How to Make a Peace Meme

 

“The most effective (political) memes share a vision of how the world can be—and they’re paired with actions that channel people’s energy toward that vision.” – An Xiao Mina

Yes, you heard right. Memes can be a force for peace. And you can learn how to make your own peace meme.

I read this book Memes to Movements by An Xiao Mina some months back all about the use of memes as a force behind social movements over the past decade. She used examples from all over the world illustrating ways memes have influenced thinking across wide segments of populations, subverted dictators, and unified diverse cross-sections of people.

While her book focused mostly on nonviolent social movements, it made me think, “why are memes not a tool to build peace?”

I mean, the potential for memes to go viral and reach huge numbers of people all over the globe makes them a powerful tool that can be used to build peace.

Making peace memes

I did a little searching on the web to see what kind of peace memes are out there and found very little. So I thought, why not give it a try. But there was a problem. With few peace memes from which to draw inspiration and personally not knowing much about memes, were was I to start?

So I got on Facebook, Instagram and Reddit to search for the best memes (of all kinds) I could find that could give me some inspiration to ‘meme for peace.’ I took hundreds of screen shots of the best memes, then organized them into files by category on my computer, recognizing different ways I thought memes could be used to build peace.

And I got to making memes and sharing them on my Facebook page for Everyday Peacebuilding. It was super fun! I’ll be sharing some below.

Types of peace memes

I think we peacebuilders should be using memes as a tool for building peace, as part of our peacebuilding efforts, to amplify our message, reach more audiences, transform societal perceptions, challenge the status quo, and all that good stuff.

In my mapping of meme types, I found that memes are used for different purposes, some of which (not all) I think are useful for building peace. I found five different ways that memes could be used to build peace.

The five approaches you can use to make memes that build peace are:

1. Use memes to draw attention to an issue or get people to think about an issue
2. Use memes to educate about an issue
3. Use memes to connect peacebuilders
4. Use memes to speak to those in the general population who desire peace

I’ll describe these below to help you think of how you can use memes to build peace. And since memes are a creative act like art, you have to see examples to draw inspiration, so I have included some of my examples below for you under each category.

Peace meme approaches and examples

I’ve mapped 4 key approaches for how you can use memes to build peace, and have shared some examples below each.

1. Use memes to draw attention to an issue or get people to think about an issue

These are memes that are focused on wide audiences, to draw attention to issues or to get people to think about issues. They are not aimed at changing people’s minds, but at provoking some feeling in people who already agree on an issue and perhaps can be motivated by a friendly reminder in the form of a meme. Such memes, can mobilize people to action, to support a cause, to be reminded of the importance of an issue, or to learn more about an issue. Examples below.

2. Use peace memes to educate or raise awareness about an issue

Some memes can be used to educate people about an issue or raise awareness about an issue. These can be hard to do in a meme because it is short-form content. But it is possible. Again, this isn’t designed to change anybody’s mind, but to help those how already care about some issue to learn more, to gain more awareness, and perhaps to mobilize them to some action.

3. Use peace memes memes to connect peacebuilders

There are many types of people who build peace, but no matter what approach we take to build peace, whether we are an academic or an activist, an artist or a lawyer, there is a lot we have in common. So memes that unite us as peacebuilders, a shared identity of people who strive to build a more peaceful and just world is useful. I also think that the more connections we make across different types of peacebuilders can help us to find creative ways to build peace. So here are some examples.

4. Use peace memes to speak to those in the general population who desire peace

These memes are made to reach out to those who do care about peace, and it may mobilize them to become peacebuilders, to take action for peace. They can be funny, and they can help these people realize that there are others like them who desire peace, so that they may be interested to connect with other peacebuilders.

Make peace memes!!!!!!!!!!

This meme making thing has been super inspiring. I’ll keep making memes, and would love to connect with other peace meme makers.

I have some weird dream to put a little rag-tag team together to make peace memes and see if we can use them for some good. It will be like The Avengers, but for peace memes. I’ll call us, the Meme Team!

Post some memes in the comments below. Let’s see if you’ve got what it takes! 😜

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