[FlyingBrickAnnouncements] May Day Endorsement

[Nathan Stickel]

Hey y'all, can we start thinking about endorsing this event this year? Check
it out.


Attached is a document which can also be filled out on-line at [
http://maydayrva.org/endorse.php ].  The *deadline *for endorsements that
will go to press will be *April 10, 2011*!

*May Day! Workers of the World Unite!*
>
> This is our day! International Workers Day! Our day to recognize and
> appreciate the social and economic achievements of the international labor
> movement. The struggle began in 1884 when the Federation of Organized Trades
> and Labor Unions passed a resolution that would enact an eight-hour workday
> beginning on May 1, 1886. On May 4th, 1886 during a general strike for the
> eight hour day in Chicago, police fired on strikers and killed a dozen
> people in what has become known as the Haymarket Massacre. In 1890, Labor
> activists, Leftists, Socialists and Anarchists began celebrating May 1 as
> the International Worker’s Holiday to achieve “…the legal establishment of
> the 8-hour day, the class demands of the proletariat, and universal peace.”
>
> With the specter of a market free of government regulation that reaches far
> beyond the familiar borders of the United States, there is a need, more than
> ever, for a labor movement that demands for the rights of working people,
> and holds accountable the government and corporations for the injustices
> that we are forced to endure at the mercy of the wealthy.
>
> *The Struggle Continues!  We must Organize!*
>
> * *There is no time better than now! From the office worker in a business
> suit to the construction worker in coveralls, no one has been left
> untouched. Corporate greed permeates every aspect of our lives as workers
> are laid off without benefits and left to fight to save their homes from
> foreclosure. While the city becomes a destination for the suburban middle
> class, protections for lower income residents are virtually non existent.
> Urban planners are heralded for ushering new life, income and opportunities
> into the area, but they also inadvertently pave the way for gentrification
> and the displacement of those who depend on the proximity of jobs and public
> transportation to survive. Developers left unchecked by city government are
> threatening Public Housing residents with the prospect of becoming homeless.
> All the while, institutional racism continues to permeate our culture, with
> hate groups on the rise in both membership and influence. And despite the
> popular movement demanding health care for all, the decision has been handed
> over to the insurance companies.
>
> The economy has reached an all time low and workers are left to fend for
> themselves with few solutions. Immigrant and migrant workers continue to be
> scapegoated drawing attention away from the role of corporations and the
> destabilizing effects of free trade agreements. Recognizing our similarities
> rather than differences, we are united around the core principle that we
> must link arms and fight back in the spirit of those that came before us in
> a true display of solidarity.
>
> This May Day we wish to demonstrate the presence of a labor movement in
> Richmond that is ready to fight against the multitude of injustices in our
> communities. We wish to unite individuals, faith based groups, unions,
> students, teachers and progressive organizations who will stand in
> solidarity with one another, for economic & social justice, freedom, and
> equality! And overall, we wish to better define the overlapping issue of
> capitalism that exists at the root of all our working class woes.
>

-- 
Always with Solidarity

Nathan
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