MAY DAY

Thursday, May 1, 2025

MAY DAY

► From NPR — May Day protesters will rally nationwide against the ‘war on working people’ — On May Day, protesters are honing their message to decry what they say are attacks on the working class and immigrants. Organizers for the effort, called May Day Strong, say the administration and its billionaire allies pose a threat to labor rights, public services, and the safety of immigrants regardless of their legal status. Organizers have stated their opposition to violent forms of protest. “This is a war on working people,” organizers said on the May Day Strong events web page.

► From the AP — From Tokyo to Turin to LA, Trump’s policies loom over May Day marches — French union leaders condemned the “Trumpization” of world politics, while in Italy, May Day protesters paraded a puppet of the American president through the streets of Turin. Across continents, hundreds of thousands turned out for Thursday’s rallies marking International Workers’ Day, many united in anger over U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda — from aggressive tariffs stoking fears of global economic turmoil to immigration crackdowns.

► From People’s World — Millions marching against Trump agenda on May Day — May Day commemorates the infamous Chicago police shooting of immigrant workers in Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886. Immigrant rights is the major theme of this year’s May Day events. The police violently broke up the Haymarket workers’ peaceful protest for an eight-hour day by opening fire. The cops got off free, but eight workers’ leaders were arrested and convicted in a travesty of justice. Four were pardoned eight years later by pro-worker Illinois Democratic Gov. John Peter Altgeld, but three others went to the gallows, and a fifth swallowed smuggled-in poison.

► From KOMO — What is May Day? Marches. rallies planned around Puget Sound — A protest is expected at 4 p.m. in Tacoma at Tollefson Plaza with a march to the detention center. There are also events in five cities in Kitsap County, and events in Bellingham, Covington, Everett, Federal Way, Lake Forest Park, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Mount Vernon,Olympia, Port Angeles, Redmond, Renton, and Snohomish.

► From the AP — What to know about May Day and how it has grown over the years — This year, organizers in numerous cities, including New York, are calling for unity across many causes and groups. “We’re organizing for a world where every family has housing, health care, fair wages, union protection, and safety — regardless of race, immigration status, or zip code,” the American Civil Liberty Union of New York said in a statement.

► From Common Dreams — May Day in Pictures: Workers Worldwide March Against Austerity, Right-Wing Attacks — “They tell people that migrants are to blame for failing hospitals, job insecurity, and rising rents,” said Esther Lynch, general secretary of the European Trade Union Conference in Paris. “This is a lie—a dangerous lie. The true cause is austerity, it is underfunding, privatization, and a refusal to invest in people. It’s price gauging, it’s union busting, it’s pay injustice.”