May Day protest in San Francisco

Today was the International Workers Day.  Back when I was living in China, this was a day of celebration.  I remember gigantic marches that blocked all of Tiananmen Square, fireworks, plenty of bonuses for my parents who took home eel and other exotic foods.  The reason for this was simple.  The Communist Party's message has always been that it is a party of the people, and the fundamental group of people who make up China and its future, is always the workers.  Thus, on May 1, workers are being celebrated.

14 years since my last May 1st celebration, here we are in America, in a democratic society, and instead of a festive mood, we rather have brooding anger, passionate rage, and outright tenacious hatred, not to mention a gigantic oil spill that is about to cripple the whole southern coastline of this country and destroy its already battered environment for GOOD.

Thus, with the stars aligning, a May Day protest took place in San Francisco, not to celebrate the workers, but as a call to action to fight for workers rights, because in America, workers ain't got any.  (To be honest, I don't think workers ever had any rights in China.  It was, and still is, all rhetoric) Also on the agenda is the big gorilla dominating American politics of the past week, the SB1070 Law that just passed in Arizona, which gives police the right to stop anyone they see fit (read: any non-caucasians, naturally) and check for their legal papers.  Personally, I find this law absolutely repulsive, and so do many people.  I don't have much more to say on this because the fight against it is already taking place at many places across the country, but what I do have, is a video I made of the demonstration, especially for those of you who are not in San Francisco and have never participated in an immigration parade.

One thing surprised me: ice cream and tamales vendors.  You had guys pushing coolers and old ladies with their 3-pack tamales, both making an killing with the crowd.  Really economic enterprise.

Here's a video of the demonstration:


Unfortunately, most of the speeches were given in Spanish and no translation was offered, and the few times an English speaker talked, very few from the crowd actually responded. As much as I am supporting this cause, I felt alienated because of the apparent barrier in language and communication. But what you gonna do?