Got Democracy?

Here are 3 recent examples.

Guy Colwell's painting of Iragi prisoner abuse:
http://www.tinyurl.com/3alub
a modification:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/05/1682646_comment.php#1683210
another modification:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/05/1682298_comment.php#1683969

Modification of the iPod poster in NY City (The tagline reads, "10,000 volts in your pocket, guilty or innocent."):
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/images/iRAQsubway.jpg


And now: GOT DEMOCRACY?

from the SF Chronicle:
Covering the city with 'got democracy?' posters, writer confronts our ideals, questions Iraq policy
- Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer, Saturday, June 19, 2004

In the past five days, the posters have appeared mysteriously on walls and buildings across San Francisco. They feature the most enduring image of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal -- the Iraqi man, hooded, his hands tied with electrodes -- but this time, the prisoner is set against an American flag, and this time, the image is juxtaposed with a headline that reads, "got democracy?"

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."

In a liberal city like San Francisco, perhaps it was only a matter of time before someone initiated such a poster campaign. Anderson did it for two main reasons: He was angry about Washington's policies, and he was personally affected by the Patriot Act when he tried to catch a flight at San Francisco International Airport with his 2-year-old daughter. Security personnel prevented Anderson's daughter from boarding because she was on a "no-fly list. " Eventually, the agents let her catch the flight.

"It was such a joke," says Anderson of the SFO incident, which happened last month. "We almost missed our flight. Not only is the government morally suspect with our rights as Americans -- given our Bill of Rights and the Constitution -- but they're also inept. Putting 2-year-olds on no-fly lists?"

Anderson spent $3,000 to print 1,000 posters and have them put up, mainly around downtown and the South-of-Market area. A take-off on the "got milk?'' advertising campaign, Anderson's effort has had an impact: People are stopping and staring at them. Some people are even taking the posters down, apparently as personal souvenirs of the times we live in.

Anderson, 35, created the campaign with his cousin, Zack, who's also a writer. Anderson says he might spend more money to put up posters in other Bay Area cities and even the rest of the country. Anderson isn't the only one with this idea. In New York, subway riders have seen a poster (featuring the hooded Iraqi prisoner) that's a takeoff of Apple computer's iPod campaign.

Anderson's posters don't feature his or his cousin's name, and he says he's not trying to bring himself more attention. Author of the novel "Boonville," Anderson says his need to do something was partly sparked by a play he's working on -- a play "that is mostly about my neurosis about the way the world is right now, especially America's place in it. Things are just completely out of hand, and I felt like I had to work something out; I have two children and my wife is pregnant, and you have no business bringing people into the world if you don't think it's a decent place. As a father, as a citizen, and as an artist, you have to do what you can do, and at that moment it just seemed like this was all I could do -- something as silly and easy to get out of my system as this poster."
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle