May Day in SF/Oakland already shutting down business as usual

AP photos - MayDay Milwaukee 2006
120 years after immigrant worker organizing for an 8 hour workday in Chicago led to the Haymarket Massacre of 1886 immigrant communities in San Francisco and Oakland are shutting down business as usual throughout our Bay Area. Already at 10am this May Day [International Workers Day] KTVU and NBC11 are showing tens of thousands marching down International Blvd. in Oakland towards the Federal Building. In SF thousands are massing at Justin Herman Plaza near the Ferry Building for a mass march down Market Street to the Civic Center later this afternoon and later on the Federal Building for a 5pm rally. San Francisco Unified School District is reporting large numbers of teachers seeking substitutes today as well. SF's Mission High School, along with other Southeast area schools like O'Connel, Thurgood Marshall, Balboa, and ISA [International Studies Academy] are reporting large numbers of students participating in the demonstrations. Left in SF Blog has some photos of the SF rally this morning. Many teachers are supporting the May 1st demonstrations by either tying lesson plans to immigrant and workers' rights issues or supporting the call for today's rallies/protests as a do-it-yourself hands-on lesson in making history. SF's Mission High School, along with other Southeast area schools like O'Connel, Thurgood Marshall, Balboa, and ISA [International Studies Academy] are reporting large numbers of students participating in the demonstrations. Left in SF Blog has some photos of the SF rally this morning. Other teachers are using immigration and labor curricula to emphasize the teachable moment in the classroom as well. SF's Teachers for social justice and others are pointing teachers and parents to NYCORE's [NY Collective of Radical Educators] great website with all kinds of useful lesson plans - No Human Is Illegal: ¡Ningún Ser Humano es Ilegal! - An Educator’s Guide for Addressing Immigration in the Classroom.
The early SF media reports are showing that students are walking out in huge numbers as well from San Jose to Oakland.
For info on knowing your rights to protest or getting legal defense in case of an employer or school official crackdown - or
ACLU Northern CA
ACLU Immigrant Rights Project
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For more info on the nationwide protests - http://immigrantsolidarity.com and Indymedia.US
Special Coverage May Day 2006
May Day 2006: The Gran Boicott is on
27 Apr 2006
May 1st has been celebrated for more than a century as International Workers Day, commerating the struggle for the eight hour workday in the US and the state murder of anarchist labor organizers in Chicago in 1887. The militant labor movement in Chicago was largely due to the influence of radical immigrant workers from central Europe, who were the most exploited of the working class. May First is celebrated worldwide with the exception of a handfull of countries including the United States.
This mayday promises to be something special; immigrants groups and immigrant solidarity groups have called for May 1st to be a national day of action against HR4437, according to the NO HR4437 Network: On May 1, we are calling No Work, No School, No Sales, and No Buying, and also to have rallies around symbols of economic trade in your areas (stock exchanges, anti-immigrant corporations, etc.) to protest the anti-immigrant movements across the country.
Nationally, the May First demostrations promise to be very large. The Los Angeles port truckers have put out a call for a general strike and plan to shut down the ports. Community leaders from the various ethnic communities in Chicago have announced the official route for a massive May Day march. Many are speculating on whether the mass roundups of more than a thousand immigrant workers for Houston based IFCO Systems will serve to hinder or bolster the organizing efforts for May 1st. While the massive demonstrations that have swept the countries have forced the Republicans to backtrack on the harshness of their legislation, what the final result shall be is still up in the air.
see also: US-IMC's Immigrant Rights page Immigrant Solidarity No HR 4437 PDX-IMC's May Day page delete the border