From the Streets

Item set

Title: From the Streets
Description: Activism is about action, not just about ideas. These materials were designed as calls to protest, symbolic acts of resistance and powerful expressions of solidarity.

Documents from the May 68 Paris uprisings highlight the role of print in radical movements. 'The Paper' responds to urban unrest, demonstrating how print remains a powerful tool for activism. Similarly, a 1984 flyer for Stop ‘The City’ calls for mass demonstrations against financial power, using print to mobilise public protest.

'Feminist History in the East End' turns a walking tour into both education and fundraising for Rights of Women. Meanwhile, an invitation to a gathering of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) reminds us of the importance of community in activism. The elegant silk Suffragette buttonhole became a wearable statement of defiance.

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2 Flyers about the events of May 1968 in Paris (Autour De Gaulle and Les Jeunes Assument..)
Printed amid the Paris student and worker uprisings of May 1968, these ephemeral flyers carry urgent calls for protest. Their rough printing captures the spontaneity and immediacy of revolutionary street literature.
Feminist History in the East End: A Walk
Published in 1979 by the feminist collective Rights of Women, 'Feminist History in the East End: A Walk' by Clare Manifold is both guidebook and manifesto. It maps a walking route through London’s East End, highlighting sites connected to women’s activism, labour struggles, and political organising. Blending history with lived geography, the booklet invited readers to encounter the city as a landscape of resistance and memory. Illustrated with photographs and portraits, it situates feminism within local histories of poverty, migration, and solidarity. More than a guide, it reflects late twentieth-century feminist efforts to reclaim women’s voices in public space.
Invitation to a Social Gathering of the WSPU
This flyer, issued by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), advertises the Women’s Suffrage Pilgrimage of July 26th, 1913. Organised by constitutional suffragists under the leadership of Mrs. Henry Fawcett, the march brought women from across England and Wales to London, converging in Hyde Park for a mass demonstration. Unlike the militant tactics of the suffragettes, the NUWSS emphasised law-abiding, peaceful protest to prove widespread public support for women’s enfranchisement. The flyer calls for participation, hospitality, and crucially funds, embodying the collective effort and determination behind the campaign for political equality.
Silk Suffragette Buttonhole
This silk Suffragette buttonhole, made around 1914, was designed to be worn in public as a sign of support for women’s voting rights. Small but striking, it turned clothing into a political statement. Like many suffrage objects, it combined elegance with activism, making protest visible in everyday life.
Stop the City
This flyer publicised the Stop the City protest in March 1984, a grassroots demonstration against capitalism and financial institutions in London. Featuring illustrations and a map, it symbolises direct action challenging the economic and political power of the City.
The Paper, November 2011. Edition 3: Riot Again, Riot Better
Produced in response to the 2011 London riots, this folded pamphlet adopts the raw aesthetics of zine culture. Mixing radical commentary with striking design, it was made to be circulated, handled, and debated, embodying grassroots political communication.