Posters for peace

Shortly after September 11, 2001, the Northland Poster Collective put up on their website a red, white and blue poster with the words “Unity against racism, justice through peace” and the symbol for “no war” (a red line diagonally drawn through the word war). They encouraged people to print it and put it up (which I did, and many others did). That poster is still available at their site. Now you can do something similar at Another Poster for Peace. This latter site has multiple free posters, which the artists are encouraging people to distribute widely. Putting up a poster may seem like a small, insignificant gesture, but it helps to spread the word that there are many people who believe war is not the answer. Building that kind of cultural space invites other people, who may be more hesitant to express their difference of opinion, into the public sphere. I am reminded of an old slogan from a previous era: “silence is complicity.” I’m trying every day to find ways to encourage people to speak up — whatever their beliefs — because we all need to participate to make democracy real.