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RAFAEL MERINO CORTÉS
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Click on image above for pop-up gallery of May Day 2006 rally. Photo: Rafael Merino Cortés/ grupoHuracán
 he messages demonstrators carried on placards, banners and on their bodies across Broadway, in New York City -- and across the nation -- on May Day in 2006 varied greatly but stuck to a small number of themes. The main heading was, of course, a call for Congress and the Bush Administration to create a fair resolution for the millions of undocumented people working, living and paying taxes in the United States. However, the War in Iraq was also reflected across many of the signs being waved down Broadway in Downtown Manhattan.
But there was one thing that was also clear -- if not on the placards as much, then certainly in the big picture of it all: May Day had made its way back to the consciousness of the United States.
May Day in the United States began as a commemoration for those killed during the Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago, where workers were demanding shorter hours on the job (10 to 16-hour work days were the norm). The demonstrations began on May 1st, and that date eventually became an international celebration of social and economic achievements of the working class and labor movement. However, since these concepts were closely tied to socialist ideologies (the rights of workers, etc.), the United States government rejected May Day as an official holiday.
The struggle for immigration rights, like the labor and Civil Rights movements before it, are once again steering the national consciousness from the decree of the state to the will of the people.
RAFAEL MERINO CORTÉS
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