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“Dogs of Wall Street, Let Us Alone”: Graffiti in Cold War Baghdad, 1953

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The Arab Spring, Civil Society, and Innovative Activism

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Abstract

This chapter considers the contested politics of public space Baghdad during the Cold War. In Iraq, King Faisal II’s 1953 coronation marked the longevity of a state his grandfather founded. The author argues that leftist political activists used graffiti, writing, and street art to “tag” public space. In Baghdad, graffiti appeared at the same time as the nation’s leaders were entering into new forms of political affiliation, the forms that citizens—rich and poor, men and women, laborers and their employers—resisted.

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Acknowledgment

I acknowledge the support of the Swinney Writing Group: Nancy Berlage, José Carlos De la Puente, Shannon Duffy, Jeff Helgeson, John Mckiernan-Gonzales, Angela Murphy, Jessica Pliley, Joaquin Rivaya-Martinez, Ana Romo, Peter Siegenthaler, and Ellen Tillman. Any remaining errors are, of course, my own.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA

    Elizabeth Bishop

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  1. Elizabeth Bishop
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Relations, Eskisehir Osmangazi University Department of International Relations, Eskisehir, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Cenap Çakmak

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Bishop, E. (2017). “Dogs of Wall Street, Let Us Alone”: Graffiti in Cold War Baghdad, 1953. In: Çakmak, C. (eds) The Arab Spring, Civil Society, and Innovative Activism. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57177-9_2

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