Tomorrow on May 1st 2008 there'll be nationwide marches for migrants workers and human rights. Are you in?
Barack Obama was there on 1 May 2006. Will you join in on 2008?
AfterDowningStreet.org has an amazing historical overview on why tomorrow there will be massive demonstrations and labor union strikes all across the country : 122 years of the 8 hour week and end of child labor, 5 years of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, 3 years since the discovery of the Downing Street Minutes, 2 years since the nation-wide immigration rallies of 2006, almost 2 years ago when Nanci Pelosi and Democrats in Congress and the Senate took the impeachment of George Bush for misleading the country to war, "off the table". Yet in one of the most mindboggling examples of the Bush Administration's information war against Americans, May 1st has been declared Loyalty Day.
And here's the thing : You and I know that when it comes down to it, the war against immigrants is a war against labor which is part of a larger attack from the only people who benefit from the other kind of corporate-led violence like the occupation of Iraq.
As my friend Roberto Lovato said earlier, paraphrasing ActUP, "Silence = Death". If you are like me, you hate marches but you go to them because you know that as a symbol of solidarity in dissent you need to go.
So dust off your walking shoes and get your arse to the streets and square.
MARCH
on
MAY 1, 2008
International Workers' Day
Join us in a May Day march to unite ALL workers!
2:00pm
RALLY at ROOSEVELT PARK in CHINATOWN
(Grand St. between Forsyth and Chrystie St.)
(B/D Train to Grand St. Station)
3:00pm
MARCH to UNION SQUARE
JOIN US TO DEMAND:
Repeal of the Employer Sanctions Provision
Legislate Equal Rights for All Workers
Establish a genuine path to citizenship for the undocumented
Equal Rights for All Workers! Don't Crimilinalize Immigrants
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL WORKERS!
DON'T CRIMINALIZE IMMIGRANTS!
May Day originated in the United States when native and immigrant workers united to fight for the 8 hour day. Today we are calling all workers to come together -- not just to fight for survival, but to fight for better lives, and control over our time and our lives.
Corporations reap billions off the backs of working people by pitting immigrant against citizen. At the same time, the government and elite call for strengthening of the Employer Sanctions Provision -- a modern-day slave law -- to create and expand the underclass of labor this law created. They are also pushing guestworker and legalization programs that will legalize a few, while criminalizing many more.
We march to forge unity among immigrant and native born workers, and build a movement to make equal rights for all workers a national priority this year.
For more information, contact: Break the Chains Alliance, c/o NMASS 212-358-0295 | info@breakthechainsnow.org | www.breakthechainsnow.org
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May Day
True true. It's absolutely important for people to get out there, march together, and support the immigrant communities.
Do you have pictures of the marches you went to?
Crissy
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workers rights and more
i think it's totally true that the war on immigrants is a war against labour. that said, i think that when immigrants are summarily thrown into detention, or forced to show their papers it's really a war on everyone's civil liberties.
npr had a great story this morning about washington state and how border patrol is asking for papers on a ferry that doesn't cross the us/canada border: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90060908
new york state is no stranger to the phenomenon as our immigrants are getting taken off amtrak and greyhound, on routes that don't cross the us/canada border.
so, yes, it is imperative that folks get out into the streets tomorrow and march to show that this is still important to immigrants and all new yorkers alike.