“I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation.” -- Mikhail Bakunin
Yesterday was May 1st, May Day, the International Workers' Day. Here in the US they were afraid we'd riot if we regularly reminded off all that was endured in the struggle for an 8 hour workday, so we get a Labor Day in September instead.
With the billionaire regime doing its damnedest to lock down their grip on power, the holiday took on even greater significance this year. Here in Louisville, hundreds braved rain and the Derby week chaos and traffic to fill Injustice Square Park.
Plenty of familiar faces from 2020 were there, along with the 50501 movement and the usual labor unions and leftists. There was a march to go along with the demonstration in the square but the traffic heading to the horse race that had the media all distracted had me taking the scenic route downtown and I missed the march. It's kind of absurd, currently the newsies here are more worried about fancy hats than people in the streets.
What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?--Thomas Jefferson
This was hardly my first May Day but yesterday felt different. There was an edge there, a sense that liberty and resistance were transitioning from abstract concepts to hard realities.
That the time for asking for your rights was coming to a close, and the time for defending them was at hand.
This wasn't news to plenty of the folks there but there was also a good number of people there who were just discovering their spirit of resistance.
Just in case anyone was still a little fuzzy on the details, Hannah Drake was there to speak the truth. Her words are far better than anything I could write so I'll just close with a few of hers: "You cannot resist your way back to comfort."