May Day 2022 — Ukraine
Where are we?
This is the traditional village festival celebrating the height of spring with flowers and dancing. It was a day of joy and community with young girls dancing around the maypole, garlanded with flowers.
This is also the traditional day, International Workers Day, to celebrate the importance and powers of workers with marches and celebrations and demands to improve working conditions.
In the United States, it has combined both the joy of the village springtime rituals and the fervor for improving working conditions. https://www.npr.org/2022/04/30/1095729592/what-is-may-day-history It was the time of the Haymarket Massacre of workers demonstrating in favor of an 8-hour workday. In my youth, it was devoted to May Day student marches and protests calling for peace in Vietnam. But think back to the killings of students at Kent State and Jackson State.
The Soviet Union annually deployed its missiles, tanks, and marching soldiers outside the Kremlin as a show of its military might on May 1 — an abomination of May Day. This year it is invading its peaceful neighbor.
In Europe this year, many used May Day 2022 to demonstrate their support for Ukraine and to denounce the Putin invasion. https://windobi.com/may-day-rallies-around-the-world-calling-for-peace-in-ukraine-war-news-between-russia-and-ukraine/ Speaker Pelosi led a House delegation to Ukraine on May Day to meet with and support Zelenskyy.
We in the US should all be marching for peace in Ukraine. Where are our talented peace organizers? We need to show our strong support for the brave people of Ukraine and to tell Putin to pull out his invading troops?