Fight the Power

by Sean Michael Wilson, Polyp, Benjamin Dickson

In his famous history series A History of the English Speaking Peoples Winston Churchill seemed to think that history was about wars and made by great leaders.

Fight the Power! begs to differ and instead presents A Visual History of Protest Amongst the English Speaking Peoples.

Today’s occupy movements are part of a long history of struggle. This book visualises key moments in history where ordinary people have risen up and fought governments, corporations, even empires. When the 99% have stood up to combat, exploitation and abuse or in pursuit of freedom of action and a better life. In other words, to show times in history, just like today, when people have struggled forward to FIGHT THE POWER!

This comic book covers 14 cases of such struggle over the last 200 years and in several English speaking countries including not just the US and UK but Australia, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, India and Jamaica.

The Luddites and Swing Riots (1811-1832)
The Battle of Peterloo (1819)
Colonial Rebellions (1837-1865)
Irish Rebellions (1791-1922)
The Suffragettes (1903-1918)
The Australian General Strike (1917)
The Boston Police Strike (1919)
The UK General Strike and the Battle of George Square (1918 & 1926)
The Battle of Toledo (1934)
Rosa Parks and the Bus Boycott (1955-1956)
The Trial of Nelson Mandela (1964)
Fragging (1969-1971)
The Poll Tax Riots (1989-1991)
Occupy (2011-)

Genres: Graphic Novels, History, Comics, Nonfiction, Politics

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2013

About the author

Sean Michael Wilson is a comic book writer from Scotland. He has had around 30 books published with a variety of US, UK and Japanese publishers, including: a comic book version of A Christmas Carol ('Best of 2008’, Sunday Times), AX:alternative manga ( 'Best ten books of 2010’, Publishers Weekly), Parecomic (with an introduction by Noam Chomsky, his first contribution to a book in graphic form). He is currently writing books for big Japanese publisher Kodansha, being the only British writer to do so. In fact, he is the only pro manga writer from Britain who lives in Japan. He is also the editor of the critically acclaimed collection 'AX:alternative manga' (Publishers Weekly's 'Best ten books of 2010' and nominated for a Harvey award).

Working with various Japanese artists he has written a unique line of Japanese history/martial arts/Samurai books, including The Book of Five Rings, Secrets of the Ninja, The 47 Ronin, and Cold Mountain (winner of China Comic and Animation Competition 2015 ‘Best Overseas Comic’ award). In 2016 his book 'The Faceless Ghost' was nominated for an Eisner Award. In 2017 he became the first British person to receive an International Manga Award from the Japanese Government. In 2019 his book 'The Many Not the Few' was launched by the Labour Party leader in an event in the Houses of Parliament. In 2020 he received the Scottish Samurai Award from an association promoting connections between Japan and Scotland.

He does comic books outside the normal superhero/fantasy brands, going into areas such as history, biography, drama, and social issues, often in collaboration with universities, charities and book publishers. He often gives lectures and talks about comics in schools and colleges, and writes articles for such places as The Japan Times, The London Economic and The Herald Scotland.

Reviews

[Sean Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi , I am the co-writer of this visual version (along with Ben), thanks for your nice reviews.

Will soon be 5 years since this book was published and we are still proud of it. It helps remind us of how various folk in the past have stood up to abusive power...and so can we!

"An accessible and engaging introduction to protestors in history. If you care about social change, read it!"
—Mary Talbot, author of Dotter of Her Father's Eyes (Costa Biography Award winner)

"The compelling power of graphic narrative to efficiently, potently and evocatively disseminate vast amounts of information and seductively advocate complex issues with great conviction through layered levels has always been most effectively used in works with a political or social component. That’s never been more evident than in this stunning and scholarly new graphic anthology detailing some of the most infamous and effective instances of popular protest."
- Win Wiacek, Comics review.co.uk

"An entertaining and informative read for anyone interested in social activism and its history. Writers Sean Michael Wilson and Benjamin Dickson join forces to tell us some of the key struggles for social change in our history, from the early 1800s to the present day, in a graphic narrative brilliantly complemented with art by Adam Pasion, John Spelling and underground comics icon Hunt Emerson... So order your copy of Fight the Power and find out what it really means to be one of the 99% -- you won't be disappointed! "
- Nicholas Heartland.

Please check out some of our other history/sociology/politics type graphic novels - we have done several and more coming. Such as our best selling book of this type so far ‘Portraits of Violence’ or the book about to come out in March 2018, ’The Satsuma Rebellion’

You can see more pages from the book on my web site:
https://seanmichaelwilson.weebly.com/...

Thanks, Sean

[Zanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was actually a bit disappointed with this, though it improved towards the end. Earlier chapters had loads of dull text I won’t remember, but the chapter ‘Fragging’ successfully gets its point across almost entirely in pictures, and the writers clearly hit their stride with the later sections on the Occupy movement and the Poll Tax protests. The frame story is super cheesy, but I like that the Statue of Liberty looks like a black woman.

Rounding up to 4 stars because Tariq Ali's slightly oblique intro is so great. This is the texture of real life.

[Joseph Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great visual novel detailing the many protests against power that have worked to enact change. Admittedly, I had only heard of a few of these, (Rosa Parks + MLK and the fight for African American rights, and Mandela against apartheid in South Africa). It was interesting to see how these other events in history had been lost or trivialized in history class. The comic nature of this book makes it much more accessible to the average reader. I would gladly welcome another few books like this on this topic talking about events they didn't include in this volume.

[Owen Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This grand anthology telling the history of several notable protest movements in comics form feels fresh as a daisy, even if the nature of when it was published means it only runs up to the Occupy protests and its immediate fallout in the early 2010's. Starting with the Swing Riots & the Luddite movement in the early 1800s it provides a solid foundation for the nature and achievements of different forms of mass protest and civil disobedience - which, because of their nature, get conflicting or biased coverage. In fact, reading certainly about the post WW1 general strikes, you get the feeling that we're in the exact moment for this all to spark again. Thought provoking and succinctly presented.

In terms of art - the real draw here has to be the third of it illustrated by veteran underground cartoonist Hunt Emerson, his Peterloo is extraordinary and the standout story of the whole book has to be his (and Wilson's) largely captionless "Fragging" depicting the act of killing superior officers in Vietnam. It's shocking, it's brilliant. Coming closely behind is John Spelling - whose sturdy design work and excellent framing bring to life even the more talking headey of stories. He excels himself most on the "Poll Tax Riots" story with layers of shade that bring to mind the late great Carlos Ezquerra (as is fitting for the era). Trailing a bit far last is Adam Pasion whose work bookends the anthology a bit - compared to the other two it's a bit more amateurish and lacking in definition. A shame - but the value in any anthology is variety.

A good graphic novel and a nice alternative bit of historical storytelling which will likely continue to be relevant given the challenges we currently face and the dark days that are yet to come.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly wide ranging history of resistance with a diversity of goals and tactics. Very accessible. Perfect for a social studies jigsaw activity.

[John Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

An illustrated history of protest movements, both successful and unsuccessful, in the US and UK. I found this really interesting, and also got angry because of how little of this was taught in schools. Of course we learned the basics of the civil rights movement (Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, brief mention of Malcolm X), but most of the details were glossed over. The women's suffrage movement got even less detailed coverage. And the rest of this? Except for the stuff I lived through, I never heard of it at all before reading this book.

I did at times find this difficult to pick up and start reading, but whenever I did get to it I found it interesting and engaging. This is stuff people should know, and I give a ton of credit to the authors for getting the stories out there.

[M.J. Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book, on a variety of topics - Ireland, colonialism, the luddites, even that sometimes the Police go on strike! And great art too. The mix of text and visuals of graphic novels is a very appealing one. Recommended for people who like history or sociology.

[Kitap Yakıcı · Rating 3 out of 5]

While its heart is definitely in the right place, the inconsistent quality of the writing and artwork, along with the absence of any sources or recommended further reading brought my rating down a star. Still, this is a solid introduction to many important protest movements from the last two centuries: Luddites, suffragettes, colonial resistance, labor movements (including a police strike!), the Montgomery bus boycott, the saboteurs of the African National Congress, the British poll tax riots, and Occupy Wall Street. In an era when power and wealth are increasingly consolidated in fewer hands while hard-won freedoms are being rolled back, books like this are essential to the project of raising consciousness and of reminding ourselves that freedom is never given freely by those in power.

Times may change, but the song remains the same. And it's one we've been singing for a long time.... The people in all these times and places often met with similar problems and challenges, such as the intransigence of the powers that be, the violent suppression of their efforts by the police or army, and deliberate campaigns to discredit them. Problems also come from within protest movements themselves—such as organizational weakness, muddied vision, misguided ideas, or a lack of staying power....And protestors normally don't get a fair account from mainstream media. They're often reported as either an annoyance, a threat, or just not living in the real world.... There are also a lot of people who think protesting simply doesn't achieve anything. Or if issues don't directly affect them, they don't see, or choose not to see, what the problem is.... But marching is just part of an inventory of tools for popular action, along with strikes, alternative media, sit-ins, civil disobedience, mass emailing, etc. All of which allow the disenfranchised to join together, and make a public display of opposition. (183–4)

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat disjointed catalog of English-speaking protest history, fairly graphic violence and often bland presentation of the history and statements, but mostly fails to give a compelling account.