Following a meeting held in mid-January the London Mayday Collective decided not to proceed with plans for an anti-capitalist event this year. This will be the first time in 5 years that there has not been an event of its kind in London and we hope what follows will help to explain the reasoning behind the decision and perhaps begin some discussion into the prospects for planning future Mayday events, keeping in mind what has gone before. What follows is a personal reflection from a couple of participants in this year’s collective rather than a statement issued by the group as a whole.
The decision to postpone London Mayday 2004 was taken only after several disappointing and poorly attended meetings that had produced little in the way of either a concrete proposal for gathering around or a strong unifying theme that could lead to ideas worth developing. In these circumstances we feel not calling an event this year is the right thing to do. This may disappoint many, least not those Met officers who had already factored their overtime into this year’s summer holiday budgets! It will also allow those who have argued against an annual Mayday event the opportunity to put their arguments to the test. Whatever the feeling for Mayday activities, we now have the opportunity of at least a year’s breathing space to review where we are as a movement, to discuss some of the problems associated with the event in its current form and to look to what opportunities lie ahead.
Surprise Government Announcement! Quite literally, this year, there will be no Mayday.
In a surprise announcement, Tony Blair’s government has decided to ban the 1st of May. April will have 31 days as opposed to the usual 30 and May will formally start on the 2nd. During the hurridly convened press conference last night the Prime Minister said, “Due to recent protests, demonstrations and marches disrupting the center of London and the City on May 1st by anti-globalisation activists and unions, we have decided to do away with the day and hopefully it will be just like any other working day” The Home Office will be sending out instructions to all businesses to adjust their calendars accordingly and has banned all marches to do with Mayday – as there won’t be one. The unions, who will be hit hard by this, have yet to respond, but a government spokeswoman said “I’m sure they will understand the reasons for this measure”. George Bush has fully backed the proposal saying he would “take up the idea and run away with it.”
