AKEL declaration on International Workers Day
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 1st May 2017, Nicosia
For yet another year we are honouring Worker’s May Day, the International Day of the working people and their struggles over many years for a better world. We honour the pioneering workers of Chicago and with them, the vanguard workers of class labour struggles all over the world.
On the occasion of the First of May AKEL addresses a warm and militant greeting to the Cypriot working class and all working people, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians, Latins and all workers living and working in Cyprus.
Today we pay tribute to the pioneers of the workers’ movement in Cyprus, whose struggles changed working people’s lives in our country for the better. Everything that has been won through fierce struggles has in recent years been continuously challenged and undermined. We are sending out a message of determination and struggle for the defence of these gains.
The events dedicated to Worker’s May Day are being held for yet another year in the conditions of an ongoing global capitalist crisis; a crisis that is proving to be the greatest in capitalism’s history. Entire welfare infrastructures that were established to meet elementary human needs are today either being abolished as they are considered no longer profitable or are being sold off for next to thing to big private interests because they are profitable. The gains achieved in the second half of the 20th century, won as a result of fierce and often bloody struggles waged by working people, are being abolished with the imposition of neoliberal policies. At the same time, economic inequalities are growing throughout the world.
In Cyprus, the effects of the economic crisis have been loaded by the Anastasiades-DISY government and by all those forces and circles who have supported government policies, on to the backs of the majority of society. As a result of the government’s neo-liberal policies, Cypriot society has recorded the worst results in the table regarding increasing inequality in all EU countries, with almost 30% of society facing the danger of poverty or social exclusion. As far as the unemployment rate is concerned, Cyprus has one of the worst rates in the EU, while spending on health and social protection is at the bottom of the relevant tables.
In these conditions, AKEL was and remains the strongest bastion of resistance to the neo-liberal anti-social policies for the defence of popular gains. AKEL is at the forefront and struggling for a fairer distribution of burdens and for the protection of society, working people and small and medium-sized businesses, but also of our national wealth.
It is clear that at this critical crossroad Cyprus is in need of radically different policies than those being implemented by the government and ruling forces. It needs policies that promote sustainable development; that support the welfare state, promote the progressive reform of public administration and institutions, and combat intertwining interests and corruption.
AKEL will continue the struggle to free Cyprus from the devotees of neoliberalism and open up a new progressive chapter for our country and people.
AKEL will continue the struggle for vindication that will be achieved by reaching a solution to the Cyprus problem, that will liberate from the Turkish occupation and reunite our Cyprus and our people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
Worker’s May Day will be honored this year too with common events of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot workers being organized by the Pancyprian Federation of Labour PEO together with Turkish Cypriot trade unions. The working people of Cyprus are once again showing the way of common struggle for the salvation of our common homeland.
AKEL calls on all working people to participate in mass numbers in the events to commemorate Worker’s May Day organized by PEO. The mass participation in these events will convey a powerful and militant message for the solution and reunification, as well as for the deliverance from the anti-social socio-economic policies being pursued.
