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M1 Mayday Statement

category north america / mexico | anarchist movement | press release author Monday April 30, 2012 23:54author by Chris Alexander - First of May Anarchist Allianceauthor email m1aa at riseup dot net Report this post to the editors

Mayday. The First of May. The coming of Spring. The day of the workers.

Since May 1, 2006 we have seen a slow opening up of mass struggles on a scale not seen in recent memory, amplified by the silent economic crash in 2008. From the massive day without an immigrant to the historic Arab Spring; the Wisconsin workers uprising to the prisoners strikes in Georgia and California; Occupy Wall Street to the rallies for Justice for Trayvon Martin; General strikes of students in Chile and Quebec and of workers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. People committed to real change cannot help but feel the wind in our sails. People are rising and refusing, struggles are igniting, common ground is revealing itself, we are beginning to feel and take back our power, everywhere.

Despite the rise of new fighting forces, pain is growing not decreasing. Symbolic changes at the peak of empire—codename Obama—have only served to further entrench the direction of decline, with Democrats bringing the stick when the Republicans aren’t there to make their bad cop look good. Deportations have increased, prisons are overflowing, the local face of a global war given new legitimacy, while organized racist violence dares to seize an ever greater public stage. Cutbacks and the destruction of public safety nets pay for corporate welfare and bankers’ bailouts. Ecological destruction continues apace: tar sands mining, fracking, nuclear power, and the daily grind of a system that cannot long coexist with dignified human life on earth.

This statement has been published in the Mayday Issue of First of May Anarchist Alliance broadsheet, Revolution.

Since May 1, 2006 we have seen a slow opening up of mass struggles on a scale not seen in recent memory, amplified by the silent economic crash in 2008. From the massive day without an immigrant to the historic Arab Spring; the Wisconsin workers uprising to the prisoners strikes in Georgia and California; Occupy Wall Street to the rallies for Justice for Trayvon Martin; General strikes of students in Chile and Quebec and of workers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. People committed to real change cannot help but feel the wind in our sails. People are rising and refusing, struggles are igniting, common ground is revealing itself, we are beginning to feel and take back our power, everywhere.

Despite the rise of new fighting forces, pain is growing not decreasing. Symbolic changes at the peak of empire—codename Obama—have only served to further entrench the direction of decline, with Democrats bringing the stick when the Republicans aren’t there to make their bad cop look good. Deportations have increased, prisons are overflowing, the local face of a global war given new legitimacy, while organized racist violence dares to seize an ever greater public stage. Cutbacks and the destruction of public safety nets pay for corporate welfare and bankers’ bailouts. Ecological destruction continues apace: tar sands mining, fracking, nuclear power, and the daily grind of a system that cannot long coexist with dignified human life on earth.

We move forward inspired with new energy and deadly seriousness. We find ourselves in a global war on a thousand fronts . . . and yet the smell of a new Spring remains in the breeze.

Never before has common sense been clearer on the connection between struggles, that freedom is only possible if no one is in chains. Embodying this truth is a core task for all revolutionaries, which requires building independent power as part of the working class. Otherwise, we as working class people are going to get pushed around, sold out by people happy to direct our struggles. Conversely, if those at the bottom aren’t connecting their struggles for survival with the ideas and methods of freedom and revolution then those facing the most brutal assaults will be without what they need to end this entire system of exploitation, oppression, hierarchy and war.

Never has this system of exploitation been closer to falling apart, yet the revolution necessary to make this possible won’t happen on its own. Even as we fight around specific demands we must continually promote a maximal program, demanding freedom beyond what this system can provide—survival, prosperity, and power for all people. This includes confronting the would be bosses among us, whether they’re liberal types trying to herd our movements into Democratic Party graveyards or authoritarian leftists whose heroes left real live mass graves all on their own.

This May Day, let us raise our fists in memory of our ancestors, the earth we all belong to, and the lessons from struggles everywhere, traces of which burn through the haze of the present to the black soil beneath, the grounded hope of social revolution and dignity for all people.

Our small, but growing, Alliance raises four motions to those already at the barricades:

1. Raise and promote the concept of Revolution. Defensive struggles can only go so far. This system cannot provide what is needed. It will need to be overturned all together. Our freedom, our lives and our planet depend on it.

2. Orient to the working-classes. Revolutionaries must be of and among the people, not staffing for a new elite. Rooting ourselves in working-class conditions and life will mean that our politics are shaped by, and will help shape the rank & file movements from below.

3. Develop non-doctrinaire anarchist politics. Anarchism has been the most consistent set of anti authoritarian ideas, hostile to all exploitation, oppression and hierarchy – but it must be further deepened and developed to help chart our course for freedom today.

4. Organize broadly and on many levels. From unions to radical media collectives, from anti-fascist self defense units to building community power around urban agriculture. Participate as anarchists and aim to federate the many fronts of resistance.

First of May Anarchist Alliance is an organization of anarchist revolutionaries working in the Occupy movement and housing defense, the IWW and broader labor movement, Anti-Racist Action and the anti fascist movement. We welcome inquiries, discussion, and critique.
Día de Mayo. El primero de Mayo. La llegada de la primavera. El día de los obreros.

Desde Mayo 1, 2006 hemos visto un inicio lento de luchas masivas a una escala que no se había visto anteriormente en la historia reciente, y que ha sido amplificada por el silencioso colapso de la economía en el 2008. Desde el día masivo llamado un día sin inmigrantes a la histórica primavera Arabe; los obreros de Wisconsin levantándose por las demonstraciones de los prisioneros en Georgia y California; la Ocupación de Wall Street, las marchas buscando Justicia por Trayvon Martin; manifestaciones de estudiantes en Chile y Quebec y manifestaciones de los obreros en Europa, el Oriente Medio, y en África. La gente comprometida al verdadero cambio no puede evitar sentir el viento de nuestro barco velador. La gente se está levantando y esta resistiendo, las luchas se están encendiendo, lasos communes se están revelando por sí mismos, estamos empezando a sentir y a recuperar nuestro poder, en todos lados.

A pesar de las nuevas fuerzas contra-atacantes, el dolor está creciendo no disminuyendo. Cambios simbólicos a la cima del imperio-cual nombre código es Obama-solo han servido para llevar aún más lejos le dirección del deterioro del sistema, con los Democratas haciendo el trabajo de castigar cuando los Republicanos no están para hacer ver bien a sus malos. Las deportaciones han incrementado, las prisiones están desbordándose, la representación local está dando nueva legitimidad a la guerra global, mientras violencia organizada y racista se atreve a apoderarse del escenario público. Reducción y destrucción de las redes por la seguridad publica pagan por el bienestar corporativo y las fianzas de los banqueros. Destrucción ecológico continua a paso acelerado: minería del chapopote, fracturación hidráulica, poder nuclear y la diaria deterioración de un sistema que no puede coexistir por mucho mas con una vida digna de seres humanos en la tierra.

Nos movemos hacia adelante inspirados con nueva energía y con seriedad. Nos encontramos en una guerra global en miles de frentes diferentes…y aun el aroma de una nueva primavera permanece en el aire.

Nunca antes el sentido común ha sido tan claro en cuanto la conexión entre las luchas, que hace la libertad solo posible sin que nadie este encadenado. La personificación de esta verdad es la tarea principal de todo los revolucionarios, que requiere de construir poder independiente, como parte de la clase obrera. Si no, nosotros como gente de la clase obrera vamos hacer manipulados, vendidos por la gente que sería feliz dirigiendo nuestras luchas. Igual, si aquellos que están al fondo de los movimientos no están conectando sus luchas con la sobrevivencia y con ideas y métodos de libertad y revolución ellos serán los que enfrentarán los asaltos más brutales y estarán sin lo que necesitan para acabar con este sistema de explotación, opresión, jerarquia y guerra.

Este sistema de explotación nunca ha estado tan cerca de desmoronarse, sin embargo la revolución necesaria para hacer esto posible, no se va hacer por si misma. Aunque luchemos alrededor de demandas específicas debemos promover continuamente un programa al máximo, demandando por la libertad más allá de lo que este sistema puede proveer—sobrevivencia, prosperidad, y poder para todos. Esto incluye enfrentar los que serían jefes entre nosotros, ya sean del tipo liberal que intentan mandar nuestros movimientos a panteones del partido Demócrata o sean izquierdistas autoritarios quienes héroes han dejado masas de vidas en panteones completamente solas.

Este Dia de Mayo, levantaremos nuestros puños al aire en memoria de nuestros ancestros, de la tierra de la cual todos pertenecemos, y por las lecciones de luchas de todas partes, rastros de las cual se aparecen por medio de la neblina del presente, al suelo negro debajo nosotros, llevando la arraigada esperanza de revolución social y dignidad por todo ser humano.

Related Link: http://m1aa.org/?p=449
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