By snoadmin
We hope nobody in our Cal State Long Beach community has a philosophical grudge against the annual events tied to May Day and, if they do, oh well. The international day of “ism” is here to stay – at least for tomorrow. Being pissed off about how others commemorate the day is as futile as erasing Mondays from the calendar.
May 1 provides notable remembrances of civil and human rights issues that reach around the planet. Some of the day’s history is politically, socially, spiritually or culturally important for recognizing and absorbing other worldviews.
As part of the international celebration, pagans will party hearty by dancing around Maypoles as they praise the arrival of the summer solstice. Socialist labor groups in Russia will whoop it up to promote solidarity, while Baby Boomer capitalists will “yee haw” bloody British-style as England’s banks close for the May Day Run from London to Hastings.
The local May Day landscape became notorious last year when the Los Angeles Police Department launched a violent “counter-offensive” on predominately peaceful pro- immigration demonstrators at MacArthur Park.
In fact, by LAPD accounts, only around 40 of the thousands of protestors were responsible for causing the mêlée that prompted a blatantly excessive police reaction. Apparently a handful of provocateurs tossed “plastic water bottles and oranges” and 600 police officers in riot gear retaliated with brute force.
In short, the LAPD beat the crap out of a bunch of innocent people for practicing the constitutional right of freedom to assemble. None can argue the First Amendment point because organizers of the event had their permit ducks lined in a row.
Unfortunately for the city of L.A., scores of people beaten down in last year’s event were women, children and media reps. Ironically, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was away on a feel-good adventure in Mexico and promptly feigned humble disgust over the LAPD’s race-based paranoia.
While the cops did warn people to disperse, the orders were given in English to a mostly Spanish-speaking crowd. Hmm.
The ongoing legal fracas is guaranteed to land the city in civil court for years and tens of millions of dollars to come.
Working the tighter concentric circle, rumors abound that some CSULB professors will cancel classes and groups of students will play hooky so they can participate in “Gran Marcha” in downtown L.A. The march will be a two-pronged protest.
As well as denouncing last year’s riot, organizers are hoping to draw between 20,000 and 100,000 people to press President George W. Bush and Congress for comprehensive immigration reform and to legalize the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants already on U.S. soil.
In keeping activism alive on campus, the Feminist Organization Reclaiming Consciousness and Equality will F.O.R.C.E. our community to pay attention to violence against women when members and community supporters Take Back the Night.
F.O.R.C.E. and the Sexual Assault Crisis Agency will provide sexual violence survivors healing opportunities with the annual Clothesline Project. Counselors and volunteers will “Break the Silence” by dispelling myths about rape, sexual abuse and incest during the internationally recognized program.
Whether one’s tenets are founded in feminism, anti-racism, socialism, humanism or hedonism, May 1 offers a plethora of opportunities to exercise individual or group activism.
Other May Day events are too numerous to list, but rest assured there’s an “ism” for everybody.
