Protest!
Alice & Emily Haworth-Booth
Pavilion Books

Did you know that people have been protesting since the time of Pharaoh Ramses 111, ruler of Egypt when the first workers’ strike took place in 1170 BCE? That’s something I learned from the first section of this book by sisters Alice and Emily that looks at the global history of protest from then (the hard-working pyramid workers were demanding more food) until now with Greta Thunberg and school children’s strikes for the climate.

It’s good to know that from early on (195 BCE) women were protesters. The women of Rome marched for the right to dress the way they wanted – and they won!

Thereafter come the peasants’ revolt, and in the 1640s the Levellers and the Diggers about whom I knew nothing before reading about them herein. Included too are the Native American Ghost Dance (1890s); the Protest Ploughs of the Maoris towards the end of the 19th century, the Salt March and of course, the Abolitionist movement, the Suffragettes (UK) and many other women’s movements in various parts of the world.

Two movements I was personally interested in and strongly supported, the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the anti-nuclear movement are covered,

as are the Stonewall Riots, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Arab Spring and bang up to date, Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion.

The authors also talk about some of the creative means of protesting: singing, tree-hugging, theatre and other performing art and even using toys as protesters.

An uplifting, inspiring and timely look at how protesting has changed our society and the world we share. Emily provides the illustrations, and she and Alice co-authored the text. It’s a call to action for sure.