Scenes from May Day 2010

It should be no secret to anyone who visits this site that i openly and proudly support direct social action. Protests, sit-ins, marches, and even riots are some of the few ways the working-class, under-privileged and/or marginalized populations can express themselves politically in an age of corporate financed politicians and utterly ineffective state apparatus.

Today, millions of people got out and celebrated May Day by demonstrating their desires and demands for a world where humans rights are paramount and equality is something to be cherished and nurtured rather than explained away by a fundamentalist belief in the supremacy of "self-interest".

May Day generally refers to several public holidays, but in many countries, May Day has become synonymous with International Workers' Day - a day of political action and public demonstrations organized by unions and other groups supporting working-class interests. As an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the labour movement, May Day has also become a commemoration of those involved in the 1886 Haymarket affair.

The Haymarket affair occurred during the course of a three-day general strike in Chicago, Illinois, United States that involved common laborers, artisans, merchants, and immigrants. Following an incident in which police opened fire and killed four strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant, a rally was called for the following day at Haymarket Square. Towards the end of the rally, as police moved in to disperse the event and opened fire on the unarmed crowd on the grounds that an unknown assailant threw a bomb into the crowd of police. The bomb and resulting police riot left at least a dozen people dead, including one policemen. A sensationalized and jury-rigged trial ensued in which eight defendants were openly tried for their political beliefs, and not necessarily for any involvement in the bombing. The trial led to the eventual public hanging of four anarchists without any connection to the initial bombings.

May Day also has roots in the Celtic festival of Beltane and other northern European pagan and neopagan festivals such as Samhain. May Day had traditionally marked the end of winter in the Northern hemisphere, and has been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations of all types ever since. In fact, the earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian times.

Below are images and links on this years May Day activities from all over the planet . Witness people who care enough to join together and take action in an effort to cultivate a more meaningful and humane world:

May Day Rallies Draw Millions Worldwide

 Germany

Turkey

Cuba

France

Ukraine

Pakistan

Demonstrators in 280 cities join in May Day

Athens

Montreal

China

Swaziland

England

L.A.'s May Day immigration rally is U.S's largest: