May Day

#GeneralStrike2020: How To Participate On The May Day Launch

April 30, 2020 Popular Resistance. Resist! General Strike, May Day, Rent Strike, Workers

On May Day, the first of May, the #GeneralStrike2020 (and beyond) campaign launches across the country. Learn more about the overall campaign in our most recent newsletter, "The Era of Mass Strikes Begins On May 1; First Day of General Strike Campaign." This prolonged and broad campaign will organize around a list of basic demands, as outlined here. Not on the list, but included is the demand to save the US Postal Service. The campaign will follow a three-prong strategy - resistance through noncompliance, mutual aid and building alternative systems in our communities rooted in cooperation, solidarity and participatory democracy. On May Day and extending through the weekend, there will be many activities. Read through and decide how you can best participate in the actions. There is something for everyone to do. Be creative!

Amazon, Walmart, FedEx Workers Plan Walkout On Friday

April 30, 2020 Kaelan Deese, The Hill. Resist! Amazon, Fedex, General Strike, May Day

The Friday demonstrations will also request protective and cleaning equipment and full disclosure on the number of infected cases in company facilities. The protest would result in employees of the listed businesses calling in sick from work or stepping out during their lunch break. At the same time, some union members will reportedly join workers outside warehouses and storefronts in support of the strikes. "We are acting in conjunction with workers at Amazon, Target, Instacart, and other companies for International Worker's Day [May 1] to show solidarity with other essential workers," said Daniel Steinbrook, a Whole Foods employee and strike organizer. Smalls was fired by Amazon in March after organizing a walkout and has said he will take legal action against the company.

Millions Of Students Struck To End A War In Vietnam

April 30, 2020 Steve Early, Popular Resistance. Educate! May Day, Student Strike, Vietnam, Wars and Militarism

President Richard M. Nixon prided himself on the accuracy of his political prognostication. Nixon was never more prescient than fifty years ago this month, in a remark made to his secretary, just before delivering a White House address that announced a U.S. military invasion of Cambodia. “It’s possible,” Nixon told her, “that the campuses are really going to blow up after this speech.” Blow up they did, as Nixon’s unexpected escalation of an already unpopular war in Vietnam triggered a chain of events culminating in the largest student strike in U.S. history. In May 1970, an estimated 4 million young people joined protests that shutdown classes at 700 colleges, universities, and high schools around the country. Dozens were forced to remain closed for the rest of the spring semester.

Fired Amazon Worker Chris Smalls: Support May Day Strikers

April 29, 2020 Jaisal Noor, The Real News. Resist! Amazon, General Strike, May Day, Workers

Another reason why we out here tonight is because Amazon is targeting specific people. We are being told to stay six feet apart. However, that rule does not apply for everyone. We’ve seen management do it right in front of us. We’ve seen safety that are supposed to keep us safe, do it. Yet we as associates are being targeted. Jaisal Noor: That’s Hofsa Hassan, one of the dozens of Amazon workers who staged a walkout to protest unsafe working conditions and the loss of hazard pay at an Amazon warehouse in Shakopee, Minnesota on April 26th. We can expect to see more walkouts and protests leading up to big actions on Mayday or International Workers Day, which is observed in most countries except the United States. Despite its rich militant often bloody history of working class struggle that’s secured major victories like the eight hour workday.

Earth Day To May Day Protests Begin In DC With ‘Essential, Not Expendable’ Protest

April 27, 2020 The ShutDownDC Alliance, PopularResistance Resist! climate crisis, COVID-19, Earth Day, May Day, Recession, Workers

Three moving protests involving 135 people celebrated essential workers as well as to condemned employers and legislators for avoidable illnesses and deaths. They carried banners that read, “Essential, Not Expendable, and “Free Them All.” The three caravans – two consisting of cars and one of people on bicycles – visited grocery stores, hospitals, and government agencies, before coming together in Anacostia in SE DC, where they were joined by a live go-go band. The actions were organized by activists with Black Lives Matter DC, 1199SEIU, and ShutDownDC. The Essential, Not Expendable protest is part of the 10-day Earth Day To May Day action organized by the ShutDownDC alliance, which started on April 22, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

A Call To Action: Towards A General Strike

April 11, 2020 Cooperation Jackson, Black Agenda Report. Resist! COVID-19, General Strike, May Day, Rent Strike

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world before our very eyes. In less than 3 months, it has exposed the grotesque nature of the capitalist system to millions, ground the world economy to a halt, and revealed how truly interconnected our little planet really is. As bad as this crisis is on its own terms, it is made considerably worse by the misleadership from the White House, Congress, and many state and local governments. President Trump not only failed to heed the advice of the state's intelligence services regarding the potential threat of the coronavirus, but he downplayed its severity for months as well, and has refused to mobilize the vast resources at the disposal of the US government to address the crisis.

French Yellow Vests Rally In May Day Protests Amid Teargas

May 1, 2019 Staff, Telesurenglish.net Resist! Class Struggle, France, International Workers Day, May Day, Protests, Workers, Yellow Vest

French police fired tear gas to push back masked demonstrators in central Paris Wednesday as thousands of people used an annual May Day rally to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's policies. Labor unions and "yellow vest" protesters were on the streets across France just days after Macron outlined policy proposals including tax cuts worth around 5 billion euros (US$5.58 billion). More than 7,400 police were deployed in Paris, Global News reported.

May Day 2019 – National Mobilization For Immigrant Workers Rights!

March 19, 2019 Staff, Immigrantsolidarity.org Resist! Immigration, International Workers Day, May Day, Undocumented, Workers

We are calling a national day of multi-ethnic unity with youth, labor, peace and justice communities in solidarity with immigrant workers and building new immigrant rights & civil rights movement! Fight against Trump's racist anti-immigrant policies. Wear White T-Shirt, organize local actions to support immigrant worker rights!

Police Unleash ‘Brutal Attacks’ On Austerity Protesters In Storm-Ravaged Puerto Rico

May 3, 2018 By Jessica Corbett, Commondreams.org Resist! Austerity, May Day, Police State, Protests, Puerto Rico, Repression

Police in Puerto Rico deployed tear gas and fired rubber bullets to shut down May Day protests as thousands of people took to the streets of the U.S. territory, which is still battling the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria—and a debt crisis that preceded the storm. While people worldwide demonstrated Tuesday to demand improved labor conditions on International Workers Day, Puerto Ricans also turned out to protest the Trump administration's failed response to the humanitarian crisis that followed the hurricane as well as austerity measures imposed by the federal government both before and after the storm struck last September.

Workers, Activists Mark May Day with Defiant Rallies

May 3, 2018 Staff, Thenationalherald.com Resist! Activists, Class Struggle, May Day, Rally, Workers Rights and Jobs

Thousands of Greeks are marching through central Athens in at least three separate May Day demonstrations. Museums were also shut while ferries remain were tied up in port and public transport operated on a reduced schedule in strikes marking labor day. Police said at least 7,000 people were at the first demonstration in Athens, which was organized by a communist party-led union. The protesters marched by parliament and headed up a major avenue to the United States Embassy. Another four demonstrations were planned in Greece’s second largest city of Thessaloniki in the north. Trains, the suburban railway, urban trolleys and ferries to and from the islands suspended operations for the day, while buses and the Athens metro system were operating on reduced schedules

Re-Centering Anti-War And Anti-Imperialism As Working Class Issues

May 2, 2018 Black Alliance for Peace. Organize! Anti-Imperialism, Anti-War, May Day, Working Class

Today is the day that the multi-national, multi-racial working classes express solidarity with all those who labor, who have nothing but their labor power to sell in order to eke out a living for themselves and their families. Today, workers from all nations, races, genders and nationalities proclaim that – despite differences – there are common interests that bind us and can serve as a basis for a common political stance and program of liberation from the ravages of capitalist exploitation and great power domination.

May Day: An American History Coverup

May 1, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Artkillingapathy.com Educate! Class Struggle, History, May Day, Propaganda

60 years ago, President Eisenhower proclaimed May 1st Law Day. According to the American Bar Association, it was to be “a national day set aside to celebrate the rule of law.” Even compared to the more frivolous holidays, this one seems particularly arbitrary. How does one celebrate Law Day? By high-fiving a lawyer? For once not crossing the street on red even though the coast is clear? The truth is, no one celebrates it. And even for those who first constructed and proclaimed it – celebration wasn’t the point. Rather, the point was to cover up and malign those who demanded justice over an oppressive and violent law and order. With this new day proclaimed, the powers that be could spray-paint “Commie” on the fight for worker’s rights so that all who labor here fall in a capitalist line, afraid of being thought unpatriotic if they demand justice.

May Day: Know Your History & Why May 1st Matters

April 27, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com Resistance Report Class Struggle, History, May Day

Be it Fight for 15, teacher strikes, tree-sits in the path of pipelines, outcries against police brutality or the #metoo movement, it's clear that tensions are high and the gaping chasms between the haves and have nots, the oppressors and the oppressed, the rich and poor – are more and more visible to those on the losing side. It's getting harder for the powers that be to make excuses for gross inequalities – the pressure of oppression is reaching a breaking point – and the question is, who will break?? And I'm no blind optimist – more so a realist with hope and an appetite for historical connections. Without history to explain the present, we move into the future blind – we build on foundations we know nothing about, rehashing old mistakes, unaware of what worked and what didn't.

Bring Back May Day

April 27, 2018 By Saurav Sarkar, Otherwords.org Create! Class Struggle, May Day, Poor People's Campaign

Most of the world recognizes May 1 — May Day — as International Workers’ Day. Here in one of the few countries that doesn’t, it’s worth pausing to ask how U.S. workers are doing. At an event last December, Fight for $15 organizer Terrence Wise recalled “going to bed at night, ignoring my own stomach’s rumbling, but having to hear my three little girls’ stomachs rumble. That’s something no parent should have to endure.” Wise was marking the launch of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Last month, the Institute for Policy Studies and the Poor People’s Campaign released The Souls of Poor Folk, a report on 50 years of change in the issues that affect working people, and particularly those at the bottom. We looked at systemic racism, poverty, militarism, and ecological devastation.

Philly Teachers Call Off Work In Bottom-Up Campaign

May 29, 2017 Samantha Winslow, www.labornotes.org Resist! Education, May Day, Philadelphia, Teachers

By Samantha Winslow for Labor Notes - Teachers and their unions turned out for May Day this year in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Oakland, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Seattle. They held teach-ins at schools and pickets outside, and joined citywide demonstrations in solidarity with immigrant communities. Philadelphia teachers wanted to show solidarity with the day’s themes—but also make a statement to the city about their own contract struggle. They’ve gone four years without a contract and five years without a raise. They’ve suffered school closings, freezes on steps and lanes in the pay scale, layoffs of school nurses and counselors, and the privatization of substitute teachers. The state-appointed school board even tried to cancel their contract, though it was rebuffed by the courts. So, to create pressure on the district, a group of teachers organized their own protest. “We are finally taking some action, after five years of not doing much,” said Tom Quinn, a teacher at the city’s largest high school, where more than half of teachers took a “personal day” on May Day. The 11,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers didn’t authorize the action. Instead it was a rank-and-file group, the three-year-old Caucus of Working Educators, that enlisted 400 teachers from 24 schools to call off from work and join a series of May Day activities.

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