CLOSE DOWN THE BRITISH BASES - OPEN THE BORDERS

The Government portrays the migrant workers as the new threat against which we should all be protected. The various pronouncements by ministers and high rank government officials regarding "a tide of immigrants from neighbouring countries ready to flood in Cyprus" cultivate a climate of xenophobia and racism.

They blame migrant workers for the unemployment rate, for criminality, for drug trafficking and for every evil in society. In recent months they try to connect the opening of the borders and the mingling with Turkish Cypriots with the issue of the "illegal immigrants".

It's all grossly racist lies. Firstly, the Cyprus Republic in no way is it a paradise for which "thousands of foreigners" they are thronging in order to enter the country. Migrant workers are not to be blamed for unemployment but the capitalistic system itself; a system which has bosses' profits at its core. It's not the immigrants who are responsible for the sacking of employees by the hundreds in Cyprus Airways, or in KEO wineries, or for the unemployment among teachers or the dire situation of the farmers.

On the contrary, it's the government and the system that it serves, which is responsible for all these. It refuses to reduce fuel taxes for heating, while spends millions on helicopters and guard ships in order to monitor the coastal areas and keep away any poor immigrants who seek to get away from their ruthless destiny. The government slashes expenses in Education and Health and at the same time gives away millions to the speculators of the Stock Exchange offering them tax amnesty. The government, while it provides protection and facilitations to the British and US imperialists and to the Zionist state of Israel to continue their mass murdering of innocent people in Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere in the world, arrests or deports the poor victims who try to escape from those criminals.

The immigrants are not rotters. The real rotters are the bosses, the big speculators, the bankers and the industrialists who squeeze equally 'local' and 'foreigner' workers.

Therefore we should not allow them to pass their racist propaganda. The 'foreigner' workers are our brothers and sisters. They are also, even more badly, victims of the same system that oppresses and crushes the life of all workers. The migrant workers participate in the production of wealth that exists in the society, and often at the cost of their life; so they are entitled to any benefits and rights available to the rest of the workers.

We should not accept any discrimination at the expense of the workers in terms of their race, their colour, their religion, their national or country of origin. We demand the immediate abolishment of all the racist entry and work restrictions for immigrants. These racist restrictions give immigrants the "illegal" status and make them an easy prey for the police and the fascist scum. We ask for the immediate legalisation of all immigrants and the granting of all rights and benefits that the 'local' workers are entitled to.

We ask from the government to bring immediately into effect the decision taken years ago for the creation of an amenity center where the immigrants will have a decent place to gather there, to organise their meetings or their assemblies.

The fight against racism is fought by deeds and not by words or declarations. We call everyone to participate in the anti-racist events organized by KISA in collaboration with the Cyprus Social Forum.