See Hear Say Learn, Jul 15, 2020
The raised fist, or the clenched fist, is a symbol of solidarity and support. It is also used as a salute to express unity, strength, defiance, or resistance.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video about the history and some of the meanings of the raised fist gesture. This post also showcases a YouTube video of the Black power salute at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
Three online excerpts about the history and meanings of the raised fist salute are also found in this post. Special attention is given in this post on the Black Power salute and the use of the raised fist gesture by former United States President Donald Trump.
The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are associated with these videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - The story behind this iconic Olympics protest
Vox, Jul 9, 2020
Tommie Smith and John Carlos’s 1968 US national anthem
protest, explained.
The image of sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising
their fists during a medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City is an
enduring image of silent protest. But the key to understanding it goes beyond
the black-gloved fists. All three medal winners, including silver medalist
Peter Norman of Australia, wore buttons that read “Olympic Project for Human
Rights.” The Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) was a coalition of
prominent athletes formed in 1967 that threatened to boycott participating in
the upcoming Olympic games, in order to draw attention to systemic racism in
the United States. The group, led by professor Harry Edwards, ultimately voted
to compete in the games and hold their demonstrations there, which led to the
now-iconic display on the medal stand following the men’s 200-meter final. This
act got Smith and Carlos kicked off the team, but left a lasting legacy on
making political statements through sport.
-snip-
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4LvwXYmt3Q for a related YouTube video entitled "The Story Behind The White Guy In This Historic Photo", published by The Young Turks, Oct 31, 2015. Here's an excerpt of the summary of that YouTube video:
"In 1968 there was a powerful moment of protest at the
Olympic games when two winners put on black gloves to protest what was
happening in the country during the civil rights era. Most people don’t know
the story of the silver medalist, Peter Norman.
“In an act as appropriate as it is overdue, the Australian
House of Parliament is issuing an official state apology Monday to the
country’s late, great sprinter Peter Norman. Norman won the 200-meter silver
medal at the 1968 Olympics, but that’s not why he’s either remembered or owed
apologies. After the race, gold and bronze medalists Tommie Smith and John
Carlos bowed their heads and raised their fists on the medal stand and started
an international firestorm. Many see the iconic image and assume Norman was
just a bystander to history, or as he would joke, “the white guy.” But he was
standing in full solidarity with Smith and Carlos, wearing a patch on his chest
that reads, “Olympic Project for Human Rights.” "...
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ONLINE EXCERPTS ABOUT THE RAISED FIST SALUTE
EXCERPT #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_fist
"The raised fist, or the clenched fist, is a long-standing image of mixed meaning, often a symbol of solidarity, especially with a political movement. It is a common symbol representing a wide range of political ideologies, most notably socialism, communism, anarchism, and trade unionism, and can also be used as a salute expressing unity, strength, or resistance.
History
The origin of the raised fist as either a symbol or gesture is unclear. Its use in trade unionism, anarchism, and the labor movement had begun by the 1910s. William "Big Bill" Haywood, a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World, used the metaphor of a fist as something greater than the sum of its parts during a speech at the 1913 Paterson silk strike.[2] Journalist and socialist activist John Reed described hearing a similar description from a participant in the strike.[3] A large raised fist rising from a crowd of striking workers was used to promote a mass strike in Budapest in 1912.[4] In the United States, clenched fist was described by the magazine Mother Earth as "symbolical of the social revolution" in 1914.[5]
The use of the fist as a salute by communists and antifascists is first evidenced in 1924, when it was adopted for the Communist Party of Germany's Roter Frontkämpferbund ("Alliance of Red Front-Fighters"). In reaction, the Nazi Party adopted the well-known Roman salute two years later.[6] The gesture of the raised fist was apparently known in the United States as well, and is seen in a photograph from a May Day march in New York City in 1936.[7] It is perhaps best known in this era from its use during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, as a greeting by the Republican faction, and known as the "Popular Front salute" or the "anti-fascist salute".[8]
The graphic symbol was popularised in 1948 by Taller de Gráfica Popular, a print shop in Mexico that used art to advance revolutionary social causes.[10] Its use spread through the United States in the 1960s after artist and activist Frank Cieciorka produced a simplified version for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee: this version was subsequently used by Students for a Democratic Society and the Black Power movement.[11]
The raised right fist was frequently used in posters produced during the May 1968 revolt in France, such as La Lutte continue, depicting a factory chimney topped with a clenched fist.[12][13][14]
A raised right fist icon appears prominently as a feminist symbol on the covers of two major books by Robin Morgan, Sisterhood is Powerful, published in 1970,[15] and Sisterhood Is Forever, in 2003.[16] The symbol had been popularised in the feminist movement during the Miss America protest in 1968 which Morgan co-organised.[8]
[...]
Logo
The raised fist logo generally carries the same symbolism as a hand gesture. It was an important symbol of workers rights and labor movements, as well as specific labor actions, such as strikes, boycotts, and walk-outs.
Notable examples include the fist and rose, a white fist holding a red rose, used by the Socialist International and some socialist or social democratic parties, such as the French Socialist Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.[8] The fist can represent ethnic solidarity, such as in the Black Power fist of Black nationalism and the Black Panther Party, a Black Marxist group in the 1960s,[18] or the White Power fist, a logo generally associated with White nationalism.[19] A Black fist logo was also adopted by the northern soul music subculture. Loyalists in Northern Ireland occasionally use a red clenched fist on murals depicting the Red Hand of Ulster, which is also featured on the flag of Ulster.[20] Irish republicans, on the other hand, have been seen displaying raised fists.
[...]Salute
Different movements sometimes use different terms to describe the raised fist salute: amongst communists and socialists, raised right fist is sometimes called the red salute, whereas in the United States it is widely known as the Black Power salute due to use by many African-American activists. The Rotfrontkämpferbund paramilitary organization of Communist Party of Germany used the right hand fist salute as early as 1924.[23] By this time, the Soviet Union had already established the use of a traditional Russian military salute. During the Spanish Civil War, it was sometimes known as the anti-fascist salute. A letter from the Spanish Civil War stated: "...the raised fist which greets you in Salud is not just a gesture—it means life and liberty being fought for and a greeting of solidarity with the democratic peoples of the world."[24]
At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, medal winners John Carlos and Tommie Smith gave the raised fist salute during the American national anthem as a sign of black power, and as a protest on behalf of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. They were banned from further Olympic activities by the IOC, as the rules then in place prohibited any political statements at the Olympics. The event was one of the most overtly political statements[25] in the history of the modern Olympic Games. Tommie Smith stated in his autobiography, "Silent Gesture", that the salute was not a Black Power salute, but in fact a human rights salute.[26]
Nelson Mandela also used the clenched right fist salute upon his release from Victor Verster Prison in 1990.[8]
The raised right fist is used by officials in People's Republic of China when being sworn into office.[27]
Psychologist Oliver James has suggested that the appeal of the salute is that it allows the individual to indicate that they "intend to meet malevolent, massive institutional force with force of (their) own", and that they are bound in struggle with others against common oppression.[8]"...
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EXCERPT #2
From https://phm.org.uk/blogposts/the-raised-fist-a-history-of-the-symbol
The raised fist: a history of the symbol, 4 September 2023
..."What is the raised fist?
The raised fist is a visual symbol used internationally by
many different social movements and political organisations. This symbol is manifested either as a bodily
gesture made when people raise their arms and clenched fists, or a graphic
motif presented through a range of visual media, such as posters, street art,
pamphlets, placards, badges, and t-shirts.
Like all symbols, the raised fist is understood to represent an abstract
idea. This idea being resistance. The raised fist is also understood to represent
power from below and solidarity between people joined in political
struggle. The symbol is therefore
generally associated with popular democratic struggle against oppression. The raised fist can also be described as an
iconic symbol, meaning that it has been widely reproduced and reused, and
through this has become familiar to many people. As such, this symbol is also nomadic, moving
from one social movement and organisation to another, across time and space for
at least a century.
The origin of the raised fist as a popular democratic symbol
appears to be with the international labour movement in the early 20th
century. However, the exact origin of
this symbol is not completely clear.
Trade unions and socialist and communist parties used the raised
fist. It was also adopted by
anti-fascist movements between the world wars, and by pan-African,
anti-colonial, and anti-apartheid movements.
Other recent movements that have used the raised fist have included
Black Power, Women’s Liberation, and Gay Liberation. The raised fist, when linked to Black Power
and anti-racist struggles has also been called the Black Power salute or Black
Power fist. Building on this historic
association with Black political struggle since the mid 20th century, the
raised fist is currently most strongly linked to the Black Lives Matter
movement, as demonstrated by its prolific use in 2020 in demonstrations and on
social media after the police murder of George Floyd. But it is worth stressing that the regular re-use
of the raised fist over time, in different places, and for different purposes
demonstrates that no single political movement or political issue can claim
ownership of this symbol. It is this
lack of singular ownership as well as its versatility and broad recognisability
that gives the raised fist its symbolic power and longevity.
[...]
How has the raised fist been used in graphic images?
The raised fist symbol has been used in graphic images in
several different ways. Sometimes
graphic images show a group of people raising their fists, as is the case with
the Young Communist League poster, above on the left, from the early 1970s that
declares ‘Fight for a Socialist Future’ and depicts four activists as if seen
from above raising their fists towards the spectator.
At other times images show a single person raising their fist as in the poster, above on the right, from the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) during the 1970s calling for sanctions against South African coal that shows a lone Black South African miner raising his fist.
In other images the raising of a fist is integrated into a
larger scene of protest or combined with other related images. An example of this can be seen in this poster
below on the left, calling for a May Day March and Rally Against Racism and
Fascism, that presents a central image of a Black woman raising her fist to
symbolise resistance and struggle along with an image of a violent racist
attack and images of mass anti-racist demonstrations."..
.
Simon Faulker is an art historian leading a fully funded collaborative PhD, between Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and People’s History Museum (PHM), which focuses on the analysis of the use of the iconic raised fist symbol in anti-colonial and anti-racist posters in PHM’s political poster collection.
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EXCERPT #3
From https://www.wfae.org/politics/2024-07-14/trumps-raised-fist-is-a-gesture-with-a-long-history-of-different-meanings Trump’s raised fist is a gesture with a long history of
different meanings
By Roger J. Kreuz | The Conversation
Published July 14, 2024 at 4:47 PM EDT
"In the frenzied moments when Secret Service agents
surrounded a bleeding Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13, 2024,
trying to hustle him offstage to safety, Trump – whose ear was grazed by a
would-be assassin’s bullet – raised his fist in the air.
“Fight! Fight!” he appeared to be saying, pumping his fist hard.
It was an image, and a gesture, destined for the history books.
But if the situation was unprecedented, the gesture was hardly new to Trump, the former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee. His raised fist has been part of his public image since the 1990s.
Earlier in the year, when Trump exited the building where he had been found guilty of 34 felonies on May 30, he waved and raised a clenched fist to those who had gathered outside.
He had made the same gesture when surrendering to New York authorities after his indictment in the case in April 2023. And at the end of a June 2024 campaign stop at a church in Detroit, he stood in front of an illuminated cross and two American flags and raised his fist again.
I’m a cognitive scientist who studies communication and writes about the meaning of gestures and how they are interpreted.
The raised fist is one of the most interesting of these
because of its long and varied history: It’s been used by fascists, socialists,
communists, Black Power advocates and even golfer Tiger Woods.
A loaded gesture?
The raised fist has been employed by a wide variety of groups for several different purposes. In the early 20th century, for example, it was associated with socialism, communism and labor unions like the Industrial Workers of The World. In these contexts, it was typically viewed as a symbol of solidarity with others who shared their views.
During the award presentation for the Men’s 200-meter event final at the 1968 Summer Olympics, gold medalist Tommie Smith, center, and bronze medalist John Carlos each raise a clenched fist. Bettman/Getty Images
Forty-five years later, particularly after the 2014 protests
in Ferguson, Missouri, and followed by the 2020 murder of George Floyd, it
became a potent symbol of Black Lives Matter protesters.
But the gesture has also been adopted by the far right, with the Aryan fist becoming a symbol of white pride during the 1980s.
In many respects, the raised fist has become a generalized gesture of defiance that has been employed by groups as diverse as the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 and students protesting education budget cuts in the Philippines that same year.
The gesture is still seen as transgressive. In 2016, Black female cadets at West Point raised their fists for a photo, and this led to an inquiry by the school, although no disciplinary action was taken.
West Point’s superintendent, in a letter to the cadets, wrote, “We all must understand that a symbol or gesture that one group of people may find harmless may offend others. As Army officers, we are not afforded the luxury of a lack of awareness of how we are perceived
Analogs of the raised fist are common in popular culture.
The gesture is related to the fist pump that golfers like Tiger Woods
frequently engage in. It is also related to the “Success Kid” meme – showing a
baby at the beach with a sandy fist and a defiant face – popular on social
media in the early 2010s. This could be viewed as a truncated version of the
raised fist, just as the fist pump is an expanded version of the gesture.
It’s unusual, but not unheard of, for gestures to undergo fairly major shifts in their meaning. The V sign, made with index and middle fingers raised and separated, was popularized in the early 1940s as standing for resistance and ultimately an Allied victory in World War II. But a generation later, it was co-opted by those opposed to U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam and became the peace sign.
Trump and the raised fist
Once public figures make a symbol their own, they tend to
employ it habitually.
Richard Nixon, for example, made frequent use of a two-handed “V for victory” gesture during his political career. He even used it in contexts when it seemed wildly inappropriate, such as when, humiliated after his 1974 resignation, he boarded the helicopter that flew him out of Washington and turned to flash those two raised hands and fingers.
Donald Trump has employed the raised fist gesture for decades, and in a variety of contexts. He used it, for example, as a gesture of celebration at the 1990 opening of his Trump Taj Mahal casino and hotel in Atlantic City. But he has also employed it as a symbol of defiance, as he did during a press conference at which he threatened to sue the New York Post in 1994.
Donald Trump has employed the raised fist gesture for decades, and in a variety of contexts. He used it, for example, as a gesture of celebration at the 1990 opening of his Trump Taj Mahal casino and hotel in Atlantic City. But he has also employed it as a symbol of defiance, as he did during a press conference at which he threatened to sue the New York Post in 1994.
As president-elect, he raised a fist in a 2016 Christmas
tweet. Perhaps most famously, he raised his fist in triumph during his
inauguration in 2017. And during his presidency, he often used the gesture,
such as when he arrived in Nashville for a presidential debate in October 2020,
raising his fist to service members once he got off his plane at Berry Field
Air National Guard Base.
Since public appearances by Trump typically draw mixed crowds of supporters and detractors, his use of a raised fist provides a potent message for both groups. It can function as a gesture of solidarity for those who are with him, and one of defiance against those who oppose him. In this way, Trump’s raised fist is like a Rorschach inkblot, since it allows people to interpret his message according to their own ideological preferences.
Other people in Trump’s orbit have also made symbolic use of the raised fist. Before entering politics, Trump made at least 40 appearances on Howard Stern’s radio show. When Stern moved his program to SiriusXM in 2006, he initially employed a clenched fist as his logo to emphasize the subversive nature of his programming. And there is even a video of a fist-pumping Pauly D and The Situation from “The Jersey Shore” at the Trump Taj Mahal in 2010.
Supporters of Trump, such as U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, have also appropriated the gesture. On Jan. 6, 2021, Hawley raised a fist to show his support for the demonstrators who were converging on the U.S. Capitol – right before he skittered down a hallway in flight from them.
On the heels of Trump surviving the assassination attempt, will delegates at the Republican convention, where he will formally become their nominee for president, adopt this gesture as well?"
This is an updated version of a story first published on July 11, 2024.
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