Community groups are sponsoring a May Day celebration between 1 – 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 1 at the DeSales Center, 309 Genesee Street, Utica. May Day, an international workers’ day observed with speeches, rallies and demonstrations throughout the world, originated in the United States. The event will include music, films, speakers, potluck lunch, dancing, networking, and exhibits. There will be a screening of Naomi Klein’s film, “The Take,” which is about the worker occupation movement in Argentina in 2001.
The May Day celebration is free and open to the public. The DeSales Center is across the street from the Munson-Williams Proctor Institute in Downtown Utica. Parking is available next to the building.
The theme of this year’s May Day will be a celebration of victories for working people such as Fight for 15 movement and paid family leave in New York state. This will also be a celebration of various social movements currently on the rise for worker, immigrant and social and economic justice.
The Working Families Party, CNY Citizens in Action, Mohawk Valley Freedom School, and the Industrial Workers of the World are sponsoring the event.
“May Day is a day of celebration and struggle,” said John Furman, president of the Central New Citizens in Action. “We will recognize the foundations of May Day, review the current focus of the movement for positive social change, and envision what a progressive future would look like in Utica. We will be looking toward building a coalition among labor, community, civil rights, immigrant, environmental, social justice, faith-based, and LGBT groups to fight for a fair and equitable society.
“May Day is an important holiday not only because its roots are in the US, but because it shows that workers have the capacity to make change on a large scale,” said Brendan M Dunn of the Mohawk Valley Freedom School. “History teaches us that the only way we can make the world a better place is when workers and the common people stand up and collectively organize for a brighter tomorrow.”
May Day was founded in the United States after the nationwide general strike for the eight-hour workday that started on May 1, 1886. May Day is celebrated the world over and has long been a day of protest in the US. In 2006, the largest strike in US history occurred when undocumented immigrants, workers, and many others went on strike for immigration reform. A May Day celebration was held in Utica in 2012.
For more information, please call 315-725-0974, email cnycitizenaction@mail.com/ or visit http://cnycitizenaction.wordpress.com orfacebook.com/cnyprog.