May 1: Labor Beyond the Visible

Some labor is right before our eyes.
Some of it is in places we never see.

Just like in a piece of fabric,

there is labor metres underground.
In a workshop, a field, a construction site, a kitchen…

We saw it again recently.
The voices of workers toiling underground,
their struggle for better conditions.

In fact, this is not just about one issue,

but a common story of many different lives.

Because labor does not exist in a single form.

The work of a miner in the dark,

a farmer’s touch on the soil,
a craftsman’s hours of production,
a woman’s invisible labor within the home…

They are all different forms of the same thing.

And often, the value of this labor

is only noticed when something is missing.
When something is delayed,
when something cannot be produced,
or when a voice is raised.

Yet, to produce is not just to create something.
It is to give time, to give body, to give attention.

Sometimes to repeat with patience,

sometimes to not give up and try again.
Sometimes to get tired,
but still to continue.

And sometimes to take risks.

Working in unsafe conditions,
living with uncertainty,
trying to make one’s voice heard.

Today, while continuing our daily lives,

it is also possible to think about this:
Everything we use has a story.

On a plate, in a piece of clothing, on the wall of a house…

Someone's labor is there.
Sometimes visible, sometimes completely invisible.

That’s why May 1st is not just a day.

It's a way of remembering.

To see the labor we don't see,

to hear the voice we don't hear,
to rethink the things we take for granted.

Perhaps most of all, to ask:

What kind of production system are we part of?
What kind of world are we supporting?

The faster one,
or the more humane one?

The one with more,
or the one that is more just?

The answers are not always clear.

But noticing is often the first step.

And perhaps change

begins exactly with this awareness.

With how we view labor.