Xref: utzoo soc.culture.french:4770 trial.soc.culture.italian:148 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!uunet!stanford.edu!agate!garnet.berkeley.edu!aephraim From: aephraim@garnet.berkeley.edu (Aephraim M. Steinberg) Newsgroups: soc.culture.french,trial.soc.culture.italian Subject: Re: May Day Message-ID: <1991May3.003508.10577@agate.berkeley.edu> Date: 3 May 91 00:35:08 GMT Article-I.D.: agate.1991May3.003508.10577 References: <1991May2.011003.21899@pslu1.psl.wisc.edu> Sender: root@agate.berkeley.edu (Charlie Root) Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 31 In article <1991May2.011003.21899@pslu1.psl.wisc.edu> sgro@psl.wisc.edu writes: >In article , jeanne@ecse.rpi.edu (Philippe Jeanne) writes: >> >>May 1st is traditionally Labor Day in most western european countries, and >>I think, a significant number of other countries, but not the US. This morning >>I heard on RFI (Radio France Internationale) an editorial dealing with the >>jeanne@asterix.sarnoff.com > > > The unofficial version that I knew was that the US >did NOT celebrate MAY DAY on MAY 1rst because it was a "COMMUNIST" >celebration!.... Whether this is true or not, well, I dunno! Very true. As liberal an upbringing as I consider myself to have had, I was shocked the first time I was in France for May Day and found out it was going to be celebrated. I half pictured the Red Army marching down the Champs Elysees with mobile missile launchers in tow. Then again, even with glasnost and perestroika, I was appalled on July 4, 1989 to see Soviet flags lining the Champs in honor of Gorbatchov's visit, in what seemed to me an almost deliberate affront to the USA. I may have grown up in the era of "detente," but I'm still convinced the reason they said it in French is so they wouldn't have to tell us they really meant it as in "trigger." Cold war mentalities die hard, and mainstream America is not about to celebrate anything that sounds related to communism or even socialism, regardless of its origins. -- Aephraim M. Steinberg | "Se fixer des buts dans la vie, UCB Physics | c'est s'entortiller dans des aephraim@garnet.berkeley.edu | chaines" OR " @ocf " " | -- Philippe Djian