LABOUR DAY - PROTEST AND TRAGEDY

The 5^th September 2011, the first Monday in September is Labour Day in the United States. It is a National Holiday and is the creation of the labour movement in the United States. Dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers, it, allegedly, constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well being of the United States.

The first Labour Day was celebrated on Tuesday the 5^th September 1882, 129 years ago, in New York City. It was held in accordance with the plans of the Central Labour Union. The Central Labor Union of New York, Brooklyn, and New Jersey was an early trade union organization that later broke up into various locals, which are now AFL-CIO members. The establishment of the CLU predates the consolidation of New York City (1897) by nearly two decades.

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

Now, traditionally, most Americans celebrate Labor Day as the symbolic end of the summer. In high society, Labor Day is (or was) considered the last day of the year when it is fashionable for women to wear white. God knows why that is. There is also an extraordinary account by Hunter S. Thompson, of a Labour Day week end spent with the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in California. But…

...there was  a bit of a stir in Madison, Wisconsin, USA on the 12^th March 2011 when some 100,000 people protested against Wisconsin Governor Walker, signing a bill removing workers collective bargaining rights.  Perhaps the labour Movement is not quite dead in America. What will happen on Labour Day today?

In memoriam, it was also on the 5^th September 1972, at the Munich Olympics, that tragedy struck. A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacked and took hostage 11 Israeli athletes. Two  die in the attack and 9 die the following day.

At 4:30 a.m. local time on 5 September, as the athletes slept, eight tracksuit-clad members of Black September carrying duffel bags loaded with AKM assault rifles, Tokarev pistols, and grenades scaled a two-meter chain-link fence with the assistance of unsuspecting athletes who were also sneaking into the Olympic Village.