Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) where we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
We welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, news, etc.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Good Morning!
May Day Forever
I Hear America Singing
by Walt Whitman
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
News
Interactive map by
The Nation.
MAP: May Day Actions Across the Country
Click on points on the map below to see events, arrests and coverage of all of the events occurring as part of this year's May Day protests.
#MayDay: The Whole World is Waking! Live Coverage of #M1GS in Over 135 Cities
TODAY IS MAY DAY! INTO THE STREETS!
Find events in your city here. Before you head out, check our Last-Minute May Day Checklist. If you are in NYC, check out the full schedule. If you can only make one event, try to come to the (permitted) Solidarity March leaving from Union Square at 5:30pm ET!
Occupy Wall Street: May Day General Strike Called in US; Other Workers Actions Worldwide
Governments may have acted to shut down the extraordinary Occupy camps in public spaces, in coordinated raids across the United States at the end of last year, and by various means elsewhere, but it remains as true now as it was last year that you can”t kill an idea, and also that, if you’re part of the 1 percent, you can’t get away with presiding over a program of endless enrichment for those who are already rich — when doing so involves increasing unemployment and destroying the middle class — without some people deciding to fight back, and others waking out of a slumber of self-obsession and materialism to realize that all is not well with the world, and that those who claim to be in charge bear the lion’s share of the blame that they’re trying to shift onto us instead.
See below for what we believe to be the most comprehensive list yet compiled of cities where Occupy May Day events are being planned, as well as other resources. Note: This is a living document. Check back for updates! If you have any additional events, please let us know in the comment section of this article. You are encouraged to share this page in as many ways as possible!
Occupy Wall Street, other protesters aim to shut down NYC as part of May Day disruption
About 100 unions are listed online as planning to participate in a rally starting at 8 a.m. in midtown Manhattan's Bryant Park. Organizers say the park will function as a staging area for picket lines fanning out across midtown to spots where labor organizations have ongoing disputes.
[ ... ]
The New York Police Department is bracing to respond to the protests, which come a day after a lawsuit was filed by five people who said their constitutional rights were violated when officers kept them inside an area surrounded by metal barricades for nearly two hours on Nov. 30 as they tried to participate in a demonstration.
May 1 events are being reported all across the online corporate media this morning.
Occupy calls for 'a day without the 99%'
May 1 demonstrations: Planned events include New York's "Occupy Guitarmy," in which Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello will lead musicians from midtown's Bryant Park to downtown's Union Square. In Los Angeles, protesters are planning a "4 Winds" march to descend on the city from all directions.
New York Police Department Anticipates May Day Violence
The New York Police Department is closely following the "fissures" inside the Occupy Wall Street movement in preparation for what it sees as possible violence from splinter groups, according to a leaked memo.
A spokesman for the NYPD, Paul Browne, confirmed the memo's authenticity but said it had been distributed widely to security directors in the private sector, and said it was not news. The document, dated last Friday, was posted to an Occupy Wall Street website.
Political fissures that are present within the OWS movement may impact the strategies of demonstrators during individual protest actions; in particular, the Wildcat March is not an officially sanctioned OWS march and may attract militant elements from inside and outside the OWS movement that may seek to directly confront law enforcement officials using barricades, riot shields, and possibly weapons such as pipes and rocks.
Live Blog: Occupy Movement’s May Day Actions (#M1GS)
Will the “Peoples’ Power Car and Bike Caravan” through Los Angeles to strike at their city’s financial district; a permitted and potentially enormous march through NYC, with a number of unions and community groups – as well as a separate “Wild Cat” march which has the New York Police Department on edge; a “Strike the Banks Day” in Philadelphia as well as “bike bloc” action; a block party in Boston’s financial district; and a shut down of the Golden Gate Bridge ferry service – for starters – in Oakland—Will this at all play a role in redefining what people typically might think would happen in a General Strike?
Establishment and law enforcement hysteria is also something to monitor. For the most part, warnings of “violence” or “riots,” etc, have probably had as much impact as they will have on the day. But, something to watch is how this focus on “violence” from the many May Day protests will influence media coverage.
The New York Times published a post that seemed to hone in on the probability that “property damage” or “confrontations” would occur. Occupy Wall Street organizer told the NYT that any “violence” at Occupy Wall Street’s May Day actions will be the result of the NYPD. University of California president Mark Yudoff, according to The Nation‘s Jon Wiener, has issued a “travel alert” urging everyone to “avoid all protests.” And, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has put out an article with the headline, “Major backups, violence expected Tuesday in Seattle.”