Flower Power

“Flower Power” was a slogan used in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a symbol of non-violent ideology. “Hippies” also known as flower children, dressed in flowery clothing, wore flower in their hair, and handed out flowers in an effort to promote peace through non-violent means. Their sense on independence and freedom flourished even though it was a turbulent period of history, not only for America, but for many part of the world. The cold war era was fast coming to a close. New conflicts were raging and dissatisfaction with political systems all over the world gave rise to young people flexing their right to protest. The Flower movement was originally based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in a club named Paradiso, chosen specifically because the name evoked the image of a peaceful place, paradise. Art, music and literature flourished in a European atmosphere of “Mini Renaissance” that soon spread to Great Britain, the USA and beyond. Mod art, pop music and a new fashion sense, awash in brilliant colors and new sound found its way into middle class family life. Carnaby Street, Mary Quant, Peter Max, the Brady Bunch, Woodstock, Haight-Ashbury are only a few of the iconic names that evoke that era. Even former US president Richard M. Nixon appeared on the quintessential Flower Power television show “Laugh-In” where he intoned, perhaps prophetically, the show’s most famous catch-phrase “Sock It To Me?”