Green ribbon

The green ribbon has been used as a symbol for many campaigns, including environmental justice, mental health awareness, cannabis-liberation, agriculture and to show support for legalized forms of pornography and sexual content.

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Levellers and early Whig radicals

The green ribbon and sprigs rosemary of were symbols of support for the Levellers during the English Civil War and English Interregnum. At the funeral of Thomas Rainsborough (a Member of Parliament and also a Leveller leader who had spoken at the Putney Debates) there were thousands of mourners wearing the Levellers' ribbons of sea-green and bunches of rosemary for remembrance in their hats, as there were the next year, 1649, at the funeral of Robert Lockyer a New Model Army Agitator hanged by Oliver Cromwell for mutiny.

The Green Ribbon Club was one of the earliest of the loosely combined associations which met from time to time in London taverns or coffee-houses for political purposes in the 17th century. It had its meeting place at the King's Head tavern at Chancery Lane End, so was known as the King's Head Club. It seems to have been founded about the year 1675 as a resort for members of the political party hostile to the court. As these associates were in the habit of wearing in their hats a bow, or bob, of green ribbon, as a distinguishing badge useful for the purpose of mutual recognition in street brawls, the name of the club was changed, about 1679, to the Green Ribbon Club. The 'Green Ribbon' was the badge of The Levellers in the English Civil Wars in which many of the members had fought and was an overt reminder of their radical origins.[1]

Support of farm families

In 1998, Margaret Bruce, a Pastoral Associate at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in North Dakota, sought a way to support farm families and came up with the idea of a green ribbon and a card that read "We care through prayer." Around the same time, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC) began receiving emergency calls from farm families in stress and saw that the situation was getting worse across the country. In November 1998, NCRLC launched the Green Ribbon Campaign at their 75th anniversary meeting. They developed and began to disseminate rural crisis packets to help parishes deal with the growing rural crisis.

Awareness of medical conditions

Green ribbons are used to create awareness for many medical conditions, including:

In the UK, in November 2008,[2] a Manchester-based support group for people living with or being affected by the HIV-virus; launched a campaign called Body Positive North West,[3] using a green ribbon as their symbol. The aim is to raise awareness of 60 second HIV testing and encourage more people to get themselves screened for HIV, as research suggests that over a third of all HIV-infected people in Britain, are themselves unaware of this.[4]

Green Ribbons are also used in the US to show support for medical marijuana, as well as many other medical drugs in the country.

Awareness of political and cultural issues

Other uses

See also

Notes

  1. ^ McNeill, "Green Ribbon Club", Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition. Volume 12.
  2. ^ Body Positive North West
  3. ^ Bpnw.org
  4. ^ Health Protection Agency - Testing Times - HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United Kingdom: 2007
  5. ^ Striveforlife.com
  6. ^ Quake Green Ribbon Campaign History
  7. ^ Fathi, Nazila (May 30, 2009). "Iranian Candidate Taps Student Woes". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/world/middleeast/31iran.html. Retrieved 2009-06-05. 
  8. ^ www.mibb.gl
  9. ^ Hispanic Wire - Press Release - Launch of Green Ribbon Campaign

References

Attribution

External links

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