{"id":41043,"date":"2025-05-02T12:21:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T19:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=41043"},"modified":"2025-05-02T12:21:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T19:21:39","slug":"may-day-in-pictures-workers-worldwide-demand-alternative-to-billionaire-vision-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/05\/02\/may-day-in-pictures-workers-worldwide-demand-alternative-to-billionaire-vision-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"May Day in Pictures: Workers Worldwide Demand Alternative to ‘Billionaire Vision of the World’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"People<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

People take part in a May Day demonstration in Manila on May 1, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Jam Sta Rosa\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a war on working people\u2014and we will not stand down.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 01, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With right-wing, pro-corporate political parties across the world aggressively pushing anti-immigration policies and sentiment as they worsen inequality and attack crucial services, working people across the world gathered on Thursday to mark May Day\u2014the holiday memorializing the struggles and victories of the global labor movement\u2014and to let those in power know they aren’t fooled by xenophobic scapegoating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They tell people that migrants are to blame for failing hospitals, job insecurity, and rising rents,” said<\/a> Esther Lynch, general secretary of the European Trade Union Conference in Paris. “This is a lie\u2014a dangerous lie. The true cause is austerity, it is underfunding, privatization, and a refusal to invest in people. It’s price gauging, it’s union busting, it’s pay injustice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are photos from demonstrations and marches worldwide:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May Day 2025 in Pictures<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"May<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Protesters with red flags raise their fists as they march during a May Day (Labour Day) rally, marking International Workers’ Day, outside the Greek Parliament in Athens, on May 1, 2025. (Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paris was the site of France’s main May Day rally, but an estimated 260 protests kicked off throughout the country, hosted by the General Confederation of France (CGT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, protests were expected in nearly 1,000 cities, with many participants tying the fight against union-busting, the high cost of living, privatization, and corporate greed to President Donald Trump’s administration\u2014which has spent the past three months working to secure $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy while pushing a mass deportation campaign and blaming working families’ struggles on a so-called “invasion” by immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a war on working people\u2014and we will not stand down,” a website<\/a> for the U.S. May Day protests reads. “They’re defunding our schools, privatizing public services, attacking unions, and targeting immigrant families with fear and violence. Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down\u2014we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that propel opportunity and a better life for all Americans. Their time is up.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

French union leaders also used the occasion to decry the “Trumpization” of global politics, and Italian protesters in Turin paraded a puppet of the U.S. president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The global movement sent the message that “there is an alternative to the billionaire vision of the world,” said<\/a> the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other May Day marches and rallies were held in countries including Germany<\/a>, the United Kingdom<\/a>, Spain<\/a>, Greece<\/a>, the Philippines, Turkey, and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Around the world, workers are being denied the basics of life like well-funded hospitals and schools, living wages, and freedom to move, while billionaires pocket record profits and unimaginable power,” said <\/strong>Luc Triangle, general secretary of the ITUC. “A system built for the 0.0001% is rigged against the rest of us\u2014but workers around the world are standing up and organizing to take back democracy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Workers are demanding a New Social Contract that works for them\u2014not the billionaires undermining democracy,” said Triangle. “Fair taxation, strong public services, living wages, and a just transition are not radical demands\u2014they are the foundation of a just society.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 8, the ITUC plans to issue an open letter to heads of state and global institutions demanding<\/a> a new social contract, including collective bargaining rights for all workers; minimum living wages; and governments that ensure universal healthcare, education, and other public services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Let us be clear: austerity is a political choice, not an economic necessity. And it is a choice that has caused and is causing enormous damage,” said Lynch. “When governments slash spending under the guise of fiscal responsibility, the real result is increased hardship, unemployment, and insecurity\u2014especially for working people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Jobs in the public and private sector are being lost across the E.U. due to austerity policies,” she added. “Vital public services are being slashed, wages are being frozen, pensions cut and entire communities are being abandoned. In this vacuum, the far right grows stronger\u2014not by offering solutions, but by spreading fear.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People take part in a May Day demonstration in Manila on May 1, 2025. \u00a0(Photo: Jam Sta Rosa\/AFP via Getty Images) “This is a war on working people\u2014and we will not stand down.” JULIA CONLEY May 01, 2025 (CommonDreams.org) With right-wing, pro-corporate political parties across the world aggressively pushing anti-immigration… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41044,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41043\/revisions\/41044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}