Mayday – the celebration of the eight-hour working day – was first celebrated in South Africa in 1904, by white workers. By the 1980s, it had become a major moment for black trade unionists, whose rallies included groundbreaking poetry and plays.
These days, much of the Mayday fervour has been lost. And many South Africans, who may previously have gone out of their way to catch a Mayday rally, will probably spend Saturday collapsed in a heap.
Johannesburg city is fortunate, though, to have an interest group committed to using this key moment in working class history as a rallying cry. On Mayday, the Workers Library and Museum in Newtown kicks off with an ambitious, interdisciplinary event that spans the workers’ “holy month”.
Called the Zabalaza Worker Fest, it includes poetry, film, exhibitions, debates, song and dance. Its participants, in turn, include many who made their names in more turbulent times.
Unlike previous events of its kind, this year the festival has moved into some commercial venues, with a film festival being held at two Ster Kinekor complexes – Johannesburg’s Kine Centre and the Ster Kinekor cinemas in Dobsonville.
The second International Workers’ Library Film Festival runs for two weeks. Features shown focus on the tribulations of working people worldwide, and include Fools, The Full Monty, Brassed Off, Once Were Warriors, Jim Comes to Jo’burg and Nil by Mouth. Well known film-makers will discuss their works – these include Bekhi Peterson and Ramadan Suleman who made the recent feature Fools.
A video section will show some of the best recent documentaries, including Foreigner, Aliens or Broers and Nikolae Kirche.
A photography exhibition at the Workers’ Library will pay homage to deceased photographers Abdul Sharief and Maxwell Chikambu, and will open on May 5.
On May 22 the library will hold election awareness discussions and, finally, the festival will round off on May 29 with an afternoon of choral music, traditional dancing and theatre.
The major event of the festival will be a poetry afternoon held on Mayday itself, beginning at 2pm at Newtown’s Mega Music Warehouse. This will include readings by well known writers Nise Malange, Omar Mattera, Mi Hlatshwayo, Hugh Lewin, Nape Motana, Cassius Plaatjies, Thomas Ayeh and Lesego Rampolokeng..
The highlight of this event will be a session by world famous Jamaican dub-poet Mutabaruka who uses humour, rhythm and sponteneity to reflect on issues of colour and class.
For a full programme call (011) 834-2181
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