https://socialistaction.org/2017/05/05/may-day-in-tucson-a-tradition-since-2006/
May Day in Tucson: A tradition since 2006
/ 3 days ago
May 2017 TucsonBy GEORGE SHRIVER
— TUCSON, Ariz. — Hopes & expectations were widespread on the eve of May
1, 2017, that the spirit of 2006 might be revived this year. In 2006, as
many as 3 million or more undocumented immigrants and their allies
poured into the streets on May Day, and the reactionary Sensenbrenner
bill, which would have penalized immigrant supporters as well as
immigrants themselves, was quickly dropped by the U.S. Congress.
For an example of the hopes aroused this year on the eve of May Day, see
this article:
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20071/the_upcoming_may_day_strike_could_be_the_biggest_in_over_a_decade.
In many areas, unfortunately, the hopes and expectations did not become
a reality on May Day 2017.
Despite hopes for a revival of the spirit of 2006, and despite a couple
of months of extensive leafleting, a press conference, many PSAs (public
service announcements) and interviews on radio and television, the
turnout in Tucson was not as large, or was about the same, as in the
past few years. According to AZ Media, nearly 300 took part in the
spirited march led by Calpolli Tenochtitlán after an introductory speech
by Isabel García, chair of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, and brief
comments by representatives of the South Side Workers Center, local
Dreamers, and Jobs with Justice.
A similar reduced turnout was noted in many other parts of the United
States—probably due to the failure to mobilize on the part of the
official labor movement and other forces that have mobilized for May Day
in previous years. Another factor may have been exhaustion on the part
of many allies who went out into the streets in large numbers just two
days earlier, on April 29, for the People’s Climate Justice actions.
Not to be disregarded also were the intimidation and threats from the
Trump administration and its repressive agencies built up by previous
administrations, such as the “Department of Homeland Security,” Border
Patrol, & ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
The march went from El Casino Ballroom parking lot in South Tucson,
north on Sixth Avenue, the main drag in the mostly Chicano South Side of
Tucson, to Armory Park on the edge of the downtown area. A contingent of
Veterans for Peace and Brown Berets served as peacekeepers for the march.
The local police, stung by bad press after getting caught on video
knocking down and pepper-spraying peaceful demonstrators on Feb. 16,
escorted the marchers and handled traffic on one lane in the street for
the mile-long march.
Emceeing the rally, both at El Casino and at Armory Park, were Eduardo
Quintana, former president of Machinists Local 933 in Tucson, Najima
Rainey of Tucson Black Lives Matter, and Sandy Ochoa, formerly of SEIU
and currently with “Mi Familia Vota,” a voter registration group that
concentrates on signing up Spanish-speaking voters.
Fred Yamashita, president of the Pima Area Labor Federation—the local
AFL-CIO equivalent of a central labor council—greeted all the labor
forces present, including SEIU, Teachers, Steelworkers, Machinists, IBEW
(electrical workers), IATSE (theater and stage workers), UFCW (food &
commercial workers), Teamsters, & others.
Yamashita explained, “The attacks on labor are growing, and labor too
must fight back. We need a gut check. We need to straighten up our own
house. You see, it has been reported that 36-40% of union members voted
for Donald Trump.”
The program went smoothly, with speakers from half a dozen endorsing and
sponsoring organizations, and a poetry reading by a member of MEChA, a
Mechista named Genesis. MEChA stands for Movimiento Estudiantil de
Chicanos de Aztlan.
One of the speakers whose message was particularly moving and disturbing
and aroused strong expressions of sympathy and solidarity was Linda
Robles of the Environmental Justice Working Group, an organization of
mainly South Side mothers whose children & families have been poisoned
by chemicals in the South Tucson groundwater, toxic chemicals that came
from the aircraft and weapons-making industry, primarily Raytheon, the
infamous manufacturer of missiles and drones. The poisoned chemicals
also came from the Tucson Airport Authority and the U.S. Air Force at
Davis-Monthan air base. Linda Robles called for the government to buy
out the homes of families whose water has been poisoned and to pay for
their relocation to a safer place.
No platform for double-talking politicians
In the process of building the 2017 May Day March and Rally, a partial
gain was won for those who are fed up with capitalism’s two-party
Demo-publican shell game. A majority at the May Day planning meetings
voted not to have any politicians on the stage at this year’s rally.
That decision held firm despite attempts to have Democrat Rep. Raul
Grijalva appear on stage.
Grijalva voted for the Congressional bill that, under Obama, set up a
colonial board, misnamed PROMESA (an unpromising “promise,” which is now
ruling with arbitrary authority over Puerto Rico, trying to impose
austerity on that island for the benefit of hedge-fund creditors—an
attempt being resisted now especially by the youth of Puerto Rico, most
prominently at the University in San Juan.
Grijalva supposedly represents the Mexican-American community in
southern Arizona. What is needed is solidarity between two communities
being victimized by U.S. imperialism: the Puerto Rican community and the
Mexican-American.
Central to the successful organizing of this year’s May Day event was
the Tucson Socialists, who played a similar role in organizing the march
and rallies on Jan. 30 under the name of Tucson Occupy Inauguration
Coalition.
A factor contributing to the lower turnout in 2017 may have been the
failure of the organizing group to coalesce from the beginning around
the call for “No work, No School, No Buy, No Shop,” not making it clear
that this was a “huelga,” a strike. It was not uncommon to hear people
say, “Sorry, I couldn’t make the march; I had to work today.”
But then, for the past many decades in this country we have not had
strong social support for strikers. Our working-class organizations have
only sporadically supported striking workers. Along with Fight For 15
(whose supporters were striking coast to coast), there were a few union
and non-union workers’ organizations who went full throttle to organize
walkouts. But in general, this year’s May Day showed that immigrant
workers and their allies are not yet where they were in 2006 and that
they feel their situation is more precarious.
Photo: Tucson News Now
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May 5, 2017 in Labor, Immigration, Latino Civil Liberties.
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