A Mayday Action in Downtown Montreal

There will be a Mayday action this Tuesday in downtown Montreal, organized by the Comité des Sans-Emploi, a radical working class anti-capitalist group in Montreal, one of the few which i would consider describing as “revolutionary”. For those who don’t know, the Comité was at the forefront of some very important and impressive anti-capitalist struggles in Montreal in the 1990s:

May 1st : Action and Demonstration
When?: Meet at 4pm, Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
Where?: Philips Square, corner of Ste-Catherine and Union, metro McGill

Every year, for the last 100 years, workers, the poor and oppressed across the world demonstrate their hatred of capitalism, the system by which a small minority profits by exploiting the vast majority of men, women, and children.

Humanity has never been as productive as it is now in all of its history. We produce much more than necessary, we have an extraordinary level of knowledge, and almost endless means. But still, there has never been as much misery, poverty, and destruction.

A few hundred thousand capitalists maintain a few million people, mainly in the West, in relative comfort, while the rest of the population lives in poverty. The strong growth of the global economy results in the unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. In Canada, the annual average salary of the 100 most important CEOs is $9 million, while the average salary of workers is $38,000. The richest 20% of the population have raised their fortunes by 19% since 1999, and 64% since 1984. They now hold 75% of the wealth (according to Statistics Canada). In the U$A, 1% of the population keeps 40% of the wealth to itself. They want what’s ours, and they get it! Miserable work, horrible living conditions, the extreme commodification of women’s bodies, exacerbated racial and religious tensions, absurd over-consumption, wars, and the total destruction of nature : what a nice program! And they try to make us believe that sham elections can change anything. No, this isn’t what life is about! Life can, and must be better!

We can organize, we can struggle, and we can win! Let’s take the occasion on May 1st to join our voices to those across the world, to cry out loud and clear that we’ve had enough of this rotten system!

An initiative of the Comité des sans-emploi (“Committee of the unemployed”) Montreal-centre.