Workers should have the power!
Liberation StaffMay 1, 2023 20
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As we mark May Day — International Workers’ Day — one thing is clear: life under this system keeps getting harder and harder for working people. The cost of basic necessities has skyrocketed. A recession is on its way as the Federal Reserve intentionally tries to create mass unemployment. Millions of people are being kicked off of Medicaid, and more cuts to other essential programs could be on the way because of the phony “debt ceiling” crisis.
The Biden administration is sitting on its hands and letting the working class suffer. It has not moved to freeze prices or provide any form of relief from the economic turmoil. When rail workers stood up for dignity, Biden trampled on their right to strike. The administration has abandoned their plans to pass any kind of progressive reform, but they have somehow found an endless supply of money to pay for war in Ukraine.
The Republicans’ ultra pro-corporate program will make the situation even worse. Because they have no real solutions, they promote racism, bigotry against LGBTQ people, and other schemes to divide workers.
No one in the political establishment can be depended on to defend our interests. This is the inevitable consequence of a system — capitalism — where millionaires and billionaires make all the most important decision.
May Day is about standing up and saying that workers should have the power! Instead of a tiny handful of bankers and corporate executives, the people should run the economy and the government so we can meet the needs of the people and the planet.
https://www.liberationnews.org/workers- ... rationnews
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Latin America Celebrates International Workers' Day
A Bolivian poster in honor of International Workers' Day. | Photo: Twitter/ @MindeGobierno
Published 1 May 2023 (1 hours 51 minutes ago)
In countries like Argentina and Ecuador, mobilizations are expected against the interference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in domestic economic policies.
On May 1, Latin American workers will mobilize to defend their rights and commemorate International Workers' Day.
In Argentina, social and trade union organizations will gather in Buenos Aires City to defend workers' rights and reject the interference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in domestic economic policies.
Groups such as the Union of Workers of the Popular Economy, the Evita Movement, the Combative Class Current (CCC), the Milagro Sala Front, Standing Neighborhoods, and the Great Homeland Front will meet on Mayo Avenue from where they will march to the headquarters of the Argentine government, the Pink House.
In Brazil, the Worker's Central Union (CUT) and other organizations will hold events in the main cities of the country to express their support for President Lula da Silva, who announced an increase in the minimum wage and will send a bill to Congress so that this remuneration is readjusted according to the annual inflation rate.
In Bolivia, President Luis Arce will lead the La Paz city's Great March convened by the Bolivian Workers' Central (COB) to commemorate International Workers' Day. He is expected to make some pro-working class announcements.
In Chile, the Workers' Unitary Central (CUT) and other social organizations called on citizens to gather at the CUT headquarters to march towards the Gabriela Mistral Center, where they will hold a massive rally in Santiago city.
Besides rejecting job insecurity, Chileans demand a tax reform to improve the distribution of wealth, an increase in the amount of pensions for retirees, more jobs for young people, and the implementation of Convention 190 against workplace violence and harassment.
In Ecuador, the Unitary Front of Workers (FUT) and dozens of social organizations will carry out the traditional march for Labor Day and demand the resignation of Guillermo Lasso, a right-wing president who has failed to solve the main problems that afflict the people.
In Venezuela, the United Socialist Party (PSUV), labor unions, and social organizations called on citizens to meet in various locations in Caracas starting at 10:00 a.m. local time to march in support of President Nicolas Maduro.
In Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay, union and social organizations will also carry out acts to commemorate International Workers' Day.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Lat ... -0006.html
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May Day 2023: Prepare for a long, hot summer of struggle
May 1, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
Akron, Ohio, march demands justice for Jayland Walker, April 15.
It’s May Day – International Workers’ Day – and the United States is a tinderbox of combustible material waiting for a spark. Poor and working people who gather in cities and towns across the country on May 1 should prepare for a long, hot summer of struggle against the capitalist regime.
In a single day, April 17, grand juries in Ohio and Virginia let off killer cops who murdered Black men: Jayland Walker and Timothy McCree Johnson.
In 2022, U.S. police killed at least 1,176 people – nearly 100 per month – the largest number ever recorded. But 2023 is on track to bust that gruesome record. The rate of fatal police shootings of Black people far outstrips any other group.
Just days before, on April 14, a 16-year-old Black honor student, Ralph Yarl, was shot by a white racist in Kansas City, Missouri, for the “crime” of ringing his doorbell. Yarl had mistaken the bigot’s street address for the location where he was supposed to pick up his younger siblings.
The critically wounded youth ran to neighboring houses seeking help – only to be ignored. Then, finally, a neighborhood resident saw Yarl lying in a pool of blood in a driveway and got help. Fortunately, he survived.
On April 13, in Brooklyn, New York’s Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood, police shot and killed an elderly Black man after they broke into his building and pounded on doors “searching for a robbery suspect.” The NYPD claims the man was holding a pistol. He didn’t fire at the cops, but Caesar Robinson “was shot numerous times” before he died.
The outrages don’t stop there. On April 19, the Dekalb County Medical Examiner released its official autopsy report on Atlanta, Georgia, forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, who was shot and killed by Georgia State Troopers during a brutal raid on “Cop City” protesters in January.
The cops claimed Tortuguita shot first. The Medical Examiner’s report confirmed what everyone knew – the cops lied. There was no gunpowder residue on the hands of the Latinx-Indigenous nonbinary activist. Their hands were raised when their body was riddled with 57 police bullets.
The Biden administration and Senate’s Democratic Party majority have joined the Republican House majority and right-wing state and local governments to fork over additional billions of funding to police agencies.
Remember how Biden rode to victory over bigot Donald Trump on the coattails of the massive Black Lives Matter movement following the police murder of George Floyd in 2020? Since taking office, Biden has only done the bidding of the bosses frightened by the Black Lives uprising.
War at home, war abroad
The police war on Black and Brown people at home is an extension of U.S. wars for empire abroad. In the last year, Biden and Congress have spent well over $100 billion funding the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia and the people of Donbass.
As this is being written on April 28, a Ukrainian strike on the city of Donetsk has killed at least seven people and wounded 19 in a busy shopping area – the latest in hundreds of similar war crimes committed against civilians in the Donbass region since the U.S.-backed coup in Kiev in 2014.
Ukraine’s war on civilians had already claimed more than 14,000 lives before the escalation of the conflict in February 2022. It’s unclear how many more have died since Russia was forced to intervene to protect the population of Donbass and eastern Ukraine last year, but it’s certainly in the tens of thousands on both sides, if not more.
As the conflict drags on, bringing direct U.S. military conflict with Russia ever closer, Washington is also gearing up for war with the People’s Republic of China. In fact, this is the war favored by the Republican far right and the most overtly pro-fascist factions of the U.S. ruling class. But there is bipartisan agreement on the dangerous buildup in the Pacific and Asia.
From Cuba and Venezuela to Iran and Zimbabwe, people continue to suffer the effects of U.S. sanctions and blockades – another form of warfare. U.S. wars, both proxy and open, continue to kill from the Horn of Africa and Syria to Palestine and Yemen.
For workers here, the costs of U.S. wars have been devastating – not only robbing funds from desperately-needed social services to pay Pentagon contractors and U.S. proxy regimes but providing the rationale of out-of-control price-gouging by capitalist profiteers.
The cost of fuel, food, rent, utilities, and health care continue to rise as wages stagnate, and the Democrat/Republican axis removes all of the meager protections put in place during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the unaddressed climate crisis devastates swaths of the country, upending lives with startling regularity.
The increasingly desperate conditions have inspired powerful strikes coast-to-coast. The bosses have taken note of the upturn in labor organizing and strike activity – led by young workers – and are positioning their politicians to crack down, even passing measures to roll back laws against child labor from Alabama to Iowa, following in the wake of Biden’s attack on railroad workers.
Hundreds march in solidarity with censured trans Rep. Zooey Zephyr in Missoula, Montana, April 28.
Trans lives, abortion rights under attack
The first big battles of summer 2023 may come during June – LGBTQ2S Pride Month.
Florida, Tennessee, and other states have passed or will pass broad measures to crack down on Pride celebrations. In Florida, some corporate-sponsored Pride events have already been called off before the measure takes effect for fear of legal liability.
We face the possibility of mass arrests at Pride events, especially targeting trans people and drag artists. A barrage of more than 500 state bills in nearly every U.S. state since the start of this year is attempting to drive trans people out of public life – cutting off life-saving gender-affirming health care for both youths and adults; banning people from using restrooms or playing on sports teams corresponding to their gender; and even making it illegal to be trans in public.
Across the country, astroturfed “parents groups” are working with right-wing politicians to ban books that tell the truth about queer lives, Black history, and any aspect of U.S. history. Libraries are being defunded, and teachers silenced. Even elected officials who dare to challenge the far right from Montana to Tennessee are being targeted with illegal sanctions that disenfranchise the people who voted for them.
Anti-trans legislation has been accompanied by growing threats and violence on social media and in the streets. Drag story hours and queer events of all kinds are targeted by far-right bigots from the Proud Boys to TERFS and Christian nationalists, often working side-by-side. In response, queer communities and allies from coast-to-coast have mobilized to push back the fascists.
Increasingly, the cry is heard: Pride is a protest! Stonewall was a riot! Pride 2023 is guaranteed to swell the movement of recent years that has demanded a return to the spirit of the Stonewall Rebellion and for cops out of Pride.
After robbing women and other people who can become pregnant of their right to abortion last year, allowing many states to ban the essential medical procedure, the U.S. Supreme Court may soon ban access to the abortion pill nationally.
Make no mistake: the situation is dangerous. Members of oppressed communities are dying. Millions of workers are living on the edge of disaster.
But the workers and oppressed, the masses of the people, have not yet been heard from. The working class has the power to turn the situation around – not only to halt the fascist advance but to reverse the setbacks and expand people’s rights. It is the job of revolutionary communists and socialists to seize every opportunity to aid the masses in exercising their power.
Yes, it will be a long, hot summer – and not just because of capitalist-fueled climate change. The bosses and their political stooges are asking for it. Let’s give them hell.
https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2023/ ... -struggle/
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May Day: World’s workers rally, France sees pension anger
By ANGELA CHARLTON and HYUNG-JIN KIM
22 minutes ago
A worker holds up a smoke stick during a May Day rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, May 1, 2023. Workers and activists across Asia are marking May Day with protests calling for higher salaries and better working conditions, among other demands. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
PARIS (AP) — People squeezed by inflation and demanding economic justice took to the streets across Asia and Europe to mark May Day on Monday, in a global outpouring of worker discontent not seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the world into lockdowns.
French police charged at radical protesters smashing bank windows as unions pushed the president to scrap a higher retirement age. South Koreans pleaded for higher wages. Spanish lawyers demanded the right to take days off. Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon marched in a country plunged in economic crisis.
While May Day is marked around the world on May 1 as a celebration of labor rights, this year’s rallies tapped into broader frustrations. Climate activists spraypainted a Louis Vuitton museum in Paris, and protesters in Germany demonstrated against violence targeting women and LGBTQ+ people.
Celebrations were forced indoors in Pakistan and tinged with political tensions in Turkey, as both countries face high-stakes elections. Russia’s war in Ukraine overshadowed scaled-back events in Moscow, where Communist-led May Day celebrations were once massive affairs.
Across Asia, this year’s May Day events unleashed pent-up frustration after three years of COVID-19 restrictions. This year’s events had bigger turnouts than in previous years in Asian cities, as activists in many countries argued governments should do more to improve workers’ lives.
Across France, thousands marched in what unions hope are the country’s biggest May Day demonstrations in years, mobilized against President Emmanuel Macron’s recent move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Organizers see the pension reform as a threat to hard-fought worker rights, while Macron argues it’s economically necessary as the population ages.
While marchers were largely peaceful, groups of extremist protesters shattered windows of stores and banks in Paris, drawing tear gas from rows of riot police. One was filmed dismantling a surveillance camera, and French police deployed drones exceptionally to film unrest, a move that has raised concerns among privacy defenders and activist groups. Paris police detained 30 people, and clashes were reported in Lyon and Nantes.
French union members were joined by labor activists from other countries, environmental activists and other groups fighting for economic justice, or just expressing anger at Macron and what is seen as his out-of-touch, pro-business leadership. Activists opposed to the 2024 Paris Olympics and their impact on society and the environment also demonstrated.
In Turkey, police prevented a group of demonstrators from reaching Istanbul’s main square, Taksim, and detained around a dozen protesters, the independent television station Sozcu reported. Journalists trying to film demonstrators being forcibly moved into police vans were also pushed back or detained.
The square has symbolic importance for Turkey’s trade unions after unknown gunmen opened fire on people celebrating May Day at Taksim in 1977, causing a stampede that killed dozens. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has declared Taksim off-limits to demonstrations, though small groups were allowed to enter Taksim to lay wreaths at a monument there.
In Pakistan, authorities banned rallies in some cities because of a tense security situation or political atmosphere. In Peshawar, in the country’s restive northwest, labor organizations and trade unions held indoor events to demand better workers’ rights amid high inflation.
Sri Lanka’s opposition political parties and trade unions held workers’ day rallies protesting austerity measures and economic reforms linked to a bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The protesters demanded the government halt moves to privatize state-owned and semi-government businesses. Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in history and has suspended repaying its foreign debt.
More than 70 marches were held across Spain, led by the country’s powerful unions, who warned of “social conflict” if low salaries compared to the EU average don’t rise in line with inflation. They also praised incentives to move Spain to a four-day working week.
Blue-collar workers led the protests, but white-collar professionals were also making demands in a country that stills bears the scars of previous recessions.
The Illustrious College of Lawyers of Madrid urged reforms of historic laws that require them to be on call 365 days of the year, regardless of the death of family members or medical emergencies. In the last few years, lawyers have tweeted images of themselves working from hospital beds on IV drips to illustrate the problem.
In South Korea, tens of thousands of people attended various rallies in its biggest May Day gatherings since the pandemic began in early 2020.
“The price of everything has increased except for our wages. Increase our minimum wages!” an activist at a Seoul rally shouted at the podium. “Reduce our working hours!”
In Tokyo, thousands of labor union members, opposition lawmakers and academics demanded wage increases to offset the impact of rising costs as they recover from damage from the pandemic. They criticized Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan to double the defense budget, and said the money should be spent on welfare, social security and improving people’s daily lives.
In Indonesia, demonstrators demanded the government repeal a job creation law they argue would benefit business at the expense of workers and the environment.
“Job Creation Law must be repealed,” protester Sri Ajeng said. “It’s only oriented to benefit employers, not workers.”
In Taiwan, thousands of workers protested what they call the inadequacies of the self-ruled island’s labor policies, putting pressure on the ruling party before the 2024 presidential election.
Protests in Germany kicked off with a “Take Back the Night” rally organized by feminist and queer groups on the eve of May Day to protest against violence directed at women and LGBTQ+ people. Several thousand people took part in the march, which was largely peaceful despite occasional clashes between participants and police. Numerous further rallies by labor unions and leftist groups are planned in Germany on Monday.
Italy’s far-right premier, Giorgia Meloni, made a point of working on Monday — as her Cabinet passed measures on Labor Day that it contends demonstrates concern for workers. But opposition lawmakers and union leaders said the measures do nothing to increase salaries or to combat the widespread practice of hiring workers on temporary contracts. Many young people say they can’t contemplate starting families or even move out of their parents’ homes because they can only get temporary contracts.
Elsewhere, some communities held May Day festivals that harkened back to pagan ceremonies celebrating spring.
In war-ravaged Ukraine, May Day is associated with Soviet-era celebrations when the country was ruled from Moscow — an era that many want forgotten.
“It is good that we don’t celebrate this holiday like it was done during the Bolshevik times. It was something truly awful,” said Anatolii Borsiuk, a 77-year-old in Kyiv.
Alla Liapkina described the flowers and balloons of Soviet May Day gatherings, but said it’s time to move on.
“We live in a new era, and we need to develop in this direction,″ she said. ’’We don’t need to go back to such a past.”
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Hyung-Jin Kim reported from Seoul. Mari Yamaguchi and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo; Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia; Kanis Leung in Hong Kong; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Riazat Butt in Islamabad; Abby Sewell in Beirut; Jennifer O’Mahoney in Madrid; Nicolae Dumitrache in Kyiv; Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Frances D’Emilio in Rome; Alex Turnbull and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris, contributed to this report.
https://apnews.com/article/may-day-cele ... f9c9e97d18