The Occupy movement that mobilized thousands of protestors last fall
was mostly quiet through the winter in New York, as both the cold and
the NYPD chased demonstrators
out of their makeshift camp in Zuccotti Park. But the movement
officially relaunched on May 1st in honor of International Workers’
Day, with organized protests taking place throughout the U.S. and with
Tom Morello, Das Racist and other musicians staging a May Day concert in
downtown Manhattan.
“I traveled 3,000 miles to march with you today,” Morello told a
diverse crowd of Occupiers during a ceremonial “mic check” in Bryant
Park. “It is an honor to march these streets with you, to sing these
songs with you, letting the powers that be know that we will be heard.”
Morello led a “guitarmy” of hundreds along Fifth Avenue from Bryant
Park down to Union Square. An Occupy Tumblr had already supplied the
setlist – including Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and tunes
from Morello’s own World Wide Rebel Songs LP – and
many had cheat sheets taped to the sides of their guitars, as they
strummed and sang protest songs along with the rocker. As the band of
marches inched its way into Union Square, a much larger rally commenced
featuring Das Racist, Dan Deacon, and Immortal Technique on stage.
