General Strike, September 1st, 2023

Overview

General Strike, September 1st, 2023 refers to a proposed general strike in the United States promoted largely on TikTok against "corporate America" in which participants are asked not to attend work, pay rent, buy groceries, pay student loans and spend money in general to protest the high price of living in America. TikTokers began promoting the strike in late August 2023 and it was quickly met with criticism and doubt, with some seeing it as disorganized and lacking direction. Some pointed to the strike's supposed website, generalstrikeus.com, as evidence of its disorganization, although it is unclear if the website is in support of the September 1st strike with no direct mention of it on the site.

Background

TikTokers began posting videos suggesting they should go on a general strike on September 1st, 2023, in mid-August that year. Some early examples include a post by TikToker^[1] @kawanee.h on August 16th, garnering over 81,000 views in 10 days, and a post by TikToker^[2] @ascendwlana on August 18th, garnering over 500,000 views in a week (shown below, right). It is unclear who first proposed the strike.

Developments

TikTokers continued to post videos about the upcoming general strike throughout August 2023, some sharing their doubts about it. On August 19th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @ziggityler posted a video responding to another TikToker supporting the strike, sharing his doubts about it, garnering over 428,000 views in six days (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[4] @thewheatwitch posted a video supporting the strike, garnering over 200,000 views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On August 22nd, TikToker^[5] @kingmaegon posted a video explaining why he encourages people to join the strike, garnering over 2 million views in three days (shown below).

On the same day, TikToker^[6] @cancelthisclothingco posted a video criticizing the strike for being disorganized and aimless. In the video, he examines the alleged website for the protest, generalstrikeus.com,^[7] criticizing its partners and lack of leadership. It is unconfirmed if this site is actually in support of or organizing the strike, with no mentions of a September 1st strike available on it, instead claiming they will strike "once we have accumulated 11M Strike Cards or 3.5% of the US population and we know we can win." The video gained over 845,000 views in three days (shown below).

Search Interest

External References