May Day: Solidarity despite the quarantine

May Day finds us locked down and quarantined. In many countries around the world, the working class will be confined during International Workers’ Day. At any rate, large rallies will be banned. Above all, our class is being ravaged by an unparalleled human tragedy and faces an uncertain future.

In all likelihood, the cycle of job destruction, wages decrease and worsening of living conditions that has already started, will continue unabated after the lockdown eases. However, this May Day will also inaugurate a cycle of resistance and solidarity.

The heroes and heroines of the working class, workers in health care, logistics, supermarkets, food production, education, emergencies and many other basic services, remind us that with determination, trust in our own strength and mutual support, any pandemic can be defeated. Including fear and hopelessness. Only the people save the people.

Over and above the barriers imposed by the situation, our anarcho-syndicalist and revolutionary unions, the sections of ICL, have used any means at their disposal to stand firm by their membership and their class, to continue functioning, advising and assisting.

May Day is no exception. Many ICL sections have planned virtual events for the day or have come up with other ingenious ways to show their determination to defend workers’ rights. The links to these events will be shared below, as we receive them. We invite all of you to attend them and to show that solidarity cannot be quarantined!

Long live May Day! Long live the working class! Only the people save the people