by Bruce Saille
These are some images from some peaceful rallies after the murder of George Floyd. On June 6th 2020, rally was organised for children's voices to be heard in front of the Milwaukee Police Department. The following day, also in Milwaukee there were peaceful protests in support of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.
by Eduardo Storch
We were with my wife in Israel a couple of weeks ago. We spent Passover with my sister and friends.
At Passover, the liberation of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt is celebrated. Currently, the people are fighting again for liberation, but in this case, it is about the new government headed by religious and nationalist extremists.
For 16 weeks, people have taken to the streets across the country on Saturday nights and sometimes even twice a week to fight in an attitude unprecedented in its 75-year history against a judicial coup. They protest against gender segregation, the LGBT community, other minorities and the creation of paramilitary militias led by racist and extremist ministers.
I was aware of these protest demonstrations that have come to summon up to 750,000 people through the news, the newspapers and the messages or videos that family and friends in Israel send me.
However, the publications of many Israeli photographers whom I follow on the networks allow us to capture better the reality of the climate in the streets. I have recently read and seen the excellent photographs that Corinne Spector and Shimi Cohen and many others have attached to their stories.
Thus, two days after arriving, I attended a demonstration that took place in Habima Square, a square located in the heart of Tel Aviv and surrounded by important buildings dedicated to culture, which I will tell you about later. On this occasion, I want to tell you about my experience in the demonstration on Saturday night on Kaplan Street, which has become an icon of the protests. We left the car parked far away because otherwise, it is impossible to get to that place due to a large number of people. It was exciting to see how children, women and men, young and old, some even in wheelchairs were gathering in the street and on the bridges carrying flags, t-shirts and allusive posters.
Large screens broadcast the images of the drones that flew over us and the people who spoke on a large stage. We reached the very epicentre where the songs and music came from. Youths with loudspeakers, bass drums, snare drums and whistles were clamouring for their rights and at one point a giant flag was unfurled above them which they all held and extended. From what the drones were transmitting I could see that on the flag there was a large caricature of the prime minister as if he were the pharaoh of Egypt. The flag engulfed the people in a kind of palpable communion, accompanied by music and chants.
Suddenly red flares were lit creating a very special and fiery atmosphere, so I went under the flag to share and document that very special moment.
The minute of silence for those who fell victim to terrorism in those days and the solemnity of the hymn sung by all was absolutely moving.
I was happy to have been able to participate and share the vibration of the people and make a photographic record of the protest.
At home, I began to download the photos from the camera and coincidentally saw a video on YouTube in which Mika Almog, a writer, journalist and social activist, granddaughter of the late Simon Peres, in which she describes the situation in Israel “The ground beneath our feet is burning!”
So I understood that this was exactly what I experienced when I was under the flag and I want to share it with Progressive Street.
by Patty DeJuneas
For 50 years, women across the US were free to make decisions about their bodies. No more. Last summer, the Supreme Court decimated our right to bodily autonomy. Protestors have since turned out in droves.
Boston Common – “the Common,” as its known to locals – is the oldest public park in the United States. Located across from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State House, the Common has long been a place for public discourse.
In the 1800s, abolitionists protested slavery there. Suffragists demonstrated and demanded equality at the voting booth. In the 1900s, the Common was rife with civil rights rallies, including one led by Martin Luther King, the minister and civil rights champion who fought tirelessly for racial equality in a time when politicians ran for office promoting segregation and racism. Today, the Common is a place where people of all stripes, colors and nationalities continue to gather to make their voices heard. As many protestors shout out, “This is what democracy looks like.”
While shooting this series over the past year, I came to realize that these voices, despite their diversity, share a common goal: freedom. Freedom from the patriarchy obsessed with controlling women; freedom from dictators who impose their will and control upon their citizens; freedom from fascism; freedom from racism; freedom from police brutality; freedom for the untold numbers of innocent men, women and children who have been wrongfully convicted; and freedom from irrational and ignorant hate against our LGBTQ loved ones and friends.
I chose black and white for this series for a simple and painful reason: little to nothing has changed over the decades. In this first installment, I document the women, children and men who turned out in droves to protest the backward trajectory of women’s rights. For 50 years, the right to choose whether and when to become mothers was protected under the U.S. Constitution. But in June 2022, religions zealots and misogynists on the Supreme Court decided to take away that right. Today, many American states have outlawed all abortions, no matter the circumstances.
Within months of the Supreme Court’s ruling, an 11-year-old pregnant rape victim was forced to travel to another state for medical treatment. A right-wing judge in Texas overruled the government’s approval of a drug used in medical abortions. Women with sepsis have been forced to wait until near death before doctors will intervene for fear of being arrested and prosecuted. This is not what democracy looks like.
by Corinne Spector
April 2023
I’m in the thick of a large group of protestors, within a sea of blue and white flags, when suddenly a red stream bursts through. It's like the parting of the Red Sea, or more precisely, the moment when all the rivers of Egypt turned red with blood, just like in the first of the ten plagues we recall now during Passover.
We see hundreds of women in flowing red robes, with broad white bonnets walking slowly and silently, their heads down. Everyone else in this demonstration is forgotten as these "handmaidens" come through. Some members of the opposition yell rude comments at them, not understanding this symbol, but the women maintain their silent, submissive posture.
We are seeing a representation of the women's struggle for their rights, similar to others around the world, inspired by Margaret Atwood's book "The Handmaiden’s tale". The bonnet serves to keep women's eyes focused on the ground -looking up or around is considered dangerous. Although this book came out forty years ago and represents societies from past and present, we hope its dystopian vision is not what we will see in our near future in Israel. This uniform is no less than a symbol of the fight against the potential totalitarian control over democracy.
The use of this costume began with the abortion-related protests in the US and has spread in variations to other parts of the world. In Israel, we understood that a situation could arise quickly here, in which women would have fewer societal rights, as a result of the new government coalition with its members from the religious extreme-right.
In the beginning, women wore red to the protests here in order to symbolize their resistance; the symbolism of red as blood, as birth, as loud protest. Soon there was an awakening wherein women and some men in more than 80 cities and towns came together. They understood that this government was seeking to harm a basic and universal truth: that women also need representation in our society and in our government.
People have long realized that due to the demographics of their high birth rate, by the year 2060, one-third of the Israeli Jewish population will have become very religious (Ultra-Orthodox). Now, however, people have understood that these changes will likely weaken or even erase the concept of democracy, and instead Israel will become a theocracy. And so now, suddenly, due to the push to reform the judiciary by this right-wing, religious government, a great fear has arisen that Israel's democratic essence is in great danger!
And so women began to see their future through the eyes of this new government, and they held up signs that asked other women: "Have you woken up yet?" And other signs followed saying "I'm awake!" (Similar to the term 'woke' in America, but focusing here on women's issues).
Women are lacking in the government here – there are now only 9 female members out of 64, or 14%. In the 70s we were forerunners when Golda Meir was our Prime Minister but since then, our numbers in government have dwindled. Obviously, if this generation of women isn't seen in positions of power, the next generation will surely not be able to follow.
In a recent parliamentary session, not one item dealt with women. Women are not getting the representation they require and deserve. A law that proposed requiring that violent men wear electronic bracelets was simply dropped!
It is of grave importance to prevent discrimination and violence against women. Historically, suppression of women has been very strong in the home, the streets and in the corridors of power. And who among us has never had fears of men in a deserted or dark place, has never been touched inappropriately or put down in other ways, big and small? The women's demonstration now brings together all these matters at once.
Suddenly many women's daily routines have changed and grass-roots leaders have arisen. There is now a platform for women's empowerment and activist, apolitical pressure groups that are talking about essential issues when they meet, and also online. They include: Sharsheret Nashim lema'an hademocratia (A chain of women for democracy); Bonot Alternativa (Building an Alternative); Thank God for making me a woman (which is a direct retort to the religious peoples’ prayer saying ‘Thank God for making me a man’) – Women standing up for women. All of this effort and these groups, led by women, stand out clearly now in the protests that are taking place across Israel.
Near Israeli embassies around the world, demonstrations by Israelis are also taking place, some including women in handmaiden costumes. Atwood herself has been very supportive of these demonstrations.
The leaders of the demonstrations have recently decided that there will no longer be handmaidens in our protests. Yes, there will continue to be women wearing red shirts and Superwoman capes, but we refuse to be passive servants any longer. In short: we are strong women who are fighting for our rights and our place in society, for the good of us all.
Demonstrations continue here on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis, as the new government is trying to quickly push through changes to the currently independent judiciary which, due to our lack of a Constitution, is our lone balance against negative political influence.
******* It is very challenging to both take part in these protests and document them, as I'm holding a flag in one hand and a camera in the other. But here I am, having awoken also to this new frightening reality. I'm a photographer but also an Israeli woman who is secular and liberal and feminist, and each of these identities has meaning in the current struggle.
I took still photos at street level, so I could never see the whole picture, such as the huge stream of people who were out demonstrating, as one could with a video or a drone. I was just one of thousands of people on the street, and I felt like a child, seeing only up to the height that I am. I usually see just the backs of people in front of me or their sides. I don't feel that I'm in any danger here; these are not violent protests, but rather protests in favour of the country most citizens have known and love. These are people trying to protect this country and the democratic nature of its judiciary. I've been taking pictures of this protest for three months, trying to document the demonstrations from a historical perspective but I feel like I can only take partial pictures of the moment I am in.
Atwood noted, in an interview with a local paper, that when people threaten to do something against women, this generally does happen. Women in Israel have now understood that we cannot assume that the way our society has been operating until now is a given and that it will continue in the same manner.
******* Supreme court judges who have been chosen by other judges on the basis of their records are presumed to be independent. If politicians appoint the judges, and the government is able to overturn the judiciary's decisions with a slim majority, the judiciary would no longer be independent. For the past 75 years, this independent judiciary is our only source of protection for minority rights and those of other weaker sectors of society –including women.
There is also a Rabbinical court here that deals primarily with marriage and divorce of Jewish citizens, and sometimes with matters of division of property, child custody and support, and visitation rights. This court is made up of male rabbis, among whom there has never been a woman. Since this is a religious court, and they believe women's status is unequal to men's, this is problematic.
Recently, however, the government in the Knesset has passed the first reading of a law for the expansion of the rabbinical courts. The result would be an expansion of its responsibilities over civil legal matters. It's feared that many of these judgments would be opposed to the universal human rights found in much of the modern world such as: respect for women's and minority rights and freedoms, as well as democracy and equality of all Israel's citizens.
Women's fear is that 'the clock will be turned back' for women here, as religious law tends to favour men in cases between the genders. Anything that affects women negatively will affect every part of people's lives. Those in favour of this law seek citizens who will accept their authority in a submissive manner.
Religious women (particularly the Ultra-Orthodox) have made a bargain between themselves and their husbands, as well as with their community. Their desires are: to raise their children, to be responsible for their households and to support their husbands –sometimes also financially, via community-approved jobs-- while the men study religious Torah texts, and do not serve in the army. The men contribute little to the national economy, supported by taxpayers and donations. They hope their sons won't serve in the army, but will also study Torah.
This bargain is not the same one that secular women in Israel have accepted. These modern women may choose to work outside the home, and they generally seek partners in raising their children and in keeping house. Both their sons and daughters will serve in the army to protect this country. Thus this is a big sticking point between secular and religious, and has been since the inception of this nation, while the numbers of the Ultra-Orthodox have grown greater with time.
A democracy cannot support the suppression of women, nor of its other weaker elements. Judicial reform is not the sole issue, but rather that deep societal changes are needed here, urgently. I am a mother to three daughters and I've always taught them that they can do anything they choose. I hope to leave them a society that is healthy and thriving, rather than one that is limiting and hurting.
by Martin Ingber
Yesterday your wish came true- the disgraced ex-U.S. president Donald Trump was in court here in NYC to be arrested & arraigned for illegally paying off a porn star, Stormy Daniels, for sex, so that voters in the then upcoming 2016 election wouldn't learn about it. Many New Yorkers turned out to express support for this unprecedented indictment, believing that, in America, "No one is above the law", and even the rich and powerful should be held accountable for their crimes.
There were also some die-hard Trump supporters present, and plenty of police to keep the two groups separated. And unlike some previous, ugly Trump-inspired demonstrations, there was no violence.
Legal consequences can take time, but in addition to the current indictment, trump is now facing a rape trial; as well as the likelihood of upcoming indictments for various crimes including election interference in Georgia; and Trump's role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol and attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election -all in the coming weeks and months.
by Martin Agius
When the Arab Uprising began in 2010, I was still at the beginning of my journey as a photojournalist with Media.Link Communications Ltd., and I was only working on a part-time basis.
At first, not much happened in Malta, but in early 2011, things started to happen in Malta too, with Libyan Protestors, protesting in front of the Libyan Embassy in Balzan. I remember exactly the first day that I was called to cover these protests. It was the 22nd of February 2011, which happens to be my birthday, so I will never forget this date.
I was astounded by these protestors, many of whom were waving banners with writing on them, some of whom were holding printed photos of the Muammar Gaddafi regime's massacre in Libya, some of whom were crying, and even children were brought to these protests.
What amazed me most was that when it was time to pray at noon, they stopped the protest, faced Mecca, and started their ritual praying. Muslims first pray standing up, then kneeling or sitting. They recite from the Quran and glorify and praise Allah.
People residing in Libya started fleeing the country, especially Europeans, Americans, and Asians. They started arriving in Malta since it is the first land in Europe, around 355 km.
The Maltese government at the time really had a big headache trying to keep up with all that was happening, helping people get over to Malta from Libya and then arranging for them to fly to their respective countries.
One fine day, two Libyan Air Force Mirage Jet fighters arrived in Malta. At first, there was a bit of panic as it was thought that they were attacking Malta. But after negotiations and confirming they were not attacking Malta, they were allowed to land in Malta. The pilots informed Maltese authorities that they fled Libya after being ordered to attack civilian protestors who had taken over Benghazi.
We had to work very long days as many things were happening, and sometimes we couldn’t keep up with everything that was happening. We also had to keep up with other work like sports, Government events etc.
This historical event influenced me greatly. It made me a better photographer first of all; I learned to see things faster and even anticipate them; it made me learn journalism better; and it also taught me that when people have enough, they will rise to the occasion, and no matter what the circumstances, be it life or death, they will get to their goal, which most of the time is freedom.
Some of the images that I took during these events won me many awards, from Gold to Silver Awards to the prestigious "Press and News Photographer of the Year" award in 2011” with the Societies UK.
Giurnalist InglizÌ Guy Martin
by Cameron Scott
On 26th November 2022 the Scottish Trades Union Congress held a protest march through Glasgow city centre to raise awareness of refugee welfare and the work of Scotland's Black and multi-ethnic communities and allies against racism and the far right. Over one thousand marchers from various community action groups, trade unions and the Sheku Bayou Family Justice Campaign marched from Glasgow Green through the city centre to end with a rally in Bath Street. In the images shown here I’ve tried to capture the peaceful nature of the event, although there was a potential flashpoint when a taxi driver deliberately tried to drive through the procession, thankfully nothing came of it.
by Cameron Scott
On the 19th November 2022 the Iranian Scottish Association held a protest march through the streets of Glasgow to voice their support for the struggle for liberty in Iran and to protest against the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22 year old Iranian girl who died in police custody in Iran after being detained for wearing her hijab too loosely. Over one thousand protestors took part in the procession, many carrying banners proclaiming Zan, Zendegi, Azadin which means Women, Life, Freedom.
by John Gill
by Bruce Saille
People protesting candidate Donald Trump's visit to Milwaukee, WI in March of 2016
Men wearing gas masks at the protest of Donald Trump's visit to Milwaukee in March of 2016
Protesting the KKK's visit to the Capitol in St. Paul, MN in March of 2016
Trump supporters were on one side of the street and protesters were on the other side of the street. Sometimes the two sides would intermingle and then there would be confrontations.
The picture of the boy holding the sign is a reference to that the protesters were being paid. The picture of the girl, I like because of the concern she seems to be showing when chaos erupted around her.
Almost 3yrs. before the Dobbs decision, protesters gathered on the steps of the Capitol in Madison, WI in May of 2019 as part of the Stop The Bans movement, which advocates for safe, legal, and affordable abortion options.
Images by Martin Ingber that can be used as examples to understand the spirit of American protests
by Martin Ingber
This photo should be called 'March For Our Lives'. It's from June of 2022 in Great Neck, New York, & shows one of many local March For Our Lives events that are held throughout the US to protest the ongoing American epidemic of senseless gun violence. These were originally organized by survivors of a horrific High School shooting in Florida that resulted in mass deaths of young people. This image shows a local activist, Nina Gordon (who is also a friend of mine), accompanying a student organizer who was leading the crowd in song.
(May 2019) A demonstrator covered in fake blood, facing Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in NYC, when climate-change denier (& evil idiot) Donald Trump was the US President.
Women's March (Jan. 2017) in NYC, one of many enormous demonstrations held across the US (& around the world) in response to Trump becoming president. I thought it was one of the most artistic signs.
Women's March (Jan. 2017) in NYC, shows part of the huge crowd that completely filled the streets; this view is of 5th Avenue in the heart of Manhattan.
by Antonio Trincone
Peace demonstration, October 28thv2022 in Naples.
They are all with the stylistic features of the street, juxtapositions, light and colours, humorous writings, particular costumes, etc.
by Patty DeJuneas
I am a Boston-based street photographer with an emphasis on shooting protests, rallies and demonstrations in an effort to spread awareness of various social and justice-related issues. On March 26, 2023, Boston Common, I noticed a group with protest signs starting to gather on Boston Common. Hundreds of Israeli-Americans and others came out in force to support the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been protesting in the streets Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan to give elected government officials full authority to choose judges and curtail the Supreme Court’s ability to rule against the executive and legislative branches of the Israeli government as well as government-sanctioned racism.
