MAY 1st 2006: INTERNATIONAL MOBILIZATION FOR REGULARIZATION

May 1st is Labor Day in most countries around the world, celebrated in honor of those who lost their lives to to gain the 8 hour work day. On this day, demonstrations around the world will come together to support the rights of the working class and of the oppressed. It is a day of struggle, commemoration, and pride. It is our day, no matter where we come from, even if we’re born here or on the other part of the planet, we confront the same injustices and struggles.

In the United States, it is those without papers who recaptured the historic meaning of May 1st to bring to

light the cause that they have been struggling for the past 6 years. Over a million immigrant workers and

supporters have taken to the streets to rally against proposition HR4437 which passed in the House of Representatives of the US Congress. On May 1st, immigrants call for “a day without immigrants” and for a

one day consumer boycott to demand the legal status of 12 million undocumented workers in the United States. Since May 1st is not a holiday in the United States, the abstinence from the immigrants will show just how vital immigrants are to the economy of the United States.

In Europe, the undocumented are rallying for the same causes. In Belgium, 10,000 people took to the streets to demand legal status for immigrants and to say NO to the prisons for children born “in the wrong place.” Today, the undocumented have held hunger strikes in six churches to demand legal status. In Spain, a limited regularization process from a year ago has left hundreds of thousands of workers without papers and many others with serious difficulties in reapplying. A few months ago, thousands undocumented workers took to the streets of Madrid with the chant: "Nativa o extranjera, la misma clase obrera” (“Native or foreign, we’re the same working class").

In other parts of Europe, the masses rose to rally against the dozens of undocumented workers who burned in cages like rats in Schiphol this past October. In France the undocumented struggled for the last 10 years for the regularization for all, thousands of young people from the popular suburbs took to the streets to protest discrimination, and today the undocumented, the students and French workers joined in the struggle against the CPE, the proposal to expedite firings. Their unity and determination won the first push back in that battle with the withdrawal of the CPE.

UNCONDITIONAL LEGALIZATION FOR ALL

It is a worldwide system based on the unlimited search for profit and on the savage exploitation of the earth and its people that has led to the displacement of millions of workers from the poorest to the richest countries searching for work and a way to sustain their families.

Facing the phenomena of migration, the receptor countries pass cruel laws that criminalize and control

immigrants. Different “regularization” or “adjustment” laws for immigrants all over the world also regulate

the working conditions and the quality of life and residency of the immigrants submitting them to a double

standard, creating a second class of workers, and developing situations of new slavery. The same way that Europe wants to “export” its borders South, to Lybia, Morocco, etc., the United States wants to export its border to the South of Mexico to stop the flow of immigrants even before they reach the US border. The situation is similar as the struggle expands through all the rich countries: France, the United States, Belgium, England, Switzerland ...that’s why the struggle of immigrants in one country reflect on the rest and call for coordination.

All immigrant workers relocated in receiving countries have the right to legal documentation that would allow them to work with dignity, and to fully enjoy their rights and human dignity. The abuse of the “immigrant status” allows governments to keep a massive class of workers that cannot ask for just working conditions, which in turn lowers the working conditions and salaries of all the workers.

NATIVE OR FOREIGN, WE’RE THE SAME CLASS OF WORKERS

The division between native and foreign workers, between the documented and the undocumented, prejudices all workers and impedes our unity. This favors the passing of legislation, such as the New Labor Reform in Europe, that attacks and reduces labor rights for all. The first to be affected by these reforms are the immigrants.

For this reason we call on all workers, with or without papers, to participate in the next mobilizations to defend everyone’s rights. “Native or foreign, we’re all workers” signifies the end of the division between workers, the unity against a system that favors slavery, and racism ...

On May 1st we will take to the streets demanding RIGHTS, DIGNITY, and RESPECT. Native or Foreign, we’re the same class of workers. We call upon everyone, documented or undocumented, to join us in subcribing to this international declaration of the movements of the undocumented.

Signed on May 1, 2006

Unided States: Coalición Nacional por Dignidad y Residencia Permanente

Spain: Asociacion de Trabajadores Inmigrantes En España ATRAIE

France: La Coordination Nationale des Sans Papiers CNSP/France

Belgium: Unión De Sans Papiers UDEP

Italy: Le Comitato Immigrati in Italia

By signing below, we endorse the international declaration of the undocumented :

La Coordination Nationale des Sans Papiers, France

Union Des Sans Papiers UDEP, Belgium

CRER, Belgium

ATRAIE, Spain

Associacio Papers i Drets per a Tothom, Spain

Comitato Immigranti Italie, Italy

Coalition Nationale pour la Dignité et la Résidence Permanente, U.S.

Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), U.S.

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), U.S.

Southwest Workers Union, U.S.

Red de Inmigrantes de Ohio (RIO), U.S.

Centro Campesino, U.S.

Asociacion Tepeyac, U.S.

Comité de Inmigrantes en Accion, U.S.

Mexico Solidarity Network, U.S.

For more information or endorsement contact:

Beatriz Maya

FLOC

1221 Broadway

Toledo OH 43609

(419) 2433456

(419) 2435655