A Dishonorable Holiday

May Day has long been the occasion for the world’s Communists to parade in cities around the world. During the days of the Russian Empire, the biggest May Day rally of all was in Kremlin Square, where Leonid Brezhnev would review the Red Army and its ICBMs. Notwithstanding the apparent death of socialism, there are still some Communists around the world, and they still turn out on May Day. The demonstrations often turn violent, like this one in Santiago, Chile:

There was a lot of violence in Athens, too, where Communists were augmented by others who were demonstrating against the measures being proposed to save Greece from bankruptcy. Leftists, with characteristic childishness, are convinced that the money can never run out, and there will always be someone available to support them:

This is from La Paz, Bolivia:

People sometimes refer to May Day as “Che Day.” That is literally true in Cuba, one of the last remaining backwaters where Communist demonstrations on May Day are sponsored by the regime:

There don’t seem to be many Communists in Zurich, but the police were taking no chances:

This is from Istanbul. Great: now Turks can choose between Islamist and Communist parties:

This is in Paris, where demonstrators carried signs that read, “For Us Retirement is at 60.” Good luck with that one. French leftists, like those in Greece, are convinced they will never run out of other people’s money:

Maybe you have to be French not to notice how dumb this is; the sign says, “Unemployed on Strike.”

The most ominous scenes, reminiscent of the 1930s, were in Berlin, where dueling left-wing and right-wing demonstrations led to sporadic violence:

Given how dishonorable the history of May Day has been, it seems surprising that here in the U.S., advocates of illegal immigration have adopted it as their own. For some reason, though, they have. These New Yorkers demonstrated against Arizona’s effort to enforce immigration laws:

As you would expect, the pro-illegal immigration demonstration in Los Angeles was large:

This one is in Atlanta:

Press coverage of today’s illegal immigration rallies has been almost entirely positive. This Associated Press story will probably be the most widely-read account. It attacks Arizona’s new immigration law and concludes with a civil rights tragedy for our time:

At Saturday’s rallies, activists from organizations supporting other groups — including Muslims, gays and youth advocacy — marched in support of immigrant rights.
“It affects everyone,” said Paulie Sabol, 38, who traveled from Indiana to march in Chicago. His partner is a Mexican immigrant who is a legal resident but doesn’t have U.S. citizenship. “I can’t sponsor him because same sex marriage isn’t recognized in Indiana.”

Oppression just isn’t what it used to be.
For a compendium of over-the-top attacks on the Arizona law, with links to explanations of why they are ill-informed, check out Byron York’s Top 10 dumbest things said about the Arizona immigration law. The usual sources of misinformation–the New York Times and the Washington Post, along with Bishop Tutu and Barack Obama–figure prominently.