Photos: Eureka’s May Day Rally

On Friday, May 1, an estimated 250 people gathered at 5 p.m. at the Humboldt County Courthouse for a May Day protest jointly organized by the Humboldt-Del Norte Labor Council and Centro del Pueblo. Following the event, many marched along the sidewalks to the music of Bandemonium toward the Eureka Theater for a showing of Inglourious Basterds. (See Mark Larson’s photos below for highlights of the afternoon.)

The newly certified local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America served free tacos to attendees at a stall across the street. “We thought, ‘What better way to celebrate than to feed our union?'” said founding member Marlee Nelson.

Beside the taco table, a member of Centro del Pueblo’s rapid response team wore a safety vest and handed out cards with contact information. “I think it’s just insane we’re at the place now where people can be taken off the street and incarcerated. I feel like we learned this lesson in history,” she said, explaining why she joined the volunteer group and took the required safety and de-escalation training. “It’s really important that we support our neighbors and our community.”

On the corner by the courthouse flag, a pair of men held cardboard guillotines aloft. Steve, whose 3D construction included a basket with President Donald Trump’s head tumbling into it, said he feels the statement is justified. “The president is murdering the country, killing people for Israel for no reason,” he said, adding he doesn’t want to see another generation locked in war as his was. “He’s also a pedophile,” he added with a shrug. “Anyone who assaults kids doesn’t deserve to live.”

Noel, who came separately and has only seen Steve at rallies, laughed and said, “I’m just morbid,” and that his guillotine is meant as an “in-joke for people who know their history” and is aimed “against anyone too powerful to care about any of us. … They’re the ones getting away with violence and saying they don’t want violence.”

Speakers included Mo Desir, co-founder of Black Humboldt, spoke on the intertwined history of racial and labor struggles in the U.S., including the current “chipping away” of rights. But she leaned into a hopeful message: “History tells us that change is often slow, until it is suddenly undeniable. History tells us that movements are built not just by the loudest voices, but by the consistent ones. The ones who keep showing up.”

Another speaker named Maria took a moment to address the United Farm Workers Union and recent allegations of sexual abuse against Cesar Chavez. “I want to remind us that one person does not a movement make,” she added, emphasizing the need to stand with survivors and recognize the importance of women in the movement, like Dolores Huerta. “It’s super impossible to gain the rights of some people while ignoring the rights of others.”

Brenda Perez, executive director of Centro del Pueblo, told the crowd, “My friends, our rights have never been given to us. We have taken them.” She emphasized the role of allies in preserving the rights and dignity of their coworkers throught resistance, language interpretation and saying, “Fuck ICE,” when the time comes. “We are not alone,” she said. “We go [into] every room together.”

After the speeches, Lisa Jouaneh of the Humboldt-Del Norte Labor Council said, “May Day isn’t really a known day of celebration anymore,” and she’s pleased to see it coming back. “It’s heartening hearing all the honks and cheering. Some of us coming home from work, some of us going to work.”

As for the movie the council selected for the evening, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Jouaneh said, “It was suggested and it seemed appropriate. … as I recall, there’s some killing of Nazis that seems pretty cathartic.” It’s a good time, she noted, for a movie about “standing against an authoritarian regime.”

Once the band and marchers made their way through the lobby and into the seats of the partially restored theater, which itself just predates the events of the bloody action movie, the crowd was indeed ready for catharsis. The crowd sent up boos for convicted sexual predator Harvey Weinstein’s name in the opening credits, and moments of tense silence as soldiers on screen sought out Jewish people in hiding and demanded papers in the street. It gave way to cheers, gallows humor and guffaws as Third Reich villains were batted and blown away one after another, and finally, raucous applause.