08) MILLIONS MARCH ON MAY DAY 2013

PV combined news sources

     Millions of workers in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and North America marched en masse for May Day 2013. A common theme in every country was rejection of the pro-corporate austerity policies imposed by both right-wing and social democratic governments.

     One of the largest events was in socialist Cuba, where hundreds of thousands took part in the annual May Day rally in Havana's Revolution Square. The parade paid tribute to Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan leader who died in March. A sea of workers, many wearing red shirts like those favoured by Chavez and carrying signs with his image, paraded past a giant statue of 19th century Cuban independence hero Jose Marti in the vast square where Cuba holds its biggest political rallies.

     For workers in Venezuela, May Day was an occasion to celebrate the country's new labour laws, which dramatically improve working conditions, pensions, and other rights (see page 8).

Asia

     Over 120,000 low‑paid workers rallied in the streets of Indonesian cities to demand better pay and improved working conditions. Workers from Jakarta and the surrounding cities of Depok, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi gathered at Hotel Indonesia and marched to Merdeka Palace, disrupting business activity in the capital city.

     Riot police blocked protesters as they tried to march towards the U.S. Embassy in Manila to mark May Day in the Philippines. The workers assailed President Aquino III for his Labor Day "gift" of non‑wage benefits. The protesters were demanding a P125‑Peso ($3) across‑the‑board wage hike, and condemned the government's outsourcing policy which eliminates job security.

     Some 5000 Cambodian workers rallied in Phnom Penh, calling for higher wages and better working conditions, while trade unions held demonstrations in Tokyo, calling for more youth employment. In Singapore, 6000 rallied at Hong Lim Park to protest right-wing immigration policies and high living costs.

     The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) rallied at City Hall Plaza in central Seoul. Thousands of workers at the rally asked for an extensive revision of South Korean labour law and demanded that the government provide employment stability for temporary workers by converting their status to full‑time workers.

     Police clashed with protesters in Istanbul who were trying to reach the city's main square to mark May Day. The government, citing security reasons, had banned the planned rally on Istanbul's Taksim Square. Subways, some buses and even ferries across the Bosphorus were suspended to prevent large groups from gathering on the square. Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators trying to break through barricades. Taksim Square is of high symbolic value to the Turkish labour movement. Dozens of protesters were killed there in 1977 when unidentified gunmen opened fire on thousands of people.

EUROPE

     Workers hit by lower living standards and record high unemployment staged May Day protests across Europe, demanding that governments reverse austerity measures. Four euro zone countries ‑ Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus ‑ have now received sovereign bailouts, but there is still no sign of growth or employment in the currency bloc.

     Ferry and train services in Greece ground to a halt, and bank and hospital workers also walked out for May Day. Thousands gathered in central Athens and Thessaloniki. The country's main unions are protesting against the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, and the austerity measures the government is imposing in return for bail‑out loans. The general strike was the latest in a string of protests as the country endures a sixth year of recession.

     The communist‑led PAME (Greek All-Workers Militant Front) organised a large demonstration in Athens' Syntagma Square, while the private sector GSEE union and the public sector union ADEDY had their rally at Kafthmonos Square. The Syntagma Square demonstration was saluted by Bangladeshi workers' representatives, as well as by Gilda Chacov Bravo, Cuban member of the Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

     In central Moscow, at least 70,000 people turned out for a trade union parade. Across Russia, about 1.5 million people took part in similar traditional actions by the country's working class.      German unions said about 425,000 people took part in more than 400 events around the country. Michael Sommer, head of the DGB federation of German labor unions, said the German government should have more solidarity with the rest of the euro zone.

     "We cannot allow this continent to be `kaputtgespart' ‑ forced to save so much that it breaks apart," he said.

     Tens of thousands marched in Italy's major cities to demand action to tackle unemployment, which is now 11.5 percent overall and 40 percent among the young.

     Rallies were held in more than 80 cities in Spain, where the economy has shrunk for seven consecutive quarters and unemployment stands at a record 27 percent. Thousands of people snaked up Madrid's Gran Via central shopping street carrying placards reading "austerity ruins and kills".

     "The future of Spain looks terrible; we're going backwards with this government," said former civil servant Alicia Candelas, 54, who has been without a job for two years.

     Unions said 50,000 people marched in Madrid and more than one million took part in peaceful rallies across the country.

     France's two biggest unions, split over "socialist" President Francois Hollande's anti-labour laws, held separate May 1 marches. Hollande's approval rating has dropped as low as 25 percent as cuts bite and unemployment has risen.

     Pope Francis made a May Day appeal for governments to tackle unemployment, as "work is fundamental to the dignity of a person".

"I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice," he told a crowd in St. Peter's Square.

     Thousands of people marched in Lisbon calling for an end to austerity dictated by Portugal's EU/IMF bailout, a day after the government said there would be more spending cuts.

     Smaller May Day marches also took place in other parts of the world. In the United States, where May Day originated over 125 years ago, protests were held in Los Angeles, Manhattan, Chicago and some other cities.

     May Day marches and celebrations were held in a number of Canadian cities. The Vancouver and District Labour Council organized its annual march along Commercial Drive for the fourth consecutive year, with about 500 trade unionists, solidarity activists and members of revolutionary movements taking part.

     Close to a thousand people marched in Toronto, where organizers of various May Day activities adopted a more united strategy than in previous years. The Communist Party and allied organizations held their annual social and political celebration of the workers' holiday on the previous weekend at the Steelworkers' Hall on Cecil Street, just off Spadina.

     In Windsor, hundreds of trade unionists and supporters held a unique parade down Drouillard Road, the heart of the city's historic auto industry. The road was transformed into a living museum, with members of the crowd in period costume acting out scenes from trade union history.

     Repression marked May Day in Montreal, where police arrested 447 people during a rally organized by the Anti‑Capitalist Convergence, or CLAC. Those arrested were eventually handed a $637 fine for unlawful assembly.

     Restaurant patrons watched from outdoor terraces as drummers, musicians and flag‑waving demonstrators gathered in Place Jacques-Cartier. However, police declared the colourful gathering illegal shortly after it started. Montreal's public order bylaw P‑6 makes it illegal to participate in an assembly with a face obscured by a scarf, hood or mask, and requires protesters to disclose to police in advance the location and itinerary of their demonstration.

     Demonstrators tried to make their way to the march's destination, a private club known by its street number, 357c. Witnesses at Quebec's inquiry into corruption in the construction industry have referred to the club as a meeting place for entrepreneurs, high‑level bureaucrats and politicians. However, hundreds of police encircled the rally at the intersection of de la Commune Street and St‑Sulpice Street, forcing protesters into buses.

(The above article is from the May 16-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)