As way of introduction I'm presenting the first design created for the Critical Graphics site banner. Eventually we added it to our catalogue of t-shirts, stickers, buttons and more and over time it has proven to be among the most popular designs we offer. And well it should, as a symbol of resistance and solidarity we chose it as an elemental theme for our site and we're quite happy to see our visitors agree.
A little about the raised fist from Wikipedia.
Raised fist
The raised fist is a symbol and salute most often used by communists, anarchists, socialists, leftists, pacifists, trade unionists and others in the left. Generally the fist is used as an expression of solidarity or defiance.
Other names
The salute has also been known as the clenched fist or closed fist. Additionally, 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.
Symbol
The fist may represent union, as "many weak fingers can come together to create a strong fist", and is also used to express solidarity, generally with oppressed peoples. This symbolism may have sprung from usage by trade unions.
Groups that have used the symbol
Groups that have used some form of the raised fist as a symbol:
- American Indian Movement
- Anarchist Black Cross, a political prisoner and prison abolitionist organization
- Black Panther Party
- Earth First!, the eco-defense organization
- Food Not Bombs, an anti-capitalist free-food sharing organization
- International Socialist Organization, US-based socialist movement
- Otpor youth movement
- United Farm Workers of America
- Weatherman or Weather Underground
- Women's Liberation
- Kach
- Italian Radical Party
Additionally, the fist with a red rose (e.g., as used by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) is a symbol of social democracy.
- Further note should be made to the use of the symbol in heavy metal, also used to symbolize solidarity and defiance of mainstream culture
Salute
The salute consists of raising the arm with a clenched fist, at an angle greater than 90 degrees. There is no formal agreement as to which arm should be raised; usually, anarchists use the right arm while Marxists use the left arm,[citation needed] but this rule is not adhered to very strictly. It contrasts with the Roman Salute, used by fascists in the 20th century, in which the arm is held at a similar angle but the palm is flat.
The clenched fist gesture is sometimes thought to have originated in the Spanish Civil War. A letter from the Spanish Civil War explained,
| “ | ...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."[1] | ” |
The raised fist was used as the salute of the Black Panther Party. 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 protest on behalf of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. For this, they were barred from further Olympic activities.
Loyalists in Northern Ireland often use a clenched fist on murals depicting the Red Hand of Ulster.
See also
1968 Olympics Black Power Salute
References
- Cushing, Lincoln (January 25, 2006). A brief history of the 'clenched fist' image. Docs Populi. Retrieved on 2006-03-22.
- Dilbeck, Steve. "Bitter price of Olympics' iconic image", Los Angeles Daily News, October 17, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-03-24.
- McGivering, Jill. "India Faces Maoist 'Red Salute'", BBC World News, June 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-03.
Notes
- ^ 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]
Selected Gear
It uses material from the Wikipedia article Raised Fist
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