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  1. Culture
11 March 2010

What’s the greatest political photograph?

Help us choose the 50 best political photographs over the past century.

By Charlotte Middlehurst

“A picture is worth a thousand words”, so goes the saying. To mark the outstanding contribution of photojournalism over the last century, The New Statesman is publishing a special collector’s edition of the 50 best political photographs.

The final images will be chosen by a panel of expert judges and announced in our Easter bumper issue, out on 30 March.

We would like to invite you to participate by submitting your favourite political photos. Nominations should capture a political moment in time. We’re looking for iconic and historically important photographs of either a major political event, such as Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech or iconic portraits of a politician such as the Alberto Korda portrait of Che Guevara. Those selected will be published in the magazine.

Submissions don’t have to come from party politics — it could be an event of social significance, or of a speech, assassination, inauguration or rally — any date, any country. Or something more imaginative, such as a great political fake or doctored image that caused a storm, from Stalinist propaganda to the spoof image of Sarah Palin sporting an American flag bikini.

Please take a look at a flavour of our favourites below. Now tell us what yours are? Which ones might we miss?

Just email us back with the details of your suggestion to picturedesk@newstatesman.co.uk with a few words on why you are nominating it — and attach a jpeg if you can — by Tuesday 16 March. Alternatively, leave a comment below.

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The Red Flag over the Reichstag (Ukrainian photographer Yevgeny Khaldei)

 

 

Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, burns himself to death on a Saigon street on 11 June 1963 to protest alleged persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. (Associated Press/Malcolm Browne)

 

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington DC, on 28 August 1963. (Associated Press)

 

1960 portrait of Che Guevara by Alberto Korda

 

 

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