I'd like to acknowledge and honor those who've fought this fight and thought about these concepts far longer than I have in the best way I know how: by giving you some resources to learn more about them yourself!
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| This original poster from the National Theatre Project Archives is chilling to me, even 80 years later. |
Here is an article from bay area actor and activist Michael Gene Sullivan about International Worker's Day in 2010. I find it fascinating to read articles about these themes from before the Occupy Movement became a household name. There are far fewer trollish comments about how people need to "occupy a shower" and there are far better attempts to articulate ideas without falling back on the "99%" shorthand we've been using for six months.
One of my favorite professors from SFSU, Joel Schechter, is a huge proponent of the WPA, and I share his love of puppetry, clowns, and the National Theatre Project. His article, WPA for Artists Program's Time has Come Again, ran in 2010 and is just as relevant now.
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| One of the more famous pro-union plays sponsored by the Federal Theatre Project. The movie about the show and surrounding events is very good, though takes liberties with time and space. |
It can be hard to remember that the U.S. once had a tradition of political activism of, by, and for the working class. It can be hard to remember that May Day - International Workers' Day - began in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteIt was hard today, at the May Day action in Oakland watching the crowd - most of them 20 years younger - trying to reinvent that tradition almost from scratch. There was a definite tension in the air - the anarchists wanted action - the fuck the police crew wanted a confrontation and got it: flash/bang grenades and tear gas. Yet, it was also hard to leave. I felt that I belonged there.
As someone who has been in this fight for a time, here's what I would ask of the arts: Don't leave the struggles against inequality, the struggles of workers in the past. Bring them home to the present.