Valley protests scheduled as part of national May Day actions

PHOENIX — There will be protests across the Valley and the country on Friday, May 1, which is a day when people all across the nation come together to fight for their rights and democracy, known as national May Day.

The national protests have grown to include more than 500 labor unions, community organizations, pro-democracy, immigrant rights and racial justice groups. The goal of the demonstrations is to speak out against what organizers call “an authoritarian billionaire takeover of government.”

Protestors have three goals:

1. “Tax the rich: our families before their fortunes.”
2. No ICE. No war.
3. “Expand democracy, not corporate power: hands off our vote.”

There will be more than 3,000 planned events across the country, including 22 in Arizona and 10 across the Valley.

“Across this country, from the fields of California to classrooms in Denver, from kitchens in Queens to loading docks in Atlanta, working people are done waiting. We are organizing, we are speaking out, and we are using our collective power, legally and peacefully, to demand change,” Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, said in the release. “This May Day, NEA’s three million members are standing shoulder to shoulder with workers, immigrant families, students, parents and our neighbors. We’re not asking for stronger, safer, more dignified communities, we’re demanding them. Because let’s be clear: too much is on the line to sit back.”

The largest Arizona gathering will be in downtown Phoenix at Margaret T. Hance Park. People are advised to carpool or take the light rail to get downtown, but there will be parking available at Burton Barr Central Library.

The demonstration will go from 5 to 8 p.m., as those in attendance will gather near the park outside the library and march into downtown before returning to the park for a free concert where there will also be food trucks. The walk will be about 2.1 miles long, and there will be local leaders giving speeches throughout the event.

Other events happening in the Valley on May 1

(Events listed in chronological order.)

• Tempe, Cole Park from 7-9 a.m.
• Phoenix, North 7th Street and East Coral Gables Drive from 7:30-8:30 a.m.
• Phoenix, Intersection at Norterra and Happy Valley Town Center from 8-9 a.m.
• Scottsdale, southwest corner of 90th Street and Shea Boulevard from 8-9 a.m.
• Carefree, North Cave Creek Road and East Carefree Highway from 8-9 a.m.
• Tempe, Hayden Lawn from 1-2 p.m.
• Phoenix, Paseo Highlands Park from 2:30-5 p.m.
• Chandler, North Arizona Avenue and East Chandler Boulevard from 4-6 p.m.
• Peoria, virtual event from 9a.m. to 9 p.m.

The other Arizona events include locations in Flagstaff, Sedona, Yavapai County, Prescott, four in Tucson, Yuma, Payson, Show Low and Safford.

“May Day is a moment of reckoning. Immigrant communities — from farmworkers in our fields to nurses in our hospitals, from refugees fleeing war to families who have built their lives here for generations — are under siege,” Masih Fouladi, the executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, said. “They want us afraid. They want us divided. But on May 1, we refuse.

What is May Day?

May Day is not a new commodity.

The origins date back to the 1880s when the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the U.S. fought for eight hours to function as a legal day’s work, as the movement became known as International Workers’ Day.

While May Day still holds that purpose, it’s grown to be a day of events across the country for people to fight for their rights, and more recently protests against the state of the current regime.

Activists demonstrating on Friday will be fighting for affordable housing, proper health care, safer communities and equality, as well as reminding the public that the people decide who’s in positions of power.

“May Day has its roots in the fight for fair wages, safe workplaces and a better life – and a reminder that real change happens when working people act together,” Randi Weingarten, the president of American Federation of Teachers, said. “Too often, decisions that shape our paychecks, our schools and the cost of everyday life are driven by those at the top, instead of the people doing the work. That includes attacks on immigrant workers who are an essential part of our workplaces and communities.”

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