We Shall Not Be Moved: Posters and the Fight Against Displacement in L.A.s Figueroa Corridor

(Paperback)

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Description

This book brings together full-colour graphic arts and grassroots voices to describe the impact of gentrification and development in central Los Angeles, and how people fight back to protect their communities. This book emerged from a unique collaboration between SAJE, Self-Help Graphics and Art, and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. It is a visual and written story of how grassroots organising can both inspire and be inspired by the creation of original art and the recognition of the intermingled traditions of art and struggle on a global level. It combines a gripping narrative of what gentrification looks like in L.A.'s Figueroa Corridor where the city's wealthiest developers rub shoulders with its poorest residents. It speaks to how artists can work with activists, and gives a full-colour view of posters from housing struggles around the country and the world.

Reviews

"We Shall Not Be Moved is a virtual primer on how to get artists, community arts people (you know who you are) and grassroots community organizing groups to work together to fight for neighborhood rights (and whatever lefts we have left). In more than 20 years of doing guerrilla street postering--without the example of this book as a guide--my creative team and I have tried many times to collaborate with several of our favorite non-profit community organizations. The results have been decidedly mixed, like a can of mixed nuts deciding who's the nuttiest nut in the can. Fuggedaboutit! However, we wouldn't want to offend anybody, so let me lay it on you from the grassroots organizations' point of view: working with artists is like herding cats. Until now! Reading We Shall Not Be Moved (and--thank you-thank you--there are lots of pictures), historically contextualizes the movement, articulates the symbiosis of collaboration and addresses specific issues of the moment in a way that even an artist can appreciate." --Robbie Conal

Author Bio

Gilda Haas is the Executive Director of SAJE (Strategic Actions for a Just Economy), that has accomplished significant economic advances for working class people in Los Angeles by using a popular education approach to community organizing. SAJE's approach involves poor people in developing organizing strategy and policy initiatives themselves--ranging from creating the first welfare-to-work bank account in the nation to negotiating a package of community benefits with a company owned by the richest men in the world.