May Day around the world
May Day or International Workers’ Day has become a day of protest for many in the world demanding better working conditions, higher wages, and social equality. It began as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago, a peaceful protest for the right to an 8-hour workday that became a deadly clash with police. Today it is celebrated in more than 80 countries.
- A man carries a boy on his shoulders at the May Day parade in Havana’s Revolution Square. Many marched through Havana’s Revolution Square on Tuesday in a May Day parade that affirmed the government’s intention of assuring a communist future for the Caribbean island. (Reuters)
- Hundreds of thousands of people march through Havana’s Revolution Square during the May Day parade. With President Raul Castro looking on from beneath a giant statue of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti, hundreds of thousands of workers wearing red shirts and waving red flags filed through the vast plaza where Cuba holds its biggest political rallies. (Javier Galeano/Reuters)
- People carry a photograph of revolutionary hero Ernesto Che Guevara during the May Day parade at Havana’s Revolution Square. (Enrique De La Osa/Reuters)
- A Russian communist holds placards with portraits of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin during a rally to celebrate International Workers’ Day, or Labour Day in Moscow. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)
- Russian anarchists march during a rally in Moscow. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)
- Riot police use tear gas against demonstrators during a May Day rally in central Ankara, Turkey. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)
- A burning effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino is seen during May Day protests in Manila held to push for higher wages and policies that would make it harder to fire workers. Aquino has said he is trying to help labor workers but has warned that giving too many benefits will make the country less competitive, costing more jobs. (Noel Celis/GettyImages)
- Pakistani working women carry candles as they march for better wages and conditions during a May Day rally in Karachi. Pakistan has a workforce of around 56 million people among a population of 179 million, according to Pakistan’s official figures compiled by the Federal Bureau of Statistics. Every year thousands of labourers rally across the country demanding better wages and conditions to mark May Day. (Asif Hassan/AFP/GettyImages)
- People dance during a May Day concert in Rome’s Piazza San Giovanni. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/GettyImages)
- A Palestinian protester, wearing a T-shirt bearing a portrait of Che Guevara, carries stones during clashes with Israeli troops outside Ofer military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah following a demonstration in support for prisoners held in Israeli jails. Clashes erupted between stone-throwing youths and the Israeli army, who fired tear gas, rubber bullets and a foul-smelling liquid known as “skunk” to break up the demonstration. (Abbas Momani/AFP/GettyImages)
- A supporter of the Sri Lankan Marxist JVP or People’s Liberation Front waves a red flag during the annual May Day parade in Colombo. (Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/GettyImages)
- Protesters march with red flags in Taksim square during a May Day rally in central Istanbul. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages)
- People sit on top of a McDonalds restaurant to watch a May Day rally in central Istanbul. Tens of thousands of workers gathered on an iconic square in the heart of Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul to celebrate May Day. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages)
- Thousands of Turkish protesters gather at Taksim square during a May Day rally in central Istanbul. Tens of thousands of workers gathered at the iconic square in the heart of Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul to celebrate May Day. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/GettyImages)
- A protester shouts slogans during a demonstration in central Athens to mark the May Day celebrations. (Aris Messinis/AFP/GettyImages)
- Red flags fly near the monument to Vladimir Lenin during the May Labour Day rally of the Russian communist party in Moscow. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)
- Ukrainian Communist Party activists pass a camp of Yulia Tymoshenko supporters as they march in Kiev to mark May Day. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/GettyImages)
- An anti-capitalist protester from the ‘Occupy’ movement holds a banner in front of police officers during a demonstration in London, England. Students, trade unionists, pensioners and activists from the anti-capitalist ‘Occupy’ movement marched through the centre of London before congregating and staging a demonstration in Trafalgar Square to mark May Day. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- Occupy Wall Street participants stage a march as part of May Day celebrations in New York. The Occupy movement that shook the United States last year, spawning similar protests worldwide, announced widespread May Day demonstrations and strikes against social inequality Tuesday. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/GettyImages)
- A medic wearing a gas mask is seen during May Day demonstrations in Los Angeles, California. (Jason Redmond/Reuters)
mike bohle
May 07, 2012 @ 12:10:30
best way for us to help cuba is buy it! we’re spending money everywhere so acquiring the island nation for a national resort and casino makes perfect sense. Probable could get it for 50 million and guarantee the castro boys safe haven in switzerland. than we’d rehab the island and end the stupid embargo. more ballplayers for mlb ,too!
next,mexico should be offerred statehood,if refused,we take over the country anyway. turn the marines lose on the drug dealers confiscating their funds and depositing in our treasury. overnight we become solvent. of course the emarines have right of first shot and no questions asked. if the shot’em they were cartel members and deserved it!
we address our social security problems ,by adding 110 millions fica paying workers to the rolls. we accomplish wealth,redistribution by sending our welfare and medicaid enrollees to mexico,excluding the high resorts of course!
BDmusicCafe
May 02, 2012 @ 02:25:37
In our country workers also celebrate the May day with various demand.