Today was an important day in El Salvador. Unlike my previous days where there was much to do in one day, only one activity was planned for today: attending the workers day march on May 1st, which is somewhat equivalent to our Labor Day. This was not a protest or parade; it was a march where El Salvadorians could come together and celebrate their right to work and express opinions, thoughts, and politics that affected it. I was also told our group would be looked at even more, including photos being taken and interviews conducted.
The first aspect I noticed was how this was celebrated compared to my home country of the United States. Labor Day there is still celebrated, but more individually or between close family members and friends. El Salvador’s celebration seem much more collective and simply looking at the crowd of people (those in the march and those watching the march) can convey the unity between these citizens. My classmates and I all take different messages from what we see, and mine was there were young adults and university students there supporting the cause. This was great to see, and really reinforces their term of solidarity into an action instead of just a word.
I felt I was drawing attention to our group, and many bystanders of the march would take my photo, and I poised of many of them either by myself, with them or with classmates. At this time I wondered what they would do with those photos. Would they say to friends they met a North American? Were they happy with our presence here? Was there more we could/should have been doing instead of just watching?
Nevertheless, everyone was friendly so hopefully our presence was positive and supportive. There were moments, however, when many would gather to take photos quickly, similar to a paparazzi shoot. I didn’t care for this because I felt it took the focus off the marchers and put them on me. I was only watching, and it should be the hard-working marchers who get the attention.
I was interviewed about three or four times, within minutes of our professors telling the class to brace for it. The first interview, a young adult about my age had a pad of paper and asked why I was here and why did I support this. I responded that it was great to see such collective effort and I indeed supported this gathering. The second interview was from another young adult who asked basically the same question, only this time he held his cell phone up to me so I can only assume it was recording. I responded the same way and tried my best to convey myself accurately and responsibly.
This was a powerful event, and what made me most happy was that I saw MANY groups and individuals who my group met with since I’ve been here. One of the masculinity facilitators, the ACSYECA speaker, the community leaders who spoke on caring/changing behaviors for the gangs, and even our Hotel Oasis staff were there and greeted us. The unity I felt was so moving, and I could only image the native citizens sharing this feeling on an even more powerful level.
zerolocked 