On May 1st, 2026, thousands of workers in Philadelphia rallied and marched to celebrate May Day, a day to highlight workers’ lives and struggles. Six members of Movement Photographers of Philadelphia documented the event:
Rachael Warriner - @rayephoto ,
Conner McHugh - @pyroscopic ,
Joe Piette - @jpiette660 ,
Colleen Stepanian - @colleenstepanian ,
Mike Arrington - @120ish ,
Paul Gottlieb - @left.leaning.light
This selection of photographs does more than exhibit the work of the people behind the camera. It also displays some of the disparate elements involved in a diverse movement of people trying to change a society that undervalues their work, lives, and humanity.
May Day in Philly. Thousands of workers and activists filled the streets on international workers day to articulate a Working People’s Vision of Philadelphia,
After a rally at City Hall the crowd marched through Center City during a busy Friday evening. The marchers paid visits to Jefferson Magee Rehabilitation, where PASNAP nurses are currently in a contract fight. Then the crowd stopped at the Sheraton Downtown, where members of Unite Here Local 274 have been working for months without a contract. The march concluded at the Comcast Center, which is owned by Philadelphia billionaire Brian Roberts. Comcast and Roberts played a role in thousands of Philadelphians losing access to Medicaid and having their SNAP benefits slashed, thanks to the over 12 million dollars spent lobbying for the One Big Bill last summer.
What incredible balm for the soul to get to be in the room when a government decides to work for the people and pass legislation that has real positive impacts on people’s lives.
Last week Philadelphia city council passed 2 legislative packages, the Safe Healthy Homes Act and ICE Out package.
The ICE Out package-
- Prohibits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and all other law enforcement officers from wearing masks or using unmarked vehicles, and requires them to display badges, with exceptions for undercover work, SWAT teams and medical purposes.
- Codifies the city’s longstanding commitment to not participating in collaboration agreements with ICE under its 287(g) program.
- Prohibits city agencies, including police, from collaborating with ICE and other federal civil immigration enforcement agents absent a judicial warrant.
- Prohibits city agencies from collecting information on people’s citizenship or immigration status and sharing that information or other personal data with ICE.
- Prohibits discrimination based on citizenship or immigration status by city agencies, employers, housing providers or businesses.
- Bars ICE from conducting raids on city-owned properties.
- Bans ICE access, absent a judicial warrant, to city-owned spaces, including libraries, health centers, shelters and rec centers.
The Safe Healthy Homes Act includes-
- A codified right to organize in a tenants association — making Philadelphia the largest city in the country to explicitly protect tenant organizing from landlord retaliation;
- Expansion of Good Cause Eviction Protections to all leases, not just month-to-month leases, as required by current law;
- City Council authorization of a proactive rental inspection program run by the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I);
- Stronger accountability measures for landlords out of compliance with the city’s building code, with new standards for telling tenants when they cannot legally collect rent.
PHOTOS of our 2026 show are now up on our website - hop over to the link in our bio for these and many more. 💐
Thank you to Rachael Warriner for being our photographer this year! @rayephoto
See you all again in March 2027! WANT TO BE IN THE SHOW? Perfomer application will go live in October!
May the magic of Night of 1000 Kates carry you through the year!
✨🐚✨
Over a dozen Philadelphians blocked the ICE garage doors and staged a die-in wearing the names of people murdered by ICE. They were joined by a faith leaders and community members observing Good Friday who supported them with prayers and song as they were arrested by the PPD.
ICE vehicles in the garage were delayed for 4 hours and 10 activists were arrested.
@noicephilly visited the sheriff’s office today to deliver a petition signed by nearly 7,000 Philadelphians, asking Sheriff Bilal to take action to ensure ICE stays out of the Philadelphia courthouse. Rather than accept the petition and meet with the peaceful protestors her deputies violently arrested them. Later the deputies congratulated each other on doing a “beautiful job”.
Sheriff Bilal has loudly proclaiming her opposition to ICE, telling them “You don’t want this smoke”. But in practice she has repeatedly dodged responsibility for allowing ICE to operate on and around the Criminal Justice Center (CJC) resulting in over 100 people being disappeared by ICE following appointments at the CJC.
Sign the petition:
bit.ly/ICEoutCJC
On Monday, March 31st, clergy from congregations around Philadelphia blocked the garage at ICE HQ and halted operations for 2 hours. Federal law enforcement tried to push them out of the way and when that didn't work, arrested them as they sang and prayed. As they sang:
We are not afraid, we are not afraid
We will fight for liberation 'cause we know why we were made
Our week of action against ICE and ICE collaborators continues!
Never Again Action rabbinic intern Lucy was arrested and released on Thursday (pictured in the back of the picture, wearing black, actively getting arrested) in Philly alongside about 40 others, including a group of fellow clergy standing up to Target’s corporate greed and fueling of fascism, detention, and deportation.
🚫🎯🚫 Target has allowed ICE to kidnap employees and film propaganda in its stores. 🚫🎯🚫
We join @NoICEPhilly in saying: Business as usual cannot continue while our immigrant community members are being abducted by ICE, and people are being killed in the street for looking out for their neighbors.
Now it’s the time for the rest of us to do our part. First, join the boycott!!! 🚫🎯🚫 Don’t shop at target Target!!🚫
🎯🚫 But don’t stop there....
📣 Every single one of us 📣needs to figure out what we can do to show up alongside our neighbors. 💡💡💡One idea 💡💡💡explore if Congregational Protective Presence is an action you can take: bit.ly/CongregationalPresence 🔥
#ICEOutEverwhere
#SolidarityWithMN
📸: @rayephoto
Anti-ice activists disrupt business at Target in South Philly as part of a national campaign calling on Target to end its cooperation with ICE. 40 people locked arms and refused to leave the store until they were arrested, while cheered on by over 100 more supporters outside.
Target, is a Minnesota based company that has repeatedly allowed ICE to operate on their property, kidnapping employees in stores and staging raids from their parking lots. This is not the neutral stance they claim, but a clear choice to side with the federal governments campaign of repression and terror against the citizens of Minneapolis and the rest of the country.
Philly rude or Minnesota nice, we all agree that we hate ICE!
An interfaith coalition of Philly clergy blocked the ICE garage doors tuesday morning in frigid temperatures, delaying an ICE vehicle for 2 hours until the police cleared a path for the car to leave.
My 2026 calendar is here! — order link is in my bio and stories
Photos of protest and collective action taken by me during 2025. Mostly in Philadelphia, but with some trips to DC, Houston, NYC and Vermont. Collective action took the form of disruption and civil disobedience, marches, street theater, banner drops, advocacy and prayer. The people I photographed are fighting for workers rights, a free Palestine, a functioning democracy and against climate change, fossil fuel billionaires and ICE.
I hope spending time with these images over the next year makes you feel powerful, connected and inspired. Whatever 2026 holds for us, there can always be hope and there are always people fighting like hell for a better world.
These images are in no way a summary of all the amazing organizing and resistance happening in the U.S. I tried my best to show what I could from my little corner of the world. Thanks for taking a look.
Please send some love to the organizations I’ve tagged in these images, there are doing amazing work and deserve any time, attention and $ that you can spare.
