Anarchists have employed certain symbols for their cause, including most prominently the circle-A and the black flag. Anarchist cultural symbols have been prevalent in popular culture since around the turn of the 21st century, concurrent with the anti-globalization movement. The punk subculture has also had a close association with anarchist symbolism.
Red-and-black bisected flags at an anti-austerity march in London, 2011
Graffiti with the slogan "NO GODS, NO MASTERS" and the anarchist "A" symbol on a concrete wall in the central bus station of Munich, Germany, in 2022
An IWW stickerette or silent agitator
Louise Michel was a teacher and important figure in the Paris Commune. Following her penal transportation to New Caledonia she embraced anarchism. When returning to France she emerged as an important French anarchist and went on speaking tours across Europe. The journalist Brian Doherty has called her the "French grande dame of anarchy." Her use of a black flag at a demonstration in Paris in March 1883 was also the earliest known of what would become known as the anarchy black flag.
Louise Michel (c. 1880)
Michel in uniform
The arrest of Louise Michel in May 1871
"A new feature, in umbrellas", satirizing Michel's political views
