May 1st is Labor Day

[malaise]

What are the plans DUers!!!

[xchrom]

1. For me to be crowned Queen of the May Pole? Nt

[Cirque du So-What]

2. You prompted me to consult Wikipedia in a first step to alleviate my own ignorance

Jamaica

Before 1961, May 24 was celebrated in Jamaica as Empire Day in honour of the birthday of Queen Victoria and her emancipation of slaves in Jamaica.<3> As its name suggests, the day was used to celebrate the British Empire, complete with flag-raising ceremonies and the singing of patriotic songs. In 1961, Jamaican Chief Minister Norman Washington Manley proposed the replacement of Empire Day with Labour Day, a celebration in commemoration of May 23, 1938, when Alexander Bustamante led a labour rebellion leading to Jamaican independence.

Until May 23, 1971, Labour Day was primarily a trade unions celebration with public rallies and marches.<3> On occasion, opposing trade unions clashed on this day, so in 1972, Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley promoted Labour Day as a showcase for the importance of labour to the development of Jamaica, and a day of voluntary community participation to beneficial projects.<3> Since then, Labour Day has been not only a public holiday but also a day of mass community involvement around the country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Day

The bolded portion is especially interesting to me. It highlights the shortcomings of Labor Day in the USA, which has morphed into an end-of-summer bash that holds no deeper implications than just another excuse to overeat and/or drink too much while taking the day off from work. I would like to see a Labor Day celebrated with an eye toward community involvement as well, but this is Sociopath Nation, after all, and Number One must be satisfied above anything else.

[malaise]

6. We have special projects and community projects

Special projects are those arranged by the government - sports fields across the island and so on. Civil society groups and community associations refurbish schools, or mark pedestrian crossings near schools. Sometimes we plant vegetable gardens in schools, paint a community hospital, repair a home for the elderly and so on. One year teenagers in my neighborhood arranged with a group of hairdressers to visit a home for the elderly and give all the residents a shampoo. Those old folks still talk about it.

It's a much loved holiday in Jamaica.

[socialist_n_TN]

7. RE: your last paragraph, second sentence......

That was the plan. What TPTB did was take away the REAL "Labor Day" on May 1st because it was grass roots and VERY Red (classic Commie Red, not Republican red). They put it at the end of Summer hoping that eventually it would lose it's meaning as a TRUE working class holiday. Largely, the plan worked.

[Arctic Dave]

3. April 29th the Stand Up Guys are hosting on a play about the history Labour Rights in the US

I'm out of town right now and don't have all the information or else I would give a better plug. ;)

[malaise]

8. Michael Moore needs to give us

new documentary on the Labor Unions

[Arctic Dave]

9. I would go see that.

I think we as a nation have lost the memory of what it took to enjoy the benefits we have today.

[Arctic Dave]

4. Dupe

[William769]

5. ...