May 2021 – Page 2

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Photo by Siv Limstrand

Growing up during the communist regime in Czechoslovakia meant May 1 was just another day for Zdenka Sokolickova, who “first felt something special in international celebration of value of labor” shortly after moving to Longyearbyen two years ago. She’s since compiled a vast social profile of the town as it undergoes huge transitions on many levels, most notably a past workforce of Norwegian coal miners being largely replaced by foreigner tourism/service industry employees.

But as one of the featured speakers during a May Day gathering in the town square at midday Saturday, she said the community’s long-term struggles – made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic the past year – means there is an immense solidarity among the working class despite their occupations becoming increasingly fragmented.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

http://icepeople.net