MAY DAY(S) 2023
April 28 - May 7

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Sat, April 29

Solidarity Fridge Stock (DSOV Hosting, everyone welcome) - 12:00 noon
Meet at noon outside 1890 Spyglass Place, on 1st Avenue under the Cambie Bridge, near Olympic Village Skytrain station. More information here →

Sun, April 30

GRANDVIEW PARK / COMMERCIAL DRIVE

★ WORKERS MARCH with the CARNIVAL BAND
(All Groups and Individuals welcome) - 1:30 - 2:00 pm
Time to make noise! Bring your signs and voices! Meet at 4th and Commercial -parking lot behind Spartacus Books - we march at 1:30 down to the Social Justice Fair in Grandview Park.

★ SOCIAL JUSTICE INFO FAIR - 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Come by and chat with a variety of organizations and individuals setting up to talk and share information. Details here →

★ DSOV in the Park - 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Join the DSOV for conversation and information

★ VOTE Socialist in the Park - 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Join VOTE Socialist for a game of Radical Ping Pong, Cake and Party!

★ Socialist Action in the park - 2:00 - 4:00 pm
On April 30th learn about Socialist Action’s programme, current projects, movements, actions, and more! Meet BC comrades and take part in our interactive event at the SA table. Socialist Action Website →

LEGION / COMMERCIAL DRIVE

★ DSOV Readers Group - 7:00 pm
Everyday Class Struggle: Parenti’s Black Shirts and Reds Chapters 8 & 9
Join members of the DSOV at the Legion on Commercial Drive for discussion. Everyone welcome! Full Audio Book here → More Book Club Info Here →

Monday, May 1st

ONLINE ZOOM

Municipalism and Labor panel, hosted by the Municipalism Learning Series, a project of Solidarity Research Center.  1:00 - 2:00 pm (PST)

Workers are rising up and taking cities back from capitalists and corporations. Unions are negotiating for benefits for the community and not just members, emerging from behind the fortress. This moment of labor insurgency in the aftermath of the pandemic, which laid bare the disposability of the working class, has echoes in historical struggles to make cities more livable and democratic. RSVP at municipalism.org to receive the Zoom link

Panelists:

BIANCA CUNNINGHAM, Bargaining for the Common Good
CLAUDIA JIMENEZ, Richmond Progressive Alliance
RAND WILSON, Somerville Stands Together
SHELTON STROMQUIST, labor historian

GRANDVIEW CHURCH

Worker Solidarity Network: Organize the Unorganized 3:00 - 9:00 pm.
Grandview Church, May 1st, 3pm to 9pm. There will be tabling, workshops and events, very likely food, solidarity and community all around. The major theme is Organize the Unorganized.

VANCOUVER CITY HALL

RALLY AT VANCOUVER CITY HALL - 5:00 - 6:30 pm.
Hosted by the Vancouver & District Labour Council (VDLC) This May Day let’s all stand together for a city that works for all of us. Let’s stand up for living wages, renter rights, affordable housing, and real action on Reconciliation, equity, the opioid crisis, and climate! Details here →

OPPENHEIMER PARK

International Workers Day - 3:00 - 6:00 pm

Music, food and speeches to commemorate labour struggles and wins across the globe. Join us as we reaffirm our solidarity with the masses of the world, and with our neighbours right here; reaffirm our struggle against settler-colonialism plaguing these lands and wreaking havoc world over; reaffirm our conviction to destroy the borders and prisons that kill and restrict us; reaffirm our desire to create a prosperous world that values life not profits, and that puts the power in the hands of people not corporations or politicians. Oppenheimer Park, Downtown Eastside, unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, səlilwətaɬ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nations. Hosted by @defund604network @fig.tree.palace @vinesfestival

May 1 - May 13

THROUGHOUT THE CITY

Celebrating diverse artists and working people at the intersection of art, social justice, and labour. The Mayworks Festival of Working People & the Arts celebrates diverse artists and working people at the intersection of art, social justice, and labour. Mayworks festivals take place in communities around the world. The festival brings together artists and workers from a diverse range of organizations in the visual & media arts, community arts, cooperatives, and labour movement to celebrate the rich history of working people in British Columbia. View Calendar of Events Here →

Friday, May 5

Online. 1:00 pm. Cooperative Ownership and Creative Cooperatives - Join the Union Cooperative Initiative for a special edition episode on ‘Imagining Cooperative Futures’, where we talk to creative cooperative members and organizers on the roles that co-ops can play in transforming our communities towards equitable futures. Hosted by Jonny Sopotiuk (Union Cooperative Initiative), the panel will discuss how building cooperative based economies with a focus on the creative sectors can address current economic disparities, while building worker power, towards just futures.
 This episode will be live streamed at 1pm PST on May 5th, 2023. Click here to register →

Saturday, May 6

MAY DAY FREESKOOL - 10:30am - 5pm
Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, 2425 Oxford St, Vancouver
FB event page:  May Day Freeskool - Worker’s Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth

Freeskool features words, stories and workshops from fascinating and inspiring individuals within grassroots movements and underscore the need for organizing our communities to uphold justice in the workplace and our environment.

Sunday, May 7

Chinatown Labour Histories. OPEN HOUSE. 1-4 pm.
525 Carrall Street Vancouver
Chinatown Labour Histories with David Ng and the Union Cooperative Initiative. A series of short tours of the cultural history of the Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association building, a brief history of the neighbourhood, as well as some of the initiatives that the Union Cooperative Iniatives community projects working group has been cultivating to build relationships in the community. David will also share the inspiration behind our newly unveiled “Chinatown Labour Histories” window display, and why we wanted to illuminate stories of social movement organizing that historically existed in the community - and that continues today. Tour duration will be approximately 30 minutes. Participants are welcome to ask questions and connect with UCI members that will be present that day. Find out more →

In Vancouver, MayDay(s) is making a comeback 

A week to celebrate working class resistance, past and present

MayDay is International Workers’ Day.

This year, the Democratic Socialists of Vancouver are working with the Vancouver MayDay Social Justice Information Fair and other organizations and individuals to restore May 1 to the prominence it deserves in our city and in our movements for justice. 

Chip Wilson, the billionaire class, the real estate barons, and the police lobby may hold political power in Vancouver for now - but workers and tenants are getting organized and fighting back. May Day is a time to remember whose labour makes the city and the world run, and to celebrate working class resistance and struggle. 

Because May 1st is not a statutory holiday, we’ve decided to call this initiative May Days - and we’ll amplify events taking place for the full week around May Day.

This year’s humble effort is a nod to the many and diverse working class traditions of marking May Day in Vancouver, including the Mayworks festival of arts, culture and resistance which took place for many years. As in recent years, the social justice information festival at Grandview Park will be held on Sunday.