Lyrics for the “Internationale”
Stand up, all victims of oppression
For the tyrants fear your might
Don’t cling so hard to your possessions
For you have nothing, if you have no rights
Let racist ignorance be ended
For respect makes the empires fall
Freedom is merely privilege extended
Unless enjoyed by one and all
Chorus:
So come brothers and sisters
For the struggle carries on
The Internationale
Unites the world in song
So comrades come rally
For this is the time and place
The international ideal
Unites the human race
Let no one build walls to divide us
Walls of hatred nor walls of stone
Come greet the dawn and stand beside us
We’ll live together or we’ll die alone
In our world poisoned by exploitation
Those who have taken, now they must give
And end the vanity of nations
We’ve but one Earth on which to live
And so begins the final drama
In the streets and in the fields
We stand unbowed before their armour
We defy their guns and shields
When we fight, provoked by their aggression
Let us be inspired by life and love
For though they offer us concessions
Change will not come from above
Unite the struggles of the people on International Workers’ Day for an Anti-Capitalist May Day!
*The richest 10 people in Toronto earn almost 3.5 times the annual income of all people earning minimum wage in Canada*
All over the world on May 1, millions of people fill the streets to advance the struggles and issues of the working class.
On May 1, 2012 in Toronto, we need to also be out in the streets – not as a parade, but as a call to people across the city and across the country. A call to action against the governments of the bankers and the rich who are imposing “austerity” on the people. After decades of spending billions on wars, prisons, police, tax cuts and tax breaks for the rich, subsidies, oil and mining companies and other corporations, they tell us there is an ‘economic crisis’ that justifies their layoffs, wage freezes and reductions, cuts to social programs and higher and more fees for what we need.
This is capitalism: their system is the crisis!
This is a call to unity against the nationalism, racism, anti-immigrant sentiments, sexism, homophobia, and any other hatred their media creates to keep us divided while the rich continue to line their pockets.
Since its founding, Canada has been stealing and plundering First Nations lands, minerals and resources and now launches imperialist wars around the world to plunder other people’s resources. The land rights of First Nations and those of other people fighting for their rights and freedom should be everyone’s fight. The right to work and dignity for those who come as immigrants and migrants need to be the fight of all of us who came as or descend from immigrants.
This is a call to reject the rampant consumerism and the social decay, climate chaos and environmental destruction imposed by this system. We don’t want the “growth” that capitalism has to offer.
We want a truly democratic and just society that meets the social needs of all people. Capitalism can’t do this.
So May Day is a call to all those coming under attack, to the sick and tired, the exploited and oppressed.
A call to all unionized workers whose rights and wages were the result of years of struggle, not from supporting this or that party or by back-room negotiations. Remember your role in this society, reclaim the proud history of militant labour.
A call to precarious workers with little job security and no benefits.
A call to the students struggling to find jobs and tied down to tens of thousands in debt.
A call to all the working class women who have to work multiple minimum wage part-time jobs to feed a family.
A call to the racialized youth, targeted and brutalized by police and under attack from policies aimed at stuffing their bodies into new prisons.
A call to the migrant mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, who left their homes in for the empty promise of a better life.
A call to the indigenous peoples defending their land rights against Canadian colonialism, and a call to all non-indigenous peoples struggles to unite with them.
On May 1, 2012, International Workers Day, join us at 4pm at Nathan Phillips Square for a rally and march to respect Indigenous sovereignty, insist that no one is illegal, for international workers solidarity, to defend and expand public services, to stop prison expansion…and corporate handouts, to end imperialist wars and aggression, to build people’s power, and to move beyond capitalism.
Rally with the May 1st Movement contingent!
Rally with the red flags!
Coordinated by Occupy Toronto, May 1st Movement and No One Is Illegal – Toronto
Endorsed & Supported by: Afghans for Peace, CAMP Sis, Canadian Auto Workers Union, Centre for Social Justice, Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, Committee for the Defence of the Iranian Peoples Rights (Canada Organization), Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians, Communist Party of Canada, DAMN, Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly, Health for All, International Council of Latin American and Caribbean Women in Canada, International Federation of Iranian Refugees, Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network, Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network, Law Union of Ontario, Maggie’s: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, Metro Toronto Labour Council, Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, Movement Defence Committee, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Ontario Federation of Labour, Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation District 12, OPIRG Toronto, OPIRG York, ProtestBarrick, Rhythms of Resistance, Socialist Project, Stop the Cuts, Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, Toronto Socialist Action, Trans Film Screenings, Tudeh Party of Iran – Canada Organization, United May Day Committee, Unity Against Unemployment in Iraq, Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu [Toronto], Workers Action Centre, Workers Community Party of Iran and more…
For more information on May Day 2012 in Toronto go here
Are you in the Unites States and want to know about the many events there? Go here
A classic song for May Day:
The Tide is Turning:
El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido (with English translation)
Joe Hill by Paul Robeson
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