Blood Red Lines: How Nativism Fuels the Right

Journalist O’Connor debuts with a searing and wide-ranging investigation into “the relationship between capitalism and white supremacy” and “the machinery of exploitation and oppression used by the ruling class” in America. He claims that U.S.–owned factories in Mexico ignored government orders to close during the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in worker deaths; details links between the 1970s environmental and population control movements and today’s most strident anti-immigration think tanks; and documents how technologies developed by Palantir, a surveillance company cofounded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, have been used to conduct workplace immigration raids and investigate adults who come forward to claim unaccompanied children detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite the powerful people and vast fortunes behind the nativist agenda, O’Connor finds hope in recent protests against ICE and police brutality, and the rise of left-wing politicians including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He endorses German communist Clara Zetkin’s 1932 call for an “iron-like community of struggle of all working people,” envisioning a broad-based coalition of progressive groups to defeat “today’s border fascism.” Though the book’s focus wanders and its Marxist ideology feels somewhat half-baked, O’Connor’s impressive research and investigative skills shine through. Liberals will cheer this impassioned manifesto. (Jan.)