We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, May 1, 2017

May Labour Day: What is International Workers' Day?

Click here to access article from Al Jazeera. (Edited and material added up till 6:30 PM Seattle time.)
Each year, people across the globe take to the streets to commemorate International Workers' Day, or May Day.

In dozens of countries, May Day is an official holiday, and for labour rights campaigners it is particularly important.

In the United States, it is symbolic of past labour struggles against a host of workers' rights violations, including lengthy work days and weeks, poor conditions and child labour.
The article continues on to give the history of this day which began in Chicago in 1886 which is a history that our ruling masters have almost disappeared from the consciousness of many American workers. But looking at the history of International Workers' Day, we learn that the day is as American as apple pie! Our ruling masters have attempted to obliterate its meaning by relabeling the day to various other meanings, by changing it to "Labor Day" and shifting it to the first Monday of September, by removing most of the history of this day from schools and educational materials, and by media corporations portrayal of the day as almost un-American by framing the day as one of potential violence. Isn't ironic that the most violent ruling class in recorded world history treats American workers with such paranoia?

See also "Today Is Labor Day, Whether America Knows It or Not" from Fusion

Here you can access a compilation of May Day scenes around the world beginning in Seattle provided by Ruptly via YouTube.