May Day: protests expected across US over workers' and immigrants' rights
Protesters are expected to rally nationwide on 1 May with a focus on workers' and immigrants' rights in the latest round of demonstrations against Donald Trump and his administration.
May Day, commemorated as international workers' day, comes after two massive days of protests in April – 5 April's hands off rallies and 19 April's day of action – drew millions to the streets across the country.
The 1 May protests are supported by hundreds of organizations and set to take place in nearly 1,000 cities, organizers said. Turnout will likely be lower than the previous two April protests because 1 May is a weekday, but tens of thousands are expected to show out.
'This is a war on working people – and we will not stand down,' a website for the national day of action says. 'They're defunding our schools, privatizing public services, attacking unions, and targeting immigrant families with fear and violence. Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won't back down – we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that propel opportunity and a better life for all Americans. Their time is up.'
A map of May Day protests shows several major metro areas have more than one rally planned. A coalition of groups in Los Angeles said they will start the day with an early morning rally, then a program and march to show solidarity with the city's workers and immigrants. In New York, a protest iswas planned for early evening.
As Trump surpassed 100 days in office, a period filled with slashing and burning of the federal government and democratic norms, a resistance has taken shape, growing in size since February. People have started to organize in larger numbers to pressure Democrats to stand up more strongly to Trump.
Trump's approval ratings have fallen from positive to negative, with more people disapproving of him than approving. The focus on workers and immigrants comes as Trump has fired a host of federal workers and as his administration has ramped up deportations, including of people who the courts have said were not supposed to be deported.
'Everyone deserves respect and dignity, no matter who they are, where they were born, or what language they speak,' the May Day protest website says. 'Immigrants are workers, and workers are immigrants. Our fight for fair wages, safe workplaces, and dignity on the job is the same fight for immigrant justice'.
Jorge Mújica, the strategic organizer for Arise Chicago and an organizer of the city's May Day protest, said on Democracy Now that 'the Trump administration miscalculated completely' by targeting so many constituencies in its first 100 days.
'They are attacking everybody at the same time, and that [has] enabled us to gather a really broad coalition with labor unions, with federal workers, with students, with teachers at universities, and every other community and put together this event on May Day', Mújica said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region amid row over dead soldiers
MOSCOW, June 8 (Reuters) - Russia said on Sunday its forces had advanced to the edge of the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk amid a public row between Moscow and Kyiv over peace negotiations and the return of thousands of bodies of soldiers who fell in the war. Amid talk of peace, the war is stepping up with Russian forces grabbing more territory in Ukraine and Kyiv unfurling high-profile drone and sabotage attacks on Russia's nuclear-capable bomber fleet and, according to Moscow, on railways. Russia, which controls a little under one fifth of Ukrainian territory, has taken more than 190 square km (73 square miles) of the Sumy region of eastern Ukraine in less than a month, according to pro-Ukrainian open source maps. Now, according to the Russian defence ministry, units of the 90th Tank Division of the Central Grouping of Russian forces have reached the western frontier of Ukraine's Donetsk region and are attacking the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the Russian advance, though the pro-Ukrainian Deep State map showed Russian forces very close to the Dnipropetrovsk region, which had a population of more than 3 million before the war. Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of delaying the swap of prisoners of war and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers, though Ukraine denied those claims. Russia said on Sunday it was moving bodies towards the border. U.S. President Donald Trump, who says he wants an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, on Thursday likened it to a fight between young children and indicated that he might have to simply let the conflict play out. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not think Ukraine's leaders wanted peace, after accusing them of ordering a bombing in Bryansk, western Russia that killed seven people and injured 115 a day before talks in Turkey. Ukraine, which has not commented on the attack on a Bryansk bridge, has similarly accused Moscow of not seriously seeking peace, citing as evidence Russian resistance to an immediate ceasefire. Russia is demanding international recognition of Crimea, a peninsula annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014, and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory. Ukraine would have to withdraw its forces from all of them. Russia controlled 113,273 square km, or 18.8%, of Ukrainian territory as of June 7, according to the Deep State map. That is an area bigger than the U.S. state of Virginia. The areas under Russian control include Crimea, more than 99% of the Luhansk region, over 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, all in the east or southeast, and fragments of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions in the northeast Putin told Trump on Wednesday that he would have to respond to Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's bomber fleet and the bombings of the railways. The United States believes that Putin's threatened retaliation against Ukraine over its attacks has not happened yet in earnest and is likely to be a significant, multi-pronged strike, U.S. officials told Reuters. Russia also hit the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday evening and overnight with drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing at least four people and injuring more than 60, including a baby, local officials said on Saturday. Russia also said it had downed 61 Ukrainian drones overnight on Sunday in the Moscow region. Two major airports serving Moscow were closed temporarily.
Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
Rally for LGBTQ+ rights to convene at historic site in Washington
WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - LGBTQ+ people will gather on Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, site of Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, for a political rally aimed at preserving decades of progress while protesting setbacks under President Donald Trump. After the festive nature of a parade on Saturday through the streets of the capital, the political demonstration may be the main event of the weeks-long WorldPride celebration, which moves around the globe every two years. It occurs in Washington at a time of high tension over LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. Speakers are certain to rail against Trump, who has issued executive orders limiting transgender rights, banned transgender people from serving in the armed forces and rescinded anti-discrimination policies for LGBTQ+ people. The White House has defended its dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, calling DEI a form of discrimination, and said its transgender policy protects women by keeping transgender women out of shared spaces. The Trump administration has also touted its appointment of a number of openly gay people to cabinet posts and judgeships as evidence that Trump aims to serve all Americans. Before the main rally, transgender supporters will hold their own march to protest Trump's rhetoric and myriad state laws around the country that ban transgender healthcare services for minors. Backers of those laws say they are attempting to protect minors from starting on a path they may later regret. The transgender rally will march from the offices of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ organization in the U.S., toward the Lincoln Memorial, which is considered hallowed ground in the U.S. civil rights movement as the site of the King speech and the March on Washington that preceded historic legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Herald Scotland
27 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Ash Regan to Elon Musk: 'Forget Trump and bring SpaceX to Scotland'
Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination'. Trump criticised Mr Musk in the Oval Office, and before long, he and Mr Musk began trading bitterly personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and Republican congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout. As the back-and-forth intensified, Mr Musk suggested Mr Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the President's association with infamous paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Now Ash Regan says that the country should 'be quick' to take advantage of such situations. The Alba MSP believes that with Scotland's emergence in the Space and satellite industries, attempts should be made to tempt Musk to relocate his business ventures to Scotland. With Trump's family and business ties to Scotland, her party said that such a move by Musk could 'prompt a bidding war between the President of the United States and one of the worlds richest men as to who can invest more in Scotland.' Commenting, Ash Regan said: 'The Scottish space industry, including satellite-related activities, is projected to be worth £4 billion to the Scottish economy by 2030. Glasgow is already known as the satellite manufacturing capital of Europe, and we are on the verge of becoming a global player in the industry. 'We have the sites, the people and the vision to match Elon Musk's aspirations for SpaceX so the Scottish Government should be opening the door and advertising Scotland is the go to place if he wishes to relocate his business ventures here if contract cancellation threats in the US are upheld. 'I previously proposed Scotland as the site for the next Tesla Gigafactory and unfortunately Elon Musk ruled out investment due to the policies of the UK Labour Government. However, the Scottish Government have been a key partner in the growing success of our satellite industry, so in Scotland we would have a much opportunity of attracting such investment where the UK Government has previously failed. 'Scotland has the potential for abundant renewable energy, which is needed to power emergent technologies. By creating innovative investment opportunities, we can then capitalise on Scotland's USP, ensuring we invest this bounty to benefit Scotland's businesses and communities. "No more being left behind as passengers while Westminster squanders the power of our own resources. We need to think independently and act like a forward looking nation to show our people we can thrive with independence.'
