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The Art of Activism
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World needs a revolution and we will strike soon.
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2020 August The Shed Free entry 04 Friday Learn Presentations and discussions about current global protests
05 Saturday Create Workshop - create your own poster
06 Sunday Strike Collective march throught streets to spread awarness of oppresion
Call out for all students to come and join us in the fight for better future.
Content
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Streets on Fire
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The Power of Silkscreen
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Berkeley in the 60s
Designed for Protest 1960 – 2019
Real impact of posters
History of Berkeley Movement
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Berkeley Workshop
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The Battle for People’s Park
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Troubled Times
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Inside Red Fields
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Media Control
Screenprinting examples of students from Berkeley
How things turned our so deadly
The biggest protests in the world
Hong Kong Struggle 2019
How strictly are media being controlled be authorities
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Activ The Art of Activism
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vism Activism has played a major role in ending slavery, challenging dictatorships, protecting workers from exploitation, protecting the environment, promoting equality for women, opposing racism, and many other important issues. Activism can also be used for aims such as attacking minorities or promoting the war.
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Streets on Fire In United states of America in 1960, years after when war was over, the majority of people were still unsatisfied with the quality of their life. People suffered from injustice, poverty, disease, housing crisis, unbalanced life, racism, war and many more issues. Even though students started speaking out against those issues, they haven’t been able to spread the word effectively through the country to mobilise the masses. Students needed to find a way to expose themselves to gain more support. Using radio or television to spread the message was unheard of, as it was too expensive and also strictly under state power. They needed to find a different method. Students needed a huge amount of posters done in a quick and cheap way without losing the power of image, illustration and type. Therefore they needed to print their message, and they needed it done in fast way, to be able to take them to the streets and act as soon as possible.
American students holding signs of rage, indignation and disappointment against the system and the authorities in the 1960. The Art of Activism
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This has started a new freedom of speech revolution for protest movement through poster production. That’s where screen printing made it to scene as an option, as its requirements for printing were more cheaper than other alternatives.
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The most powerful tool were posters as they were a perfect fit for communication. Getting message across in the clear and obvious way was essential for posters. Only press studios were able to produce massive amountof posters.Innovation of coloured lithography transformed streets of cities into an urban art galleries and enabled lower class that didn’t have access to radio or TV to find out what’s happening. Streets were covered with posters spreading message that rich class and business owners wanted the public to know, as they were able to pay press studios to produce posters with the lithography method that was invented in the nineteenth century. Twentieth century was a breakthrough for reproducing posters. As a result of developing new low-tech printing techniques such as silk-screen printing and photocopying it has set up a possibility to produce a non-commercial protest posters in large amount that until then was only available for state companies or government.
Visua The Art of Activism
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als We may underestimate the power of graphic design as it’s something we’re in touch on a daily basis. As a consumer we’re surrounded by images almost everywhere we go. Therefore it’s easy to take them for granted, nonetheless we need to point out the importance of image and type in poster movements as visuals were inseparable part of social protests. How powerful can visuals be? Can poster and its message persuade people to stand up and act? Why did students use posters instead of news, radio and television like the at the time ruling oppression?
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The Power of Silkscreen Silk screen printing is a printmaking technique in which a mesh cloth is stretched over a wooden frame. Mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate, except in area made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. Ink has to be put on top of the screen and with the use of squeeguee that is moved across the screen with a slight pressure applied onto the screen, ink fills the open mesh apertures. This causes ink to wet the substrate and once the pressure of squeeguee has passed and is no longer applied screen springs back. Design has been printed on the surface under the scree. Only one colour is printed at the time so in case of a multicoloured design several screens need to be used.
Annonymous, The Peace Art of Activism is Patriotic, 1970
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Before digital technology was accessible to worldwide communication, graphic artist used the most powerful method of modernist art to inform communities, promote influential messages and call for an act. By 1986 over 100 000 political and social justice posters were produced nationally where images were illuminating every aspect of social movement underlying its main message. This has been done without state support. Silk screened posters promoted local, urgent activities of the social movements. With the smart placement on street walls, information boards, store windows or church doors these powerful, bright, quickly produced messages expressed the anger of the masses. Streets covered with posters served as urban gallery of public unhappiness. They could provide a powerful visual force in daily lives. Their main purpose was to spread urgent messages with the use of typography and illustration.
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Posters were designed for an audience on the move which meant they only had few seconds to inform the reader. Due to that, message had to be clear and simplified. Not only were posters spreading awareness to masses, but also educating the citizens about relevant problems and hoping to change their minds to mobilize and to act together against current rulling oppressor.
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What were the benefits? Using screen printing as a technique was beneficial as the cost was minimal and it provided a wide options of surfaces to print on. Because of the minimal skill and equipment requirements anyone could produce posters and join the protest happening in the streets. Thanks to screen printing poster movement was widely spread and perfected over the decades.
Never doubt that group of committ thoughtful citizen can change the w Indeed, it is the on that ever has.
t a small ted, ns world. nly thing
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Actio The Art of Activism
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on During the 1960s America, as many other countries in the world, was undergoing several cultural, social and political changes. These changes led to growing dissatisfaction of life within youth and eventually it has evolved into creating a group of students organising protests on the streets. Those protests were against political decisions of the country. In May 1970 students from the University of California form together to create a unique Berkeley Political Poster workshop.
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Berkeley in the 60s During the 1960s America, as many other countries in the world, was undergoing several cultural, social and political changes. These changes led to growing dissatisfaction of life within youth and eventually it has evolved into creating a group of students organising protests on the streets. Those protests were against political decisions of country. In May 1970 students from the University of California form together to create Berkeley Political Poster workshop. At the time this workshop produced hundreds of silk screen posters therefore it was one of the largest of its kind in a time of political protests. Majority of posters were created anonymously and never signed as they were not meant to be sold or collected. They were not designed to be long lasting artworks nor admired like art objects hanging inside the gallery.
Mario Savio, leader of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, speaks to assembled students on the campus at Berkeley, 1964, California.
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Folk singer Joan Baez performs at a Free Speech Movement rally which preceded a sit-in by over 1000 people, culminating in the arrest of over 800, in front of Sproul Hall at the University of California on 2nd December, 1964.
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In the same way graphic designer Holly stated “The posters were designed to be ephemeral, to serve their purpose as active agents of change in the context of the protests and then be discarded, rather than simply documenting or commenting on the events.“. Based on what Holly mentioned it’s clear to say that real purpose of posters has changed thanks to protest movement, as it has no longer served as a piece of art to admire. In addition, media were tightly controlled by government that wanted to spread only certain message and in a way that suited them. Therefore it was up to those posters to spread out information about growing unhappiness and need for a change. Screen-printing method enabled students to produce posters in secret and independently in their own places. Besides that, it required little artistic talent and minimum material funding for poster production in huge amount.
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Mario Savio, leader of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, is restrained by police as he walks to the platform at the University of California’s Greek Theater in Berkeley on Dec. 7, 1964.
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Berkeley Workshop In the following examples of posters produced by students, we can see similarity in visual language to posters created by students of Atelier Populaire in 1960s in France. An example of this specific visual language is simplified images and type and distinguished, rough quality of print. In addition choosing right image and bold type that represents the struggle was a priority, therefore it wasn’t a taboo to reuse same images that were successful in other countries. An example would be clenched fist, crowds, unions holding tools as weapons raising against the system. These signs and symbols were continued to be used for the following decades as a representation of social struggle.
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Annomyous, Untitled, 1970 Figure above is one of the anonymous poster that was created during a student protest in 1970. It’s a political poster against Nixon and his decision to bomb Cambodia. Poster lacks any sort of actually typed message, but the image is so strong and clear that there was no need to explain what is it about with additional text. It was a clever use of image that represents something widely known to the public and use it as the exact opposite of what it represents. Figure with american flag where stars are replaced with jets and stripes with rifles, is no longer a representation of freedom that America proudly stood for. This is one of the examples where power of everyday known visual, is used and can bring up even stronger emotional reaction for the viewer
Jay Belloli Amerika is Devouring Its Children, 1970
From the figure on the left it’s clear to say that students looked for reference from art of dark times. This figure is referencing to Goya’s Saturn Devouring his son. Now Saturn is replaced by america torturing the citizens of the country. America is represented the same way as Saturn was in Goya’s painting - as a cold blooded murderer. America is no longer a caring father for its children. It changed into an Evil monster using it’s own children to die in war they didn’t start.
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Anonnymous, Fascist infested, 1970
Figure on right is one of another anti Vietnam war posters. Students produced vivid and colourful images in response to rapidly increasing political storms and traumas in regards to Nixon’s war decisions. Another example of using strong visuals can be seen in figure above where rat that is seen to the public as a filthy animal that is never welcome at home is infesting home - america in this scenario with its filthiness - facism.
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The Battle for People’s Park Fifty years ago, the rules of engagement changed. On Thursday May 15th 1969, police opened fire with shotguns on mostly peaceful, unarmed student demonstrators who were protesting the seizure of the People’s Park in Berkeley, CA. In the mid-1950s, the University of Berkeley wanted to buy a stretch of land to redevelop as student residences, a parking lot, and some campus offices. Student numbers were growing and there was a lack of good affordable student housing.The land had about 25 various low-rent working class dwellings which were soon bulldozed to make more way for the bright future.
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On Thursday May 15th 1969, police opened fire with shotguns on mostly peaceful, unarmed student demonstrators who were protesting the seizure of the People’s Park in Berkeley, CA.
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How did it turn so deadly? The cops were given the green light to do whatever the fuck they wanted or in PR parlance use whatever force was necessary to remove the demonstrators. The word had come down from California’s Governor Ronald Reagan who thought Berkeley was “a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters, and sex deviants.” Some of the cops agreed. These were mostly hyped-up ex-Vietnam vets who thought hippie draft-dodging commie student bastards were the nearest thing to the VC they’d ever get a chance to blast on home turf. The cops were just pawns in a game but their actions were bloody, unnecessary, fatal, and ultimately futile. Cops later claimed their guns were loaded with nothing more than
One bystander was James Rector. He was standing atop Granma’s Books watching the ruckus below. Cops later claimed, after the fact, protestors were chucking things from the rooftops. The cops fired up onto the roof. Rector took three hits to his left side. He went down.
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birdshot. This may have been true for some of their weapons but the hospital reports on the wounded described buckshot and high caliber rifle wounds. 128 Berkeley students were admitted to hospital with “head trauma, shotgun wounds, and other serious injuries inflicted by police.� One man, Alan Blanchard was permanently blinded after being shot in the face at point blank range with birdshot. Many of the injured went unreported and untreated as they feared arrest or reprisals from the police. By their own admission (cop boss Sheriff Madigan), some of the police behaved like they were fighting the Viet Cong. James Rector had been standing on a rooftop, this made it difficult for him to be lowered down to medical assistance below. He was eventually
Reagan caused further outrage when he said: “If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with.” taken to hospital where he died from his wounds four days later. According to his autopsy report, Rector had died as a result of “shock and hemorrhage due to multiple shotgun wounds and perforation of the aorta.” Like soldiers, cops are the only state employees who can murder people with impunity. On May 20th, Reagan called in the National Guard. The area was cleared, shops closed, and a curfew imposed. Any gathering of three or more people was forcibly disbanded. Tear gas was deployed by air in what was the largest use of tear gas on American soil.May 30th, Rector’s death brought over 30,000 Berkeley residents to demonstrate at the People’s Park. It passed peacefully. After seventeen days, the National Guard withdrew.Governor Ronald
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Reagan was unmoved by what had happened. He claimed (rather unbelievably) the protestors had unleashed “the dogs of war” and were therefore responsible for what had happened. lmost a year later, in April 1970, In other words, when it comes to money and property people’s lives don’t mean shit.The events of May 15th, 1969, became known as “Bloody Thursday.” Since then, different plans to develop the People’s Park have come and gone. In May 2018, the university announced plans to build a student residence. January 2019, saw the first bulldozers under police escort return to the area.In other words, when it comes to money and property people’s lives don’t mean shit. The events of May 15th, 1969, became known as
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“Bloody Thursday.” Since then, different plans to develop the People’s Park have come and gone. In May 2018, the university announced plans to build a student residence. January 2019, saw the first bulldozers under police escort return to the area.
A man at the University of California, Berkeley, throws a tear gas canister at police during a student strike to protest against the killing of four students at Kent State University. The Berkeley demonstration was one of many across the nation in direct response to the killings by National Guardsmen during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration the previous day – 5 th May, 1970
A line of guardsmen close off a street near People’s Park. On 30 May, 30,000 of Berkeley’s 100,000 residents marched in protest against the 15th May killing by police of an unarmed spectator at an earlier demonstration and the subsequent occupation of their city by the National Guard.
You need the ener of the youth, the wisdom of the eld and the participa of everyone else order for a move to be dynamic and effective. The Art of Activism
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uggle Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free.When struggle gets reals that’s when we speak out. This is the time to stand united and fight for a change. Just like many more did before us.
India – 1930 Salt March The The Art of Activism
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That simple act caused millions more Indians to follow suit and commit their own acts of civil disobedience. The Art of Activism
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In 1930, India was still under British rule and at the time there were many who were against the British and sought peaceful ways of protest. Ghandi and over 80,000 other protesters were arrested in response to the civil disobedience and protests. The movement continued for a year and drew worldwide attention to the plight of Indians under colonial rule. A year after the protest began, Ghandi was released from prison and given a spot at the Second-Round Table Conference.
France – 1968 French Protest The Art of Activism
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A Month of Revolution Pushed France Into the Modern new World.
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The civil unrest in May 1968 in France began with student protests. The students were fighting against a range of issues including capitalism, consumerism and the traditional institutions. They were against the class structure that discriminated against some people and that affected the funding for universities. On May 6, more than 20,000 students and supporters marched to the school which was surrounded by the police. The police reacted to the students with batons and tear gas.
China – 1989 Tiananmen Square
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Tiananmen remains a banned subject in China.
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The Tiananmen Square protests were student-led demonstrations calling for democracy, free speech and a free press in China. They were halted in a bloody crackdown, known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, by the Chinese government on June 4 and 5, 1989.
U.S.A – 2003 Iraq War Protest The Art of Activism
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Worldwide day of protest against the U.S.A to enter into war against Iraq.
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In 2003 public opinion around the world was against the Iraq war. From 2002 until 2003 the world erupted into thousands of protests as people spoke out in their individual countries against the U.S. decision to invade Iraq. Between January 3rd and April 12th, 2003 it is estimated that more than 36 million people around the world took part in more than 3,000 protests.
Egypt – 2011 Arab Spring
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What little progress was gained by some, others experienced violence and devastation.
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In 2003 public opinion around the world was against the Iraq war. From 2002 until 2003 the world erupted into thousands of protests as people spoke out in their individual countries against the U.S. decision to invade Iraq. Between January 3rd and April 12th, 2003 it is estimated that more than 36 million people around the world took part in more than 3,000 protests.
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Resis The Art of Activism
st Resistance, in its simplest form, is refusing to accept what you are told by those with power. It’s your choice to decide to obey or to stand up to fight the regime and to resist.
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Inside Red Fields In comparison to nowadays where we’re faced with high quality digital printing widely available to the public, it’s cheap, fast and hassle free to print something on paper and take it to the streets. Although we still need the right image to print that speaks about our struggle. While there are several huge political, environmental and social protests happening all over the world, one that stands out is the protest of Hong Kong and its autonomy from China. In particular it’s the contrast of having the possibilities to connect to the whole world as social medias are available, but not being able due to strict control of what can be shown and what will be blocked. Therefore we might not use the old silk screen printing method as students from Berkeley, but we will use the power of visuals and anonymous posters to speak of the struggle.
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In contrast to this it’s the powerful mass of riots and protest that challenge the control in hope to leak out information that would otherwise never went viral in a direct social control. An example of total social control nowadays is situation in East where communist China strictly control all media to ensure that citizens only see and hear what China wants. Because of this social situation, it’s almost impossible to leak any information about injustice currently happening in Hong Kong through any sort of social media. Limited access to social media forced students to reach for methods used over decades in social protest to speak out their unhappiness with system. Therefore once they realised that nowaday technology is against them they couldn’t rely on justice in the world by certain authorieties. They knew that thye live within strict regime that will never change unless their citizen don’t fight for a change. Change for a better future.
People hold up five fingers representing the five demands of protesters in Hong Kong during a demonstration in Sydney on September 29 The Art of Activism
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A pro-democracy demonstrator holds a sign reading “HK Is Not China� during a protest in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019
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In recent years, there has been a growing outcry from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy civil society against China’s alleged attempts to erode the city’s autonomy. This has created tensions between the city’s youth and the local government, which is effectively chosen by Beijing.In 2016-17, six legislators critical of Beijing were debarred. In 2018, the Hong Kong National Party, a localist party that has been critical of Beijing, was outlawed. This year, Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, proposed the extradition Bill, which sought to extradite Hong Kongers to places with which the city doesn’t have extradition agreements. Critics said it would allow the city government to extradite Beijing critics to mainland China where the judicial system is subservient to the ruling Communist Party. This triggered the protests, and they went on despite Ms. Lam’s decision to suspend the Bill. The protesters, who often clashed with the police, now want the Bill to be formally withdrawn, Ms. Lam to resign, the arrested protesters to be released and the city’s electoral system to be reformed.
A poster advertises a rally at the airport, after a female protester was seriously injured after being hit in the eye by a police beanbag round.
With only power of visuals a group of individuals decided to create an anonymous defiant design team to produce posters that can be used in protest and cover the streets to speak out for citizens of Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, political art has taken on a distinct style, from design to distribution. Banners are not just plastered onto main roads -they are sent directly to residents via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi almost immediately after they are created.The graphics serve multiple purposes; some advertise upcoming protest marches, others contain subversive criticism of the authorities and many encourage unity and stamina.A key theme of protesters’ posters is the ability to “be water,� a phrase inspired by martial arts icon Bruce Lee that encourages fluidity and adaptability to any situation. This is in stark contrast to the 2014 protests, which remained in one area of the city as protesters set up camp against the authorities.
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What is hidden behind Hong Kong flag? Each of the flower’s petals feature a five-pointed, red star that is a reproduction of the same five stars on the Chinese national flag and a symbol of the ruling Communist Party. The red background also symbolically couples Hong Kong and mainland.
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It consists of white flower petals set against bright red background which is supposed to represent the rights and freedom under “one country, two system� principle.
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Because of this proof of how powerful an image can be when used as a visual language for a statement, Kacey Wong modified Hong Kong’s flag that was originally designed as a symbol of unity between China and Hong Kong. Once Wong produced his own black version of Hong Kong’s flag that has been immediately used in the streets as a symbol of protests. He then took away what flag represented by modifying it slightly,which now makes flag represents choice between “freedom or death”. Wong was one of the first people that gave Hong Kong’s protests a visual to use. There are three main variants of the design: the basic design, which simply swaps out the red background for black; a variant of the black flag where a few petals are withered; and a variant of the withered flag where the petals are also bloodstained, and the dimensions are reduced to more of a square. The latter two designs also remove the stars in the petals that symbolize the People’s Republic of China.
Y chose to cover white petal of flower in blood after a violent act from police.
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Figure on the left is another strong visual that was produced by defiant design team led by Y. It was a reaction to Police officer that shot unarmed woman protesting in peace on the streets of Hong Kong. This incident was a first time blood was shed. Y took upon to produce a visual that represents the updated situation and to spread awareness about the real position that Hong Kong’s protests are dealing with. Therefore he modified Wong’s version of Hong Kong’s flag and covered petals in blood.
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trol The authorities’ aggressive approach has prompted activists to back off and social media users to watch what they say. Clamping down on journalists and bloggers has the multiplier effect of sweeping criticism from general public discussion.
Do you think China is bad? Wait till you hear is how they treat people. It’s not good. Okay? The Art of Activism
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Tight media Control This is what Xi Jinping sees as the war, fighting in the ideological and discursive affairs of the country, like what people think, how people discuss the past and the future, how people discuss the role and legitimacy of the party. The party has worked for years to control the conversation, building up a vast network of state-run media alongside a huge censorship system that filters online content, even a constantly updated list of search terms and any oblique references to them.But Xi has pushed the party to act more forcefully. It cannot control what people think, but it does try to manage how things are being discussed.Part of that is of course to remove, to eliminate those very dangerous ‘wrong’ messages and that’s what you are seeing today.
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The manipulation of the media cannot be countered, however, by old or new forms of censorship, but only by direct social control, that is to say, by the mass of the people, who will have become productive.
It cannot control what people think, but it does try to manage how things are being discussed. The Art of Activism
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Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Be water, my friend. The famous quote from martial arts star Bruce Lee has taken on a new life as a slogan of the Hong Kong protestors. “They are really fluid, and sometimes they get together very quickly and they disperse very quickly, and it really looks like water is flowing and flowing through different parts of the city,�
Change is coming, whether you like it or not.
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