May Day: celebrating people's struggles and achievements for social and economic justice.

May Day is a name for various holidays celebrated on May 1st, or at the beginning of May. The most famous of these is International Workers' Day, an international holiday celebrated on May 1st in commemoration of the achievements of the labour movement and in remembrance of the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago, Illinois.

Glasgow prepares to celebrate the day with Maydaze: now in its ninth year, the event starts with the traditional Mayday Rally, and culminates in a family fun day on Glasgow Green. The programme includes high profile music acts, a showcase stage featuring some of Glasgow's best young performers, a children's activity tent, and a range of special outdoor activities.

If you want to celebrate the day in European style, then check which cities are taking part in EuroMayDay. This alternative celebration will take place in over twenty major European Capitals and aims to create visible opposition against the precarisation of labour and life and to champion the rights of net/temp/flex workers. The event demands social equality and income security for all, and the end all forms of flexploitation.

This year, Paris will be the symbol of the event for its recent demonstrations against the CPE law, but the main EuroMayDay Capital will remain Milan where the event first started in 2001. The Italian fashion Capital is preparing for its EuroMayDay with a huge demo that will involve different groups of workers and activists, among them the musicians from the local opera house and the bicycles of the Critical Mass movement.

If rights are what you are into, you can also turn May Day into a longer holiday and head to the European Social Forum (ESF) that this year takes place in Athens, Greece, from 4th to 7th May. During the annual ESF, social movements, trade unions, NGOs, peace and anti-imperialist groups, anti-racist and environmental movements from Europe and the world share their experiences and discuss themes linked to major European and global issues.

May Day 2006 is a time to come together and speak out about vital contemporary issues such as how to build a society centred on the human person rather than on capital and imperialism. Choose your May Day and then go out to celebrate the achievements of people's struggles for social and economic justice.