Some highlights of the 2016 May Day events from around the world include a massive rally by hundreds of thousands of Cubans which condemned the campaign to ‘destabilize’ leftist governments around Latin America.
In France, May Day came in the wake of a huge ongoing uprising of workers and youth against a proposed new labour law legislation that would be a major blow to workers’ rights. The Socialist Party Government introduced this proposed reform in February, unleashing waves of protests. On March 9, 500,000 people participated in a national day of action. 1.2 million joined trade union demonstrations in more than 250 cities and towns on March 31. On the night of March 31st, despite rain, hundreds gathered night in Paris’s Place de la République, in the first of the “Nuit Debout” occupations. On April 9, tens of thousands more marched in Paris and other French cities against the law. Nuit Debout night-time vigils and mass meetings are now being held all over France, against the proposed labour law and also calling for political change. The “state of emergency” declared in Paris since the November 13 terror attacks have given the police a green signal to crackdown on the protests against the labour law, with tear gas and violent beatings. In March, a video of high school student protesters being violently beaten by the police led to outrage and criminal charges against the officers. The Labour Minister Myriam El-Khomri has declared that the government would not “cede to the street.” But as of now, it seems that the street won’t cede to the Government. Between May 1 and May 3, there have been huge demonstrations against the labour law, raising the slogan ‘Non Merci’ (No Thank You); the French Parliament is debating the labour law amendment bill (watered down now in the face of the protests but still unacceptable to people) since May 3 even as we go to press.
