May Day 2012 – A Declaration of Solidarity from Occupy Oklahoma

WHEREAS, May 1st is officially recognized worldwide as International Workers’ Day, a holiday originating in response to the Haymarket Massacre of 1886 in Chicago, where workers were fighting for the eight hour workday;

WHEREAS, the people of the world have risen against economic inequality, social domination, financial exploitation, government corruption, and iron-fisted authoritarianism in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Greece, and elsewhere;

WHEREAS, this working class movement has observed unchecked corporate power redefining the natural world as a body of resources to be exploited to serve their purposes and interests;

WHEREAS, the physical and economic assault of governments worldwide upon their peoples constitutes an attack on the principles of self-determination and democracy;

WHEREAS, corporate interests and the politicians they control continue to spread aggression in Washington DC, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and multitudinous countries of the world;

WHEREAS, our solidarity with the workers of the world constitutes our inalienable right to freedom of association;

WHEREAS, a call is growing for an international mass action to honor the struggles and sacrifices of working peoples around the world;

WHEREAS, isolated efforts at reform have failed to stem the growing tide of corporate power and the harm it causes to the working class;

WHEREAS, we recognize in the General Strike a powerful tool in the battle for democracy, a furtherance of social and economic conditions, and the provisions of education and healthcare;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the General Assembly of Occupy Oklahoma endorses the General Strike of May Day 2012, including work stoppages, street demonstrations, sick-outs, and other solidarity actions;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the General Assembly of Occupy Oklahoma urges its constituent members to stand in solidarity in a “Day without Workers,” supporting a boycott of shopping, work, and school-related activities as part of May Day observances.

This resolution has been endorsed by:
The General Assembly of Occupy Oklahoma
Occupy Norman (University of Oklahoma)
Occupy Tulsa
Occupy OKC
Occupy Shawnee (Oklahoma)
The Central Oklahoma Black/Red Alliance (COBRA)
CrimethInc. Ex-Workers’ Collective: Stillwater Cell