At a packed Plaza de Mayo, the Left Front Unity (FITU) held a massive rally for May Day, International Workers’ Day. Throughout the afternoon columns poured into the plaza from different parts of the city and suburban neighborhoods, once again filling the historic peoples´s square.
Amid agitation and music, the rally began around 4 pm, with the presence of thousands of militants and sympathizers of the left, union leaders, activists from the human rights and socio-environmental struggles, among others. In the first round of interventions, Romina del Plá (PO) took the stage, followed by Graciela Calderón (IS) and Nicolás del Caño (PTS). The closing speech of this first political bloc was delivered by national MST in the FITU leader and International Socialist League (LIS) coordinator, Alejandro Bodart, who stated to the press: “On the international day of the working class, the very serious crisis that the world is going through today clearly confirms that capitalism can only offer humanity more misery, extractivism and wars of imperialist plunder. Of course, neoliberalism offers no solution, but neither does the fallacy of a ‘humanized’ capitalism: this system is savage and predatory by nature.”
And after developing the proposals and tasks of the left, he completed: “That is why we reaffirm the need for an anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist solution and for socialism with democracy, both in our country and on the continent and in the world. In this sense, from the MST we contribute the experience of building the International Socialist League as an alternative for the unity of the revolutionaries, without a single thought and where we can coexist with differences based on a common socialist program.”
The event continued with speeches by leaders of Militant Unionism, with speeches by Alejandro Crespo of the SUTNA and Raúl Godoy of the MAC, Rubén «Pollo» Sobrero and Andrea Lanzette, who spoke for ANCLA and is candidate for general secretary of the Suteba Lanús Multicolor slate. She called for a fight to recover more unions from the hands of the bureaucracy.
After this bloc, it was time for a special moment in support of the struggle of the piquetero movement that is independent of the government. Representatives of different organizations that make up the Piquetero Unity took the stage. The leaders of the MTR 12 de abril and the William Cooke saluted. Mónica Sulle, a leader of the MST Teresa Vive, called for unity in the struggle of unemployed and employed workers and invited all the membership of the FITU to join and stand in solidarity with the immense Federal march of May 10, 11 and 12. “Chiquito” Belliboni of the Polo Obrero also spoke in this block.
For the last section of the rally, a new block of political interventions took place. It was opened by Cele Fierro, a national leader of the MST in the FITU. She gave a fiery speech and later declared to the media: “The government of the Front for All, which chose to submit to the IMF and apply austerity, is dividing internally, as is (opposition coalition) Together for Change. Both open the door to Milei and his liberal-fascists, who propose already failed recipes and push the political agenda to the right. From the left we are going to continue standing with the people´s demands, against inflation, for salary increases and genuine work, and against the union bureaucracy. Now we promote a massive Federal March for May 10 to 12, with columns that will come from all over the country and converge in Plaza de Mayo. At the same time, we raise a different political solution: a government of the workers. We believe that the FITU has to become more than an electoral front and, based on its program for fundamental change, incorporate independent social and political activists to strengthen the front as an alternative power for the working people, the youth, the women and the LGBT community.”
In this block, Mónica Schlotthauer of IS, Gabriel Solano of the PO and finally Myriam Bregman from PTS also spoke. The unitary rally of the left for International Workers´ Day, took place with a huge turn out and an outstanding column of the MST in the FITU that mobilized thousands of its militants and sympathizers. Late at night, the rally ended with the singing of the International amid the euphoria of all the militants, flares, and a powerful force that prepares the FITU for the challenges to come.
You can watch the entire rally here: https://periodismodeizquierda.com/1-de-mayo-segui-el-acto-del-frente-de-izquierda-unidad-en-vivo/