The Seattle DSA Libertarian Socialist Caucus has voted to endorse the call for a decentralized, anti-capitalist May Day.
May Day, or International Workers’ Day, is the date chosen to commemorate the anarchists martyred during the Haymarket affair. In Seattle, anti-capitalist groups have demonstrated in downtown on May Day to disrupt the spectacle of everyday capitalism. These actions bring a huge militarized police presence from Seattle and neighboring cities to the streets of downtown each year, making the protests dangerous to participants and the community. The Stephon Clark protester hit by the Sacramento County sheriff’s vehicle is only the most recent example of the patterns of unaccountability and brutality police demonstrate toward those they claim to serve. Locally, we remember the murders by police of Charleena Lyles and Tommy Le, guilty only of not being white. We cannot continue to make ourselves and our communities easy targets for repression by the state.
This year, we join in the call for decentralized, anti-capitalist May Day actions in hopes of eschewing symbolic actions for real impact. As house-less people are swept from site to site, as King County Executive Dow Constantine continues building his $210 million Children and Family Justice Center to jail our youth, and as Boeing demonstrates its willingness to provide weapons of war to the brutal Saudi Arabian regime – the devastation of capitalism on our communities is right in front of our eyes.
We call upon other anti-capitalist groups to join us in celebrating a decentralized May Day this year! Read the full call to action here.
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This statement was written by the Seattle DSA Libertarian Socialist Caucus (LSC) and represents their sole opinion. The Libertarian Socialist Caucus believes that libertarian socialist values are the fullest embodiment of the democratic socialist vision. Find them on Twitter here.