As we celebrate the coming of Spring we are also gearing up for May Day. This year will be historic as immigrant groups join with labor unions and the Occupy Wall Street Movement. May Day, has historically been a day to celebrate workers rights, and in recent years has shifted to focus on the rights of Immigrants, since the historic marches in 2006. Families for Freedom has consistently participated in May Day protests over the past 6 years, taking to the streets and making sure that immigrant voices are heard.
This year we have been involved with the planning of May Day protests along with the Immigrant Worker Justice Group of Occupy Wall Street. We will be joining with the May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights, OWS, the Alliance for Labor & Immigrant Rights & Jobs for All, as well as many other groups. Throughout the day immigrants, students, the undocumented, the organized and unorganized, teachers, postal workers, and low wage workers of all nationalities will gather to send a message to the 1% that the 99% will Legalize, Organize and Unionize! If you can take off work or if you are unemployed or laid off, gather at Union Square at 12noon. Or join us after work at 4pm for a united march & rally at 5:30 at Union Square .
The origins of May Day lie in the revolutionary year of 1886: a wave of mass strikes surged across the heartland of America, focused on the fight for an 8-hour work. In Chicago, over 100,000 workers struck. In the following days, police repressed workers, killing four. Workers then gathered at Haymarket Square to protest the police violence & a bomb was thrown, which led to the arrest and subsequent death sentence for Eight revolutionary labor leaders.
Several years later, in honor of their slain comrades, the Second International Congress declared May 1st International Workers Day. Ever since, people around the world have come together on May Day to remember the sacrifices of those who have struggled before us, to defend the gains they made, and to discuss the way forward.
For more than a century, May Day has been observed as a holiday throughout the world as a way to honor the struggles of all working people accross history. Ironically, while this tradition began in the United States, the day is unfamiliar to many people in this country. This all changed in 2006 when on May Day over a million mostly Latino/a, but also Middle Eastern, Asian, and Eastern European immigrants took to the streets of major U.S. cities—such as New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, and Denver—to express disapproval of H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 which included turning unlawful entrance into the United States a felony, punishable by imprisonment; militarizing the U.S.-Mexican border, complete with 700 miles of fencing erected along the border; and deporting undocumented and “terrorist” aliens.
This year will be a historic May Day as immigrant groups join with labor unions and the Occupy Wall Street Movement. May Day, has historically been a day to celebrate workers rights, and in recent years has shifted to focus on the rights of Immigrants, since the historic marches in 2006. Families for Freedom has consistently participated in May Day protests over the past 6 years, taking to the streets and making sure that immigrant voices are heard.
This year we have been involved with the planning of May Day protests along with the Immigrant Worker Justice Group of Occupy Wall Street. We will be joining with the May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights, OWS, the Alliance for Labor & Immigrant Rights & Jobs for All, as well as many other groups. Throughout the day immigrants, students, the undocumented, the organized and unorganized, teachers, postal workers, and low wage workers of all nationalities will gather to send a message to the 1% that the 99% will Legalize, Organize and Unionize! If you can take off work or if you are unemployed or laid off, gather at Union Square at 12noon. Or join us after work at 4pm for a united march & rally at Union Square .
May 1 has always marked the coming of Spring: a time of rebirth and new possibilities. For over a century, May Day has been known as International Workers Day, a day where the 99% — workers throughout the world — have united to fight their common exploitation by the 1%.
The origins of May Day lie in the revolutionary year of 1886: a wave of mass strikes surged across the heartland of America, focused on the fight for an 8-hour work. In Chicago, over 100,000 workers struck. There, during a demonstration on May 3rd, a crowd confronted strike-breakers leaving the nearby McCormick factory, chasing them back inside. Without warning, police opened fire on the crowd, killing four and seriously wounding many.
The following day a rally was called at Haymarket Square to protest the police violence. Police repressed the action, a bomb was thrown, although it was never determined from which side, and Eight revolutionary labor leaders were arrested, seven of whom had not even been present in Haymarket at the time. In the absence of any evidence linking them to the bomb, the “Chicago Eight” were tried solely on the basis of their political beliefs. All eight were sentenced to death.
Several years later, in honor of their slain comrades, the Second International Congress declared May 1st International Workers Day. Ever since, people around the world have come together on May Day to remember the sacrifices of those who have struggled before us, to defend the gains they made, and to discuss the way forward.
For more than a century, May Day has been observed as a holiday throughout the world as a way to honor the struggles of all working people accross history. Ironically, while this tradition began in the United States, the day is unfamiliar to many people in this country. This all changed in 2006 when on May Day over a million mostly Latino/a, but also Middle Eastern, Asian, and Eastern European immigrants took to the streets of major U.S. cities—such as New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, and Denver—to express disapproval of H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 which included turning unlawful entrance into the United States a felony, punishable by imprisonment; militarizing the U.S.-Mexican border, complete with 700 miles of fencing erected along the border; and deporting undocumented and “terrorist” aliens.
In the words of 22-year-old Mexican immigrant Ricardo Vargas, “When you are a citizen and you don’t agree with the system, you are a ‘liberal.’ When you are undocumented and you don’t agree, you are a ‘terrorist.’”
Since then, Immigrants have taken to the streets every May Day and we hope you can join us for May Day 2012.