May Day 2008 in Toronto
2008Barry Weisleder 2008-05The page as the paper published it (Wayback Machine) →
From the paper's own web edition, recovered from the Internet Archive: the text as the paper put it online, not machine-read. The printed issue of May 2008 is not held.
by Barry Weisleder
Over 70 people crowded into the Free Times Cafe on the evening of May 1 for the 22nd Annual Toronto Socialist Action May Day Celebration. A joyous evening of words and music, of political solidarity and song ensued. The occasion was dedicated to the memory of Norm Hacking, Toronto folk music legend and a mainstay of recent SA May Days, who passed away at age 57 last November.
Musical performances included popular leftist troubadour Faith Nolan (joined by two of her sisters in song), Jon Brooks, 2007 Canadian Folk Music Award Nominee, social justice activists Glen Hornblast and Bill Heffernan, and singer-songwriter Linda Saslove. M.C. Elizabeth Byce, a postal worker activist and federal NDP Socialist Caucus treasurer, recounted the origins of May Day in the fight for the eight-hour workday launched in Chicago 122 years ago. She presented the names of some leading socialists who departed in the year past, and invited the crowd to remain standing for a rousing rendition of the Internationale.
Political greetings and speeches followed, beginning with B.C. Holmes of the Toronto Haiti Action Committee, Nchama Miller of the Colombia Action Committee, Marta Valdes, Consul of the Republic of Cuba in Toronto (who also brought greetings from the Communist Party of Cuba), John Clarke of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, and this writer, representing Socialist Action / Ligue pour l'Action socialiste. New Democratic Party member of the Ontario Legislature for Parkdale-High Park, Cheri DiNovo, was warmly greeted.
A number of folks bought tickets to attend the international educational conference hosted by SA and its U.S. and Mexican counterparts in Toronto, May 22-25, "A World in Revolt: Prospects for Socialism in the 21st Century."