Great Protest Photos (not by zombie)

(If you're looking for famous protest photos by zombie, click here to go to the original zombie Hall of Shame.)


This page is a showcase for all the best political protest photos not by zombie.

There have been many outstanding street-rally images taken by other photographers, and I've made this page to give credit where credit is due (since a few of these pictures have been wrongly attributed to me). In some cases, however, I have not yet been able to track down the names of the people who took the photos featured here. If you know, or at least know where any of these photos originally appeared, or if you have nominations for other protest photo classics, email your tips here.



This is perhaps the most famous of all protest photos -- it has been reprinted and reposted on Web sites countless times. This article in FrontPage magazine about the photo includes an interview with the banner's creator. The photo was taken at the March 15, 2003 rally in San Francisco (which I didn't attend). The photographer, as of this writing, is unknown.


This is the most notorious photo of a pro-war protester, reposted ad infinitum on left-wing sites. It's so well-known that the term "moran" as a sarcastic substitute for "moron" has entered the lingo. According to Democratic Underground's Demopedia, the photo was taken at a March 2003 anti-war protest in St. Charles, Missouri, and originally published on the "St. Louis Independent Media Center," whose Web site is now apparently defunct.


Rachel Corrie, the ISM activist who was run over by a bulldozer in Gaza, was forever immortalized in this February 15, 2003 AP photo of her burning a mock US flag at a anti-US/anti-Israel rally in Rafah, Gaza.


In late February and early March of 2005, a series of pro-democracy rallies erupted in Beirut, Lebanon. As photos from the rallies circulated around the world, many in the West were surprised at how attractive the young women protesters were. Immediately a great a demand arose for photos of "Lebanese Protest Babes," as they came to be called. This photo, and the photo below, are among the two best-known of the many Lebanese Protest Babes. Thie photo was taken from the Web site of Lebanese political cartoonist Stavros, but it likely originated elsewhere.


This Lebanese Protest Babe was captured by an AP photographer, though I can't find the name nor the original article it accompanied.

More Lebanese protesters can be found, among other places, here.


This sign, which (from what I can uncover) appeared at the "World Peace Event" protest in New York City on February 9, 2003, echoes the words of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1938 when he returned with a signed agreement from Hitler "guaranteeing" that there would be no war between Germany and Britain. The fact that this ranks as one of the greatest political blunders of all time seems to be lost on this naive protester. (This photo was taken from these posts on LGF, but the original source link no longer works; if you have any info on the date or origin of this photo, email it to the tip line above.)


This photo shows the very first Protest Warrior counter-demonstration (in San Francisco on February 16, 2003), seen as something of a turning point in the public opposition to the counterfeit "anti-war" movement. The image originally appeared on the Protest Warrior site.


This image is legendary for showing perhaps the most unintentionally hilarious protest sign of recent years. The protest and the photographer are unknown.


This rather blunt political equivalency appeared at the September 24 anti-war rally in Los Angeles and was taken by blogger Ringo the Gringo.


Another controversial Ringo the Gringo photo from the September 24 anti-war rally in Los Angeles.


This photo from an election rally in Hebron, West Bank, shows Palestinians from the Fatah party -- currently the leading party in Palestinian politics -- giving a Nazi salute. The photo was taken by AP photographer Nasser Shiyoukhi and was featured in a posting here.


This protester with a crazily misspelled sign was captured by a Reuters photographer on January 20, 2006 in Pakistan.


This photo was taken by New York-based Protest Warrior Yefim G. at the March 19, 2005 "Troops Out Now" rally in Central Park, and shows a protester unapologetically siding with the terrorists, without the slightest attempt at euphemism.


Blogger "El Marco" took this shot at a rally in New York's Union Square in September, 2004, showing one of the most common themes at "peace" protests over the last few years: that Bush (and not Al-Qaeda) pulled off the 9/11 attacks. On the left is a textbook example of a self-negating statement: in an actual police state, they couldn't display a sign calling for an end to the police state.


Another "El Marco" photo from the September 24, 2005 ANSWER rally in Washington, DC. Since the rally was organized to oppose intervention in Afghanistan/Iraq/Iran/Palestine, where homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, and where the "imperial" West is working for the liberation of women and gays, one wonders how "lesbian power" could even manage to exist in much of the world without the very cultural interventions this protester opposes.


This sign may look innocuous at first, but this smiling woman is essentially advocating that foreign countries invade the United States and overthrow our government (euphemistically "liberate the U.S."). And when this happens, she'll gladly join sides with the invaders. Photograph by correspondent "Rona," from a rally in August, 2004 in New York.



Click here for the original zombie Hall of Shame.


To see the complete collection of photos taken by zombie at protests and rallies in the San Francisco Bay Area, click here.