NEW YORK COALITION FOR PEACE & JUSTICE

OUR GRIEF IS NOT A CRY FOR WAR
Awareness from the Forth Position Archive

10,000 New Yorkers marched to Times Square on October 7th 2001, united in common conviction that the United States Government should not exploit the September 11th attacks as an excuse for war.

New York Times photo by Michelle V. Agins
New York Newsday photo
March end rally at Times Square – photo by Diane Greene Lent

Forth, in conjunction with the coalition's Arts & Culture Working Group, produced 200 signs for this demonstration. Half of these read NEW YORK NOT IN OUR NAME / OUR GRIEF IS NOT A CRY FOR WAR, but it was the ISLAM, ARABS & IMMIGRANTS ARE NOT THE ENEMY sign that received the most press.

Front ( small type: unity through empathy )
Back ( small type: unity through empathy )
Front ( peace is powerful )
Back ( kick the bomb habit )
Front ( speak your mind )
Back ( war is never having to tell the truth )
Front ( non-violence or non-existence )
Back ( justice, not vengeance )
Front
Back
December 16 - Hoy photo by Rafael Fernandez*


December 16 – Rockefeller Center march – banner design by Kinkos®

Over the following year Forth designed additional signs to supplement the initial five, flyers, buttons, t-shirts, a banner, and other materials for multiple marches, rallies and forums around the interrelated issues of the war on terror, illegal detentions, immigrant solidarity, civil liberties, and budget cuts. The NYCPJ symbol is a realignment of the negative spaces within the common peace symbol, the triangular shapes assembled by multiple hands working together. The symbol was designed as a representation of the concept of coalition and a reflection on rebuilding peace in the aftermath of 9/11.




Modular Flyer Front
Flyer Back
Bus Sign Up
Bus Ticket

April 20, 2002 – Washington DC march – banner design by Forth
April 20, 2002 – Washington DC
Justice for Detainees solidarity rally – Brooklyn
New York Taxi Workers Alliance march - Midwood, Brooklyn

Neighborhood Conference Placard
Neighborhood Conference


*A dark line is visible around the tube (bottom) of the featured MAKE HISTORY NOT WAR sign. This was Forth founder Thomas Gallagher’s personal sign, marked this way to make it easy to spot inverted among the others in bags for transport. Occupied with logistics at the rally site, he did not get to march, so his sign marched without him...