Friday, April 10, 2009

What's Next? MAY DAY

April 3 & 4: March on Wall Street

What's next after April 3rd and 4th?

WE MUST NOT LET RACISM DIVIDE WORKING PEOPLE
MARCH WITH US ON
MAY DAY


On April 3rd & 4th, around the country thousands  converged on Wall Street, Los Angeles, and Raleigh, N.C. to demand "Bail out the people, not the banks and corporations."
may 1
Clearly, the fight to bail out the people will not end in April. We must continue to build a movement that will guarantee jobs, homes, health care, an end to repression and war, and everything the people need during this growing economic crisis.

What's next? Come out on May 1st!  In 2006, immigrants and their supporters demonstrated in record numbers. They held some of the biggest demonstrations not seen in decades and decades. They demanded an end to the unbelievably repressive proposed legislation, the Sensenbrenner bill which penalized immigrant workers. The Bush administration attempted to criminalize going to work.

This legislation was directed against all U.S. workers. 

Since 2006, workers have come out to commemorate May 1st, International Workers Day. Despite the raids and deportations, immigrant workers, the sector whose struggle bore May Day in Chicago two centuries ago, have revived May Day, a day celebrated by billions around the world every year. In 2005, workers and activists reclaimed May Day once again and held several May Day demonstrations in New York City and elsewhere.

There is now a great opportunity for workers in general to help continue reviving the legacy of May Day in the spirit of unity and common interest.

Now more than ever the union saying "An injury to one is an injury to
May 1 all" is relevant. Immigrant rights are workers rights. Workers rights are immigrant rights. The struggle of one is the struggle of the other. The globalization of the banks and corporations demonstrate that there must be no borders in the workers struggle.

The  Gestapo-like  raids  and deportations, the criminalizing  of  workers,  the  beatings and  killings  are meant to divide us, to keep us fighting one another instead of the real enemy.

These attacks are used to further cop killings and criminalization of Black & Latino(a) youth. They are used to justify the neglect and cutting of vital services and education, especially towards communities of color.  They are used to help feed racist divisions and apathy on the part of white workers in relation to the conditions of people of color. And they attempt to hide Wall Street's theft of pensions and homes while money is diverted to the banks and for imperialist war abroad.

Are  not  immigrants forced to come  here as  a result  of  U.S.  foreign and  economic  policy?  Is it  immigrants who foreclose homes or shut down factories and move them abroad where labor is more exploited? Who is it that is bailing out the rich, while the poor and working class bear the brunt of a crisis they did not create?

With solidarity and unity there is victory!  The Bail Out the People Movement urges everyone to take the next step after April 3/4 and come out in record numbers on May 1st.  Actions will be held  in cities around the country, from the east and west and from the north to the south.

We urge you to organize a Bail out the People contingent at these events.

May 1st 2009 marks the first 100 days of the Obama administration.  A united movement of people with documents and without, Black, Latino(a), Asian, Arab, Native and white, young and old, employed and unemployed, women, men, LGBT or straight, able-bodied and disabled, will send a clear message to Washington and to Wall Street:

  • Bail out the people, not the banks or corporations!
  • Jobs, not jails!  Pass EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act)!
  • Stop the foreclosures! Union jobs with union wages for all!
  • Stop the raids & deportations!
For a list of cities with May 1st actions visit the BOPM website: 

www.bailoutpeople.org

You can also call us at: (New York) (212) 633-6646 or (Los Angeles) (310) 677-6407  or email us at http://bailoutpeople.org/cmnt.shtml
 

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