Above photo: Front of the Peoplehood parade, Philadelphia, Nov. 8, 2025. WW Photo/Joe Piette.
Philadelphia – Participating in the annual Peoplehood Parade and Pageant in Philadelphia is an amazing experience, not to be missed. It gets better every year. Since 2000, these fall festivals, organized by Spiral Q Puppet Theatre, are a people-powered collective celebration of solidarity, creativity and movement courage.
They involve giant puppets, creative banners, a range of visual arts, performers and speakers that in Spiral Q’s own words provide a tool to “help educate people with visuals that give voice to struggles and narratives that our culture renders invisible. … Peoplehood allows us to see the breadth of our resistance.”
The 25th annual Peoplehood was celebrated on Nov. 8 with its traditional parade from the historic Paul Robeson House at 50th and Walnut streets, through West Philadelphia neighborhoods, to end at Clark Park for a Pageant. It was met with continued applause from residents throughout. The two main issues celebrated were solidarity with immigrants and Palestine. But the crises for tenants, food instability and mass transit problems were also highlighted.
Groups leading the parade were the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, No-ICE Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Palestine Coalition. Other participating organizations included the Korea Peace Committee and Koreans for Decolonization at UPenn, the newly formed Federal Unionist Network, Philadelphia Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Transit Forward Philly, Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition, Philly Action Readiness Collective, Mobilization4Mumia, the Sunrise Movement and more.
Queer singers from the Bearded Ladies Cabaret and young drummers from the West Powelton Drum Squad and Steppers performed throughout the parade, providing dance steps and constant drum rhythms. Music at the Pageant was provided by the Peoplehood Band.
Months of art production
From start to finish, Peoplehood is not just a single parade day. It involves months of art-making that includes hundreds of artists, community activists, neighborhood families and students to create some of the most imaginative signs, displays and puppets – including three amazing white bird puppets in the final segment of the event. Part of the fun of participating in Peoplehood includes helping to paint the creative banners and displays.
In prior years, Peoplehood included a Jeff Bezos puppet carried by a contingent of Amazon United workers, including organizer Chris Smalls. This year’s event included a giant puppet of Handala, the 10-year-old Palestinian refugee character created by cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1969. Handala, depicted with his back always turned to the viewer with folded hands on both sides, is a symbol of Palestinian resistance and the struggles of refugees to return to their homeland.
A major feature of Peoplehood is its attention to involve children in the event, especially the Pageant. The audience watching the event is also encouraged to participate.
As our collective activist movement rises up to meet the challenges from the Donald Trump administration and capitalism in its dying stages, events like Peoplehood provide an important means of building unity within our diverse communities and neighborhoods.
Workers World Party is proud to be a continuing supporter of this cultural celebration that unites the struggles of workers and oppressed people.
