An assembly of UC Santa Cruz students, workers and community members have planned a day of action in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street's call for a worldwide general strike and the historical significance of May 1st, International Workers Day. This day of events will include rallies, poetry, performance, art, and education around the struggle of the 99% and the collective potential for social transformation. The action will begin with a kick-off rally at the Quarry Plaza on UCSC campus at 11:30 AM which will culminate in a late afternoon march to the downtown post office.

UCSC students and community members will rally at 4:30 pm at the corner of Pacific and Laurel. They plan to march down Pacific Avenue, and past Wells Fargo. At 5:30 pm, Occupy Santa Cruz and other community members will join the march at the post office where there will be a rally with rousing musical performances, a May Day pole, and several local speakers on workers’ rights, immigrants’ rights, and June ballot initiatives. Beginning at 6:30 pm, there will be food and games in San Lorenzo Park. At approximately 8:00 pm there will be a candlelight vigil on the courthouse steps commemorating all those who have died, been beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and otherwise made sacrifices in struggles for workers' justice around the world, from the Haymarket Riots of 1886 (which International Workers' Day commemorates) to today.

Dr. Zakk Flash observes, "The atmosphere across the globe seems pregnant with a revolutionary fervor unseen in recent years. The occupation at New York City’s New School in 2008 provided a glimpse into the possibilities of occupation when students seized their school building as a show of solidarity against the policies of a broken administration. The nascent student movement later reclaimed campuses across California, inspiring actions nationwide with the release of an influential text called "Communiqué from an Absent Future." At the same time, organizers linked themselves to demonstrations in Greece over the police murder of a 15-year old anarchist in the neighborhood of Exarcheia."

May 1st, 2012 in Santa Cruz | May Day: A Radical Strike into the Belly of the Beast