Editing 1981 (section)

===May===
{{Main|May 1981}}
* May – [[Daniel K. Ludwig]] abandons the [[Jari project]] in the [[Amazon basin]].
* [[May 1]] – [[Pensions in Chile]]: The new [[Chile]]an pension system, based on private [[pension fund]]s, begins.
* [[May 4]] – The [[European Law Students' Association]] (ELSA) was founded in Vienna by law students from Austria, West Germany, Poland and Hungary.
* [[May 6]] – A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects [[Maya Lin]]'s design for the [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial]] in Washington, D.C., from among 1,421 other entries.
* [[May 11]] – The Jamaican [[reggae]] singer [[Bob Marley]] dies at age 36 from [[cancer]].
* [[May 13]] – [[Pope John Paul II assassination attempt]]: [[Pope John Paul II]] is shot by [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], a [[Turkey|Turkish]] gunman, as he enters [[St. Peter's Square]] in [[Vatican City]] to address a general audience. The Pope recovers.<ref>{{cite book|title=First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1mgKAQAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Institute on Religion and Public Life|page=37}}</ref> 
* [[May 15]] – A prison officer, 31-year-old [[Donna Payant]], disappears at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York. She is later found to have been murdered by convicted serial killer [[Lemuel Smith]]. It is the first time a female prison officer has been killed while on duty in the United States.<ref>{{cite book|author1=William Moses Kunstler|author2=Sheila Isenberg|title=My Life as a Radical Lawyer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jcePAAAAMAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Carol Pub.|isbn=978-1-55972-265-0|page=288}}</ref>
* [[May 21]] – [[François Mitterrand]] becomes the first socialist President of the [[French Fifth Republic]].
* [[May 22]] – Serial killer [[Peter Sutcliffe]] is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and 7 of attempted murder in England.
* [[May 25]] – In [[Riyadh]], the [[Gulf Cooperation Council]] is created among [[Bahrain]], [[Kuwait]], [[Oman]], [[Qatar]], [[Saudi Arabia]] and the [[United Arab Emirates]].
* [[May 26]] – The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell [[Propaganda Due]].
* [[May 30]] – [[Bangladesh]]i President [[Ziaur Rahman]] is assassinated in [[Chittagong]].
* [[May 31]] – [[Burning of Jaffna library]], one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the century.