The maps below visualize some of the impact of Israeli attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. About the designers:

“We are a group of Lebanese a group of Lebanese, Palestinian, and other activists who have worked together previously, mainly doing media and mapping work during the summer 2006 Israeli attack on Lebanon, and some of us later on advocacy and design for the reconstruction of Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. We have among us designers, architects, researchers, media people, and many other random activists. Although we are not an organised body or politically affiliated with a specific group, we are all pro-Palestinian.”

Gaza - Map of Bombing Intensity & Casualties, December 27, 2008—January 12, 2009

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Lebanon - transport & vital sites bombed, July 12—August 12, 2006

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Israeli Assault on Lebanon, July 12—August 12, 2006

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This YouTube video documents pedestrian advocates in Lisbon, Portugal replacing the white “zebra” stripes in a crosswalk with the stenciled names of 137 pedestrians killed by cars. On the curb, the tagline reads: “1/4 das vítimas de acidentes de automóvel são peões.” 1/4 of the victims of automoboile accidents are pedestrians.

The typographic crosswalks were installed in May 2007 at four locations by the ad agency DraftFCB Lisbon for the advocacy group Associação de Cidadãos Auto-Mobilizados with support from Liberty Insurance and JC Decaux. The action generated a bit of media attention to the issue during “Safe Street Week.” (via)

“But does it work?”

It’s one of those frequently asked questions one often hears at discussions of design and activism. That and the whole preaching to the converted thing. It refers to design specifically, but also protest generally.

It sometimes takes a long time to stop a war, but now and then the impact is immediate. Like the time in February 1998 when protestors disrupted an internationally broadcast “Town Meeting” on Iraq at Ohio State University. Students dropped a NO WAR banner in front of an CNN’s rolling cameras and made such a ruckus that the moderator had to allow them a turn at the mic. Their pointed questions about the war embarrassed the Clinton Administration, tipped public and international support, and prevented an invasion of Iraq. “Not even Ohio supports the bombing, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said a few days later. Why should Egypt?”

Of course, it wasn’t this one protest alone, nor solely the banner smuggled into the event. But the action, broadcast around the world via cable news, sealed the deal. Katha Pollit’s March 1998 article tells the story.

Update 3/16/2010: Here’s a transcript of the town hall meeting.

“This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”

• On January 29, 2009, sculptor Laith al-Amiri unveiled an outsized monument of a shoe in Tikrit to commemorate journalist Muntadhir al-Zaidi who hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush. The sculpture was unveiled on the grounds of an orphanage and constructed with the help of the kids. Officials removed it the following day. The local deputy governor told CNN: “We will not allow anyone to use the government facilities and buildings for political motives.”
  
  
• On February 3, 2009, a protester was arrested in the UK for throwing a shoe at the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, at a lecture at Cambridge University. As he threw the shoe, the man shouted, “How can you listen to this unchallenged?”
  
  
• For every pair purchased, TOMS Shoes donates a pair of shoes to a child in a developing country. From May 2006 through December 2008, TOMS distributed 115,000 pairs of shoes worldwide. Shoes prevent Podoconiosis, a disease caused by absorption of silica through the feet, particularly from volcanic soil. The symptoms are swelling, ulcers, and ultimately deformity in the feet and legs. The disease is 100% preventable by wearing shoes.
  
  
• The Shoe Bank collects used shoes at schools, gyms and stores around Texas and redistributes them at shelters in Texas and to natural disaster victims abroad. The organization provides shoes for twenty thousand people every year. In September 1991, The Shoe Bank was officially recognized by President George H. W. Bush.

People turned out by the hundreds of thousands to protest the US invasion of Iraq. Why aren’t they in the streets about the financial collapse? Perhaps it hasn’t quite sunk in for some?

A series of street posters in Berlin help envision the struggles to come.

Will Offer Web Design for Hot Meals

Left: “You took to the streets with a sign around your neck: hungry, looking for work, will do anything.”
Right: “Do you remember how on the next day I stood in front of the car in suit and tie and had to sell it?”