With revolutionary music filling the air and people beating drums, singing, chanting, and waving flags, the May 1st Movement (M1M)* Coalition’s 400-strong contingent marched to take over Vaughan Street, near the busy Toronto intersection of St. Clair and Bathurst.
Despite a heavy police presence, the marchers militantly celebrated working class struggle, past and present, here and everywhere. To chants of “Whose streets? Our streets!” the marchers asserted their right to mark International Workers Day and refused to be corralled to the sidewalk by incredulous and obstinate police officers. That the march jubilantly held the street from Vaughan to Oakwood to St. Clair and resisted police intimidation through it all was perhaps a small victory. But its symbolic importance was not lost on all who marched that day – for the first time in years, hundreds took to the streets in Toronto on May 1st to celebrate International Workers Day, joining millions of their sisters and brothers around the world.
Earlier that day, as they prepared to march, people rallied at St. Clair and Bathurst to hear solidarity greetings from several M1M constituent organization representatives. Their messages reflected the diversity of the coalition, with calls for national liberation, respect for migrant worker and immigrant rights, non-interference in sovereign states, a halt to the neoliberal attack on working people. The crowd spoke English, French, Tagalog, Spanish, Tamil, Nepali. Some called for solidarity with struggles abroad – including the nation-wide general strike called for that day in Nepal. Others clamoured for defending progressive gains made here in Canada. All were united in celebrating the struggles of the working class and oppressed peoples everywhere.
Since 2008, the M1M Coalition has been a forum for working class organizations and progressive organizations mobilizing to celebrate and foment a culture of working class struggle and unity in Toronto. Various sectors are represented in M1M – organized labour, youth, media, women, migrants, and racialized communities, among others. The coalition is enriched by the diverse anti-oppressive and international experience of its constituent members. And as it pushes forward, it also draws on the rich, but oft forgotten, tradition of militant struggle and internationalism rooted right here in Toronto and Canada writ large. In addition to its May Day mobilization, the coalition organizes events throughout the year on subjects brought forward by its member organizations.
After two hours of marching to the beat of a working class drum, the May 1st Movement Coalition formation arrived at the Wynchwood Barns to cap off an historic day with an afternoon cultural festival. After their hard-fought victory over the police, the marchers convened to enjoy food, drink, music and poetry. Amidst the congratulations and camaraderie, the celebratory and militant spirit of the day was intoxicating. May Day in Toronto is back, and it ain’t goin’ nowhere!
* The May 1st Movement Coalition is comprised of the following organizations:
• Barrio Nuevo
• BASICS Free Community Newsletter
• Bayan Canada
• Canada-El Salvador Action Network (CELSAN)
• Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for the Relief of Tamils (Canadian HART)
• CASA Salvador Allende
• Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) – Toronto
• Migrant Women’s Coordinating Body
• Migrante – Ontario
• Progressive Nepali Forum of the Americas
• Tamil Youth Organization
• United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 1000A
• Victor Jara Cultural Group
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