AUT: Mayday 2000 Global Day of Action, Resistance and Carnival against Capitalism

["rc-am" <rcollins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[fwd/d from the mayday y2k list.]

Mayday 2000 Global Day of Action, Resistance and Carnival against
Capitalism

(information as of January 1, 1999)

The two Global Days of Action against Capitalism on
June 18 and November 30 last year were generally very
successful. Our networks grew, we learned much, and we
saw many new people engage themselves.

Now many groups around the world are preparing for a
new Global Day of Action in the same spirit on May 1
next year (M1), in recognition that the capitalist
system, based on the exploitation of people, societies
and the environment for the profit of a few, is the
prime cause of our social and ecological troubles.
This day will continue the process of building up a
strong, bold, and creative grassroots movement for a
society in which people do not exploit or oppress each
other, communities or the environment, but one that is
based on solidarity, co-operation, grassroots
democracy, and ecological sustainability. May 1, which
offers a perfect symbolic and real opportunity to do
this, has been endorsed as a Day of Action by the
Peoples' Global Action (PGA) international conference
in India in August. Coordinative efforts are already
being undertaken in major cities like Sydney
(Australia), Toronto (Canada), London (UK), Chicago,
New York, and Washington (USA).
As on previous occasions, people of different
movements and different countries will join forces for
a day against the social, political, and economic
institutions of the capitalist system. Workers, the
unemployed, students, trade unionists, peasants, the
landless, fishers, women groups, ethnic minorities,
indigenous peoples, peace activists, environmental
activists, ecologists, and so on will work in
solidarity with one another in the understanding that
their various struggles are not isolated from each
other. The simultaneous occupation and transformation
of the capitalist social order around the globe - in
the streets, neighbourhoods, fields, factories,
offices, commercial centres, financial districts, and
so on - will strengthen mutual bonds at the local,
national, and international levels.

As before, the day will be organised in a
non-hierarchical way, as a decentralised and informal
network of grassroots groups that employ
non-authoritarian, grassroots democratic forms of
organisation, struggle independent of the social,
political, and economic institutions of the capitalist
system, and seek to effect change directly through
their own action. Each event or action will be
organised autonomously by each group, while coalitions
of various movements and groups can be formed at the
local, regional, and national levels. A strategy that
may be useful at the local level is that various
groups co-operate in creating a surrounding atmosphere
of carnival and festivity as a setting for their
various actions.

Examples of conceivable actions are:
strikes  demonstrations  critical mass bike rides 
carnivals  street parties  reclaiming streets,
government land or office buildings for non-commersial
and good activities  marches  music  dancing 
speeches  handing out flyers  banner hangings 
distributing community controlled newspapers  street
theatre  building gardens  handing out free food 
mock trade fairs  offering no interest loans outside
major banks  solidarity actions  pickets 
occupations of offices  blockades and shutdowns 
appropriating and disposing of luxury consumer goods 
sabotaging, wrecking, or interfering with capitalist
infrastructure  appropriating capitalist wealth and
returning it to the working people  declaring oneself
independent from capitalism and authoritarian
governments  setting up grassroots' community
councils and holding meetings outside city halls 
setting up economic alternatives, like workers'
co-operatives  promoting economic alternatives to
capitalist companies  promoting grassroots based
forms of community organisation

If you or your group plan to join this day of action,
please let others know as soon as possible, to
facilitate networking and communication. There are
several international mailing lists available for open
discussions and co-ordination (see below). A public
international contacts list is regularly posted to
them in order to facilitate decentralized and
non-hierarchic networking. To have your contact
information added to it, please contact
<tcjohans@xxxxxxxxxxx>, indicating (a) the country and
location in which you plan to take action, plus any
other information you see fit, for instance (b) the
name of your group, coalition or yourself, (c) the
events or actions being planned, (d) your land
address, (e) email address, (f) telephone number, (g)
fax number or (h) web site.

There are many things we need to do, to make the best
of May 1 at the global, local, and national levels. We
need to spread information about it among as many
suitable groups and movements as possible. We need to
spread and share propaganda materials, such as
leaflets and posters. And, in general, we need to
share our experiences, thoughts and ideas with one
other and help each other out. At the local level,
information about the day needs to be spread and
discussed among groups and individuals, meetings need
to be organised, events planned, leaflets printed and
distributed, funds raised, laughter and conversation
shared.

The process of building up our movements can and
should be continued through further global days of
action against capitalism in the future. A suitable
occasion that has been proposed for next time, after
Mayday, may be September 27-28, 2000, because of the
annual meeting between the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the World Bank taking place in Prague, Czech
Republic at that time.

Any 'inquiries' or concerns about the Mayday global
day of action should be directed to other activists in
the group, city, country or on the various mailing
lists, for us to mutually help each other with ideas
and advise. There is noone in charge or pulling the
strings for the day. It will be a radically
decentralised and non-hierarchic event entirely of our
own creation in co-operation and solidarity with one
another.

MAILING LISTS:

ENGLISH (International mailing list)
<mayday2k@xxxxxxxxxxx>. Join at
www.onelist.com/subscribe/mayday2k, or send a blank
email to <mayday2k-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx>.

PORTUGUESE (International mailing list)
<n30-pt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>. Join by sending a
message with the text "subscribe n30-pt" to
<majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>.

UNITED KINGDOM (National mailing list)
<mayday2000@xxxxxxxxxxx>. Join by sending a blank
email to <mayday2000-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx>.

IRELAND (National mailing list)
Join by sending a blank email to
<no_wto-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx>.

Please do set up a list for your own language, country
or city, if you feel it is needed!

REFERENCES:

J18
see www.infoshop.org/june18.html or www.j18.org

N30
see http://go.to/n30 or www.seattlewto.org/n30

Peoples' Global Action (PGA)
see www.go.to/agp or  www.agp.org/agp/index.html or
contact <pga@xxxxxxx>

Prague, Czech Republic, September 27-28, 2000
see www.bankwatch.org or www.mmf2000.webjump.com

Please spread this message widely to sympathetic
grassroots groups, communities, and individuals!
Translate if advisable.

Let's make this the strongest show of solidarity and
resistance yet!




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