Primary Artist: Annie Johnston
Created: San Francisco Collective, 1980s
Medium: Offset printed Poster and Sticker
Dimensions: 17.5″ x 13″
One of the central tenets of the Reagan administration was an increase in militarism to fortify US power (and to eventually crush the Soviet Union). Central to this was to prop up right wing governments so they could suppress left wing insurgencies. whether in Israel against the Palestinians, or in Central America. At the same time, the US was trying to buy off the women’s movement by recruiting women into the military and the police. Perhaps it seemed like a good idea: Have more women—make the military and police friendlier! But in reality it was trying to appropriate the language of feminism to further the militarization of other countries and Black and Brown neighborhoods here in the US. This poster reaffirmed the radical women’s movement’s support of anti-imperialism and national liberation throughout the world while rejecting women becoming part of either the military or the police.
Image: Sketch of two women on left arguing with two cops on right.
Words: WOMEN: CONFRONT THE US WAR MACHINE!
Color: black ink on tan paper
Sponsor: Women Against Imperialism.
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