Millions Celebrate Around the Globe
Submitted on Wed, 06/29/2005 - 2:19am
Industrial Worker - June 2005
In Germany, more than half a million workers rallied against layoffs and falling wages. In Bangladesh, thousands rallied to demand better safety standards weeks after a garment factory collapsed, killing 76 workers. In Nepal, thousands marched in the capital city Kathmandu, demanding an end to martial law.
In Japan, hundreds of thousands called for a global ban on nuclear weapons. In Russia, 20,000 unionists marched down one of Moscow's main boulevards, demanding a living wage. In Turkey, workers organized three different rallies in Istanbul, despite a government ban on May Day events.
Half a million marched in Mexico City. In Maputo, Mozambique, 30,000 marched behind a banner: "Mozambican workers in the struggle against HIV/AIDS." Marchers also demanded an increase in the minimum wage and back wages for factory workers, some of whom haven't been paid for months.
In New York City, labor, antiwar, community and immigrant rights activists called a May Day march and rally despite the city's initial refusal to issue a permit. The city backed down at the last moment, but police attacked the Union Square rally the minute the sound permit expired at 5:00 p.m.
IWW members joined a separate May Day march in the immigrant Brooklyn community of Bushwick.
May Day events took place across the U.S., as workers (many immigrants) continued the process of reclaiming labor's historic holiday. Indeed, May Day celebrations have grown to the extent that many politicians now try to horn in on the action, defiling speakers' platforms with their presence.
Coordinated May Day actions across Europe called attention to the spread of "precarious" part-time and casual jobs. In London, where 30 percent of people of working age are in temp, casual, part-time, freelance work or unemployed, the Precarious Network held actions at a Tesco supermarket. Tesco, Britain's largest grocery chain, is in the forefront of exploitative work practices.
Police continued their recent pattern of brutal assaults on London May Day protests, holding down participation and disrupting the celebratory tone organisers tried to set with a samba band and dancing.