Surviving Capitalism (Not) : May Day: Asia's socialists -- Intensify the struggle against poverty and neoliberalism [8:15m video and article]

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

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

May Day: Asia's socialists -- Intensify the struggle against poverty and neoliberalism [8:15m video and article]

Click here to access video and article from International Journal of Socialist Renewal.

I need to remind my fellow citizens that the international workers celebration of May Day originated in Chicago following the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886 when workers marched for an eight hour work day.

In an ongoing effort to deny working people their history, the governing class in the US has always resisted the celebration of May 1st as any kind of celebration for working people. It is interesting to note that in 1958 Congress officially declared May 1st as "Loyalty Day" which has never caught on with the public. Loyalty Day was an appropriate designation because it really emphasized the demand that workers must be loyal (subservient) to the governing class of capitalists.

Meanwhile, this video and article illustrate that May 1st is still celebrated by working people in many parts of the world, and focuses specifically on a demonstration-celebration in Malaysia for worker's rights.