TACTIC:

Banner hang
COMMON USES
To boldly articulate a demand;
to rebrand a target; to provide
a message frame or larger-
than-life caption for an action.

PRACTITIONERS
Ruckus Society
Greenpeace
Rainforest Action Network

FURTHER INSIGHT
The Ruckus Society, Balloon
Banner Manual
http://ruckus.org/article.php?id=364
Tree Climbing Astoria Bridge Nuclear Free Seas Banner Blockade. Greenpeace climbers hang from the Astoria-Megler Bridge over the
http://trb.la/xa9dGu Columbia River in Oregon to protest and block the arrival of the nuclear warship USS New Jersey. 1990. Photo by James Perez.

Destructables, Banner Drops

http://Destructables.org/node/56
Destructables, Banner Hoist
http://Destructables.org/node/57
Steal This Wiki, Banners
http://wiki.stealthiswiki.org/wiki/Banners
Freeway Blogger
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/
CONTRIBUTED BY
Nadine Bloch
What better way to air the dirty laundry of an irresponsible
institution than to hang a giant banner over its front door? A
banner drop can also be an effective way to frame or contextualize
an upcoming event or protest see TACTIC: Reframe. Banner hangs
can also function as public service announcements to alert the
public of an injustice or a dangerous situation.
Banner hangs can be as low-tech and low-risk as several
bedsheets tied to road overpasses decrying the Iraq War, but
the ones that really pack a punch involve large pieces of cloth or
netting deployed at great heights, often by experienced climbers.
Regardless of the level of risk or complexity, all effective ban-
ner hangs start with a clear goal (you have a goal, right?!), and fall
into two broad categories: communicative (concise protest state-
ments), and concrete (blockade elements that directly disrupt busi-
ness as usual) see PRINCIPLE: Make your actions both concrete and
communicative. In 1991, in a great example of a banner hang with
a concrete goal, small communities in the Pacific Northwest asked
for help to stop nuclear warships from entering Clatsop County,
Oregon, a designated nuclear-free zone on the Columbia River.
An enormous net banner was deployed from the Astoria Bridge,
affixed below the span where it would be difficult to remove,
and weighted by the climbers bodies themselves. The action

12 TACTIC: Banner Hang

succeeded in delaying the warships entrance while educating Related:
the area on the issue.
Most banner hangs, however, tend to be communicative. TACTICS
Guerrilla projections p. 52
Take, for instance, the banner hung from a crane in downtown
Giant props web
Seattle in November 1999 see CASE: Battle in Seattle just before the Media-jacking p. 72
opening of the World Trade Organization meeting. The ban- Dtournement/Culture jamming p. 28
ner messaging was as clear as day: an iconic visual of a street
sign with arrows pointing in opposite directions: democracy this THEORIES
Points of intervention p. 250
way, WTO that way. This was a classic framing action. Hung on Ethical spectacle p. 230
the eve of a big summit meeting and a huge protest, the banner Framing web
made it clear what all the fuss to come was really about: a
basic struggle of right and wrong; the People vs. WTO. CASE STUDIES
When there is no crane, bridge or building to hang your ban- Battle in Seattle p. 286

ner from, large helium-filled weather balloons have been used

to raise everything from CODEPINKs pink slip for President
George Bush in front of the White House to a banner deployed
from a houseboat on the East River in New York with a message for
the UN. Smaller balloons have been used to raise banners indoors
in the atriums of malls or corporate or government buildings.

POTENTIAL PITFALLS: If the banner hang requires specific climbing

skills or tools, do not skimp on training, scouting, or the quality
of gear. Cutting corners could result in the banner snagging, the
team being detained before the banner drops, or someone get-
ting seriously injured or killed. Pay attention to changing weather
conditions that could turn a proverbial walk in the park into a life-
threatening situation see PRINCIPLE: Take risks, but take care. Also,
make sure that lighting, lettering, height of building and other
factors are taken into account to ensure a readable banner.

SAY IT WITH PROPS: If its worth saying, its worth saying loudly! KEY PRINCIPLE
If its worth doing, its worth doing boldly! What better way to at work
put your message out there, than to spell it out in twelve-foot-
high letters? OTHER PRINCIPLES AT WORK:
Take risks, but take care p. 182
Reframe p. 168
Everyone has balls/ovaries of steel p. 136
Do the medias work for them p. 124
Show, dont tell p. 174
Make your actions both concrete
and communicative p. 154

TACTIC: Banner Hang 13