Seattle, WA – A crowd of 150 people gathered at Saint Mary's Church at noon on May 1 to celebrate international worker solidarity at a May Day march and rally. The group marched through the International District and downtown Seattle where speakers addressed pressing issues in the local and international worker struggles.

Leading chants and speaking, the organizers of the event encouraged onlookers to come together as workers to support fellow workers around the world. Participants offered workshops on how to unionize the workplace and meetings to discuss the history of Haymarket together.

A speaker demanding immigration reform during the Biden administration led chants calling to “end to deportations.” Another speaker called for stopping the war in Tigray, Ethiopia. There was a speech calling to stop the war on women's bodies. In the spirit of internationalism, a speaker explained the need to provide equal vaccine access worldwide, as we see between India and the U.S. corporations.

Supporters of police reform and abolition promoted Nikkita Oliver for Position 9 on Seattle City Council and Lorena Gonzalez for mayoral office. They provided information for people to register to vote and utilize funding programs, known as the Democracy Voucher Program, to support these candidates.

A common spirited chant was, “Up, up, up with liberation; down, down, down with deportations!”

The organizations that were present at and endorsed the events include: Anakbayan Seattle, the Cascadian Workers' Association, the Democratic Socialists of America, Food Not Bombs, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Freedom Socialist Party, International Communist Workers Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Socialist Workers Party, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

#SeattleWA #PeoplesStruggles #MayDay2021