Speed of Life

  Gregg Chadwick Riveter 16"x20" oil on linen 2025 On International Worker's Day, I honor the struggles and gains made by laborers since the Industrial Revolution. May Day began as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Tragedy in Chicago. The tragic event has inspired generations of labor leaders, activists, and artists and has been commemorated in monuments, murals, and posters throughout the world, especially in Europe and Latin America. In 1893 the Haymarket Martyrs Monument was erected in a cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park. I paint in an old hangar at the Santa Monica Airport across the street from Barker Hangar. In these hangars during WWII, a women’s army of aeronautical workers built the Douglas aircraft that helped bring down the fascists across the globe. My painting "Riveter" honors these fierce laborers of the past, present, and future who use their tools of the trade to fight against tyranny and injustice across the globe. Keep the faith...

"Performing in Madison, Wisconsin and seeing 100,000 people in the streets demanding justice inspired me to record an album of union fighting songs. I've been a proud union man for 22 years and my mom was a union public high school teacher, so for me this fight is very personal. Unions are a crucial counterweight to the raw corporate greed that torpedoed our economy, threatens our environment and wants to strip away decades of social progress. From Cairo to Madison, workers are pushing back and tyrants are falling. Here's a soundtrack for our fight." -Tom Morello The full length UNION TOWN EP will be released digitally May 17th with all proceeds going towards pro-union struggles. On February 21st of this year, Tom Morello performed at the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin in protest to an anti-union bill put forward by Governor Scott Walker. Morello explains in his editorial about the experience, “Frostbite and Freedom: Tom Morello on the Battle of Madison...

To Public Service Workers in the State of Wisconsin Dear Sisters and Brothers, On behalf of the 700,000 members of the Polish Trade Union NSZZ “Solidarnosc” (Solidarity) I wish to express our solidarity and support for your struggle against the recent assault on trade unions and trade union rights unleashed by Governor Scott Walker. We are witnessing yet another attempt of transferring the costs of the economic crisis and of the failed financial policies to working people and their families. As much as some adjustments are necessary, we can not and must not agree that the austerity measures are synonymous with union-busting practices, the elimination of bargaining rights and the reduction of social benefits and wages. Dear friends, please rest assured that our thoughts are with you during your protest, as we truly do hope that your just fight for decent working and living conditions, for the workers’ rights will be successful. Your victory is our victory as well. In Solidarity, Piotr D...

Today in Tehran. The Guardian has a source on the ground who estimates that today's silent protest has a drawn a crowd of up to a million people. Much more at: A Day of Mourning