"Demokratia Motek – Maspik Lishon" [Democracy, Sweetie – You've Slept Long Enough!], illustrated protest poster, printed on behalf of Dan Ben-Amotz and Amos Kenan. [1970?]. Hebrew.
Poster published in protest against administrative detentions: "Democracy, Sweetheart – You've Slept Long Enough! / 37 Israeli citizens are being incarcerated without trial. / 700 are under house arrest without trial. / No indictments have been issued in their cases. / We all love to sleep – but lately / it's getting harder and harder to fall asleep. / [Put] the guilty ones – on trial. [And send] the innocent – home. / And now go back to sleep, Sweetie. / Yours with Love, / Dan Ben Amotz / Amos Kenan."
Under this message there is an illustration (most probably by Kenan) of a sleeping woman, lying on her side on the ground.
Dan Ben Amotz and Amos Kenan, authors and counterculture figures, among the most prominent personalities in the field of culture and literature in the early decades of the State of Israel. Renowned for their opinionated, radically left-leaning, anti-establishment views.

Approx. 49.5X35 cm. Good condition. Stains, including dampstains. Minor creases. Few blemishes and minor tears to edges of poster.

Dan Ben Amotz (born Moshe [Mussia] Tehilimzeigger, 1924-1989), native of Poland, one of the quintessential Renaissance men of Israeli culture, active, among other things, as an author, journalist, translator, screenwriter, satirist, radio personality, and actor. In his younger days, he had served as a member of the Palmach underground and as an agent working on behalf of illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine in the final years of the British Mandate. Ben-Amotz was responsible for some of the most popular literary works of the early decades of the State of Israel, including "Yalkut HaKzavim" (in collaboration with Haim Hefer; 1951), "Lizkor VeLishko'ah" ("To Remember and Forget, " 1968), "Milon Olami LeIvrit Meduberet" ("World-class Dictionary of Spoken Hebrew, " in collaboration with Netiva Ben-Yehuda, 1972), and many other pieces of literature; alongside Haim Hefer, he produced and took part in the acclaimed show "Tel-Aviv HaKtanah" ("Little Tel Aviv"); on radio, he was one of the principal participants in the popular program "Sheloshah BeSirah Ahat" ("Three in One Boat"; 1955-59); he was a widely read columnist, writing for the daily newspaper "Hadashot, " and, in general, was one of the more prominent figures in Tel Aviv's bohemian circles.
Dan Ben-Amotz's reputation and legacy were severely tarnished after his death, following the posthumous publication by his friend, Amnon Dankner, of a controversial biography that raised allegations of a history of sexual misbehavior and exploitation of women.