Give It Away #8 May Day Pride Yesterday was the first day of May, also known as International Workers' Day. Here in Israel, there was a parade of over a thousand people in downtown Tel Aviv. That's not out of character for this country; as you can see from the photo above, there is a long tradition of workers' demonstrations in Israel, from the first May Day after the state was established, to last year's parade down King George Street. In the USA, it's a much more low-key affair nowadays, the event isn't able to draw crowds that are nearly as large, proportionately. But it wasn't always so: Labor Day first became associated with the date May 1st because of an incident that occurred on American soil, the infamous Haymarket Affair. The division of the 24-hour day into 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation, and 8 hours of sleep -- as prescribed by Maimonides, incidentally -- is something that we take for granted today. If an employer asks us to work longer than eight hours consecutively, we know that we will be paid higher wages for our overtime, and that we have every right to refuse to work longer hours, without endangering our jobs. But only 125 years ago, this was not an undeniable human right; it was an audacious act of great courage. And in the political climate of the time, when paid police officers regularly gunned down striking workers, it was tantamount to suicide. May 1, 1886 was the day that the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions had publicly declared would be the beginning of a new era in workers' rights, the start of the 8-hour standard. It would still take four more years, half a million marchers, reactionary arrests, kangaroo courts, and five Haymarket Martyrs murdered by the plutocracy. But eventually, the 8-hour work day became a fait accompli, and May 1st was adopted by the working people all over the globe as the day for celebrating their social and economic achievements. In the century and a quarter since the Socialist International and the original May Day, we have seen some great advances in workers rights: health plans, pension plans, protection from racial and sexual discrimination, etc. But sadly, we have also borne witness to depressing rollbacks in the rights that workers have fought hard to earn. Nowadays, when the predatory banks get bailed out and average Americans are getting tossed out of their homes and onto the street, it sometimes seems that the power of the people has been depressingly diminished, while the richest only get richer. Thankfully, there is still a labor movement in this country, and they are doing whatever they can to keep hope alive for the working class and the working poor. Here in Israel, one of the organizations that is spearheading these efforts is BeMa'aglei Tzedek (Circles of Justice). If you are feeling the spirit of May Day and would like to find out how you can contribute to their struggles for social justice and workers' rights, check out a couple of their projects, the Tav Chevrati (Social Kashrut) Initiative, and "Employment Watchdogs". Happy May Day, and I hope to see you in the streets!