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Monday, May 1: Resist!

March 29, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

From SEIU United Service Workers West

Shut It Down 5-1-2017

The time has come.

The time to fight the attacks on the freedom, dignity and human rights that are corrupting our communities, our country and our constitution.

It’s time to stand up, as a people against fascism and autocratic leadership.

It’s time to RESIST. It is time to defend all people, including workers, immigrants, Muslims, Women, LGBTQ people. It is time to defend our climate, our schools and our unions.

This is a call to all working people, to all communities: Join us in the streets in a general strike on May 1, 2017!

Let us stand up together for a world where human rights and equality are respected. We are fighting for a world in which immigrant families are no longer torn apart, in which every child gets a good public education, every parent can access affordable childcare, every family has quality healthcare, every senior can retire in dignity, and where working hard is enough to live out of poverty.

THE TIME HAS COME TO SHUT IT DOWN.

From SEIU United Service Workers West Facebook events page.

A diverse array of immigrants’ rights groups, students, unions and more are calling for a general strike and mass protests on Monday, May 1. With a focus against the attacks and deportations of immigrants, the protests are linking together a range of dangerous outrages being carried out by the Trump/Pence fascist regime and the calls for the protests themselves are marked by breadth and unity.

The demonization and round-ups of immigrants are one of the key pillars of the fascist program being carried out by the Trump/Pence Regime. Under the mission of “Making America White Again,” this has to do with the aim to cohere and re-root America on a white, Christian foundation and identity while deeming whole peoples “criminal aliens” not worthy of due rights or even basic humanity. Families are being torn apart, immigrants are being snatched up anytime, anywhere just by virtue of being immigrants. Right out of the Nazi playbook, the Trump/Pence regime has instituted a program within the Justice Department to catalog the “crimes of undocumented people” which will serve to demonize and dehumanize a whole section of people, while whipping up mob hatred and violence against them. It’s also rooted in a dangerous lie that undocumented people are “rapists, gang members and criminals,” while statistically, undocumented people commit fewer crimes than citizens. The only reason this program is being established and this lie is being spread is to alienate and isolate sections of people coming to this country.

Mass resistance to this is absolutely essential. And made all the more powerful when it’s linked to other aspects of the fascist program this regime is aiming to consolidate.

These protests are also coming amidst a big struggle amongst different sections of the rulers over the status of “sanctuary cities,” with the Regime aiming to force cities to cooperate with ICE to detain people. Many are refusing to comply despite being threatened with federal funding cuts. (See “High Stakes in Trump’s War on Sanctuary Jurisdictions”)

May 1, an international day of revolution and in many countries, “International Workers Day,” over the last decade has become a major day of protest for immigrants’ rights in Los Angeles and across the country. In the context of the fascist Trump/Pence Regime, and the need to prevent them from consolidating their fascist program, this day takes on profound urgency.

Joining together in the Call for a General Strike on May 1 are the Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA) and the Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West (SEIU USWW). The FCWA is a national coalition of labor organizations. Together, these include over 340,000 members nationally and include some of the forces that were behind the Day Without Immigrants on February 16. The head of the teachers union in Los Angeles has called on the superintendent to officially shut down LA schools in honor of the strike. Movimiento Cosecha has called for a Day Without Immigrants. Campus groups nationally are organizing a student strike for May Day and some are working towards school walkouts on April 13 to build momentum towards May 1.

In Los Angeles, several coalitions of immigrants’ rights groups and others are uniting to call for a strike and march under the banner “RESIST!” SEIU in conjunction with Global Exchange and other organizations are planning a Caravan Against Fear traveling throughout California, including the Mexican border in defense of immigrant rights and to build momentum for May 1. The Women’s March in LA called for their followers to strike and march in unity with this day.

This day must involve people from every section of society with huge numbers of immigrants and undocumented stepping out of the shadows and defying the fear and criminalization to say No Human Being Is Illegal! Stop the raids and deportations. And they must be joined by many others, drawing the links from this question to the whole of the fascist program.

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