BY NORM DIXON
May 1, the international day of solidarity with the struggles of the working class and the oppressed, was marked by millions of people around the world. In some countries, young militants inspired by the wave of mass anti-globalisation protests came to the fore. In others, more traditional protests took place.
In Cuba, more than 200,000 people, led by young people and accompanied by President Fidel Castro, marched past the office of the US interests section in Havana. The marchers denounced the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), signed during the Quebec Summit of the Americas meeting on April 20-22. Castro was the only Latin American leader not invited.
Castro told the marchers, gathered in the Plaza of the Revolution, that the FTAA would lead to Latin America being economically annexed by the United States. The US would grow richer at the expense of Latin America, he said. Castro proposed that the continent's people be allowed to vote in a plebiscite on whether to join the free-trade zone that will come into effect in 2005.
In Bolivia, the central union federation COB began an indefinite general strike against the economic and drug policies of dictator-turned-democrat President Hugo Banzer.
In South Korea, reports Green Left Weekly's Iggy Kim, more than 30,000 workers and students mobilised in Seoul. The cry on everyone's lips was "Kim Dae-jung regime resign!".
The night before, 10,000 turned out at Gyunghee University for a night of highly charged songs, dance performances, theatre, chants and speeches.
At 2pm on May Day, a sea of colourful banners, flags and placards swamped the Seoul city centre. Jong-no, the main central street, was engulfed for its entire breadth and length. The workers and students suddenly forked into two and took over another large central street that runs parallel to Jong-no.
Eventually, the two columns merged at the massive City Hall Plaza. There a solid, dark blue block of riot police sealed off the road to Gwangwhamun, the original destination for the march. The government prohibited the march going there.
The marchers sat down and occupied the plaza for the first time since 1991. The City Hall Plaza is a sensitive security area and is normally not easy to demonstrate in. Despite the fact that this mass of workers and students had demonstrated their strength by "liberating" the plaza, there was no attempt to advance to Gwangwhamun. The KCTU leadership concluded the plaza occupation after a brief rally.
In East Timor, the Labour Advocacy Institute of East Timor and the recently formed Timor Lorosae Trade Union Confederation celebrated May Day. In a joint statement, the two labour organisations said the paramount issue for Timorese workers is the high level of unemployment and "unsustainable nature" of existing jobs.
"Once [the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor] leaves and the false economy supported by UNTAET international staffers' high salaries collapses, more problems will be created... UNTAET should come up with a plan for the creation of long-term, sustainable employment so that Timorese people can find work in the districts in which they live. UNTAET money should be reallocated away from high international salaries and towards increasing the potential of East Timorese industries such as fisheries, agriculture, livestock and forestry."
In Japan on April 28, 450,000 workers turned out at 890 locations. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party was fiercely attacked at the demonstrations. However, for the first time, the right-wing RENGO trade union federation permitted the Japanese prime minister to speak at its main rally in Tokyo.
On May 1, a much more militant May Day rally in Tokyo organised by the Japanese Communist Party attracted tens of thousands. Increasing unemployment and decreasing real wages were attacked. The US-Japan military alliance was denounced, as were US military bases in Okinawa.
In Malaysia, more than 2000 people marked May Day in the first outdoor celebration since 1994. The crowd, mostly plantation and factory workers, radical students, poor farmers, urban settlers and non-government organisation activists, rallied outside the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. In front of a prominent red banner declaring "Workers of the world unite" in Malay, the crowd demanded better wages and called for the repeal of the repressive internal security act.
Twenty thousand workers in Taiwan protested against unemployment.
In Denmark, 100,000 gathered in Copenhagen. In Glasgow, Scotland, 400 people gathered for an anti-capitalist protest. In Serbia, the independent trade union Nezavisnost organised a march in Belgrade against the government of Vojislav Kostunica's economic policies. In Russia, according to news agencies, more 300,000 people attended 480 marches. Around 30,000 marched in Moscow.
In Turkey, more than 20,000 people marched in Istanbul. They called for the government to meet the demands of left-wing prisoners on hunger strike in Turkey's jails. At least 20 have died in protest at government attempts to shift prisoners from dormitories to single-prisoner cells. There were marches in 44 other Turkish and Kurdish cities. At the Ankara march, gay rights activists participated.
In Mozambique, thousands of workers marched in the official May Day procession in Maputo. They demanded the payment of arrears in wages, an increase in the minimum wage and the resignation of the government, as the Mozambican president looked on.
In South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions gave notice that it would hold a three-day general strike if the African National Congress government perseveres in its plans to privatise state assets.