A World Wildlife Fund sticker in front of the Sydney Opera House (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
In the summer of 2019, I was lucky enough to spend 3 weeks travelling around Australia and New Zealand with my sister. As usual, wherever I went I kept an eye out for protest stickers, and the Antipodes did not disappoint. The first city we visited was Sydney. Founded in 1788 by the British as a penal colony, it is now Australia’s largest city.
I thought this sticker might have something to do with immigration policy, but it turns out that Keep Sydney Open was founded to campaign for an evidence-based approach towards policy on the nighttime economy. They felt that they weren’t being listened to as a campaign group, however, so in 2018 became a political party and broadened the range of issues they are concerned with. I found this sticker in Bondi Beach, one of Sydney’s most famous suburbs (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Another political party who have left their traces in Bondi Beach is The Greens, a left wing party with four main principles: ecological sustainability, grassroots democracy, social justice and peace and non-violence. Sydney is one of the most expensive cities in the world, so it is not surprising that housing is an important political issue (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Alongside local politics, the protest stickers in Hong Kong also reflected global issues. Here, a post-it note has been drafted into service as a protest sticker supporting the recent protests in Hong Kong. Since June, protesters have been clashing with police in Hong Kong over China’s increasingly repressive rule. At the time of writing this post in early October, there is no sign of either the protesters or the Chinese government backing down. Solidarity protests have taken place around the world, including Sydney, Taiwan, and Melbourne (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Another global movement that only seems to be increasing in momentum is Extinction Rebellion. Founded in the UK in late 2018, this leaderless, nonviolent movement has spread around the world, including several global days of action. The Australian Extinction Rebellion seems just as determined as any other group to get their demands met (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
It is clear that not everyone supports the aims of Extinction Rebellion, as someone has tried to obscure the message of this sticker. There is something written over the image too, but I cannot make it out. The Australian government is currently led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who does not seem to view climate change as too much of a priority (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker, produced by the Greens, is also suggesting that significant political reform is needed in order to effectively counter climate change (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This sticker was also produced by the Greens, and it highlights the negative impacts of climate change that go beyond climate change (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Save Poppy is an organisation that aims to persuade people to give up meat by sharing information about the “cruelty, environmental destruction and the health impact of animal agriculture.” (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This is another sticker promoting SavePoppy.com. Protest stickers promoting veganism have become increasingly common over the last few years. Many of them take a similar approach to this one, arguing that it is hypocritical to love animals and eat meat (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
This is very poetic for a protest sticker. The A in a circle is a common anarchist symbol, and many anarchists believe that prisons should be abolished (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
Same-sex marriage was legalised in Australia in 2017, so this sticker is a bit of an antique by protest sticker standards! (Photo: Hannah Awcock).
What protest sticker blog post is complete without an anti-fascist sticker? Anti-fascist Action was originally founded in the UK in 1965, but there are now branches all over the world (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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3 thoughts on “Protest Sydney: Stickers”
Aw I missed you on yr trip here – would have loved to have gone searching for protest stickers with you! I’ll post some for you (can I extend the ‘franchise’?!! )
Turbulent Isles 
Aw I missed you on yr trip here – would have loved to have gone searching for protest stickers with you! I’ll post some for you (can I extend the ‘franchise’?!! )
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Absolutely! I am more than happy to be sent photos of protest stickers.
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