Ann Arbor, MI: May Day Banner Drop

During the evening of Wednesday, April 26, a group calling itself “Workers Against Work” hung a banner over the street at the corner of State and Liberty in Ann Arbor, Michigan to draw attention to labor struggles in the region and an upcoming May Day rally. The banner read “May 1, No Work, Liberty Plaza 1 PM.”

“While we’re not part of the organizing of the May Day event, we think it is important that people come out on May Day to celebrate the victories of the working class and prepare for struggles ahead,” said Shauna Hillard, a member of Workers Against Work. “In a time when a man can rise to the presidency by dividing the working class along lines of race, nationality, and gender, it is more important than ever for us to gather and show our unity and determination.”

The May Day Festival of Resistance (www.festivalofresistance.org) includes an Open University with lectures and workshops with such titles as “Intro to Anarchism,” “Mass Defense in the Age of Trump,” “What to Expect at a Protest,” and “Organizing Racial Justice Campaigns.”

“The University of Michigan is the largest employer in the state,” said Tom Marckres, another member of Workers Against Work. “It creates false scarcity in knowledge and education, drives up housing costs, and relies on the precarious labor of graduate employees, service workers and the service-driven economy of downtown Ann Arbor. We are hoping that an Open University will show that we are capable of collective self-education.”

---