It’s May 1, 2025, and somewhere between Bernie Sanders in Philadelphia and a Trump effigy rolling down the streets of Tokyo, a global chorus is shouting back: No more.
Before the rallies even began, sidewalks started speaking. Protesters in dozens of cities didn’t wait for permits or microphones — they grabbed chalk and wrote it plain. Because this May Day, it’s not just about shouting. It’s about spelling it out — right where the billionaires might step on it.
TRUMP, MUSK, AND THE BANNER YEAR FOR BILLIONAIRE BACKLASH
In the United States, more than 1,100 May Day events are planned in all 50 states. These aren’t just labor marches. They’re coordinated acts of rebellion against the most cartoonishly cruel government policies since, well, the last time Trump held office.
Federal jobs slashed. DEI programs gutted. Trans rights erased. Tariffs jacking up prices from fireworks to food. This is the world Donald built, and now even the sidewalks are telling him to resign.
Bernie Sanders, mittened avatar of working-class rage, is headlining the major rally in Philadelphia. Over in Florida, protesters are flooding streets from Orlando to Miami in what’s shaping up to be the most pissed-off block party in American history.
WORLDWIDE, THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR: THE PEOPLE REMEMBER
In Tokyo, a parade truck featuring a massive Trump doll rolled through the streets while protesters chanted for peace, fair wages, and climate action. Union workers carried signs criticizing global economic inequality — and yes, they absolutely know who Elon Musk is.
Taiwanese workers marched near the Presidential Office warning that Trump’s tariffs are strangling local industries. Filipino activists rallied near Malacañang Palace, demanding protections from global greed. In Jakarta, 200,000 workers took to the streets with a message for President Prabowo: wages up, corruption out.
And back in the U.S., Los Angeles is hosting what could become the largest May Day protest in the country. Immigrant rights groups, service workers, teachers, and students are marching under one banner: “One Struggle, One Fight — Workers Unite.”
CHALK: THE UNSTOPPABLE, UNWASHABLE MEDIA
Before a single chant echoed through a megaphone, the first wave of protest came in chalk — smeared across campus quads, courthouse steps, and city sidewalks. Cheap. Washable. Unstoppable.
Messages are popping up like:
“Tariffs don’t feed families.”
“Healthcare is a human right, not a political punchline.”
“My uterus isn’t your battleground.”
“Workers make the world. Billionaires buy the credit.”
No arrests reported. No nationwide crackdown. And so far, no public works department has dared scrub the movement off the concrete. Not this time.
Because when the world writes something this clearly, even rain can’t erase it.
WHY MAY DAY STILL HITS HARD IN 2025
This holiday began with blood and picket lines in the 19th century. The U.S. government has spent a century trying to rename, rebrand, or flat-out ignore it. “Law Day”? Cute. “Loyalty Day”? Orwellian.
But this year, the working class isn’t asking for a rebrand. We’re asking for the keys back.
Trump’s policies are breaking real people. Elon Musk is treating the government like his latest app. And somewhere in Mar-a-Lago, a man in a gold bathrobe is wondering why the peasants are so loud.
Because it’s May Day.
Because we’re still here.
Because we’re not quiet anymore.
Because we brought chalk.
So here’s what you do:
Grab a friend. Grab some chalk. Go write something true.
Doesn’t have to be perfect. Doesn’t have to rhyme.
Just make it honest. Make it loud. And make it impossible to ignore.
Because the billionaires already bought the microphones.
But the sidewalk? The sidewalk’s still ours.
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This post has been syndicated from Closer to the Edge, where it was published under this address.