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It's a collective endeavour, it's collective accountability and it may not be too late.
Christine Lagarde on Climate Change
Managing Director, IMF
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️
"The glory of life surmounts the fear of death. Good Christian's fear Hellfire, so to avoid it they are kind to their fellow man. Good pagans do not have this fear, so they can be who they are. Good or ill, as their nature dictates. We have no fear of God, so we are accountable to no one but each other."
― John Clare, by Penny Dreadful.
“How can I live without thee, how forego
Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,
To live again in these wild woods forlorn?
Should God create another Eve, and I
Another rib afford, yet loss of thee
Would never from my heart; no, no, I feel
The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh,
Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state
Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.
However, I with thee have fixed my lot,
Certain to undergo like doom; if death
Consort with thee, death is to me as life;
So forcible within my heart I feel
The bond of nature draw me to my own,
My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;
Our state cannot be severed, we are one,
One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.”
― Paradise Lost, by John Milton.
DETAILS:
Check my new blog where you can find everything, with picture, information, etc (blogspot).
And check my picture information here too. In my tumblr blog.
Florida Right to Clean Water
This is a #WatershedMoment. We can make this happen.
With your help, we can bring this initiative to amend Florida's Constitution to the voters in November 2024, so the PEOPLE can decide whether we should hold our State agencies accountable for harm to Florida's waters.
www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/?fbclid=IwAR1X_66bcAGf-z...
With heartfelt and genuine thanks for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day, be well, keep your eyes open, appreciate the beauty surrounding you, enjoy creating, stay safe and laugh often! ❤️❤️❤️
In the name of accountability, I feel I ought to reveal what I ate yesterday. Ready?
2 slices of cold pizza (chicken, mushrooms, olives and garlic butter) at the top of Tom Heights (recce)
Part of a Gregg's Cheese and Onion Bake (binned, vile)
1 packet of Doritos Cool Original
1 Peanut Chunky Kitkat
That saw me through to about 12 when I'd finished photographing Mary's Shell. Hmm, I can't really turn up to my sister's hungry...
1 quarterpounder with cheese
3 mozzarella bites
Sister's house:
Toffee Crisp
Then managed to make it all the way through to 5pm:
3 slices of garlic bread (goats cheese and caramelised onion 😍)
Chicken with a Diane sauce (the 80s called and want their sauce back)
Chocolate icecream rolled in meringue and hazelnuts.
-- The end --
This is what eating carbs does to me, I turn into a voracious bottomless pit 😂
I blame the Met Office.
Frostwick and Ill Bell from a bloody lovely Kentmere Round on Saturday!
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland, captured in March 2025.
I just loved that the taxi was sat there in almost perfect symmetry with the brutalist architecture of the former Royal Bank of Scotland cash reserve on West George Street, a veritable fortress that is now disused.
On the subject of money and transport - we are on the verge of an oil and energy crisis not seen since the 1970s. Let's be clear about it, if our lives start to fall apart from cost of living rises, energy shortages, water shortages (in the Middle East) and global supply chain issues, that this crisis was caused by just two old men hell bent on war and destruction. Make them accountable.
Take care in this insane world my Flickr friends.
I've never been this accountable-less and within
I've never known focuslessness on any form
I've never had this lack of ache for dalliance
To let go ....
Ah to breathe
Stop looking outside
stop searching in corners of rooms
Not my business or timing
I declare a moratorium on things relationship
I declare a respite from the toils of liaison
I do need a breather from the flavors of entanglement
I declare a full time out from all things commitment .
Enjoy the photo and the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARBLIT95Im4&feature=related
The song is new & mind-blowing .. enjoy it's dark vibe.
This is gona be dedicated to the 1st commentor
and it goes to No.signal :)
EXPLORE
Excerpt from agb.life/visit/exhibitions/community-generator-series-2-e...:
THE APOCALYPSE TAPESTRIES: Polycrisis in the Anthropocene by Nikola Wojewoda
November 15, 2025 – February 2, 2026
Community Gallery – Hallways
Emerging from a time of global instability and shared anxiety, The Apocalypse Tapestries reflects on humanity’s closeness to moral and ecological collapse amid intensifying political tensions, climate crisis, and accelerating technological change.
Each work portrays a “primal beast,” imagined as a solitary creature wandering through a post-human wilderness. These beings inhabit a distant future, long after the disappearance of humankind. Through them, the artist considers the lasting consequences of human actions, exploring themes of accountability, isolation, and survival.
Functioning as lament, warning, and requiem, the series stands as an elegy for a civilization confronting the outcomes of its own choices.
Nikola Wojewoda is a Canadian artist of second-generation Polish and Russian descent. A graduate of OCADU, her multi-dimensional practice encompasses collage, painting, drawing, illustrated ceramics, film, and clay sculptures incorporating found objects.
Wojewoda has received multiple Ontario Arts Council grants and awards recognizing excellence in sculpture, ceramics, and fine art. Her work is represented in private and corporate collections, including the Canada Council Art Bank, and has been reviewed in publications such as C Magazine, The Globe and Mail, exhibition catalogues, and academic research projects.
In addition to her studio practice, Wojewoda has taught painting, sculpture, and ceramics. Her detailed, process-driven work explores the intersections of icon and symbol, pattern and ornament, and the bridge between craft and fine art. She is an active member of several Arts Burlington Guilds and the FUSION Clay and Glass Association.
Wojewoda currently serves as Mentor for the Hamilton and Region Potters Guild Artistic Development Program (2025), guiding eight artists in a project that will culminate in an exhibition at the Carnegie Gallery in 2026.
The egregious, obscene -- and all too commonplace -- death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in the United States was recorded by a woman's cellphone in Minneapolis and viewed by millions.
As a result, the heinous death of George Floyd has struck a collective nerve in America and around the world so severely, not even a pandemic without a vaccine has deterred people from publicly expressing their demand for accountability against police brutality and institutional racism. At the time of this posting, protests in America have continued for 12 consecutive days since the lynching.
This image shows the confrontation between protesters and the police in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
If interested, you can view my latest photo essay featuring images of the protests in Seattle against police brutality and institutional racism this week in my blog article: "The Pandemic, The Pandemonium & The Protests."
Please be well, be safe, and be mindful.
The last nearly four years have seemed like eons for me. Every day that I can bear to pay attention, I am horrified by what atrocities Trump is responsible for. I have gone to so many protests in so many places for so many causes/reasons, both well attended and scarcely attended in good weather and in the middle of a freezing cold winter. There are times I have really questioned what good it even does but a little voice in my head has still told me it was the right thing to do.
But, then the Coronavirus hit and I wondered seriously if protesting was the right thing to do…after reading the statistics in my own city about people of color being killed by the Coronavirus at a much higher rate than white people, I had to ask myself, is it actually a case of white privilege if I protest? This seems like such a strange thing to ask when you are protesting your outrage about a man being killed only because he happened to be Black and existing in America but still I had to ask. Because, if I am part of the problem of spreading this virus and my presence results in more deaths of more people of color, isn’t that defeating the purpose? In addition, how about all of the healthcare workers who have been burdened for so long? Why should I make a choice for them that could affect the survival and treatment of myself and others? It just seemed too risky for this die hard protestor.
I have never dealt with this kind of moral dilemma before. My sense of right and wrong is usually pretty strong and doesn’t leave room for tons of contemplation and deliberation. I can’t really remember the last time I had to seriously ponder “What is the right thing to do in this situation?” asking myself again and again. I usually just know these things intuitively and then try to make my best ethical choice. I’m not saying that I don’t see layers of grey between black and white so much as just I have an idea of how to act in terms of what is right with my soul. I’m also not saying that I don’t learn new things and from the perspective of others and change based on being open to learning. But, the idea of what is fundamentally the ethical choice to make about whether or not to attend a protest for a cause I believe in has never been this difficult before.
And, there is the other side of things that I don’t really like to talk about-the more human side of things. I am unfortunately all too human in my fears about contacting Coronavirus/Covid19. To be honest, I’m the type of person that gets nervous taking a walk in my own neighborhood and gets frustrated when I see the joggers and dog walkers on my street roaming without a mask or groups of a few friends partying on a rooftop in close proximity. It seems pretty hypocritical to me that I’d also be finding myself amidst thousands of people in super close proximity sometimes under overpasses neck to neck, masks or no.
So, what I am saying is that I am actually probably a little paranoid. For a large part of my life, I didn’t realize I was any different from others in my fears until I went to college and learned about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and realized that my irrational fear of death that took hold of me if I didn’t do certain things when I was little-tap my fingers every time I saw a green car, squeeze my toes every time I passed a squirrel-that sort of thing-wasn’t what most kids go through. And, it was crippling. Most of the time, I would cry hysterically thinking I was going to die and great harm would really come to my family and I if I told anyone and voiced these fears out loud. I know, I know…it sounds crazy and doesn’t make tons of sense. And, even though I know that and have gotten better dealing with this side of my self as an adult, it still hasn’t gone away completely. There’s a real instinctual fear that makes me think the worst will happen to me.
The news, of course, doesn’t help…and consider that non essential businesses were shuttered and school was cancelled for the rest of the year, I am even more terrified about the damage this virus can do. Then, there’s also the choir study…where they found that one man in close proximity singing with a choir infected pretty much the whole choir and killed a few too. Of course, this is outdoors, but I still can’t help thinking about all of the times I opened my mouth to chant pro Black Life Matters sentiments even if I was wearing a mask.
And, in many ways, I feel like I am not even worthy enough to say the name of George Floyd or Breonna Taylor who should have turned 27 on Friday, the day that I joined these protests. Because, as someone who is white, I could never know the true horror of this. She was a hero, an EMT worker, and it wasn’t just her own life and her family that was robbed but all of our lives and the sadness is overpowering. So, I ended up saying her name a few thousand times and feeling like I was losing my mind because I couldn’t rewind time and change reality.
I don’t know the answer to all of this and I still don’t know if I contracted the virus or not. But, in any case, I hope that these protests meant something and continue to mean something. Maybe it actually means more to those in power that people would risk their lives to fight for Black Lives and, if those mayors and governors really care about the citizens of their city, they have to act on these social justice issues-hold police accountable, take police out of schools and bring in social workers, counselors, librarians, art and music creative outlets instead. Let’s have a dance class or a drama class instead of kids being subjected to cruel excessive force and mock prison cells from early ages. Surely anything that helps kids is better than something doing active harm. Let’s put more money into mental health facilities instead of incarcerations. Let’s make sure when someone is released from prison that they have a job to go to. Let’s make sure our citizens have healthcare and that there are valid low income housing measures. All of these things will reduce crime and improve the quality of life. That is the direction we need to think in instead of increasing a police force. We need to think about the disparities between communities and races and ensure these people are protected and treated with respect-the same respect and treatment white people have been taking for granted in my country for centuries.
Above: a new mural for George Floyd, murdered by a group of police officers in a complicit system where the police are protected from their evil racist acts.
This mural was recently completed in the past couple of days and is found in Humboldt Park, Chicago on Division Avenue just east of California Ave. Cristian J. Roldán and Esther Kovacs
***All photos are copyrighted***
Strobist: AB800 with gridded HOBD-W overhead. AB1600 with gridded 60X30 softbox camera left. Triggered by Cybersync.
September 23, 2022: The Special Master met with DOJ and Trump attornies at Federal Court in Brooklyn. Rise and Resist was outside.
The accountability of fallen leaves
The accountability of fallen leaves.
Vagrant clouds across the night sky.
Accountability.
The insinuated and sorrowful.
And the corruption from within.
Submitting to be changed.
By a systemic imperative.
Endowed through pressure and lip service.
Read more: www.jjfbbennett.com/2021/08/systemic-delusion-modellhut.html
Governor Hogan Signs an Executive Order Regarding School Accountability Initiatives. by Joe Andrucyk at Governors Reception Room, 100 State Circle, Annapolis MD 21401
"High-Speed Traders in Britain Subject to New Accountability Rules" by CHAD BRAY via NYT t.co/BinJwFqWbj (via Twitter twitter.com/felipemassone/status/695242037315112961)
"Hummingbird and not downy woodpecker feeder you said...."
Don't know what I did with the shots actually showing downy woodpeckers seemingly able to get at the sugar water. When this one got to the sweet water, I heard another drumming away on the porch roof....waiting his turn....little rascal! (Comment one)
Enjoy the weekend flickr friends, thanks for stopping by....Pat xo
********
Found a new neighborhood coffee shop this a.m. tucked away.....took a personal trainer from my health club there for coffee....she's nearing the end of chemo treatment, this being after surgery and radiation.
What an amazing person!....positive attitude plus!....we've already set up a session for me, to help my knee in its recovery....and she talked me into accepting her as myfitnesspal friend. (We both have the app). Now she can check to see how well I'm doing with my eating and exercise, oh the accountability of all this may be the end of me......^^ 0...
Take Action Against War and Hunger! Together, we can Make War & Hunger History!!
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"At a time when $700 billion can be found overnight to bail out the richest bankers in the world and $1000 billion can be spent on one single “war,” when sovereign wealth funds in a few rich countries alone are at $2500 billion and growing, it stretches credulity when we are told that the world can’t find an extra $18 billion a year to save the lives of millions of children and women and meet the basic needs of the majority of the world’s population."
---- Global Director, U.N. Millennium Campaign, Salil Shetty www.hindu.com/2008/10/08/stories/2008100855121100.htm
Another 40 million people have been pushed into hunger in 2008 primarily due to higher food prices, according to preliminary estimates published by FAO. This brings the overall number of undernourished people in the world to 963 million, compared to 923 million in 2007 and the ongoing financial and economic crisis could tip even more people into hunger and poverty, FAO warned.
Nearly one billion people go hungry each day, 65 percent of them in just seven countries: India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Congo, reported the UN food agency ( www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/8836/ ). “For millions of people in developing countries, eating the minimum amount of food every day to live an active and healthy life is a distant dream”, said FAO’ Assistant Director-General Hafez Ghanem.
The globalisation had to ensure the maximum good for the maximum numbers around the world and not just the privileged few who got richer under the corrupt political regime. It is true that every successful economy is a market economy, the problem lay in the way it evolved in the corrupt regime which privatised profits and socialised losses. That is not capitalism. The current crisis showed that system was inadequate to cope with the changing situation. The societies needed to practise social responsibility throughout their business, ensuring that they did not make profits by harming lives, livelihoods and the environment.
Eight years ago, in 2000, leaders of 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration agreeing to do everything in their power to end poverty. They pledged to do this by achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a roadmap to end extreme poverty by 2015. Are we even half way to meeting the eight Millennium Development Goals?
Still, every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor people is increasing. Nearly half the world’s population live in poverty, 70% are women.
In war and conflicts, every year thousands of people killed, wounded or displaced includes infants, toddlers, boys, girls, house wives, grandmothers, mothers, fathers, grandfathers, sisters, schoolteachers, factory workers, healthcare workers, agriculture workers, sales girls, graphic designers, software writers, call centre employees, dancers, day care providers, construction workers, babysitters, musicians, singers, bakers, restaurant workers, cab drivers, maidservants and many more. Thousands of soldiers have been killed and hundreds of thousands more have suffered severe physical and psychological wounds. And God Left Third World A Long Time Ago.
We have the power to change this. Push your governments for peace, more and better aid, debt cancellation, education for all boys and girls, healthcare, trade justice, gender equality and public accountability.
Let us tell the political gamblers
that we hate their ways of war and destruction!
Arise and tell the war mongers
what we need are tools to work and freedom from hunger!!
Say No To Unfair Social System!
Say No To Corrupt Political Regime!!
Say No To Unfair World Order!!!
Say No To Unfair Trade!!!!
Fight for peace!
Fight against hunger!!
We can make 'War, Terrorism and Hunger History' in our lifetime!!!
www.flickr.com/people/standagainstpoverty/
foto: firoz ahmad firoz
Take Action Against War and Hunger! Together, we can Make War & Hunger History!!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Nearly one billion people go hungry each day, 65 percent of them in just seven countries: India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Congo, reported the UN food agency ( www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/8836/ ).
Still, every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor people is increasing. Nearly half the world’s population live in poverty, 70% are women.
In war and conflicts, every year thousands of people killed, wounded or displaced. Thousands of soldiers have been killed and hundreds of thousands more have suffered severe physical and psychological wounds.
Several Heads of States, Ministers, politicians, high-ranking government bureaucrats, unscrupulous businesses, criminals and other unscrupulous people are depositing large sums of illegal money in not just the Swiss banks, there are around 70 tax havens worldwide which are used to stash slush monies. Estimates suggest more than $11 trillion black money may be stored in tax havens.(www.oecd.org/dataoecd/39/19/40556222.pdf )
If the governments are serious about stopping black money and raising resources to meet the growing economic crisis, they must take steps to bring back the unaccounted or, ill-gotten wealth. Most adversely affected are the developing nations including those from Africa and Asia, where disappearance of large amounts of money badly needed for development.
Two-thirds of the world’s populations don’t have access to the financial system. Poor are not considered credit worthy. The idea of the business is only maximisation of profit. That is too narrow an interpretation of a human being. The societies needed to practise social responsibility throughout their business, ensuring that they did not make profits by harming lives, livelihoods and the environment. Every human being should have the “right to credit” because if people have money, they can change their lives.
We have the power to change this. Push your governments for peace, more and better aid, debt cancellation, education for all boys and girls, healthcare, trade justice, gender equality, right to credit and public accountability.
Fight for peace!
Fight against hunger!!
We can make 'War, Terrorism and Hunger History' in our lifetime!!!
www.flickr.com/people/standagainstpoverty/
foto: firoz ahmad firoz
« If you appreciate my work and would like to support me becoming an independent photographer, become a Patreon supporter at www.patreon.com/alexdehaas, or buy me a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/alexdehaas :) »
Kamera: Olympus Pen D3
Linse: F.Zuiko f1.7 / 32mm
Film: Kodak 5222 @ ISO 400
Kjemi: Fomadon Excel (stock / 25 min. @ 20°C)
UN PRC: Civil Society's Legal Push Against War in Palestine (Publ. 23 May 2025) [***Great speeches by Shir Hever and Jake Romm***]
Lima, Peru - 23 May 2025:
In a landmark development for international justice, the Republic of Peru has formally opened a criminal investigation against an Israeli national accused of participating in the genocide in Gaza, following a legal complaint submitted by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF).
The complaint was filed by Julio César Arbizu González (b. 1974), a prominent Peruvian human rights lawyer and legal counsel to the Foundation.
The individual under investigation served as a combat engineering soldier in the Israeli military and is alleged to have played a direct role in the methodical and systematic destruction of civilian neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip during the 2023–2024 military offensive.
The complaint, supported by audiovisual documentation and open-source intelligence, accuses the soldier of engaging in actions that constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide.
This step by Peruvian authorities is of immense significance in the global pursuit of justice. It is not only an affirmation of Peru’s adherence to the principles of international humanitarian and criminal law, but also a decisive recognition that universal jurisdiction must be exercised—not merely acknowledged—when those responsible for international crimes are found within a state’s territory.
Crucially, this case highlights the central role played by the Combat Engineering Corps of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the implementation of Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian population of Gaza. Far from being a support unit, the Engineering Corps has acted as a core operational arm of destruction, systematically reducing civilian areas to rubble, erasing entire communities, and rendering large swathes of Gaza uninhabitable. This unit, through its actions, has become one of the primary mechanisms of the genocidal machine.
In response, the Hind Rajab Foundation has undertaken a comprehensive legal offensive targeting this formation. To date, the Foundation has prepared hundreds of individual case files against members of the Combat Engineering Corps. These cases are being progressively submitted before competent national jurisdictions in countries across multiple continents, with more filings to follow in the weeks and months ahead.
The opening of this investigation in Peru demonstrates that the HRF’s legal actions against travelling Israeli soldiers are not symbolic gestures—they yield tangible legal consequences. It is a powerful precedent, affirming that no perpetrator of atrocity crimes should feel shielded by distance or diplomatic complacency.
The Hind Rajab Foundation calls upon all states—particularly those that are parties to the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute—to follow Peru’s example by initiating proceedings against individuals implicated in the Gaza genocide who may enter their jurisdictions.
“Justice is not optional. Justice is imperative,” said Dyab Abou Jahjah (b. 1971), Chairman of the Hind Rajab Foundation. “This investigation marks a decisive step in the dismantling of Israeli impunity" he added.
The Hind Rajab Foundation will continue to pursue all responsible individuals—wherever they are, and for as long as it takes—because only justice can lay the foundation for lasting peace and human dignity in Palestine and beyond.
- Source: Hind Rajab Foundation -
Peru Opens Criminal Investigation into Israeli War Crimes Following Complaint by the Hind Rajab Foundation (Publ. 23 May 2025)
Who is actually accountable when a project goes almost $120 million, or 180 per cent, overbudget? Vancouver city hall declined to answer that question or make anyone available for an interview to explain what happened
20230217, MSC, Munich Security Conference, Bayerischer Hof: Main Stage I: Panel Discussion.Against Lawlessness: Ensuring Accountability.Conference Hall: (from left to right) Nadia Murad.Founder and President, Nadia's Initiative; Goodwill Ambassador, Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking, United Nations; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2018; Lindsey O. Graham Senator, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, United States of America; Karim Khan Prosecutor, International Criminal Court; Kaja Kallas.Prime Minister, Republic of Estonia, David Miliband (Moderator).President and Chief Executive Officer, International Rescue Committee; former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom; Member of the Advisory Council, Munich Security Conference.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Wopke Hoekstra who is on a visit to Kyiv.
The Head of State highly appreciated the consistent support for Ukraine from the government of the Netherlands and the personal efforts of Prime Minister Mark Rutte to counter Russian aggression.
"We thank the Netherlands for understanding the conditions in which our people live today and what Ukrainians are fighting for," said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He thanked for the recent decisions of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to provide additional security assistance to Ukraine, as well as a separate support package for preparing for the winter period.
The Head of State emphasized the importance of the liberation of Kherson for the further de-occupation of all territories of Ukraine illegally seized by Russia.
The interlocutors discussed additional specific measures of support from the Netherlands to strengthen the defense capabilities of our country and successfully counter the aggressor.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that the Russian Federation continues missile terror against the population of Ukraine and the destruction of energy infrastructure. He noted the importance of creating an air shield over our country to protect against Russian missile attacks. It was stated that in the conditions of approaching winter, Ukraine is counting on prompt receipt of assistance from partners for the restoration of damaged infrastructure and stable electricity supply.
During the meeting, there was also an exchange of views regarding the involvement of the Netherlands in the reconstruction of the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. The Head of State thanked for the initiatives of the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands aimed at attracting companies from this country to the reconstruction process. He emphasized the great need to restore infrastructure in the liberated territories of the Kherson region and expressed hope that the Netherlands will be able to take the lead in rebuilding this promising region.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that despite the continuation of armed aggression, Ukraine is ready to make a concrete contribution to global food security. Hope was expressed that the Netherlands would support a new Ukrainian initiative to supply grain to African countries suffering from hunger.
"Helping those suffering from hunger today is an effective response to Russia's attempts to repeat the genocide in the XXI century. And also a reminder to humanity of the lessons of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine," the President emphasized.
The interlocutors discussed topical issues of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, as well as support from the Netherlands in promoting our country's initiatives within the UN, in particular, regarding holding Russia accountable for crimes committed.
The President of Ukraine presented the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands with the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the III degree, which was awarded to him for significant personal merits in strengthening interstate cooperation and supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
and accountable to no one.
One for my "Tarnished" Album
www.flickr.com/photos/twoblackcatscom/albums/721576761905...
Please : Right Click and select "Open link in new tab"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ2ANR_vF2E
Overload - Yard Act
The overload of discontent
The constant burden of making sense
It won't relent, it won't repent
How to remain in dissonance
The overload of discontent
The constant burden of making sense
It won't relent, it won't repent
How to remain in dissonance
Show some respect and listen to my advice
'Cause if you don't challenge me on anything
You'll find I'm actually very nice
Are you listening?
I'm actually very fucking nice
See also:
Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World a film by Werner Herzog.
20230217, MSC, Munich Security Conference, Bayerischer Hof: Main Stage I: Panel Discussion.Against Lawlessness: Ensuring Accountability.Conference Hall: Kaja Kallas Prime Minister, Republic of Estonia
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.