Mayday in San Salvador ... a very different Mayday from years before when marches were attacked with bombs, buzzed by helicopters and had to take measures to protect themselves. An FMLN backed Presidential candidate won the Presidential elections on March 15. It was the first defeat for the right wing ARENA party(founded by the Death Squad runner, Roberto D'Aubuisson) in twenty years. The people are jubilant, but most importantly, they were allowed to march in fairly peaceful conditions after forty years of heavy repression - when still they marched. El Salvador has always featured some of the most solidly supported Mayday marches in the world.
Warwick Fry compares his experiences of the Mayday marches of the 1970s and the the 1980s with this year's march of 2009, at a time when an FMLN President is about to step into the administration of the country after a convincing vote of support from the FMLN. The neoliberal neofascist ARENA party still has a strong grip on the legal system, but it is being challenged with the prospect of a President who is not a puppet of those interests. He has a hard walk ahead of him.
Warwick Fry compares his experiences of the Mayday marches of the 1970s and the the 1980s with this year's march of 2009, at a time when an FMLN President is about to step into the administration of the country after a convincing vote of support from the FMLN. The neoliberal neofascist ARENA party still has a strong grip on the legal system, but it is being challenged with the prospect of a President who is not a puppet of those interests. He has a hard walk ahead of him.
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