Flower power

Flower power was a slogan used by hippies (aka Flower Children) during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a symbol of non-violence ideology. It is rooted in opposition to the Vietnam War. They burned their draft cards and created a hippy culture. They dressed in flowery clothing and wore flowers in their hair. The expression is said to have been coined by the US poet Allen Ginsberg in 1965. It has since been used in many places when referring to the sixties, including countless films, TV programs and documentaries.

The "meeting place" for the Flower Power movement was based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in a club called Paradiso. The hippies chose this club because of the name paradiso, which reminded them of a peaceful place, paradise. Artists such as Yoko Ono have since been performing there on occasional visits. Nowadays it is found next to a Hard Rock Cafe and is a centre of music for all groups of people, including followers of movements such as the Rastafari movement.

Flower Power also celebrated symbolic action such as giving flowers to policemen and putting flowers into the barrels of ROTC rifles. A Pulitzer-nominated photograph (with the same title) by Washington Star photographer Bernie Boston has been a classic image of the Vietnam War era protests. The photo, taken at the October 21, 1967, "March on the Pentagon", showed a young, long-haired man in a turtleneck sweater, placing carnations into the rifle barrels of military policemen. The young man turned out to be George Edgerly Harris III, an 18 year old actor from New York. Harris later took on the stage name of "Hibiscus". [ "Our Defining Moments: Flower Power" www.rezoom.com/people/read/5056, retrieved August 12, 2007 ]

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