Stickers of all kinds are a common sight on the streets of London. I am particularly interested in the ones with a rebellious or subversive tone (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
London’s protest stickers cover a whole range of topics, from housing to race and immigration. However, some of them don’t fit into any specific category, instead embodying a rebellious ethos. This post is about these stickers, the ones providing good advice for anyone with a subversive streak.
This sticker, photographed on the Tottenham Court Road on 03/09/15, seems like a good place to start. Why should anyone else have a say over the way you live your life? (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker encourages people to think for themselves- an important quality for anyone involved in social movements or activism (Photo: Hannah Awcock, Waterloo Bridge, 02/06/15).
This sticker links nicely to the previous one- critical thought is an important ability for academics as well as activists. Question everything, never just accept what you are told as the truth. This sticker was photographed outside King’s Cross Station, near the British Library, on 06/06/15 (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker was photographed in Elephant and Castle on 05/03/15. Even small, everyday acts can be rebellious (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker is a reminder to everyone that your happiness does not depend on the sadness or deprivation of others. The photo was taken on Albany Road, near the occupied Aylesbury Estate on 02/04/15, making it all the more pertinent (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This is a question that everyone should ask themselves every once in a while. If you aren’t, then what can you do to try and change things? (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 07/06/15, Shoreditch Hight Street).
Activists are often told that their demands are impossible, that they will never achieve the change they want to see. It takes a lot of determination to keep going in the face of all that negativity. rs21 is a news and analysis website run by British revolutionary socialists (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 12/03/15, Gordon Square, Bloomsbury).
Although scratched and torn, it is easy to make out the intent of this sticker. The message- “This will be ours,” is a determined statement of intent (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 17/04/15, Gordon Street).
This empowering sticker is a reminder that the government only governs because we allow it to. If everyone decided to act together, it would create a very powerful force (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 20/06/15 Fleet Street).
This sticker isn’t protest-related, but I liked it so much that I had to include it. It makes me smile every time I walk past, even if I’m having a bad day. If only all street furniture was so complementary (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 21/05/15, Borough High Street).
University Teacher in Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Interested in the cultural, historical, and political geographies of resistance.
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