Photos: Ted Quant, Brett Jelinek, Adrian Garcia and Daymon J. Hartley
On May 1st, thousands of workers took to the streets, not only here in the U.S. but worldwide, to pay homage to International Workers Day. Here in the U.S. the issues of immigrant rights and labor rights fused under one banner: Human Rights.
More and more workers, regardless of race or nationality are understanding that they generally have the same, common economic self-interests — food, housing, healthcare and education — to live and make a productive contribution to society. These are the basic necessities of life which are basic human needs.
Globalization is driving down the living standards of workers around the world. Global production has created global labor. With globalization, capital is free to move, virtually unrestricted, around the globe. It has no national borders. Immigrants with or without documents are global labor that crosses national borders in search of work in order to stay alive. Those without documents make border crossings at the risk of losing their lives.
Global working class unity is the only political defense that workers have to protect ourselves, our families and our class against the ruling classes violence, economic and physical, to deny us our human rights.
