To understand the dynamic growth of migrant labour movement in the US and its militancy, it is necessary to analyze the profound structural changes of the 1980's and 1990's in Mexico and Central America.
NAFTA, Proxy Wars and Free Markets
Beginning in the 1980's, the US via the IMF, and its client presidents in Mexico (Salinas, Zedillo and Fox) promoted a "free trade" policy codified in the North American Free Trade Area. This policy opened the door to the massive inflow of heavily subsidized US agricultural commodities undermining local small and medium size farmers. Large-scale foreign investments in retail enterprises, banking and finance led to the bankruptcy of millions of small business people. The growth of free trade industrial zones (maquiladoras) led to the decline of protective social and labour legislation. Foreign debt payments, corrupt privatizations and large-scale growth of precarious employment led to an absolute decline of wage levels, even as the number of Mexican billionaires multiplied. Huge profits and interest payments accruing to US corporations and banks flowed back to the US, as did billions of dollars from corrupt politicians, money-laundered by US banks like CITI Corporation.
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[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on May 5, 2006]
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The Dialectics Of The Migrant Workers Movement
Posted on Friday, May 05 at 08:37 by Ed DeakContributed By
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It is true that big corporations are partially to blame. However, migrant workers are simply the tools corporations use to drive down the wages of working class Americans, or Canadians, or Germans in the case of Turkish workers.
The real victims in this case are the American working class, regardless of background. Illegal workers allow the biggest corporations to transfer more and more wealth from the working classes to the corporate class. It also fulfills the globalist ideology of "no borders".
This said, illegal workers are not victims, as they came by choice. If they are victims automatically, simply because they are Mexican, then they need to make Mexico a better country to live in. I doubt that is very possible, but they are not victims simply because they are from a poor country.
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Multiculturalism is neither left nor right, but rather a sickening indication of what happens when 'representative government' fails the majority.