Vietnam Moratorium

Accession Number ARTV03024
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 50.4 x 41 cm
Object type Poster
Physical description screenprint on paper
Maker Unknown
Place made Australia: New South Wales, Sydney
Date made 1970-1
Conflict Period 1970-1979
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright unknown

Description

This stylised text poster was produced in 1970 or 1971 to advertise a ball at Paddington town hall in Sydney, promoting the larger Vietnam Moratorium movement. This ball was part of the events that were held alongside the larger protests between 8 May 1970 and 30 June 1971.

The ball was held on 4 July - American Independence Day. The creator of the poster had put a play on the phrasing of Independence Day, saying "make the fourth of July Independence From America Day", with emphasis on bring independent from American influence and hence involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam Moratorium Campaigns were a result of a conference held in Canberra in November 1969 to plan a series of protests based on the American Moratorium model. There were three Moratorium campaigns in Australia in 1970 and 1971. The Moratorium was the first truly mass movement of the protest against the Vietnam War. Until 1969 the protest had been uncoordinated in a national sense and rallies had been reasonably small in size, whereas the Moratorium mobilised the support of hundreds of thousands. It also succeeded in gaining more publicity in its first six months than had been achieved by the protest movement between 1965 and 1969. The aims of the first campaign were the immediate withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam and repeal of the National Service Act. The Moratorium stated that all actions taken by its members and supporters should be of a non-violent nature and this philosophy was extended throughout Australia through various state committees and others.

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