Anti-globalisation rage, next stop London
Yin Shao LoongPublished: Apr 25, 2001 8:50 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
As Malaysians prepare to take their public holiday on Monday, how many of them will realise the significance of the day? Is it merely another day for the weary worker to kick back with the family, head down to Port Dickson and wish that the holiday didn't have to be spent in traffic?
Although now known as Labour Day or International Workers Day, May Day originated as the Celtic festival of Beltane, a rather ribald and riotous day frowned upon by English church authorities for the youthful frolicking that would take place in the woods. "Vicarless and knickerless" was the watchword.
This celebration of springtime engaged in reversal, work-time became carnival-time and the people would indulge in play, gambolling around the suggestive maypole. The Lord of Misrule, the King of Unreason and the Abbot of Disobedience would hold court over the celebrations as the Queen of May was crowned among the common people.
This was hardly the formative stuff for an International Workers Day (one shudders to imagine such activities at a trade unionists conference), but the link lies in May Day's tradition of difference and dissent. As a celebration of the common people it was banned by Puritans in 1644, who were disgusted with its flagrant sexuality.
As the enclosure process devoured the commons and industrial revolution took hold in England, the pressure to maximise worker productivity skyrocketed and the indulgence of carnival was frowned upon as working hours increased. In America, May Day became the focus for campaigns to reduce working hours. On May 1, 1886 some 340,000 workers held a strike across the US demanding an 8-hour day after the failure of legislative methods to do the same.
Chicago, with 80,000 demonstrators, was at the heart of the struggle. Business and the state were terrified at the revolutionary potential of the movement. Police and militia swelled and received weapons financed by local businessmen, who even armed them with machine guns.
On May 3 police fired into a crowd of strikers, killing four and wounding many. The next day, police arrived to break up a meeting held to protest the brutality. During the confusion a bomb was thrown at the police, killing one, and causing the others to open fire on the protestors.
It was later revealed that a police agent provocateur had thrown the bomb. However, at the time it was enough of an excuse for the persecution of suspected radicals and anarchists to break the workers movement. Eight anarchists were tried before a jury formed of businessmen, their clerks, and a relative of the dead policeman.
Despite there being no evidence linking any of them to the bomber (seven of them were not present at the meeting, the last was on the speakers platform), they were all sentenced to death. Four were hanged, one committed suicide in his cell, the other three were finally pardoned in 1893 by an inquiry that also found the first five innocent.
May 1 was then declared an international day of solidarity for workers in memory of the Haymarket Martyrs. However, US does not recognise May 1 as a "Labour Day". But, true to its origins, May Day is increasingly being used as an international opportunity for reclaiming control of one's life. This year it will once again respond to international challenges to freedom.
On Monday, we are due to see events that combine the revelry of Beltane with the struggle of the Haymarket Martyrs. Following on from protests held in London last June 18, the Seattle anti-World Trade Organisation protests of Nov 30, and the recent Washington protests for debt-relief against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, another major "Carnival of Protest" will be held in London to contest the injustices in the global economic system.
In the tradition of springtime the direct action group Reclaim the Streets UK, under the slogan of "Resistance is Fertile" is holding "planting events" in London, Manchester, Belfast, Bristol and Brighton as part of a "global day of action against capitalism". Similar actions took place in Washington earlier this month.
Following in the tradition of the workers movement and the Situationists in the 1960s Paris student uprisings, the protestors plan to stage "guerrilla gardening" in the city spaces in a symbolic challenge to the enclosure of public space, expressing the desire to beautify and transform one's environment.
The green guerrillas claim it is also deeply political when food is planted: it connects people to the land; it makes one a producer rather than a consumer; by using local resources and a minimum of energy it serves conservation; and through public gardening a community forms. Conventional planting utilises energy, chemicals and fertilisers derived from fossil fuels, organic gardens recycle everything.
Protests will also be held against the UK's new Terrorism Bill which criminalises aspects of democratic public dissent under rules used for the IRA. The Carnival Against Junk Food will host a "great veggieburger giveaway" outside selected outlets of McDonalds. A Critical Mass cycle ride will feature thousands of cyclists reclaiming the streets from polluting cars. Workshops, discussions, events, talks, international speakers, film festivals and concerts will also be held.
As with all demonstrations that challenge the status quo, police presence will be heavy, although probably not in the stormtrooper-style suits of Seattle. The "mature" democracies of the UK and US are themselves struggling to express the freedom of dissent. London's Metropolitan police have spoken of amassing "the biggest response to a political demonstration in [the UK] for 30 years". Following its failure last June to effectively police the demonstrations the Metropolitan police are eager to keep a tight ship.
They fear that gardening implements will be used as weapons despite the organisers stressing a peaceful protest, rumours also abound of anarchist hackers ready to pounce on unsuspecting financial giants in a repeat of earlier hits on Yahoo! and Amazon. Whether these will actually happen is anybody's guess, but we are sure to witness the Lord of Misrule and the Abbot of Disobedience at play.
This May Day we see its two roots come full circle, the fertility of spring serving the long struggle between labour and capital. With the growth of the anti-globalisation movement worldwide over the past year and the "G-word" hanging uncomfortably in international leaders' heads it seems that we are in for interesting times as the balance of power shifts.
The G77 leaders, including Malaysia, recently declared in Cuba that they would now be approaching the international negotiating table (with the G7) far more coherently and cohesively than they had done in the past.
The WTO will certainly feel the effect of these changes, and the IMF and World Bank are attempting to make positive noises in the wake of their recent public exposure. With major stock exchanges slumping from drops in the share-price of over-valued technology stocks, the international financial architecture is once again open to a long hard appraisal.
New times bring new challenges for freedom, if you can't bear the usual trip to PD, why not honour some of the May Day spirit, both new and old, and dig out your old gardening tools to plant something with your neighbours? After all, with no spring season we Malaysians don't have to wait a year for a chance to sow seeds for a fresher future.
YIN SHAO LOONG is currently on sabbatical in Malaysia. He has worked within the NGO and international development community in the UK on issues of environment and corporate social responsibility.
Although now known as Labour Day or International Workers Day, May Day originated as the Celtic festival of Beltane, a rather ribald and riotous day frowned upon by English church authorities for the youthful frolicking that would take place in the woods. "Vicarless and knickerless" was the watchword.
This celebration of springtime engaged in reversal, work-time became carnival-time and the people would indulge in play, gambolling around the suggestive maypole. The Lord of Misrule, the King of Unreason and the Abbot of Disobedience would hold court over the celebrations as the Queen of May was crowned among the common people.
This was hardly the formative stuff for an International Workers Day (one shudders to imagine such activities at a trade unionists conference), but the link lies in May Day's tradition of difference and dissent. As a celebration of the common people it was banned by Puritans in 1644, who were disgusted with its flagrant sexuality.
As the enclosure process devoured the commons and industrial revolution took hold in England, the pressure to maximise worker productivity skyrocketed and the indulgence of carnival was frowned upon as working hours increased. In America, May Day became the focus for campaigns to reduce working hours. On May 1, 1886 some 340,000 workers held a strike across the US demanding an 8-hour day after the failure of legislative methods to do the same.
Chicago, with 80,000 demonstrators, was at the heart of the struggle. Business and the state were terrified at the revolutionary potential of the movement. Police and militia swelled and received weapons financed by local businessmen, who even armed them with machine guns.
On May 3 police fired into a crowd of strikers, killing four and wounding many. The next day, police arrived to break up a meeting held to protest the brutality. During the confusion a bomb was thrown at the police, killing one, and causing the others to open fire on the protestors.
It was later revealed that a police agent provocateur had thrown the bomb. However, at the time it was enough of an excuse for the persecution of suspected radicals and anarchists to break the workers movement. Eight anarchists were tried before a jury formed of businessmen, their clerks, and a relative of the dead policeman.
Despite there being no evidence linking any of them to the bomber (seven of them were not present at the meeting, the last was on the speakers platform), they were all sentenced to death. Four were hanged, one committed suicide in his cell, the other three were finally pardoned in 1893 by an inquiry that also found the first five innocent.
May 1 was then declared an international day of solidarity for workers in memory of the Haymarket Martyrs. However, US does not recognise May 1 as a "Labour Day". But, true to its origins, May Day is increasingly being used as an international opportunity for reclaiming control of one's life. This year it will once again respond to international challenges to freedom.
On Monday, we are due to see events that combine the revelry of Beltane with the struggle of the Haymarket Martyrs. Following on from protests held in London last June 18, the Seattle anti-World Trade Organisation protests of Nov 30, and the recent Washington protests for debt-relief against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, another major "Carnival of Protest" will be held in London to contest the injustices in the global economic system.
In the tradition of springtime the direct action group Reclaim the Streets UK, under the slogan of "Resistance is Fertile" is holding "planting events" in London, Manchester, Belfast, Bristol and Brighton as part of a "global day of action against capitalism". Similar actions took place in Washington earlier this month.
Following in the tradition of the workers movement and the Situationists in the 1960s Paris student uprisings, the protestors plan to stage "guerrilla gardening" in the city spaces in a symbolic challenge to the enclosure of public space, expressing the desire to beautify and transform one's environment.
The green guerrillas claim it is also deeply political when food is planted: it connects people to the land; it makes one a producer rather than a consumer; by using local resources and a minimum of energy it serves conservation; and through public gardening a community forms. Conventional planting utilises energy, chemicals and fertilisers derived from fossil fuels, organic gardens recycle everything.
Protests will also be held against the UK's new Terrorism Bill which criminalises aspects of democratic public dissent under rules used for the IRA. The Carnival Against Junk Food will host a "great veggieburger giveaway" outside selected outlets of McDonalds. A Critical Mass cycle ride will feature thousands of cyclists reclaiming the streets from polluting cars. Workshops, discussions, events, talks, international speakers, film festivals and concerts will also be held.
As with all demonstrations that challenge the status quo, police presence will be heavy, although probably not in the stormtrooper-style suits of Seattle. The "mature" democracies of the UK and US are themselves struggling to express the freedom of dissent. London's Metropolitan police have spoken of amassing "the biggest response to a political demonstration in [the UK] for 30 years". Following its failure last June to effectively police the demonstrations the Metropolitan police are eager to keep a tight ship.
They fear that gardening implements will be used as weapons despite the organisers stressing a peaceful protest, rumours also abound of anarchist hackers ready to pounce on unsuspecting financial giants in a repeat of earlier hits on Yahoo! and Amazon. Whether these will actually happen is anybody's guess, but we are sure to witness the Lord of Misrule and the Abbot of Disobedience at play.
This May Day we see its two roots come full circle, the fertility of spring serving the long struggle between labour and capital. With the growth of the anti-globalisation movement worldwide over the past year and the "G-word" hanging uncomfortably in international leaders' heads it seems that we are in for interesting times as the balance of power shifts.
The G77 leaders, including Malaysia, recently declared in Cuba that they would now be approaching the international negotiating table (with the G7) far more coherently and cohesively than they had done in the past.
The WTO will certainly feel the effect of these changes, and the IMF and World Bank are attempting to make positive noises in the wake of their recent public exposure. With major stock exchanges slumping from drops in the share-price of over-valued technology stocks, the international financial architecture is once again open to a long hard appraisal.
New times bring new challenges for freedom, if you can't bear the usual trip to PD, why not honour some of the May Day spirit, both new and old, and dig out your old gardening tools to plant something with your neighbours? After all, with no spring season we Malaysians don't have to wait a year for a chance to sow seeds for a fresher future.
YIN SHAO LOONG is currently on sabbatical in Malaysia. He has worked within the NGO and international development community in the UK on issues of environment and corporate social responsibility.
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