Happy May Day!
On International Workers' Day, laborers from around the world unite to demand improved working conditions. Since 2006, May Day has become closely linked with calls for immigration reform. Many of the May 1 rallies will include calls to end the deportation of immigrants and for Congress to pass the Gang of Eight's immigration bill. The Occupy Wall Street movement has a series of events planned in major cities in the US. You can find a scheduled list of events below.
The hacktivist organization Anonymous has named May 1 a “Global Day of Resistance.” They urge individuals to take back public spaces for the working person. “March in your streets, occupy public space - be free and reclaim your world. And stay. Become part of a world-wide "Global Spring."
May Day rallies are currently underway in Madrid,where thousands have taken to the streets to protest high unemployment and euro zone austerity measures. In the Philippines, thousands of contract workers who were banned from forming unions are demanding the government take action to improve their rights. In Jakarta some 55,000 Indonesians have gathered outside the presidential palace to protest outsourcing and low pay. There are over 80 countries participating in May Day rally’s.
May Day first began in 1887 as a way to mark the anniversary of the violent 1886 Haymarket Square riot in Chicago. Workers had assembled in a public square to strike for an eight-hour work day. Police were called in to disperse the protesters when an unknown person through a bomb at them. The police responded by firing upon the workers, killing four of them. Eyewitnesses claim that the demonstrators never fired or acted upon the police. Despite this, eight of the protesters were tried and convicted for the bombing and seven were sentenced to death. Now, over eighty countries consider May Day to be a national holiday.
Here’s a list of the scheduled rallies:
10:00am - 10:30am: Occu-Evolve Speakout Against Law Day @ NYU
10:30am - 11:00am: Young Workers: March with TWU! @ Bryant Park
11:00am - 2:30pm: Free University @ Copper Union
12:00pm - 2:00pm: Immigrant Worker Justice Tour
12:00pm - 4:00pm: May 1 Coalition Activities @ Union Square
12:00pm - 2:00pm: Occupy to Save the People's Post Office @ Washington Square Park
1:00pm - (?): Anti-Capitalist March @ Tompkins Square
2:30pm - 4:00pm: 99 Pickets Solidarity Swarm @ Union Square
3:00pm - 4:00pm: Citywide Student Convergence @ Peter Cooper Park
3:00pm - 5:00pm: Resistance Is Fertile: Love Bomb Seed Bombs
4:00pm - 5:30pm: Unified Rally for Immigrant Rights & Worker Rights @ Union Square
5:15pm - 7:00pm: Unified March for Immigrant & Worker Rights
6:00pm - 7:30pm: Rally for Labor & Citizen's Rights @ City Hall
7:00pm - 8:30pm: May Day People's Assembly / Asamblea del Pueblo del 1ero de Mayo @ Foley Square
7:30pm - 8:30pm: Occu-Evolve Kimani Gray Memorial Assembly @ Zuccotti Park
12:00pm: Long Beach Revolutionaries : Back in Actions @ Pershing Square
2:00pm: Occupy LA Meet @ Pershing Square
2:30pm: March to Olympic and Figueroa
3:00pm: Join with Occupy Fights Foreclosures to SHUT DOWN Wells Fargo
4:00pm: Join the SCIC march @ Broadway & Olympic to march for FULL legalization for all!
7:30pm OLA General Assembly @ Pershing Square
10:00 AM: Anti-Capitalist Demo @ City Front Plaza
12:45pm - 2:00pm: Occupy Chicago May Day Solidarity Speak Out @ Union Park, Randolph and Ashland
2:00pm - 4:30pm: International Workers Day March for Immigration Reform @ Union Park, march to Federal Plaza begins 3:00pm
4:30: Rally at Federal Plaza