May Day in a Pandemic: Frontline Workers v. the Ruling Class
Channel: May Day Collective
Date: 02/05/2020

Last May Day, we brought you the Billionaire Bash and took you to the doorsteps of some of the richest people in Vancouver. This year, we're asking who the real hoarders are and looking at how a pandemic shapes anti-capitalist struggles. Join us for an online forum with frontline workers who are taking action during the COVID-19 crisis. The most essential workers during this pandemic are the same workers that have been most exploited by the ruling class. Conditions imposed on these essential yet exploited workers have put their health and lives at risk but also spurred inspiring collective action.

We'll hear from:
Deena Ladd - Workers’ Action Center
Sarah Dowd - New York State Nurses Association
Fuerza Migrante migrant farm workers

This event is the first of several exploring the impact of COVID-19 on our movements. The pandemic is highlighting how fragile capitalist economies are and how financially insecure most working people are. Only a few weeks without pay poses a massive threat to being able to continue to pay for basic necessities such as rent and food. All of this in a society with unprecedented wealth and productivity. Where is this wealth going? In Canada alone there are 41 billionaires collectively worth over 150 billion dollars. Their hoarding has kept so many financially insecure, they are rich because many are poor.

Will this pandemic threaten to deepen the inequality around the globe and enable the real hoarders even more? Or can we come together collectively in this moment to demand our fair share as a society? Will this crisis reveal capitalism’s ugly face in its full horror? And how can we utilize this awakening for real change?

This event will be broadcast from occupied unceded Indigenous land belonging to the Musqueam, Skxwú7mesh [Skohomish] and Tsleil-Waututh [slay-wa-tooth] nations. Unceded means that this land was never surrendered, relinquished or handed over in any way.