May Day

We Win Peace When We Struggle For It: Cuba And The Zone Of Peace

May 25, 2024 Claudia O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. Strategize! Americas, Cuba, May Day, US Foreign Bases, Zone of Peace

In the midst of May Day Celebrations in Cuba, on May 4th and 5th participants from 30 countries gathered in Guantanamo, Cuba for the 8th International Seminar for Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases. Representatives from social movements for peace, and mass based organizations from around the world came together for two days of discourse and dialogue on the conditions of peace and war during these times of US/Western backed Zionist genocide in Palestine, and the western led invasion of Haiti (with many of the same foreign interests involved in both), to declare the necessity to work towards peace and to close down all foreign military bases that are a direct threat to the sovereignty of those lands and to peace worldwide.

Chicago: May Day March For Palestine Prepares For Protest At DNC

May 6, 2024 Vince Olson, Fight Back! News. Resist! Chicago, DNC, Illinois, Israel, May Day, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity

Chicago, IL – On May 3, the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention held a rally and march to celebrate International Workers Day. The 400 attendees heeded the call from the coalition to come stand with Palestine for May Day and vowed to show up again to protest against the Democratic National Convention (DNC) when the convention comes to Chicago August 19 through 22. The coalition linked labor and immigrant rights movements in this event, as well. A special speaker at the rally was Artemio Arreola of Casa Michoacan and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Don’t Like War? Then Don’t Work!

May 4, 2024 Peter Cole, In These Times. Strategize! Antiwar Movement, Dockworkers, May Day, Ports, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs

May Day — a legal holiday for workers in most countries — was born in Chicago. On May 1, 1886, workers shut down America’s greatest industry city, and other cities too, to demand the 8-hour workday. In 1894, the U.S. Congress intentionally created a Labor Day at another time of the year, but some Americans continue celebrating the original, real Labor Day. On May 1, 2008, 10,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), one of the strongest and most militant unions in the United States, walked in those Chicagoans’ footsteps. They did so by walking off the docks at all 29 West Coast ports, completely shutting down America’s Pacific trading network.

This May Day, Workers Mobilized For Palestine

May 3, 2024 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Resist! Columbia University, International Peoples' Assembly (IPA), Israel, May Day, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Student Activism, Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)

On May Day, workers around the world mobilized for the liberation of Palestine. “This May Day, workers of the world are called to declare their solidarity with Palestine, to denounce the Israeli Genocide, and to call for an end to all aggressions in the region and to all wars,” wrote the International People’s Assembly. “Beyond the call for a ceasefire we must say no to the transportation of arms and arms caches to Israel. Workers in all industries – especially workers in the transport sector – that can withhold their labor in order to halt the continued slaughter of the people of Palestine are emphatically called to do so!”

May Day 2028 Could Transform The Labor Movement And The World

May 1, 2024 Shawn Fain, In These Times. Strategize! Autoworkers, General Strike, Labor Movement, May Day, Unions, United Auto Workers (UAW), Worker Rights and Jobs

Members of the United Auto Workers courageously fought corporate greed at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis last fall during the historic six-week Stand-Up Strike. Because of their determination and commitment, we won record contracts with the Big Three automakers. After decades of falling behind, UAW autoworkers are finally moving forward again. We made a lot of ambitious demands at the bargaining table. One in particular may not have gotten the same attention as the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments or the reopening of the Stellantis assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill. — but it could also prove transformational: We aligned our contracts to expire at midnight on April 30, 2028.

More US Activists Face Harassment By Authorities Upon Return From Cuba

May 8, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! Cuba, Customs and Border Patrol, May Day, State Repression

On May 7, several members of the US-based National Network on Cuba (NNOC) who had participated in the May Day Brigade, were detained and harassed by US Customs and Border Patrol upon arrival to the United States from Cuba. The NNOC released a public statement on the evening of May 7, emphasizing that “In face of persecution, we reaffirm our right to travel to Cuba. Solidarity is not a crime – the US blockade is!” They added that several of the people who were detained by CBP also had their electronics seized and some were even threatened with jail time. The harassment of their brigade members comes just days after over a dozen members of the International Peoples’ Assembly delegation to Cuba were similarly detained and questioned at the Miami International Airport and the Newark Liberty International Airport. Other organizations that traveled to Cuba for the May Day activities such as LA US Hands Off Cuba, faced similar treatment by border officials.

May Day In Havana: International Solidarity To Resist The US Blockade

May 6, 2023 Walter Smolarek, People's Dispatch. Resist! Cuba, Economic Blockade, May Day, Youth Activism

This year’s May Day celebration in Cuba was interrupted by severe storms that knocked out electricity in much of the country. Authorities had no choice but to postpone the traditional mass marches. But for over 150 young grassroots organizers from the United States who had traveled to the country to mark the holiday, this turn of events was just more reason to deepen their efforts to end the US-imposed blockade of the country. Miya Tada, a brigade participant from New York, explained how this showed that “the biggest obstacle the Cuban people are facing is the repression and economic warfare of our own government, and that just inspires me to further the struggle against the blockade back in the United States.”

May Day’s History Shows Why Labor And Prison Struggles Are Intertwined

May 2, 2023 Mansa Musa, The Real News Network. Resistance Report Criminal Justice and Prisons, May Day, Police, Worker Rights and Jobs

May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is celebrated around the world by labor unions, socialist parties, and anarchists. May Day’s origins go back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair, when hundreds of thousands of US workers walked off the job, and 40,000 went on strike in Chicago for an eight-hour workday. Despite its origins, May Day is largely unknown in the US today. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez joins Rattling the Bars for a discussion on the history of May Day, and how the persecution of organizers in the wake of the Haymarket Massacre highlights the importance of extending solidarity from the labor movement to the fight to abolish the prison industrial complex.

Left Parties And Trade Unions In West Asia And North Africa Mark May Day

May 2, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! Africa, May Day, Unions, Western Asia, Worker Rights and Jobs

International Workers’ Day celebrations were held in different countries of the West Asia and North Africa region on Monday, May 1, with trade unions and left parties organizing mass demonstrations. Marking the day, workers raised slogans of unity and revolution against capitalist exploitation. Paying homage to the martyrs of Chicago, Tunisia’s largest trade union movement, the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), issued a statement on behalf of its general secretary Noureddine Al-Tabouni. It said that the UGTT was founded “on the principles of labour solidarity and victory of the interests of the workers and general public in all parts of the world regardless of race, gender, color and belief.”

Largest May Day Turnout Since Pandemic, Workers March Worldwide

May 2, 2023 Olivia Rosane, Common Dreams. Resist! International Workers Day, Labor Movement, May Day, Worker Rights and Jobs

Workers from Japan to France took to the street on Monday for the largest May Day demonstrations since Covid-19 restrictions pushed people inside three years ago. Marchers expressed frustration with both their nations' policies—such as French President Emmanuel Macron's raising of the retirement age in March—and global issues like the rising cost of living and the climate crisis. "The price of everything has increased except for our wages. Increase our minimum wages!" one activist speaking in Seoul told the crowd, as The Associated Press reported. "Reduce our working hours!" "The price of everything has increased except for our wages."

Workers Fight Back On May Day, International Workers’ Day

May 1, 2023 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast - Clearing The FOG Higher Education, May Day, Strikes, Supply Chain, Worker Rights

May 1 is celebrated around the world, and unofficially in the United States, as International Workers' Day. In honor of this, Clearing the FOG speaks with two workers who are fighting for their rights and dignity. SN 'Yeager,' a spokesperson for the Graduate Employees Organization Local 3550, speaks about the conditions that brought them to go on strike at the University of Michigan (now in its sixth week), the tremendous outpouring of support for their struggle and how the University is retaliating against them. Billy Randel of the Truckers Movement for Justice, which is holding a day-long protest at the Department of Transportation today, speaks about the difficulties truckers are facing in the US and their demands that all workers are paid for all hours worked and greater transparency in the industry.

Lessons From Lenin For International Workers Day

May 1, 2023 Workers World Party, Workers World. Educate! History, International Workers Day, May Day, Working Class

International Workers Day, also known as May Day, reminds us of an anecdote about the 1917 Russian Revolution regarding the working class. At the time, the Bolshevik Party, trained and led by V.I. Lenin was in the process of seizing power. An anti-Bolshevik intellectual was arguing with a Bolshevik worker and bringing up all the complexities of running a government and of deserting Russia’s allies in the great slaughter of World War I. “I see it this way,” said the Bolshevik worker. “The bosses are on one side. We’re on the other side. If we don’t take power, they will.” The worker was right. Bosses, that is capitalists, are on one side. Workers are on the other side.

Revolutionary Cuba Delivers Marching Orders To The US Left

May 27, 2022 Jacqueline Luqman , Black Agenda Report. Resist! Cuba, Imperialism, Left, May Day

I saw with my own eyes the celebration of worker solidarity and the indefatigable defense of the Cuban Revolution as waves of workers walked with signs and costumes and Cuban flags past the iconic images of Ernesto “Che” Guevara on the Ministry of the Interior building with the words he may be most famous for accompanying his image, “Hasta La Victoria Siempre,” or “Always onwards onto victory,” and another of Camilo Cienfuegos on the adjacent Telecommunications Building with the words “Vas Bien, Fidel,” or “You are doing well, Fidel,” underneath the image. Any picture or video captured of the May Day 2022 parade would reflect an unabated stream of masses of people holding banners, waving flags or scarves, and dancing to a vibrant live band between the billboards on one building at the entrance to the Plaza that read “Cuba vive y trabaja (Cuba lives and works)” and the imposing 109-meter tall José Marti memorial that overlooks the plaza.

Over 5 Million People March On May Day In Cuba, A Country Of 11 Million

May 5, 2022 Evan Branan, Liberation News. Create! Cuba, Economic Blockade, May Day, Socialism

Led by the slogan, “Cuba Works and Lives,” Havana’s 2022 May Day parade was attended by more than 700,000 workers and students from across Havana, demonstrating both a joyful celebration and triumphant victory of the Cuban Revolution. More than 5.5 million people celebrated throughout Cuba on May 1 in their respective provinces, for a total of 6 million people at events over the weekend. It was a special celebration because of the parade’s cancellation the last two years due to COVID-19 restrictions. Cuba’s May Day parade is historically the largest in the world, and this year it came back with a roar in one of the largest turnouts seen in years. Intense fuel shortages due to the U.S. blockade make transportation difficult — even so, people from all provinces of Cuba traveled to take part in this historic International Workers’ Day celebration.

Marking Workers’ Day In Dispiriting Times

May 4, 2022 New Frame, Black Agenda Report. Strategize! May Day, South Africa, Worker Rights and Jobs, Youth Activism

Most young people in South Africa do not have a job and are, under current circumstances, unlikely to ever have one. For years, deindustrialization and the collapse of mining laid waste to unionized jobs. Now state austerity is hacking away at the public sector. Many of the few new jobs that are being created are poorly paid, precarious and not well unionized. Some of this can be ascribed to powerful global forces that are difficult for any state to resist. And the deep structural features of our society were built by colonialism and are so entrenched that they cannot easily be changed. But there is no doubt that the ANC’s poor economic policy choices have also been a significant part of the failure to build a viable economy. This has been compounded by the appalling state of public education, the collapse of a significant part of the ANC into a violent kleptocracy, the decay of infrastructure and a series of damaging events such as the brutally enforced hard Covid lockdowns, the winter riots and the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

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