1,000+ Join Tucson Mayday March : AZ IMC

More than 1,000 people came out for international worker's day in Tucson, AZ to demand an end to DHS raids, an end to border militarization, and equal rights for all regardless of immigration status.

Demonstrators began gathering at 8:00 a.m. at Southgate Shopping Center in South Tucson. By the time the march left, led by Danza Mexica traditional dancers, it was easily 800 people strong. All along the route people joined the march, including several south Tucson charter high schools - this despite the threat from Tucson Unified School District bureaucrats that no student would be excused for missing class on May 1.

At Armory Park the rally continued with speakers, music (including hip-hop by Tierra y Libertad), a maypole, food and folks gathered for conversation.

The "official" demands of the Tucson May 1st Coalition were:
+ STOP THE RAIDS AND DEPORTATIONS!
+ STOP THE BORDER DEATHS!
+ STOP THE WAR!
+ EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, HOUSING AND JOBS FOR ALL!
+ STOP THE MILITARIZATION OF OUR SOCIETY

May 1st, International Workers' Day, commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world, and is recognized in every country except the United States, Canada, and South Africa.

This, despite the fact that the holiday began in the 1880s in the United States, after the martyrdom of eight anarchists during the fight for an eight-hour work day.

The following groups were cosponsors of the march, and involved in organizing the demonstration:

May 1st Coalition, AFSC, American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee,
Aztlán Academy, Black Alliance for
Just Immigration, Borderlands Theater,
BorderLinks, Casa Maria, César Chávez
Middle School, Coalición de Derechos
Humanos, Community of Christ of the
Desert, Dry River Collective, Fundación
México, Jobs with Justice, Las Adelitas,
Las Nanas, Latino Doctrine, Middle East
Justice Now, National Writers Union,
No More Deaths, Nuclear Resister, Pima
College MEChA, Promotoras de Derechos
Humanos, Samaritans, Tucson High MEChA,
Tucson Peace Action Coalition, Tucson
Veterans for Peace, Turnwind,
SOAR, Venezuela Solidarity Network