Saturday — Int’l Workers’ Day Demos in Tel Aviv and Nazareth

Demonstrations to mark International Workers’ Day, May Day, will be held this coming Saturday, April 30, in Tel Aviv and Nazareth. The main march organized by Hadash, the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), and the Young Communist League will set out in Nazareth along Tawfiq Ziad Street starting at 10:30 am and will continue to the city center along Pope Paul VI Street where a rally will take place. Transportation to Nazareth will be organized from locations around the country. Towards May Day, the CPI has released an official statement: “This year, workers, whether they be women or men, don’t have many reasons to celebrate. An extremist, right-wing government, entirely in the service of domestic and foreign Capital, one advocating discrimination, exclusion, exploitation and the continuation of the occupation, dominates Israel. This is a government that rules through intimidation and incitement, which have been transformed into its regular tools of governance, and which so prominently shade all of its actions.”

May Day - Moving forward to Socialism - 2016

May Day – Moving forward to Socialism – 2016

In its official statement the CPI also stresses that “today, more than ever, women and men workers, all working people, need a thorough alternative. Against incitement, Jewish-Arab brotherhood should stand; against racism, working class solidarity; against exploitation, the determined struggle of working people. This is a sociopolitical battle that, in order to be won, must be democratic and involve the masses. There is no future for the peoples living in this country as long as the occupation continues. There will be no relief for workers, women or men, as long as the right-wing government is committed to furthering its neo-liberal economic and social policies.”

Yet another demonstration will be held on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv, sponsored by a host of organizations and activists, among them Hadash, the CPI, and the Young Communist League. The demonstration will set out at 7:30 pm from the Meir Park on King George Street. Towards this demonstration in Tel Aviv, a manifesto has been issued stating: “Our society is in crisis. Poverty is increasing; economic disparities are widening; our salaries are worth less and less every month; and our rent increases annually. This government has offered us no answers. Instead of providing solutions to our real everyday problems, it is engaged in politics of separation and intimidation – when we hate one another, we cannot threaten the forces in power. So Bibi grants more gifts and natural resources to domestic and foreign tycoons, while more police brutality is directed towards us. More tax benefits are given to multinationals, while the number of families who hear the knock on the door before being evicted from their home only increases. More investments are funneled to the occupation and settlements, while more cuts are made in the budgets for public housing, public health and public transport. Instead of the government working for us, it is engaged in working for the few, the powerful and the rich. It is time to move forward.”

The activists behind the Tel Aviv demonstration also stressed that “May Day is a day of international solidarity for all women and men workers. It is a day in which we offer socialism, the labor unions, the welfare state, and the working class as an alternative to the economic and political right. It is a day in which struggles are united – struggles for decent wages; lowering the cost of living; workers’ rights; genuine and full equality for women, men, Jews, Arabs and Mizrahim; and the struggle for a state that belongs to all of us, not just a handful of rich. May Day is also a day in which we celebrate what we’ve achieved. And this year, May Day coincides with Mimouna. So we invite you all to the traditional May Day march that will conclude with a Mimouna celebration by women and men workers.

Related: