May Day 2007: Live-Blogging
Put forth on May 1, 2007 by XicanoPwr
Posted in May Day
(pic h/t Vox ex Machina) Today is May Day, better known as International Workers’ Day. Contrary to popular belief, this is not some pinko commie holiday. In fact, May Day began in America at the time we once were working more than 8 hour shifts and employers did not care for the safety of their workers. But those were different times, which seem have gone down the memory hole. Now it is seen as an immigrant thing, yet, throughout the world, people are celebrating this day.
To those who are not provided health care insurance at work - this day is for you!
To those who are forced to work extra shifts or required to work another job to make ends meet - this day is for you!
To those who were laid off - this day is for you!
These are all the same wants and needs every so-called “illegal” are wanting. To borrow the words from Shakespeare, “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
Head on over to Migra Matters and find the nearest rally or event in your area and join them. If there isn’t one, that is ok, you can still show your support, by not buying an unnecessary product today. If you see the cleaning crew at your place of employment, stop them and tell them hi, let them know you care and you are looking out for them.
So to start May Day off right, here is Union Song by The Nightwatchman
Union Song by The Nightwatchman
I will be updating this post throughout the day of all the event taking place. If anybody knows of an event that is happening in your city and I have mentioned it yet, please be a part of this day and comment to let us know what is happening in your area.
8:41 Los Angeles - (source: ZNet) Truckers in the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach are mobilizing to repeat their performance of a year ago, when over 90% of the trucks were off the road.
Portland, OR (source: Portland IMC h/t nezua) a march is planed at 4:00 PM at SW park blocks and SW Salmon St., Portland
10:41 - A media blackout. So far, corporate media has decided not to give any live reporting, just a summary of what is planned for the day. Very interesting.
10:45 - Major victory in Los Angeles. LA Port shut down. (source: LA indy media)
On April 27 it was reported that the independent truckers of the Port of Aztlan, working with the Industrial Workers of the World, were able to shut down the Los Angeles port on May 1, in support of nationwide migrants’ rights protests scheduled for that day. That morning the Los Angeles Port Authority declared the port would be closed for a May 1 “holiday,” thereby avoiding potential litigation from shippers facing dockers’ and demurrage fees for goods left on the dock during the truckers’ strike.
11:00 - South Florida (source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel) Scheduled events are to place in Belle Glade, Miami and West Palm Beach.
Sonia Barajas, 19, a Florida-born activist who organized the rallies in Belle Glade last year, said she is expecting 5,000 people for this years rally. You go Sonia!
11:15 - Detroit, MI (source: WXYZ Channel 7) Thousands of people have gathered in southwest Detroit, demanding a stop to immigration raids and deportations. Way to go Detroit.
11:25 - South Korea (source: Associated Press) 7,000 workers held a peaceful gathering on a street in a Seoul university district denouncing a free trade agreement with the United States.
11:30 - Denver, CO (source: TheDenverChannel.com) Thousands of immigrant rights supporters are expected to take to the streets of Denver, Ft. Collins, and Colorado Springs for the Immigrant Day of Action.
Chicago, IL (source: NBC 17) Tens of thousands of immigration reform activists are expected to rally in Grant Park Tuesday afternoon, promising heightened emotions and downtown congestion.
1:00 Clovis, New Mexico - (source: Clovis News Journal (h/t James)) Immigrant advocates planned a rally in Clovis this morning in support of immigration reform.
Los Angeles - As of 10:30, about 600 students had walked out from less than a dozen Los Angeles Unified School District campuses.
1:30 - Venezuela (source: Houston Chronicle) President Hugo Chavez’s government took over Venezuela’s last privately run oil fields. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez declared that the Orinoco fields had reverted to state control just after midnight. Television footage showed oil workers in hard hats raising the flags of Venezuela and the national oil company over a refinery and four drilling fields in the Orinoco River basin.
The companies ceding control include BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., France’s Total SA and Norway’s Statoil ASA.
Czech Republic (source: ceskenoviny.cz) - Czech opposition Communist (KSCM) chairman Vojtech Filip called on the centre-right government not to drag the Czech Republic “under the yoke of the USA” at the May Day celebrations today, which the KSCM connected with a protest against the planned U.S. radar defence base on Czech territory.
2:20 - WI (source: kactus at Super Babymama) More than 120 businesses in Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Waukesha will close Tuesday to allow their workers to attend the “A Day Without Latinos” immigration march, which begins at noon on Milwaukee’s near south side.
2:51 - Nationwide Student Walk Protest - News you will not hear in the news. Lets hear it for our youth. It will be our youth will teach us. Revolution Youth has provided the list of schools.
California
Lowell High – San Francisco
Mission High - San Francisco
June Jordan School for Equity - San Francisco
John O’Connell - San Francisco
Urban - San Francisco
Gateway - San Francisco
ISA - San Francisco
Leadership High - San Francisco
The Bay School - San Francisco
Balboa High - San Francisco
City College – San Francisco
IHS- San Francisco
SFSU - San Francisco
Lick Wilmerding High - San Francisco
Santa Rosa High – Santa Rosa
Piner High – Santa Rosa
Elsie Allen – Santa Rosa
Sonoma State- Sonoma
SRJC- Santa Rosa
Napa Valley College
San Rafael High – Marin
Drake High – Marin
Tamalpais High – Marin
Marin Academy – Marin
Terranova High – Marin
Dominican – Marin
College of Marin - Marin
De Anza -
Westmont High – Los Gatos
San Lorenzo High – San Lorenzo
San Jose State – San Jose
UCSC – Santa Cruz
UCSB – Santa Barbara
UCB – Berkeley
UCD -Davis
UCI – Irvine
UCSD – San Diego
Roosevelt High School - Los Angeles
Garfield High School - East Los Angeles
Hollenbeck Middle School - Los Angeles
Manual Arts High School - Los Angeles
Bravo Medical Magnet High School - Los Angeles
Audobon Middle School - Los Angeles
LA Leadership Academy - Los Angeles
James Marshall High School - Los Angeles
Westminster High School - Los Angeles
Belvedere Middle School - East Los Angeles
King Drew Medical Magnet High School - Los Angeles
Elizabeth Learning Center - Cudahy
Banning High School - Wilmington
Warren High School - Downey
Jefferson High School - Daly City
Roosevelt High School - Fresno
Montgomery High School - Santa Rosa
San Pedro High School - San Pedro
Long Beach Poly High School - Long Beach
Azusa High School - Azusa
Gladstone High School - Azusa
Sierra High School - Azusa
Colton High School - Colton
Lynwood High School - Lynwood
Morse High School - San Diego
Hoover High School - San Diego
Monroe Clark High School - San Diego
Serra Senior High - San Diego
El Cajon High School - El Cajon
Moreno Valley High School - Moreno Valley
Escondido High School - Escondido
Don Antonio Lugo High School - Chino
Magnolia High School - Anaheim
Berkeley High School - Berkeley
Oakland Technical High School – Oakland
College Prep - Oakland
Fremont High School - Fremont
Freemont High School - Oakland
Hiram Johnson High School - Sacramento
Richmond High School - Richmond
Lindhurst High School - Yuba City
Acalanes High School - Lafayette
Nevada
Western High School - Las Vegas
Gibson Middle School - Las Vegas
Cimmaron High School - Las Vegas
Garside Middle School - Las Vegas
Bonanza High School - Las Vegas
Clark High School - Las Vegas
Mojave High School - Las Vegas
Washington
Renton High School
Texas
Dahlstrom Middle School
Hays High School
Chapa Middle School
Lehman high school
3:24 According to a Facebook entry by Asian American Student Union from College Park, MD the National Mobilization of Asian Pacific Americans for Immigration Reform will convene in Washington, D.C. to call for just and humane immigration reform.
7:30 San Francisco (source: San Jose Mercury) Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Modesto had more than 12,000 workers, students and families marching in the streets, with more expected to gather as the work day wound down. There were also rallies in San Jose, Madera, Fresno, Martinez and other towns.
Chicago (source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer) 400,000 took to the streets in Chicago
8:00 Salem, OR (source: OregonLive.com) State police estimated the crowd at roughly 3,000 people. Organizers pushed the number to 5,000. Many were high school and college students.
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Portland, OR
I believe there will be a rally in Clovis New Mexico - some of the smaller communities in my region were involved in last year’s rallies and boycott, so I’m expecting that some of these same communities are doing so this year.
Last year Guymon (the nearest large town to my north) had a pretty decent turnout at its rally. I have heard absolutely zilch though on what the plans were if any for this year.
Also Tulsa Oklahoma:
TULSA, OKLAHOMA: May Day March
May 1st 2007 Mobilization
02:00 PM-05:00 PM
Don’t know much beyond that little blurb.
Here’s a bit more on the Tulsa event.
Cool that James. I know I left out a lot of smaller communities last year. I felt pretty bad. The press is working really hard to make it seem like the movement is dead. I know the raids done last week did play a role, but I am hoping if we could highlight every single rally or at least a large majority, it would counter it.
The press is working really hard to make it seem like the movement is dead
I know, man–every damn major outlet has prefaced or somehow inserted into their coverage “these rallies are not as big as last year”–npr called it a fractured movement–it’s infuriating.
Macarthur Park
They were in the park like you and me
They don’t have the same rights though you see
Their fingers are in our mouths
When you are eating your breakfast drinking your drinks
The sweat of their brow on the ice that you clink
They go to our schools say the pledge of allegiance
Do we listen to reason?
Or just fire the rubber bullets, their all in season
The stick does the talking
See the blood on their brows
Their fingers are in our mouths
When you sip your fruit drink
When you have time to stop and think
Look out at your manicured lawn
From the tiled veranda you sit on
We will use their skills
Cross their border to buy cheap pills
See the heads bent and stooped to ground
Lower than the dirt that they found
The land was theirs but that doesn’t matter
As long as their tears keeps making us fatter
The gas clouds blind and choke
Over there you can see the smoke
Eyes sprayed with poison and hate
Made from the plants that they traditionally ate
Their fingers are in our mouths
Taste the soil under their nails
Taste the sweat from their brows
Taste the fear in their hearts
And know that one way or another
We all took part
Just another day in the park
Jun Velez, May 3 2007
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