Since the mid-August, we have known that people fleeing war, poverty and religious fanaticism want to cross the EU border with Belarus. Poland is generally not their final destination for migration, they only seek refuge here, because although we are also ruled by religious fanatics, there is a little less poverty and at least there is no war here.
They are fleeing capitalist wars for access to oil, gas and rare metals from which our telephones and computers are made. Wars now are about creating better opportunities for global capital flows. Wars, which at the same time further limit the possibility of movement in search of better living conditions for people who do not belong to the political and financial elite. Wars that break out as a result of drought and other natural disasters resulting from the climate and ecological crisis; a crisis at the root of which is also the capitalist system.
It is in the interests of the capitalists that the borders are closed and the people who cross them are strictly controlled. As a result, they can move production to countries where workers are poorly protected, set one worker against another, take advantage of the plight of migrants and employ them under poor conditions.
At the same time, we are told that people who migrate for work or flee from war are a threat to us, that they will take away our unstable and low-paid jobs, that they will use our meagre benefits and other forms of social assistance, that they will compete with us for resources that are not enough for us. However, they are not responsible for the condition of the Polish labour market, for the often fictitious actions of the courts and labour inspectorates, for the collapse of the health care and social welfare system, for the lack of access to housing, for the pitiful amounts of financial aid for people in need.
As union members, we stand for international solidarity of the oppressed against the oppressive actions of governments and employers; we oppose the politics of creating divisions among masculine workers and feminine workers – that is, the majority of the global population. Our opponents and adversaries are the bosses at work and people on ministerial stools, not people who, moving around the world, are fighting for a better existence.
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