The Brief: International Workers' Day 2020 memes celebrate May Day and spread awareness about a general strike that is being organized for May 1st.
DEEP DIVE
May Day memes celebrate workers and call for actions to protect them. May 1st is May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, a holiday dedicated to workers and laborers of the world. For many workers’ rights advocates, unions, socialists, communists, and activists whose work centers on the working class, May 1st is a time to organize, strike, and protest.
As May 1, 2020 falls during the COVID-19 pandemic, events, and conversations related to May Day are taking place online instead of in-person. Memes serve as a digital method to commemorate the holiday and to express political beliefs related to workers’ rights.
The Coronavirus pandemic has also exacerbated social inequity and led to job losses for over 16 million Americans. Leftist organizers are planning a general strike that will take place on May 1st. This May Day general strike will draw attention to the ways that working people have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic in terms of issues with healthcare, unemployment, homelessness, higher death rates, and more. International Workers’ Day and general strike memes call for people to join just as rent strike memes encouraged participation in late March and early April.
May Day 2020 memes reflect a variety of opinions and views about the value of labor and workers’ rights, through both digestible image macros and calls for revolutionary action with varying amounts of irony and sincerity.
Join the IWW #2 from DankLeft
Solidarity to the 50,000 UAW International Union workers on strike today against General Motors nationwide. CEO Mary Barra made $22M while many GM workers struggle to make ends meet. This is the largest strike by a union against any business since the last GM strike in 2007. from DankLeft
Normie: It’s called May 1st
Me: no,,, its pic.twitter.com/gYur1UtdjQ
— Composting for the Municipalist Meme Garden (@ShitPost4Apo) April 27, 2020
General Strike
Me too, kid. from DankLeft