People Power

Observations

Update: I missed all the action.

Last year we accidentally stumbled into the Labor Day festivities here in Zurich. We were ignorant of the significance of the holiday outside the US and when we were out that morning we couldn’t figure out why the place had turned into a ghost town overnight. A ghost town with a large parade going through the center of it. More like a march, actually. The socialist and commies were out marching for the little people and opening peoples’ eyes to evils of “the man”. I guess these marches have some history of getting a bit out of hand and people generally stay indoors all morning until the crowds have dispersed a bit.

This year, I was more prepared and I went down there with my camera to get some snaps. It was much more crowded this year and there were tons of people just out walking around and taking the whole spectacle in. I still don’t read the language, so I only got the general idea of what a lot of the groups were about.

This was the front of the march. I think this translates to something like, “Justice is not a dream”. As in, “not a pipe dream”.

If anybody was looking for trouble, it would have been the youths. Here is a disenfranchised and marginalized group of them now. Something like, “Capitalism divides us. Class warfare unites us.” Kids.

Completely unnecessary

I think these guys were playing the role of “the man”. They were signing this song to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree” and it seems to be a song about how the worker has no rights to strike and all their hard work just ends up in the pockets of the corporation.

Free-thinkers

They are widening the sidewalks on Limmatquai. It’s going to be a real pedestrian treat when they finish. You should really come and check out the new sidewalks when they are done.

Ohh… I think I see pop culture’s favorite revolutionary son in that sea of flags.

How many miles must we march?

I understood exactly what this group was about. They were chanting “Ahmadinajad ist ein Terrorist.”

Same group. If I translated their banner correctly, this was a group of Iranians who have fled the country and don’t much care for the leadership there. Something like, “Iran is not a safe/secure country”.

The police were everywhere and nowhere. They were not along the parade route at all, but if you went down a side street or a few blocks over you could find groups of them. Good job.

It really was a nice day!