Reminder: There is a War(s) On: Mayday, Chalmers Johnson In Le Monde and more

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

Dear Friends,

There are actions running up to Mayday in communities all over the US 
and around the world, many of them in response to cutbacks in 
education, health care, and jobs demanded by ruling elites. When they 
say "Cutback," or "Get Back," we should say, "Fightback."

Here is the call for Mayday actions from the Rouge Forum 
http://www.richgibson.com/rouge_forum/CutbackFightbackFlyer.pdf

and an original Mayday flyer (takes a minute to come up as it has graphics)
http://www.richgibson.com/rouge_forum/mayday.pdf

and the traditional Rouge Forum Mayday flyer 
http://www.richgibson.com/mayday.htm

and a Mayday song, en espanol 
http://calacapress.com/gigantedespierto/mp3/PrimeroDeMayo.mp3

Mayday is an international workers' holiday. Rouge Forum members have 
celebrated Mayday for eleven years with parties, demonstrations, book 
talks, film (like "This Land is Mine," or "Salt of the Earth,") and 
discussion groups. However, until the massive general strike 
initiated by immigrant workers in 2006, most people in the US thought 
that Mayday, was "Law Day," a day set aside to celebrate obedience 
and loyalty to laws designed to protect property, not people, 
promoting the ethics of slaves. 
http://www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/2008/home.shtml

In the face of real promises for perpetual war from all the actors in 
the hothouse for witless patriotism that is US capitalist democracy 
we should do all we can to shut down schools, the military, and 
workplaces on Mayday, marching in the streets against the empires' 
wars, against the nationalism that makes them possible, and against 
further cuts into the lives of poor and working people---and against 
the failed system of capital itself---toward a world where people can 
live more or less equitably, creatively, in freedom and community. 
Surely we can see the choice is equality or barbarism. Where we can, 
we should conduct freedom schools about the history of Mayday and why 
it is we must fight again.

Here is Chalmers Johnson writing in Le Monde on Why the US is Really 
Broke http://mondediplo.com/2008/02/05military
but oil profits and CEO pay are higher than ever. The degree of the 
cuts, or the gains made by working people, will depend on the level 
of resistance, and its wisdom, that we are able to mount. The coffers 
are not empty.

Most Mayday actions will take place outside and beyond the support of 
most unions, other than the Longshore Workers in Oakland who will 
shut down the ports for one shift.

As an indicator of the current state of the US trade unions, we 
should condemn the leadership of the Service Employees International 
Union who used violence this weekend to attack leaders of the 
California Nurses Association at the Labor Notes Conference in 
Michigan. SEIU President Andy Stern's  SEIU''s fascist thugs 
assaulted CNA's leaders who are, now, among the last unionists in the 
US who understand that workers and employers have contradictory 
interests. Stern is busy collecting dues from union members, really 
extorting money as he makes deal after deal with employers to win 
check-off. His bogus Justice for Janitors campaign typically wins 
workers the minimum wage, minus dues to Stern, and declares that a victory.
http://www.calnurse.org/media-center/press-releases/2008/april/rns-condemn-violent-service-union-attack-at-michigan-event-hundreds-of-seiu-staff-bused-in-to-smash-into-meeting-to-attack-rns-and-break-up-conference-on-union-democracy.html

New organizations, like Calcare or the Rouge Forum, will be necessary 
to develop the theory and practice of worthwhile resistance in the 
coming period.

all the best,
r