It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Gee someone should tell all these cops and governments that unions are irrelevant.......
May Day Demonstrators Rally Across Asia Workers across Asia rallied Monday to press for better conditions, often encountering a heavy police presence and, in some places, outright resistance.
- A leading trade union leader was arrested Monday as thousands of police brought the capital to a virtual standstill during a government clampdown on unauthorized May Day demonstrations, an opposition leader said. Chea Mony, leader of the Free Trade Union, was arrested by police and detained for two hours on grounds that he was organizing unauthorized demonstrations, said Sam Rainsy, leader of the opposition.
Demonstrations were planned in major cities across Indonesia, with up to 50,000 people expected in the capital alone to protest government plans to revise a labor law -- cutting severance packages and introducing more flexible contracts that would chip away at worker security. "Don't change the law," thousands of laborers chanted at Jakarta's main downtown roundabout, as others arrived in buses and trucks, waiving green, yellow and red flags and banners expressing their demands. High alert for Philippine May Day Strikes to follow May Day: CosatuSABC News
And this is why MayDay is still relevant and important even today.
'Preserve May Day significance' Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana urges workers and employers to preserve the significance of the world May Day celebrations to be observed on Monday. In a statement ahead of the celebrations, the minister said it was important for everyone to think of those who were still denied basic worker rights. "On Monday South African workers, as part of the global community, will be joining their counterparts around the world in celebrating the achievements and fruits of the struggles that were waged by their forefathers more than 100 years ago." As we will be celebrating, it is important to note that this year's celebration coincides with the 60th anniversary of the historic mineworkers' strike of 1946. It is the struggles of this nature that led to the current improvements in our working conditions," he said. It was important for people not to treat the May Day holiday as an ordinary public holiday, the minister said. "The freedoms that we enjoy today resulted from attempts by the government and its social partners to ensure the realisation of those struggles and I would therefore like to remind our fellow countrymen and women that as we celebrate, we should pause to spare a thought for those who are yet to enjoy these basic conditions."
Bangalore: It's May Day on Monday. But as workers around the world are celebrating their special day, 350 government employees in Bangalore have little to rejoice. They have been working on contract for more than a decade, and now, the Supreme Court has said that they have no right to regularisation. A case in point is B C Karunakar, who has been working as a typist at the Commercial Taxes department for over 20 years. But despite working here for two decades, he isn’t a permanent employee just like his colleague, T Govindaiah who has put in 22 years of work in the organisation.They've worked for 20 years without increments, medical facilities, and privileged leave. And now they will now retire without pension.
And in Montreal workers kicked off May Day early with a protest against the Charest Neo0Liberal agenda. May Day comes early to Montreal
And check out these sites.
LabourStart for up to the minute May Day headlines.
Three shot in Chile May Day clashes Riot police disperse demonstrators with a water cannon during clashes following a May Day march in Santiago
(AFP/Martin BERNETTI)
Sun, May 1, 2022
Three people were wounded by gunfire and two arrested in clashes at May Day demonstrations in Chile, police said.
The shooting occurred during a Sunday march called by a union in the capital Santiago as some protesters erected barricades and entered commercial premises, clashing with merchants.
"There were clashes between street vendors who unfortunately used firearms and injured three people, two of them women and a third man was also injured by a ballistic impact," said Enrique Monras, chief of police for the metropolitan area.
Police confirmed two foreigners were arrested on suspicion of firing the shots.
The force used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
President Gabriel Boric decried the violence, telling a news channel: "We are normalizing violence, we cannot allow criminal gangs to take over the streets of our country."
Separately, the main traditional May Day march, organized by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) union, passed without incident as thousands of people with flags and banners gathered in the Plaza Italia.
"We are happy, it is a special and particular day after two years of confinement (due to Covid) ... to recognize the work of many colleagues such as health, commerce and transport workers, who were fundamental in this pandemic," said CUT president David Acuna.
They were joined by Labor Minister Jeannette Jara, the first member of the Communist Party to hold the position since the return of democracy in Chile in 1990.
She was the architect of an agreement reached by the CUT and business organizations that will raise the minimum wage by 12.5 percent.
The minimum wage is set to reach 400,000 pesos ($470) per month from August. Boric has said his goal is to raise it to 500,000 pesos by 2026.
msa/gm/dl/mtp/leg
May Day holiday marred by clashes in Turkey, France
Police and protesters clashed in Turkey and France during May Day rallies on Sunday, as tens of thousands marched across the world in support of workers' rights.
Turkish riot police detained scores of demonstrators in Istanbul, pinning some of them to the ground and dragging them away from the rally, which the governor's office said was unauthorised.
And rallies in Paris quickly turned violent as youths clashed with police on the sidelines and buildings were vandalised, though unions said more than 200,000 people joined demonstrations across France and most were peaceful.
May 1 is a public holiday in many countries and Sunday saw events on every continent.
European rallies sparked the most controversy with Turkish protesters gathering at Istanbul's Taksim Square, an area synonymous with anti-government protests, chanting "long live labour and freedom, long live May Day".
City officials said the group refused to disperse and 164 were detained, with government-approved rallies elsewhere in Turkey passing off peacefully.
French ministers denounced the violence in Paris and prosecutors said 50 people had been arrested.
Martine Haccoun, a 65-year-old retired doctor, told AFP she came to protest in the southern city of Marseille to show re-elected President Emmanuel Macron "that we didn't give him a blank cheque for five years".
She said many voted for Macron simply to stop far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.
- 'Not slogans' -
While scuffles were reported in Italian cities including Turin, thousands gathered in London and cities across Germany with no sign of trouble.
In Spain, around 10,000 people joined a demonstration in Madrid and dozens of other cities also held well-attended rallies.
Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz of the communist party said she wanted to show solidarity "with the workers of Ukraine, who today aren't able to protest".
In the Greek capital Athens, more than 10,000 joined rallies against a background of spiralling inflation.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis took to social media to promise a raise in the minimum wage by 50 euros a month.
"We honour the working people not with slogans, but with acts," he wrote on Twitter.
Kenyan Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta similarly used his May Day speech to promise a 12 percent hike in the minimum wage, though activists said it was not enough to keep pace with inflation.
The mood was uglier in Sri Lanka, where the opposition showed rare unity in calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign over the country's worst-ever economic crisis.
"It is time for us to pull him by his ear and kick him out," former legislator Hirunika Premachandra said at a rally in Colombo.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was also feeling the heat, being forced to leave an event when miners stormed the stage he was due to speak at and chanted "Cyril must go".
However, other leaders were able to harness the energy of the crowds.
Xiomara Castro, the new president of Honduras, was greeted by thousands chanting her name, and she responded by telling them she would govern for them and put an end to a "dark era" of corruption and drug trafficking.
There were also two separate marches in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, with hospital workers and other basic service employees calling for a "dignified salary" at one demonstration.
"People, listen, join the fight!" they chanted.
President Nicolas Maduro addressed the crowds at a separate pro-government march elsewhere in the city, blaming United States sanctions for his country's "economic storm" and announcing "Venezuela is headed for prosperity".
Thousands of May 1 demonstrators in Chile took to the streets only days after the government announced a 12.5 percent rise in the minimum wage, which is set to reach 400,000 pesos ($470) per month from August. President Gabriel Boric has said his goal is to raise it to 500,000 pesos by 2026.
May Day came too soon for many in China to enjoy what is usually one of the year's busiest holidays.
A series of lockdowns sparked by rising Covid cases meant restaurants and tourist sites were deserted during what is usually a frenetic period.
"Obviously it's bad in terms of our own self-interest, but it's necessary overall for the good of the country," said a young waiter at a deserted restaurant near the Forbidden City in Beijing.
burs-jxb/har/caw/
Protesters march during a May Day demonstration in Marseille, southern France, Sunday, May 1, 2022. May 1 is celebrated as the International Labour Day or May Day across the world.
A protester holds a sign reading "Stop Macron" during a May Day demonstration in Marseille, southern France, Sunday, May 1, 2022.
A woman dressed up as Marianne, a woman symbol of the French republic since the 1789 revolution, holds a French flag during a May Day demonstration in Marseille, southern France,
(AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
May Day rallies in Europe honor workers, protest govts
ELAINE GANLEY
Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus, fourth from right, and Governing Mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey, center, hold a banner with writing in German reading "shape the future together" as they take part in the May Day main rally of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), in Berlin, Sunday, May 1, 2022. (Joerg Carstensen/dpa via AP)
PARIS (AP) — Citizens and trade unions in cities around Europe were taking to the streets on Sunday for May Day marches, and to put out protest messages to their governments, notably in France where the holiday to honor workers was being used as a rallying cry against newly reelected President Emmanuel Macron.
May Day is a time of high emotion for participants and their causes, with police on the ready. Turkish police moved in quickly in Istanbul and encircled protesters near the barred-off Taksim Square — where 34 people were killed In 1977 during a May Day event when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.
On Sunday, police detained 164 people for demonstrating without permits and resisting police at the square, the Istanbul governor’s office said. At a site on the Asian side of Istanbul, a May Day gathering drew thousands, singing, chanting and waving banners, a demonstration organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey.
In Italy, after a two-year pandemic lull, an outdoor mega-concert was set for Rome with rallies and protests in cities across the country. Besides work, peace was an underlying theme with calls for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Italy’s three main labor unions were focusing their main rally in the hilltop town of Assisi, a frequent destination for peace protests. This year’s slogan is “Working for peace.”
“It’s a May Day of social and civil commitment for peace and labor,” said the head of Italy’s CISL union, Daniela Fumarola.
People attend a May Day rally on International Workers Day in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, May 1, 2022.
A man holds a flag depicting from left, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, during a May Day rally on International Workers Day in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, May 1, 2022. Workers and activists marked May Day with defiant rallies and marches for better pay and working conditions.
(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Other protests were planned far and wide in Europe, including in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where students and others planned to rally in support of Ukraine as Communists, anarchists and anti-European Union groups held their own gatherings.
In France, the May Day rallies — a week after the presidential election — are aimed at showing Macron the opposition he could face in his second five-year term and to power up against his centrists before June legislative elections. Opposition parties, notably the far left and far right, are looking to break his government’s majority.
Protests were planned across France with a focus on Paris where the Communist-backed CGT union was leading the main march through eastern Paris, joined by a handful of other unions. All are pressing Macron for policies that put the people first and condemning his plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65.
In a first, far-right leader Marine Le Pen was absent from her party’s traditional wreath-laying at the foot of a statue of Joan of Arc, replaced by the interim president of her National Rally party. Le Pen was defeated by Macron in last Sunday’s runoff of the presidential election, and plans to campaign to keep her seat as a lawmaker.
“I’ve come to tell the French that the voting isn’t over. There is a third round, the legislative elections,” said Jordan Bardella, “and it would be unbelievable to leave full power to Emmanuel Macron.”
___
Nicole Winfield in Rome, and Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul, contributed to this report.
May Day Rallies In Europe Urge More Help As Inflation Bites
By Associated Press and Newsy Staff May 1, 2022
Tens of thousands of people marched Sunday in cities around Europe for May Day protests to honor workers and shame governments into doing more for their citizens. In France, protesters shouted slogans against newly elected President Emmanuel Macron, a development that may set the tone for his second term.
Tensions erupted in Paris, as some demonstrators smashed windows at some banks, a fast-food restaurant and a real estate agency, apparently partially the work of masked men dressed in black. French police moved in, firing rounds of tear gas. That failed to stop a woman from attacking a firefighter trying to douse a street fire.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 45 people had been detained so far, including the young woman. Eight police officers were injured, he said, calling the perpetrators of the violence "thugs" who were trying "to stop the right to demonstrate."
May Day is often a time of high emotions for workers in Europe, and protests in the last two years have been limited by pandemic restrictions.
Turkish police moved in quickly in Istanbul to encircle protesters near the barred-off Taksim Square — where 34 people were killed In 1977 during a May Day event.
On Sunday, Turkish police detained 164 people for demonstrating without permits and resisting police at the square, the Istanbul governor's office said. On the Asian side of sprawling Istanbul, a May Day union-organized gathering drew thousands who sang, chanted and waved banners.
Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey briefly interrupted her May Day speech at a trade union rally where someone threw an egg at her but missed. Giffey, of the center-left Social Democrats, was met by loud protests during her speech. Giffey called the egg tossing "neither helpful nor politically valuable."
In Italy, after a two-year pandemic lull, an outdoor mega-concert was being held in Rome after rallies and protests in cities across the country. Besides improving conditions for workers, peace was an underlying theme, with many calls for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine. Italy's three main labor unions held their main rally in the hilltop town of Assisi, a frequent destination for peace protests.
"It's a May Day of social and civil commitment for peace and labor," said the head of Italy's CISL union, Daniela Fumarola.
In Russia, a motorcade organized by the country's trade unions supportive of the invasion of Ukraine finished its cross-country trip in Moscow Sunday to mark May Day. Participating were 70 cars representing all Russian regions from Vladivostok to Astrakhan, as well as the Russia-backed separatist administrations controlling parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
May Day celebrations in Russia also saw the arrests of antiwar protesters and bystanders across the country, including some who demonstrated in support of the authorities. According to reports by the Russian legal aid group OVD-Info, which tracks political arrests, a man was detained in Moscow after holding up a sign in support of the FSB and President Vladimir Putin.
Rising inflation and fears of upcoming food shortages from the war in Ukraine were feeding discontent around the world.
Thousands of workers, unemployed people and retirees marched peacefully in North Macedonia's capital of Skopje, demanding wage increases and respect for workers' rights. Inflation, running at an annual clip of 8.8% in March, is at a 14-year-high.
Darko Dimovski, head of the country's Federation of Trade Unions, told the crowd that workers are demanding an across-the-board wage increase.
"The economic crisis has eaten up workers salaries," he said.
In France, the May Day rallies — which came a week after the country's presidential election — aimed to show the centrist Macron the opposition that he could face in his second five-year term. Opposition parties, notably from the far-left and the far-right, are looking to break his government's majority in France's parliamentary election in June.
The Paris march was dominated by far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who placed third in the first round of the presidential vote and is deep in talks with other leftist parties in France, including the once-dominant Socialists who are struggling to exist. Melenchon appealed to potential partners to ally to keep Macron's centrists from dominating parliament as they do now. "Our goal is victory," he said.
Some 250 marches and protests were being held around France. All were pressing Macron for policies that put people first and condemning his plan to raise France's retirement age from 62 to 65. Macron says that's the only way the government can continue to provide good retirement benefits.
"May Day is the time to rally for a reduction in working time. That reduction signifies one key thing — that workers should be getting a larger share of the wealth," Melenchon said, condemning the violence at the Paris march, which he said overshadows the concerns of workers.
In a first, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was absent from her party's traditional wreath-laying at the foot of a statue of Joan of Arc, replaced by the interim president of her National Rally party. Le Pen was defeated by Macron in the April 24 presidential runoff, and plans to campaign to keep her seat as a lawmaker.
"I've come to tell the French that the voting isn't over. There is a third round, the legislative elections," said National Rally's Jordan Bardella. "It would be unbelievable to leave full power to Emmanuel Macron."
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.
Workers around the world mark May Day with rallies for better working conditions
NPR Published May 1, 2022 Stephanie Keith Workers participate in a May Day rally in New York City. Amazon workers recently unionized a facility in Staten Island, emboldening other workers to push for their companies to unionize.
Demonstrators across the globe seized May Day, also known as International Workers' Day, as a moment to celebrate working-class contributions as they rallied for better labor rights, immigration overhauls, and other causes around social and economic equality.
New York City
Crowds of activists marched through lower Manhattan to demand worker protections and immigration overhauls on Sunday.
Local chapters of labor organizations affiliated with the AFL-CIO held a "United Against Union Busting" march and rally that kicked off at Union Square. Stopping points on the march's route included a Starbucks Roastery, a Whole Foods and a penthouse owned by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
The event comes as workers at Starbucks and Amazon (which owns Whole Foods) drive a nationwide push to unionize. Those efforts that have been met with pushback from corporations working to break up the formation of unions.
Elsewhere, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spoke at a rally in Foley Square championing immigrant labor. She demanded a full path to citizenship for immigrants.
"We are fighting for workers because workers fight for us," she told a crowd.
France
AFP Via Getty Images
Protesters march during the annual May Day rally, marking International Workers' Day, in Paris on Sunday.
In France, demonstrators staged more than 200 marches and protests across the country, with a focus on Paris.
Violence broke out in the city, as some people smashed windows at banks and ripped up street signs. Police moved in, firing rounds of tear gas, according to The Associated Press.
Far-left protesters used the day to exercise their opposition to newly reelected President Emmanuel Macron and his plan to raise France's retirement age from 62 to 65.
Turkey
Yasin Akgul / AFP Via Getty Images Demonstrators hold flags, banners and shout slogans during the annual May Day demonstration in the Maltepe district of Istanbul on Sunday.
In Istanbul on Sunday, Turkish police detained at least 164 people for demonstrating without permits and resisting police at Taksim Square, the AP reported, citing the city governor's office.
In what's known as the Asian side of Istanbul, thousands of May Day observers gathered in song, chants and banner-waving as part of a demonstration organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey.
Chinese passed a normally busy national holiday weekend quietly this May Day. Many cities in China are currently under lockdown and travel is restricted due to the government's "zero-COVID" policy, which has prohibited millions of residents from leaving their homes. On Sunday, some restrictions eased in Shanghai, the country's largest city, but businesses remained closed and events canceled.
Cuba
Ismael Francisco / AP Thousands file through an avenue during a May Day march to Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, on Sunday.
In Cuba, people took to the streets with banners and pictures of Cuban revolutionary leaders. President Miguel Díaz-Canel and retired leader Raul Castro led a massive march in the capital of Havana.
Government-led May Day marches in Cuba celebrate the 63-year-old Cuban revolution and are meant to serve as a rebuke to the U.S. embargo, as Reuters notes.
India
Bikas Das / AP Sex workers and activists walk in a rally demanding right of work in government labor rules on the eve of May Day in Kolkata, India.
Sex workers in Kolkata's biggest red-light district, Sonagachi, marched on the eve of May Day as part of a rally held by a group working to decriminalize sex work and eliminate the profession's stigma.
"Our work is constitutional & our children need their mothers to have the status of a regular worker," Bishakha Laskar, president of the group known as the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, was quoted as saying according to the news agency ANI.
On Sunday, trade unions held rallies in multiple cities in India demanding better working conditions and more labor rights.
Greeks hold demonstration on Labor Day amid energy crisis, high inflation
Xinhua, May 2, 2022
People take part in a demonstration on the International Labor Day in Athens, Greece, on May 1, 2022. Thousands of Greeks took to the streets in central Athens and other big cities across the country on Sunday to mark the traditional Labor Day, asking for more relief measures amid the current energy crisis and high inflation due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. [Photo/Xinhua]
Thousands of Greeks took to the streets in central Athens and other big cities across the country on Sunday to mark the traditional Labor Day, asking for more relief measures amid the current energy crisis and high inflation due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
"Democracy, justice, peace and equality," demonstrators chanted marching in front of the Greek parliament in the capital city while raising banners with similar slogans.
In a press release, ADEDY, the umbrella labor union of civil servants, said that workers protested against the wave of increases in energy, fuel, bread and food that has hit the country. "We demand increases in the salaries to live with dignity," they stated.
"Unemployment rates are high, the salary is not enough even for half month," Christos Katsikas, a demonstrator and also a professor in Athens, told Xinhua.
For Maria Patrikiou, a nurse in a public hospital, May Day still holds true today as every year. "Especially this year, with the crisis and the war, our rights have been challenged. That's why we came here to fight for our salaries, for our lives...," she added.
At the same time, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis released a statement on social media to coincide with the Labor Day.
"We welcome Worker's May 1 with the implementation of a meaningful measure for workers, namely the increase of Greece's minimum wage by 50 euros a month which equals an additional 15th wage every year," he stated.
Sunday's mobilization affected the public transport services. Metro lines in Athens operated with stoppages, flights were disrupted and ships remained docked at ports.
Portuguese PM announces better wages on Labor Day
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Sunday pledged to promote a "reinforcement of the share of wages in the country's gross domestic product (GDP)" to reach the European average.
The prime minister published a chart on his Twitter account comparing the share of wages in Portuguese GDP with the European average during the years 2016 and 2021, in which he led the country's government.
According to Costa, between 2022 and 2026, the weight of remuneration in GDP in Portugal will be increased to 20 percent, reaching the European average.
Labor Day is celebrated on Sunday throughout the Portuguese territory with various demonstrations promoted by the country's trade unions.
In Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), the World Labor Day was observed on Sunday to pay rich tributes to those workers and laborers who laid down their lives for the achievement of their rights this day 136 years ago this day in ancient Chicago city of the United States of America. The laborers across the world observe May 1st to commemorate the supreme sacrifices of the laborers who laid down their lives this day in 1886 while struggling for the achievement of the rights of their colleagues in Chicago – besides to pay tributes to them.
Special May Day simple but impressive ceremonies coupled with processions, were staged in all the ten districts of AJK including in Mirpur, capital city of Muzaffarabad, Neelam valley, Kotli, Bagh, Rawalakot, Sudhanoti, Hattiyan, Havaili and Bhimbher districts to observe the day. Various organizations of workers and laborers of different private and public sector institutions held special ceremonies to observe the day in a befitting manner to commemorate the supreme sacrifices of lives of the laborers in Chicago this day 136 years ago.
In Mirpur, a May day procession of labourers, working class converged into rally at Kashmir Press auditorium under the auspices of the J & K Workers Party, Labour wing of the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples National Alliance, PWD Workers Union, Jammu & Kashmir Workers Party, Jammu Kashmir Plebiscite Front and other Kashmiri political human rights and labor organizations.
Led by the Jammu Kashmir Peoples National Aalliance Chairman Raja Zulfiqar Ahmed Advocate, and other Labour leaders, the procession passed through Mian Muhammad Road, Shaheed Chowk and Allama Iqbal Road and turned into congregation at the Mumtaz Banquet Hall at Sajid Plaza at the city center. The participants of the rally raised slogans against the increased price hike and inflation in the country including AJK.
Addressing the rally speakers including the J & K PNP Chaiman Zulfiqar Ahmed Raja Advocate, Azeem Dutt Advocate of Jammu Kashmir Plebiscite Front, Aslam Watnoof, Ch. Yousaf Advocate, Ehteshaam ul Haq Advocate and others vowed to continue the mission of the martyrs of Chicago to secure and safeguard due rights, dignity and honour of laborers. Speakers highlighted the importance of this historic universal day – besides paying rich tributes to the martyrs of Chicago.
Speakers reiterated their firm resolve to continue the struggle for freedom of Jammu & Kashmir with full vigor till it reach to its logical end. Speaking on this occasion, JK PNA Chairman Zulfiqar Ahmed Raja Advocate said that best way to pay glorious tributes to the martyrs of Chicago was to follow their foot steps for procuring and safeguarding the due rights of the working class – most particularly the laborers.
BRAZIL
Bolsonaro, Lula hold rival rallies on May
Day
Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stage competing rallies that are expected to become previews of their campaigns for presidential elections
Brazilian right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and his main rival, former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have staged competing rallies that were expected to become previews of their campaigns for presidential elections in October.
Supporters of Bolsonaro had called during the week protests against the Supreme Court, after he pardoned a congressman sentenced to eight years in prison for threatening judges.
The pardoned congressman, Daniel Silveira, said in a rally on Sunday in Niteroi, in Rio de Janeiro state, that his arrest last year was "unconstitutional."
Silveira thanked fellow congressmen that helped him during his months in prison last year. He was freed in November, but the Supreme Court last month sentenced him to more than eight years of jail. Bolsonaro decided to pardon him.
Bolsonaro went to a rally protesting against the Supreme Court in Brasilia on Sunday. In a video stream from one of his social media accounts, Bolsonaro said the demonstrations were "pacific, to defend the constitution, democracy and freedom."
In Sao Paulo, there were simultaneous demonstrations to support the president and Lula.
In a 15-minute speech, Lula promised to supporters, including many union leaders, that he would "resume negotiations to get workers rights respected again" if elected.
Lula said he was speaking before becoming an official candidate, with the announcement expected for May 7.
The former president cited the recent UN human rights committee finding that Brazil graft investigators violated due process in bringing a case against Lula that led to his imprisonment and barred him from running for office in 2018.
The competing rallies reflect the deep political divisions in the country, and indicate the upcoming elections later this year will be hard fought, and could cause a political crisis if either side rejects the final results.
In a remarkable display of cross-movement solidarity, Serbia is witnessing an unprecedented alliance between university students (in occupation-strike for more than three months) and all five major trade union federations. After months of separate struggles, these forces are converging for May Day demonstrations that could reshape the country’s political landscape. Today’s joint protests represents a strategic evolution in resistance against what protestors describe as a corrupt regime with deteriorating labour conditions. With 90% of Serbian workers earning below a living wage and basic labour rights increasingly undermined, this alliance addresses both immediate economic grievances and broader systemic concerns. As Professor Nada Sekulić of Belgrade University notes, “If workers were to join [the students], this government would definitely fall and very quickly.” This emerging coalition may signal a profound shift in Serbia’s civic landscape after years of fragmented opposition movements. [AN]
Demonstrators in front of the Belgrade 5th Gymnasium (Photo: Mašina) “It’s Impossible to Sleep Through the Coming Day” – The Significance of Student and Trade Union Alliances for May Day
M.M. (Mašina) 29.04.2025
This May Day we could see, for the first time in Serbia, a protest that will bring together all five trade union federations. The students occupying university buildings are undoubtedly most responsible for this, as their activities in recent months have changed the social context to which the unions could not remain silent. After a series of meetings between union working bodies and students, and agreement on joint work on specific amendments to the Labour Law and the Strike Law, the moment has come to unite on the streets.
There is no better occasion for this than May Day – the international workers’ holiday – and our interviewees agree that this alliance and joint appearance at the May Day protest could be a turning point for both the student and labour movements.
On May Day, unions will organise their previously announced traditional gatherings at different locations, joined by columns of students coming from various directions towards Belgrade city centre. According to announcements, they will all, along with citizens, gather at 2 p.m. in front of the Government of Serbia, where tributes will be paid to the victims of the canopy collapse in Novi Sad, followed by speeches from student representatives and union presidents.
Raško Karaman, a Biology Faculty student and member of the Workers’ Issues Working Unit of the student occupation, told Mašina that they recognised the importance of the working class in the struggle for systemic change early in their activities.
“We quickly established communication with union and non-union workers’ organisations, developing cooperation and exploring the possibility of joint action. It was clear to us that their position in society is extremely poor, and that the means by which they would fight for it has been completely rendered meaningless. We find the cause of this situation in the problematic Labour Law and Strike Law,” Karaman told Mašina.
In accordance with this position, students initiated a joint meeting with all union federations and the formation of a legal working group to address amendments to these laws. The idea was for unions to agree on amendments and to fight for them in the social climate created by student occupations and protests.
May Day is a significant date for both the workers’ and student movements. It marks Labour Day but also six months since the tragedy in Novi Sad.
“This is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate our readiness for joint action, and to present the work of the legal working group. At the beginning of this week, we organised a meeting with the presidents of the union federations where we agreed on organising a joint gathering on 1 May at 2 p.m. in front of the Government. On the same day, before this action, the unions will organise individual gatherings that they have already registered and for which they have secured logistical preparation, and students will come in an organised manner to support them,” Karaman told our portal.
The 1 May gathering is, as announced by the students, just the beginning of more active involvement of unions in the struggle for systemic change. They will present joint demands to the Government that day, while, again according to student announcements, at the joint meeting, unions expressed clear readiness to radicalise their struggle if the demands are not met.
“General Strike!” (Photo Mašina)
90% of Employees Don’t Have a Living Wage
Union protests in Serbia are not common, reminds Vladimir Simović, programme coordinator for labour rights at the Centre for Emancipatory Politics, who emphasises that every opportunity to highlight the position of workers is important – therefore, the May Day protest is significant.
“This is the day to bring concrete demands for improving the current situation into the public sphere, and the situation is very bad. Wages are low, 90% of employees don’t have a living wage. Working hours far exceed what is legally guaranteed. Serbia is traditionally at the very top of European countries in terms of working hours that employees spend at work. Occupational safety and health standards are inadequate. In Serbia, on average once a week someone loses their life at work, and almost no one is ever held accountable for this. Workplace harassment is ubiquitous, and union organising is sabotaged. There are too many problems. Employers too often treat workers as disposable resources. Such a situation is unsustainable,” Simović believes.
Our interviewee believes that students have well identified “probably the most important allies” – the workers. Because, our interviewee believes that without synergy between the working class and the existing student movement, it would be difficult to change anything in our society.
“Now we have a situation, for the first time in a very long time, where unions are combining their capacities. I think this would not have been possible, in this way, without the student movement which enjoys great trust among the people. Students have used this legitimacy to bring unions to the same table. The announced joint struggle for amendments to the Labour Law and Strike Law is no longer merely declarative but is also manifested in the announcement of the May Day protest. This gives us hope that things are moving in the right direction,” Simović told Mašina.
The Gathering Goes Directly Against the Ruling Group’s Core Strategy
Dr Nada Sekulić, a full professor in the sociology department at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, agrees that the joint appearance of students and unions at the May Day protest is a very significant event, and she shared with us several reasons why she holds this view.
“One of them is that until now, no one has managed to bring together the five largest unions in Serbia, which have quite a number of disagreements with each other. In that sense, this gathering has the potential for consolidating worker organisation, which is an important, and in all likelihood, a fundamental prerequisite for the Labour Law to be changed at all, and this alliance certainly does not please the ruling structures in society, which since Milošević’s fall have systematically sided with employers, reducing workers’ rights, in order to enable faster privatisation and attract foreign capital in particular. So, such a gathering goes directly against the ruling group’s core strategy regarding how Serbia should develop, so unified pressure from all unions is definitely needed,” Sekulić believes.
As a second important reason, she points out that this alliance broadens the front of social resistance in the current rebellion of students and citizens against the corrupt regime and disregard for the law.
“This is probably what could worry the government the most, because their main stronghold so far has been that there has been no resistance in institutions outside the university and education sector. If workers were to join, I dare say, this government would definitely fall and very quickly,” Sekulić tells Mašina.
However, our interviewee emphasises that the question remains how much unions can massively mobilise their membership for broader social issues.
“Workers are most willing to strike over concrete matters that concern their immediate existence. That is now the ’thousand-dollar question’ – have the students managed to sufficiently motivate citizens across Serbia to engage through strikes at their workplaces, and not just through beautiful receptions for students and through street protests which, as we can see, although they worry the government, have not been able to change the corrupt system for five months, with repression becoming increasingly obvious,” Sekulić believes.
The third important thing in the May Day alliance, according to the professor from the Faculty of Philosophy, is that it shows that students are looking for new strategies of struggle, “aware that everything that has been done so far, which is extremely significant in itself regardless of what will happen in society going forward, has not yielded the desired results – the government will not fulfil the students’ demands, because that simply means not only that they lose power, but also that many of them will end up in prison and be left without predatorily acquired property.”
The alliance on the occasion of May Day that we are talking about is also significant from the aspect of union struggle, and Sekulić believes that unions could strengthen their position in relation to employers and the state if they managed to maintain mutual dialogue and a unified front.
“I think it’s very important that unions are waking up and acting as agents of broader social change, not just immediate existential interests related to specific situations in specific workplaces. Until now, they have not been in that position, and their partners have been ’vertically’ positioned – the state or employers, who have actually controlled or bribed them. This is now a horizontal connection in which such kind of management does not exist, and that is a very good sign,” Sekulić tells Mašina.
She believes that sufficiently strong pressure, with a demand for changing specific provisions in the Labour Law, and insistence on the introduction and implementation of collective agreements (today, only about 20% of workers have collective agreements) would certainly lead to progress, especially in, as she says, a situation in which the ruling group must fight on multiple fronts, “and are then ready to give way somewhere in order to strengthen their positions elsewhere where they have been weakened.”
She sees a problem in the fact that the alliance came after five months of exhausting resistance.
“If this alliance of workers and students had happened at the beginning, we would probably already have new elections today, not just the election of a new government similar to the previous one. In any case, I believe these processes are unstoppable, it’s just a question of how quickly they will unfold. Serbia has begun to awaken, and that awakening process will certainly continue. When you wake up in the morning with your eyes wide open, it’s impossible to sleep through the coming day,” Sekulić concludes.
May Day 2018, Belgrade (Photo: Mašina) Unions and Students Together on the Streets on May Day
A.G.A (Mašina) 30.04.2025
The five largest unions in Serbia will tomorrow, May Day, organise gatherings in Belgrade where they will announce demands for changes to labour legislation, and then together with students in occupation will participate in a protest in front of the Government of Serbia building.
The protest will be dedicated to marking May Day – the International Day of Struggle for Workers’ Rights, with special emphasis on the poor state of labour legislation in Serbia.
As the United Trade Unions of Serbia “Sloga” states, this protest represents a continuation of the joint effort begun on 22 March at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, when students in occupation and representatives of the five largest union federations in Serbia signed an agreement on cooperation with the aim of improving labour rights, improving relations between unions and strengthening citizens’ trust in unions as true protectors of workers’ interests.
At yesterday’s meeting held at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, representatives of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia, the United Branch Unions “Nezavisnost” (Independence), the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions, the United Trade Unions of Serbia “Sloga”, and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions spoke with students and reached a joint agreement on further cooperation, resolving previous misunderstandings.
Union Gatherings Before the Protest
The AFITU gathering will begin at 11 a.m. on the plateau by “Russian Tsar” in Knez Mihailova Street, and around 1 p.m. an address by the president of that union, Ranka Savić, is announced, after which at 1:30 p.m. the column will head towards the Government of Serbia building for the joint gathering of unions and students.
FITU is organising a gathering at 12 p.m. in Nikola Pašić Square, where the May Day Proclamation will be read. They will then proceed to the Government of Serbia for the joint protest and submit their conclusions and demands. FITU has announced that on May 1, they will mark Labour Day and FITU Day, April 27, that is, “two dates that symbolise the workers’ struggle for greater rights, higher wages and a dignified life.”
The “Nezavisnost” Union will mark May Day at 11:30 a.m. at the Dimitrije Tucović monument in Slavija Square, after which they will submit an initiative to the Government of Serbia for changes to the Labour Law and Strike Law. At that gathering, the “Free Daily News” prepared by a group of RTV journalists will be broadcast, and a concert by the first Serbian children’s rock choir – RocHoiR Kids will be held.
The Confederation of Free Trade Unions has not made a special decision on marking Labour Day this year in its bodies, but in accordance with the decision made on participation with other unions in changes to “workers’ laws”, it has accepted the conclusion on participation in this May Day action.
As “Sloga” states, the crisis of capitalism is deepening, social inequalities are growing, democratic freedoms and union rights are under attack around the world, and increasing military spending is pushing humanity into a war economy that takes away workers’ means of life and dignity.
“Because of all this, May Day has long not been a holiday – it is a day of struggle. See you on the streets!” the statement from this union says.
May Day is not a holiday in the United States. In most states and cities, it is not celebrated. In some places, in schools or public parks, people put up a May pole and dance around it to celebrate the arrival of spring. We did that in my elementary school in Chicago when I was a child. The official Labor Day in the United States, which is a national holiday, is celebrated on the first Monday in September and marks the end of summer and students’ return to school. But maybe this year things finally changed.
On this May 1, International Labor Day, hundreds of thousands of Americans joined scores of rallies and marches in all 50 states to protest President Donald Trump’s devastating first 100 days in office. They protested the shutdown of government departments, the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of workers, the ending of food programs for children, the disabled, and the elderly, cuts in health care, the illegal deportation of immigrants, and tariffs and the trade wars, and the many other terrible things Trump has done.
This is the latest in a series of national protests against Trump and this one had a different character. When I joined the protest in New York City there were many unions present: the Transportation Workers Union that run’s the city’s subways, the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the Communication Workers, the Professional Staff Council of the City University, and others. The presence of the unions meant that there were more Blacks and Latinos in this protest than in earlier ones. And so, the protest had a different feel, a working-class character.
Unions marching on May Day is something rare in the United States and in most places something relatively new. In 1882, before the Haymarket events in Chicago, New York unions who were fighting for the eight-hour day, organized a labor day march in September. Then the national union federation called for strikes in May to win the eight-hour day.
On May 1, 1886 German anarchists in Chicago organized prolonger workers strikes and protests in support of the eight-hour day, but on May 3 the police attacked the demonstration. The next day there was a protest rally at Haymarket Square, but police attacked it too. Then a bomb was thrown either at the police or at the workers, and eight radicals were arrested, tried and convicted of the bombing, and four eventually hanged. To honor the martyrs of Chicago, the International Socialist Conference of 1889 adopted May Day as the International Workers Holiday.
American workers then had two options, the September Labor Day, which became a national holiday in 1894, or May 1. Where the Socialist or Communist Parties had a presence, there were May Day celebrations, but in most places the September holiday prevailed. When after World War II, the Cold War broke out accompanied by an anti-Communist crusade and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s persecutions of Communist, May 1 celebrations waned. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed May 1 as Law Day. At the same time, the Soviet Union turned the holiday into a demonstration of its military might with parades of tanks and missiles in Red Square in Moscow.
In the 1960s and 70s, it was Latino immigrants, Puerto Ricans in New York City and Mexicans in San Francisco and Los Angeles who began to reintroduce May Day workers rallies and marches in their communities. In 2006 in a fight for immigration reform, hundreds of thousands of Latinos demonstrated in Los Angeles and Chicago on May Day, giving the event the character of a general strike. But still the holiday didn’t catch on among the rest of the population.
This year’s protests against Trump, against his authoritarianism, and his reactionary agenda may have put this holiday back on the national calendar as American workers join the rest of the world’s proletariat in the streets on May 1. We’ll see next May 1.
The Best Signs and Art of This Year’s Massive May Day Protests
From criticism of mass deportations to hilarious roasts of the president, May 1 was a nationwide show of art-filled resistance against the Trump administration.
Yesterday’s May Day rallies were decidedly pro-immigrant and anti-Trump (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)
Mayday! Mayday!
From coast to coast, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded streets across the United States to commemorate May Day, also known as International Workers Day, annually observed on the first of the month around the world. This year’s labor rallies, which follow last month’s Hands Off! demonstrations, were heavily focused on immigration, healthcare, trans rights, federal workers, education, and the US-backed Israeli bombardment of Gaza, in a nationwide show of art-filled resistance against the second Trump administration.
In New York City, protesters congregated in Manhattan’s Union Square and Foley Square for rallies organized by The People’s Forum and the American Civil Liberties Union, respectively. The demonstrations called attention first and foremost to workers’ rights, especially with the backdrop of mass layoffs at cultural institutions across the country. But they were also filled to the brim with homemade signs, colorful banners, and elaborate costumes that rebuked Trump’s highly scrutinized expansion of power.
From sharp criticism of mass deportations to hilarious roasts of the president and his billionaire senior advisor, below are some highlights from yesterday’s protests captured by Hyperallergic.
. . .
At the makeshift “Gates of Hell” installed at The People’s Forum in Union Square (photo Rhea Nayyar/Hyperallergic)At the ACLU’s Foley Square rally, one protester donned the signature uniform worn of The Handmaid’s Tale. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)In Foley Square, a protester holds up an anti-Trump sign that speaks for itself. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)Freelance journalist and author Kate Manning brought this homemade sign that both criticized the Republican party’s billionaire tax-breaks as well as called attention to Trump’s controversial tariffs, which have raised the price of egg imports. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)A protester holds a Trump effigy atop a makeshift US Constitution in downtown Manhattan. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)Many protesters called attention to Trump’s mass deportations, which resulted in the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)Fed up with Elon Musk’s interference in political and economic affairs, one protester calls on Musk’s deportation as the government closes in on undocumented civilians and outspoken permanent residents. (photo Rhea Nayyar/Hyperallergic)A May Day demonstrator holds up a handmade sign decrying billionaire Elon Musk’s highly scrutinized federal interventions (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)A homemade sign compares the president to rotten excrement (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)Members of Students for a Democratic Society hold up a banner featuring figures in Palestinian keffiyehs, alluding to the federal government’s crackdown on student protests for Gaza (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)A sign that reads “Remove, Reverse, Reclaim” echoes the “Delay, Deny Defend” rallying cry of insurance critics, as well as the words “Deny, Defend, Depose,” which were found on the ammunition that killed healthcare executive Brian Thompson in December. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)Tenant organizers decry the rising rental prices, which have disproportionately affected low-income communities of color in NYC. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)In Foley Square, protester held up a sign alluding to George Orwell’s anti-authoritarism novel 1984 (1949) (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)A handmade sign criticizing Trump’s attacks on immigrants and passage of policies that benefit billionaires (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)At the front of the ACLU rally, demonstrators carried a banner that underscored the power of mass mobilization. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)A protester held up a handmade sign decrying the government’s cozying up to the billionaire class. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)A couple marched down Broadway with effigies of Donald Trump and Elon Musk (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)Yesterday’s rally was filled with signage telling the federal government to keep its “Hands Off” civil rights, healthcare protections, and education. (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)A protester holding a handmade sign criticizing the Trump administration’s blatant disregard for constitutional law and checks and balances (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)Yesterday’s May Day rallies were decidedly pro-immigrant and anti-Trump (photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic)
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