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**Warsaw Mayday** Haymarket Martyrs Street Theatre+Food Not Bombs

Ewa J | 06.05.2005 01:48

Below is a link to a story from IMC Poland re the Praga (working class and immigrant district on the East side of the river Wisla) Anarchist Federation actions on Mayday. English langauage account below.

 http://poland.indymedia.org/pl/2005/05/13525.shtml

Food Not Bombs did their weekly food distro next to the food distro point run by the rightwing anti-semetic rural-based radio station called 'Radio Marija' Marija after the Marija (Mary) the Virgin. Homeless people were overwhelmingly drawn to the Food Not Bombs food out of reasons of either not having made it on time for the Radio Maria food as well as out of an idelogical objection to re-enforcing the righteousness and authority of an organisation which is a part of the repressive rightwing religious establishment in Poland.

23 Million people (out of a population of 33 Million) live on or just above the poverty line.

Millions of dollars have been spent on the war and occupation in Iraq (here it is universally portrayed as an 'intervention' and Polish occupation forces as 'stabilisation forces'. Polish elite commando units which participated in the first weeks of the war and the capture of Basra represent a violation of the Polish constitution which states that polish forces cannot invade a country unless Polish territory is under attack or threat of direct attack.

70% of the population oppose the Polish occupation of Iraq

After the food not bombs action activists performed a historical re-enactment of the Haymarket Martyrs story - the historical roots of the trade unionist/workers' commemoration of May 1st as International Workers Day. Anarchist organisers fought for the 8hour working day and were serverely repressed by police and the Chicago authorities. In 1887 strikes and demonstrations errupted in Chicago. 400,000 workers took strike action and protested for better conditions and some also for control of their workplaces. A bomb was thrown into one of the demos killing a police officer and allowing the police to respond by opening fire on the crowd and later arresting leading anarchists who spoken at the demonstration and some who had been nowhere near it. 5 anarchists were hanged and became known as The Haymarket Martyrs.

An audience of around 30 mostly homeless people watched the perfomance which took place in the shadow of the Palace of Culture in central Warsaw.

Elsewhere in Warsaw earlier on in the day communiation workers marched in a demo organised by the Solidarity trade union (the telecommunications sector in Poland has been privatisaed by France Telecom and 40,000 workers have been laid off in the past 4 years as a result) and also a march by Nowa Lewica (The New Left) libertarian left party also took place separately. Around 100 people took part in both demos. No cop violence occured although there were many riot vans on standby which people on the Solidarnosc March commented reminded them of the days of Martial Law again which was imposed by General Jaruzelski in 1981 and lasted nearly 2 years.



Ewa J
- Homepage: http://alteree.hardcore.lt/anarchoflash/