Riddle of Steel

maydaystrong.org

This is a call to the fragmented, the overworked, the gig-tethered, the unpaid moderators of their own survival:

Your time is not theirs to steal. Your future is not for sale. Your silence is not consent.

⚡ Forge resistance
⚡ Organize locally
⚡ Exploit system gaps
⚡ Be ungovernable

So today, on May Day, we jam the signal.📡

International Workers' Day is about logging off, walking out, speaking up, and rallying in an expression of anti-capitalist, pro-worker, anti-authoritarian support.

We honor every ghost in the algorithm who labored and was left behind.✊

We remember Haymarket. Workers demanding time and dignity, and the massacre that followed.

We remember the 44 days in Flint, where workers seized space and power.

We remember the Rana Plaza collapse, where workers were sacrificed for profit.

We remember that the machine only runs if we feed it.

Here's my take: The system hasn't changed. Don't let the louder voices flood the narrative. We've stayed woke since 1931. We can stay woke through 2031 and beyond.

"Woke" began as a whispered warning against systemic lies. Now it echoes across ideological trenches, sometimes as a battle cry, sometimes as a punchline. Its journey reflects the struggle over who controls the narrative, and what happens when language built in resistance is co-opted by power.

Within activist circles, “woke” is still used, but often with ironic distance or critique of its commodification and misuse. Some argue that it’s time to retire the term due to its distortion. Others insist on reclaiming it, emphasizing its radical roots as a call to vigilance and resistance.

The word was flattened, used to criticize anything from anti-racism education to gender-neutral bathrooms to climate activism. It became a catch-all slur for progressive values.

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, as the term gained traction, right-wing media and politicians began to satirize and demonize "wokeness", painting it as extreme political correctness or leftist overreach. “Woke” became a culture war weapon, detached from its original context.

The term was adopted by celebrities and the media, with "woke" becoming a mainstream campaign against social injustice, both real and perceived. Brands attempted to co-opt the language, and we saw the rise of "social justice warriors," marking a shift from grassroots vernacular to cultural buzzword.

With the rise of Black Lives Matter in the 2010s after numerous police killings of Black Americans, “woke” was revived and popularized as a badge of consciousness and solidarity. It evolved to encompass awareness of intersectional issues: race, gender, class, and sexuality.

Throughout the Civil Rights & Black Power eras of the 20th century, “woke” circulated in Black communities as a form of coded vigilance, calling attention to systemic racism, police violence, & social inequality. It wasn't a mainstream term, but popped up in speeches and writings of the day.

One of the earliest known uses of the phrase was in a 1938 song by blues musician Lead Belly, warning listeners to “stay woke” to the wrongful conviction of the Scottsboro Boys, 9 young black men aged 12 to 19 falsely accused of rape in 1931.