DailyRadical

As it has become a tradition in Boston, a rally will be held on May
1st. at the Boston Common Bandstand, starting at 4 pm. Immigrant and
labor rights advocates will address the participants. There will
also be cultural presentations with a special presentation by
Bolivian folk-musician and composer Manuel "Papirri" Monroy. This
will be Monroy's first visit to the United States. At 5:30 pm the
rally participants will march to Copley Square to demonstrate their
protest at the government policies against undocumented migrant
workers, demanding an end to the raids and deportations and full
legalization for all migrant workers and their families.

May 1 is a day internationally recognized in celebration of
economic, social and political achievements of workers. In fact, in
the majority of countries around the world May 1 is a legal holiday.
What most people don't know is that this tradition begun in 1886 in
the United States, in the midst of the struggle for the eight-hour
workday.

In 2006, also here in the United States, millions of undocumented
workers and their families took to the street to demand labor rights
and respect for their human rights. The fact is that around the
world there is now a new underclass of laborers, those "without
papers". Undocumented workers are hired to do the most undesirable
jobs in agriculture, construction and services. With their hard
labor they have contributed greatly to the U.S. economy and to the
profits of U.S. companies. Yet, they are persecuted, abused,
discriminated against and treated with total disrespect for their
rights as human beings.

May 1, also known as May Day, International Workers Day, is then the
appropriate day to protest the abuses against undocumented workers
and their families. The United States is building a monstrouos wall
in the border with Mexico extending from the Pacific to the
Atlantic. They have deployed thousands of armed guards, real
soldiers to stop an enemy that only wants to contribute their labor
to the U.S. economy. A specialized police, better known as ICE
(Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) roams the cities of the U.S.
in military-style raids detaining undocumented workers, and then
deporting them. Those raids reached home, here in Massachusetts, and
they have faced strong opposition from the community.

On May 1, 2008, we will again protest against repression of
undocumented workers. Workers and students, documented and
undocumented, citizens, permanent residents or not will hold a rally
at the Boston Common at 4pm to then march to Copley Square at
5:30pm. The demands for the day are: 1) Stop the raids and
deportations, 2) Full legalization for all migrant workers, 3) No
militarization of the borders and no walls, 4) Stop the war on
immigrants and the wars abroad. We further declare that no worker is
illegal and we call on all workers of the world to unite in the
struggle for migrant workers rights.

Over one hundred and twenty years ago workers did not enjoy the
right to an eight hour workday. The weekend was a term not yet
invented. International Workers Day commemorates May Day 1886 when
nearly half a million workers stood up in a nation-wide general
strike for these and other rights. The police repressed the strikers
and in Chicago 8 anarchist labor leaders where falsely accused of
attacking the police on what became known as the Haymarket Affair.
In the end 1 of the anarchists, Louis Lingg killed himself in
prison. 2 others, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden, were sentenced
to life in prison, while Oscar Neebe got 15 years; and the other 4,
Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, and George Engel were
hung. Oscar Neebe, Samuel Fielden, and Michael Schwab stayed in jail
until released in 1893 by Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld, who
acknowledged the injustice of the trial.

Their bravery, hard work and sacrifice gained U.S. workers many of
the workplace and human rights we enjoy today. Union leaders across
the country agree, however, that organizing in the workplace for
undocumented and documented workers alike, has become increasingly
more difficult in the past decade, making the lessons of
International Workers Day more relevant than ever.

Endorsers as of 4/17/08 include(in alphabetical order): AFSC Project
Voice, Allston/Brighton Collective for Popular Assemblies,
Allston/Brighton Neigborhood Assembly, ANSWER, PSL, Bikes Not Bombs,
Boston Anarchist Black Cross, Boston Anti Authoritarian Movement,
Boston May Day Coalition, Boston School Bus Drivers Union, Brazilian
Workers Center, Centro Presente, CISPES, Community Church of Boston,
CSIO Boston, Food Not Bombs, Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition,
Latinas/os for Social Change, International Action Center, IWW, Jobs
with Justice, Lucy Parsons Center, Mass Global Action, MLK
Bolivarian Circle, National Lawyers Guild - Mass., New England Human
Rights Organization on Haiti, Sacco & Vanzetti Commemoration
Society, Socialist Alternative, Socialist Party, Socialist Workers
Party, Students at Tufts Active for Immigrant Rights, Suffolk and
Emerson Anti-Authoritarians, TJs Workers Collective.