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May Day concert, Families for Peace set to join day of protest on Capitol Hill

May Day on Capitol Hill

May Day on Capitol Hill

For all the signs that May Day 2014 in Seattle will look a lot like 2013, 2012, 2011 and so on, there are also signs that this year just might be different — and it’s not just Thursday’s forecast of a sunny, 80 F degree day.

A group involving a Broadway business gadfly has announced it will hold a “1st annual” Capitol Hill May Day Concert “celebrating May Day” at the Seattle Central plaza from 5 to 7 PM Thursday.

The National Weather Service says we're in for a beautiful day

The National Weather Service says we’re in for a beautiful day

Join us for the 1st annual
Capitol Hill May Day Concert

A community music event celebrating May Day.

Thursday May 1st
5-7pm 

Seattle Central College Plaza
Music, food and dancing.

Schedule

5:00- Sustainable Wages Seattle Announcement,   Small business owner/worker stories.
Crowning of May Day Queen.
History of Bruce Lee in Seattle, Capitol Hill – Northwest Museum of Legends and Lore

5:15-6:00 Wizard of OZ performance– Songs: Some Place to call Home, Simple Girl from a Prairie. Witch Lament, Brainless, Something in my chest, lions tail,

6:00- 7pm –  “Ever After” Band – Will perform a cover of “Mummers Dance”

Supported by Sustainable Wages Seattle
Northwest Museum of Legends and Lore / Capitol Hill Pride Festival
Page 2 Stage Entertainment

Kelcema Productions AV

A celebration of May that includes the minimum wage debate and a backdrop of possible civic unrest? Sign us up.

While it would be a shame for the possibility of vandalism and violence in clashes between protesters and police to keep people off the streets of Capitol Hill, the plaza has been the traditional start place for activism of all stripes over the years — and it is the regular and planned start point for the annual, un-permitted May Day Anticapitalist March:

Thursday at 6:00 PM
On May 1st, we will be meeting at SCCC at 6pm and marching into downtown Seattle to protest against the Capitalist police state and continuing pillage of civil liberties.

This march has an end goal for the day; to ReOccupy public space. We will not be divulging tactics on this event page. All planning will be done inperson in a secure location that most of you will not know about. Why? Because, in order to keep the people safe from police, we need to maintain a security culture that protects our common interests, including safety from brutally psychotic cops who seem to delight in the abuse of their fellow humans and push people around.

Don’t worry about where we are going to Occupy. We have a plan, and we intend to implement that plan and successfully Occupy public space for an indefinite period of time.

This introduction will be updated as we progress. Thank you.

UPDATE: There are now 2 anticapitalist events taking place in Seattle. This one at SCCC at 6:00pm, and the one at the King County Juvenile Detention Center at 6:30pm. Please, share both flyers, indiscriminately. (A)unnamed (22)

We’ll send a message out to concert organizer Charlette LeFevre about her goals for her event. Though her NW Museum of Legends and Lore left its Broadway home years ago, she has continued to be involved with the business community and organizes the annual Broadway Pride Festival in June.

UPDATE: A Seattle Central representative said the school opens the plaza to all-comers. “This area on our campus is a free speech zone and we cannot deny any group that wants to use this space for those purposes,” the rep told CHS.

Meanwhile, resident of the area Amber Seibert tells CHS that community members are also planning a “Families for Peace” demonstration at Pine and Broadway:

May Day activism is almost here, & we in low-income housing at Pine @ Broadway have suffered through it for years now. Would you mind publicizing that Capitol Hill Families for Peace will be on Pine St just W of Broadway so other families know where to go? No problem with the protestors or the message EXCEPT they broke our windows last year, along w/ small businesses on the hill. We just want to stand on the sidewalk and encourage them not to break things HERE. After all, they protest here because we’re poor & can’t fight it. Imagine that destruction in Bellevue? Police crackdown would be immediate. We are young families, seniors, & new Americans here.

In 2013, May Day’s annual Workers and Immigrant Rights March was, as usual, a peaceful protest attended by thousands until incidents between groups of protesters and police flared up downtown in the afternoon and protestors were pushed up Capitol Hill by officers using crowd control tactics including pepper spray and flash grenades. Nearly 20 were arrested and glass windows and doors were broken at Hill businesses including Bill’s Off Broadway, Sun Liquor and Walgreen’s.

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12 Comments
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Jay
Jay
9 years ago

With a quick googling, it looks like “Sustainable Wages Seattle”‘s primary focus isn’t raising wages, it is to oppose 15Now.

Jay
Jay
9 years ago

“YOU CAN HELP Seattle workers by joining Sustainable Wages Seattle to fight against the $15 Now campaign” – sustainablewages.org

Geoff
Geoff
9 years ago
Reply to  Jay

They may think that raising the wage to $15 would result in job loss and fewer hirings. Which might be true, and I think it’s pretty optimistic for supporters of 15now to ignore that possibility. I think it could definitely happen. Not all business run on high margins. Do we even know what percentage of businesses are not going to be able to afford the increase?

Ann
Ann
9 years ago

Huge thanks to Sustainable Wages, Capitol Hill Pride and other sponsors for supporting a positive event on May Day!

calhoun
9 years ago

I applaud this effort to counterbalance the arrogant, often-violent anarchist types. It is kind of provocative that the concert will be held at the same time as the “anti-capitalist” march is forming….wonder what might happen then…?

I notice that the anarchists are planning to “occupy” some (unspecified) public space “for an indefinite period of time.” Have they already forgotten how ineffective this tactic was a few years ago, and how it turned people against their cause? I hope the SPD acts decisively this time and nips this plan in the bud.

Paul on Bellevue
Paul on Bellevue
9 years ago

I’ll be happy if this year’s May Day is different (ie less anarchic) than last years. Good to see some other events going on.

Delia
Delia
9 years ago

Last year was scary on both sides. I was afraid for my adult children who insisted on attending to film the events. Here’s to peaceful demonstration, and response, from all sides.

Amber Seibert
Amber Seibert
9 years ago

Thanks for publicizing this information! We are looking forward to a hopefully less violent protest this year – although we have already arranged for our small children to be away from home this year (since the breaking glass downstairs absolutely terrified our 4-yr old last year). We shouldn’t have to get kids out of low-income, family housing for folks to protest on our street, right? Please have a peaceful event all. :)

Dean Tuckerman
Dean Tuckerman
9 years ago

The writer of lyrics and music for the movie the Wizard of Oz, Yip Harberg, was a socialist, He also wrote Brother Can You Spare a Dime. He would not support his music being used against raising the minimum wage.

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[…] Central: CHS reported earlier this week on what could be an interesting coincidence of events as the starting point for the annual May Day “anticapitalist march” will also be shared […]

Beznik
Beznik
9 years ago

It’s really not that scary, unless you are part of the ruling elite. The tiny number of window breaking morons are just that, they do not really reflect working class people. Thousands of workers, students unemployed people kids grandparents straight gay of all races immigrants and people who have lived here there whole lives calling for a better world, who is that scary too? It’s International Workers Day, “Sustainable” Wages Seattle is an explicitly anti worker pro boss organization. I don’t endorse violence or plan on being at this hipsterish whitish activist march after the main El Comite march where all the “action” is going to be, been there done that, but I also hope this snobby attempt to co-opt the workers holiday is a flop.

MB
MB
9 years ago

I am not sure exactly what the message is at SCCC (there is not a lot of talking) but I am greatly enjoying the band EverAfter. I had not heard of them before! Good non-angry band to have playing.