May Day 2007

from trots, 23 February 2009: Sorry, repost from north american trots, but useful info... "Brutalized demonstrators awarded more than $12 million +++ On Feb. 4 2009, members of the Los Angeles City Council unanimously agreed to pay $12.85 million to immigrant rights activists and bystanders injured or mistreated by members of the Los Angeles Police Department and SWAT officers during the May Day 2007 immigrant rights march and rally at MacArthur Park..." more

The head of the Los Angeles Police Department, William Bratton, has admitted that his officers made serious mistakes at the end of a May Day rally.

The admission came as Mr Bratton delivered a report on the immigration rally to the city's police commission. more

On May Day 2007, our role as Cop Watch Los Angeles was to observe and document police harassment and brutality, and to defend the people in the community who were participating in the march and rally organized by MIWON (Multi-Ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network) in McArthur Park. When the police began their major attack, Cop Watch LA and other community members acted as a buffer between the police and the people, while directing families to safety. more

from email: 02 May 2007: In case you hadn’t already heard – yesterday, Mayday, the Camberwell Squatted Centre was in court. The alleged owners of the building, Silverside Ltd, were trying to get possession of the place so they could knock it down and build whatever profit-oozing block of flats they can... more

repost from email: 01.05.2007: "To all the precarious workers, both natives and migrants, men and women. To the contortionists of flexibility and the acrobats of everyday life. To the temporary workers and contractors, the pseudo self-employed, the long-term precarious and those secure until-who-knows-when. To students and researchers, precarious workers in education and information. To all those still looking for income and wage, to all those demanding their rights..." more

22.04.2007 - So… the Squat Centre at 192 Warham Street, Camberwell, has received court papers… The owners of the building, so called, are seeking possession of the place, taking us to Lambeth County Court… on Tuesday May 1st! Yes, Mayday! Well we weren’t going to work that day anyway… more

from the web: The power structures want us to believe that they are doing us a favor: "Without sacrifice, there is nothing to be gained." But is sacrificing your life and liberty worth the slave-wages you are being paid? "Resistance is futile."

But, in solidarity comes power. We do not need to be blamed for these unstable days with a gloomy future and do not need to wear out our minds, bodies or emotions any more. more

From email: Over the last few years, grassroots democracy has returned or sprung up in a number of different and inspiring ways; on this Mayday we march to celebrate our new resistance to our oldest problem – united in unrepentant struggle against their unrelenting war. more

from email: "We have a plan, it's as raucous as our Circle Line Parties, its as well dressed as our Midnight Cricket Matches and it's as down right cheeky as our Guerilla Benching. We would like you to join us, and kick Mayday back into the calendar with a bright colourful bang!

We are going to be hosting a party right in the heart of the Corporate Financial Centres of London. To pull it off we will need secret agent cunning, disguise, inventiveness, stealth equipment and more..."  more

For the third time the MayDay-parade takes place on the 1st May 2007 in Vienna. It intends to draw the attention to the progressive precarisation of living and working conditions.

But the MayDay does not only point at this threatening process by joyful self-organisation, it is also an invitation to overcome fragmentation and to fight together! more