Kurdish community celebrates May Day

Long Live May Day! Biji Yeke Gulane! Yaşasın 1 Mayıs!

 KURDS ARE CELEBRATING MAY DAY IN THE SPIRIT OF NEWROZ

Once again this year Kurds are celebrating May Day in Kurdistan, Turkey and all the capitals of the world, in the spirit of Newroz, the Kurdish New Year. This is because for Kurds, May Day is not just a day for workers and labour, but for the freedom and resistance of all the oppressed nations, classes and ‘others’ of the world; this is why May Day is also a celebration for Tamils, Baloch, Sindhi, Basque, women, students, religious groups and all oppressed peoples.

We are thousands here today from all these nations and groups, in exile, away from our lands, and we are in solidarity with the British working classes, of which we have also become a part of. But we have been made the scapegoats, the unemployed, pushed into menial labour as underpaid service providers of this system, which, in its economic crisis has targeted us more savagely than any other. Millions of people, officially and unofficially have lost their jobs, millions who did not have access to work have had their social security benefits cut, student fees have been tripled, access to housing and basic council services have been eroded, local community funding and services have become almost non-existent, and as the riots last year showed, there is a growing discontent among the working classes, which unfortunately has no political direction, at least not yet. Continue reading “Kurdish community celebrates May Day”

Protesters carry 34 coffins to Turkish Embassy in memory of Uludere victims

Yesterday, 8 February 2012, the Kurdish Community in London held a march to commemorate the 40th day of mourning for the 34 Kurdish civilians killed in a bombardment by Turkish fighter jets on 28 December 2011. The marchers carried 34 symbolic coffins from Amnesty International to the Turkish Embassy, where officials secretly filmed the protesters from inside the building. The peaceful demonstration was organised by several Kurdish community centres in London and attended nearly 200 people. You can read the original statement about the march below:

Continue reading “Protesters carry 34 coffins to Turkish Embassy in memory of Uludere victims”