Posters as political tools are nothing new. In the Middle East, two revolutionary movements led to some of the most potent and vibrant posters in design history. The Iranian Revolution and the expulsion of Palestinians due to civil war and the continued fight to reclaim Palestinian homelands from Israel. These posters effectively gave voice to the struggles of ordinary people resisting the influence and meddling of various Western powers. For Iran, that meant keeping the dream of an Islamic state free and independent from Western countries that had been trying for decades to install a democratic government. And once so much of Palestine had been taken over by Israel, the Palestinian resistance fought back with ideas as well as guns. Using powerful graphic imagery common to each of their respective cultures, like calligraphy, Islamic iconography, and the colors red, black, white, and green, resistance posters of both movements kept the fire of resistance burning brightly. The Iranian Revolution effectively concluded once the Shah of Iran was overthrown and power consolidated under the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Palestine wasn’t so lucky. While their resistance began much earlier than Iran’s, their fight still isn’t over and their resistance posters have continued, spilling over into the digital domain in a continued effort to reclaim their native homeland.

TIMELINE

1908 – Prince Yusuf Kamal founded the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, Egypt
1917 – Britain made Balfour Declaration to establish Palestine as a place for Jewish people
1921 – Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq declared independence from Britain
1922 – Egypt declared independence from Britain
1934 – University of Tehran Founded in Iran
1941 – Syria declared independence from France
1943 – Lebanon declared independence from France
1945 – End of WW II; Britain hands matter of Palestine to the USA
1948 – 750,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes due to Israeli takeover
1947 – United Nations Partition of Palestine, followed by Civil War in Palestine (Arab-Israeli War)
1948 – British completely withdrew from Palestine, and Israeli statehood declared
1949 – Syria's president Husni al-Za’im overthrown by a military coup
 1950-54 – Designer & Artist Ismail Shammout attends the University of Cairo 
1950s – Saqqakhana Group formed 
1951 – Libya declared independence from France
1952 – Egyptian Monarchy overthrown by Free Officers Coup
1953 – USA and UK leaders helped to install Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (overthrew Democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh) 
1956 – Sudan declares independence from France, Israel attacked Egypt (Six Days War) 
1958 – Iraq Monarchy overthrown, Shammout studies in a private graphic design workshop in Berlin, Egypt and Syria form the United Arab Republic
1959 – Yasser Arafat founded The Palestinian National Liberation Movement
1963 – Algeria declares independence from France
1965 – The Peoples Mojahedin Iranian organization was founded at the University of Tehran
1967 – Palestine National Liberation Movement joins the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) 
1977- Iranian Revolution begins; Mostafa Khomeini, eldest son of Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, dies of an unknown cause at age 47; Protest & violent, repressive response cycles begin in dozens of Iranian cities. 
1978 – Cinema Rex Fire in Tehran; 477 Iranians killed in fire. 
1978 – Black Friday, where government tanks and helicopters opened fire on 1,000+ protestos in Tehran
1979 –  On Jan. 16, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi fled Iran ; On Feb. 1st,  Ayatollah Khomeini started The Islamic Republic of Iran as its leader. 
1982 –  PLO expelled from Lebanon, Israeli invasion of Lebanon
1988 –  Palestinian Declaration of Independence

REFERENCES

Abedini, R., & Wolbers, H. (2006). New Visual Culture Of Modern Iran. BIS Publishers. 

Adamova, A. T., & Bayani, M. (2015). Persian Painting: The Arts Of The Book And Portraiture . Thames & Hudson. 

Bloom, J. M., & Blair, S. S. (2019). Islamic art: Past, present, future. Yale University Press. 

Charles River Editors. (2014). The Iranian Revolution: The islamic revolution that reshaped the Middle East. CreateSpace. 

Chelkowski, P. (2002, December 15). GRAPHIC ARTS. Encyclopedia Iranica . Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://iranicaonline.org/articles/graphic-arts

Eigner, S. (2015). Art of the Middle East: Modern and contemporary art of the Arab world and Iran. Merrell. 

Fotouhi, S. (2015). The literature of the Iranian diaspora: Meaning and identity since the Islamic Revolution. I.B. Tauris. 

The genius of Iranian graphic design. Graphéine - Agence de communication Paris Lyon. (2022, February 1). Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://www.grapheine.com/en/graphic-design-en/graphic-design-in-iran-persian-heritage-and-modernity

Guity, N. (2012, January 7). Modern Communication Design in Iran. The History of Graphic Design in Iran. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from http://gdiran.blogspot.com/2012/01/this-being-human-is-guest-house.html?view=snapshot

Gumpert, L., & Balaghi, S. (2003). Picturing Iran: Art, society and revolution. I.B. Tauris. 

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center. (n.d.). Guide to the Middle Eastern Posters Collection 1970s-1990s. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.MEPOSTERS&q=iranian+posters

Louis, W. R. (2012). The 1967 arab-israeli war: Origins and consequences. Cambridge University Press. 

Nazar Research and Cultural Institute. (2007). Iranian typography: 50 years of calligraphy and typography in iranian graphic design. 

Osborn, J. R. (2017). Letters of light: Arabic script in calligraphy, print, and Digital Design. Harvard University Press. 

Pappe, I. L. A. N. (2022). History of modern palestine. Cambridge University Press.

Parsons, A. (1984). The pride and the fall: Iran, 1974-1979. J. Cape. 

Pearlman, W. (2014). Violence, nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement. Cambridge University Press. 

Qumsiyeh, M. B. (2011). Popular resistance in Palestine a history of hope and empowerment. Pluto Press. 

Rauh, E. (2013, November 26). “Posters and history of the Iranian Revolution”. Graphic Art News. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://www.graphicart-news.com/posters-and-history-of-the-iranian-revolution-in-history/

ROUTLEDGE. (2019). Rethinking place in South Asian and Islamic art, 1500-present. 

Saikal, A. (2021). Rise and fall of the shah. Princeton University Press. 

Shehab, B., & Nawar, H. (2020). A history of Arab graphic design. The American University in Cairo Press. 

Sheikh Zadegan, A., & Meier, A. (2017). Beyond the islamic revolution perceptions of modernity and tradition in Iran before and after 1979. De Gruyter. 

The University of Chicago Library: The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center. (2011, October 15). The Graphics of Revolution and War: Iranian Poster Arts . The Graphics of Revolution and War - The University of Chicago Library. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/graphics-revolution-and-war-iranian-poster-arts/