Denver celebrates International Workers Day with rally and march
Denver, CO – On May 1, hundreds of people came out for International Workers Day in solidarity with workers all around the world. Chants and demands included “No to deportations!” “No one is illegal” and “Legalization for all!”
The event started with an Aztec dance and blessing facilitated by Grupo Tlaloc. Demonstrators marched to Governor Jared Polis’ mansion to demand he pass bill SB 276 which would add protections to sensitive areas like schools and libraries from ICE, as well as preventing ICE from accessing personal data via third parties.
With the Trump administration becoming more violent and aggressive with deportations, the main slogan of the event became “A Day Without Immigrants,” highlighting the important role immigrants played in the labor movement throughout U.S. history.
Aurora Unidos CSO and 18 different organizations and unions, including the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Our Voices Our Power (OVOP), General Strike, Caza de Paz, UFCW and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) united to make this event happen.
“In 1886 it was immigrant workers in Chicago who launched an historic strike for an eight-hour workday,” said Yoselin Corrales, an organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO, “Today and every day we must stand up for workers’ and immigrants’ rights and the rights of all oppressed people around the world.” Corrales spoke about how much immigrant workers contribute to the communities while receiving little to nothing in return from the system that exploits them and threatens them with deportation, separating families and creating suffering.
Kat Draken, an organizer with FRSO and a rank-and-file member of Teamsters Local 455, spoke to her experience as a transgender worker, stating, “Most people agree that trans folks have the freedom to be themselves, that climate change is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, that income inequality is getting worse while CEOs are making 300 times the average worker, and that people have the right to organize in a union, and most importantly, that immigrant families are welcome here and we should not be tearing families apart!”
“It matters that dock workers in the U.S., in Spain, In Morocco, in South Africa refuse to load weapons for genocide,” said Dr. Mohamed Kuziez, an organizer from USPCN, “it matters because labor doesn’t just build the economy, it can stop it when it’s used as a machine of death.” On May Day over 30 Palestinian unions called on the world to stop arming Israel. “If you can withhold your labor, your goods, your silence, do it!” Kuziez continued.
Guillermo Ruiz from OVOP spoke of his family’s experience immigrating to the U.S. His great-grandfather Rodolfo Palacios Salinas and his mother moved to Colorado, “bringing me and my siblings here, all looking for a better life.” Ruiz stated that many people who immigrate to the U.S. do so out of desperation, being “forced to leave our homes because of the way the U.S. operates outside of here, destabilizing our homes for profit, destabilizing our homes to exploit our people for cheap labor.”
As the march made its way back to the capitol from the governor's mansion, chants like “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state” and calls to action could be heard, encouraging people to join the struggle. The event ended at the capitol with participants singing Solidarity Forever.