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Manchester Mayday celebrations against capital

mayday | 02.05.2006 13:33 | Mayday 2006

Rain spoiled a picnic against capitalism in Manchester on Sunday, but Mayday celebrations went ahead despite the bad weather with samba, soundsytem, a small demonstration and lots of dancing.

trying to find shelter for the picnic
trying to find shelter for the picnic

samba band
samba band

you are not your things
you are not your things

samba gets replace by soundsystem
samba gets replace by soundsystem

rain drives celebrations into city centre
rain drives celebrations into city centre

spontaneous demo
spontaneous demo

a break in front of Chetham Library
a break in front of Chetham Library

Mayday dancing
Mayday dancing

reclaiming the Printworks
reclaiming the Printworks

Mayday: a 24 hour thing?
Mayday: a 24 hour thing?

kidz enjoying the music
kidz enjoying the music


The Mayday06 collective in Manchester had called a picnic of anti-capitalists for Sunday 30 April. Hundreds of sandwiches were made; people brought juggling stuff and drums. But due to the downpour the picnic could not go ahead as planned.

Nonetheless, the samba band Baraka entertained up to 100 Mayday’ers for over an hour in the rain in Piccadilly Gardens. Lots of by-passers enjoyed a dance and the free sandwiches. Only a shop manager voiced his anger at the “noise” when he ran out to steal the main Mayday banner.

The rain then drove a group of 50 Mayday’ers away from Piccadilly Gardens and towards the city, Market Street and the Urbis. The samba band was replaced by a mobile soundsystem playing reggae tunes. At one occasion police officers tried to push the unauthorised march off the road onto the pavement – unsuccessfully.

The Mayday celebrations continued with an hour of dancing and games in front of the Chetham School of Music and Chetham Library, in which Karl Marx and Frederic Engels had discussed the evils of capitalism and Engels wrote his book “The Condition of the Working Class in England”.

There is no better place for entertainment and celebrations in Manchester than the Printworks – a factory turned into a temple for consumerism with its bars, restaurants and cinemas. Mayday celebrations thus continued there with more music and (unfortunately unsuccessful) attempts to take down a few St. George’s flags. 30 minutes later Mayday’ers left the building to avoid confrontation with the police and called an end to a rainy but fun day.

mayday

Comments

Display the following 55 comments

  1. da dee da — hmmm
  2. You Are Not Your Things — Mime
  3. well bum — de niro
  4. Re:^ — Mime
  5. well mime, — ren
  6. Lets all criticise those who got off their arses — Combat Combat 18
  7. raas — brooklyn
  8. Free — Mime
  9. oh no — theworldsgonetoshit
  10. "Perhaps some just enjoyed the free samba, reggae and sandwiches!" — the middle finger
  11. Anticapitalists of the world, unite! — anticap
  12. ok — huw
  13. MIME — ah jesus christ!
  14. yep — pepper
  15. Activist? — Mime
  16. Mayday07 decision — Mayday07 Collective
  17. hmm — huw
  18. huw? — was there
  19. nah — huw
  20. FFS DO SOMETHING!! — rob
  21. maydays in manchester — heather
  22. further... — Mime
  23. further... — Mime
  24. and there you have it folks — huw
  25. ??? — raph
  26. raph — heather
  27. Raph, — Io's personal view who plays in Rhythms of Resistance Band
  28. ps — io
  29. response to raph — huw
  30. io, you got it completely wrong — raph
  31. well.. — Mime
  32. well.. — Mime
  33. Taken well seriously... — Nonymice
  34. raph, seems u cant remember ur own entries — io
  35. .... — io
  36. raph — rob
  37. beyond the hurt feelings and er..lively nature of some comments — heather
  38. won't keep repeating points already made but i just want to answer this: — heather
  39. ... — mime
  40. ... — mime
  41. reflecting — io on a sunny day
  42. its simple really — huw
  43. x — x
  44. hee hee! — io
  45. x back at u — x back at u
  46. *bangs head on brick wall* — heather
  47. oops — heather
  48. X & all — a concerned mother
  49. i think people are confused. — x
  50. my last post on this — raph
  51. awww — last word
  52. oi — huw
  53. Last words — rob
  54. what it is — mickfuzz
  55. you go girl — rob