Here’s another one of those gags that pretty much drew itself. On hearing the news that New York City would have the dubious honor of hosting the 2004 Republican Convention, this image slammed into my head like a runaway train and refused to go away:

This was my part towards inspiring locals and visitors alike to hit the streets and give the GOP a good old-fashioned New York City welcome, and to let the Bush Mob know that the people of NYC weren’t going to allow themselves to be cast as “extras” in a fascist corporate infomercial (which is basically what the Republicratic and Demopublican Conventions had become by this time).

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A friend of mine noted that it’d been quite some years since I did one of my good old-fashioned blood-spattered antiwar cartoons, so I came roaring back with “Super Service”, and the even more brutal piece here. As I recall, it was about this time that Lisa Beamer, wife of a 9/11 victim, went on a whirlwind promotional victimhood-pimping tour including a stop on the NBC Today Show plugging her book, and — what really sent me over the top, inspiring this cartoon — her attempt to register a trade/service mark on the phrase “Let’s Roll”. Sweet friggin’ Jayzus, I thought, does this goddamn’ woman have any shame at all?

While pretty much everyone I knew in the antiwar activist community was totally down with the message, many found the imagery disturbing (much to my delight). Washington DC media activist Zoe Mitchell wrote:

…the argument he chose to present his argument with disturbs me. It’s violent. It’s bloody. It makes me sick. Unfortunately, it’s dead-on accurate. US soldiers driving SUVs have shot and killed Iraqi civilians. Contrary to the US Media’s imagery, Persian Gulf War 2.0 is violent and bloody. It should make us ALL sick.

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By this time, the approach of summer meant one thing: time to get going on the posters for the Fall World Bank/IMF Mobilization! A more militant local outfit, the Anti-Capitalist Convergence, was taking a large part in this year’s mobe as many in the movement were becoming dissatisfied with the more “moderate” position of the large NGOs such as Global Exchange, and DC’s own Mobilization For Global Justice (originally formed to organize the A16 WB/IMF actions in 2000).

As was customary, my posters for the IMF/WB Mobe sought to be simple, easily-read portrayals of the issues our movement was addressing; in addition, this year I also added a series of images depicting our movement’s vision for a peaceful and just society, to shut up all those conservative wags out there predictably whining “we all know what you’re against, but what are you for?”

Complete set, Adobe pdf file, 3m

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In the midst of all the fear and paranoia following 9/11, George W. Chimp somehow thought it a good idea to show The Terrorists™ how courageous we all were by getting out and going shopping, and actually went on TV, looked us all in the eye, and told us that. That crass, shallow admonishment remained seared into my brain for some months before finally emerging as a fully-formed inspiration in the wake of the release of the latest Star Wars “prequel” with its attendant marketing blitz of toy tie-ins and Star Wars-themed McDonald’s happy meals.

The original idea, “Pig Nation”, came from Abbie Hoffman’s famous remarks regarding the keep-up-with-the-Joneses, ticky-tacky suburban house-dwelling, station wagon-driving middle-class America of the late 1960s. It seemed an even more appropriate and apt description of the modern-day McMansion-dwelling, blockbuster movie-going, SUV-driving America of the early 21st Century.

This piece also appeared in Adbusters Magazine’s annual “big ideas” issue in 2005.

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