Sunday, May 03, 2020
Saturday, May 02, 2020
May Day through the years
Tina Modotti's photograph of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, with members of the Artists' Union, on the May Day March, Mexico City, 1929 #womensart#MayDay pic.twitter.com/g8rmiiA9qU— #WOMENSART (@womensart1) May 1, 2020
As this crisis continues to squeeze the working class to the breaking point, and calls for a #GeneralStrike proliferate, workers are drawing on labor’s past to fight for their futures. My latest @TeenVogue looks to the lessons of 1919 and 1934 for answers https://t.co/x3GEknGAZL— Kim Kelly (@GrimKim) April 29, 2020
So is the past due to repeat itself? In many respects, it already has. The battles of 1919 and 1934 are as relevant now as they were then, and despite a century of technological innovation and social progress, many of the same wretched, oppressive, dangerous conditions that 20th-century workers fought so hard against remain today. Those glaring structural flaws — rampant capitalist exploitation, the greed of soulless bosses, government disinterest in workers’ lives, and a lack of proper sanitation, safety measures, or health care — have only been magnified in the harsh light of this pandemic. It’s no wonder that the workers themselves are drawing on the lessons of the past to demand a better future, and if a general strike truly is in the cards, now’s the time to show our hand.
When Emma Goldman wrote, “Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread” in her 1910 collection Anarchism and Other Essays, she could not have imagined the exact contours of the crisis workers face today. For many, there is no work, there is no bread, there are no masks. But there are their fellow workers, and for now, that might just be enough to win the rest.
Essential workers for Amazon, Instacart and others banded together on #MayDay for PPE and hazard pay.
— AJ+ (@ajplus) May 1, 2020
One of them was Christian Smalls, who was fired by Amazon after protesting for better safety conditions. He led a protest outside one of its NYC warehouses. pic.twitter.com/YBacMxfqcJ
Today @SEIU1107 members continued to take public action for the third day in a row to highlight our demand to #ProtectAllWorkers in Nevada. pic.twitter.com/qyHtbGzOYQ
— Brian O. Shepherd (@brianoshepherd) May 1, 2020
Happy May Day! Here's a thread of photos from today's general strike in Atlanta! #GeneralStrike2020 #EveryHumanIsEssential #MayDay #PPEshortage pic.twitter.com/7Q8Vhi4P8J
— depressed and dangerous (@MarquisEaly) May 1, 2020
#FreeThemAll #InmatesMatter March today in Frankfort, KY. #MayDay2020 #FreeThemAll4PublicHealth #GeneralStrike2020 #AbolitionNOW @REFORM @ShowUp4RJ @PWGRCC @KentuckyPrison @OnthePrisonLine pic.twitter.com/EfiMNATJJk
— Francesca (@Frankie_M88) May 1, 2020
Women workers of the world unite! 👊🏾💥 Women’s work is essential work.
— 🔺 AF3IRM Hawaiʻi 💜⚔️ (@af3irmhawaii) May 1, 2020
Happy #InternationalWorkersDay! #WomenAreEssential #GeneralStrike2020 pic.twitter.com/ZfkFomgJKZ
ICE is putting people in detention at great risk of exposure to coronavirus! Today healthcare professionals and family members who have loved ones in detention gathered outside BTC, a for-profit detention center, to demand that all people in detention are freed!#FreeThemAll pic.twitter.com/l8HehMOeBk
— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) May 1, 2020
#MayDay2020 @hwanola car and bike rally in New Orleans #GeneralStrike2020 #HealthCareForAll #IncomeForAll #AbolishICE #WorkersBeforeProfit #FreeThemAll #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/eHxjMO93vz
— 350NewOrleans (@350NewOrleans) May 1, 2020
Our people are dying. And on this #MayDay caravan, we have now arrived in Times Square to demand that the pain and death be seen, as we demand a #Recovery4All. pic.twitter.com/Bhz5KCN1bH
— Make the Road NY 🦋 (@MaketheRoadNY) May 1, 2020
Happening Now: Mayday bike protest in Wash DC over corporate bailouts. Riders want rent deferments and food distribution. Employment dropped this week to Great Depression era levels as 30 million Americans have filed jobless claims. #BailoutPeopleNotCorporations #PeoplesBailout pic.twitter.com/oGxqGxCX5K
— DCMediaGroup (@DCMediaGroup) May 1, 2020
These are crimes against humanity😠
— polchinello 🌏🌎🌍⌛ (@donahuejm) May 1, 2020
This has to be a strike to the finish!
Solidarity Forever ✊#MayDay2020#GeneralStrike2020
👉 4,400 Meatpackers Have COVID - Trump Relaxes OSHA Meatpacking Rules - GOP Govs Block Unemployment for Meatpackers https://t.co/pOXKRCvu6M