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The
Daily Gyro May 3, 2006 May Day, May Day, May Day! Greeks don’t need much of an excuse to make everything about how much they hate America. Memorial Day at the end of the month serves as a reminder that there are no
official holidays in this country from President’s Day in February (which not
everyone gets off) until May. All our public holidays are predictable
with only three days, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and the Fourth of July,
possibly contributing to a longer weekend than expected every few years.
Easter in Greece is a holiday that can cause more than just a long
weekend. For most this year, Easter created a 10 day vacation from Good
Friday until May 2nd, with May Day and other holidays within that
span that made a three day week tempting to blow off completely. The end of this vacation saw about 10,000 people take to the street of Athens for the annual May Day protest on Monday. Besides better working conditions, they protested the war in Iraq and marched on the US Embassy shouting anti-American slogans. (Greeks don’t need much of an excuse to make everything about how much they hate America.) Of all the May Day rallies around the world, including the immigration marches here, Athens perhaps had the most obscure celebrity sightings, as Aleida Guevara, the daughter of revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and American Actor, Tim Robbins were in attendance. Protesters cheered when they saw Robbins, the guy from the “Shawshank Redemption” and “Bull Durham,” known now for being one of those anti-war Hollywood types, yet probably had no clue that they were marching with the daughter of one of the most influential revolutionaries of the 20th century, who probably embodied the true meaning of May Day better than anyone. Other Servings of The Daily Gyro
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