'Got Democracy?' posters appear on SF walls, buildings

[Kadie]

Posted on Sat, Jun. 19, 2004

'Got Democracy?' posters appear on SF walls, buildings
Associated Press


San Francisco - Posters depicting Iraqi prisoner abuse have sprung up mysteriously on walls and buildings around San Francisco over the past week.

The posters show a hooded Iraqi man with his hands tied with electrodes. The image is set against an American flag with the words "Got Democracy?"

Novelist Robert Mailer Anderson is organizing the attention-getting campaign along with his cousin.

The 35-year-old author of "Boonville" spent three thousand dollars to print and hang one thousand posters.

more... http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/8966080.htm

more detailed article at:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/19/DDG7R781041.DTL

[Massacure]

1. The flag is backwards - is that intentional?

[not systems]

5. It is a distress signal.

So it is probably on purpose.

[hightime]

12. An upside-down flag is considered a distress signal.

This flag is mirrored from the appropriate hanging. Perhaps it implies the prisoner is hidden behind the flag and they are giving you a behind the scene view.

Rather deep meaning for a poster.

[mmonk]

2. Funny if not sad.

[not systems]

3. His two year old child was on a no fly list...

"Security personnel prevented Anderson's daughter from boarding because she was on a no-fly list. "

[NMDemDist2]

4. ahhh now there's a guy doing something that is

relevant and makes for debate.

good for Political theater and activists

[Eric J in MN]

6. This part is surprising.

He says it's not intended to spark debate about democracy in Iraq and the United States.

Anderson says he started hanging the posters because he was angry about Washington's policies and the Patriot Act.
--------------------------------

Washington's policies and the Patriot Act are issues related to democracy.

Maybe the reporter typed "not" by mistake. The other article implies the artist did want to spark debate about democracy.

[Kadie]

7. here is a snip from the SFGate article

The poster is designed to make people question whether the United States is adhering to democratic ideals if American soldiers have been guilty of widespread prison abuse, if the Patriot Act continues to trample civil liberties, and if Washington continues to instigate questionable policies, says the poster's co-creator, San Francisco novelist Robert Mailer Anderson.

"It's not pro-Democrat, it's not pro-Republican -- it's supposed to make you think," says Anderson. "Do these people in Iraq have democracy? And do we have democracy? The Guantanamo Bay issue of suspending people's rights - - Americans and Iraqis -- smacks of McCarthyism, which is a kind of fascism. ... Billions of dollars are going toward (Iraq) and yet we don't have money for our schools and our homeless and we don't have a national health-care program? And a large part of the (Iraq) money goes to (Halliburton), which our vice president was formerly president of and is a large stockholder in? It seems like such an overt boondoggle. If (this) were any other country -- and use the criteria that Bush uses toward other countries -- we'd not be called a democracy now."

[NashVegas]

8. What's On the Stop Signs These Days?

When I was in SF in the mid-80s, in Haight-Ashbury all the stop signs had additions to read, "stop Reagan," "stop AIDS," "stop Contra aid," etc., etc.

[schultzee]

9. Does anyone know if we could get copies of that poster?

[Eric J in MN]

16. You could contact the artist.

You could contact the artist, Robert Mailer Anderson, if you want actual posters.

If you just want to put the image on flyers, here is slightly bigger one than in the top post:

&paper=chronicle&file=DDG7R781041.DTL&directory=/c/a/2004/06/19&type=entertainment

[Swamp Rat]

10. I love San Francisco!

Wow! What patriotism! Kudos to Robert Mailer Anderson.

Though I only spent one Summer in SF visiting my brother, I really grew to love it. I met a lot of kindred spirits there, both in the political as well as artistic realm.

[BrotherBuzz]

11. "Got Milk?" advertising campaign is big...

and very popular in California because of their clever ads. Is the 'Got Milk?' campaign national, or just in California? In other words, will these posters have the same impact in other cities outside of California?

[area51]

13. "got milk" campaign

To my knowledge, it's a national campaign.

[BrotherBuzz]

14. Cool

I'd like to see 'Got Democracy?' go national, too!

[Kadie]

15. kick

[Terran]

17. Preaching to the choir in SF

I wish he'd come to St. Louis or Kansas City and do that.