As 1 May approaches—a day of unity, solidarity and struggle for the international proletariat and the oppressed peoples of the world—the fascist Turkish state has once again wasted no time in revealing its true face. As it does every year, the ruling regime has resorted to policies of fear, repression and terror in an attempt to crush the organised power of the people, carrying out simultaneous raids on dozens of revolutionary-democratic organisations. Doors were smashed, offices ransacked; those who fear the pen of journalists and the voice of workers seized digital materials, believing they could silence the truth.
The doors of the Özgür Gelecek newspaper’s central office were smashed open; staff were arrested at their homes. The Yeni Demokrasi newspaper was targeted with the same aggression. Numerous organisations, ranging from the Socialist Party of the Oppressed to the Student Solidarity, from the Socialist Solidarity Platform to the Socialist Reconstruction Party, and from youth organisations to struggle initiatives, announced that their members had been detained. This situation is no coincidence. It is a deliberate attack by those who fear the organised people.
The Reign of Fear Will Be Shaken by the Resistance of May Day!
Whilst every initiative, every call to action, and every organisational effort in the run-up to May Day is being targeted; we are faced with a regime that cannot even tolerate the commemorations planned for Taksim and Kazancı Yokuşu. Because they know full well: Taksim is not merely a square; Taksim is the memory of the working class, its resistance, its will!
One face of these attacks is repression; the other is, quite simply, FEAR! The working class’s rising struggle in recent times is keeping them awake at night. The resolve of the Doruk Madencilik workers on hunger strike in Ankara for days, the traces left by the rising resistance at Sırma Halı, the honourable struggle of the women workers at Dardanel who resisted and won their rights, the anger of the workers seeking their rights at the Istanbul Financial Centre construction site, the march of Petlas workers against poverty wages… All of this is building up, growing, and transforming into a social response.
The ruling
class can see that poverty is deepening, purchasing power is eroding,
and exploitation is increasing. The workers’ anger can no longer be
contained. Moreover, the crises created by imperialist war policies
on a global scale are fuelling this anger even further. This is
precisely why they are afraid! They are afraid of workers flooding
the streets, of them joining forces with revolutionaries, and of them
transforming into an organised force!
But to no avail!
History has shown time and again that as repression intensifies, so
does resistance. Detentions, raids and bans cannot break this people!
What must be done today is clear: to stand by those who resist, to
strengthen our solidarity with our comrades who have been detained,
to shatter the walls of fear and to fill the May Day squares!
In Turkey and Turkish Kurdistan, the working class, labourers, women, young people, and the LGBT+ community—in short, all oppressed and exploited sections of society—will flood the streets this 1 May! Because 1 May is not merely a single day; it is a call to struggle!
Those detained on 1 May must be released immediately!
Repression, detentions and bans will not succeed!
Long live 1 May, the day of unity, solidarity and struggle for the working class!
ATİK (Confederation of Turkish Workers in Europe)
YDG (New Democratic Youth)
New Women
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