Friday, May 2nd, 2014. New York City – Yesterday Thursday, May 1st, New yorkers celebrated the International Workers Day or MAY DAY. Workers, activists, students and community members from across NYC marched to different targets in Manhattan to highlight the attacks on workers and the criminalization of the immigrant community. The marches ended at Union Square Park where there were speakers from different organizations. In the Afternoon, they marched to Foley Square Park.
Protesters demanded dignity, justice and respect for workers and immigrants in New York City, in the United States of America and around the world.
Protesters marching from Union Square Park to Foley Square Park in NYC on 5/1/2014.
Photo taken by Javier Soriano/www.JavierSoriano.com
May 1st, is known as May Day or International Worker’s Day. The day is an official government holiday in most countries with mass demonstrations, rallies and marches being held to express labor solidarity and celebrate worker’s rights. Here in the United States May Day is not a government-sanctioned holiday even though the commemoration originated here.
International Worker’s Day, has its roots in America as it commemorates the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, in which several demonstrators for an eight-hour workday were killed by the government.
In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, the predecessor of the American Federation of Labor, called for May 1, 1886 to be the beginning of a nationwide movement for the eight-hour day. Everywhere slogans were heard like “Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!” or “Shortening the Hours Increase the Pay”.
Chicago with its strong labor movement had the nation’s largest demonstration on Saturday, May 1, 1886, when reportedly 80,000 workers marched up Michigan Avenue arm-in-arm carrying their union banners. On Sunday, May 2, 35,000 workers marched peacefully. But on Monday, May 3, the peaceful scene turned violent when the Chicago police attacked and killed picketing workers at the McCormick Reaper Plant at Western and Blue Island Avenues.
Anarchists, socialists, communists and other participated in the demonstrations. Several anarchists were arrested at their homes, were police entered without search warrants. Some of them were hanged on November 11, 1887.
A protester marching from Washington Square Park to Union Square Park.
Photo taken by Javier Soriano/www.JavierSoriano.com on 5/1/2014.
Viernes, 2 de Mayo, 2014, ciudad de Nueva York – El Jueves, 1 de Mayo, los neoyorquinos celebraron el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores o MAY DAY. Trabajadores, activistas, estudiantes y miembros de la comunidad de todo NYC marcharon a diferentes lugares en Manhattan para llamar la atención a los ataques contra los trabajadores y la criminalización de la comunidad inmigrante. Las marchas terminaron en el Union Square Park, donde hubo oradores de diferentes organizaciones. Por la tarde, todos los activistas marcharon a Foley Square Park.
Los manifestantes exigieron dignidad, justicia y respeto para los trabajadores y los inmigrantes en la ciudad de Nueva York, en los Estados Unidos de América y en todo el mundo.
El Día Internacional de los Trabajadores o Primero de Mayo, es la fiesta por antonomasia del movimiento obrero mundial. Es una jornada que se ha utilizado habitualmente para realizar diferentes reivindicaciones sociales y laborales.
Desde su establecimiento en la mayoría de países (aunque la consideración de día festivo fue en muchos casos tardía) por acuerdo del Congreso Obrero Socialista de la Segunda Internacional, celebrado en París en 1889, es una jornada de lucha reivindicativa y de homenaje a los Mártires de Chicago. Estos sindicalistas anarquistas fueron ejecutados en Estados Unidos por su participación en las jornadas de lucha por la consecución de la jornada laboral de ocho horas, que tuvieron su origen en la huelga iniciada el 1 de Mayo de 1886 y su punto álgido tres días más tarde, el 4 de Mayo, en la Revuelta de Haymarket. En la actualidad es una fiesta reivindicativa de los derechos de los trabajadores en sentido general, y se celebra en muchos países.
“Cops, pigs, murderers”, “Primero de Mayo, revolucionario” and “La lucha obrera, no tiene fronteras” protesters chant on MAY DAY or International Workers Day in NYC.
“Policías, cerdos, asesinos”, “Primero de Mayo, Revolucionario” y “La lucha obrera, no tiene fronteras” cantan los manifestantes en MAY DAY o el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores en la ciudad de Nueva York.
Video by RuptlyTV.
“Several dozens of workers, activists students and community members from across New York marched Thursday for May Day. The “Immigrant Workers Justice Tour” spoke out on issues of wage theft, exploitation in the global supply chain, and detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Protesters marched under the banner “Our fights are local. The struggle is global.” The march also highlighted the newly-launched “ICE-Free NYC” campaign, spearheaded by the Migrant Power Alliance, which demands full citizenship rights for all, and an end to the criminalisation, detention and deportation of migrants. The coalition plans to increase pressure on New York City government to end its collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”_RuptlyTV.
Rallies and marches around the world by The Guardian.
MORE VIDEOS COMING SOON.
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