Funny to see police and firefighters making their case with street posters (and with such an ‘oppositional’ style) — considering its the police who enforce the vandalism laws. I guess the streets are it when you feel the government has abandoned you.

A flyer I designed appears on the front page of today’s edition of the Ma’ariv, the second largest newspaper in Israel.

Here’s a close up:

The flyer is for a campaign by Alliance for Justice in the Middle East, a student group at Harvard University.

The text calls attention to the enrollment of former Israeli general Dan Halutz in the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. Halutz oversaw the bombing of Lebanon in the summer of 2006. See his dossier here.

And he’s not the first accused war criminal enrolled by Harvard. See a short list of bios on the AJME site. The AJME is campaigning to establish a set of practices to screen for war criminals and serious human rights abusers as part of its admissions and hiring policies.

The campaign was relatively modest to achieve such front page coverage. The group set up a free web site on blogspot. They printed up the flyer and handed it out on campus. They also sent out a press release about the campaign, which resulted in front page coverage.

Here’s the full article in Hebrew on the Ma’ariv web site and AJME’s English translation of it.

Click below for a larger version of the flyer:

For contrast, see another iteration below. I think it’s a little more evocative, but maybe less direct.

Update: The flyer is featured online at Time and Al Jazeera. See other coverage of the campaign.

Via email:

“What is the history of graphic communication in the social justice movement? What is our role now?

How can we effectively use graphic communication to get our messages out in a way that reaches the hearts and minds of our communities and society at large?

What choices do we make in representation in our designs? What images and language do we use? How do we help in creating a message of diversity and positivity?

Join Favianna Rodriguez of Tumis Design, and Nadia Khastagir and Sabiha Basrai of Design Action Collective in a colorful presentation and discussion of the pressing topics facing progressive visual communicators.

This workshop is for emerging and experienced graphic designers, communications specialists, students and artists who work with social justice organizing efforts.

Saturday, June 30, 2007 — please check schedule for exact time and place.”

The 2004 Designs for Democracy conference was fantastic. If you’re in Atlanta, don’t miss this workshop.