March 31, 1927 – Cesar Chavez's Birthday

First East Coast Mobilization for Farmworkers -1990

Photo: George Ballis

Offset, 1975

Boston, Massachusetts

This poster promotes a highly successful national conference designed to recruit full-time volunteers for the grape, lettuce and Gallo wine boycotts in major American cities. The conference brought college students from all over the East and Midwest in a weekend of solidarity with farm workers. It was the first East Coast mobilization for the Farm Workers. Arnold Miller, President of the United Mine Workers (1972-1979), comedian Dick Gregory and singer-songwriter Holly Near participated.

Poster of the Week

Amerika Is Devouring Its Children
Jay Belloli
Silkscreen, 1999 edition of 1970 silkscreen
Berkeley, California
One of three posters from CSPG's 10th Anniversary Portfolio
Limited edition of 100
Printed by Two Brothers Custom Silkscreen, El Monte, California

In April 1970, when the U.S. invaded Cambodia, a neutral country during the Viet Nam War, college campuses throughout the U.S. erupted in protest, with one-third of them shutting down. At Kent State University in Ohio, four students were killed by national guardsmen deployed to repress the protests. Two days later, two students were killed at Jackson State College in Mississippi.

Outraged by the escalating violence abroad and at home, students all over the U.S. walked out of their classes. At the University of California, Berkeley, students silkscreened over 100 designs such as this onto reams of used computer paper. Jay Belloli, at the time a graduate student in Art History, transformed Francisco Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Children (1819-1823) into an anti Viet Nam War statement. This was the only poster Belloli ever made, and many publications listed “anonymous” as the credit. CSPG was the first to credit Belloli with this work when it was reproduced for the organization’s 10th anniversary. Since 1970, Belloli has served as curator or director of seven contemporary art institutions throughout the country and is currently the Director of Gallery Programs at the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California.

Poster of the Week

Iraq Why?

Cedomir Kostovic

Silkscreen, 1993

Springfield, Missouri

March 2010 marks the seventh anniversary of the ongoing war in Iraq. With its simplicity and power, this poster literally stops viewers in their tracks. It simultaneously asks and answers the question, “Iraq, Why?”. Many are surprised to learn that it was produced after the first Gulf War, and not to protest the ongoing second war against Iraq. Unfortunately, both the question and the answer remain the same.

Poster of the Week

Stop Strip Searches in Armagh

Sinn Fein Women's Department

Offset, circa 1985

Dublin, Ireland

Poster text:

Women constitute half of the world's population, perform nearly two-thirds of its workhours, receive one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one-hundredth of the world's property. History tells us that every oppressed class gained true liberation from its masters by its own efforts. It is necessary that woman learn that lesson, that she realise that her freedom will reach as far as her power to achieve her freedom reaches. Stop Strip Searches in Armagh

Annotation:

Built in 1790, Armagh Jail became a top-security prison for Nationalist women in the 1970s. Strip-Searching was introduced into Armagh Prison in 1982. All women prisoners from the age of 15 years, women menstruating, pregnant women, women returning to prison after hospital visits, and grandmothers were subjected to strip-searching. At first the women refused to comply and were forcibly restrained while their clothing was torn off. The women quickly learned that any resistance meant that they would be forcibly stripped, assaulted, and that they could end up in solitary confinement, losing remission and privileges.

The “Stop the Strip-Searches Campaign” began in June 1984. It called for an end to the strip-searching of women prisoners and condemned strip-searching as a devastating psychological weapon used against women having no security purpose. By 1992, over 4,000 strip-searches had been carried out on women in prisons in Northern Ireland and England and nothing had ever been found to threaten security.

Poster of the Week

International Women's Day
Gail Dolgin
Jane Norling
Photo: Tim Drescher
Offset, 1978
San Francisco, California

On March 8, l857, women from the garment and textile industry in New York demonstrated to protest low wages, the 12 hour workday, and increasing workloads. They asked for improved working conditions and equal pay for all working women. Their march was dispersed by the police. Some of the women were arrested and some were injured. Three years later, in March of 1860, these women formed their own union and again called for these demands to be met.

On March 8, 1908, thousands of women from the needles trade industry demonstrated for the same demands. They also asked for laws against child labor and for the right of women to vote. They declared March 8 to be Women's Day.

In 1910, Clara Zetkin, a German labor leader, proposed that March 8 be proclaimed International Women's Day in memory of those women who had fought for better lives. For almost 100 years, March 8 has been celebrated in many countries, but has only been commemorated widely in the United States since 1970 with the development of the Women's Liberation Movement.

Poster of the Week

Education Not Incarceration
Mary Sutton for CURB
(Californians United for a Responsible Budget)
Offset, 2010 Los Angeles, CA

(Graphic derived from photo by Barbara Davidson, L.A. Times, UCLA, 11.09.2009)

CURB is distributing 2000 copies of the above poster across the state as they join educators, students, parents, and community members in protesting the budget cuts, fee hikes, school closures, and more prison spending.

www.curbprisonspending.org

March 4, 2010
Schedule -- Los Angeles Regional Rally

• 3 pm Rally @ Pershing Square (5th & Hill) in downtown L.A.
• 4 pm March from Pershing Square to the Governor’s office
• 5 pm Rally @ Governor’s office (300 Spring St.)