Sign Of The Times
What is a protest without signs?
And what is a sign without a slogan? As the international anti-war movement gathers force, so does the art of slogan writing.
But blandness and conformity are anathema to the very spirit of the anti-war movement. While plenty of marchers carry signs printed up by various political groups -- "Bush's Policies: Endangering America, Enraging the World" or "Act Now to Stop War and Racism" -- the majority are handmade and much more personal.
Signs are the street version of protest poetry or literature.The following are a few of my favorites, grouped very loosely by theme. What I offer is only a small cross-section of signs and is not meant to be representative of the complexity of views being expressed on the streets.
Duct Tape, Sauron, Pretzels
You can't go anywhere near a demonstration without seeing duct tape, usually in big strips plastered over the mouths of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice or Powell, with variations of "Duct Tape for Peace" as the slogan.
The leaders were also referred to variously as the "Asses of Evil," the "Axis of Weasel" and the "Axis of Drivel." Sometimes, their first names became anatomical puns, as in "Our Government Is Run by the Lower Chakras: Bush, Dick and Colin." Groan.
"Bush Is a Servant of Sauron. We Hates Him!" is my favorite from the many depictions of Bush as the master of darkness. On the same theme is "Bush Is Sauron, Save the Shire!"
Other very popular signs were "Stamp Out Mad Cowboy Disease," "Drop Bush, Not Bombs" and "Regime Change Begins at Home." Also: "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" and "War Begins with Dubya" and variations on "Read My Lips: This is Bushit."
Other uses of the president's very punnable name: "Plant a Tree, Uproot Bush," "Bushes Are for Peeing On" "It's Time to Trim the Bush" and the very popular "The Only Bush I Trust is my Own."
Environmentalists scored hits with "How Many Lives per Gallon?" "Go Solar, Not Ballistic," and "If War Is Inevitable, Draft SUV Drivers First."
Bush's intellect is questioned, and many take full advantage of that fact: "Bush: Weapon of Mass Stupidity," "Bush Is an Empty Warhead," "Peace Takes Brains," "A Village in Texas Has Lost Its Idiot," "Smart Bombs Don't Justify Dumb Leaders," "Brains Not Bombs" and "If You Can't Pronounce It, Don't Bomb It."
Others got even more personal: "Iraq Isn't Your Ranch," "Daddy, I Want My Own War," "Drunken Frat Boy Drives Country Into Ditch," and "Send the Twins First."
"How Did Our Oil Get Under Their Sand?" is one of the many petroleum-themed signs. Others included "Let's Bomb Texas, They Have Oil, Too," "Blood and Oil Don't Mix" and "Let Exxon Send Their Own Troops," "No War for Enron" and "Born to Kill, Born to Drill."
These are just a few I saw from thousands. I hope this sparks some ideas to make your own sign when the time comes.
posted by Unknown at 1.4.05
4 Comments:
it really not that simple. The following has been flying around the 'net (although it's satire, there are some real points to be made here:
Let them eat bombs:
The doubling of child malnutrition in Iraq is baffling
Terry Jones
04/12/05 "The Guardian" - - A report to the UN human rights commission in Geneva has concluded that Iraqi children were actually better off under Saddam Hussein than they are now.
This, of course, comes as a bitter blow for all those of us who, like George Bush and Tony Blair, honestly believe that children thrive best when we drop bombs on them from a great height, destroy their cities and blow up hospitals, schools and power stations.
It now appears that, far from improving the quality of life for Iraqi youngsters, the US-led military assault on Iraq has inexplicably doubled the number of children under five suffering from malnutrition. Under Saddam, about 4% of children under five were going hungry, whereas by the end of last year almost 8% were suffering.
These results are even more disheartening for those of us in the Department of Making Things Better for Children in the Middle East By Military Force, since the previous attempts by Britain and America to improve the lot of Iraqi children also proved disappointing. For example, the policy of applying the most draconian sanctions in living memory totally failed to improve conditions. After they were imposed in 1990, the number of children under five who died increased by a factor of six. By 1995 something like half a million Iraqi children were dead as a result of our efforts to help them.
A year later, Madeleine Albright, then the US ambassador to the United Nations, tried to put a brave face on it. When a TV interviewer remarked that more children had died in Iraq through sanctions than were killed in Hiroshima, Mrs Albright famously replied: "We think the price is worth it."
But clearly George Bush didn't. So he hit on the idea of bombing them instead. And not just bombing, but capturing and torturing their fathers, humiliating their mothers, shooting at them from road blocks - but none of it seems to do any good. Iraqi children simply refuse to be better nourished, healthier and less inclined to die. It is truly baffling.
And this is why we at the department are appealing to you - the general public - for ideas. If you can think of any other military techniques that we have so far failed to apply to the children of Iraq, please let us know as a matter of urgency. We assure you that, under our present leadership, there is no limit to the amount of money we are prepared to invest in a military solution to the problems of Iraqi children.
In the UK there may now be 3.6 million children living below the poverty line, and 12.9 million in the US, with no prospect of either government finding any cash to change that. But surely this is a price worth paying, if it means that George Bush and Tony Blair can make any amount of money available for bombs, shells and bullets to improve the lives of Iraqi kids. You know it makes sense.
Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python. He is the author of Terry Jones's War on the War on Terror - www.terry-jones.net
Just wanted to drop a line to say howdy. I linked to your site from ragingarmadillo.blogspot.com... I saw your post, and trust me, I will be checkin' back with you often! I love what you have to say.
Peace!
Sizah
If our slogans were half as good as the ones we had for Vietnam, the war'd be over by now. I mean, "being Arab- not a crime!"? Come on.
I don't think you realize this. You can go on as many protests as you want, sign as many petitions as you want, there will still be a war. So here's a thought, instead of wasting your time with low blows to Bush and the Republican Party, why don't you make yourself useful and support our troops, you have no idea what they have to go through for our country and I think the least they deserve is our honor, respect, and support.
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