Someone got creative with this road sign in New Orleans (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
A few months ago, I was lucky enough to go to New Orleans. It’s a city I have always wanted to visit, and it more than lived up to my expectations. It is a vibrant city, full of excellent music, good food, and wonderful people. New Orleans is not without its problems however; the city has become increasingly segregated since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and it has an uneasy relationship with one of its most important industries, tourism (I wrote about the problems with AirBnB in New Orleans here). However, it doesn’t seem to be a city that shies away from it’s problems. The protest stickers I found suggest that New Orleans is a city with a healthy political culture, and I’m certain it’s people will never stop trying to make it a better place.
Every so often, I find stickers that other people have altered in some way, either by writing on them or scratching parts off. I found quite a few in New Orleans, suggesting that people might take notice of stickers more there than in other cities. The message of this sticker has been altered to mean the complete opposite of what was originally intended. I’m not sure what it’s referring too, but I found the sticker on Bourbon Street, infamous party street and now major tourist trap. There are several strip clubs on Bourbon Street, and strip clubs are an issue that divides feminists, so it could be about that, but it could also be about something completely different (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
With some careful scratching, this sticker has been transformed from anti-fascist to pro-fascist (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
The message of this sticker has been almost entirely obscured. However, I found the same sticker in other places, so I know that the missing words are “Putin’s penis” (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
It is not clear, but this sticker has been altered to read “Trump is an asset.” As much as I disagree with the altered sticker, I can’t help thinking it’s quite a clever edit. However, it looks as if someone else might have tried to scribble out this altered message too (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
The American President Donald Trump was the subject of quite a few of the stickers I found. Unsurprising really, as calling him a controversial figure would be a major understatement (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This one is a little more subtle in its critique (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker makes use of the popular cartoon Rick and Morty to criticise Trump (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
I think this sticker is particularly clever. The building behind the crime scene tape is the White House (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Another popular topic of protest stickers in New Orleans was the police. The message of this one is pretty clear (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Throughout history, the policing of nightlife has often caused tension between authorities and citizens, particularly minority groups (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker plays with the concept of Neighbourhood Watch areas, which is where the logo comes from. The real Neighbourhood Watch programme in the US is run by the National Sheriff’s Association though, so I doubt the anti-police message comes from them. This sticker was made by a group called CrimethInc., an anarchist alliance (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
ACAB is a popular anti-police acronym, it stands for All Cops are Bastards. In the case of this sticker, though, it also means something less contentious (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker also hides it’s anti-policing message by giving a different meaning to ACAB. It’s still a relatively subversive message, though; autonomous communities govern themselves, without any outside interference (Photo:Hannah Awcock).
This sticker adapts the “Refugees Welcome” slogan and symbol that has become popular since the refugee crisis began a few years ago (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This is more of a poster than a sticker, but I liked it, so decided to leave it in. Someone tried to remove it, but the message is still clear (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker links capitalism and climate change, and I think it is quite effective (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
The Equitable Food Initiative claims to work across the food supply chain to get a better deal for farm workers, but it seems someone disapproves. I wasn’t able to find out anything about why that might be (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
I mentioned the debate over strip clubs earlier, and this sticker was obviously produced by someone who likes stripping, for whatever reason (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker was produced by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) which works to defend individual rights and liberties in the US (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
University Teacher in Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Interested in the cultural, historical, and political geographies of resistance.
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