May Day ain't what it usta be...

 

The Cuban Communist Party spent much of the weekend attempting to protect its May Day celebrations from the expression of the profane, and increasingly popular, acronym “DPEPDPE,” which dissidents have grown to display on signs and shirts.

“DPEPDPE” stands for “De Pinga El País De Pinga Este,” which has no coherent literal translation in English but roughly means “this shitty country sucks.” The word pinga is profane slang for male genitalia that, when used with “de,” can mean something is either extremely good or extremely bad in Cuba, and can have a host of other meanings in other Spanish-speaking countries.

The slogan has become a way for Cubans to vent their frustration against the precarious living conditions that the Communist regime has subjected Cuba to.

Much like the “Díaz-Canel singao” (roughly, “asshole Díaz-Canel”) slogan that Cubans loudly exclaimed against puppet leader Miguel Díaz-Canel in 2021 during that year’s protests against the communist regime, DPEPDPE has become a rallying slogan against the regime of Cuba. It has appeared on t-shirts, become a popular social media hashtag, and some dissidents have tattooed it on their bodies.

 

The DPEPDPE phrase is often accompanied by the “Flork” characters that originate from the internet webcomic “Flork of Cows” that has become popular in Cuba. Flork of Cows is an ongoing web-strip that features the eponymous characters drawn in dark humor situations. The characters of the comic are purposely drawn in a simple style that’s colloquially referred to as “MS Paint.”

The implication of the animation accompanying the expression of frustration is a form of gallows humor, an expression essentially saying that Cubans are trapped in a bad joke of a government.