ISRAEL-PALESTINE, MAY 12—As we go to press, war in Israel-Palestine is quickly expanding. In the last three days dozens of people have been killed including at least 14 children and hundreds wounded in the apartheid state of Israel-Palestine. The situation for the working class there is dire as our sisters and brothers are caught between the terrorism of the Israeli ruling class and the self-serving nationalist leadership of the Palestinian movement. The situation cries out for the unity of all workers to turn this war between the bosses factions into a movement for communist revolution and liberation of our class from capitalism.
The latest uprising by young workers and the massive attacks by the Israeli ruling class on Palestinian workers was set off by the attempted eviction of Palestinian workers from several neighborhoods in Jerusalem. The situation where Palestinian workers have been kept in extreme oppression has led to many years of rebellion by young workers since the Israeli ruling class was put into power by the British and U.S. bosses. The Palestinian leadership has used the anger of young workers against the racist apartheid condition to build their own power and wealth at the expense of the working class.
The current escalation of the war in Israel-Palestine is caught up in the combination of crisis in the Israeli ruling class which has been fighting among themselves, the needs of Iran which is backing the Hamas wing of the Palestinian ruling class and the bigger inter-imperialist rivalry involving the weakening U.S. bosses. This convergence of the capitalist crisis is threatening to not just escalate war in that part of the world but bring in bosses from other countries such as Turkey, Iran, and Russia.
The current overall volatility of the world situation where the U.S. ruling class is weakening and competing imperialists are moving into the U.S. bosses former sphere of influence make the situation in Israel-Palestine a possible start point for a much wider war (see more next issue).

This May Day comes at a time when  working class all over the world is groaning in pain and suffering from a global pandemic which is a result of capitalist competition and scheming for control of the world. The corporate elite stands to reap huge profits from the vaccine now being pushed worldwide (see editorial, page 2) and also from the inability of workers to organize as a result of lockdowns and quarantines to control the virus. The working class is therefore suffering great hardship in silence.
The working class in Nigeria is in a specially difficult situation suffering not just from the pandemic but also from an unprecedented insecurity due to ethnic intolerance which is leading to another fratricidal ethnic war. The ethnic elites of the major ethnic groupings in Nigeria do not seem to have learned anything from the last civil war, nor from Rwanda, nor from Libya, nor currently from the Central African Republic. The results of ethnic nationalism are mass slaughter. Young people must reject this path and the path of religion which equally sets them up. They need to study and use the invincible tool of Marxism - Leninism to build a better society.
Arise ye wretched of the earth! Arise ye starving masses of Nigeria! A new egalitarian Nigeria is possible. Working people of Nigeria and the world unite!

COLOMBIA, May 9—The ruling class here is in crisis and workers are fed up. Comrades  from Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. met virtually for a first-hand account of the resistance and work of the party's colleagues in Colombia who were involved in the National Strike. These comrades have been battling the already known repressive measures of the fascists who govern Colombia. Then we brought together  20 people from different collectives, and produced the following report:
In the last week, Colombia has experienced the most violent moments in its recent history. The criminal government of Ivan Duque, sponsored by the paramilitary Álvaro Uribe Vélez, has murdered at least 37 people and has disappeared 89. This has resulted in nearly a thousand wounded workers by the systematic brutality of ESMAD (anti-riot police) as a policy of state repression.
There is fear generated on the streets by the homicidal response of the police and other defenders of the dictatorial regime prevailing in Colombia in the face of marches and rallies against a new tax reform bill and other forms of government exploitation. Yet, thousands of students, workers, young people, and indigenous people, among others, have taken the streets  since April 28 to openly protest. They are rejecting the hunger policies imposed from the state, which proposed to tax multiple items essential to the survival of a working-class family up to 19 percent. Moreover, the incomes of millions in poverty, struggling daily for their survival would be able to afford even less.
Faced with protest—where singing, drumming, performance, and other artistic expressions predominate as a form of resistance—the police have opted for excessive brutality. They are using tear gas, stunners, and bullets indiscriminately against protesters. They have murdered those who called in unison for a dignified life for their families before the stunned but passive gaze of the international community. In addition, the use of unconventional weapons such as knives and hand-made guns by police and state-service paramilitary groups has been recorded by the protesters’ phone cameras. Workers have not only been beaten and repressed, but they are also forced to witness the massacre of unarmed people who cry out for justice.
Workers reject crumbs
Due to pressure from a people resisting, Ivan Duque withdrew his abusive reform proposal to propose a "new" one that is still not finished. However, faced with this strategy aimed at appeasing the crowds enraged in dignity, thousands of Colombians tired of the deceptions of politicians and warlords, decided to stay on the streets. They have declared themselves Anti-Uribist as a clear anti-fascist expression in the face of the recalcitrant fascism that has spread in the country. Which has made violence and hunger the law. Health reform, the systematic killing of social leaders in the countryside and the city, cuts to education, and state corruption have become the flag of struggle for thousands of people, besieged by the inequality of savage capitalism.
First they loot us, then they blame us
The marches and meetings have been infiltrated by policemen without uniforms and paramilitaries, who have looted shops, housing, and state entities, among others, seeking to delegitimize  the demands  of the oppressed masses. Useless pacifism spread through the media mouth-piece condemns the beaten and gasped population. Instead, their executioners are defended and are said to be covered by retrograde law and the corrupt establishment. They repeatedly say phrases such as “that is not the way to protest." At no time is the excessive use by  ESMAD (the anti-riot police) that attacks civilians with  firing bullets criticized. The defenseless population use sticks and stones as their only tools.
 In response to the servile media, owned by the big capitalists in Colombia, the cameras of the protesters' cell phones have become a weapon of resistance. Massacres in cities such as Cali, Bogota, Neiva, Medellin, and Pereira are being broadcast live to millions around the world. This is an X-ray of the archaic and dictatorial methods used to extinguish the voice of protest of oppressed  people in urban and rural areas. Homicides committed in the countryside have easily been hidden due to the absolute control exercised by paramilitarism and the absence of agencies defending the fallacy of human rights.
The false argument that workers’ protests are being “radicalized”  is used to divide the people from their struggle for decent living conditions. In this way, the police are made out to be the victims. So, while the protesters are beaten and shot, pacifism is presented as the correct path.
Faced with the force of the protests, Ivan Duque has contemplated the militarization of cities facing criticism from agencies such as the UN, whose response has been null. Decree a state of "inner shock," which gives the president unlimited power has become an option to apply to return to the calm that favors capital.  
Politicians have tried to seize the force of the strike, meeting with senior government officials to negotiate a way out. However, protest groups have shown they are not represented by these opportunists looking to sell out the fight in exchange for seats in parliament. A youth full of nonconformism have  tried to restore dignity to a country looted by archaic elites.
The protest and violent events that have been labelled as anarchist. However, in PLP, we consider that the revolutionary ideas of young and old and everything that makes them question capitalist exploitation should be valued as the first flame of a communist revolution.

San Francisco May Day
The mass San Francisco May Day march was organized by the The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).  It was an inspiring event because it was a multi-racial march of thousands of workers arranged in dozens of trade union contingents. One Black speaker said that the current street murders by the police are just a continuation of the slave system over the past 400 years.  Workers were very open to our leaflets and CHALLENGE newspapers, introduced as 'for international solidarity', 'for multiracial unity', 'for communism' and  'for worker's power'.  
The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) leaflet criticized the AFL leadership's support for imperialist war, its failure to organize immigrants in the U.S., and its failure to organize in Latin America where U.S. imperialism causes drought, oppression, and massacres of workers, forcing thousands to flee looking for safety in the U.S.
 PL'ers and friends distributed 450 leaflets, 80 copies of CHALLENGE and made contacts to be followed-up with.
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My first May Day
This was my first May Day and it felt more impactful than I could have imagined. I was met in the streets by a multiracial and multigenerational crowd who immediately shared their experiences during May Day, our current plight in a capitalist system, and the importance of realizing the disparities that this system places on us throughout this pandemic.
As we marched, I watched a crowd of people chant antiracist, anti-sexist, anti-capitalist, and pro-working class chants in Spanish, Hatian Creole, and English. We weaved through the streets of Brooklyn, NY and were met by community members who joined our march and asked several questions. They were tired of this system and appreciated our message.
People in the streets were receptive and brought CHALLENGE with them as they continued through their day. I listened to worker’s stories and felt immediate anger hearing the injustices they faced because of police terror. I knew that I was exactly where I needed to be.
We continued down Flatbush Ave. supporting each other and stepping up when other workers needed a break or help.
I needed that day. Everyone who was able to experience May Day at the march needed it too.
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Student’s first May Day speech
After attending the 2021 Progressive Labor Party (PLP) May Day event, I felt part of a community with caring comrades. It was wonderful to give a speech related to the current conditions in the City University of New York, and I felt empowered, heard, and productive as a student organiser. I enjoyed the vivid display of red flags as we loudly asserted ourselves through music and chants.
I have never attended a May Day celebration before, but I will remember this event and keep it as a cherished memory. I am looking forward to attending the 2022 PLP May Day event!
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