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Dispatches From Aztlantis! Cinco de May Day · Tales From Aztlantis

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Season 5, Dispatch 1, 5 the May Day.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Piali, Piali, Amanam, this is Tlacatekat, and here we are again, another year and another May Day and Cinco de Mayo.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we here at Tales from Aslantes, as we've said before, are striving to meet the moment through this lowly medium, our podcast.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's become sort of a yearly tradition to republish an episode which is based on an article of mine about Cinco de Mayo that was published a few years ago in the Washington Post.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: This year we'd like to offer something different.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is a blast from the past.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's an article in the April-May 1976 issue, so 49 years ago as of this recording, and it's on pages 3 and 13 of a local San Diego, California Chicano newspaper called Vos Fronteriza.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: The article in question is entitled International Workers' Day, and it was penned by Karina Palomino.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And Karina's name here is spelled with a K and two A's in the front.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So K-A-A-R-I-N-A.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not sure if she's still with us, but if she is, uh we send her our regards.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: If she's not, you know, shout out to her, her uh friends and relatives who, if they ever listened to this or if anyone knows them, uh please uh tell them that we really appreciate what she wrote back in 1976.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So what follows here is a brief synthesis of the main points of her piece, and this will be followed by my reading of her article in its entirety.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Palomino begins already in 1976 lamenting the decline of Cinco de Mayo.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: As April transitions into May, this issue arrives at a significant juncture, coinciding with the well-known Cinco de Mayo and the often overlooked International Workers' Day.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: While Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican people's spirited resistance against French colonialism in Puebla in 1862, a victory whose underlying significance is increasingly fading from collective memory.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Its spirit of defiance against subjugation resonates far beyond Mexico's borders.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Indeed, the principles embodied by the defenders of Puebla echo in struggles for liberation worldwide, a historical continuum that finds contemporary expression in the endeavors of African peoples, and again, this is from the point of view of 1976.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: However, the true essence of Cinco de Mayo risks being deluded into mere festive tradition, a fate that befalls many holidays within this nation, intentionally obscuring their original meaning.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, as we know, this certainly was prophetic on her behalf.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Conversely, International Workers' Day observed globally on May 1st has been deliberately marginalized domestically, rebranded as Law Day, despite its powerful origins in the United States.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Born from the courageous 1886 Chicago strike demanding an eight-hour workday, a movement tragically suppressed, resulting in the martyrdom of working class heroes, May 1st stands as a testament to international worker solidarity.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Despite a concerted effort to diminish its importance, the enduring spirit of May 1 now converges with the historical significance of Cinco de Mayo, providing a potent framework for recognizing progress and reigniting the collective consciousness.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: These are not occasions for mere remembrance of past sacrifices, but rather vital reminders of the ongoing struggle against a persistent adversary, urging us to renew our efforts with unwavering resolve.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I will now proceed to read her article.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: The working class has two holidays in the month of May, International Workers' Day and Cinco de Mayo.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Both were born out of the struggle of the working people for a better life.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: May 1st will be celebrated around the world by workers of all countries.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: It is a day when all workers stand as one worldwide international proletariat.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: It voices its unity and supports all workers whose struggle against exploitation.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: On May 1st, 1886, 340,000 workers in the USNA, or United States of North America, struck for the eight-hour day.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: This movement became an international one everywhere.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Workers marched and sang from New York to San Francisco.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: These demonstrations did not take place without violence.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: We commemorate the people who marched in Chicago against the exploitation of workers.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: This march was brutally disrupted by policemen and other henchmen of the ruling class, and it resulted in the death of eight workers.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: We recognize these workers as the martyrs of Chicago.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: The newspapers were virtually unanimous in declaring that the movement was, quote, communism, lurid and rampant, end quote.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: They declared it would engender, quote, lower wages, poverty, and social degradation for the American worker, end quote, while inducing, quote, loafing and gambling, rioting, debauchery and drunkenness, end quote.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: The New York Times on April 25th, 1886, declared the movement, quote, un-American, end quote, adding that, quote, labor disturbances are brought about by foreigners, end quote.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: But May Day has not been officially celebrated in the USNA for over 30 years.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, we are told to celebrate Law Day by the government in hopes of hiding the militant history of the working class.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: By not recognizing Mayday, they quiet the voices of the past that rose in unity and protested against exploitation of workers.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: May Day was born out of the struggle of the workers of the world.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: By celebrating the 1st of May in commemoration of the people's fight against exploitation and oppression in their jobs and lives, we are reminded of their strength.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: The ruling class depends on the labor of the workers for its survival.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is the reason why it discredits its important struggle.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: They do it to divert the workers from the struggle and in this way make them susceptible to control.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Another very important holiday for the people of Mexico and for Mexican people anywhere El Cinco de Mayo.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: On May 5th, 1862, the armies of the Republic of Mexico defeated the Imperial French legions in the hills outside the city of Puebla in central Mexico.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: On this May 5th, the Mexican people are fighting a more ruthless struggle than ever, both against their own ruling class who exploits them directly, and against USNA imperialism, the international hangman of revolutions.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: We see that these two holidays are part of our history, and as we celebrate them, we must again raise our voices against the exploitation and oppression around us.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: In all parts of the world, we have workers uniting and fighting desperately against imperialism.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: The capitalist system for its very survival requires constant expansion to foreign markets and the exploitation of other countries' natural and human resources.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: We have the example of Vietnam, where the people were tired of being controlled by USNA imperialism and their own puppet government.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Vietnamese fought hard and won.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Workers here in the USA helped win that victory because they saw that the USA had such a long history of wars that they refused to send their sons off to another imperialistic war to die for a cause they could not support.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: As a result of the workers' demands, the USA got out of Vietnam.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is an example of the power of the proletariat.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: We see the same situation in Angola where the USNA imperialists seek to exploit the country's vast resources.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: The USA is in a worsenly economic crisis.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: It follows that the capitalist structure needs war to absorb overproduction of goods and to conquer new markets.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: The workers do not want war, and workers of the other countries recognize the struggle against imperialism and understand the danger of it spreading worldwide.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: They send help to strengthen the workers of Angola to defeat the imperialists.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Angola is winning victories each day.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Here in San Diego, we can see very definitely the drive toward fascism, a state where all workers are controlled.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: The capitalist class is instilling a sentiment of hate between the workers, thereby dividing the working class and creating an atmosphere where they can control the workers like puppets, sending them to war and exploiting them to the fullest.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: We can see this being done by the raids and deportations being carried out on the Mexican documented and undocumented worker.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: The division between the working class is clear.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: The terrorist gangs that attack the Mexican undocumented worker are both Anglo-American and Mexican national minorities.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Immigration Naturalization Services has declared, quote, open season, end quote, on the Mexican undocumented workers.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Their disgusting and degenerate criminal acts must be exposed.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: The ruling class is trying to fool the working class by blaming unemployment on the undocumented worker.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Deportations will not create new jobs, as deportations that have already been carried out proves that the unemployment rate is the same.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: The legalizing of repressive legislation such as the Rodino Bill, Senate Bill 1, and Dixon Arnett Act is also an example of controlling workers.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: If these laws are passed, workers would be liable to deportations, citizen or not.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: It would be unlawful to strike and they would strip the worker of their defenses.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: This May Day we must demand jobs, but not jobs creating armaments for war.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: The working class needs jobs with peace.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: We must stand united and expose capitalism as a cause of all the strife and exploitation of the working class.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Celebrate May Day, jobs with peace.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Viva el Cinco de Mayo.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the piece by Garina Palomino and then she finishes by adding what looks to be an excerpt from her poem of some sort.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then it reads We mean to make things over.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're tired of toil for not, but bare enough to live on.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Never an hour for thought.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: We want to feel the sunshine.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: We want to smell the flowers.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're sure that God has willed it, and we mean to have eight hours.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're summoning our forces from shipyard, shop and mill, eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, um, so that's what I have for you today in this dispatch.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to share this article because uh I think that it does a fine job of finding that connection between Cinco de Mayo and uh International May Day.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I have for you for this dispatch, and I guess we'll see you next time.