Marchers in Istanbul, Turkey
May Day moved beyond its roots as an international workers’ holiday to a day of international protest today. Banging drums and waving flags, tens of thousands of workers marked May Day in European cities with a mix of anger and gloom over austerity measures. Taking the baton from Asia, where unions demanded wage increases as they transformed the day from one celebrating workers' rights to one of international protest, workers turned out in droves in Greece, France and Spain.
In Macau, about 500 people marched for workers’ rights and full democracy - in Hong Kong, more than 1,000 joined a protest march - in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, some 500 people rallied-In Taiwan, several thousand anti-government protesters marched through downtown Taipei - in Indonesia, thousands of protesters demanding higher wages paraded through traffic-clogged streets in the capital, Jakarta - in the Philippine capital, Manila, more than 8,000 marched - around 100,000 people in Moscow took part in the main May Day march through the city centre - in debt-crippled Greece, more than 2,000 people marched through central Athens - in France, tens of thousands of workers, leftists and union leaders were marking May Day with marches and rallies- tens of thousands filled the streets of Spain's cities and towns [
Barcelona pictured above]. in the United States and Canada, demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience are planned in hundreds of cities and towns.
There's also marches in Turkey - in Kathmandu - in Mexico City - the complete list is impossibly long. By tomorrow we'll know how big today's uprising has been, including our
Occupy Powell River protest march later this afternoon. It will be interesting to see if today's worldwide protests will inspire the 99% to rise up to the global cabal of banksters and corporations that that now control our governments and our futures. If nothing else-there's always hope.
