Global May Day

CALL TO ACTION

☆ Deutsch ☆ Español ☆ Française ☆ Ελληνικά ☆ Italiano ☆ Português ☆ Türkçe ☆

May Day! May Day!

Self-organizing against authoritarianism, fascism, and dictatorships!

The strategy of mobilising people on the basis of economic and cultural anxiety, and constructing identity-based nationalism to gain power is described variously as majoritarian nationalism, populist authoritarianism or right-wing populism (RWP).

Source: What Do Populist Authoritarians Do When They Rule? by Kamal Mitra Chenoy, EPW.in

Authoritarian and right-wing movements are gaining strength around the world and more authoritarian governments are coming into power. The developments range from an increasing influence of reactionary political movements (e.g. in Germany, UK, Denmark, Israel, and France) to increasingly autocratic and oligarchic regimes (e.g. in Argentina, the USA, Hungary, Austria, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Italy, Nicaragua, Russia, India, Turkey and Bangladesh) as well as outright repressive and authoritarian states (e.g. in Myanmar).

Although it is necessary to look at the historical contexts on the ground to fully understand authoritarian developments, there are important commonalities. A common characteristic is the merger of organized capital interests with a repressive nation state. The first targets are often trans people. After Milei took over in Argentina they were the first ones to get fired from jobs in the public sector. Similar developments can be observed in Italy, with Meloni of Fratelli d’Italia in power. Here trans people were also attacked by the right-wing government. They restrict the access to medical care for gender transition, especially for young people.

Authoritarianism describes “ideologies of inequality” such as racism, sexism, nationalism, classism and chauvinism. It is a social, cultural, political and economic phenomenon. Looking at the world today, we can certainly speak of an awakening of authoritarianism.

Crisis after crisis after crisis. Social and economic insecurities shape precarious living conditions for many people. The offer of authoritarian ideas is a promise of security: you have a place in the world and can direct your frustration at the weaker. An increasingly unstable system is maintained by state forces. The spread of authoritarianism is therefore neither just a movement from above, i.e., a conspiracy of the elites, nor an “uprising from below”.

To gain power reactionary politicians use anti-systemic rhetoric, public safety concerns and accusations of criminality (e.g. against the opposition, civil society and social minorities) as a pretext to restrict freedoms, often with the support of entrenched elites.

The early years of industrialisation already saw the demonisation and state repression of the poor, the indigent, political movements of workers – anyone who was not part of a docile waged labour force. Once social struggles win democratic space, organized capital is willing to sacrifice human rights to repress labour.

(Neo)liberal democracies are no guarantor for a future free of authoritarianism. Anti-authoritarianism must go beyond simply “defending democracy”.

For many countries of the so called global South, liberalism in the global North has more often meant tyranny rather than democracy. After all, modern liberal democracies were built on the slavery as well as the dehumanisation and genocide of indigenous peoples. They thrived and continue to do so on the brutal extraction of resources, and today stand behind a border regime that considers tens of thousands of migrants who die trying to cross militarised borders as essentially ‘disposable’. This dehumanisation of people in order to exercise power is integral to the current mode of capitalism.

We can’t win a better world by waiting for the right person to be voted in – or the wrong person to be voted out. We have to get organized and fight. Fight to transform society; to transform the world by getting organized in our workplaces, our schools, our neighborhoods.

Besides countering authoritarian tendencies, our objective is to overcome the roots of the problems: the wage system and capitalism itself. We struggle for the construction of a world organized by and for our class, one that works in harmony with the earth.

Let’s get organized to shape the public discourse. Let’s get organized to propagate narratives opposing authoritarian developments and fight for a better life for the working class people, for a 30h working week (without a reduction in pay) and for good public pensions controlled by workers themselves, which enable a life in dignity. Workers of the World Unite!

We call for global working class solidarity on May Day – and every day!

Free all antifas!

#globalmayday2025
#1world1struggle

For an overview of activities last year go here.