Tag Archives: occupy wall street

The Hunger Games’ Three Finger Salute Becomes a Symbol of Defiance in Thailand

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It’s always interesting to see what pop culture symbolism is adopted when it comes to politics. The Joker mask was recently adopted in protests in Hong Kong last year. The iconic silent three-finger gesture from The Hunger Games is being used during ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Thailand. It’s become a symbol of defiance within the nation. The protestors are demanding reform of the Thai monarchy and an end to corruption. They have entered into the ninth month of protests against the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

This isn’t the first time the gesture has been used in the nation and not the only pop culture references regularly being spotted.

The three fingers first caught on in 2014 after a military coup overthrew the Thai government. There was an attempt to ban the gesture in response which failed. In 2019 a general election was held based on a controversial military-drafted constitution.

The symbol was so popular, the opposition party, Future Forward, adopted it. That party won 80 seats in the parliament in 2019 making it the third-largest party. The party was dissolved earlier this year when one of its leaders was ruled to have illegally donated money to the cause after calling it a loan.

Protestors have also dressed up as references to Harry Potter and Japanese anime like Hamtaro and Naruto.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn has taken on comparisons to the Harry Potter villain Voldemort, “He Who Must Not Be Named”, because it is illegal to insult, defame, or threaten the king.

The three fingers has symbolism as the protestors have three demands:

  1. The Dissolution of parliament
  2. End the intimidation of the people
  3. Draft a new constitution

From Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, the salute is a way to say goodbye, as a sign of respect and admiration, and becomes an act of defiance and solidarity against tyranny as the story progresses. It has historical significance and was used during the French Revolution to symbolize the trinity of freedom, fraternity, and equality.

The salute has also been used in the before mentioned pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong last year. Those protests along with the Thai protests and, Taiwan protests have been led by youth and been dubbed the “Milk Tea Alliance.” Other popular adopted pop-culture symbolism is the Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta which has been used during Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring protests as well as being used by hacktivist group Anonymous.

NYCC 2012 Interview – David Lloyd on V, Symbolism, the Occupy Movement and Aces Weekly and more.

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I had the extreme pleasure to sit down with comic book legend David Lloyd. The conversation really did go through the ages as well as topics as we talked about V for Vendetta, the Occupy movement, comic books, politics and his new venture Aces Weekly.

Aces Weekly is a new digital comic magazine featuring a long list of talent. The series is being released in volumes which range from 20 to 32 pages or more and the run of 7 issues is $9.99. A pretty great deal especially for material you won’t find anywhere else.

Check out the full 30 minute interview below.

Occupy Comics #2 Out Now with David Lloyd Cover Featuring “V”

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Occupy Comics #2 is out now featuring a cover by David Lloyd and someone sporting the now iconic Guy Fawkes mask, similar to his and Alan Moore’s creation V from V for Vendetta. The comic series sprung out of the Occupy movement and it’s initial funding was done on Kickstarter.

The anthology comic features numerous creators and this issue has submissions from Bill Ayers, Ryan Alexander-Tanner, Mike Allred, Matt Bors, Shannon Wheeler, Si Spurrier, Riley Rossmo, Molly Crabapple and more.

The first issue was fantastic and you can get the series from Black Mask Studios now.

 

Molly Crabapple Arrested in Occupy Wall Street 1 Year Anniversary Protest

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To mark the one year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, people descended upon Wall Street and the New York City financial district to commemorate the political movement that still shaping politics. Cartoonist and comic creator Molly Crabapple has been one of those in the comic book industry active in the movement and was arrested today during the protests which saw the New York City police arrested more than 180 people (according to some reports).

That’s Molly Crabapple being arrested with other protesters. She tweeted her arrest and the protest.

https://twitter.com/mollycrabapple/status/247832344331972608

https://twitter.com/mollycrabapple/status/247832476884553729

 

Shepard Fairey Changes Occupy Hope

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A bit ago we brought you the story that Shepard Fairey had modified his iconic “Hope” image for the Occupy Wall Street cause.  After a bit of drama the artist has modified the image at the request of the movement.  The original poster “hoped” the President was with  the movement.  Well that didn’t sit too well with some and they sent a letter to Fairey according to the Village Voice:

I myself and several other organizers cannot in any way be connected to this design. The 99% movement is wholly non-partisan and we have been repeatedly attacked as being a front for Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. Our movement is about uniting people, from all different walks of life and all different political viewpoints, against the global financial elite who have bought control of our government through campaign finance, lobbying and the revolving door.

I don’t read Fairey’s original poster as saying such, it implores the President to be a part of the movement, not the movement endorsing the President, there’s a difference.  Would the movement be against the President taking a stand and implementing the changes espoused by them?  In fact, I think the as for the change voices exclusion by the movement.  You can compare the two images below:

The original:

The newest version:

Occupy Hope

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Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the iconic Barack Obama “Hope” art has decided to modify it a bit to show his support for the 99%.  But, the comic connection is interesting.  As you can see below, a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask now stands in for the President.  The mask began to hit pop culture awareness with it’s use in Alan Moore and David Lloyd‘s graphic novel V for Vendetta and has since been adopted by the disruption movement Anonymous.

You can read Fairey’s statement here.

99% Bat Signal

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Through all of the protests this week when it comes to Occupy Wall Street, one took a comic spin as a “bat-sginal” was used projecting slogans on a Verizon building during the Brooklyn Bridge #N17 march.  First reported on Boing Boing, the slogans included:

99% / MIC CHECK! / LOOK AROUND / YOU ARE A PART / OF A GLOBAL UPRISING / WE ARE A CRY / FROM THE HEART / OF THE WORLD / WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE / ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE / HAPPY BIRTHDAY / #OCCUPY MOVEMENT / OCCUPY WALL STREET / list of cities, states and countries / OCCUPY EARTH / WE ARE WINNING / IT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING / DO NOT BE AFRAID / LOVE.

Screwing with Verizon brings back my memories of working against FISA and doing so while renting space from Verizon.  There was something entertaining about fighting a company while being inside their building.  Mark Read is the person behind the signal and in an interview with Boing Boing he goes over the how and why he did this.

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