From Haymarket to Hollywood
May 1st is largely a day celebrated around the world as “May Day”. From celebrating the incoming of spring to moving into the streets to celebrate a pivotal day in labor movement history. On May 1st, 1886 a 4 day struggle kicks off in Chicago, Illinois.
May Day 139 years later
May 1st, 2025 we saw sweeping demonstrations across the globe in one of the largest unified protests in the modern day. From Los Angeles to the Phillipines, every major city saw large crowds take to the streets and fight for the 8 hour workday won during the Haymarket affair of 1886.
News reports flowing of massive demonstrations and arrests occurring. 70 people arrested in Philadelphia, PA. 14 people arrested in Los Angeles, CA. Overseas we saw close to 500 people getting arrested in Istanbul, Turkey. 400 in Paris, France. Largely, US cities are seeing less arrest by density than outside of the US. This brings up a question we are not seeing on a national level. Even with one of the most militarized law enforcement agencies in the world, why are we seeing fewer arrests than most other countries?
Police Surveillance State
The United States has one of the most sophisticated surveillance states in the world. Everything from stingrays (cell phone interception device also known as a ISMI-catcher) to body cameras that are utilizing AI to scan and live stream demonstrations and police interaction with every traffic stop, civil stop, or friendly chat while waiting for food, the digital age has given a new rise to oppressive surveillance.
Two main take aways why arrests aren’t happening within the U.S. due to increased, sophisticated surveillance are intelligence gathering and record keeping. With the advent of modern body cameras, police do not need to arrest you to now start building a file on you. A simple routine traffic stop becomes a game of operational security for any activists. Any information gathered during while interacting with the police now has you saying whatever they need to incriminate you at a later date as long as you’re “let off with a warning” for an earlier offense. Likely, what will happen with demonstrations is the few who get arrested are being made examples of. To call you out and get info from you. In this moment it is not wise to act because you’ll just be generating harm for not only yourself at a later time (most likely during a “routine” traffic stop) you can cause the organizer getting arrested to face a higher charge and more difficult to bail out/more likely to experience police brutality.
(Off topic, if you’re a law enforcement officer reading this, know that adjustments in your tactics means adjustments in the communities. We can stop playing this game at anytime and you can step away from being viewed as an oppressor)
The second main take way is, cops can no longer be openly brutal in demonstrations. The surveillance state does work in our favor on that front. Because of the constant live streaming via cell phones, body cameras, and security cameras, officers have to choose their actions carefully to avoid creating more civil unrest than what they can handle. We saw this in the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. If that scale and ferociousness of movement maintained, we’d be in the middle of a second civil war, and as much as war pays. Civil war only benefits few and everyone is a mediator when their livelihoods are on the line. Especially when that livelihood means maintaining an oppressive empire.
The Racial Spotlight
The other dynamic that is offering “protection” from the current police state is the cultural spotlight has shifted. 2020 with the mass protests of Black Lives Matter, race had been thrown into the forefront of the national conversation. Whether by design or byproduct, the outcome is the same. The brutalization of Black, Brown, and Indigenous had been loudly centered on the national stage. White people began seeing that race plays a major role with in our society outside of the individual racism we’re lead to believe. Due to this shift, we see a larger mobilization of white bodies in the streets. Due to cultural conditioning from those in law enforcement institutions, there is an internal crashing happening that quite yet hasn’t been named on the national front. The crash of “Racial Stress” being felt in white bodies, regardless of political or socio-economic standing.
Performative or calculated?
There is a rift happening currently with the large 50501 demonstrations over the last month. No one is taking them seriously because they are no risks being taken. So why arrests during the Mayday Strike March? They were meant to cause civil disruption. The 50501 protests are carefully crafted to bring community together “peacefully”. While the demonstrations held on May 1st, 2025 were MEANT to disrupt with the collective knowing what the outcome was going to be. The 50501 demonstrations seem to WANT to achieve that level of resistance, but largely the people involved are rooted in their right to comfort and fear of open conflict. I will offer a thank you to all the 50501 organizers for bringing a community together. Solidarity is more than a 4 letter word (V.O.T.E). Solidarity includes blocking the status quo from maintaining the economical and social depravity in our society. The Strike Marches held that space, civil disruption through collective action.
Holding Space for Resistance
One thing the Haymarket affair (and the work put into forming the large scale, 4 day strike from May 1st to May 4th, 1886 proves something deep within our culture. The oppressive system we are born into did ask for your consent to be born into it. So, why do we need to receive consent to break out of it?
What does ethical non-consent look like in the face of oppression?
Ethical non-consent in the face of oppression means carrying your truth loud and flying your banner high. Those who chose to ignore or experience agitation from the message are conditioned to give consent to our system of oppression. Those who’s conditioning are felt and generate agitation within will come to you begin building as you begin building. We see this across the nation from 1865 to 1877 with the “end” of the reconstruction period, we saw a mass mobilization of union and abolitionists activists across the country. Starting with labor collectives such as The Knights of Labor, International Working People’s Association, these organizers had a simple, yet effective strategy. “Keep it loud, keep it in the streets” Those who hear your message will align and those who don’t internalize will feel discomfort and may align or provide resistance (either branch reinforcing the message).
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Further Learning and Resources
The Haymarket Affair
https://www.britannica.com/event/Haymarket-Affair
https://www.illinoislaborhistory.org/the-haymarket-affair
Police Arrests by Movement
50501 (this is the only confirmed arrest I could find for the 50501 movement in my state. Please link ones you know of so we can get a larger idea of police response to the 50501 movement)
2025 Labor Demonstrations
Mayday Strikes Marches
Racial Caste System Resources
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