The Daily Dispatch

The first of May is a moment for us to remember the Chicago Haymarket Martyrs of 127 years ago. These Chicago anarchists helped to lead the major battle of the day, not only for the 8 Hour Day, but also for social liberation.

Chicago’s Four Star Anarchists and several other allied groups have issued a joint statement titled Remembering the Past, Fighting for Tomorrow. It includes a short history of May Day, an examination of present conditions, a positive vision for our world and a call to action.

I commend it to you as appropriate for this May Day, 2013. Click here to read it.

Solidarity!

★★★

Red November, Back November
by Ralph Chaplin

Red November, black November,
Bleak November, black and red.
Hallowed month of labor’s martyrs,
Labor’s heroes, labor’s dead.

Labor’s wrath and hope and sorrow,
Red the promise, black the threat,
Who are we not to remember?
Who are we to dare forget?

Black and red the colors blended,
Black and red the pledge we made,
Red until the fight is ended,
Black until the debt is paid.

In memory of the Haymarket Martyrs, who were executed by the State of Illinois 125 years ago this month.

The Chicago Teachers Union is currently on the front lines of a fight to defend public education. You can show your support by making a contribution to their Solidarity Fund. Every dollar helps.

If you care about the future of public education in America, take a few minutes to read The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve - a new study from the CTU which argues in favor of proven educational reforms to dramatically improve the education of more than 400,000 students in this district of 675 schools.

Download the Executive Summary

Dowload the Full Report

Contribute to the Solidarity Fund

Occupy Journalists Stopped, Searched, Handcuffed & Interrogated at Gunpoint. | [The Dissenter] - Under cover of the night around twelve police cars stopped five journalists when they were heading back to where they are staying in Chicago during the NATO summit. All five have been covering protests against the NATO summit for the past few days.

Some of the mainstream journalists in Chicago seem to asking the right questions. Who are these Anarchists and what do they really believe?

A couple of articles hit my news aggregator this morning (both originally from the Sun Times).

What does an anarchist look like — or stand for? [Chicago Sun-Times] - I know what you’re thinking: Unwashed skinny guys wearing dirty black jeans, dirty black shirts and dirty black bandanas covering their dirty white faces.

Tired of wars, anarchist seeks new social order. [Four Star Anarchist Organization] - John Slavin, 30, teaches chemistry at City Colleges, performs post-doctoral research as a visiting scholar at Northwestern University and lives in Logan Square with his partner and their soon-to-be 1-year-old child. He’s also an anarchist.