The left can meme

Abstract

While the use of memes as a persuasive strategy by the alt-right in the 2016 election gave rise to the notion that the left had been thoroughly outflanked in the meme wars, this project argues that the left can meme. Attending to the mimetic practices of anti-fascist, anti-capitalist and anti-racist online publics reminds scholars and practitioners that reactionary forces do not monopolize memetic persuasion. We are interested in how left-wing publics constitute themselves and gain adherents through memetic labour or the work of inventing, sharing, remixing and commenting on images, objects and slogans. This exploratory essay charts a nascent rhetorical research agenda on leftist meme culture, tracking previous interventions such as the anti-fascist meme Gritty and speculating on generative terrain for scholars interested in examining the memetic labour of the left. This essay posits that if we are interested in actualizing more democratic and egalitarian futures, providing assessments of left-wing publics’ strategies might be one useful contribution to the struggle.