Freedom of Speech

After deciding my project is going to be based on freedom of speech, I looked into an event which was famously photographed and also related to the oppression of freedom of speech, which was Tiananmen square. I feel that if I'm going down this path, I need to know what the definition is and also look into more events that have been photographed which relate to it.

Freedom of speech taken from wikipedia:
Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent right to voice one's opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment. "Speech" is not limited to public speaking and is generally taken to include other forms of expression.

I'm now gonna look at iconic documentary photographs. All of these events happened the way they did for a group or individual to get their point across in a big way to hopefully create change for their cause:

Burning Monk- Malcolm Browne

This image was taken by Malcolm Browne on June 11, 1963. Buddhist leaders warned Browne that a major protest would take place in Saigon. The monks were protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government.
After so many protests nothing had been done to change this persecution by the government so the Monks decided to do something that would definitely get the worlds attention.
The self immolation that was photographed by Browne has such an impact on the world even Kennedy commented "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one". Browne also won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph. After the image got out and circulated around the world, harsh pressure was put on the Vietnamese government and it finally toppled. This image shows how famous documentary photographs can help change the world, because without the world seeing the footage of the event its unlikely they know whats going on there. Also a photograph has a much quicker impact than text, which is why photographs are so good at getting people attention.


The Black Power Salute- John Dominis

This image shows Gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos raise black gloved fists during the American national anthem at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, the image was captured by John Dominis. The two got their medals taken away from them and were also both suspended from the U.S team, as well as receiving death threats, but neither man ever apologised for what they did. The reason they did this was because they wanted to bring peoples attention to the inequality in the United States which was happening to black people at the time.  The silver medal runner Peter Norman, stood next to the two literally and figuratively, because he displayed his solidarity for their action by wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge during the ceremony. Many people thought very negatively about this event, but also a lot felt very strongly about the positivity it caused for the black people of America at the time. Because they felt that they weren't being given their right to 'freedom of speech' which was why the two took this stand as an action for it.
This image was very iconic at the time, but Dominis commented "its not much of a photograph". Because in his eyes all he did was stand 20 yeards away and line the three up and push a button, it was the two runners that created the iconic photograph not him.


Suffragette runs in front of King's horse- Arthur Barrett

Emily Davison ran in front of the King's horse during the race for the Derby on June 6 1913. Davison later died from her injuries that she sustained trying to get equal rights for women, and the vote. This image was later posted in the paper, which only increased the support for women to receive the vote. So like the Monk, she also died for the support of the cause she felt so strongly about, and it was the photograph that captured the moment which ended up providing even more support for the cause until it was later granted. Again, it was the act of running in front of the horse that made this an iconic photograph, not Barrett's skills as a photographer. But if he hadn't captured it, maybe women's rights would've taken longer to be granted.