The Art of Protest

A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
All over the world, human rights are under siege. In the halls of governments, in the streets of cities and towns on every continent, and along the borders between countries, the freedom for individuals to “live their lives freely, equally, and in dignity,” as Amnesty International reminds us in this book, is at risk and requires constant vigilance.
This is not a new story. The fi ght for social justice never ends; the areas of concern merely shift. Today’s crises are familiar: the plight of refugees; the rise of hate speech and violence; and governmental policies and corporate priorities that put profi t above a safe, green, and habitable world. But as the history, posters, and artwork in this book show us, the struggle to provide universal protection for human rights and social justice has been a long one, and over the last hundred years or so, the defi nition of those freedoms has broadened and is more inclusive. 
This struggle has always required clear and compelling communication of its essential messages. Over time, visual imagery has provided a powerful vehicle for dramatizing injustice and urging reform. Posters, photographs, drawings, banners, and symbols—in the hands of committed and talented artists—catch the eye and convince the heart that, in so many ways and in so many places, human dignity is under threat. 
World War I created a refugee crisis on a global scale. The Art of Protest begins with posters from that time that pleaded for those in safe harbors to help people in Europe and the Middle East who had been displaced by confl ict and famine. Nearly a hundred years later, in his fi nal speech to the United Nations in 2016, President Barack Obama noted the continued need for this type of messaging when he said, “A nation ringed by walls will only imprison itself.” Today, organizations that understand that simple but necessary sentence have created contemporary posters, also included in this book, that remind us that “no human being is illegal.”
The collection of posters here is not limited by geography or ethnicity. They are grouped and defi ned by identities of varying specifi city, and their common theme is humanity. They demand justice for oppressed and marginalized people across boundaries: working men and women, indigenous groups, people of color, the LGBTQ community; those who fi ght for peace and better marshalling of our natural resources; and those who sought and continue to seek equal rights for women—from the suffragists to today’s activists working to maintain abortion rights. These posters are informed by tolerance, and their creators were not afraid to be aggressive in the cause of justice. They are always informed by the belief that equality is a human right.
Such a belief demands a connection between people who need support and people who can provide it, and the artwork in this book gives us moving examples of how images can create this link and move us to action. Take this picture of an Afghan girl made by photographer Steve McCurry.
 “This ten-year-old Afghan refugee lives in Peshawar, Pakistan, and has never seen her homeland,” the poster’s legend tells us. But the girl’s eyes say so much more. They convey concern and also strength and hope. The girl’s face is overlaid with a clear statement: Human Dignity, Human Rights. Such is the power of poster art and the marriage between image and language. We hope that as you look through the striking images presented here, you will think of both history and the contemporary world, and consider both where we’ve been and where we’re headed.
“One movement, one message, many voices,” a similar poster says. Imagine Books is pleased to present, in collaboration with Amnesty International, the many voices of this varied and powerful collection of posters that, across time and space, make such a vibrant and impassioned case for universal human dignity. Even now the call for positive change is urgent.