United States

Workers Playing Vital Role in Anti-War,
Pro-Social Actions

– Kathleen Chandler –

New York City, May 1, 2026

In addition to the many actions held in the U.S. on May 1 taking the stand No Work, No School, No Shopping, in hundreds of cities across the country there were actions calling to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and close all the detention centers, with workers in the forefront. Demonstrations took place at detention centers as well as Home Depots where day laborers often gather to get work and where ICE targets them with the aid of Home Depot. Support was also given to the hundreds of hunger strikers at the Baldwin, Michigan detention camp, privately owned by GEO Group and one of the largest in the region with 1,800 beds. The people being held are protesting the unsafe and rotten conditions, lack of medical care, lawyers and families being blocked from visits, and their unjust detention.

The federal government is not only using ICE and Border Patrol for brutal and openly racist attacks on workers, their families and communities, they are also organizing to increase the number of detention camps: buying up old warehouses and making plans to use military sites. Both local and state authorities are taking stands against ICE, in part in response to the outrage expressed by the people through actions of various kinds, and as part of asserting their authority against that of the federal government.

This includes the Conference of Mayors, which brings all the mayors of the country together. They passed two emergency resolutions at their recent meeting, condemning ICE and demanding they not use masks; end the use of stops, questioning and searches based only on an individual's presence at certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent or their race and ethnicity; prohibiting immigration actions at schools, hospitals, institutions of worship, courts, polling locations on election day, and other such locations; and requiring that they always obtain and present a judicial warrant before entering publicly owned facilities or private property to pursue individuals.

The increasing conflicts between state and federal authorities can also be seen in the efforts in Minnesota to charge ICE agents and their top leaders with crimes, including murder and kidnapping. The federal government is blocking access to evidence and claiming only they can prosecute federal agents but state officials are persisting.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 30, 2026

Significant is that the executive continues to openly destroy existing arrangements and any rule of law, inside and outside of the country, including regularly going counter to court rulings concerning ICE and building these detention centers. The danger of civil war remains. There is also growing consciousness that the widespread demand Not in Our Name! Not in Our Community! must be and is being implemented by the people themselves, organizing to abolish ICE and strengthening their self-reliant actions.

In addition, on April 15, tax day in the U.S. when income taxes to be paid came due, there were hundreds of actions demanding No Taxes for War! Abolish ICE and Fund Our Rights! There was a broad stand against war on Iran as criminal, and rejection of U.S. President Donald Trump's demands for yet another $200 billion in war funding. The first week of war alone cost more than $11 billion and daily costs are close to $1 billion.

There is a long-standing tradition in the U.S. reflected in the slogan No Taxation Without Representation. The current situation, where Congress refuses to use its authority to stop the wars and stop the funding, is again bringing home that Congress and the President in no way represent the people and that there can be no reliance on these outdated and failed institutions, including the upcoming November elections.

While already there are efforts to divert people into election campaigns, these many demonstrations and meetings, rapid response and mutual aid organizing, show that the peoples are persisting in their own independent efforts with workers playing a vital role. Nurses, teachers, public sector workers, farm workers, day laborers, construction workers, and their unions are all part of these growing efforts to block the drive of the executive, in service to the oligarchs, to overwhelm and defeat resistance. They are organizing to keep the initiative in their hands and to strengthen and broaden the organizing, including persisting with weekly demonstrations in various cities against war and for rights.

Philadelphia, PA, May 1, 2026

Another part of resistance is that among the soldiers. With the start of the war on Iran, with its open bombing of children and schools, there has been a significant increase in efforts to declare conscientious objector status, which immediately removes the person from combat. The organizations that assist soldiers in doing so have had a huge increase in calls and requests. Most say they do not want to bomb and terrorize children and schools. Consciousness that these are war crimes and crimes against humanity and that the war itself is aggression and criminal is growing among both soldiers and higher military ranks as well.

As part of preparing for future ground invasions, so far being avoided by Trump, the Pentagon funding bill that passed, means all 18-year-old men will be automatically registered with the Army, with the military securing data from social security, schools, etc. to create a national database. Up until now it has been voluntary.

In addition, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth continues to fire top generals, the most recent being the Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, and two other senior military leaders. George is a life-long military man who served numerous combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Given the executive cannot use war to unite the military bureaucracy, as occurred in the past, now the executive is creating its own force of loyalists and those ready to carry out the crimes demanded, whether against Iran, in Gaza, the Caribbean, or anywhere the executive dictates. At this point all the top generals and admirals in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who are the most experienced and knowledgeable about military standards and laws of war, including protecting civilians, have been removed, except the head of the Marine Corps.

The executive seems to think that putting in place loyalists will solve any problems of resistance within the military. However, the military does not pledge allegiance to the president, but to the Constitution, and to protecting it from enemies, foreign and domestic. These actions are causing difficulties within the ranks of the military and among soldiers, in that they have no confidence in the integrity and abilities of those being put in command.

Hegseth and Trump still seem to think eliminating top forces will solve their problems but they leave out that the youth targeted to be soldiers are increasingly finding ways to resist, including as conscientious objectors, or not volunteering at all. The anti-war and pro-social stands of the people are firm and growing stronger, as May Day actions showed.

Trump's efforts to portray himself as a peacemaker and top negotiator have also failed. He brags about negotiating from a position of strength and that his threats to obliterate Iran give him such a position. Meanwhile, the current joke promoted by the monopoly media and among what is called his social media "base" is "here goes another TACO Tuesday," TACO being Trump Always Chickens Out! The view that Iran has the upper hand and, as it is commonly put here, has just begun to fight, is widespread.

Dallas, TX, May 1, 2026

(Photos: @liunaeastern, fibonnacciblue.bsky.social, AFL-CIO, AFSCME)

This article was published in

Volume 56 Number 5 - May 2026

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/MS56054.HTM