Occupy Wall Street, union workers, immigrant coalitions and student movements rallied yesterday in celebration of May Day.
Also known as International Workers’ Day, May Day is a recognized worldwide event on May 1 that celebrates workers’ past struggle for the eight-hour work day.
OWS joined celebrations yesterday throughout New York City, which culminated in a huge rally in Union Square with city officials, immigrant and organized worker group advocates and musical guests such as Tom Morello, Dan Deacon, Das Racist and Immortal Technique. After the protest in the afternoon, thousands of demonstrators marched to Wall Street.
Earlier in the day, Occupiers held smaller protests throughout the city before coming together in Bryant Park.
“Part of the reason that May 1 is already so historic is that it represents the coming together of so many previously disparate movements who have been pushed apart by the unfortunate wedge-issue political dialogue of our time,” said Aaron Bornstein, a fifth-year NYU student and member of the OWS movement.
The Occupy Los Angeles movement called for an Occupy May Day General Strike in December, and dozens of cities around the world including New York, London, Sydney and Kuala Lumpur answered the call.
Chris Francis, a member of Community Voices Heard which aims to improve lives of low-income class in New York City and state, stood with his group to protest harsh working conditions for African Americans.
“Corporations force us to work basically in slavery, and we’re forced to work next to people that are getting paid when [we] are not [getting paid],” Francis said. “Hopefully the government will stop encouraging this slave labor.”
Occupiers also protested against recent police brutality toward demonstrators.
“Several people have already been killed protesting for eight-hour work days, and the government turns a blind eye,” said Alia Thabit, a member of grassroots project called Art In Odd Places.
Even those uninvolved with the movement gathered around Union Square to encourage the protesters yesterday.
“People need to stand up for their rights,” said Philadelphia resident Sid Laurer, 56, who works near Union Square. “If these people don’t, no one will. People need to wake up and realize that these problems are real.”
But Midtown resident Mary Handsie, 38, said she did not think protests achieved anything: “The only thing it’s doing is causing noise and chaos when everyone is trying to lead a normal work day,” she said.
NYU professor Peter Rajsingh said Occupy’s continual expansion will depend on how successfully the movement can get people to gather around an actionable social message.
“Occupy is trying to foster spontaneous and novel forms of social engagement, flat organizational structures, etc,” he said. “Successful social movements through history have needed to define themselves by clear, understandable goals, a strong normative frame and linear teleology.”