Section #2 Antiwar Survey

Andrew Boyd

1 Your name, names of collaborators or collective name (aliases are fine).
Andrew Boyd

2. Name of activity, campaign, project etc…
Leave My Child Alone was one effort I was part of in SF in 2005.

3: Is this activity affiliated with any other groups?
http://www.themmob.org/lmca/

8 Please describe the activity in a paragraph.
We created an image of a yellow ribbon emblazoned on a black peace sign and then used the USPS vanity stamp program to create a legal 39cent stamp:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24374217@N00/125291954/

The stamp was launched too much fanfare at a star-studded concert on the 3rd anniversary of the beginning of the war.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24374217@N00/125379524/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24374217@N00/125379526/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24374217@N00/125379521/

We encouraged people to send in their tax returns with this stamp as an act of creative resistance
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24374217@N00/124496360/

In the end we sold 40,000 of them (that’s including t-shirts, buttons and stickers sold through a cool progressive NGO called Goodstorm located in SF), and raised a chunk of change for the 4 veterans & peace groups we were supporting.

The real innovation was trying to come up with a universal symbol which the peace movement could make its own. A symbol that without any words would make the argument: if you (really) support the troops, you'd be against this war.

Even though the UPS refused to print any more stamps once it became controversial, the symbol got out there far and wide.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24374217@N00/125291950/

Several groups adopted it as their logo, including Military Families Speak Out, and Gold Star Families for Peace.
The website (http://bringthemhomenow.com/) is pretty moribund at this point, but I’d be happy to talk to you more about the project.