Gainesville celebrates May Day

Gainesville, FL – This May Day, the Gainesville left mobilized to Bo Diddley Plaza. Gainesville’s activist community was represented by groups from various leftist groups. The celebration included speakers from organizations such as Industrial Workers of the World, Madres Sin Fronteras, the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons, and Gainesville National Women’s Liberation.

The celebration’s theme was centered around the projects that Gainesville activist organizations were working on and the times that they had all rallied together for a cause in the past year. A prominent reference was made to the No Nazis @ UF Coalition that was pivotal in resisting alt-right provocateur Richard Spencer and his nationwide campus tours. Spencer, at the time of writing, is no longer speaking on college campuses.

Jimmy Schmidt, from the IWW, called for the “abolition of the wage system.” Currently, the IWW chapter in Gainesville is organizing with incarcerated workers.

Cia Delfino, from Madres Sin Fronteras, referred to the cause of immigrant reform as “one of the biggest civil rights issues of our time.” Delfino also celebrated the fact that, in Gainesville, May 1 was officially proclaimed to be “Immigrant Rights Day” by city hall last year.

A representative from the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons described the political evolution of its membership. Originally, they wanted to target prisons that caused remarkable damage to the environment. Studying the social conditions of the prison system, they came to the conclusion that the entire privatized prison system was toxic. The speaker referred to the private prison industry as an “industrial nightmare.”

Brooke Celeste from National Women’s Liberation explained how patriarchy was integral to the capitalist system. Celeste brought attention to the war being waged on women’s rights by legislators in Washington. Celeste stated, “Our representatives spend money creating obstacles to access to birth control.”