{"id":34802,"date":"2024-05-18T07:16:17","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T05:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=34802"},"modified":"2024-05-18T07:26:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T05:26:26","slug":"workers-have-power-thousands-rally-in-nyc-for-may-day-call-for-solidarity-with-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=34802","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWorkers Have Power\u201d: Thousands Rally in\u00a0NYC\u00a0for May Day, Call for Solidarity with Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION<\/p>\n

A report from Amy Goodman at Democracy Now!<\/a><\/p>\n

Workers around the world rallied Wednesday to mark May Day, with many calling on the labor movement to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. In New York,\u00a0Democracy Now!\u00a0spoke to demonstrators who demanded that U.S. unions apply political pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza and to stop their government\u2019s arms trade with Israel. \u201cWorkers do have the power to shape the world,\u201d said Palestinian researcher Riya Al\u2019sanah, who was among thousands gathered at a May Day rally in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nJamil Madbak speaking on the video<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Transcript<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0This is\u00a0Democracy Now!, democracynow.org.
\nWe end today\u2019s show on yesterday\u2019s May Day activities in New York. Thousands of students, workers and others rallied in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan to mark May Day.<\/p>\n

JAMIL\u00a0MADBAK:<\/strong>\u00a0Jamil Madbak. In this current moment, after seven months of Zionist aggression against Gaza, is to underscore that there is a popular movement in support of Palestine, not just the students that are mobilizing, but also organized labor across the United States. That\u2019s really important. After the mass arrests yesterday, we saw faculty at\u00a0CUNY\u00a0announce a sickout for today. We saw\u00a0NYU\u00a0faculty announce a grade strike. And we\u2019ve seen other actions being taken in support of the students.
\nWe know the United States manufactures bombs that are being dropped on the people in Gaza, the Palestinians, and the Arab population, more broadly. And in that sense, having an organized labor movement that is willing to advocate for the Palestinian struggle, to chip away at the strength of Western imperialism, more broadly, is essential. And for the Palestinians, the inverse is true. Like, it is our mandate to be part of a broader left in this country to help to struggle for worker rights here, understanding that a stronger labor movement means less of an ability to enact this destructive foreign policy.<\/p>\n

PROTESTERS:<\/strong>\u00a0Occupation no more! Occupation no more! Free, free, free Palestine! Free, free, free Palestine!<\/p>\n

RIYA\u00a0AL\u2019SANAH:<\/strong>\u00a0My name is Riya Al\u2019sanah. I\u2019m a Palestinian researcher, an organizer with the Workers in Palestine initiative. We at Palestinian unions have been organizing and calling for the colleagues in the labor movement and unions internationally to stop arming Israel.<\/p>\n

So, since the call in October, on the 16th of October, workers internationally have galvanized and organized in solidarity with the call. We have seen workers in Barcelona port declare that they will not be \u2014 they will be stopping arms shipments destined to Israel. Workers in Belgium and transport workers have blocked the supply of weapons to Israel. At the Port of Oakland, we also saw workers here in the U.S. take concrete solidarity and action. Internationally, workers have been organizing in their workplaces and in their unions in solidarity and to heed the call. We see this also with the\u00a0UAW\u00a0here in the U.S. and other unions who have been calling for ceasefire and picking up the call from Palestinian workers and Palestinian unions.<\/p>\n

(Article continued in the column on the right)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question related to this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n 
\nHow can we be sure to get news about peace demonstrations?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Article continued from the column on the left)<\/p>\n

This year, May Day comes at a moment where we Palestinians are subjected to a kind of undescribable onslaught, an undescribable violence. And it\u2019s an important moment in our history to remember that workers do have the power to shape the world. Workers do have the power to influence kind of what happens not only locally, but to influence processes of colonial violence and dispossession on a bigger scale.<\/p>\n

The very brave students and faculty on campuses in the U.S. advocating for divestment of Israeli \u2014 of military industries is a prime example of the entrenchment of militarism and military industries to all aspects of our lives, including our educational institutions. These campaigns at the moment amplify how the campaign, the call from Palestinian workers to stop arming Israel is a transformative demand for all of us to be involved in on campuses, in our various workplaces, as well.<\/p>\n

JULIA\u00a0THERESE\u00a0BANNON:<\/strong>\u00a0As a\u00a0UAW\u00a0member and as the president of my local,\u00a0UAW\u00a0must use its political power to put teeth into their call for a ceasefire. I am done with the narrative that this is a right-wing attack on free speech. This is the Democratic Party attacking free speech. This is Joe Biden attacking free speech. This is Chuck Schumer attacking a local. These so-called Democrats are the ones threatening our democracy by silencing anyone who speaks against their genocide.\u00a0UAW\u00a0must revoke endorsements of these politicians, if they want to make good on their call for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

BHAIRAVI\u00a0DESAI:<\/strong>\u00a0I bring you message of solidarity from the 28,000 members of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. We are here to say to Genocide Joe that as long as your bombs are there, we will remain here. How today, on International Workers\u2019 Day, a day that is normally full of pride and celebration, but since October, we cannot have a day that feels like joy or celebration, because the level of death and destruction, it is crushing to our sense of being a human being.<\/p>\n

HEALTHCARE\u00a0WORKER:<\/strong>\u00a0I stand here before you today as a member of Healthcare Workers for Palestine, New York City. This is a lot closer to them. So, I\u2019m just going to forewarn that I\u2019ll be speaking about the mass graves, that our media has so intentionally neglected. Last weekend \u2014<\/p>\n

PROTESTERS<\/strong>:\u00a0Shame! Shame!<\/p>\n

HEALTHCARE\u00a0WORKER<\/strong>:\u00a0Last weekend, at least 283 bodies were found in a mass grave in Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in Gaza. These bodies, our families\u2019 bodies, were found three meters into the ground, covered in waste, headless, skinless, organless, some of them zip-tied, and some of our healthcare workers still in their scrubs.<\/p>\n

PROTESTERS<\/strong>:\u00a0Shame!<\/p>\n

HEALTHCARE\u00a0WORKER:<\/strong>\u00a0Three days later on\u00a0Democracy Now!, we find out it wasn\u2019t 283 bodies. It was at least 300. Three days after that, we find out it\u2019s at least 400. And, y\u2019all, we\u2019re tired of playing this game of numbers.<\/p>\n

NYU\u00a0STUDENT<\/strong>:\u00a0I am speaking to you as a student from the\u00a0NYU\u00a0encampment in solidarity with encampments and workers across the globe. To our administrations, we\u2019re not going away. We hold our ground. We say to our administrations, to be suspended for Gaza is the highest honor.<\/p>\n

PROTESTERS<\/strong>:\u00a0Free, free, free Palestine! Free, free, free Palestine!<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN:<\/strong>\u00a0Special thanks to Hana Elias, Charina Nadura and Messiah Rhodes. Those voices from the Foley Square rally on May Day.<\/p>\n

– – – – – –<\/p>\n

If you wish to make a comment on this article, you may write to coordinator@cpnn-world.org with the title “Comment on (name of article)” and we will put your comment on line. Because of the flood of spam, we have discontinued the direct application of comments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION A report from Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! Workers around the world rallied Wednesday to mark May Day, with many calling on the labor movement to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. In New York,\u00a0Democracy Now!\u00a0spoke to demonstrators who demanded that U.S. unions apply political pressure for a ceasefire in … Continue reading \u201cWorkers Have Power\u201d: Thousands Rally in\u00a0NYC\u00a0for May Day, Call for Solidarity with Palestine<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,91],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-34802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information","category-north-america","tag-north-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}