Category: Global May Day 2021

#GlobalMayDay2021: Rally in Stuttgart

The following report was shared with the Global May Day list:

On this year’s Workers’ Struggle Day, the FAU Stuttgart participated in the rally “#Solidarity – for a solidary togetherness” in Stuttgart East and contributed an online lecture to the May Day festival of the Gasparitsch neighborhood center.

More than 100 people came to the rally at Lukasplatz. Several speeches alternated with the atmospheric musical program of the saxophonist Moni Ramoni and provided for a varied atmosphere.

The speech of the FAU Stuttgart made the connection from the historical origin of May Day as a day of struggle of the workers’ movement for the 8-hour day to the present under the motto “30-hour week for all!”, which means working less but earning the same amount to limit our exploitation by the capitalist class. In times of the Corona pandemic, our working time conditions tightened, according to the speaker of the FAU Stuttgart: “Almost en masse, the bosses jumped at the opportunity to send workers home temporarily. For this, there was money from the employment agency, i.e. from the state. Those of us who were at work during this time often had to work double time. This is class struggle, but this is the class struggle from above, this is the class struggle against us: the bosses make us work harder in less time and get our money stuffed in their mouths through the state. What comes out of it? Correct! Fat profits at the turn of the year – like at Daimler here in Stuttgart, for example. That’s not what we want!”

But he also made it clear that we don’t have to just accept this and that there are alternatives to these methods of the bosses:

“What we have to do together at work is stick together. What we have to do together is to resist the class struggle of the bosses! What we want to achieve is that all of us together, you, me, us here and everyone else from our class finally turn the tables. Let’s attack! We want less work pressure! We want the rich to pay for the crisis! We want to work less! We want full wage compensation! We want full staff compensation! We want more free time and all that for everyone! We workers need militant unions! Organize with us in the FAU, let’s fight side by side, shoulder to shoulder!”

At the information table of the FAU, the numerous interested people could take, among other things, the current May Day newspaper of Direkte Aktion. We had many conversations that day about current labor conflicts of the FAU and how we are active locally as a union. Visitors to our information table took away about 100 protest postcards about the labor conflict at the Bookstore Walther König.

At the end of the rally, we sent solidarity greetings to all struggling workers worldwide under the motto #1world1struggle – global mayday – and thus also made the international reference of May Day clear.

Report in German: stuttgart.fau.org
The left (white) banner reads: Onto the barricades for a dignified life!
The (blue) banner in the Background: 30 hour week for all! Less working hours. More free time. Full compensation.
And the (wheat-colored) banner in the center reads: Solidarity with the fighting colleagues/comrades!

Online-Meeting: What’s next after #GlobalMayDay2021?

May 9th (Sunday)

Global May Day 2021 is over. Let’s reflect on the Global May Day coordinations this year and consider next steps, for example coordinations related to the Call for International CDM Solidarity and the call for Starbucks to stop funding #TigrayGenocide.

Don’t worry about joining for the first time. Everyone sympathizing with the Global May Day self-conception is invited to join the meeting!

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#GlobalMayDay2021: Statement by Dabindu Collective

The feminist Dabindu Collective supports and organizes garment workers across Sri Lanka. It announced to support the call for Global May Day 2021 and planned to rally with workers in Vavuniya, in the north of the country where many textile factories are located, to commemorate Labour Day this year. Unfortunately all May Day commemorations had to be cancelled due to the worsening pandemic situation.

Therefore Dabindu Collective decided to at least publish the following statement:

#GlobalMayDay2021 in Hamburg: CDM solidarity | Rallies attacked by Cops

In Hamburg the local syndicates of the Free Workers’ Union (FAU), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) as well as the anarchist Black-Red May Day alliance announced to put their May Day activities in the context of Global May Day 2021.

Initially all three planned to come together for an anarchist May Day demonstration. The call was ready and FAU and IWW prepared to mobilize for a syndicalist block. In the end the rally was called off because the permission was not given and police was massively present at the gathering points.

Therefore the IWW and FAU comrades decided to spontaneously gather at a Deutsche Post DHL distribution center to express solidarity with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in Myanmar in reaction to the Call for International CDM Solidarity. After all DHL keeps doing business with the military junta.

#Call4InternationalCDMsolidarity | #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar | #1world1struggle

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#GlobalMayDay2021: Rallies in Münster and Dortmund

The Free Workers’ Union (FAU) Münster endorses the call for Global May Day 2021 and was involved in various rallies on and around May Day.

The FAU Münster celebrated the day of struggle of the working class extensively. It started the evening before with the rally “Bewitching patriarchy and capitalism”. Speeches dealt not only with current impositions, but also with historical mechanisms of oppression such as the “witch burnings” and their continuity. Several hundred participants came. Thanks to the women’s strike alliance, which is not only active and militant on March 8th.

Activities continued with the anti-capitalist block at the traditional May Day demonstration, which the DGB (German Trade Union Confederation) kept particularly short this time. Longer than usual, however, was the demo section that gathered behind the DGB unions. ‘Die Rote Kapelle’ (The Red Chapel) provided an ‘alternative’ musical framework, but could also call itself the ‘Schwarz-rote Kapelle’ (The Black-Red Chapel).

In the afternoon we met comrades from nearby cities, like Siegen, Krefeld, Koblenz and Bielefeld in Dortmund. With about 700 participants, it was a powerful demonstration, even if the police were in a much more irritable mood than in Münster. We hope that the efforts of the comrades from Dortmund and Bochum to build up an independent FAU syndicate were boosted by the conspicuous presence, and we are glad to have seen many of you offline again!

original in German on muenster.fau.org
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#GlobalMayDay2021: Slum-dwellers gather in Kolkata

The Committee for Slum-dweller Workers’ Rights (BSARC, Bastibasi Shromojibi Adhikar Raksha Committee) arranged some activities to commemorate May Day 2021. Among others they sing the International in Bengali.

The main points in the photos are about protecting workers rights and specifically in this case workers who are slum dwellers. They also talk about providing proper rations to all the eligible people, specifically in the context of the lockdown in India amist the pandemic. Furthermore the need for workers’ unity is emphasized.

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