*Mayday May Day 2025* A-poem - Media Review Network

By Hassen Lorgat

We marched and toyi toyi’ d for this day
For a long, long time
at home and wherever home was
May Day is Ours

We marched, sang and stormed their barricades- Demanding:
8 hours to work!
8 hours to rest
8 hours to do what we want

We were realistic and demanded the world
We wanted bread
..and roses too

Deep down we believed/ We are ONE/
/ONE for ALL and ALL for ONE/
An injury to ONE, is an injury to ALL

t’was/ in Chicago/ in 1886/
When hundreds of thousands ironworkers/
/at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company if I recall/
/Steeled in struggle lit a spark that became May Day/

In Mzansi, this was one of the early fruits of the new democracy
May Day became a paid public holiday
Ululating poets reminded us of our paths traveled
Worker of the world unite
You have nothing to lose but your chains…

This year May 1 fell on a Thursday
Unusual for a public holiday/ Kerala Crescent was a buzz
municipal workers with dustbins in tow/
But why today? Our bins are usually cleared on Wednesday?
…this left me asking many questions…

These are union men/
/ who laboured on their holiday/
Is it not their right to do whatever they want?
To work? Even on Workers Day…
I wonder if the workers still earn double pay for working on public holidays?

/the bins are moved/
/the movement has stalled/

/the bins are emptied /
/I’m uneasy/
/I’m not fulfilled/

Is it time to shout out MayDay MayDay?
May Day!
We stop, think and must march on…

Hassen Lorgat

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Hassen Lorgat

Has worked in trade union movement, civic associations, and anti apartheid sports movement led by the South African Council on Sports (SACOS) as well as NGOs for the past while. He has worked with civil society groups opposing harmful and exploitative mining and extractivism. Hassen is active with the SA BDS Coalition.