On April 3rd & 4th, around the country thousands
converged on Wall Street, Los Angeles, and Raleigh, N.C. to demand “Bail
out the people, not the banks and corporations.”
Clearly, the fight to bail out the people will not end in April. We must
continue to build a movement that will guarantee jobs,homes, health care, an
end to repression and war, and everything the people need during this growing
economic crisis.
What’s next? Come out on May 1st! In 2006, immigrants and
their supporters demonstrated in record numbers. They
held some of the biggest demonstrations not seen in decades and decades. They
demanded an end to the unbelievably repressive proposed legislation, the
Sensenbrenner bill which penalized immigrant workers. The Bush administration
attempted to criminalize going to work.
This legislation was directed against all U.S. workers.
Since 2006, workers have come out to commemorate May 1st, International Workers
Day. Despite the raids and deportations, immigrant workers, the sector whose
struggle bore May Day in Chicago two centuries ago, have revived May Day, a day
celebrated by billions around the world every year. In 2005, workers and
activists reclaimed May Day once again and held several May Day demonstrations
in New York City and elsewhere.
There is now a great opportunity for workers in general to help continue
reviving the legacy of May Day in the spirit of unity and common interest.
Now more than ever the union saying “An injury to one is an
injury to
all” is relevant. Immigrant rights are workers rights.
Workers rights are immigrant rights. The struggle of one is the
struggle of the other. The globalization of the banks and corporations
demonstrate that there must be no borders in the workers struggle.
The Gestapo-like raids and deportations, the
criminalizing of workers, the beatings and
killings are meant to divide us, to keep us fighting one another instead
of the real enemy.
These attacks are used to further cop killings and criminalization of Black
& Latino(a) youth. They are used to justify the neglect and cutting of
vital services and education, especially towards communities of color.
They are used to help feed racist divisions and apathy on the part of white
workers in relation to the conditions of people of color. And they attempt to
hide Wall Street’s theft of pensions and homes while money is diverted to
the banks and for imperialist war abroad.
Are not immigrants forced to come here as a
result of U.S. foreign and economic policy?
Is it immigrants who foreclose homes or shut down factories and move them
abroad where labor is more exploited? Who is it that is bailing out the rich,
while the poor and working class bear the brunt of a crisis they did not
create?
With solidarity and unity there is victory! The Bail Out the
People Movement urges everyone to take the next step after April 3/4 and come
out in record numbers on May 1st. Actions will be
held in cities around the country, from the east and west and from the
north to the south.
We urge you to organize a Bail out the People contingent at these events.
May 1st 2009 marks the first 100 days of the Obama administration. A
united movement of people with documents and without, Black, Latino(a), Asian,
Arab, Native and white, young and old, employed and unemployed, women, men,
LGBT or straight, able-bodied and disabled, will send a clear message to
Washington and to Wall Street:
- Bail out the people, not the banks or corporations!
- Jobs, not jails! Pass EFCA (Employee Free Choice
Act)!
- Stop the foreclosures! Union jobs with union wages for
all!
- Stop the raids & deportations!
For a list of cities with May 1st actions visit the BOPM website:
www.bailoutpeople.org
You can also call us at: (New York) (212) 633-6646 or (Los Angeles) (310)
677-6407 or email us at
http://bailoutpeople.org/cmnt.shtml
