Today in Labor History March 11, 1919: Ukrainian Jewish anarchist Mollie Steimer was arrested in New York City and charged with inciting to riot. She was charged with sedition and eventually deported to Soviet Russia, where she met her lifelong partner Senya Fleshin. The two agitated for the rights of anarchist political prisoners in the USSR. The authorities there deported her again, this time to western Europe, where she and Fleshin organized aid for political prisoners. With the rise of the Nazis in Europe, she and Fleshin fled to Mexico, where they spent the rest of their lives working as photographers. She died in 1980.
Today in Labor History February 23, 1882: B. Traven was born on this date in Poznan, Poland. Traven’s real name was probably Ret Marut. He was active in the Bavarian uprising and the Bavarian Soviet Republic of 1919. When the German state quashed the Republic and started arresting and executing activists, he fled to Mexico, where he began writing novels. Traven was a brilliant satirist and wrote novels sympathetic to workers and peasants, including the “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “The Death Ship,” “The White Rose,” as well as his Jungle Series of novel depicting the plight of Indigenous campesinos in Mexico.
Today in Labor History February 21, 1934: Augusto Cesar Sandino, Nicaraguan independence fighter, was assassinated by Somoza’s Nation Guard. While in exile in Mexico during the early 1920s, Sandino participated in strikes led by the IWW. Inspired by the anarcho-syndicalist union, he adopted their red and black logo as the colors for the revolutionary Nicaraguan flag. The Sandinistas, or FSLN, who overthrew the dictator, Anastasio Somoza, in 1979, were named for Sandino.
Today, in honor of Black History Month, we remember Lovett Huey Fort-Whiteman (December 3, 1889 – January 13, 1939), an American political activist and functionary for the Communist International (Comintern). Time Magazine once called him “the reddest of the blacks.” As a young man, he lived in the Yucatan, during the Mexican Revolution, which radicalized him and introduced him to anarcho-syndicalist labor organizing. After this, he moved back to the U.S. and became a leading activist and speaker during the Harlem Renaissance. He also wrote two works of fiction during this period. In 1918, he met anarchist cartoonist Robert Minor, who inspired him to visit the Soviet Union. Soon after, they both joined the Communist Labor Party of America. In 1927, he moved to Moscow, where he worked as a teacher at an English-language school. However, in 1937, he was caught up in The Great Purge, and was sentenced to hard labor in a Siberian prison camp because of his Trotskyist affiliations. There, he died of malnutrition in 1939.
Ana Laura Vázquez, habla de represión que sufrió por policías en manifestación a favor de #Palestina . En el programa Cosa Pública de Radio UdG #Guadalajara, Jalisco, #México.
"Pronunciamiento que leyeron nuestres compañeres al respecto de la represión policial del día sábado 3 de febrero. #PalestinaLibre#FreePalestine (texto en el hilo)"
Members of the Texas National Guard stand in front of a fire burning migrants' belongings on a razor wire fence that was placed on the border to inhibit the crossing of migrants into the United States, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
Today in Labor History February 2, 1931: U.S. citizens of Mexican heritage were “repatriated” to Mexico. During the decade’s first four years, the federal government deported anywhere from several hundred thousand to 1.8 million Mexicans. 40-60% of those deported were U.S. citizens and overwhelmingly children. President Hoover blamed Mexicans for the Great Depression and deported them in huge numbers to win support from his right-wing base.
Today in Labor History February 2, 1848: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the U.S. war with Mexico. As a result of the treaty, Mexico was forced to cede over 1/3 of its territory to the U.S., including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Texas. 25,000 Mexicans and 12,000 Americans died in the war.
Video of Tijuana No, with Kid Frost, performing “Stolen at Gunpoint.”
Seabed Mining: A Battle Between Profit and Preservation
In the depths off the coast of Baja California Sur, #Mexico, lies a trove of phosphate, a key ingredient in commercial fertilizers.
This valuable resource has attracted the attention of Odyssey Marine Exploration, a US-based seabed #mining company. However, the proposed extraction project has ignited a clash between economic interests and ecological guardianship.
A migrant child seeking asylum kneels in front of a member of the Texas National Guard and asks to be allowed to enter the United States, after crossing razor wire deployed to prevent the crossing of migrants, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
“The U.S.-Mexico #border is a land of contrast—austere landscapes and lush oases; thunderstorms and rainbows; robust industries and ghost towns; great wealth and aching poverty.”
Shoe hangs in razor wire on U.S.-Mexico border, as seen from Ciudad Juarez
A shoe hangs in razor wire set up to inhibit the crossing of migrants into the U.S., as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
👉🏼#SupremeCourt allowed Border Patrol agents to cut through or move razor wire #Texas installed on the U.S.-#Mexico border as part of an effort by the state to prevent illegal border crossings.
..Biden admin argued Texas was preventing agents from carrying out their duties.
The brief order noted that 4 conservative members of the nine-justice court would have rejected the government's request. They were Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh #legal#SCOTUS
“The scene lasted about ten seconds. Kevin T. Wynne, an American Evangelical pastor who is a missionary in Mexico, took an axe and hacked to pieces a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe as people in his congregation applauded.”
“A video of the scene, which took place in early January, went viral on social media. And it sparked outrage among many people online because of the brutal treatment of perhaps the most beloved religious figure in Catholic Mexico.
The perpetrator of this act is a fundamentalist Baptist pastor who has been preaching in various regions of Mexico for 40 years with the aim of converting to as many people as possible to his brand of religion.”