This chauvinist campaign seeks to convince workers to join with bosses and identify with “our country.” But “we Americans” is a fabrication of the bosses. In reality, this country is divided between tens of millions of working people—us—and a handful of propertied families—them—in whose interests the government acts at home and abroad.

The dispute over Dubai Ports World is yet another factional move orchestrated by Democratic politicians against the Bush administration, as Sen. Hillary Clinton and others portray themselves as the best defenders of U.S. imperialism in the “war on terror.”

The “Goodbye Dubai” rallies organized by Teamsters and longshore union officials are cut from the same cloth as the protectionist campaigns they have previously organized against the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement. These all seek to tie the fortunes of working people to those of the U.S. bosses.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union officials call for police to “screen all vehicle drivers and riders at every port terminal gate.” That’s the kind of measures bosses are pushing for, under the banner of “homeland security,” to be able to crack down on union struggles. In 2002, as California dockworkers fought for a contract and resisted an employer lockout, federal officials invoked the antilabor Taft-Hartley Act to order them back to work, arguing that the union was endangering “national security.”

Working people should reject that deadly trap. Our interests lie not with U.S. bosses but with fellow toilers from the Middle East to China to Mexico. We should oppose the “homeland security” offensive—part of the war on working people at home—as well as Washington’s “global war on terror,” used to assault our brothers and sisters abroad.
 
 
Related articles:
Democratic politicians, labor officials lead American chauvinist anti-Dubai campaign  
 
 
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