2017 May Day Poster (English)
April 2, 2017
DECLARATION OF GENERAL STRIKE
April 2, 2017
DECLARATION OF GENERAL STRIKE
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Friends and Allies,
We are workers, you and I. We work partly out of necessity, but also because it is through work that the conditions for life are created. We want to live and work with dignity! Now we find that even this simple desire is under threat. On May first, International Workers Day, you and I are called to testify that all workers need to be protected, regardless of their age, gender identity, social class or immigration status.
The May 1st Action Coalition is calling for a General Strike on May 1st, 2017 (International Workers’ Day). We are responding to a nationwide call for a strike on that day, as well as to many in our community who have asked for a strong response to attacks by the new administration on labor in general, and immigrant workers in particular.
We also recognize that we are not just workers. We have families, friends and myriad ties to our various communities. The White House conspires to fund a massive increase in military spending while cutting virtually everything else. Our people deserve and expect more:
- Affordable housing.
- Living wage jobs.
- Universal health care.
- Fully funded education.
- Freedom to organize and maintain unions.
- Equal pay for equal work.
- Clean water, clean air, respect and care for mother earth.
- Fair trade with other nations.
- Respect for the Treaty Rights of our indigenous Nations.
- Community-based solutions to safety that don’t rely on police, prisons, and immigration enforcement/ICE
Most importantly, we strike against the climate of fear spreading into every corner of our communities. While the Administration rails against “foreign” terrorists, it has unleashed its own terrorist organization, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). ICE agents kidnap their victims, at work or home, without warning or warrants. They separate children from parents and wives from husbands. They deport or incarcerate without any pretense of due process. The very purpose of ICE is to spread terror – to serve as a warning to all of us of what we could face if we resist.
We want to rebuild our society from one that legislates hate to one that promotes peace and respect. We want the wars to stop and we want to stop the repression and continued “illegality” of our compatriots and their families! We know that we workers can obtain those things. With all this in mind, we are asking you to join us in the streets on May 1st – to walk with us in solidarity as fellow workers to show the powers-that-be we will not be silenced.
We won’t stand for border walls, indefinite detention without charge or trial, mass deportations and separation of families. We also oppose the apparent bias of these actions that disproportionately targets non-whites, Muslims or other minorities.
In addition, we are asking you to call the city council, the mayor’s office, the county council, the county Executive and our Governor to declare May 1st a holiday (as it is around the world), to ensure that government workers can join us!
We are asking all businesses to honor their workers request for the day off so they can also join us.
This is not an action against businesses. This is an action against national governance and policy that is inhumane, repressive, unwarranted, counterproductive and fiscally destructive.
We have been fighting separately for too long and this negligence and separation must cease. It can for at least one day: May Day!
In Solidarity,
El Comité and the May 1st Action Coalition
May 1st Rally and March
Location: Judkins Park, 2150 S Norman St. Seattle
Time: rally starts @ 11:00 AM; march at 1:00PM
Contact us: 206 650 2106 or 465-5511-
Email: info@elcomitewa.org
Twitter Tag: #MayDaySea
PRESS RELEASE: Executive Order about the Southern Border Wall
January 26, 2017
MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release: Thursday, January 26, 2017
Contact: El Comité, ph: 206.465.5511, em: info@elcomitewa.org, Twitter Tag: #DumpTrump.
Border Wall Executive Order signed on 1/25/16 is a poorly thought-out, costly, xenophobic blunder.
SEATTLE – Yesterday morning, the current presidential administration made due on its vitriolic, anti-immigrant promise to augment the border wall at our southern boundary and repeal federal funding from major cities that have come out in support of immigrants through their Sanctuary City designations. El Comité vehemently opposes the racist, xenophobic executive order and will focus its resources on resisting the administration’s attacks on members of our communities. As History, can attest, border walls don’t work at keeping people out. Rather, they make it more difficult for people to leave.
Immigration policy in the mid-1990s aided in the construction of border walls near the major entry points of San Diego, California and El Paso, Texas through such efforts as Operation Gatekeeper and Operation Hold the Line. These walls did little to deter migration and only made the northward trek incredibly more hazardous. Since 1993, and estimated 7,000 people have died in their attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
In addition to pushing policy dubious for its failure over the last two decades, the executive order also resorts to using old racist tropes in implying that migration is principally a phenomenon at the southern border. Likewise, the rationale incorporates much of the Trump campaign’s anti-Mexican vitriol by noting that “transnational criminal organizations operate sophisticated networks…contributing to a significant increase in violent crime and United States Deaths from dangerous drugs.” Furthermore, the order continues its xenophobic fear-mongering by claiming, “Among those who illegally enter are those who seek to harm Americans through acts of terror or criminal conduct.”
The executive order uses racist caricature to pander to the general public’s fears and encroaches on local communities by strong-arming city governments with threats of removing federal funding for essential programs. Likewise, the executive order also dubiously requests funding for the physical construction and upkeep of a border wall that will syphon money away from more desperately deserving infrastructure projects throughout the country. The optics are also very deliberate as we share two extensive borders to the north and south. One border is heavily militarized while the other literary features a “peace arch” at one of its points of entry.
This administration has made it abundantly clear that it will attempt to codify its racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic campaign rhetoric into policy. We have seen this occur as not even a full week in office, Trump has signed executive orders around pushing the XL and Dakota Access Pipelines, has signed an order to remove federal funding for reproductive health providers, has signed an executive order about building a border wall, and has created a chilling effect for scientists who focus on climate change.
It is for these aforementioned reasons that we need continue to organize and resist these authoritarian policies. We are all impacted by legislation that poison our land, air and water. We are all impacted by restricted access to reproductive health and family planning. We are all impacted by racist and xenophobic policies aimed at our friends, families, neighbors, and co-workers. And of course, we are all impacted by diminished protections in the work place. Now more than ever, we need to be present for our sisters and brothers in the struggle for a dignified existence.
EDUCATE, ORGANIZE, MOBILIZE.
For more information, contact the following: El Comité, ph:206.465.5511, em: info@elcomitewa.org, Twitter Tag: #DumpTrump.
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Immigrant Rights Activists will take to the streets of Seattle to protest Trump.
January 18, 2017
MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Contact: El Comité and the May 1st Action Coalition,
ph: 206.465.5511, em: info@elcomitewa.org, Twitter Tag: #DumpTrump.
Immigrant Rights Activists will take to the streets of Seattle to protest the incoming Presidential Administration.
“All United, None Divided” March will be one of many events throughout the city and country to resist the incoming Trump Presidency.
SEATTLE – El Comité and the May 1st Action Coalition, and the Church Council of Greater Seattle will protest the incoming Trump Administration with a march from Judkins Park to Westlake Park in Downtown Seattle. After our event at Westlake Park, we will join the “Resist Trump: Occupy Inauguration – Seattle!” event. In the spirit of unity and solidarity with communities across the country who will bear the brunt of the Trump Administration’s Racist, Sexist, Homophobic and Xenophobic policies, organizers will continue with the central themes of justice for immigrant workers, Preservation of the DACA Program, opposition to a National Registry for refugees, an end to the killing and disproportionate incarceration of people of color, Respect for Native Treaty Rights, as well as justice for social and economically marginalized communities at the local, national, and international levels. Event details are as follows:
What: “All United, None Divided” March
Who: Immigrant rights supporters, workers, community members, social justice advocates.
When: Friday January 20th, 2017. A preliminary program will begin at Judkins Park at 1:00 p.m. The march will depart from the starting point at 2:30 p.m. There will be a Rally at Westlake Park at 4:00 p.m. and the contingent will join the “Resist Trump: Occupy Inauguration – Seattle!” event, promptly at 5:00 p.m.
Where: The march will begin near St. Mary’s Church (at the intersection of South Weller St and 20th Ave South) and will end at Westlake Park in Downtown Seattle (401 Pine St., Seattle, WA 98101)
Background
The march is one of many events locally and nationally that will take place on inauguration day. The effect of the 2016 Electoral Campaign, and specifically, the Trump candidacy has led to an uptick in harassment, xenophobia, and violence. It is also clear that this administration has shown a predilection toward Neo-Fascist policy and has shown favor for hard Right adherents, such as Jeff Sessions, among others. As workers, as community members, we invite all our sisters and brothers in labor, faith, and social justice to join us once again. We continue to work toward justice. We were out in the streets to counter the Bush Administration over a decade ago, and continued fighting the Deportation machine that was left in place through bipartisan institutional neglect. This is no different in the present day as we will fight for the workers and the members of our communities on the social and economic margins that struggle every day for a more dignified existence.
EDUCATE, ORGANIZE, MOBILIZE.
For more information, contact the following: El Comité and the May 1st Action Coalition, ph:206.465.5511, em: info@elcomitewa.org, Twitter Tag: #DumpTrump.
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Marchers Celebrate the 10 year Anniversary of the 2006 Mega-Marches for Immigrant Rights, hold upbeat procession
May 1, 2016
MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release: Sunday, May 1, 2016
Contact: El Comité and the May 1st Action Coalition,
ph: 206.465.5511, em: info@elcomitewa.org, Twitter Tag: #May1stSea.
Marchers Celebrate the 10 year Anniversary of the 2006 Mega-Marches for Immigrant Rights, hold upbeat procession to the U.S. District Courthouse.
SEATTLE – Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Seattle to participate in the 2016 May Day March for Workers and Immigrant Right. The events began at Judkins Park at 1:00 p.m., with a brief program that included music, speeches, and logistical announcements for the march. Participants then filed westbound, on Lane Street to start the March at 2:15 p.m. At around 2:45 p.m., the march departed from St. Mary’s Church, with Danza Ce Atl Tonalli, setting the tone.
The march swelled, with contingents joining along the way on Jackson Street and 20th Avenue, along Boren Avenue, as well as on several street corners along First Hill, and Capitol Hill. Included among these groups, were contingents for organized labor as well as participants who opted to join the march as it made its way through the middle of the city. In all, several dozen organizations and community groups endorsed the 2015 march and provided the resources to mobilize their own members, in addition to others in the community.
The march ended at the U.S. District Courthouse in Downtown Seattle. The selection of the site was very deliberate, as organizers made note to demonstrate in opposition to the U.S. District 5 Court’s challenge to the DACA/DAPA program, which if implemented by the Obama administration, would have provided relief and a temporary deferral of deportation for many undocumented students and their parents. Likewise, also of note in this year’s March was the focus on protesting against police brutality, with the recent shooting of Che Taylor in Seattle and Jackie Salyers in Tacoma. “All lives matter,” noted Andre Taylor, brother of Che Taylor and a speaker at the event. “All lives have equal value, but we need to ensure that police understand that. If I suffer, you suffer, and if you suffer I suffer…It is through unity that we assure that all lives have equal value.”
The 2016 march also focused on the theme of providing documentation for all, an end to racism in political discourse, and ceasing the deportation and detention of immigrants. Juan Jose Bocanegra, a representative of the May 1st Action Coalition proclaimed, “We need to end these racist attacks against our community. We need to stop Trump’s fascist racism!”
Councilmember Kshama Sawant also spoke about the historical implications of the day. “Ten years ago, the immigrant community rose up and organized against oppression.” In the ten years since the historic marches of 2006 the movement has waxed and waned. According to Jorge Quiroga, “the reason we are still here is because we are still organizing for justice.” “Our brothers and sisters in the faith, labor, and social justice communities have been there throughout the years. This is true solidarity, this is what community is all about.”
For more information, contact the following: El Comité and the May 1st Action Coalition, ph:206.465.5511, em: info@elcomitewa.org, Twitter Tag: #May1stSea.
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3 Special Metro Transit Buses Available for May Day Marchers
April 29, 2016
Articulated King County Metro Bus (Image courtesy of Associated Press/Anonymous)
King County Metro Transit has provided 3 Articulated buses to assist with shuttling May Day marchers from the rally at the Federal Courthouse (Stewart St and 7th Ave), back to Judkins Park.
Once the Marchers arrive at the courthouse, special articulated shuttle buses will be called and will be made available for when after the ceremonies are concluded. These buses will return the marchers back to area near Judkins Park (S. Jackson St and 20th Ave in the Central District).
Additional information will be provided as public address announcements at the rallies on May 1st.
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