Plymouth Hoe is a beautiful spot near the city centre, overlooking the sea (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Plymouth is a city of a quarter of a million people on the south coast of Devon, close to the border with Cornwall. There has been a settlement there for hundreds of years, and the city has had some brushes with radicalism during that time. For example, the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from Plymouth for the New World (America), in 1620. They left because they were not allowed to practice their Puritan Calvinist beliefs in England. In December 1913, Emmeline Pankhurst was due to be arrested as soon as she arrived back from the United States. The boat she was on was due to dock in Plymouth, and suffragettes descended on the city, determined to prevent this. Emmeline was arrested before the boat docked, and over the following months the city was targeted for revenge attacks of what were considered to be ‘cowardly’ arrest tactics. For the last century, the city has been an important site of naval shipbuilding. As such, it was targeted for aerial bombing during WW2, in what became known as the Plymouth Blitz. As a result significant parts of the town had to be rebuilt after the war, and there are few historic buildings in the town centre.
When I visited the city recently, I found a wide variety of protest stickers, more than I would normally expect for a town of its size. Below are images of what I found.
Charles Church is one of the few historic buildings that was left standing after the Plymouth Blitz. It is now a memorial to those who were killed during the bombing. (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
I found several stickers around Plymouth imploring people not to vote Conservative. This one is making reference to the party’s support for fox hunting (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
@sozfortheinconvenience is a Plymouth-based Instagram account that specialises in “fighting patriarchy and insulting people kindly one sticker at a time.” Personally, I am a big fan of polite sarcasm (Photo: Hannah Awcock).This sticker isn’t obviously associated with any specific protest group or organisation. Its bold text and bright colours are quite effective (Photo: Hannah Awcock).Earthlings is a 2005 documentary about the treatment of animals in factory farms, research labs, and other similar situations. It is often referenced on pro-Vegetarian/Vegan protest stickers (Photo: Hannah Awcock).This sticker argues against borders. It was produced by CrimethInc., an anarchist collective that promotes alternative thoughts and actions. (Photo: Hannah Awcock).In contrast to the previous sticker, this one is promoting one of the most common pro-Brexit arguments, that it would give Britain the ability to ‘take back control’ of our government and our borders. Take Back Control organises pro-Brexit events in several locations around the country, including Plymouth (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
There is a quote in A Knight’s Tale about how love should always end with hope. I think blog posts should end with hope every once in a while too (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
University Teacher in Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Interested in the cultural, historical, and political geographies of resistance.
View all posts by Hannah Awcock
Turbulent Isles 