Judging by the inflammatory and borderline-racist rhetoric at The Action Clubís June 23 Stop Illegal Immigration Rally ó such as Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower labeling illegal immigration ìcultural terrorismî ó the Republican Party is gearing up for another hate-war, this time on ìillegal aliens.î

Now that the war on ìterrorî (read, on Islam) has bogged down in Iraq, the party of Karl Rove needs a fresh red-meat issue to get out the vote in 2008. So, why not press the tried-and-true racism button?

The tacticís older than the Great Wall of China. Raise the alarm of hordes of lawbreaking foreigners who donít share ìourî language or culture invading like aliens and breeding like animals, diseases and other dehumanizing metaphors. Just forget that our economy is now dependent on their willingness to do the essential jobs the rest of us despise.

Build a wall, decree an official language, crack down on anyone without identity papers. Stir up fear of change, then promise you can turn back its tide.

Our attitude toward the ginned-up ìcrisisî of illegal immigration: Get over it.

A cynic might see Americaís history as one long cycle of Irish-bashing, Italian-bashing, German-bashing, Jew-bashing, Asian-bashing, and now Mexican-bashing ó each group eventually gaining† acceptance and helping bash the next group in turn.

The reality is that poor people are driven here by economic decisions made by the rich ó from the Irish potato famine (caused by Irish farmers being forced to monoculture potatos for export) through the building of railroads on the backs of Chinese laborers to the devastation of Mexicoís small farmers caused by free-trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA.

But itís easier for the average person to attack the funny-talking fellow waiting on the street corner for a dirty, underpaid job that even your teenager wonít take than it is to focus your wrath on the true bad guy ó the multinational corporate investor whoís siphoning resources and capital from that fellowís country as well as from yours.†

Another reality is that national borders ó those artificial lines we humans insist on drawing between one another ó mean little any more. For better and for worse, between the Internet and the globalizing economy, weíre increasingly citizens of a multinational world, and one size ó or one language, or one religion ó does not fit all.

If you donít understand what those foreign people are saying, would it kill you to learn their language? (On the contrary, the mental exercise might help stave off Alzheimerís.) One of the reasons America is failing so disastrously in Iraq is that nobody in the Bush administration bothered to learn Arabic. Foreign-language programs are constantly on school districtsí chopping block ó partly because too many Americans care more about imposing their own language, culture and religion on the world than learning about othersí.

Here at the Daily Planet, weíre practicing what we preach. We are re-launching Ashevilleís first Spanish-language weekly, El Eco de las MontaÒas. Look for this bridge between cultures on Asheville-area street corners every Wednesday.