[lbo-talk] May Day INDONESIA

Mike Ballard swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au
Fri May 2 16:58:10 PDT 2008


Manpower and Transmigration minister Erman Suparno called on the country's workers to peacefully celebrate World Labor Day, which falls on May 1. "Everybody can celebrate, either by holding a thanksgiving ceremony or by having music concerts, but don't make any anarchistic actions," The minister said he hoped the celebrations would not disrupt the people's daily activities. "Don't let the event become a spook to the people, terrifying them and preventing them from doing their daily activities with typical demonstrations and anarchistic action...Jakarta police chief Adang Firman told reporters after monitoring the capital from a helicopter that 10,000 security personnel had been deployed to control the rallies and another 50,000 were on standby. All May Day rallies were banned in Surabaya, the country's second largest city, because the workers' holiday coincided with a religious holiday, police said. "Rallies are not allowed during a public holiday. Let's respect Jesus Ascension day," Surabaya police chief Anang Iskandar told state news agency Antara. "If there are rallies, we'll break them up." Despite all that wage slaves came out across Indonesia anyway...eg 40,000 in Jakarta carryied banners reading "Lower Food Prices Now" and "More Pay for Workers and Farmers," many of the demonstrators said they were alarmed at soaring inflation and the prospect of sharply higher fuel bills. http://www.myspace.com/ballardoso

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