This is a non-exhaustive list of political symbols.
Even small modern political events can have dozens of symbols that invoke numerous histories, movements, and ideologies. It is nearly impossible to parse through the symbols without research and help, and many of them can be hard to describe in a search bar. This is a non-exhaustive list of symbols to hopefully alleviate some of that. Two items sharing this page, or being near or next to each other, is not intended to say they are similar.
This is a summary that will get you a general basis to work from as you learn more symbols, and it falls far short of complete. For a searchable, larger database of hate symbols specifically, consider the Anti-Defamation League’s Hate Symbol Database and tools like the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Map.
Black Lives Matter was coined in 2013 in a post by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, & Opal Tometi after Trayvon Martin’s killer was acquitted. When people seem to not care that Black lives are being taken, it is a reminder that they matter.
The Pan-African or Black Liberation flag is used worldwide for the defense and advancement of Black people everywhere. It was adopted by the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League in 1920.
The Juneteenth flag celebrates Juneteenth, the day Slavery ended in the U.S. Two years after the Emancipation Proclamation outlawed slavery, the last of the enslaved people were freed in Texas on June 19th, 1865. Juneteenth is a shortening of June and nineteenth.
The sabo-tabby (as in “sabotage”) is the mascot for labor power, anarcho-syndicalism, and the International Workers of the World. Syndicalists advocate direct action and class struggle, as opposed to indirect action such as electoral politics.
The rainbow flag was created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a symbol of Queer pride and power. In 2018, Daniel Quasar added the five-color chevron and named the new version the progress pride flag (pictured).
The Transgender pride flag, created in 1999 by Monica Helms, represents Trans folks: blue for masculinity, pink for femininity, and white for everything outside and in between.
The pink triangle, used in the holocaust to mark gay, bisexual, and effeminate men for imprisonment and execution, has long since been reclaimed as a radical symbol of queer resilience and power.
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The hammer and sickle represents communism and socialism, which focus on the rights of the laborer. The symbol is used to represent the struggle of a worker in capitalism, as well as class-consciousness and class war.
The most traditional symbol of anarchism is the black flag, followed by the perhaps better-known circle-A. Anarchism advocates for the abolition of hierarchy and the organization of society on a cooperative, voluntary basis.
Anarchists often add color to a diagonal half (see the red of the “sabo-tabby” entry above) to emphasize a specific cause. Red emphasizes syndicalism, communism, and libertarian socialism; green emphasizes fighting for (and living in cooperation with) nature and the earth; pink emphasizes Queer power and liberation; purple is for anarcha-feminism; orange is for mutualism.
“It was this circle with…”
A circle with an A in it is an Anarchy symbol, which advocates for the abolition of hierarchy and the organization of society on a cooperative, voluntary basis.
A circle with three arrows in it is an anti-fascist, anti-authority, and anti-totalitarian symbol originating with the iron front, a political organization in the Weimar Republic (Germany immediately before the Nazi regime) that fought against monarchy, fascism, and totalitarian state communism.
A circle with both the masculine and feminine gender symbols as well as the two combined is one of several Transgender pride symbols. It celebrates the masculine, the feminine, and everything that is both or neither. Nonbinary symbols include a circle with a line crossed through it and variations of gender symbols using an asterisk where an arrow or cross would be.
A circle with a plus sign coming off the bottom of it is a symbol of women and femininity. It is used to advocate for women and femmes, for feminism, and in fighting against patriarchy. The male symbol is a circle with an arrow coming off of the top right. Same-sex relationship advocacy often involves two of the same gender symbols overlapping.
A peace sign (third from the right in the above grouping) advocates against war and for peaceful and cooperative living. It does not necessarily advocate pacifism, though it sometimes does. Another peace symbol is a dove, an olive branch, or a dove with an olive branch.
A circle with an E in it advocates for egalitarianism, the idea that all people are equally deserving of rights, opportunities, and social participation.
A circle with a jagged arrow is the symbol of squatting, fighting against eviction and the destruction of homeless communities, typically in the context of libertarian ideologies like anarchism.
Anti-Racist Action (“ARA”) is a decentralized militant far-left antiracist and antifascist network and youth movement that began in the U.S. Midwest. It has a long history of success since the late ‘80s counter-organizing against fascists, an incredible history that cannot adequately be summarized. Today, the torch has largely been passed to more modern antifascist organizing. Consider reading “WE GO WHERE THEY GO: The Story of Anti-Racist Action” or listening to Margaret Killjoy’s Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff podcast which hosted a two-part special on the group on Nov. 14 & 16, 2022.
The Black Panther Party (founded as “the Black Panther Party for Self Defense”), founded in 1966 and dissolved in 1982, was a widespread and influential Marxist Black Power organization. It’s known for its free breakfast program, protecting Black people from police violence, and the U.S. government’s campaign of assassinations, infiltration, and disinformation that attacked it. Their actions, history, and time cannot possibly be summarized here.
A raised fist has been used in trade unionism and anarchism since the 1910s; a raised right fist was the salute for the anarchist side of the Spanish Civil War, and it has a long history as a symbol for Black power and advocacy. It is a very widely used symbol of solidarity, collective power, and resistance.
161 = AFA = Anti-Fascist Action.
1312 = ACAB = All Cops Are Bastards (sometimes cheekily coded “All Cats Are Beautiful”).
Queers Bash Back is a slogan that reminds anti-Queer and anti-Trans attackers that the Queer community has a long history of resilience and fighting back, despite often being seen as a “soft target”. Sometimes used as a call and response with “Queer Means Attack”.
A lot of graffiti, signs, pins, etc. use the names of people related to their cause. Heather Heyer was an antifascist who was murdered by a fascist car attack during the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017. John Brown (1800-1859) was a revolutionary abolitionist who saw decades of peaceful efforts fail to abolish the American enslavement of Black people, and decided to take violent action for freedom, raiding plantations and arming the newly freed. When it comes to names, search engines like Google are your friend. There are too many martyrs, advocates, historical figures, philosophers, and others to mention here. Some of the most common names to see are victims of bigoted violence, specifically that of police, and we believe that making a “quick highlights list” of those people is not a respectful thing to do.
Food Not Bombs is a loosely knit group of independent collectives who provide free food, usually vegan and vegetarian food, who organize to fight hunger with the belief that corporate and governmental interests allow hunger to exist despite modern abundance. Most cities have a Food Not Bombs, and if yours doesn’t, they encourage you to found one.
Sources for Page One
Loewen, James W. (2008). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
Romo, Vanessa (December 7, 2018). "Charlottesville Jury Convicts 'Unite The Right' Protester Who Killed Woman". NPR.
Korff, Gottfried (Fall 1992). "From Brotherly Handshake to Militant Clenched Fist: On Political Metaphors for the Worker's Hand". International Labor and Working-Class History.
Delli Carpini, Michael X. (2000). "Black Panther Party: 1966-1982"
"Roots of the ARA". Southern Poverty Law Center. September 10, 2013.
“WE GO WHERE THEY GO, THE STORY OF ANTI-RACIST ACTION” By Shannon Clay, Kristin Schwartz, and Michael Staudenmaier.
"What's this with a black cat & a wooden shoe? What do they have to do with anarchy?". Left Bank Books Collective. Seattle: Left Bank Books.
Abdul-Raheem, Tajudeen (ed.), Pan Africanism: Politics, Economy and Social Change in the Twenty-first Century, New York University Press, 1996.
Kaur, Harmeet; Mullery, Will (June 19, 2020). "The Juneteenth flag is full of symbols. Here's what they mean". CNN.
Squatting Symbol Example “Rome Barricades Itself!” Wikimedia Commons, 29 November 2016, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Squatting_Graffiti_in_Rome.jpg