A world of fun on May Day?
This year, the Pegasus Parade, one of the several festivities leading up toward the Kentucky Derby, has settled on the theme “A World of Fun.” The theme, while intended to highlight the good times forthcoming this spring seems odd and misplaced, if not wholly unconscious given that we are in the midst of a global war on ‘terror’ (fighting two wars in the middle East), increasing poverty (37 million in the US, 4 billion worldwide), rights reductions (the PATRIOT Act, wiretapping, and challenges to habeas corpus), and recent crackdowns on undocumented workers in the US (workers who are nearly forced to come to the US for work given so-called ‘free’ trade agreements with their countries). A world of fun?
As one response, the Kentucky May Day Coalition, a local organization composed of labor unions, religious groups, civil rights and immigrant rights organizations will assemble and organize on May 1 prior to the Pegasus Parade in order to provide mass public education on labor, immigrant, and civil rights.
May Day originated in the United States, based on the heroic struggles of US workers in 1886 for the eight-hour workday. According to the Rouge Forum (http://www.rougeforum.org/), a fourteen hour day, eighty-four hours a week, was the norm in the 1880s. Nine year old children worked alongside their adult counterparts. Child labor was cheap and those with fourteen hours days were envied. In 1886 a strike began on May 1 in cities across the US. On the third day of striking in Chicago, tensions reached a boiling point between workers and police (as well as the owners of industry). The police attacked the picketers, killing six and wounding many others. Subsequent rallies and protests were similarly dismantled by police and five organizers were ultimately hung, on trumped-up charges, for their advocacy.
Concessions were won, however. Since then, May 1 has been internationally recognized as a worker’s holiday for celebrating and organizing. Interestingly, of course, May Day is not recognized, nor celebrated in the US.
Many of the workers who fought for the eight-hour day were immigrant workers who understood they were fighting for the rights of workers in all countries, regardless of their race, religion, nationality or country of origin. In that spirit the May Day Coalition calls upon citizens and workers to support:
(1) the right to organize—improving wages and working conditions, as well as ending so-called ‘free’ trade agreements,
(2) comprehensive immigration reform in Congress—that confers legal status on undocumented immigrant workers and ends raids and deportations, and
(3) the restoration of the right to vote when debts are paid to society—upholding the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
These rights and reforms stand to impact and improve the lives of workers everywhere. They represent the promise of economic justice. A world of fun is only possible in and is fully dependent upon a world of justice.
As we consider how we might live out an international mission, I would advocate in the spirit of Thomas Merton that we consider the more promising potential of global cooperation, global collaboration, and/or global compassion. Indeed, specific support for the work of the May Day Coalition or more general support for labor, immigrant, and civil rights will more likely lead (both locally and globally) to an “improved human condition;” perhaps, even, a world of fun.
Should you be interested in supporting or partaking in the work of the May Day coalition, please contact me.
As one response, the Kentucky May Day Coalition, a local organization composed of labor unions, religious groups, civil rights and immigrant rights organizations will assemble and organize on May 1 prior to the Pegasus Parade in order to provide mass public education on labor, immigrant, and civil rights.
May Day originated in the United States, based on the heroic struggles of US workers in 1886 for the eight-hour workday. According to the Rouge Forum (http://www.rougeforum.org/), a fourteen hour day, eighty-four hours a week, was the norm in the 1880s. Nine year old children worked alongside their adult counterparts. Child labor was cheap and those with fourteen hours days were envied. In 1886 a strike began on May 1 in cities across the US. On the third day of striking in Chicago, tensions reached a boiling point between workers and police (as well as the owners of industry). The police attacked the picketers, killing six and wounding many others. Subsequent rallies and protests were similarly dismantled by police and five organizers were ultimately hung, on trumped-up charges, for their advocacy.
Concessions were won, however. Since then, May 1 has been internationally recognized as a worker’s holiday for celebrating and organizing. Interestingly, of course, May Day is not recognized, nor celebrated in the US.
Many of the workers who fought for the eight-hour day were immigrant workers who understood they were fighting for the rights of workers in all countries, regardless of their race, religion, nationality or country of origin. In that spirit the May Day Coalition calls upon citizens and workers to support:
(1) the right to organize—improving wages and working conditions, as well as ending so-called ‘free’ trade agreements,
(2) comprehensive immigration reform in Congress—that confers legal status on undocumented immigrant workers and ends raids and deportations, and
(3) the restoration of the right to vote when debts are paid to society—upholding the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
These rights and reforms stand to impact and improve the lives of workers everywhere. They represent the promise of economic justice. A world of fun is only possible in and is fully dependent upon a world of justice.
As we consider how we might live out an international mission, I would advocate in the spirit of Thomas Merton that we consider the more promising potential of global cooperation, global collaboration, and/or global compassion. Indeed, specific support for the work of the May Day Coalition or more general support for labor, immigrant, and civil rights will more likely lead (both locally and globally) to an “improved human condition;” perhaps, even, a world of fun.
Should you be interested in supporting or partaking in the work of the May Day coalition, please contact me.
posted by adam at 12:35 PM
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