The Beatles are Liverpool’s most famous export (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Since I have become an honourary Northerner, I have had the chance to explore some of the North’s cities. Liverpool is a great city, a fascinating mix of industrial decay, glossy redevelopment, and creativity. It has grown on me very quickly, not least because of all the stickers I have found there.
One thing that stands out about Liverpool’s stickers is the large number advertising various escort services– I have never seen so many in any other city I’ve been to! I wouldn’t like to suggest why that might be, but it’s certainly an interesting trend. Another reason Liverpool’s stickers stand out is that they made the national news recently when a feminist group called Liverpool ReSisters put anti-trans penis-shaped stickers (featured below) on Anthony Gormley’s sculptures on Crosby beach.
96 Liverpool fans were killed during the Hillsborough Disaster on 15th April 1989. The Sun newspaper is still unpopular for the way it blamed the fans for what happened (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 03/09/18).
Anti-fascist groups are some of the most common producers of protest stickers. This one is produced by the Merseyside Anti-fascist Network, and uses the animation style of the popular cartoon Rick and Morty (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
This sticker was also produced by the Merseyside Anti-fascist Network. The logo of two overlapping flags is a common anti-fascist symbol, but this group have given it a local spin by adding a Liver Bird, one of Liverpool’s most famous symbols (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
Anti-fascist groups don’t just put up stickers in their local areas, they also put them up when they travel. This sticker was made by the North London Anti-fascists (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
Antifaschistische Aktion is a German anti-fascist network, suggesting this sticker has come from even further afield (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 09/03/18).Migration is one of the most controversial topics in British politics at the moment. This sticker was produced by the International Workers of the World, an international union that has been around since 1905 (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 03/09/18).
This sticker has a similar message, but was produced by a different group. Global Justice Now works to create a more equal world, launched in 1967 (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
This sticker is part of a series where members of Marvel’s superhero team the Avengers confront prominent politicians. The stickers are quite old, going back to at least 2015, so some of the politicians they feature are in different positions now. George Osborne, for example, is no longer Chancellor of the Exchequer, which is the context in which this sticker was produced. The sticker is advertising Another Angry Voice, a political opinion blog. (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
Feminist issues are a common topic of protest stickers. This sticker refers to the debate about whether women are ever even partially responsible when they are sexual assaulted, because of their clothes or behaviour. This sticker was produced by Active Distribution, a radical publishing group that sells protest stickers, amongst many other things (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
This sticker relates to a controversial issue within modern feminism about whether or not transgender people should be able to self-identify as women. Some women view transgender women as just another example of sexist oppression. This is the sticker that made national news recently when it was put on the Anthony Gormley sculptures on Crosby beach (Photo: Hannah Awcock: 03/09/18).
This sticker commemorates British people who have died fighting for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the Syrian Civil War. The YPG is the armed wing of the Kurdish left-wing Democratic Union Party. The Kurdish text translates as “Martyrs don’t die.” The sticker is obviously quite recent; Anna Campbell, the only woman on the sticker, was killed in Afrin in Northern Syria on 15th March 2018. It is an unusual sticker, I have never seen on related to this issue before (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
Animal rights, vegetarianism, and veganism is another common topic of protest stickers. It is not clear who produced this sticker, although the logo does (probably unintentionally) remind me of the X-factor. (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
It is also not clear who produced this sticker. It is informing people of their rights if the police use Stop and Search powers–you have no legal obligation to provide your name or address. It is an interesting design, but I don’t no how effective it is as a protest sticker. It took me a few seconds to figure out that the main text reads “No Comment,” and I doubt most people would put as much effort into reading it as I did (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
I saved this sticker for last because it is my favourite sticker for quite some time, I like the clever design. Stand Up to Racism is a campaign group formed in response to the increasing racism and xenophobic politics around the world (Photo: Hannah Awcock, 10/06/18).
University Teacher in Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Interested in the cultural, historical, and political geographies of resistance.
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2 thoughts on “Protest Stickers: Liverpool”
Lovely little blog post!
But the Kurdish ‘Shehid Namirin’ means ‘Martyrs Don’t Die’.
Turbulent Isles 
Lovely little blog post!
But the Kurdish ‘Shehid Namirin’ means ‘Martyrs Don’t Die’.
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Thank you! And thanks for the translation to, I know that Google Translate frequently gets things wrong,
I will correct it.
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