title: Nixtamalization

text: In the United States, European settlers did not always adopt the nixtamalization process, except in the case of hominy grits, though maize became a staple among the poor of the southern states. This led to endemic pellagra in poor populations throughout the southern US in the early 20th century. A more varied diet and fortification of wheat flour, the other staple food, have essentially eliminated this deficiency.


title: Nixtamalization

text: In the first step of nixtamalization, kernels of dried maize are cooked in an alkaline solution at or near the mixture's boiling point. After cooking, the maize is steeped in the cooking liquid for a period. The length of time for which the maize is boiled and soaked varies according to local traditions and the type of food being prepared, with cooking times ranging from a few minutes to an hour, and soaking times from a few minutes to about a day.


title: Nixtamalization

text: During cooking and soaking, a number of chemical changes take place in the grains of maize. Because plant cell wall components, including hemicellulose and pectin, are highly soluble in alkaline solutions, the kernels soften and their pericarps (hulls) loosen. The grain hydrates and absorbs calcium or potassium (depending on the alkali used) from the cooking solution. Starches swell and gelatinize, and some starches disperse into the liquid. Certain chemicals from the germ are released that allow the cooked grains to be ground more easily, yet make dough made from the grains less likely to tear and break down. Cooking changes the grain's protein matrix, which makes proteins and nutrients from the endosperm of the kernel more available to the human body.


title: Nixtamalization

text: After cooking, the alkaline liquid (known as nejayote), containing dissolved hull, starch, and other corn matter, is decanted and discarded (or sometimes used for making amate bark paper). The kernels are washed thoroughly of remaining nejayote, which has an unpleasant flavor. The pericarp is then removed, leaving the endosperm of the grain with or without the germ, depending on the process. This hulling is performed by hand, in traditional or very small-scale preparation, or mechanically, in larger scale or industrial production.


title: Nixtamalization

text: The prepared grain is called hominy or nixtamal. Nixtamal has many uses, contemporary and historic. Whole nixtamal may be used fresh or dried for later use. Whole nixtamal is used in the preparation of pozole, menudo, and other foods. Ground fresh nixtamal is made into "masa" (nixtamal dough) and used to make tortillas, tamales, and arepas. Dried and ground, it is called "masa harina" or instant "masa" flour, and is reconstituted and used like "masa".


title: Nixtamalization

text: The term hominy may refer to whole, coarsely ground, or finely ground nixtamal, or to a cooked porridge (also called samp) prepared from any of these.


title: Nixtamalization

text: An alternative process for use in industrial settings has been developed known as enzymatic nixtamalization, which uses protease enzymes to accelerate the changes that occur in traditional nixtamalization, a technique borrowed from modern corn wet-milling. In this process, corn or corn meal is first partially hydrated in hot water, so that enzymes can penetrate the grain, then soaked briefly (for approximately 30 minutes) at in an alkaline solution containing protease enzymes. A secondary enzymatic digestion may follow to further dissolve the pericarp. The resulting nixtamal is ground with little or no washing or hulling.


title: Nixtamalization

text: By pre-soaking the maize, minimizing the alkali used to adjust the pH of the alkaline solution, reducing the cooking temperature, accelerating processing, and reusing excess processing liquids, enzymatic nixtamalization can reduce the use of energy and water, lower nejayote (alkaline wastewater) production, decrease maize lost in processing, and shorten the production time (to approximately four hours) compared to traditional nixtamalization.


title: Nixtamalization

text: Effects of enzymatic nixtamalization on flavor, aroma, nutritional value, and cost, compared to traditional methods, are not well documented.


title: Nixtamalization

text: The primary nutritional benefits of nixtamalization arise from the alkaline processing involved. These conditions convert corn's hemicellulose-bound niacin ("niacytin") to free niacin, making it available for absorption into the body, thus helping to prevent pellagra.


title: Nixtamalization

text: Secondary benefits can arise from the grain's absorption of minerals from the alkali used or from the vessels used in preparation. These effects can increase calcium (by 750%, with 85% available for absorption), iron, copper, and zinc.


title: Nixtamalization

text: Lastly, nixtamalization significantly deactivates (by 90–94%) mycotoxins produced by "Fusarium verticillioides" and "Fusarium proliferatum", molds that commonly infect maize, the toxins of which are putative carcinogens.


title: Mark Hollis

text: Mark David Hollis (4 January 1955 – February 2019) was an English musician and singer-songwriter. He achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the 1980s and 1990s as the co-founder, lead singer and principal songwriter of the band Talk Talk. Hollis wrote or co-wrote most of Talk Talk's music—including hits like "It's My Life" and "Life's What You Make It"—and in later works developed an experimental, contemplative style.


title: Mark Hollis

text: Beginning in 1981 as a synth-pop group with a New Romantic image, Talk Talk's sound became increasingly adventurous under Hollis's direction. For their third album, "The Colour of Spring"(1986), Talk Talk adopted an art pop sound that won critical and commercial favour; it remains their biggest commercial success. The band's final two albums, "Spirit of Eden"(1988) and "Laughing Stock"(1991), were radical departures from their early work, taking influence from jazz, folk, classical and experimental music. While they were commercial failures in their own time, these albums were retrospectively highly critically acclaimed and have come to be seen as early landmarks of post-rock music.


title: Mark Hollis

text: After Talk Talk disbanded in 1991, Hollis returned to music in 1998 with a self-titled solo album, which continued the direction of Talk Talk's sound but in a more minimal, sparse, acoustic style. Following the release of his only solo album, Hollis largely retired from the recording industry. He died, aged 64, in February 2019.


title: Mark Hollis

text: Hollis was born on 4 January 1955 in Tottenham, London. He had two brothers, one elder and one younger. Little is known about his early life as Hollis was a reluctant interviewee throughout his career. He attended Tollington School, a now-defunct grammar school in Muswell Hill, London. In one interview, he claimed to have quit pursuing an education before he had completed his ; in another, he said he had taken a course in child psychology at the University of Sussex but dropped out after a year and a half. Between school and the launch of his music career, he worked in factories and as a laboratory technician. Reflecting on this period in his life, he later said, "I could never wait to get home and start writing songs and lyrics. All day long I'd be jotting ideas down on bits of paper and just waiting for the moment when I could put it all down on tape."


title: Mark Hollis

text: Ed Hollis, Mark's older brother, mentored Mark and introduced him to the music industry. Ed was a disc jockey, producer and manager of several bands, including the pub-rock group Eddie and the Hot Rods. With Ed's encouragement and assistance, Mark formed his first band, The Reaction. Emerging in the post-punk era, the Reaction's sound reflected Hollis's interest in early garage rock as found on the 1972 compilation "". In a later interview, Hollis said, "Up until punk there's no way I could have imagined I could get a record deal because I didn't think I could play, but punk said, 'If you think you can play you can play.'"


title: Mark Hollis

text: In 1977, The Reaction recorded a demo for Island Records. A song from the demo, "Talk Talk Talk Talk", featured on the punk compilation "Streets", released by the record-store chain and fledgling label Beggars Banquet. Written by Hollis, "Talk Talk Talk Talk" is an early version of Talk Talk's 1982 second single, "Talk Talk". George Gimarc noted the Reaction's rendition of the song is about twice as fast and has "a completely different feel" than the 1982 version. Island released the Reaction's only single, "I Can't Resist", in 1978. George Gimarc likened "I Can't Resist" to early works by the Hollies and the Who. The Reaction disbanded the following year.


title: Mark Hollis

text: Around this time, Hollis's musical outlook broadened considerably. He began to listen to progressive rock like King Crimson and Pink Floyd, which were considered unfashionable in the punk era. His brother Ed introduced him to a wider range of music including jazz, particularly John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. Miles Davis's collaborations with arranger Gil Evans on "Porgy and Bess"(1959) and "Sketches of Spain"(1960) had a lasting impact on Hollis; he later said Davis and Evans's work together "has space, tight arrangement and technique but it also has movement within it" and said those two albums "were extremely important albums to me then and they still are, because the values they work with are faultless."


title: Mark Hollis

text: Hollis was best known for being the lead singer and primary songwriter of the band Talk Talk between 1981 and 1991. He was praised for his "always remarkable voice" and, along with Talk Talk's producer Tim Friese-Greene, took the lead in evolving the band's style from New Romantic into the more experimental and contemplative style that later became known as post-rock. Hollis has been credited with saying: "Before you play two notes, learn how to play one note. And don't play one note unless you've got a reason to play it." He also commented: "The silence is above everything, and I would rather hear one note than I would two, and I would rather hear silence than I would one note." In 1982, he cited his greatest influences as Burt Bacharach and William Burroughs.


title: Mark Hollis

text: Talk Talk disbanded in 1991. In 1998, Hollis released an eponymous solo debut album, "Mark Hollis". In an interview at the time, he said: "To me the ultimate ambition is to make music that doesn't have a use by date, that goes beyond your own time." He also said: "Technique has never been an important thing to me. Feeling always has been, and always will be, above technique."


title: Mark Hollis

text: According to a 2008 article in "The Guardian", he then largely retired from making music. He stated about his decision to retire from performing, "I choose for my family. Maybe others are capable of doing it, but I can't go on tour and be a good dad at the same time." Despite Hollis' absence from the public eye, he continued to be mentioned in the music press as an example of an artist who refused to sacrifice his artistic ambition for commercial success, as a yardstick for current artists and one of the most important musicians of his generation. His withdrawal from the public continued to fascinate music critics. By the time his solo album was released, Hollis had moved back from the countryside to London in order to provide his two sons with a more cosmopolitan environment.


title: Mark Hollis

text: In 2004, Hollis resurfaced briefly to receive a Broadcast Music Inc. Award for having written "It's My Life". In 2012, a piece of specially commissioned music by Hollis titled "ARB Section 1", was used in the television series "Boss".


title: Mark Hollis

text: Hollis performed the solo track "Piano" on the 1998 minimalist album "AV 1", by Phill Brown and Dave Allinson, under the pseudonym John Cope. This was later included on the 2001 "Talk Talk" compilation album "Missing Pieces". He played piano on and co-wrote the track "Chaos" on the 1998 trip hop album "Psyence Fiction" by Unkle, later asking for his name to be removed from the album credits. He also co-produced and arranged two tracks ("The Gown" and "Big Mouth") on Anja Garbarek's 2001 album "Smiling & Waving", as well as playing bass guitar, piano and melodica.


title: Mark Hollis

text: From 1998 till 2017, Hollis lived in Wimbledon, London with his wife Flick (a teacher) and their two sons, before moving to Heathfield, East Sussex where he lived until his death. Hollis' desire to spend more time with his family was a major reason that Talk Talk stopped touring after 1986, and his reason for retiring from the music industry in 1998.


title: Mark Hollis

text: Hollis died from cancer in February 2019, aged 64. Initial reports of his death included a tweet from his cousin-in-law, the paediatrician Anthony Costello, and a tribute by Talk Talk's bassist Paul Webb, before his former manager confirmed Hollis's death to the media on 26 February.


title: Mark Hollis

text: Further tributes to Hollis included Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, The The, Steven Wilson, Alexis Taylor, Andy Kim, Charlotte Church, Flea, Roland Orzabal, Robin Pecknold, Peter Gabriel, Ryley Walker, Peter Hammill, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Marc Almond, Elijah Wood, Kirin J. Callinan, Chris Baio and Broken Social Scene.


title: Mark Hollis

text: The National Gallery of Ireland holds a picture entitled "The Day I Heard that Mark Hollis had Died" (Self Portrait), by Colin Davidson.


title: International Workers' Day

text: International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, or the first Monday in May.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Traditionally, 1 May is the date of the European spring festival of May Day. In 1889, the Marxist International Socialist Congress met in Paris and established the Second International as a successor to the earlier International Workingmen's Association. They adopted a resolution for a "great international demonstration" in support of working-class demands for the eight-hour day. The 1 May date was chosen by the American Federation of Labor to commemorate a general strike in the United States, which had begun on 1 May 1886 and culminated in the Haymarket affair four days later. The demonstration subsequently became a yearly event. The 1904 Sixth Conference of the Second International, called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the eight-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace".


title: International Workers' Day

text: The 1st of May, or first Monday in May, is a national public holiday in many countries, in most cases as "International Workers' Day" or a similar name. Some countries celebrate a Labour Day on other dates significant to them, such as the United States and Canada, which celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September.


title: International Workers' Day

text: On 21 April 1856, Australian stonemasons in Victoria undertook a mass stoppage as part of the eight-hour workday movement. It became a yearly commemoration, inspiring American workers to have their first stoppage. 1 May was chosen to be International Workers' Day to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. In that year beginning on 1 May, there was a general strike for the eight-hour workday. On 4 May, the police acted to disperse a public assembly in support of the strike when an unidentified person threw a bomb. The police responded by firing on the workers. The event led to the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; sixty police officers were injured, as were one hundred and fifteen civilians. Hundreds of labour leaders and sympathizers were later rounded-up and four were executed by hanging, after a trial that was seen as a miscarriage of justice. The following day on 5 May, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the state militia fired on a crowd of strikers killing seven, including a schoolboy and a man feeding chickens in his yard.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In 1889, the first meeting of the Second International was held in Paris, following a proposal by that called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. On 1 May 1890, the call encouraged May Day demonstrations took place in the United States and most countries in Europe. Demonstrations were also held in Chile and Peru. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891. Subsequently, the May Day riots of 1894 occurred. The International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904 called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." The congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organisations of all countries to stop work on 1 May, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers."


title: International Workers' Day

text: In the United States and Canada, a September holiday, called Labor or Labour Day, was first proposed in the 1880s. In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed a Labor Day holiday on the first Monday of September while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union (CLU) of New York. Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882, after witnessing the annual labour festival held in Toronto, Canada. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty US states officially celebrated Labor Day. Thus by 1887 in North America, Labour Day was an established, official holiday but in September, not on 1 May.


title: International Workers' Day

text: May Day has been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups since the Second International. May Day is one of the most important holidays in communist countries such as China, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union countries. May Day celebrations in these countries typically feature elaborate workforce parades, including displays of military hardware and soldiers.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated 1 May to "Saint Joseph the Worker". Saint Joseph is the patron saint of workers and craftsmen, among others.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Eastern Bloc countries such as the Soviet Union and most countries of central and eastern Europe that were under the rule of Marxist-Leninist governments held official May Day celebrations in every town and city, during which party leaders greeted the crowds. Workers carried banners with political slogans and many companies decorated their company cars. The biggest celebration of 1 May usually occurred in the capital of a particular socialist country and usually included a military display and the presence of the president and the secretary general of the party. During the Cold War, May Day became the occasion for large military parades in Red Square by the Soviet Union and attended by the top leaders of the Kremlin, especially the Politburo, atop Lenin's Mausoleum. It became an enduring symbol of that period. In Poland, since 1982, party leaders led the official parades. In Hungary, May Day was officially celebrated under the communist rule, and remains a public holiday. Traditionally, the day was marked by dancing around designated "May trees". Some factories in socialist countries were named in honour of International Workers' Day, such as 1 Maja Coal Mine in , Poland. In East Germany, the holiday was officially known as "" ("International Day of the Struggle and Celebration of the Workers for Peace and Socialism"); similar names were used in other Eastern Bloc countries.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Egypt, 1 May is known as Labour Day and is considered a paid holiday. The President of Egypt traditionally presides over the official May Day celebrations.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is a holiday in Ghana. It is a day to celebrate all workers across the country. It is celebrated with a parade by trade unions and labour associations. The parades are normally addressed by the Secretary General of the trade union congress and by regional secretaries in the regions. Workers from different workplaces through banners and T-shirts identify their companies.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Kenya, 1 May is a public holiday and celebrated as Labour Day. It is a big day addressed by the leaders of the workers' umbrella union body – the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU). The Cabinet Secretary in charge of Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (and occasionally the President) address the workers. Each year, the government approves (and increases) the minimum wage on Labour Day.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Libya, International Workers' Day was declared a national public holiday by the National Transitional Council in 2012 the first year of the post-Qaddafi era.


title: International Workers' Day

text: On 1 May 1978, then Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi addressed the nation in the capital city of Tripoli calling for administrative and also economic reforms across Libya.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Mauritius, 1 May is a public holiday celebrated as Labour Day. It was celebrated for the first time in Mauritius on 1 May 1938, and for the first time as an official public holiday on 1 May 1950. This was thanks largely to the efforts of Guy Rozemont, Dr. Maurice Curé, Pandit Sahadeo and Emmanuel Anquetil, as a day of special significance for Mauritian workers who for many years had struggled for their social, political and economic rights. And, as we all can see for ourselves, that struggle is a never-ending one.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Since 1981, 1 May is a public holiday in Nigeria. On the day, people gather while, traditionally, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress and other politicians address workers.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In South Africa, Workers' Day has been celebrated as a national public holiday on 1 May each year since 1995. May Day started to get more attention by African workers in 1928, which saw thousands of workers in a mass march. In 1950, the South African Communist Party called for a strike on 1 May in response to the Suppression of Communism Act declaring it illegal. Police violence caused the death of 18 people across Soweto. It has its origins within the historical struggles of workers and their trade unions internationally for solidarity between working people in their struggles to win fair employment standards and more importantly, to establish a culture of human and worker rights and to ensure that these are enshrined in international law and the national law.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In 1986, the hundredth anniversary of the Haymarket affair, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) called for the government to establish an official holiday on 1 May. It also called for workers to stay home from work that day. COSATU was joined by a number of prominent anti-apartheid organizations, including the National Education Crisis Committee and the United Democratic Front (South Africa). The call was also supported by a number of organizations regarded as conservative, such as the African Teachers' Association of South Africa, the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce, and the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa, an organization that represented employers in the metal industries. More than 1,500,000 workers observed the call and stayed home, as did thousands of students, taxi drivers, vendors, shopkeepers, domestic workers, and self-employed people. In the following years, 1 May became a popular, if not official, holiday. As a result of the killings on May Day 1950 and the success of COSATU's call in 1986, 1 May became associated with resistance to the apartheid government. After its first universal election in 1994, 1 May was adopted as a public holiday, celebrated for the first time in 1995. On its website, the city of Durban states that the holiday "celebrate[s] the role played by trade unions and other labour movements in the fight against South Africa's apartheid regime".


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Argentina, Workers' Day is an official holiday on 1 May, and is frequently associated with labour unions. Celebrations related to labour are held including demonstrations in major cities.


title: International Workers' Day

text: The first Workers' Day celebration was in 1890, when Argentinian unions organized several celebrations in Buenos Aires and other cities, at the same time that the international labour movement celebrated it for the first time. In 1930, it was established as an official holiday by the Radical Civic Union president Hipólito Yrigoyen. The day became particularly significant during the worker-oriented government of Juan Domingo Perón (1946–55). He permitted and endorsed national recognition of the holiday during his tenure in office.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Brazil, Workers' Day is an official holiday that is celebrated on 1 May, and unions commemorate it with day-long public events.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Canada, Labour Day is celebrated in September. In 1894, the government of Prime Minister John Sparrow David Thompson declared the first Monday in September as Canada's official Labour Day. Labor Day in the United States is on the same day.


title: International Workers' Day

text: May Day is however marked by unions and leftists. It is celebrated on 1 May. May Day is an important day of trade union and community group protest in the province of Quebec (though not a provincial statutory holiday). Celebration of the International Labour Day (or "International Workers' Day"; ) in Montreal goes back to 1906, organized by the Mutual Aid circle. The tradition had a renaissance at the time of a mass strike in 1972. On the 1973 May Day, the first contemporary demonstration was organized by the major trade union confederations; over 30,000 trade unionists took part in this demonstration. Further, it is the customary date on which the minimum wage rises.


title: International Workers' Day

text: President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo decreed 1 May a national holiday in 1931, in honour of the dignity of workers. All stores and public services must close for the entire day, and the major trade unions of Chile, represented in the national organization Workers' United Center of Chile (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores), organize rallies during the morning hours, with festivities and cookouts in the later part of the day, in all the major cities of Chile. During these rallies, representatives of the major left-wing political parties speak to the assemblies on the issues of the day concerning workers' rights.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May has long been recognized as Labour Day and almost all workers respect it as a national holiday. As in many other countries, it is common to see rallies by the trade unions in all over the main regional capitals of the country.


title: International Workers' Day

text: First celebrated in 1913, labor day is a public holiday, and at the same time an important day for government activities. On this day, the President of Costa Rica gives a speech to the citizens and the legislature of Costa Rica about the duties that were undertaken through the previous year. The president of the legislature is also chosen by its members.


title: International Workers' Day

text: This day is known as Labour Day in Cuba. People march in the streets, showing their support to the Cuban Communist government and the Cuban Revolution during the whole morning.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is a national holiday known as Labour Day and celebrated by workers' parades and demonstration.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Ecuador, 1 May is an official public holiday known as Labour Day. People do not go to work and spend time with their relatives or gather for demonstrations.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is a federal holiday. It also commemorates the Cananea Strike of 1906 in the Mexican state of Sonora.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In the United States, a "Labor Day", celebrated on the first Monday of each September was given increasing state recognition from 1887, and became an official federal holiday in 1894.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In 1947, 1 May was established as Loyalty Day by the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars as a way to counter communist influence and recruitment at May Day rallies. Loyalty Day was celebrated across the country with patriotic parades and ceremonies, however the growing conflict over U.S. involvement in Vietnam detracted from the popularity of these celebrations. In 1958, the American Bar Association campaigned to have 1 May designated as Law Day, which was acknowledged in 1961 by a joint resolution of Congress. Law Day exercises, such as mock trials and courthouse tours, are often sponsored by the American Bar Association.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Unions and Political organizations including anarchist groups and socialist and communist parties have kept the international May Day tradition alive with rallies and demonstrations. In 1919 especially large demonstrations took place, and violence greeted the normally peaceful parades in Boston, New York, and Cleveland and a number of people were killed. In Milwaukee, an annual commemoration takes place at the site of the killing of seven workers during an 8-hour march. Some of the largest examples of this occurred during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when hundreds of thousands of workers marched in May Day parades in New York's Union Square, while cities like Chicago and Duluth saw large demonstrations organized by the Communist Party.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In 2006, 1 May was chosen by mostly Latino immigrant groups in the United States as the day for the Great American Boycott, a general strike of undocumented immigrant workers and supporters to protest H.R. 4437, immigration reform legislation that they felt was draconian.


title: International Workers' Day

text: From 10 April to 1 May of that year, immigrant families in the U.S. called for immigrant rights, workers' rights and amnesty for undocumented workers. They were joined by socialist and other leftist organizations on 1 May. On 1 May 2007, a mostly peaceful demonstration in Los Angeles in support of undocumented immigrant workers ended with a widely televised dispersal by police officers. In March 2008, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union announced that dockworkers will move no cargo at any West Coast ports on 1 May 2008, as a protest against the continuation of the Iraq War and the diversion of resources from domestic needs.


title: International Workers' Day

text: On 1 May 2012, members of Occupy Wall Street and labor unions held protests together in a number of cities in the United States and Canada to commemorate May Day and to protest the state of the economy and economic inequality.


title: International Workers' Day

text: On 1 May 2017, immigrants' rights advocates, labor unions and leftists held protests against the immigration and economic policies of President Donald Trump in cities throughout the US, Chicago and Los Angeles having some of the largest marches.


title: International Workers' Day

text: On 1 May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, "workers at Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, Walmart, FedEx, Target, and Shipt say they will walk off the job ... to protest their employers’ failure to provide basic protections for frontline workers who are risking and losing their lives at work." Additionally, on the same day, there will be a rent strike, the largest in nearly a century.


title: International Workers' Day

text: On 1 May 2021, Black Bloc protesters clashed with police in Oakland & Portland. Numerous other May Day activities occurred across the country.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Uruguay, 1 May – Workers' Day – is an official holiday. Even when it is associated with labour unions, almost all workers tend to respect it. Since the late 1990s, the main event takes place at the First of May Square in Montevideo.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is an official holiday in Venezuela. is celebrated on 1 May in Venezuela since 1936, but from 1938 to 1945 it was held on 24 July, by an order of Eleazar López Contreras. However, Isaías Medina Angarita changed it back to 1 May in 1945.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is a statutory holiday in the People's Republic of China. It was a three-day holiday until 2008, but was only one day between 2008 and 2019, and was restored to three days after 2019. However, the actual time off is often longer than the time off in the regulations, and the extra time off is usually supplemented by another two weekends, but since the extra time is not under an official holiday, the extra days must be "made up" by working on the preceding or following weekend. For example, in 2013, 1 May fell on Wednesday. Most workplaces, including all government offices, took Monday 29 April, Tuesday 30 April, and Wednesday 1 May off. As the first two days were not statutory holidays they had to be "made up" by working the preceding weekend (27 and 28 April).


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is known as Labor Day in Taiwan, an official holiday, though not everybody gets a day off. Students and teachers do not have this day off.


title: International Workers' Day

text: May Day is not officially designated by the Japanese government as a national holiday, but as it lies between other national holidays, it is a day off work for the vast majority of Japanese workers. Many employers give it as a day off, and otherwise workers take it as "paid leave". 1 May occurs during "Golden Week", together with 29 April ("Shōwa Day"), 3 May ("Constitution Memorial Day"), 4 May ("Greenery Day") and 5 May ("Children's Day"). Workers generally take the day off work not so much to join street rallies or labour union gatherings, but more to go on holiday for several consecutive days (in Japanese corporate culture, taking weekdays off for personal pleasure is widely frowned upon).


title: International Workers' Day

text: Some major labour unions organize rallies and demonstrations in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Japan has a long history of labour activism and has had a communist and socialist party in the Diet since 1945. In 2008, the National Confederation of Trade Unions ("Zenrōren") held a rally in Yoyogi Park attended by 44,000 participants, while the National Trade Unions Council ("Zenrōkyō") held its May Day rally at Hibiya Park. "Rengō", the largest Japanese trade union, held its May Day rally on the following Saturday (3 May), allegedly to distance itself from the more radical labour unions.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, 1 May is known as International Workers' Day, and is a public holiday. Celebrations, local meetings and rallies are held every year throughout the country to honor the holiday. The Rungnado May Day Stadium in the capital of Pyongyang is named in honor of the holiday.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In the Republic of Korea, 1 May is known simply as "Workers' Day". It is not a public holiday, but a paid holiday for workers by the .


title: International Workers' Day

text: Labour Day () is an official holiday celebrated on 1 May and thus schools and most businesses are closed.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Labour Day (), officially called (state's holiday), is a public holiday in Austria. Left parties, especially social democrats organize celebrations with marches and speeches in all major cities. In smaller towns and villages those marches are held the night before.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Belgium, Labour Day (, , , ), is observed on 1 May and is an official holiday since 1948. Various socialist and communist organizations hold parades and other events in different cities.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1 and 2 May (Bosnian and / , ) are an official holiday and day-off for public bodies and schools at the national level. Most people celebrate this holiday by visiting natural parks and resorts. Additionally, in some places public events are organized. In its capital city, Sarajevo, 12 and 13 June are also celebrated as Labour day due to its many natural parks and springs.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Labour Day is one of the public holidays in Bulgaria, where it is known as "Labour Day and International Workers' Solidarity Day" () and celebrated annually on 1 May. The first attempt to celebrate it was in 1890 by the Bulgarian Typographical Association. In 1939, Labour Day was declared an official holiday. Since 1945 the communist authorities in the People's Republic of Bulgaria began to celebrate the holiday every year. After the end of socialism in Bulgaria in 1989 Labour Day continues to be an official and public holiday, but state authorities are not committed to the organization of mass events.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Croatia, 1 May is a national holiday. Many public events are organized and held all over the country where bean soup is given out to all people as a symbol of a real workers' dish. Red carnations are also handed out to symbolise the origin of the day. In Zagreb, the capital, a major gathering is in Maksimir Park, which is located in the east part of Zagreb. In Split, city on the coast, people go to Marjan, a park-forest at the western end of Split peninsula.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Cyprus, 1 May () is considered as an official Public Holiday (Labour Day). In general, all stores remain closed in public and private sector. The Labor Union and Syndicates celebrate with various festivals and events across the country.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Denmark, 1 May is not an official holiday, but a variety of individuals, mostly in the public sector, construction industry, and production industry, get a half or a whole day off. It was first celebrated in Copenhagen in 1890. The location of the first celebration, the Fælledparken, still plays an important part today with speeches by politicians and trade unionists to mark the occasion. Many other events are also held around the country to commemorate the day.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Estonia, 1 May is a public holiday and celebrated as part of May Day (Kevadpüha). It also coincides with Walpurgis Day (volbripäev).


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Finland, 1 May is an official and national holiday. Apart from Workers' Day (officially: , "day of Finnish labour"), it is also celebrated as a feast of students, and spring, called or Walpurgis Night.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In France, 1 May is a public holiday. It is, in fact, the only day of the year when employees are legally obliged to be given leave, save professions that cannot be interrupted due to their nature (such as workers in hospitals and public transport). Demonstrations and marches are a Labour Day tradition in France, where trade unions organize parades in major cities to defend workers' rights.


title: International Workers' Day

text: It is also customary to offer a lily of the valley to friends or family. This custom dates back to 1561, when king Charles IX, aged 10, waiting for his accession to the throne, gave a lily of the valley to all ladies present. Today, the fiscal administration exempts individuals and workers' organizations from any tax or administrative duties related to the sales of lilies of the valley, provided they are gathered from the wild, and not bought to be resold.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In April 1933, the recently installed Nazi government declared 1 May the "Day of National Work", an official state holiday, and announced that all celebrations were to be organized by the government. Any separate celebrations by Communists, Social Democrats or labour unions were banned. After World War II, 1 May remained a state holiday in both East and West Germany. In communist East Germany, workers were "de facto" required to participate in large state-organized parades on May Day. Today in Germany it is simply called "Labour Day" (), and there are numerous demonstrations and celebrations by independent workers' organizations. Today, Berlin witnesses yearly demonstrations on May Day, the largest organised by labour unions, political parties, the far left and the leftist .


title: International Workers' Day

text: Since 1987, May Day has also become known for riots in some districts of Berlin. After police actions against radical leftists in that year's annual demonstrations, the Autonomen scattered and sought cover at the ongoing annual street fair in Kreuzberg. Three years prior to the reunification of Germany, violent protests would only take place in the former West Berlin. The protesters began tipping over police cars, violently resisting arrest, and began building barricades after the police withdrew due to the unforeseen resistance. Cars were set on fire, shops plundered and burned to the ground. The police eventually ended the riots the following night. These violent forms of protests by the radical left later increasingly involved participants without political motivation.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Annual street fairs have proven an effective way to prevent riots, and May Day in 2005 and 2006 have been among the most peaceful known to Berlin in nearly 25 years. In recent years, neo-Nazis and other groups on the far right, such as the National Democratic Party of Germany, have used the day to schedule public demonstrations, often leading to clashes with left-wing protesters, which turned especially violent in Leipzig in 1998 and 2005.


title: International Workers' Day

text: May Day violence flared up again in 2010. After an approved far-right demonstration was blocked by leftists, a parade by an estimated 10,000 leftists and anarchists turned violent and resulted in an active response by the Berlin Police.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Greece 1 May is an optional public holiday. The Ministry of Labour retains the right to classify it as an official public holiday on an annual basis, and it customarily does so. The day is called (, "Workers' 1 May") and celebrations are marked by demonstrations in which left-wing political parties, anti-authority groups, and workers' unions participate.


title: International Workers' Day

text: On May Day in 2010, there were major protests all over Greece, most notably Athens and Thessaloniki, by many left, anarchist and communist supporters and some violent clashes with riot police who were sent out to contain the protesters. They opposed economic reforms, an end to job losses and wage cuts in the face of the government's proposals of massive public spending cuts. These reforms are to fall in line with the IMF-EU-ECB loan proposals, which demand that Greece liberalize its economy and cut its public spending and private sector wages, which many believe will decrease living standards.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Hungary celebrates 1 May as a national holiday, with open-air festivities and fairs all over the country. Many towns raise May poles and festivals with various themes are organized around the holiday. Left-wing parties and trade unions hold public rallies commemorating Labour Day.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Iceland the Labour Day () is a public holiday. The first demonstration for workers rights in Iceland occurred in 1923. A parade composed of trade unions and other groups marches through towns and cities across the country and speeches are delivered. However, some private businesses are open, mainly in the capital.


title: International Workers' Day

text: The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) marks May Day with rallies take place in Belfast and Dublin and other events such as lectures, concerts and film screenings also take place around a wider May Day festival. The first Monday in May has been a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland since 1994 and in Northern Ireland since 1978. In the Republic the public holiday was demanded by the ICTU and proposed by the Labour Party in negotiating its 1992–94 coalition government with Fianna Fáil, and marked the centenary of the ICTU's predecessor, the Irish Trades Union Congress. The public holiday has no official designation, as "Workers' Day" or otherwise. In 2005, Labour's Ruairi Quinn condemned, as a slight to workers, an alleged Fianna Fáil proposal to replace the May holiday with one on 24 April commemorating the 1916 Rising; in fact the proposal was for an extra holiday.


title: International Workers' Day

text: The first May Day celebration in Italy took place in 1890. It started initially as an attempt to celebrate workers' achievements in their struggle for their rights and for better social and economic conditions. It was abolished under the Fascist regime and immediately restored after the Second World War. (During the fascist period, a "Holiday of the Italian Labour" () was celebrated on 21 April, the date of , when Rome was allegedly founded.) May Day is now an important celebration in Italy and is a national holiday regardless of what day of the week it falls. The ("1st of May Concert"), organized by Italian labour unions in Rome in Piazza di Porta San Giovanni has become an important event in recent years. Every year the concert is attended by a large audience of mostly young people and involves the participation of many famous bands and songwriters, lasting from 15:00 until midnight. The concert is usually broadcast live by Rai 3.


title: International Workers' Day

text: First May Day is an official public holiday celebrated as International Work Day (). Celebrations for workers' day were mandatory during the Soviet occupation, and carry a negative connotation as a result today. As Lithuania declared its independence in 1990, Work Day lost its public holiday status, but regained it in 2001.


title: International Workers' Day

text: First May Day is an official public holiday celebrated as Convocation of the Constituent Assembly of the Republic of Latvia, Labour Day.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Luxembourg, 1 May, called the ("Day of Labour"), is a legal holiday traditionally associated with large demonstrations by trade unions in Luxembourg City and other cities.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Malta, 1 May is an official public holiday celebrated as "Workers' Day", together with the religious feast of "Saint Joseph the Worker". (Saint Joseph's Day, 19 March, the saint's main feast, is also a public holiday in Malta.) A free music event takes place on 1 May. The Maltese also celebrate Maltese accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is an official public holiday and a day off work and a day out of school. It is the only official holiday from socialist times that is still officially celebrated.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In the Netherlands, 1 May or Labour Day () is not an official holiday. This is due in part to its proximity to the national holiday, Koningsdag, which was celebrated on the day before until 2013. Labour movements also didn't see the need to agitate for an extra day off during the Post–World War II recovery efforts. Liberals who joined the Labour Party in this same period also wanted to distance themselves from the Soviet Union because of Cold War sentiments.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In North Macedonia, 1 May (, ) is an official public holiday. Before 2007, 2 may was also a public holiday. People celebrate with friends and family at traditional picnics across the country, accompanied by the usual outdoor games, various grilled meats and beverages. Left organizations and some trade unions organize protests on 1 May.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Norway, Labour Day () is celebrated 1 May and is an official public holiday. It was introduced in 1942 by Vidkun Quisling of the Nasjonal Samling party modelled after the german Nationaler Feiertag des deutschen Volkes.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Poland, since the fall of communism, 1 May is officially celebrated as May Day, but is commonly called Labour Day. it is currently celebrated without a specific connotation, and as such it is May Day. However, due to historical connotations, most of the large organized celebrations are focused around Labour Day festivities. It is customary for labour activists to organize parades in cities and towns across Poland. The holiday is also commonly referred to as "Labour Day" ().


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Poland, May Day is closely followed by May 3rd Constitution Day. These two dates combined often result in a long weekend called , which may last for up to 9 days from 28 April to 6 May, at the cost of taking only 3 days off. People often travel, and is unofficially considered the start of barbecuing season in Poland.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Between these two, on 2 May, there is a patriotic holiday, the Day of the Polish Flag (), introduced by a Parliamentary Act of 20 February 2004. The day, however, does not force paid time off.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Soviet times, streets, places, squares, parks and also factories were frequently named in honor of International Workers' Day, such as 1 Maja Coal Mine in .


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Portugal, the 1 May celebration () was suppressed during the Estado Novo dictatorship. The first workers' day demonstration was held a week after the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974. It is still the largest demonstration in the history of Portugal. It is used as an opportunity for workers and workers' groups to voice their discontent over working conditions in demonstrations across Portugal, the largest being held in Lisbon. It is an official public holiday.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Romania, 1 May, known as the International Labour Day (), the International Workers' Day (), or simply 1/First of May (), is an official public holiday. During the communist regime, like in all former Eastern Bloc countries, the day was marked by large state-organized parades in most towns and cities. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, 1 May continues to be an official public holiday, but without any state organized events or parades. Most people celebrate together with friends and family, organising picnics and barbecues. It is also the first day of the year when people, especially those from the southeastern part of the country including the capital Bucharest, go to spend the day in one of the Romanian Black Sea resorts.


title: International Workers' Day

text: May Day, also known in Russia as the Day of International Workers Solidarity, the 1st of May () was celebrated illegally in the country until the February Revolution enabled the first legal celebration in 1917. The following year, after the Bolshevik seizure of power, the May Day celebrations were boycotted by Mensheviks, Left Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists. It became an important official holiday of the Soviet Union, celebrated with elaborate popular parade in the centre of the major cities. The biggest celebration was traditionally organized in Red Square, where the General Secretary of the CPSU and other party and government leaders stood atop Lenin's Mausoleum and waved to the crowds. Until 1969, the holiday was marked by military parades throughout the RSFSR and the union republics. The following was the order of the march past:


title: International Workers' Day

text: The first of these parades were held 1918, when Vladimir Lenin presided over a ceremony at Khodynka Field. Notable parades included the parade of 1941 (which saw the presence of a Wehrmacht delegation led by Ernst August Köstring) and 1963 (where Cuban leader Fidel Castro was a guest). The only parades on 1 May to be cancelled were the parades scheduled during the years of the Second World War and the 1965 parade (this was cancelled to make way for the 1965 Moscow Victory Day Parade nine days later). In 1979, ten years after the last annual parade, a brief exhibition drill and military tattoo of the forces of the Moscow Garrison took place.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In 1991, which preceded the last year that demonstrations were held in Red Square, May Day grew into high-spirited political action. Around 50,000 people participated in a rally in Red Square in 1991 after which the tradition was interrupted for 13 years. In the early post-Soviet period the holiday turned into massive political gatherings of supporters of radically minded politicians. For instance, an action dubbed as "a rally of communist-oriented organisations" was held in Red Square in 1992. The rally began with performance of the Soviet Union anthem and raising the Red Flag and ended with appeals from the leader of opposition movement Working Moscow, Viktor Anpilov, "for early dismissal of President Boris Yeltsin, ousting Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov from power and putting the latter on trial". Since 1992, May Day is officially called "The Day of Spring and Labour", and remains a major holiday in present-day Russia.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Since 2014 a national civil parade is held on that day on Red Square with similar events held in major cities and regional capitals.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Serbia, 1 May (and also 2 May) is a day off work and a day out of school. It is one of the major popular holidays, and the only official holiday from socialist times that is still officially celebrated. People celebrate it all over the country. By tradition 1 May is celebrated by countryside picnics and outdoor barbecues. May is marked by warm weather in Serbia. In Belgrade, the capital, most people go to or , which are parks located in and . People go around the country to enjoy nature. A major religious holiday of is on 6 May so quite often days off work are given to connect these two holidays and weekend, creating a small spring break. 1 May is celebrated by most of the population regardless of political views.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Slovakia, 1 May is an official holiday. Celebrations are held surrounding workers' day but are also connected with the commemoration of the entry of the Slovak Republic into the European Union (1 May 2004).


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Slovenia, 1 May and 2 May are public holidays. There are many official events all over the country to celebrate workers' day. In Ljubljana, the capital, the main celebration is held on Rožnik Hill in the city. On the night of 30 April, bonfires are traditionally burned.


title: International Workers' Day

text: The first Día del Trabajador was celebrated in 1889 but only became a public holiday with the beginning of the Spanish Second Republic in 1931. It was banned afterwards by the Franco regime in 1937. The year after it was decreed that the "Fiesta de la Exaltación del Trabajo," or Labor Festival, be held on 18 July, the anniversary of the Francoist military coup, instead. After the death of Francisco Franco in 1975 and the move towards democracy, the first large rallies on 1 May began again in 1977. It was re-introduced as a public holiday in 1978. Commonly, peaceful demonstrations and parades occur in major and minor cities.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May has been an important part of Swedish history since the late 19th century. The day was made a public holiday in 1938 but had been celebrated by the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the left since 1890. The first May Day celebration gathered more than 50,000 people in central Stockholm. The crowd went to hear speeches by the leading figures in the Swedish labour movement such as Hjalmar Branting (later prime minister), August Palm and Hinke Bergegren. During World War I the demonstrations mainly had a peace message and the Liberal Party also joined the demonstrations. The eight-hour working day and women's suffrage were the principal themes during the troubled times after World War I.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Recognizing the central contributions of workers and international worker solidarity in Swedish social, economic, political and cultural development, May Day demonstrations are an important part of Swedish politics and culture for social democrats, left parties, and unions. In Stockholm the Social Democratic Party always marches towards Norra Bantorget, the historical, physical centre of the Swedish labour movement, where they hold speeches in front of the headquarters of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, while the smaller Left Party marches in larger numbers towards Kungsträdgården.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Since 1967, the Communist Party and its youth wing, Revolutionary Communist Youth, have held their own May Day march, known as ('Red Front'). In 2016, Röd Front marches were held at 33 locations across the country. The largest Röd Front marches are usually held in the industrial and financial port town of Gothenburg, Sweden's second-largest city and one of the party's strongholds.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Switzerland, the status of 1 May differs depending on the canton and sometimes on the municipality. Labour Day is known as in German-speaking cantons, as in the French-speaking cantons, and as in the Italian-speaking canton of .


title: International Workers' Day

text: The largest Labour Day celebrations in Switzerland are held in the city of . Each year, 's 1 May committee, together with the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions, organizes a festival and 1 May rally. It is the largest rally held on a regular basis in Switzerland.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is an official holiday celebrated in Turkey. It was a holiday until 1981 when it was cancelled after the 1980 coup d'état. In 2010, the Turkish government restored the holiday after some casualties and demonstrations. Taksim Square is the centre of the celebrations due to the Taksim Square massacre.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Workers' Day was first celebrated in 1912 in and in 1899 in . After the establishment of the Turkish Republic, it became an official holiday. In 1924, it was forbidden by a decree and in both 1924 and 1925, demonstrations were intervened by arm floats. In 1935, The National Assembly declared Workers' Day to be a holiday again.


title: International Workers' Day

text: During the events leading to the 1980 Turkish coup d'etat, a massacre occurred on 1 May 1977 (Taksim Square massacre), in which unknown people (agents provocateurs) opened fire on the crowd. The crowd was the biggest in Turkish workers' history with the number of people approximating 500,000. In the next two years, provocations and confusion continued and peaked before the 1980 coup d'etat. The Workers' Day holiday was cancelled once again. Still, demonstrations continued with small crowds, and in 1996, three people were killed by police bullets, and a plain-clothes man who spied in the crowd was revealed and lynched by workers. On the same evening, a video broadcast on TV showed that two participants in the demonstration were lynched by far right-wing nationalist groups and this lynching occurred in front of police forces who were watching the scene with happy faces. Thus, 1 May 1996 has been remembered by workers' movements.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In 2007, the 30th anniversary of the Taksim square massacre, leftist workers' unions wanted to commemorate the massacre in Taksim Square. Since the government would not let them into the square, 580–700 people were stopped and 1 person died under police control. After these events, the government declared 1 May as "Work and Solidarity Day" but not as a holiday. In the next year, the day was declared as a holiday, but people were still not allowed to gather in Taksim Square. The year 2008 was remembered with police violence in Istanbul. Police fired tear gas grenades among the crowds, and into hospitals and a primary school. Workers pushed forward so that in 2010, 140,000 people gathered in Taksim, and in 2011 there were more than half a million demonstrators.


title: International Workers' Day

text: After three years of peaceful meetings in 2013, meetings in Taksim Square were forbidden by the government. Clashes occurred between police and workers; water cannon and tear gas have been widely used.


title: International Workers' Day

text: It is a public holiday in Ukraine, inherited from the Soviet era. May Day as a day of workers' solidarity in Kyiv began as early as 1894. Until 2018, 2 May was also a public holiday (as in the Soviet era), instead in 2017 Western Christianity's Christmas celebrated 25 December became a new Ukrainian public holiday. The 1 May International Workers' Day remained a Ukrainian public holiday, although it was renamed (also in 2017) from "Day of International Solidarity of Workers" to "Labour Day".


title: International Workers' Day

text: Late May 2015 laws that ban communist symbols came into effect in Ukraine, thus banning communist symbols, singing the Soviet national hymn or the Internationale.


title: International Workers' Day

text: According to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov during the 2016 May Day rallies in some major cities the number of police officers far outnumbered the number of rally participants. With in Dnipro 193 policemen protecting 25 rally participants.


title: International Workers' Day

text: A public bank holiday in the United Kingdom known as May Day was created in 1978 and is held on the first Monday in May each year.


title: International Workers' Day

text: There are many traditional May Day rites and celebrations, some of which have been held for hundreds of years. However, it was not until the late 20th century that May Day in Great Britain became linked to International Workers' Day, and the holiday is not officially a "Labour Day".


title: International Workers' Day

text: While unofficial activities and commemorations associated with International Workers Day occur on May Day in Australia, Labour Day in the various states and territories generally falls on other days. Only in the Northern Territory (where it is called May Day) and Queensland is Labour Day celebrated on the first Monday in May, which is a public holiday under the name of "May Day". Queensland holds the biggest rallies in Australia, with the rally in Brisbane averaging 30,000 people. In Australia, one of the first May Day marches occurred in Queensland on 1 May 1891. There are also rallies held in Cairns, Rockhampton, Townsville, Barcaldine, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Maryborough, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and other regional centres.


title: International Workers' Day

text: New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim the right for an eight-hour working day when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour day in Wellington. Labour Day was first celebrated in New Zealand on 28 October 1890. Labour day falls every year on the fourth Monday of October.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Bangladesh, 1 May Day is a public holiday and called May Day. A parade and other events are held on the day to commemorate the occasion.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In India, Labour Day is a public holiday held on every 1 May. The holiday is tied to labour movements for communist and socialist political parties. Labour Day is known as "Uzhaipalar dhinam" in Tamil and was first celebrated in Madras, "Kamgar Din" in Hindi, "Karmikara Dinacharane" in Kannada,"Karmika Dinotsavam" in Telugu, "Kamgar Divas" in Marathi, "Thozhilaali Dinam" in Malayalam and "Shromik Dibosh" in Bengali. Since Labour day is not a national holiday, Labour day is observed as public holiday at State Government's discretion. Many parts especially in North Indian States it is not a public holiday.


title: International Workers' Day

text: The first celebration in India was organized in Madras (now Chennai) by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan on 1 May 1923. This was also the first time the red flag was used in India. The party leader Singaravelu Chettiar made arrangements to celebrate May Day in two places in 1923. One meeting was held at the beach opposite to the Madras High Court; the other meeting was held at the Triplicane beach. "The Hindu" newspaper, published from Madras reported,


title: International Workers' Day

text: The Labour Kisan party has introduced May Day celebrations in Madras. Comrade Singaravelar presided over the meeting. A resolution was passed stating that the government should declare May Day as a holiday. The president of the party explained the non-violent principles of the party. There was a request for financial aid. It was emphasised that workers of the world must unite to achieve independence.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is also celebrated as "Maharashtra Day" and "Gujarat Day" to mark the date in 1960, when the two western states attained statehood after the erstwhile Bombay State was divided on linguistic lines. Maharashtra Day is held at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai. Schools and offices in Maharashtra remain closed on 1 May. A similar parade is held to celebrate Gujarat Day in Gandhinagar.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Vaiko (Vai Gopalsamy), General Secretary of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, appealed to the then Prime Minister V. P. Singh to declare 1 May as a national holiday, to which the PM heeded and from then on it became a national holiday to celebrate International Labour Day.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Maldives first observed the holiday in 2011, after a declaration by President Mohamed Nasheed. He noted that this move highlighted the government's commitment as well as efforts of private parties to protect and promote workers' rights in the Maldives.


title: International Workers' Day

text: International Labour Day is observed in Pakistan on 1 May to commemorate the social and economic achievements of workers. It is a public and national holiday. Many organized street demonstrations take place on Labor Day, where workers and labor unions protest against labor repression and demand for more rights, better wages and benefits.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Sri Lanka, it is observed on 1 May and is a government and public holiday. The government has held official May Day celebrations in major towns and cities, with the largest being in the capital, Colombo. During celebrations, it is common to witness party leaders greeting the crowds. Workers frequently carry banners with political slogans and many parties decorate their vehicles.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Cambodia, it is known as International Labour Day and is a public holiday. No marches for labour day were permitted in Cambodia for several years after the 2013 Cambodian general election and surrounding mass protests. A tightly controlled march on a limited scale was first permitted again in 2019.


title: International Workers' Day

text: May Day (often referred locally as Labour Day) in Indonesia was first observed as a public holiday from 2014. Every year on the day, labourers take over the streets in major cities across the country, voicing their demands for better income & a supportive policy by the ministries.


title: International Workers' Day

text: Malaysia began observing the holiday in 1972 following an announcement by the late Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Ismail Abdul Rahman.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May is known as Labor Day (, also known as "Araw ng Paggawa") and is a public holiday in the Philippines. On this day, labour organizations and unions hold protests in major cities. On 1 May 1903, during the American colonial period the (Filipino Democratic Labor Union) held a 100,000-person rally in front of the Malacañang Palace demanding workers' economic rights and Philippine independence. Ten years later, the first official celebration was held on 1 May 1913 when 36 labour unions convened for a congress in Manila.


title: International Workers' Day

text: During the Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a policy was adopted called holiday economics policy that moved holidays to either a Monday or a Friday to create a long weekend of three days. In 2002, Labor Day was moved to the Monday nearest to 1 May. Labour groups protested, as they accused the Arroyo administration of belittling the holiday. By 2008, Labor Day was excluded in the holiday economics policy, returning the commemorations to 1 May, no matter what day of the week it falls on.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Thailand, the day is known in English as National Labour Day, and is one of 17 official public holidays in Thailand.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Vietnam, it is known as International Labour Day () and is a public holiday. It was first adopted by the Nguyễn dynasty on the 11th day of the 9th month of the 16th year of the Bảo Đại Emperor (30 October 1941) by imperial decree. Later on 29 April 1946 President Hồ Chí Minh issued "Sắc lệnh số 56" (Decree No. 56) which adopted the holiday for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.


title: International Workers' Day

text: According to the decree "workers in public offices, private offices and factories throughout the country are entitled to a day off from work. International Labour 1.5 and still receive the same salary as a working day…". On 1 May 1946 the first International Labour Day of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was held.


title: International Workers' Day

text: In Iran, 1 May is known as the International Workers' Day. It is not a public holiday but according to article 63 of Iranian labour law on top of the official public holidays observed in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Labour Day shall be considered an official holiday for workers.


title: International Workers' Day

text: After historically varying popularity of Labour Day, 1 May is not an official holiday in the State of Israel. In the 1980s there were several large marches in Tel Aviv, numbering as much as 350,000 in 1983 and perhaps even more in 1988, but a steady decline in numbers led to only 5,000 marchers in 2010. During the 1990s businesses began to treat it like a regular working day as the number of May Day-related activities decreased. 1 May is largely celebrated by the former Soviet Jews who immigrated to Israel in the 1990s.


title: International Workers' Day

text: 1 May known as the Workers' Day and is a public holiday. Left-wing parties and workers' unions organize marches on 1 May.


title: History of Singapore

text: The history of the modern state of Singapore dates back to its founding in the early nineteenth century; however, evidence suggests that a significant trading settlement existed on the Island of Singapore in the 14th century. The last ruler of the Kingdom of Singapura, Parameswara, was expelled by the Majapahit or the Siamese and he then founded Malacca. Singapore then came under the Malacca Sultanate and then the Johor Sultanate. In 1819, British statesman Stamford Raffles negotiated a treaty whereby Johor allowed the British to locate a trading port on the island, ultimately leading to the establishment of the crown colony of Singapore in 1867. Important reasons for the rise of Singapore were its nodal position at the tip of the Malay Peninsula flanked by the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the presence of a natural sheltered harbour, as well as its status as a free port.


title: History of Singapore

text: During World War II, Singapore was conquered and occupied by the Japanese Empire from 1942 to 1945. When the Japanese surrendered, Singapore reverted to British control, with increasing levels of self-government being granted, resulting in Singapore's merger with the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963. However, social unrest and disputes between Singapore's ruling People's Action Party and Malaysia's Alliance Party resulted in Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia. Singapore became an independent republic on 9 August 1965.


title: History of Singapore

text: Facing severe unemployment and a housing crisis partially caused by the Bukit Ho Swee fire, Singapore embarked on a modernisation programme beginning in the late 1960s through the 1970s that focused on establishing a manufacturing industry, developing large public housing estates, and investing heavily in public education and infrastructure.


title: History of Singapore

text: By the 1990s, the country had become one of the world's most prosperous nations, with a highly developed free market economy and strong international trading links. It now has the highest per capita gross domestic product in Asia, which is 7th in the world, and it is ranked 9th on the UN Human Development Index.


title: History of Singapore

text: The Greco-Roman astronomer Ptolemy (90168) identified a place called "Sabana" at the tip of Golden Chersonese (believed to be the Malay Peninsula) in the second and third century. The earliest written record of Singapore may be in a Chinese account from the third century, describing the island of "Pu Luo Chung" (蒲 羅 中). This is thought to be a transcription from the Malay name ""Pulau Ujong"", or "island at the end" (of the Malay Peninsula).


title: History of Singapore

text: In 1025 CE, Rajendra Chola I of the Chola Empire led forces across the Indian Ocean and invaded the Srivijayan empire, attacking several places in Malaysia and Indonesia. The Chola forces were said to have controlled Temasek (now Singapore) for a couple of decades. The name Temasek however did not appear in Chola records, but a tale involving a Raja Chulan (assumed to be Rajendra Chola) and Temasek was mentioned in the semi-historical "Malay Annals".


title: History of Singapore

text: The Nagarakretagama, a Javanese epic poem written in 1365, referred to a settlement on the island called "Tumasik" (possibly meaning ""Sea Town"" or ""Sea Port""). The name Temasek is also given in Sejarah Melayu ("Malay Annals"), which contains a tale of the founding of Temasek by a prince of Palembang, Sri Tri Buana (also known as Sang Nila Utama) in the 13th century. Sri Tri Buana landed on Temasek on a hunting trip, and saw a strange beast said to be a lion. The prince took this as an auspicious sign and founded a settlement called Singapura, which means "Lion City" in Sanskrit. The actual origin of the name Singapura however is unclear according to scholars.


title: History of Singapore

text: In 1320, the Mongol Empire sent a trade mission to a place called "Long Ya Men" (or "Dragon's Teeth Gate"), which is believed to be Keppel Harbour at the southern part of the island. The Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan, visiting the island around 1330, described "Long Ya Men" as one of the two distinct settlements in "Dan Ma Xi" (from Malay "Temasek"), the other being "Ban Zu" (from Malay "pancur"). "Ban Zu" is thought to be present day Fort Canning Hill, and recent excavations in Fort Canning found evidence indicating that Singapore was an important settlement in the 14th century. Wang mentioned that the natives of "Long Ya Men" (thought to be the "Orang Laut") and Chinese residents lived together in "Long Ya Men". Singapore is one of the oldest locations where a Chinese community is known to exist outside China, and the oldest confirmed by archaeological and historical research.


title: History of Singapore

text: By the 14th century, the empire of Srivijaya had already declined, and Singapore was caught in the struggle between Siam (now Thailand) and the Java-based Majapahit Empire for control over the Malay Peninsula. According to the Malay Annals, Singapore was defeated in one Majapahit attack. The last king, Sultan Iskandar Shah ruled the island for several years, before being forced to Melaka where he founded the Sultanate of Malacca. Portuguese sources, however, indicated that Temasek was a Siamese vassal whose ruler was killed by Parameswara (thought to be the same person as Sultan Iskandar Shah) from Palembang, and Parameswara was then driven to Malacca, either by the Siamese or the Majapahit, where he founded the Malacca Sultanate. Modern archaeological evidence suggests that the settlement on Fort Canning was abandoned around this time, although a small trading settlement continued in Singapore for some time afterward.


title: History of Singapore

text: The Malacca Sultanate extended its authority over the island and Singapore became a part of the Malacca Sultanate. However, by the time the Portuguese arrived in the early 16th century, Singapura had already become "great ruins" according to Alfonso de Albuquerque. In 1511, the Portuguese seized Malacca; the sultan of Malacca escaped south and established the Johor Sultanate, and Singapore then became part of the sultanate. In 1613, the Portuguese destroyed the settlement in Singapore, and the island sank into obscurity for the next two centuries.


title: History of Singapore

text: Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the Malay Archipelago was gradually taken over by the European colonial powers, beginning with the arrival of the Portuguese at Malacca in 1509. The early dominance of the Portuguese was challenged during the 17th century by the Dutch, who came to control most of the ports in the region. The Dutch established a monopoly over trade within the archipelago, particularly in spices, then the region's most important product. Other colonial powers, including the British, were limited to a relatively minor presence.


title: History of Singapore

text: In 1818, Sir Stamford Raffles was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of the British colony at Bencoolen. He was determined that Great Britain should replace the Netherlands as the dominant power in the archipelago, since the trade route between China and British India, which had become vitally important, passed through the archipelago. The Dutch had been stifling British trade in the region by prohibiting the British from operating in Dutch-controlled ports or by subjecting them to a high tariff. Raffles hoped to challenge the Dutch by establishing a new port along the Straits of Malacca, the main ship passageway for the India-China trade. He needed a third port since the British only had the ports of Penang and Bencoolen which were not suitable, as Penang was too far off to protect British traders from pirates and Bencoolen was not along the main trading road. The port had to be strategically located along the main trade route between India and China and in the middle of the Malay Archipelago. He convinced Lord Hastings, the Governor-General of India and his superior at the British East India Company, to fund an expedition to seek a new British base in the region.


title: History of Singapore

text: Raffles arrived in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and soon recognised the island as a natural choice for the new port. It lay at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, near the Straits of Malacca, and possessed a natural deep harbour, freshwater supplies, and timber for repairing ships. It was also located along the main trade route between India and China. Raffles found a small Malay settlement at the mouth of the Singapore River, with an estimated population of about 150 that consisted of around 120 Malays and 30 Chinese. headed by the Temenggong and Tengku Abdul Rahman. Around 100 of these Malays had originally moved to Singapore from Johor in 1811 led by the Temenggong. The entire island may have a population of 1,000 including the various tribes and Orang Laut (sea gypsies). The island was nominally ruled by the Sultan of Johor, who was controlled by the Dutch and the Bugis. However, the Sultanate was weakened by factional division and Tengku Abdul Rahman and his officials were loyal to Tengku Rahman's elder brother Tengku Long who was living in exile in Riau. With the Temenggong's help, Raffles managed to smuggle Tengku Long back into Singapore. He offered to recognise Tengku Long as the rightful Sultan of Johor, given the title of Sultan Hussein and provide him with a yearly payment of $5000 and $3000 to the Temenggong; in return, Sultan Hussein would grant the British the right to establish a trading post on Singapore. A formal treaty was signed on 6 February 1819 and modern Singapore was born.


title: History of Singapore

text: When Raffles arrived, it was estimated that there were around 1,000 people living in the whole of the island of Singapore, mostly local groups that would become assimilated into Malays and a few dozen Chinese. The population increased rapidly soon after Raffles' arrival; the first census of 1824 shows that 6,505 out of the 10,683 total were Malays and Bugis. Large number of Chinese migrants also started to enter Singapore just months after it became a British settlement, by the census of 1826, there were already more Chinese than Malays excluding Bugis and Javanese. Due to continual migration from Malaya, China, India and other parts of Asia, Singapore's population had reached nearly 100,000 by 1871, with over half of them Chinese. Many early Chinese and Indian immigrants came to Singapore to work in various plantations and tin mines and they were predominantly male, and large number of them would return to their home countries after they had earned enough money. However, an increasingly significant number chose to stay permanently by the early to mid twentieth century, and their descendants would form the bulk of Singapore's population.


title: History of Singapore

text: Raffles returned to Bencoolen soon after the signing of the treaty and left Major William Farquhar in charge of the new settlement, with some artillery and a small regiment of Indian soldiers. Establishing a trading port from scratch was a daunting endeavor. Farquhar's administration was fairly funded and was prohibited from collecting port duties to raise revenue as Raffles had decided that Singapore would be a free port. Farquhar invited settlers to Singapore and stationed a British official on St. John's Island to invite passing ships to stop in Singapore. As news of the free port spread across the archipelago, Bugis, Peranakan Chinese, and Arab traders flocked to the island, seeking to circumvent the Dutch trade restrictions. During the starting year of operation in 1819, $400,000 (Spanish dollars) worth of trade passed through Singapore. By 1821, the island's population had gone up to around 5,000, and the trade volume was $8 million. The population reached the 10,000 mark in 1824, and with a trade volume of $22 million, Singapore surpassed the long-established port of Penang.


title: History of Singapore

text: Raffles returned to Singapore in October 1822 and became critical of many of Farquhar's decisions, despite Farquhar's success in leading the settlement through its difficult early years. For instance, in order to generate much-needed revenue, Farquhar had resorted to selling licenses for gambling and the sale of opium, which Raffles saw as social evils. Shocked at the disarray of the colony as well as the tolerance of slave trade by Farquhar, Raffles set about drafting a set of new policies for the settlement, such as banning of slavery, closing of gambling dens, the prohibition of carrying of weapons, and heavy taxation to discourage what he considered to be social vices such as drunkenness and opium-smoking. He also organised Singapore into functional and ethnic subdivisions under the "Raffles Plan of Singapore". Today, remnants of this organization can still be found in the ethnic neighbourhoods. William Farquhar was also stripped off his post to be replaced by John Crawfurd, an efficient and frugal administrator, as the new governor. Farquhar later died in Perth, Scotland.


title: History of Singapore

text: On 7 June 1823, John Crawfurd signed a second treaty with the Sultan and Temenggong, which extends British possession to most of the island. The Sultan and Temenggong traded most of their administrative rights of the island, including the collection of port taxes for lifelong monthly payments of $1500 and $800 respectively. This agreement brought the island under the British Law, with the provision that it would take into account Malay customs, traditions and religion. In October 1823, Raffles departed for Britain and would never return to Singapore as he died in 1826, at the age of 44. In 1824, Singapore was ceded in perpetuity to the East India Company by the Sultan.


title: History of Singapore

text: The status of a British outpost in Singapore seemed initially in doubt as the Dutch government soon protested to Britain for violating the Netherlands' sphere of influence. But as Singapore rapidly emerged as an important trading post, Britain consolidated its claim on the island. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 cemented the status of Singapore as a British possession, carving up the Malay archipelago between the two colonial powers with the area north of the Straits of Malacca, including Singapore, falling under Britain's sphere of influence. In 1826, Singapore was grouped by the British East India Company together with Penang and Malacca to form the Straits Settlements, administered by the British East India Company. In 1830, the Straits Settlements became a "residency", or subdivision, of the Presidency of Bengal in British India.


title: History of Singapore

text: During the subsequent decades, Singapore grew to become an important port in the region. Its success was due to several reasons including the opening of the Chinese market, the advent of ocean-going steamships, the dramatic reduction in the time and cost of shipping goods to Europe after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the production of rubber and tin in Malaya. The Malay Peninsula had not featured significantly in Singapore's trade until the 1840s, when the Chinese developed tin-mining in the West coast Malay States and gambier-pepper cultivation in Johore.


title: History of Singapore

text: Its status as a free port provided a crucial advantage over other colonial port cities in Batavia (now Jakarta) and Manila where tariffs were levied, and it drew many Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Arab traders operating in South-East Asia to Singapore. Steamships had to frequently bunker and therefore take the route along the South Asian coast line which also preferred Singapore over Batavia. The later opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 would further boost trade in Singapore. By 1880, over 1.5 million tons of goods were passing through Singapore each year, with around 80% of the cargo transported by steamships. The main commercial activity was entrepôt trade which flourished under no taxation and little restriction. Many merchant houses were set up in Singapore mainly by European trading firms, but also by Jewish, Chinese, Arab, Armenian, American and Indian merchants. There were also many Chinese middlemen who handled most of the trade between the European and Asian merchants.


title: History of Singapore

text: By 1827, the Chinese had become the largest ethnic group in Singapore. They consisted of Peranakans, who were descendants of early Chinese settlers, and Chinese coolies who flocked to Singapore to escape economic hardship in southern China. Their numbers were swelled by those fleeing the turmoil caused by the First Opium War (18391842) and Second Opium War (18561860). Many arrived in Singapore as impoverished indentured laborers. The Malays were the second largest ethnic group until the 1860s and they worked as fishermen, craftsmen, or as wage earners while continued to live mostly in kampungs. By 1860, the Indians had become the second-largest ethnic group. They consisted of unskilled labourers, traders, and convicts who were sent to carry out public works projects such as clearing jungles and laying out roads. There were also Indian Sepoy troops garrisoned at Singapore by the British.


title: History of Singapore

text: Despite Singapore's growing importance, the administration governing the island was understaffed, ineffectual, and unconcerned with the welfare of the populace. Administrators were usually posted from India and were unfamiliar with local culture and languages. While the population had quadrupled from 1830 to 1867, the size of the civil service in Singapore had remained unchanged. Most people had no access to public health services and diseases such as cholera and smallpox caused severe health problems, especially in overcrowded working-class areas. As a result of the administration's ineffectiveness and the predominantly male, transient, and uneducated nature of the population, the society was lawless and chaotic. In 1850 there were only twelve police officers in the city of nearly 60,000 people. Prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse (particularly of opium) were widespread. Chinese criminal secret societies (analogous to modern-day triads) were extremely powerful, and some had tens of thousands of members. Turf wars between rival societies occasionally led to hundreds of deaths and attempts to suppress them had limited success.


title: History of Singapore

text: The situation created a deep concern in the European population of the island. In 1854 the "Singapore Free Press" complained that Singapore was a "small island" full of the "very dregs of the population of southeastern Asia".


title: History of Singapore

text: As Singapore continued to grow, the deficiencies in the Straits Settlements administration became serious and Singapore's merchant community began agitating against British Indian rule. The British government agreed to establish the Straits Settlements as a separate Crown Colony on 1 April 1867. This new colony was ruled by a governor under the supervision of the Colonial Office in London. An executive council and a legislative council assisted the governor. Although members of the councils were not elected, more representatives for the local population were gradually included over the years.


title: History of Singapore

text: The colonial government embarked on several measures to address the serious social problems facing Singapore. A Chinese Protectorate under Pickering was established in 1877 to address the needs of the Chinese community, especially in controlling the worst abuses of the coolie trade and protecting Chinese women from forced prostitution. In 1889 Governor Sir Cecil Clementi Smith banned secret societies, driving them underground. Nevertheless, many social problems persisted up through the post-war era, including an acute housing shortage and poor health and living standards. In 1906, the Tongmenghui, a revolutionary Chinese organisation dedicated to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and led by Sun Yat-sen, founded its Nanyang branch in Singapore, which served as the organisation's headquarters in Southeast Asia. The members of the branch included Dr. Wong Hong-Kui (黃康衢), Mr. Tan Chor Lam and Mr. Teo Eng Hock. Chan Cho-Nam (陳楚楠, 1884–1971, originally a rubber manufacturer), Cheung Wing-Fook (張永福, originally a rubber shoe manufacturer) and Chan Po-Yin (陳步賢, 1883–1965) started the revolution-related Chong Shing Chinese Daily Newspaper (中興日報, 中興 meaning China revival), with the inaugural issue on 20 August 1907 and a daily distribution of 1000 copies. The newspaper ended in 1910, presumably due to the revolution in 1911. Working with other Cantonese people, Chan, Cheung and Chan opened the revolution-related Kai Ming Bookstore (開明書報社, 開明 meaning open wisdom) in Singapore. For the revolution, Chan Po-Yin raised over 30,000 yuan for the purchase and shipment (from Singapore to China) of military equipment and for the support of the expenses of people travelling from Singapore to China for revolutionary work. The immigrant Chinese population in Singapore donated generously to Tongmenghui, which organised the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that led to the establishment of the Republic of China.


title: History of Singapore

text: World War I (1914–1918) did not deeply affect Singapore: the conflict did not spread to Southeast Asia. The only significant local military event during the war was a 1915 mutiny by the British Muslim Indian sepoys garrisoned in Singapore. After hearing rumors of plans to send them to fight the Ottoman Empire, the soldiers revolted, killing their officers and several British civilians before troops arriving from Johor and Burma suppressed the unrest.


title: History of Singapore

text: After the war, British trade and influence gradually diminished and the importance of the United States and Japan grew, both located on the Pacific. The British government devoted significant resources into building a naval base in Singapore, as a deterrent to the increasingly ambitious Japanese Empire. Completed in 1939 at a staggering cost of $500 million, the naval base boasted what was then the largest dry dock in the world, the third-largest floating dock, and enough fuel tanks to support the entire British navy for six months. It was defended by heavy 15-inch naval guns and by Royal Air Force squadrons stationed at Tengah Air Base. Winston Churchill touted it as the "Gibraltar of the East." Unfortunately, it was a base without a fleet. The British Home Fleet was stationed in Europe and the plan was for it to sail quickly to Singapore when needed. However, after World War II broke out in 1939, the Fleet was fully occupied with defending Britain.


title: History of Singapore

text: Lieutenant General Sir William George Shedden Dobbie was appointed governor of Singapore and General Officer Commanding Malaya Command on 8 November 1935, holding the post based in The Istana until shortly before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. He was responsible for forming The Dobbie Hypothesis on the fall of Singapore which, had it been heeded, may have prevented the fall of Singapore during the Second World War. People in Singapore who held German identify papers, including Jews fleeing the Nazis such as Karl Duldig, Slawa Duldig, and Eva Duldig, were arrested and deported from Singapore. The British colonial government classified them as "citizens of an enemy country".


title: History of Singapore

text: In December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the east coast of Malaya, causing the Pacific War to begin in earnest. Both attacks occurred at the same time, but due to the international dateline, the Honolulu attack is dated 7 December while the Kota Bharu attack is dated 8 December. One of Japan's objectives was to capture Southeast Asia and secure the rich supply of natural resources to feed its military and industry needs. Singapore, the main Allied base in the region, was an obvious military target because of its flourishing trade and wealth.


title: History of Singapore

text: The British military commanders in Singapore had believed that the Japanese attack would come by sea from the south since the dense Malayan jungle in the north would serve as a natural barrier against invasion. Although they had drawn up a plan for dealing with an attack on northern Malaya, preparations were never completed. The military was confident that "Fortress Singapore" would withstand any Japanese attack and this confidence was further reinforced by the arrival of Force Z, a squadron of British warships dispatched to the defense of Singapore, including the battleship , and cruiser . The squadron was to have been accompanied by a third capital ship, the aircraft carrier , but it ran aground en route, leaving the squadron without air cover.


title: History of Singapore

text: On 8 December 1941, Japanese forces landed at Kota Bharu in northern Malaya. Just two days after the start of the invasion of Malaya, "Prince of Wales" and "Repulse" were sunk 50 miles off the coast of Kuantan in Pahang, by a force of Japanese bombers and torpedo bomber aircraft, in the worst British naval defeat of World War II. Allied air support did not arrive in time to protect the two capital ships. After this incident, Singapore and Malaya suffered daily air raids, including those targeting civilian structures such as hospitals or shop houses with casualties ranging from the tens to the hundreds each time.


title: History of Singapore

text: The Japanese army advanced swiftly southward through the Malay Peninsula, crushing or bypassing Allied resistance. The Allied forces did not have tanks, which they considered unsuitable in the tropical rainforest, and their infantry proved powerless against the Japanese light tanks. As their resistance failed against the Japanese advance, the Allied forces were forced to retreat southwards towards Singapore. By 31 January 1942, a mere 55 days after the start of the invasion, the Japanese had conquered the entire Malay Peninsula and were poised to attack Singapore.


title: History of Singapore

text: The causeway linking Johor and Singapore was blown up by the Allied forces in an effort to stop the Japanese army. However, the Japanese managed to cross the Straits of Johor in inflatable boats days after. Several fights by the Allied forces and volunteers of Singapore's population against the advancing Japanese, such as the Battle of Pasir Panjang, took place during this period. However, with most of the defenses shattered and supplies exhausted, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrendered the Allied forces in Singapore to General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Imperial Japanese Army on Chinese New Year, 15 February 1942. About 130,000 Indian, Australian, and British troops became prisoners of war, many of whom would later be transported to Burma, Japan, Korea, or Manchuria for use as slave labour via prisoner transports known as "hell ships." The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. Japanese newspapers triumphantly declared the victory as deciding the general situation of the war.