The Street

“The Street…the only valid field of experience.”

“Whoever can conquer the streets also conquers the state.” – Goebbels.

This striking centerfold image presents the street as a mechanism for popular power and political change. A base map of Paris from 1871 (the year of the Commune) is overlaid with ten different quotes from a variety of political views (including Fascist Joseph Goebbels and Marxist Guy Debord), all reinforcing the notion that visible mass public action is a vital catalyst for overthrowing governmental control.

The map blends in with an image of mass demonstrations held in Nelson’s Square in March 1990, protesting the British government’s imposed ‘Community Charge’ (popularly and appropriately cited as a poll tax). London’s police forces reacted with violence to the peaceful gathering, presented by much of the media as a ‘riot.’ However, the tax was repealed after Thatcher’s resignation later that year. The artwork is credited to Mark Neocleous and David Officer in the lower center. Issued as the centerfold image in No. 2 of Radical Chains, published in London in 1990