Protest art is a broad term that refers to creative works that concern or are produced by activists and social movements. There are also contemporary and historical works and currents of thought that can be characterized in this way.

Social movements produce such works as the signs, banners, posters, and other printed materials used to convey a particular cause or message. Often, such art is used as part of demonstrations or acts of civil disobedience. These works tend to be ephemeral, characterized by their portability and disposability, and are frequently not authored or owned by any one person. The various peace symbols, and the raised fist are two examples that highlight the democratic ownership of these signs.

Protest art also includes (but is not limited to) performance, site-specific installations, graffiti and street art, and crosses the boundaries of art genres, media, and disciplines. While some protest art is associated with trained and professional artists, an extensive knowledge of art is not required to take part in protest art. Protest artists frequently bypass the art-world institutions and commercial gallery system in an attempt to reach a wider audience. Furthermore, protest art is not limited to one region or country, but is rather a method that is used around the world. For example, Publixtheatre Caravan is an international theatre troupe that creates critical performances in everyday spaces around the world.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo (May 15, 1967 – February 23, 2010) was a Cuban mason, plumber, and political activist and prisoner who died after fasting for more than 80 days. His death received international attention, and was viewed as a significant setback in Cuba's relationship with the U.S. and the EU.

Zapata was a member of Movimiento Alternativa Republicana (Republican Alternative Movement) and Consejo Nacional de Resistencia Civil (National Civic Resistance Committee).

Zapata was arrested on December 6, 2002 by agents of the Cuban police on charges of contempt, for which he was imprisoned for over three months. On March 20, 2003, 13 days after he was freed, he was arrested for a second time during a crackdown on dissidents and sent to the Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey. At the time of his arrest, he was participating in a hunger strike organized by the Assembly to Promote a Civil Society, taking place at the home of Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello. The hunger strike was meant as a petition for the release of several comrades.

An Arab American (Arabic: عرب أمريكا‎) is a United States citizen or resident of Arab ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage or identity, who identifies themselves as Arab. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World. Americans descended from immigrants of the Arab world via other countries are also included.

Countries of origin for Arab Americans include Lebanon, Syria, Palestine (mostly pre-1948 Palestine Christians as well as what since corresponds to the Gaza Strip and West Bank, plus Arab citizens of Israel), Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait in West Asia and Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Mauritania and Morocco (plus also Sahrawis from the disputed Western Sahara) in North Africa.

According to the 2008 ACS, there are 1,573,530 Arab Americans, accounting for 0.5% of the American population. The largest subgroup is by far the Lebanese Americans, with 501,907, nearly a third of the Arab American population. Over 1/4 of all Arab Americans claimed two ancestries, having not only Arab ancestry but also non-Arab. Some groups from the Arab World are non Arabs; Assyrians were listed in the US census under Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac. Arab Americans, and Arabs in general, comprise a highly diverse amalgam of groups with differing ancestral origins, religious backgrounds and historic identities. Instead, the ties that bind are a shared heritage by virtue of common linguistic, cultural, and political traditions.