XPost: alt.activism, alt.peace, nyc.politics 
 XPost: talk.environment 
 From: liberty@once.net 
  
 A Call to the Workers and Social Justice Movement, 
 to the Anti-war Movement, to all Progressive People: 
  
 ***************************************************** 
 Revive May Day--International Worker's Day 
 Unite with working and poor people all over the world 
 ***************************************************** 
 Jobs not War! Bring the Troops Home Now! Solidarity Makes 
 Us Stronger! 
  
 SUNDAY MAY 1ST - 1:00 P.M. RALLY AND MARCH IN UNION SQUARE 
 14TH STREET IN NEW YORK CITY 
  
 The Million Worker March Movement, the Troops Out Now 
 Coalition and scores of other progressive groups are 
 calling for a "JOBS NOT WAR-Bring the Troops Home Now!" 
 MAY DAY RALLY and MARCH in Union Square on Sunday, May 1, 
 beginning at 1:00 p.m. 
  
 The rally is part of a campaign across the country to 
 revive May Day in the U.S. 
  
 Reclaiming May Day reflects a growing consensus among many 
 of us that the movement can only move forward by fully 
 uniting the anti-war movement with the worker's movement 
 and with those communities which suffer the most from war, 
 cutbacks, poverty and repression. 
  
 This is now more decisive than ever. 
  
 It is hardly necessary to review the magnitude of 
 suffering that global capitalism, and in particular the 
 onslaught of U.S. imperialist war, has brought to the 
 people of the world, especially since 9/11. Nor is it 
 necessary to underscore the grave danger that endless war 
 abroad in pursuit of empire and war at home against 
 working and poor people represents. 
  
 The empire has demonstrated that if allowed, it will rule 
 the world by military force, and pit worker against worker 
 on a global scale that has no precedent in history, in its 
 quest for profits. 
  
 We must unite and organize to meet this danger. 
  
 Our challenge is to work harder and act more boldly in 
 linking our struggle against the war to our struggle 
 against the war at home. 
  
 You don't turn off ordinary working people by talking 
 about Palestine, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti Columbia, North 
 Korea or Iran. On the contrary, workers think about the 
 world a great deal these days. The problem is that they 
 get misinformation from the mainstream media. It's up to 
 those of us who know better to break things down to people 
 and make all the connections. 
  
 Whether our struggle is against union busting and the 
 "Walmartization" of workers' wages, or unemployment (and 
 underemployment), especially in the Black and Latino 
 communities, or the drive to dismantle what remains of the 
 so called "safety net"--including Medicare, Medicaid, 
 Social Security, public education and subsidized 
 housing--let's bring back May Day and turn that day into a 
 clarion call for a new level of unity. 
  
 Recent history has proven once again that we cannot depend 
 on the system's elections, and its politicians, or any 
 other force but the united power of working and poor 
 people all over the world to accomplish this urgent task. 
  
 No single day or demonstration can do this. However, 
 understanding the meaning of May Day--international 
 workers' day--and embracing its meaning by bringing May 
 Day back is an important part of this process. 
  
 No challenge before us as a movement is greater than the 
 need to usher in a whole new epoch of solidarity. May Day 
 is about solidarity. May Day is about standing together. 
 May Day is about uniting against all that imperialism 
 would employ to divide us. May Day is about reaffirming 
 our belief that the future belongs to the majority of the 
 people in the world and not a handful of billionaires. 
  
 May Day belongs to the working class. 
  
 For this reason the Million Worker March Movement set the 
 reclaiming of May Day 2005 as one of its principal goals 
 at a meeting of regional representatives the day after its 
 historic Oct. 17, 2004 rally at the Lincoln Monument in 
 Washington, D.C. 
  
 The Troops Out Now Coalition, which organized the March 19 
 "Bring The Troops Home Now" march from Harlem to Central 
 Park, has joined MWMM's call. One of the reasons that the 
 March 19 demonstration began in Harlem was to say what can 
 be expressed better through actions than words sometimes: 
 The struggle against the war in Iraq is also the struggle 
 against the war at home. 
  
 MAY DAY--International Workers' Day--grew out of the 
 struggle of working people in this country more than 100 
 years ago for an 8-hour work day with a full day's pay. 
  
 All over the world, working and poor people march on May 
 Day to send the message that working and poor people are 
 determined to forge greater unity in the struggle against 
 global capitalism, imperialism and the misery and war it 
 produces. 
  
 The main reason why May Day is not widely celebrated or 
 well known in the U.S. is that the system, frightened by 
 the prospect of a worldwide movement of workers and 
 progressive forces, has sought to bury the history of May 
 Day in this country. 
  
 This was done for the very same reason that the government 
 has sought to silence and crush radicals, and radical 
 ideas in the labor movement, particularly during the 
 infamous "witch hunt" period of the 1950's and the 
 progressive and revolutionary movements of the 1960's. 
 Their war on radicals, and radical ideas like 
 international solidarity, continues today. 
  
 Our interest in reviving May Day does not come from 
 nostalgia for times past, but from the need to nurture a 
 higher political consciousness about how important 
 solidarity and political independence is to the strength 
 of our movement. 
  
 We don't need to have a million workers in Union Square on 
 May Day 2005. But enough of us can be there to help set 
 the direction that the movement needs to move in on May 
 Day. And together we can, and we will, do this. 
  
 On May Day 2005, let's bring back that fighting spirit. 
  
  
 * END THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ, STOP ENDLESS WAR 
  
 * WE DEMAND JOBS AT DECENT WAGES, HEALTH CARE, HOUSING AND 
 EDUCATION FOR ALL 
  
 * SOLIDARITY WITH IMMIGRANTS WORKERS - WE WILL NOT BE 
 DIVIDED 
  
 * HANDS OFF SOCIAL SECURITY 
  
 * UNITE AGAINST RACISM AND POLITICAL REPRESSION 
  
 * STOP THE REINSTATEMENT OF THE DRAFT 
  
 * SOLIDARITY WITH WOMEN, WITH LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND 
 TRANS PEOPLE 
  
 * SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE EAST, ASIA, 
 AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN WHO ARE RESISTING 
 U.S. IMPERIALISM'S DRIVE TO OWN AND EXPLOIT THEM 
  
 * SOLIDARITY WITH ALL OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENTS 
  
 * A REBIRTH OF WORLDWIDE SOLIDARITY IS ESSENTIAL TO THE 
 STRUGGLES AHEAD OF US 
  
 --NYC MILLION WORKER MARCH MOVEMENT AND THE TROOPS OUT NOW 
 COALITION 
  
  
  
  
 Endorsers of Mayday Include: 
  
 New York City Labor Against The War 
 The International Action Center 
 National Immigrant Solidarity Network 
 Artist and Activists United For Peace 
 Brenda Stokely, President DC 1707 AFSCME 
 NYC Council Member Charles Barron 
 Chris Silvera, Secretary Treasurer Local 808 
  
 [continued in next message] 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)