Re: The Farce of Julyjohn_b_cannonJuly 8 2008, 02:22:50 UTC
I haven't heard of "No Thanksgiving," actually, though a lot of people out here celebrate Indigenous People's Day on the day of Thanksgiving. I like that tradition, actually, as it is something positive to celebrate, unlike just refusing a holiday. One year I went to Alcatraz before dawn for a pretty cool ceremony. (I realize Columbus Day is also Indigenous People's Day....) We still went and ate turkey afterwards. I'm not sure if that was contradictory or not.
I like the holidays you mention - May First (which I like to call International Workers Day rather than the pagan-inflected "May Day") - has a chance to be something now that immigrants (many from countries that celebrate it) have made it Immigrant Rights Day. Juneteenth could be much bigger, and it would be interesting to see non-Black folks think through how to celebrate it more. My idea for a "Reconstruction Day" of some kind is not really to have a holiday that is focused on the unrealized democratic potential of the US ... Lunchmaker is probably right that that is close enough to Juneteenth thematically that it should be at a different time of the year.
Re: The Farce of Julyjohn_b_cannonJuly 8 2008, 21:11:03 UTC
Yeah, Thanksgiving as such is probably less salvageable than the Fourth of July in my opinion for the Left. Although there's that funny religious / familial slide - people who are primarily giving thanks for being with family or friends and for whatever they have to be thankful for in their lives, rather than colonial expropriation. I know tons of leftist and left-leaning people in the Bay Area who "celebrate" in this way.
Re: The Farce of JulysocialisthoboJuly 21 2008, 18:59:03 UTC
I don't know hoe July 26th, Cubam Independence day slipped my mind here! Especially since I mentioned Che. Yesterday was the anniversary of the Sandinista's Revolutionary triumph over Somoza: http://chachachana.livejournal.com/365851.html?mode=reply.
I like the holidays you mention - May First (which I like to call International Workers Day rather than the pagan-inflected "May Day") - has a chance to be something now that immigrants (many from countries that celebrate it) have made it Immigrant Rights Day. Juneteenth could be much bigger, and it would be interesting to see non-Black folks think through how to celebrate it more. My idea for a "Reconstruction Day" of some kind is not really to have a holiday that is focused on the unrealized democratic potential of the US ... Lunchmaker is probably right that that is close enough to Juneteenth thematically that it should be at a different time of the year.
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