, people in Dearborn, and not only Arab residents, have been horrified by the killing taking place in Gaza, where the Israeli military, backed by the U.S. government, has bombed, and killed over 28,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. Many of the Arab Americans in Dearborn are from Lebanon, which was occupied by the Israeli military for many years. Others include Palestinians who have fled here from Israel’s violent policy. They have had family members and friends killed in Gaza. Since Israel invaded Gaza, people in Dearborn have rallied and protested almost daily, calling for a ceasefire. They have condemned Joe Biden and the U.S. government for its support of Israel.
They are absolutely right to do so.
As they raise their voices in protest, they are being attacked. The entire population, workers from across the region, should join ranks to defend and support them.