May Day Around the World

Despite scorching temperatures – 42 degrees – workers in Bangladesh gathered under the red flags of the working class on May 1st. In Dhaka and Chittagong, our correspondents from the Workers’ Democratic Party and the Textile Workers’ Trade Union Federation demanded safety in the workplace and measures against the high cost of living, but they also said, « The peoples of the world don’t want war, they want peace! »

The heatwave in the Philippines, too, is the product of climate disruption, report our correspondents from the Workers’ Party (Partido Manggagawa). But « in this scorching heat, workers have no choice: in construction, transport, factories without air conditioning, among deliverymen, farmers, vendors, men and women, are forced to work, without which hunger threatens their families. These sacrifices are not rewarded by the capitalist system ». Labour organisations are also mobilising against anti-union repression.

In Romania, Ukraine’s neighbor, our correspondents from the National Federation of Labor took part in rallies in the mining regions of the Jiu Valley. On behalf of the trade union federation, they condemned « the imperialist war in Ukraine, the product of competition between NATO, led by the United States, and Russia for control of the markets », « the consequences of which are being paid for by the deterioration in the standard of living of the working class ». It was also an opportunity to condemn « the genocide of the Palestinian people » and « capitalist barbarism ».

Across the Spanish State, workers demonstrated and made their demands in the face of a « left-wing » government that relays the policies of the European Union and NATO. In Bilbao, in the Basque country, hundreds of young people gathered under a canopy of red flags – and a few Palestinian flags – in response to a call from Konseilu Sozialista. There was much discussion among the workers and young people « about Palestine, war budgets, money for health and schools, the need to do away with the monarchy and capitalism… ». Forty-seven copies of the first issue of La Internacional Hoja de informacion were sold.

From our correspondents