May Day celebrated in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City – This May Day, hundreds gathered at Salt Lake City’s Washington Square Park, May 1, to celebrate the hard fought achievements of the workers and immigrant movements and to call the people to keep organizing and fighting for a more just world.
Socialists, progressives, unionists and immigrant rights activists spoke about the unique struggles facing Utahns. Issues included the struggle to keep ICE off our streets to Utah’s status as a Right to Work state, to the recently approved military data center in Box Elder County, an installation that will significantly affect not only the local residents but those under the thumb of U.S. imperialism.
Mustafa Khader from the 71 Percent Coalition, a local organization fighting for the end of U.S. complicity in the genocide of Palestinians, remarked, “Our enemy is fascism, capitalism and imperialism,” and “We will always be there to remind the people that we are the ones who are the change.” There were calls to join local organizations and come together as communities to fight back against the oppression we are facing within Utah, across the nation, and globally.
A contingent from the FRSO held a banner reading “Defend immigrant and workers rights” and passed out signs and waters to others in the crowd.
After the rally the FRSO held a May Day panel at the Utah Workers Center to speak on the state of the labor, immigrant rights, Anti War, and socialist movements today.
Carson Bybee, speaking for the FRSO stated, “May Day calls us to intensify the fight. Organize your workplaces, build revolutionary parties, and prepare for the battles ahead.” The speech highlighted the rich history of the struggle for workers’ rights and socialism across the world, the dysfunctional nature of representative democracy in the U.S., and the global environmental crisis brought about by the capitalist mode of production we exist under.
Adrian Romero, of the Utah Anit War Committee (UAWC) spoke on the horrific realities that immigrants have faced and continue to face in this country.
Karla Galvez,, another member of the UAWC spoke about the origins of May Day and the Haymarket Affair stating that “Truly it was a capitalist’s worst nightmare, people coming together to realize the power in unity.” The speech continued with the recent success in repealing HB 267, a collective bargaining ban cited as one of the most restrictive labor laws in the country, that was brought down as a result of the “dedicated efforts of organizers, activists, and community members.”
A UPS worker and Teamster, spoke on their experience working within a union. They explained the important distinction between a business union and a working-class union, a business union being a type of union that is alienated from the real conditions of workers on the shop floor.
Sebastian Miscenich, an activist and leader in both Freedom Raad Socialist Organization and the UAWC, made a speech recognizing all the important anti-war work carried out by the UAWC since its reestablishment earlier this year.
The feeling among those participating in these May Day events is clear, something is deeply wrong about how society is structured and the only ones capable of carrying out real change are the people themselves.