CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — Indivisible Charlottesville and Charlottesville DSA, the local chapter of the Democrat Socialists of America, will be organizing in Downtown Charlottesville on Friday in commemoration of May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day.

As part of the “May Day Strong” events happening nationwide, Indivisible and Cville DSA are calling for a day of no work, school or shopping in commemoration of the holiday. Indivisible volunteer and DSA member Catherine Muller told Cville Right Now the goal is to disrupt “business as usual.”

“It’s a good way to display our collective people power,” she said.

Muller said the strike is based on the general strike that occurred on Jan. 30 in response to the killing of Alex Pretti by a federal agent the previous week in Minneapolis.

Organizers hope the event will not only provide a disruption, but also prepare people for other strikes in the future.

“One of the things that May Day reminds us is of the power of workers,” Cville DSA co-chair Brian Campbell told Cville Right Now. “And we want to start integrating that sense of power in working people, because everything really does rely on us, and when we withdraw our labor, we can make really powerful interests listen.”

Friday’s event will begin at noon at the Freedom of Speech Wall in front of City Hall. After some singing to kick things off, the attendees will then march to Booker T. Washington Park for a solidarity celebration. Muller said the organizers hoped to reach the park at 1 p.m. The event will feature music, speakers, art, teach-ins and children’s activities, with Muller describing the latter part of the event as “a fun party.”

Muller said the event is open to all who are joining including families and said they will be supporting striking workers who are not getting paid for the day off by handing out grocery store cards. She also said the organizers have reached out to local neighborhood associations around the park and are hoping they will join in the event as well.

Campbell said he hope attendees come away from the event ready to “stand up and fight for democracy,” one that serves and is responsive to ordinary people, not billionaires. He added that in these efforts, people need to be in solidarity with one another.

“We can’t afford this billionaire class,” he said. “They’re syphoning off a lot of the wealth that working people worked to generate, and it’s causing an affordability crisis that is making it impossible for ordinary people.”

Both Muller and Campbell also referenced actions of the Trump Administration, including its increased use of ICE and its military operations in Iran and other countries, as key reasons for organizing this event.

In addition to Indivisible and Cville DSA, nine other organizations will be participating in the event. Muller said events like these help consolidate these organizations together, which she said would be important “if things get worse.”

“If there was something like an ongoing war, worsening human rights violations, ICE becoming more evident in our community, reinstatement of a draft to conduct these wars,” she said. “Those types of things are so alarming, but if we’re organized together in a coalition, that makes us prepared to weather that together as a community.”