Int'l solidarity with Million Worker March
Workers World received the following messages reporting
on solidarity with the Oct. 17 Million Workers March in
Washington, D.C.
Demonstration in Japan
Kikuchi Takao writes that on Oct. 17, in solidarity with the
Million Worker March in the United States, more than 600
workers and students held a rally and demonstration in Tokyo,
opposing George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi. Hundreds also came out in Hiroshima and Osaka.
At the Tokyo rally, a former member of the Japanese "Self
Defense Force"--Hiroshi Ashitomi, an activist and anti-war
journalist in Britain--spoke of the crime of complicity.
Ashitomi made a special appeal about the struggle in Okinawa.
He stressed the everyday fighting in Henoko and support for
this struggle.
The solidarity message of the MWM executive committee was
read to the participants.
Yasuhiro Tanaka, president of National Railway Locomotive
Power Union, said, "We see a new age in which Japanese workers
and American workers truly struggle together." He appealed for
people to come to a Nov. 7 rally supporting his union, which
also sent a delegation to the MWM in Washington.
A teacher who was fired for refusing to participate in the
"Hinomaru," the raising of the flag of the rising sun, and the
"Kimigayo," a song honoring the emperor, also spoke. So did a
young postal worker.
Message from Russia
From Russia, V. G. Gamov of the Defense of Labor union at
the Atomic Center of the Russian Federation sent a solidarity
message saying the workers there "join hands with our American
comrades in solidarity, as if we are marching together through
Washington in defense of the oppressed workers of the
world!
"Long live the World Workers' Solidarity! Socia l ism is our
goal and the only solution for the catastrophe the world is
facing! We look forward to strengthening our ties with the
comrade workers throughout the world!
"Glory and victory to the workers' march in Washington!"
Slovak workers support MWM
Bill Cecil writes that while U.S. Steel, once the world's
biggest steel producer, has eliminated tens of thousands of
jobs in the United States, destroying whole communities, five
years ago, in an effort to penetrate the European market, it
acquired the East Slovak Metal Works in Kosice, Slovakia. Since
then, conditions for the Slovak mill's 16,000 workers have
become hell.
Zuzana Cingelova, a crane operator, had worked at the mill
for 19 years. A union shop steward, she resisted company
attempts to change work rules and defraud the workers. When she
refused to be bribed, she was beaten, almost killed, falsely
accused and forced to leave her job. She fought back with a
hunger strike that became a symbol for workers and unemployed
people all over Slovakia.
She and 24 supporters marched across Slovakia to the
capital, Bratislava, finding welcome in poor and working-class
communities as well as in villages of the oppressed Roma
people. Zuzana and fellow activist Jozef Danis sent the
following message of support to the Million Worker March in
Washington:
"Dear brothers and sisters, we recently heard about your
long efforts to organize a workers' march on Oct. 17. We
understand your situation and we fully support your action.
...
"What we have in common is that our present bosses are U.S.
multinational corporations. They are U.S. Steel at Kosice and
MONDI through its Austrian affiliate, [the] Neusiedler paper
mill plant in Ruzomberok town. Our present bosses fired us from
work because we stood up against exploitation and mistreatment
of Slovakian workers.
"We will not be slaves anymore. We realized that it is big
capital that is dividing us, the working people of the world,
against each other. They are threatening you: Be quiet or we
will move more production to cheap labor countries like
Slovakia. But our message to you is: Don't believe them, we are
not your enemies. Since our fight began, we have a common goal
with you: to have the same living standards and equal pay in
the U.S., in Slovakia, in India, or anywhere in the world.
"Please support our fight by sending us solidarity messages.
Please send email messages also to the bosses asking for our
reinstatement to work, to assume our responsibilities as rank
and file delegates. Thank you very much!!! We are
internationalists."
Reprinted from the Nov. 4, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
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