Common Dreams staff , May 1, 2012
"No Work – No School – No Housework – No Shopping." So goes the call for today's general strike by occupy activists, social justice groups, and advocates for a more equitable and fair economy. Spearheaded by the original Occupy Wall Street group in New York City and taken up by hundreds of affiliated activists – including labor, student, and housing groups – across the nation, the day will mark the largest push so far this year to bring large numbers of people back into the street to rally against the devastating impacts of an economy based on greed and a democracy ruled by corporate dollars.
"We celebrate a holiday for the 99%," reads the announcement released by Occupy Wall Street in New York along with a schedule of events. "Today, we come together across lines of race, class, gender, and religion to challenge the systems that create these divisions. New Yorkers join with millions throughout the world — workers, students, immigrants, professionals, houseworkers. We take to the streets to join in a General Strike against a system which does not work for us. With our collective power we are beginning to build the world we want to see. Another world is possible!"
May 1st -- also known as International Workers Day or simply 'May Day' -- has a long history as a day of action for international labor and has been used more recently by immigration rights activists in the United States to herald their cause. Though some have framed the day as a "make or break" day for the Occupy movement, others are quick to point out that one day cannot -- and should not -- be the measure of a movement.
"If you look closely at movements, they don't follow a sort of straight trajectory upwards. They stumble, fall, have reverses - sometimes, they're crushed," author and activist Chris Hedges told Reuters ahead of today's events. Hedges cautioned that judging Occupy based on the success of May Day would be "short-sighted."
Writing at Adbusters, the magazine often credited with spurring the Occupy movement, Mike David answers the question of 'Why We're Striking.' He writes, in part, "We’re striking because we reject the notion that selfishness must be the driving force in our world. We believe, contrary to propaganda, that most people in our world are not selfish, and would rather work together than constantly compete against each other. We believe that the only people who really care about things like power, corporate monopolies and global dominance only make up, say, 1% of the population, making it seem only logical that we should have an economic system which reflects the values of the 99% of us who don’t care about such things. The fact that most of the decisions which have a profound impact on how we go about our daily lives are made by folks in Washington or Wall Street, rather than in our communities by the people actually affected by those decisions, is why we’re striking. The fact that power rests only with those who lust after it is why we’re striking."
"We celebrate a holiday for the 99%," reads the announcement released by Occupy Wall Street in New York along with a schedule of events. "Today, we come together across lines of race, class, gender, and religion to challenge the systems that create these divisions. New Yorkers join with millions throughout the world — workers, students, immigrants, professionals, houseworkers. We take to the streets to join in a General Strike against a system which does not work for us. With our collective power we are beginning to build the world we want to see. Another world is possible!"
May 1st -- also known as International Workers Day or simply 'May Day' -- has a long history as a day of action for international labor and has been used more recently by immigration rights activists in the United States to herald their cause. Though some have framed the day as a "make or break" day for the Occupy movement, others are quick to point out that one day cannot -- and should not -- be the measure of a movement.
"If you look closely at movements, they don't follow a sort of straight trajectory upwards. They stumble, fall, have reverses - sometimes, they're crushed," author and activist Chris Hedges told Reuters ahead of today's events. Hedges cautioned that judging Occupy based on the success of May Day would be "short-sighted."
Writing at Adbusters, the magazine often credited with spurring the Occupy movement, Mike David answers the question of 'Why We're Striking.' He writes, in part, "We’re striking because we reject the notion that selfishness must be the driving force in our world. We believe, contrary to propaganda, that most people in our world are not selfish, and would rather work together than constantly compete against each other. We believe that the only people who really care about things like power, corporate monopolies and global dominance only make up, say, 1% of the population, making it seem only logical that we should have an economic system which reflects the values of the 99% of us who don’t care about such things. The fact that most of the decisions which have a profound impact on how we go about our daily lives are made by folks in Washington or Wall Street, rather than in our communities by the people actually affected by those decisions, is why we’re striking. The fact that power rests only with those who lust after it is why we’re striking."
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