In Houston, we know that we are not alone in our struggle for economic, social, and housing justice. We are not alone in the struggle for liberation from capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy. Ours is a global struggle, for we are but a part of the global working class. The American condition, the Texan condition, and even the Houston condition, impose local flavors upon our struggle, but we are part of a global movement away from the ills of capitalism and toward a just world under socialism.
Let us celebrate in solidarity with our comrades around the world on this May Day 2024. Their victories are also ours, for they demonstrate what is possible: a better world. Solidarity with workers all over the world! This solidarity is what ties us together in this struggle. When workers unite and fight back as a collective, they win. Workers throughout time have collectively fought against bosses and capitalists. After all, this is why we have the 8 hour work day. Today we celebrate May Day due to the struggle and sacrifice of workers in Chicago during the Haymarket affair of 1886, where anarchist comrades were imprisoned and executed.
We have seen students and the youth mobilize in Columbia, UCLA, USF, Cal Poly Humboldt, University of Texas, and so many others in the United States and the globe, for divestment from the genocidal state of Israel and a free Palestine. Here in Houston, students established Liberated Zones in the University of Houston and Rice University. These students are strong in their resolve, and their organization, community care, and discipline are an inspiration. Their actions from the imperial core that we reside in, are seen and felt by our comrades in Gaza and all around the world. Just as we see images of Palestinian flags waving in the streets of Jakarta and London, so do they see images of us in the streets in Texas. Just as we saw George Floyd murals in Palestine. Solidarity is what binds us in struggle.
We have also seen student encampments attacked by Zionists as the police watched on, and the police themselves. The same police that killed workers at the McCormick reaper plant leading up to the Haymarket affair. The same police that combated the people after George Floyd was murdered, setting off the Black Lives Matter uprisings of summer 2020. The same police that killed students at Kent State in 1970 for protesting the United States’ imperialist war in Vietnam and its expansion into Cambodia. The same police that time, after time, after time, systematically murders black and brown people. The police have been a constant force against liberation, justice, and worker rights, They are the protectors of capital, the privileged, and the wealthy. Shame on the admins of these universities who have called for violence on their own students. These systems of oppression may be strong against students, and workers, but make no mistake, our solidarity and mutual cooperation is a threat to the capitalist class power. We stand in solidarity with students and the youth.
The capitalists seek to divide us by gender, by race, by sexual orientation, by level of education, and even by the type of labor we provide. They want teachers in our schools to see themselves as separate from the cafeteria workers, the librarians, the nurses, and the janitors at our schools. No! School staff, teachers, and students are a community. Public schools belong to us, and we will win them back from the capitalists who seek to privatize them against the democratic will of our HISD community.
The capitalists seek to highlight regionalism and nationalism to break our bonds of international solidarity. The profits the capitalists make off our collective labor do not see these differences, so why should we? Power to autoworkers fighting for unionization, whether they be organizing Volkswagen plants under the UAW in Tennessee or Audi plants in Puebla, México. An injury to one is an injury to us all, and international borders are not going to prevent international solidarity with our comrades abroad, for we struggle as a collective and we win as a collective.
One day soon, we too in Houston will have parades for the working class in these humid streets.