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The Revolutionary's Raised Fist

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The Revolutionary's Raised Fist

Postby admin_pornrev » Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:59 am

The Revolutionary's Raised Fist

A brief history of the "clenched fist" image

FROM: http://www.docspopuli.org/articles/Fist.html

Lincoln Cushing, Docs Populi


The Revolutionarys Fist.png
The Revolutionarys Fist.png (43.44 KiB) Viewed 6003 times



Note: This document is a work in progress, originally generated for the "Battle Emblems" exhibit at San Francisco's Intersection for the Arts February-March 2006. I would especially like to thank Michael Rossman of the AOUON archive, exhibit organizer Kevin Chen, and illustrator Frank Cieciorka for their invaluable contributions to this research on our cultural history.

Also see "Origins of the clenched fist - peace symbol combination graphic"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A persistent symbol of resistance and unity, the clenched fist (or raised fist) is part of the broader genre of "hand" symbols that include the peace "V," the forward-thrust-fist, and the clasped hands. The clenched fist usually appears in full frontal display showing all fingers and is occasionally integrated with other images such as a peace symbol or tool.

The human hand has been used in art from the very beginnings, starting with stunning examples in Neolithic cave paintings. Early examples of the fist in graphic art can be found at least as far back as 1917 [1], with another example from Mexico in 1948 [2]. Fist images, in some form, were used in numerous political graphic genres, including the French and Soviet revolutions, the United States Communist Party, and the Black Panther Party for Self-defense. However, these all followed an iconographic convention. The fist was always part of something - holding a tool or other symbol, part of an arm or human figure, or shown in action (smashing, etc.). But graphic artists from the New Left changed that in 1968, with an entirely new treatment. This "new" fist stood out with its stark simplicity, coupled with a popularly understood meaning of rebellion and militance. It was easy to reproduce at any scale and modify (long lines of fists, sun rays of fists, etc.) Michael Rossman and I have concluded that, to the best of our knowledge, the moment this first occurred was a poster [3] by San Francisco Bay Area graphic artist Frank's Cieciorka for Stop The Draft Week, for actions January 14, 1968 protesting the arrest of the "Oakland Seven" This poster was adapted from one he had done earlier [4] for Stop The Draft Week (10/17/1967) that used a large, blocky figure wielding a fist. The second poster took the fist and used on its own.

This fist, or versions of it, were adopted by "the movement," appearing in numerous posters and flyers for student, antiwar, women's, and other political activities within the United States. It showed up almost immediately within the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS, which used it in flier for the 1968 Chicago National Democratic Convention protest)[5]. A virtually identical fist used in the 1969 Harvard student strike [7] traces its design to School of Design student Harvey Hacker. Other minor variants of these appeared in slightly different treatments around the U.S. A similar version, though probably evolved from different iconographic ancestry, appeared in the groundbreaking prints made by the Atelier Populaire Paris 1968 poster workshop [6].

Another version drawn by Frank Cieciorka also saw widespread dissemination [8]. As he describes it, "In the summer of ‘65 I had just returned to San Francisco after a year as a SNCC field secretary in Mississippi. I had been inspired by Jose Posada’s "corridos" (small woodcuts that sold for the equivalent of a penny in early 20th century Mexico). I had planned to do a series of small woodcuts & wood engravings in unlimited editions that I could sell for a buck apiece. The fist was the first wood cut of the series & became very popular."

After the 1970’s use of the fist declined, but its persistence as a movement icon is evident by its occasional reappearance, as in a 2000 Women Take Back the Night flyer, the 2004 logo for a chapter of Earth First! [9], and the CD cover for progressive music nonprofit organization Axis of Justice [10]. As with all movement symbols, there is the real risk of appropriation by commercial culture - witness the "radical" shock-jock Howard Stern’s logo evoking the struggle to break free from FCC regulation [11], complete with an added crossbar across two knuckles making it an "H".

The fist has been used in other countries - note these examples from Cuba and Serbia. The international agency OSPAAAL (Organization in Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa, and Latin America) based in Cuba issued several posters bearing the fist [12] During the 1990s in Serbia, the clenched fist logo of OTPOR (the student movement against the Milosevic government) was a well-known political logo. The independent magazine Monitor was issued a huge fine for publishing it; according to the authorities, the symbol was equivalent to a "call for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order."[13]

A recent conflict over the use of this charged image involves the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) , whose distinctive clenched fist logo has been deemed "violent" by the government, denying it recognition as a legal political party. [14] One of the groups involved in the 2011 popular uprisings that toppled the Egyptian government recycled OTPOR's fist (see #13) [15].

Yet the militant fist continues to be coopted, even as a tool for capitalism [16] and right-wing and conservative groups [17]. The other side uses this potent image for labor film festivals [18] environmental activism [19], and the labor resistance in Wisconsin [20, 21]. The fist has become universal, context is now crucial to understanding its meaning.

The Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011 that spread throughout the US proved fertile ground for more street graphics - some new [22][23], some recycling the iconic "hand" of Frank Cieciorka [24, 25]. And renewed labor resistance in 2012 produced the clever "No Justice, No Piece" for Milwaukee pizza workers [26].

There is a story within this story - that vast amounts of work need to be put into better documenting and analyzing our own history. One would think that there would be authoritative treatises on such basic social movement icons as this image, but that is not the case. Misinformation abounds. In researching this article I ran across this statement on the website of the Tom Robinson Band, an important though underappreciated gay/revolutionary group from England, whose logo was a clenched fist like SDS fist #5: "The TRB fist logo...was from a 19th century miner’s union banner…" Inquiries to Tom led to a three-way conversation in which the designer, Roger Huddle of Rock Against Racism revealed he’d first seen it in a Black Panther context. The site has since been corrected. Scholarship in this area suffers from the dual stigmas of being "political" and involving poster graphics, which get very little respect in this country. Alternative archives such as Rossman’s AOUON archive and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles are vital to our cultural health, and must be supported.


Related links:

"Not your Grandparent's Clenched Fist," by Phil Patton, for Voice:AIGA Journal of Design, 1/10/2006

Origin of the Black Panther Party logo, H.K. Yuen Archive, U.C. Berkeley

Image data and sources:

[1] Industrial Workers of the World, published in Solidarity, 1917; Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology, edited by Joyce L. Kornbluh, Charles H. Kerr Publishing, 1998

[2] Cover of El Popular [Mexico], illustration by Taller de Grafica Popular, 1948; Taller de Grafica Popular collection, Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.

[3] Oakland Seven/Stop the Draft Week, for event 1/13/1968, designed by Frank Cieciorka; H.K. Yuen Archive, UC Berkeley.

[4] Stop the Draft Week, for event 10/16/1967, designed by Frank Cieciorka, AOUON Archive.

[5] SDS, New Left Notes, 1969; H.K. Yuen Archive, UC Berkeley

[6] Atelier Populaire, Paris, 1968; Atelier Populaire : Texts and Posters, Bobbs-Merrill, 1968.

[7] Student strike poster, Harvard, 1969; Political Graphics: Art as a Weapon, Robert Philippe, Abbeville Press, 1980, page 281.

[8] Illustration for The Movement, San Francisco Bay Area, 1968; artist, Frank Cieciorka; H.K. Yuen Archive, UC Berkeley.

[9] Earth First! logo, 2004; Lincoln Cushing/Docs Populi archive.

[10] Axis of Justice CD cover, 2004; Lincoln Cushing/Docs Populi archive.

[11] Howard Stern logo for Sirius Radio program, 2005; Lincoln Cushing/Docs Populi archive.

[12] Poster for the Organization in Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa, and Latin America (OSPAAAL), Cuba, 1970, by Asela Perez; Lincoln Cushing/Docs Populi archive.

[13] OTPOR; adapted from one found at http://www.mcclear.net/Rich/Photos/Serb ... litics.htm

[14] "PSM’s clenched fist logo deemed ‘violent’ " PSM website http://www.parti-sosialis.org/?p=721, March 19. 2009
[15] April 6 Movement, Egypt, 2011, courtesy Will Joda

[16] Commercial ad, Facebook (web grab)
[17] Taxpayer March on Washington, 9/12/2009 (web grab)

[18] Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival 2009
[19] Blue Frontier Campaign, 2010
[20] [21] 2011(web grab); #21 designed by Carrie Worthen

[22] Occupy Wall Street, 2011, web graphic, artist unknown
[23] Occupy Oakland, web graphic, by Rich Black.
[24] Occupy San Francisco
[25] Occupy Oakland (CA) 2011; photos by author
[26] Paul Kjelland, Milwaukee, 2012



Page created 1/25/2006; last updated 7/5/2012
Return to Docs Populi archive



[ 23] General Strike! Liberate Oakland (2011)



[1] IWW, 1917; [2] Taller de Grafica Popular, 1948


[3] Stop the Draft Week Oakland Seven"~December 1967; [4] Stop the Draft Week ~October 1967


[5] SDS, 1969; [6] Atelier Populaire (Paris), 1968


[7] Harvard strike, 1969; [8] "Hand" by Cieciorka, 1968


[9] Earth First!, 2004

[10] Axis of Justice CD cover, 2004; [11] Howard Stern logo for Sirius Radio program, 2005


[12] OSPAAAL (Cuba) 1970 ; [13] OTPOR, 1998


[14] Socialist Party of Malaysia | [15] April 6 Movement, Egypt, 2011


[16] Facebook ad 5/22/2009 | [17] Taxpayer March on Washington, 9/12/2009


[18] Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival 2009 | [19] Blue Frontier Campaign, 2010

[20] Rock Netroots, 2011; [21] Wisconsin AFL-CIO/Carrie Worthen, 2011


[22]Occupy Wall Street, 2011 | [24] Occupy San Francisco | 25] Occupy Oakland 2011


[26] Paul Kjelland, Milwaukee, 2012

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FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_fist <=

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Painted symbol of the Power Fist
This article is about the salute and symbol. For the Swedish band, see Raised Fist.
"Black fist" redirects here. For the film, see Black Fist (film).
The raised fist (also known as the clenched fist) is a symbol of solidarity and support.[1] It is also used as a salute to express unity, strength, defiance, or resistance. The salute dates back to ancient Assyria as a symbol of resistance in the face of violence.[dead link][2]
Contents
• 1 History
• 2 Logo
• 3 Salute
• 4 Groups that have used the symbol
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links
History


Industrial Exhibition in Berlin, Germany 1896
Assyrian depictions of the goddess Ishtar show her raising a clenched fist.[dead link][3] A raised fist was used as a logo by the Industrial Workers of the World[4] in 1917. The graphic symbol was popularized in 1948 by Taller de Gráfica Popular, a print shop in Mexico that used art to advance revolutionary social causes.[5] The symbol has been picked up and incorporated around the world by various groups fighting oppression.
The image gallery shows how a raised fist is used in visual communication. Combined with another graphic element, a raised fist is used to convey polysemous gestures and opposing forces.[6] Depending on the elements combined, the meaning of the gesture changes in tone and intention. For example, a hammer and sickle combined with a raised fist is part of communist symbolism, while the same fist combined with a Venus symbol represents Feminism, and combined with a book, it represents librarians.
A raised-fist icon appears prominently as a feminist symbol on the covers of two major books by Robin Morgan, Sisterhood is Powerful, published in 1970,[7] and Sisterhood Is Forever, in 2003.[8]

Solidarity cartoon 1917

October Revolution 1922

Civil liberties poster 1940

Feminism

Librarians Against DRM

Otpor!

Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Fist) 2008
Logo


Stencilled symbol of the autonomist movement Autonome
The raised fist logo may represent unity or solidarity, generally with oppressed peoples. The black fist, also known as the Black Power fist is a logo generally associated with black nationalism and sometimes socialism. Its most widely-known usage is by the Black Panther Party in the 1960s. A black fist logo was also adopted by the northern soul music subculture. The white fist, also known as the Aryan fist or the White Power fist is a logo generally associated with white nationalism.
A white fist holding a red rose is used by the Socialist International and some socialist or social democratic parties. Loyalists in Northern Ireland occasionally use a clenched fist on murals depicting the Red Hand of Ulster. However, this is considered rare; the red hand is usually depicted with a flat palm.
Salute
The raised fist salute consists of raising one arm in the air with a clenched fist. The meaning can vary based on context.
Different movements sometimes use different terms to describe the raised fist salute: amongst communists and socialists, it is sometimes called the red salute, whereas amongst black rights activists, especially in the United States of America it has been called the Black Power salute. During the Spanish Civil War, it was sometimes known as the anti-fascist salute. The traditional version of the salute, originally a symbol of the broader workers' movement, became associated with the parties of the Comintern during the 1920s and 1930s. Since the Trotskyists were forced out of the Comintern, some Trotskyists have made a point of strictly raising the left fist in the tradition of the Left Opposition. Some anarchists also prefer the left fist to denote their libertarian socialist opposition to Marxism.
The clenched fist gesture is sometimes mistakenly thought to have originated in the Spanish Civil War, where the Popular Front salute was at one time the standard salute of Republican forces. A letter from the Spanish Civil War stated: "...the raised fist which greets you in Salud is not just a gesture—it means life and liberty being fought for and a greeting of solidarity with the democratic peoples of the world."[9]
At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, medal winners John Carlos and Tommie Smith gave the raised fist salute during the American national anthem as a sign of black power, and as a protest on behalf of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. For this, they were banned from further Olympic activities. The event was one of the most overtly political statements[10] in the history of the modern Olympic Games. Tommie Smith stated in his autobiography, "Silent Gesture", that the salute was not a Black Power salute, but in fact a human rights salute.
A raised White fist is also a popular White Power symbol.[11] The Rotfrontkämpferbund paramilitary organization of Communist Party of Germany used the salute before World War II.[12]
Groups that have used the symbol


Hugo Chávez in Brazil in 2003.


Semih Erden at the 2010 FIBA World Championship


Antiwar movement
• African National Congress
• Albanian National Liberation Front
• April 6 Youth Movement
• American Indian Movement
• Anarchist Black Cross
• Azanian People's Organisation
• Black Panther Party
• Democratic Labour Party of Brazil
• Earth First!
• Women's Liberation
• Food Not Bombs
• Hezbollah (Lebanon)
• Industrial Workers of the World
• International Brigades
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• International Socialist Organization
• Internationalist Workers' Left (Greece)
• Italian Radical Party
• Jewish Defense League
• Kach
• Dutch Labor Party
• National Equality March
• Occupy Wall Street
• Otpor!
• Parti Sosialis Malaysia (Socialist Party of Malaysia)
• Socialist Party of Portugal
• People's National Party
• Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor
• Turkish Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party
• Red Front Fighters' League
• Saor Éire (1967–75)
• Social Democratic Union of Macedonia
• Socialist International
• Socialist Party of Egypt
• Socialist Party of England and Wales
• Socialist Workers Party (UK)
• Socialist Youth Front
• SWAPO
• United Farm Workers
• Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front
See also
• 1968 Olympics Black Power salute
• Civil disobedience
• Far-left politics
• Lal Salam
• Protests of 1968
References
1. ^ Every Movement Needs a Symbol: Enter The Wisconsin Fist of Solidarity
2. ^ The Samuel Gray Society
3. ^ http://www.samgraysociety.org/samgraysociety/fist.html
4. ^ Joyce L. Kornbluh, Solidarity, 1917; Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology, Charles H. Kerr Publishing, 1998
5. ^ Mexican posters on social and educational themes
6. ^ Elements of Meaning in Gesture By Geneviève Calbris
7. ^ Author's website, as accessed September 5, 2012.
8. ^ Author's website, as accessed September 5, 2012.
9. ^ Rolfe, Mary. Letter to Leo Hurwitz and Janey Dudley, 25 November 1938. Reprinted in Cary Nelson and Jefferson Hendricks, eds. "Madrid 1937: Letters of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the Spanish Civil War," Routledge: 1996. Reprinted online [1]
10. ^ Lewis, Richard (2006-10-08). "Caught in Time: Black Power salute, Mexico, 1968". London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
11. ^ Goodman, J. David (April 16, 2012). "Raised-Fist Salute Has Varied Meanings". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
12. ^ Korff, Gottfried: "Symbolgeschichte als Sozialgeschichte? Zehn vorläufige Notizen zu den Bild- und Zeichensystemen sozialer Bewegungen in Deutschland", in: Warneken, Bernd Jürgen (Hg.): "Massenmedium Strasse. Zur Kulturgeschichte der Demonstrationen." Frakfurt/Main 1991. S. 27-28. Cited in: Schulte-Rummel, Sven "Die politische Symbolik der Kommunistischen Partei Deutschlands in der Weimarer Republlik" [2]. "Im Gegensatz zu den meisten anderen Symbolen der Kommunisten beginnt die Geschichte der geballten Faust in der Ära der Weimarer Republik. Sie war prägendes Symbol bei Straßenaufmärschen, Spiegel der gewaltbereiten Demonstranten, die voller Frust über das System dem Staat die geballte Faust zeigten." Translation: "Unlikely the most of other Communists symbols, the history of Raised fist started in the era of Weimar Republic. It was a definitive symbol of street marches, reflection of the marchers who were ready for violence, who were disappointed by the whole system of the state and showed their clenched fists to it."
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Clenched fist symbols

• A brief history of the 'clenched fist' image
• Bitter price of Olympics' iconic image - from Los Angeles Daily News
• India Faces Maoist 'Red Salute' - from BBC World News
• Aryan Fist article - from the Anti-Defamation League
• Race row over 'Black Power' statue from Mail Online News
[hide]
• v
• t
• e
Gestures


Friendly gestures • Air kiss
• Applause
• Cheek kissing
• Dap greeting
• Elbow bump
• Eskimo kissing
• Fist bump
• Handshake
• Hat tip
• High five
• Hongi
• ILY sign
• Namaste
• Pound hug
• Shaka
• Thumbs signal
• Wai
• Wave


Gestures of respect • Adab
• Bowing
• Curtsey
• Genuflection
• Hand-kissing
• Kowtow
• Kuji-in
• Mano
• Mudra
• Namaste
• Prostration
• Schwurhand
• Zolgokh


Salutes
• Bellamy salute
• Nazi salute
• Raised fist
• Roman salute
• Scout sign and salute
• Serbian salute
• Two-finger salute
• Vulcan salute
• Zogist salute


Celebratory gestures • Applause
• Fist pump
• High five
• Victory clasp


Finger counting
• Finger binary
• Chinese number gestures
• Chisanbop


Obscene gestures
• A-ok
• Anasyrma
• Bras d'honneur
• Cornuto
• Fig sign
• Finger
• Mooning
• Moutza
• Shocker
• Wanker


Taunts
• Akanbe
• Loser
• Talk to the hand


Head motions • Head shake
• Head bobble
• Nod


Other gestures • Air quotes
• Allergic salute
• Aussie salute
• Crossed fingers
• Facepalm
• Finger gun
• Gang signal
• Hand-rubbing
• Jazz hands
• Laban sign
• Pollice verso
• Shrug
• Sign of the Cross
• Sign of the horns
• Varadamudra
• V sign


Related • List of gestures
• Articulatory gestures
• Manual communication
• Sign language


Categories:
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• Hand gestures
• Salutes
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Dick Amateur when he was 9 days old. Reincarnated Revolutionary? Chances are "THEY" will murder him before anyone really knows for sure. He's already been "officially" (in secret) told to stop talking or he will be killed.

Hey it's no big deal, "THEY" have murdered many millions and will probably murder many millions more. Does that mean we should give up? NO FUCKEN WAY!!!
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