Partizan – Europe: May Day Report
Featured image: Partizan demonstrating in a May Day rally in Austria. Source: Yeni Demokrasi
Partizan has participated in multiple May Day manifestations throughout Europe, including Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and England and Greece.
In Austria, Partizan participated in May Day demonstrations in Innsbruck, Vienna and Linz. In Innsbruck, at Landhausplatz speeches were held, denouncing the repression carried out against revolutionaries in Turkey leading up to 1st of May, after which the march started. Several organizations participated, including Partizan, ATİGF, ANTİFA, and Migrantifa.
In Vienna, supporters of Partizan and ATİGF participated in the rally at the Opera House, after which the march to Votiv Park started. In Linz, Partizan, AGEB, and ATİGF participated in a march organized by ROT FRONT Collective, and celebrated the foundation of the International Anti-imperialist League (AIL).
In Germany, hundreds of thousands of workers took to the streets to protest against imperialist aggression, exploitation, and violations of rights, including Partizan, who participated in May Day demonstrations in Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Munich, Ulm, Hanover, Hamburg, Duisburg, and Wuppertal. During the marches, the foundation of the AIL was highlighted, along with the denouncing of the imperialist aggression spearheaded by US imperialism and its lackey Israel.
Thousands of people participated in the May Day march in Nuremberg, organized against wars, violations of rights, and rising racism. AGEB and Partizan carried AIL flags and banners, and distributed AIL May Day statements and copies of Yeni Demokrasi newspapers.
In Stuttgart, Partizan participated in two marches, one organized by the unions, and later joined the revolutionary May Day march. Slogans such as”Our leader is Ibrahim, Ibrahim Kaypakkaya!”, and “May 1st is Red, and it will remain Red!” were chanted throughout the march.
In Munich, Partizan readers participated in the May Day march this year with AIL
banners, celebrating the League’s founding while condemning Operation Kagaar in India.
In France, Partizan participated with multiple other revolutionary organizations in the anti-imperialist May Day demonstration in Paris, called for by the AIL . The speeches highlighted the deepening contradictions and the arms race among major imperialist powers, emphasizing that “only socialist revolution can liberate humanity.”
Slogans such as “”All anti-imperialists of the world unite!”, “End Operation Kagaar in India!” and “Long live the Anti-Imperialist League!” were chanted throughout the march.
In Lyon, France, the Communist Youth erected a banner reading: “Solidarity with our comrades from Partizan, who are being oppressed by the Turkish State! Long live May Day!”
In Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, several organizations, including Partizan and the Communist Committee of the Netherlands, gathered at Museumplein for the May Day march. From Museumplein, the march continued to Martin Luther King Park, and slogans condemning rights violations in the Netherlands, as well as demands for the 1st of May to be a national holiday were held.
In Liège, Belgium, Partizan participated along with multiple organizations in the May Day march starting from Place Saint-Paul. In the speeches before the march, the recent “pension reforms” were denounced as a clear violation of the people’s rights, as well as denouncing the billions of euros diverted to war policies and armament while placing the bill on the workers and curtailing their rights.
Slogans such as “Don’t Touch Our Pensions!” and “Budget for the People, Not for War!” were frequently chanted.
In London, England, Partizan participated in the May Day march organized by immigrant organizations in North London. Partizan participated with a banner reading “Long live May Day and long live proletarian internationalism”.
The traditional May Day march, held annually, was moved this year to May 4th, the 100th anniversary of the Great Workers’ Strike of 1926. Partizan participated in this demonstration as well, with a march starting outside the Karl Marx Library, with multiple immigrant organizations and British trade unions marching, culminating in a rally in Trafalgar Square.
In Athens, Greece, Partizan participated in the May Day march, along with multiple other organizations.
