May Day 2014

We Refuse To Accept Slavery In Any Form Here And Around The World!
Fight The Power, And Transform The People, For Revolution!

May 5, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Around the world people demonstrated on May Day—May 1, 2014. And in dozens of cities across the U.S., people came out on this day to demonstrate for the rights of immigrants and against deportations and around other demands as well. As part of this, in some cities revolutionary internationalist contingents united with the marches, raising the slogans: We Refuse to Accept Slavery in Any Form Here and Around the World! Fight the Power, and Transform the People, For Revolution!

Revolution/revcom.us will post reports as we get them. The following are initial photographs we have gathered from May Day 2014 events, both around the world and in the U.S.

Istanbul, Turkey. Protesters went up against riot police who used water cannons and tear gas to disperse thousands of people. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
A diverse crowd of 1000 marched through the Fruitvale section of Oakland on May 1st demanding immigrants rights.
A revolutionary internationalist contingent of 20-30 people, a diverse group of all ages, rallied at a popular streetcorner in the East Oakland 'hood. The internationalist contingent then joined a march of over 1,000 in the Fruitvale district—where Oscar Grant was killed by police in 2009 and where there is a concentration of Mexican and Central American immigrants. The revolutionary contingent, with its drum corps, red flags, and large banner, had an important impact on the march.
Thousands of people marched in different protests through downtown, snarling traffic from morning till night. The movement for revolution took part in two, organized into a bold and spirited contingent with the May Day slogans in Spanish and English. One march focused on opposing massive deportation of immigrants. The second was characterized by many different groups protesting deportations, U.S. aggression in the Middle East and against Venezuela, police brutality, and other issues.
"Well, this guy went to his country, to Oaxaca, Mexico, to visit his wife and two kids. He stayed there for a month, and then he came back to the U.S. to keep working to keep supporting his family. He came with a group of about 15 people, across the border. One of them was his cousin. And this guy (in the picture) got sick on the way. All the rest of the group kept going, except his cousin, who wouldn’t leave him. So his cousin stayed with him, and he got sick as well and they both died. 6 months later we—my organization—we started searching for them in the Arizona desert. After six tries of looking for them, we found them six months later, the way he looks here… We [our organization] search for these people trying to come to the United States, to the American dream. When they don’t make it, their family calls us and asks us to go and search, and find them."
Internationalist contingent
Garment workers and activists demanding compensation for victims and punishment for owners of garment factories where workers have died in building collapses. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)
1,500 people took the streets in downtown to march to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters. About three-fourths of the marchers were Latino, propelled by outrage at the massive deportation operations under Obama. There were a lot of young people present, many in their teens and relatively new to political life, and activists from various groups and social movements. Photo: AP
A revolutionary internationalist contingent led by supporters of the RCP held a banner with a full color depiction of the earth breaking its chains, along with the quote from Bob Avakian in English and Spanish: “Internationalism—The whole world comes first/Internacionalismo—el mundo entero ante todo.” This contingent brought large red flags that were also taken up by many among the whole crowd.
More than 15,000 at demonstrations aimed at ongoing austerity measures that have caused a rise in poverty and unemployment. (AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis)
Internationalist contingent
WE REFUSE TO ACCEPT SLAVERY IN ANY FORM HERE AND AROUND THE WORLD!
FIGHT THE POWER, AND TRANSFORM THE PEOPLE, FOR REVOLUTION!

revcom.us