Banner, Anti-Vietnam War

This protest banner was made for the last nationwide mobilisation against the Vietnam War on 14 July 1972. Protesters called for the United States to leave Southeast Asia and for New Zealand to stop its support.

The Vietnam War (1959‒75) was the first war to bring a wide spectrum of New Zealanders together in public protest against foreign policy. New Zealand sent only a very small deployment to Vietnam (our first military deployment was in 1965), but as elsewhere in the world it aroused bitter opposition and forced the government to justify its actions in a way not experienced in previous wars.

Activists recognised early on that it was essential for protesters to carry messages in street demonstrations in order to attract public and media attention. Banners were the largest and most effective message carriers, and they were often used to provide leadership and a point of focus at the head of demonstrations and marches.

From May 1970 to July 1972, thousands of people marched in city streets in nationwide mobilisations against the Vietnam War. New Zealand’s mobilisations were inspired by the Australian and American Moratorium movements, and they were sometimes timed or coincided with anti-war events in the United States or Australia. Protests in Christchurch were particularly well attended, partly due to its history as an important centre of the peace movement.

The mobilisations were advertised and supported by huge amounts of protest collateral: newsletters, posters, badges, stickers and leaflets, some of which were printed in runs reaching the tens of thousands. The diversity of design increased with each mobilisation. These large public displays of protest coincided with the advent of television and greater media interest, leaving behind a vivid record of protest.

The 14 July 1972 mobilisation was the last large-scale protest in New Zealand against the war. Thousands of people protested including specific groups which indicated how the politics of identity became enmeshed with the politics of anti-war protest: Gay Liberation Movement, Asians Against the War, Teachers and Lecturers Against the War, Student Anti-War Movement, Women Against the War, Polynesians Against the War, and trade unions (Rabel 2005, 323).

Extensive materials were produced for the event. The Auckland Mobilisation Committee produced 10,000 posters, 7000 badges, 2000 sheets of stickers, and 250,000 leaflets for nationwide distribution (Locke 1992, 244). In contrast, banners were handmade.

This unique banner was designed and painted by Stefan MacGill, and he dated it '14/7/72'. Stefan, and his wife at the time Irene, both carried it in the Christchurch march. The banner was attached to lightweight poles so it could be held high above the crowd.

The banner is an excellent record of its time, ironically combining a familiar 1966 soap advertisement with the horrors of war visited upon civilians. Donor Irene Absalom recalls, ‘There are elements of the Mai Lai massacre there [1968] but it was also drawing attention to the cruel effects of war and napalm on innocent people and on the terror and destruction of war. Stefan came up with the message, which was based on a television advertisement for Knight’s Castile soap’ (Absalom 2022). In the advert, a young girl asks her mother if she will have soft skin like a baby’s when she’s older, and her mother replies ‘if you keep using Knight’s Castile’ (Ngā Taonga).

References:
Absalom, I. (19 November 2022). Personal communication with curator Stephanie Gibson, Te Papa.
Gibson, S., Williams. M., & Cairns, P. (2019). Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance. Wellington: Te Papa Press.
Locke, E. (1992). Peace people: A history of peace activities in New Zealand. Hazard Press: Christchurch and Melbourne.
Rabel, R. (2005). New Zealand and the Vietnam War: Politics and diplomacy. Auckland University Press, Auckland.