Don't touch our 8 March and May Day!
The bill proposes to abolish the days of struggles
A bill on the abolition of International Workers' Day (May Day) and International Women's Rights Day has been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) by Oksana Savchuk, a member of the far-right Svoboda party.
The bill proposes to abolish the day of struggle for women's rights and the International Workers' Day as a "legacy of the colonial past" and to "eliminate the problem of losses to the economy". The explanatory note to the bill states that "the so-called 'International Women's Day' was established by Moscow". It is proposed to replace it with the "Ukrainian Women's Day", removing any connotation of the struggle for women's rights. May Day is compared to totalitarian ideology, and described as a "communist tool" of propaganda "of the Soviet Union and the Third Reich".
This bill is an insult to the Ukrainian women's and trade union movement by equating them with two totalitarian regimes. It has nothing to do with the fight against the "colonial heritage" that it claims to lead, but is a violent attack on women's and workers' rights struggles.
The International Labour Network of Solidarity and Struggle condemns this attempt to ban two important dates in the struggle for women's and workers' rights and dignity, which also constitute two important moments of social mobilisation.
Image credits: Katya Gritseva
