As the Unconditional Justice Movement, this week we talked about International Workers’ and Labour Day and violations of right.
- On 1th May 1886 the workers, who work six days a week and the twelve hour a day, striked for the eight-hour workday with Amerikan Federation of Labor. A half million workers taked part in this protest in Chicago. This protest continued in the days following May 1. But however the bloody representatives of the American capital of that day attacked on May 4 the workers who demand a democtaric rightful, caused to the bloody Haymarket affair.
- Although 162 years have passed since the first labor struggle in Melbourne, there has not been a change in the violence and basic character of the exploitation and attack against labor and people.
- Although relative relief was provided from time to time with the resistance of the workers against exploitation and tyranny, the rights gained through great struggles were liquidated and taken back due to the capital-driven power attacks that followed.
- As a result of the fire opened on 500 thousand people gathered on May 1 (Bloody May 1st), which was wanted to be celebrated in Istanbul Taksim Square in 1977, 34 people lost their lives and dozens were injured. After the 1980 coup, 1 May demonstrations were banned and these prohibitions continued until 2010. After 2010, May 1 was celebrated with great enthusiasm, while Taksim Square was banned from celebrations after the Gezi Park Protests.
- KESK and DİSK applied to the ECHR against the harsh intervention of the police in 2008, and in 2012, the ECHR convicted Turkey for violating the freedom of expression and assembly. In the reasoning of the ECHR’s decision, “Taksim Square has become the symbol of this tragic event (Bloody May 1) and the applicants justified their insistence on holding Labor Day celebrations in Taksim in order to commemorate the dead”. It considered the state’s obligation to take the necessary measures against the intelligence reports of the state regarding the suspicion of terrorism and all the allegations that this demonstration described as an effort to cause public indignation, and decided that the bans in question did not comply with the spirit of Article 11 of the ECHR. For the first time, a square has become the object of a supranational court. It has firmly decreed that anyone wishing to commemorate the laborers who lost their lives on the bloody May 1 must be allowed. However, despite this decision, celebrations in Taksim are still not allowed. The roads leading to Taksim are closed and the square is surrounded by barriers.
- This year, as in the whole world, it will be symbolically celebrated in our country under the high unemployment and severe poverty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the severe economic crisis caused by it. Occupational Health and Safety Council (İSİG), “According to the 2020 Work Murders Report, at least 2,427 workers lost their lives in work-related murders in 2020. At least 31% of worker deaths were due to the Corona virus. It shows the part that can be observed and reported by OHS. In fact, we have no doubt that the number is higher. Continuing production in factories for the turning of the wheels of capitalism exposes workers to the threat of corona virus. Within the scope of pandemic measures, no restrictions are applied during working hours and imposing curfew measures such as curfews outside working hours. The government is trying to limit the right of workers and workers to demonstrate and march on May 1, using the same ostensible measures as an excuse.
As the Unconditional Justice Movement, we celebrate the 1st of May of our working class, which is the nightmare of the capital and the state power under its command, and demand an end to the violations of rights.