The Hippie Movement and the Power of Flower
‘Flower power’, ‘make art, not war’ and ‘don’t worry, be happy’ are a few slogans most of us have come across, at some point in our lives. Personally, flower power was etched onto everything I owned at the start of my teens. I had to give off a girl-crush, power-puff girl vibe after all. And the girl upstairs was obsessed with the famous peace symbol back then- she made it her entire personality.
Well, let me break it to you- these aesthetic slogans and symbols have a long history to them, which can be traced back to the U.S in the 1960s.
Hippie, Yippie!
If you've ever been into accessories made of colourful beads, room decor that screams bohemian and flashy posters, then you've definitely been called a hippie before. Now that you think about it, you can probably draw the correlation between the slogans and symbols I’d mentioned above, and the word hippie.
Let's just say that this description of hippie aesthetic is pretty accurate. But, limiting their identity to an aesthetic would undermine the enormous impact they had on the American society and in turn, the world as a whole.
The Vietnam War and the Beginning of a Movement
The south-east Asian country of Vietnam was a French colony for almost 87 years, till it attained freedom in 1954. However, the long struggle created differences in political opinions and in the socio-political ideologies that would govern the newly free country. The country was split into a North and a South Vietnam, with the North being under communists and the South, under capitalists. This led to what would be called the Vietnam war, or the second Indochina war.
The North was supported by the communist countries of China and the Soviet Union. The South, on the other hand, was backed by the U.S and its allies.
Speaking from the point of view of the U.S, the war required young men of eligible ages to enlist in the military. A shortage of the same became the reason for the introduction of the Draft, the Selective Service System. This made it mandatory for the men to participate and leave for the war.
As expected from any war, there were thousands of casualties. As media coverage on the war increased, its true nature came into light. The cold rivalry between the U.S and the Soviet Union had led to the involvement of the former in the war, as it was against communism and wanted to prevent its spread. This was an agenda that was unknown to the common man in the U.S . War crimes like the My Lai Massacre had been committed by the U.S forces in Vietnam, and people became aware of the grave nature of the war and the motives of the different participating countries.
Thus began an era of non-violent resistance to the war in the 1960s. Having begun in colleges in the U.S, it comprised of youth who stood for free love and communal living. They marked the beginning of the anti-consumer culture, sustainable living and the philosophy of global citizenship. This was how hippies came into being.
A Formal Introduction
The hippies were activists, who questioned traditional societal expectations. Freedom of self-expression was one of their distinguishing ideologies. They were, undoubtedly, some of the key participants in the Civil Rights Movement, advocating for gender and racial equality and freedom of expression of sexuality, apart from their anti-war activism.
They formed communities which practiced sustainable and humane living. Being fed up with the western way of life, they incorporated aspects of eastern spirituality and religion into their lives. Thus, it goes without saying that yoga, Buddhism and Taoism found their way into Hippie culture. They made use of multiple drugs and psychedelics as well, as they help one attain a heightened sense of consciousness and spirituality, when taken in the right doses.
Art and Expression, ft. Concerts
Art played a tremendous role in the propagation of the hippie movement. Inspired by art nouveau, hippie musicians used famous paintings and artwork of the former to create a new style of art- the 1960s psychedelic art. They toned up the colours used in the French style of art to oranges, yellows, reds and other blingy ones, to create a look that would mimic the visual experience of an LSD tripper. Flowey, trippy fonts were used to make posters attractive. And the style is still loved by many, to this day!
It became a hallmark of most hippie musicians and artists- The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Timothy Larry, to name some of them. We do know The Beatles and Pink Floyd, don't we? Oh, and I almost forgot to mention! Check out the Woodstock Festival, you'll be in for a surprise.
The Downfall of the Movement
You must have, by now, understood what lead to the downfall of the hippie community. Addiction to drugs like LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, also known as ‘acid’), Cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms and sexual abuse intensified as a domino effect in many parts of the community and increased alarmingly. This made the government of the country implement stronger drug use laws. The hippie way of life soon became cult-like and began to be viewed as a utopian vision that was not practically implementable. These factors led to frequent clashes between law enforcing bodies and the hippies and led to bloodshed and further polarization of the society.
Well, there are very few remaining hippie communities today, but their spirit lives on, through their slogans, symbols and ideologies. In a way, they never really became irrelevant, as they were the steppingstones to modern day activism and social liberation. The hippie movement and other similar movements led to the U.S army ultimately withdrawing troops from Vietnam. It can also be associated with the success of the Civil Rights Movement, and to the change in Foreign Policies of the United States. The hippies, rightfully so, deserve our respect.
Never underestimate the importance of a hippie!
