Dear Users, Allies and Colleagues,
Koumbit will be closed this Tuesday, May 1st for International Workers Day, commonly known as May Day. Our emergency on-call services will continue to be available. We will be open again at our usual hours on Wednesday, May 2nd.
This particular day commemorates calls for a nationwide strike for an eight-hour work day on May 1, 1886, as well as the brutal repression of this labor rights organizing in what would come to be known as the Haymarket affair. On May 1, 1886, Chicago hosted a major demonstration in support of the eight-hour work day. This was the first of a few days of a diversity of actions which culminated in a meeting called by anarchists at Haymarket Square on May 4th, where a bomb went off in a crowd of policemen who had come to disperse the meeting. Following the bombing, the police shot hundreds of people, killing several and wounding over 200.
In 1889 an international federation of socialist and union groups designated May 1st as International Workers Day. Since then the international workers' movement has successfully established May Day as a national holiday in almost all countries on the planet except in North America and a few other countries. In 1894 the US, then-President Cleveland, hoping to divest any American Workers Day of its radical origins signed legislation to make Labor Day (celebrated in early September) the official workers holiday in the US. Canada followed the US's lead, making Labor Day a statutory holiday instead of May Day. Despite these attempts to deradicalize the anti-capitalist and labor movements in North America, May Day remains a day marked by protests, strikes, and other actions across Canada and the US.
May Day is a part of a long-standing and ongoing fight to oppose the economic and social devastation of imperialist states such as Canada and the USA. As a self-organized workers collective, we at Koumbit recognize May Day as a historically and contemporarily important day for the advancement of anti-capitalism and workers' rights. For this reason, our office is closed each May 1st.
If you are looking for a way to celebrate May Day in Montréal and in Quebec City, here a list of events:
Montreal
- The IWW is calling for a neighborhood gathering with food and speeches at 2:30pm at Parc Metro, followed by a demo in the neighborhood at 4pm. You can find more information here: https://sitt.iww.org/2018/04/03/appel-a-manifester-le-1er-mai-vous-netes-pas-seul-es/
- Rally against precarious work. This May 1st, the Coalition Against Precarious Work (Pinay, Immigrant Workers Centre, Migrant Workers Association of Quebec, Temporary Agency Workers Association and Mexicans United for Regularization) will hold a gathering in front of the CNESST on 500 Rene Lévesque between 5pm and 6pm. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1918945321451352/
- The Anti-Capitalist Convergence is holding its annual Anti-Capitalist May 1st demonstration at 6pm at the corner of Amherst and Sherbrooke streets. You can find more information here: https://www.clac-montreal.net/en/node/704
Quebec
- The RÉPAC is organising a regional demonstration on May 1st. Here more information: http://www.pressegauche.org/Manifestation-regionale-du-1er-mai-2018-a-Quebec
About Koumbit
Established in Montreal in 2004, Koumbit is a non-profit organization with a threefold mission: First, to create a space of mutual support and resource sharing for socially engaged IT workers. Secondly, to support the use of open source technology by community groups and the general public as well as the development of collective IT platforms. Thirdly, to create excellent working conditions for its workers: as an innovative economic model and self-managed collective, Koumbit is based on principles of self-governance and solidarity. Koumbit is run by and for its workers based on a non-hierarchical and anti-oppressive framework.
Koumbit offers web hosting and website development and redesign services on WordPress and Drupal platforms. In particular, we offer migration services from out-of-date platforms to current content management systems such as WordPress and Drupal. We also create Web applications based on Ember.js. Koumbit has expertise in system administration, in server management and hosting based on Linux and in particular Debian. Koumbit encrypts data stored on disk and advocates for a model that minimizes the retention of data in its services.
You can find more information about us here ( https://www.koumbit.org ), see the services we offer here ( https://www.koumbit.org/en/services/web-hosting ) and consult our portfolio here ( https://www.koumbit.org/en/portfolio ) or write to us at info@koumbit.org
In solidarity and wishing you a good May 1st,
The workers of the Koumbit collective
