May Day rally in Vienna (pic heavy)
So it's May Day everywhere in the world except the US, and I thought I would share what I saw this morning here in Vienna.
As a quick primer, Austria has a parliamentary system with multiple parties. The biggest two are the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and Christian Democrats (ÖVP), roughly the center-left and center-right (though these don't translate well into US terms). There's also a rightist populist party (FPÖ -- if you're wondering, the Ö in all of these is the first letter in the German word for Austria) and the extremely far right BZÖ that's frequently accused of neo-Naziism (this is Jörg Haider's party), a Liberal party (ignore that name; think the Lib Dems in UK and Canada -- it's essentially a laissez faire libertarian party), the Greens, and the Communists. Anyways, the SPÖ and the Greens were out in force today, and I didn't see any paraphernalia from the more rightist parties (obviously, Vienna is far to the left of the countryside anyways).
So, some pictures:
An Austrian motorcycle club parked beside the Rathaus
Forgive me, I just love BMW bikes. Drool...
The Rathaus, Vienna's city hall, decked out for the celebration, with the crowd in front of it. Somebody (I think Vienna's mayor? It looks like him at any rate) is giving a speech about the importance of public education (I think. My German hasn't come back as quickly as I had hoped, and I find the Austrian accent confusing to begin with).
The Viennese health workers' band, playing the Internationale.
The People's Library and Bookstore stand. I had worked with the ill-fated People's Library at Occupy K Street (not nearly so ill-fated as the one at OWS; it just got rained on before we got a tarp up... lesson learned) so I went over and sent greetings and best wishes from Occupy.
The very lonely table of the 5th International (the SPÖ is a member of the SI, who don't like the 5I).
No political content here, I just think this is a really cool installation in the park, both the mosaic and the beautiful brass thermometer/barometer/hygrometer.
The monument to the Viennese composers Strauss and Lanner (the park in front of the Rathaus is Lanner-Strauss Park), bedecked with SPÖ flags.
And, to close, the lyrics to The Internationale, which will now be stuck in my head all day:
Debout, les forçats de la faim
La raison tonne en son cratère
C'est l'éruption de la fin
Du passé faisons table rase
Foule esclave, debout, debout
Le monde va changer de base
Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout
C'est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous, et demain
L'Internationale
Sera le genre humain