From: Dave Zachariah (davez@KTH.SE)
Date: Mon Feb 04 2008 - 15:43:52 EST
on 2008-02-04 17:38 Gerald Levy wrote: > I think that the possibility of "one government" in NA is highly unlikely. > More than that, I think it fundamentally mis-reads the character of the > current initiatives undertaken by the US state. While recent administrations > have certainly pushed the agenda of "free trade" and international > capital mobility in NA (NAFTA and the current efforts to pass "Plan > Mexico") they have no such commitment to the "free movement of > labor [power]". Under the guise of "homeland security" and fighting > the "war on terrorism" there have been a number of initiatives > against immigrant labor, e.g. the construction of "The Wall" on the > US-Mexico border. The fact that all of these initiatives have not > passed despite widespread support within the two bourgeois parties > is in large part a result of the success of the massive protests in > the streets in 2006 by immigrants against proposed changes in > immigration policy. But - to put it mildly - the US government is > not a consistent champion of the "free mobility of labor". > > Perhaps not a consistent champion, but was not the Bush II administration attempting to ease the legal status for immigrants from South of the border? I.e. contrary to the most reactionary talk heard from the Republican candidates. I wouldn't be surprised if right-wing politicians will be all over the spectrum on this issue: Neoliberal reaction will express a pure capitalist ideology (free mobility of labour and competition on the labour market etc.), while Conservative reaction will express the most vicious forms of nationalist ideology (protect state borders and 'national identity' etc.). That, at least, is the case in Sweden. //Dave Z
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