Get Carter is a 1971 British gangster film, written and directed by Mike Hodges in his directorial debut and starring Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, John Osborne, Britt Ekland and Bryan Mosley. Based on Ted Lewis's 1970 novel Jack's Return Home, the film follows the eponymous Jack Carter (Caine), a London gangster who returns to his hometown in North East England to learn about his brother's supposedly accidental death. Suspecting foul play, and with vengeance on his mind, he investigates and interrogates, regaining a feel for the city and its hardened-criminal element.

 

Producer Michael Klinger optioned Lewis's novel shortly after its publication and made a deal with the ailing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) to finance and release the film, making Get Carter the last project to be approved by the studio's Borehamwood division before its closure. The production went from novel to finished film in ten months, with principal photography taking place from July to September 1970 in and around Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and County Durham. Hodges, Klinger and Caine intended to create a more realistic portrayal of violence and criminal behaviour than had previously been seen in British films: Caine, who also served as an uncredited co-producer, incorporated aspects of criminal acquaintances into his characterisation of Carter, while Hodges conducted research into the criminal underworld of Newcastle (in particular the one-armed bandit murder). Cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky worked with Hodges to give scenes a naturalistic feel, drawing heavily on their backgrounds in documentary films.

 

Turning a respectable profit upon its initial UK release, Get Carter initially attracted mixed reviews. Critics begrudgingly appreciated the film's technical achievements and Caine's performance while criticizing the complex plot, violence and amorality, in particular Carter's apparent lack of remorse for his actions. American critics were generally more enthusiastic, but the film languished on the drive-in circuit, while MGM focused its resources on producing Hit Man, a blaxploitation-themed remake of the film.

 

Get Carter eventually garnered a cult following, and further endorsements from directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie led to the film being critically re-evaluated, with its depiction of class structure and life in 1970s Britain and Roy Budd's minimalist jazz score receiving considerable praise. In 1999, Get Carter was ranked 16th on the BFI Top 100 British films of the 20th century; five years later, a survey of British film critics in Total Film magazine chose it as the greatest British film of all time. A poorly received second remake under the same title was released in 2000, with Sylvester Stallone portraying Jack Carter and Caine in a supporting role.

 

Sir Michael Caine CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English retired actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over a career spanning eight decades and is considered a British film icon. He has received numerous awards including two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. As of 2017, the films in which Caine has appeared have grossed over $7.8 billion worldwide. Caine is one of only five male actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in five different decades. In 2000, he received a BAFTA Fellowship and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

 

Often playing a Cockney, Caine made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in British films such as Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). During this time he established a distinctive visual style wearing thick horn-rimmed glasses combined with sharp suits and a laconic vocal delivery; he was recognised as a style icon of the 1960s. He solidified his stardom with roles in Get Carter (1971), The Last Valley (1971), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), and A Bridge Too Far (1977).

 

Caine received two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles as Elliot in Woody Allen's comedy Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and as Dr. Wilbur Larch in Lasse Hallström's drama The Cider House Rules (1999). His other Oscar-nominated films include Alfie (1966), Sleuth (1972), Educating Rita (1983), and The Quiet American (2002). Other notable performances include in the films California Suite (1978), Dressed to Kill (1980), Mona Lisa (1986), Little Voice (1998), Quills (2000), Children of Men (2006), Harry Brown (2009), and Youth (2015).

 

Caine is also known for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and for his comedic roles in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Miss Congeniality (2000), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and Secondhand Lions (2003). Caine portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy (2005–2012). He has also had roles in five other Nolan films: The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017), and Tenet (2020). He announced his retirement from acting in October 2023, with his final film being The Great Escaper, which came out in the same month.

 

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.

“Of all those who are born, most are so fortunate

as to be sentenced to death

For surely they are better off than those

who are sentenced to life.

 

And yet…

None are more free than they who, in their lifetime

rather then thereafter,

have found themselves from a sentence to life delivered

 

For those are the few that live to be granted

redemption.”

 

Sebastian F.W. Nijhof

 

Ilford HP5 @1600ASA in Ilfosol...2009 I guess...Minolta SRT101 with 50mm 1.7 lens. My first reflex camera.

 

Maybe one of these days they'll get out....

 

Thanks for looking!

 

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAoKcM54Q1Y

 

The Sin And The Sentence

Trivium

I heard the passing bells calling out my name

I knew I'd never see another day

I couldn't swim against the tides of blame

I knew there was no other way

You better practice your lines

You better practice your words

I know that real monsters lie

Between the light and the shade

It doesn't matter what you say or feel

When honest men become deranged, they'll genuflect to a lie

The sin and the sentence

Penance in the fire (to a lie)

The sin and the sentence

The plagues grip your throat (they'll genuflect to a lie)

The sin and the sentence

Penance in the fire (to a lie)

The sin and the sentence

The plagues grip your throat (they'll genuflect to a lie)

I saw the dagger eyes staring back at me

I knew I'd never have a chance to bleed

Guilty, but in the sight of fallen men

They bury you before you speak (the sin and the sentence)

You better practice your lies

You better practice your words

I know that real monsters lie

Between the light and the shade

It doesn't matter what you say or feel

When honest men become deranged, they'll genuflect to a lie

The sin and the sentence

Penance in the fire (to a lie)

The sin and the sentence

The plagues grip your throat (they'll genuflect to a lie)

The sin and the sentence

Penance in the fire (To a lie)

The sin and the sentence

The plagues grip your throat (They'll genuflect to a lie)

Beware those who speak in tongues

For they may call your name

You condemn me

'Cause you don't understand me

You condemn me

'Cause you don't understand me

They'll genuflect to a lie

The sin and the sentence

Penance in the fire (To a lie)

The sin and the sentence

The plagues grip your throat (They'll genuflect to a lie)

The sin and the sentence

Penance in the fire (To a lie)

The sin and the sentence

The plagues grip your throat (They'll genuflect to a lie)

Beware those who speak in tongues

For they may call your name

You condemn me

'Cause you don't understand me

You condemn me

'Cause you don't understand me

You condemn me

'Cause you don't understand me

You condemn me

'Cause you don't understand me

Fuck!

The sin and the sentence

Penance in the fire

The sin and the sentence

The plagues grip your throat

Depending on your point of view, the desert can be a beautiful creation of nature, or a very imposing place to find yourself. When it looks the same in all directions, you can imagine that to be lost in a desert, would be a death-sentence.

Sentenced to death.

 

Sony NEX-5N with Minolta Rokkor 100mm f3.5 with extension tube. Bug chose to participate of his own will and foolishness.

mixed media on paper. ca. 30 x 40 cm.

 

www.saatchiart.com/art/Collage-forming-sentences/703169/2...

 

Sätze bilden.

Mischtechnik auf Papier. ca. 30 x 40 cm.

===Arkham Asylum==

 

There was a blinding yellow light and then, Krill staggered into the room, still reeling from Kuttler's attack. "Cheap shot..." he wheezed, before collapsing onto the floor, a mix of blood and drool dripping out of his mouth.

 

"Oho, there he is! There's my little bundle of comic relief and profanity!" Joker let out an overjoyed giggle as he rushed to greet him.

 

"Joker!" Crane snapped impatiently, "He needs medical attention. Now."

 

"And?" Joker asked disinterestedly. "What do you want me to do about that? Page the Crime Doctor? He blocked me after one too many 'Doctor, Doctor,' jokes, which, in my defense, were absolute killers!"

 

"No... Doctors... Sugar pills... Top cabinet..." Krill gasped, shrugging Crane off. "I'll be... fine... Just give me someone to kill and... And a banana split... Might... Might also need a rabies shot."

 

"The Misfitspose aaaaaaaa threat, Joooooooker," Zoom warned, as he watched Krill wolf down his medication.

 

"Hah! Now there's a sentence that's never been uttered before..." Joker chuckled dismissively. As he attempted to leave the room however, Zoom blocked the doorway.

 

"No. First theErasaaaaaaaaaser discoveredour lair. Now theyhaveincapacitated theeeeee Pooooolka DotMan. Theymustbe eliminated."

 

"Now, where's your holiday spirit gone?" Joker looked down at Zoom's hand, and then back at his face, trying to mask his indignation. "All in good time, Hunter," he stated. "I'm in the giving mood right now, and I've promised Julian he'll have his fun with them first."

 

==Greendale Community College==

 

The Infirmary

 

Day 16

 

Flannegan was lying on a hospital bed, as a nurse doted around him. Sat around him, were Reardon, Rigger, Blake and Chuck, each in varying states of concern.

 

"Get off! I'm fine, really," he protested, as he pushed the nurse's hand away from his black and blue face. "You shoulda seen the other guy!"

 

"You mean the one that escaped?" Blake smirked.

 

"That's not what-" Flannegan spluttered. "Blame the science geek, I had the spotted bastard dead to rights."

 

"Didn't he drop a microwave on you?" Rigger butted in.

 

"It was a filing cabinet!"

 

"Is he going to be alright, miss?" Reardon asked, narrowly dodging a flying fruit cup intended for Joey.

 

"He took quite a beating, but he'll be fine," the nurse replied. "Just don't use that arm against any more Polka Dot Men for a while," she advised Flannegan with a clear hint of sarcasm.

 

"He was real!" he protested once more, as he attempted to get out of the hospital bed. His advances were interrupted by a commotion outside, as the voices of Kuttler and the Dean grew louder and louder.

 

"Noah, please, you can't just leave. Where am I supposed to get another computing studies teacher on such short notice?" Pelton was pleading with him. "You were going to show me how to use Excel!"

 

"Frankly, that's none of my concern," Kuttler retorted. "Hire Answer, hell: hire Cluemaster for all I care- see if you can piece his skull back together, I imagine it's like a particular irritating jigsaw puzzle... Oh, and check your basement, because there is definitely a sex computer down there. I know that frequency."

 

"Sex computer?" Pelton's brow furrowed, as he stopped in his tracks. "Wait up-" he began, but Kuttler had already reached the infirmary, and made sure to lock the door behind him. He then approached the Misfits, and placed a small glass bottle, filled with small yellow pills, onto the table beside Flannegan.

 

"Diaxymine," he stated. "Should cancel out the effects of the Fearless drug on your rotund friend."

 

"Woah woah woah, that's potent stuff. Who's to say it won't just fry his mind?" Rigger asked anxiously.

 

"No one, of course, but there was a guard here that stockpiled the stuff," Kuttler deflected. "From what I was able to piece together, he was some kind of supervillian, went by the name 'Chinese Tiger.'"

 

"We... appreciate the gesture, but if it's all the same to you, I think we'll wait until we're back in Gotham, and cure him then," Chuck spoke, as he slid the glass bottle into his yellow utility belt for safe keeping.

 

"Fine. Use it or don't," Kuttler shrugged, standing back up. "But when your sauce spraying friend tears your throat out, remember I gave you an out," he replied, as he walked back towards the exit. "I'll see you in the courtyard tomorrow. That is, if the offer still stands."

 

"It does- I mean, sure, great!" Chuck stuttered, a little taken aback by Kuttler's sudden change of heart. "But... what about that ankle monitor?" he asked, pointing down at Kuttler's feet. "Shouldn't we-?"

 

"That old thing?" Kuttler looked down, and to The Misfits' surprise, casually unbuckled it and dropped it in the bin. "I reprogrammed that months ago. I just fancied the time off."

 

"Right, of course you did," Chuck tutted. "What exactly changed your mind?"

 

Kuttler glanced over at Blake before answering. "Let's just say I had an enlightening talk with one of your teammates," he smirked, before turning back to face them. "Oh, and of course, thanks to you, Abner Krill knows where I am and he'll want revenge: The first thing he'll do once he's healed, will be to sell off my location to the Society remnants I testified against. And frankly, I'm simply too emotionally drained to draft a countermeasure against Bane or his allies... I could do with the meat shields."

 

"Bane's in Slabside, bud, he's not going anywhere," Blake reassured him.

 

"The same Slabside that Killer Moth broke into a month ago?" Kuttler spoke, as he raised a condemning eyebrow.

 

"Ok, fair point," he swallowed.

 

"Uh-huh. The courtyard. Tomorrow at 12pm. Don't keep me waiting," he ordered them, before leaving the way he came, still swatting away Pelton's advances.

 

"Well, he seemed lovely," Ten said dryly.

 

~-~

 

Gar was slumped against the wall, waiting for Chuck as he exited the infirmary, flicking his lighter on and off obsessively

 

"You shouldn't smoke indoors," Chuck advised him.

 

"I wasn't." Gar confessed. "So. Who won? The game, I mean," he clarified.

 

"Funny you should ask: the Dean called it off. Apparently, some Freddy Krueger lookalike ran onto the campus, and threatened a hundred students with a flamethrower."

 

"Jeez, what're the chances?" Gar wondered aloud.

 

"Oh, I dunno... One in a million," Chuck replied, eyeing him up.

 

Gar paused. "I... might have been projecting my anger onto a bunch of amateur cosplayers.

 

"Not to worry, we've all been there."

 

"Still, Krueger. Nice chance of pace. About a dozen students stopped me earlier and said 'Nice Deadpool, bro. Have a chimichanga on me.' Irritating as hell," he frowned. "He gonna be ok?" he changed trajectory.

 

"Flannegan? He's tough, he'll pull through," Chuck reiterated.

 

"Not who I meant," Gar spoke, as he watched Mayo shuffle past them into the infirmary, a bunch of crumpled flowers in his hand, no doubt a last minute gift, hand-picked from the gardens.

 

"Yeah," Chuck replied. "We'll get him cured once we're back in Gotham. If we ever make it..." he added tiredly.

 

"We will. Drury has a plan, I know it," Gar vouched for him. "But it's weird, right? I mean, you and I both know what Fearless can do to a person; the chaos, the anger, the devastation... it turned you into a reckless thrill-seeker, submerged Two-Face's better half and it barely even worked on Dekker. Kid could've killed us all if he wanted to, or at least try. Yet even with that crap pumping through his veins; nothing holding him back; free to do anything, say anything without consequence, all Mayo really wanted, was to win a damn paintball game. just gain a little bit- a tiny sliver of recognition from his peers."

 

Chuck reflected on this, and pulled the glass bottle of Diaxymine out of his belt to examine it.

 

"What's the stuff Kuttler gave you anyway?" Gar inquired.

 

"Supposed to be Anti-Psychotics," Chuck explained.

 

"'Supposed to be,'" Gar rolled his eyes. "Between you and me, I'm pretty sick of experimental drugs."

 

"Boy, I hear you there..." he chuckled softly. "Listen, Gar-"

 

"What?" he snapped suddenly.

 

"Just... I'm sorry about Jenna."

 

Gar's features softened, as he flicked his lighter shut. "Me too."

 

==Study Room F==

 

Day 17

 

"So, this is what you wear for a living, huh?" Jeff raised an eyebrow at both Blake and Chuck's suits.

 

"I don't know, you fill that costume out nicely," Britta smiled.

 

"I made you boys sandwiches for the journey home," Shirley said, offering Chuck an enormous bag of filled sandwiches. Though unlikely to eat them himself, due to the high fat content, Chuck felt it best not to tell her, and instead thanked Shirley politely.

 

Chuck hugged the girls, shook Jeff's hand and patted Troy and Abed on the back. "Pierce," he nodded. "It has been an experience."

 

"Urgh, I'm always getting shafted," he grumbled. "But not as much as Jeff in gay bars," he chuckled.

 

"Dude, read the room," Blake shook his head disapprovingly.

 

Chuck looked over at the Misfits' table, where Mayo had been silently drawing for a while, and took a deep breath. "Hey, buddy," he approached, examining each of his sketches. "Who's this guy?"

 

"Malcolm Fleming. He's a cucumber," Mayo sniffed.

 

"And this one, that his friend?" Chuck pointed to the second figure.

 

"Stephen Tucker. A gherkin."

 

Chuck smiled, as he reached into his rucksack and handed Mayo a large parcel. "Here. I want you to have this. I know it's not perfect. Dekker, for all his quirks, knows how to make a suit much better than I ever could, but I made I do."

 

"I don't understand. You're not mad?" he asked, puzzled.

 

"It's paintball, Mitch," Chuck winked. "No one got hurt. That's the main thing."

 

"Flannegan might disagree there-" Blake calmly pointed out.

 

"Most people didn't get hurt, Chuck corrected himself, shooting daggers Blake's way. "Thing is, you're one of us. A Misfit, Mitch. It's time we treated you like one."

 

"Thank you," Mitch nodded sincerely, as he pulled the black and red costume from out of the bag. "I love it."

 

"What about it, Jeff? A final rousing speech?" Abed asked.

 

Jeff smirked. "Actually, Abed, I think Chuck should do the honours."

 

"Actually, we really have to go," Chuck began, as he rose to his feet. "Kuttler would kill us if we're late. Literally, probably... Look, they're your people, Jeff. Look after them, love them. Care for them. Because remember, they may all be misfits, but together, you're all so much stronger."

 

"Well, I don't know if I'd class myself as a misfit-" Britta began, her protests drowned out by the Study Group's collective groans.

 

"Then find another name," Chuck encouraged them. "But find it together. Because, uh, because that one's already taken- branding was always Drury's thing."

 

"Ooh, actually have a couple ideas in mind." Annie said, as she pulled out a massive binder. Jeff looked up at Chuck, and smiled gratefully. Chuck nodded back and rested his hand on the door handle. 'Hell Yeah.'

 

"Oh, before I forget- in two or three days, you might be emailed a YouTube link from a Montgomery Sharpe. Don't open it," he added.

 

As Chuck left, Troy turned back to the rest of the group. "Do any of you guys know who that is?"

 

~-~

 

"Drury, you're always gonna do something stupid... That's why I love you. We'll win. We always do, you old softie. Because we don't-?"

 

Because we don't give up. Yeah. Someday. Because of you.."

 

"You're just tired Drury, that's all. Just tired."

 

"To doing something stupid," Drury lamented.

 

"You were flashing back, weren't you?"

 

"I'm sorry?" Drury asked, turning his head away from the trophy cabinet.

 

Abed shrugged. "Just now. It looked like you were having a flashback to something."

 

Walker smiled weakly. "Yeah, yeah. something like that."

 

"I'm Abed," he said, offering him his hand.

 

"Drury," Walker nodded as he shook his hand.

 

"Yo, Abed, could you give us some space please?" Chuck asked.

 

"Cool," he replied, as he disappeared down the hall. "Cool cool cool."

 

"Kuttler's on board," Chuck revealed. "He'll want to be paid obviously, but I think we can probably pull enough money together, right?"

 

"Yeah, Joe texted me," he nodded. "What happened to you anyway?" Drury asked, eying Chuck's shattered visor suspiciously, "I thought it was just a paintball game."

 

"Oh, I died," Chuck said bashfully. "Well, I should've. Mitch used condiments, so it didn't technically count."

 

"Ah. Typical, really," Drury winked. He looked down at his watch.

 

"C'mon, we shouldn't keep the others waiting," he said, glancing at the otherwise empty, paint soaked hallway.

 

"Sure," Drury lay his hand on the trophy cabinet and smiled faintly, gesturing to a framed photo. "Here, take a look at this, please: Gotham University, interschool basketball championships 2001, I actually competed in that- I'm the scrawny kid with the broken leg, see? And, sure, the Mathletes lost, but that's life, ain't it?"

 

"Yeah..." Chuck smiled encouragingly.

 

"And there, in the opposing team's photo... There she is. My Tiger Lily. Funny coincidence, right?" Drury, was pointing to a blond girl in the back. "Didn't even know she existed. Imagine."

 

"I guess," Chuck nodded.

 

"Just like that time in Gaige's office, or that Janus Christmas party... I missed out on several more happy years because... because I didn't know what was right in front of me."

 

Chuck bowed his head. "I never believed in all that star-crossed, meant-to-be kind of love myself. First Maria, then Pam. But you and Miranda? I think that maybe, maybe that was the closest thing to it. And, I dunno, maybe the universe knew that too. You look at these photos and you see it as a missed opportunity, sure. But I see it as a gift. You got to know that the two of you had more time together than even you knew."

 

"Maybe," Drury said softly, his eyes brimming with tears. "Thank you."

 

"Any time," Chuck replied, before changing the subject back to the here and now. "I finally read those files by the way. The ones we stole from Batman. You know what that Zolomon guy can do, right? He's not just fast, he slows down time. And it's not just him, I mean look at the Pirate, or Pike. I mean, we joke, but Carson beat the crap out of us last time. And seeing what Krill of all people did to Flannegan... Even with Kuttler backing us, I just don't know." Chuck nodded solemnly. "Like, you do realise that we can't just drive back into Gotham in a highly conspicuous Bat-Truck? The Bats will be on us before we even reach city limits."

 

"I know," Drury responded. "I know. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have a plan, Chuck. Maybe not a good one, definitely not a popular one, but I do have one. It's just... You're not gonna like it."

 

"Well, that's a first," Chuck joked.

 

"Hah. Stick to the herbal tea, Chuck," Drury smiled back. "Let someone else handle the sarcasm."

 

~-~

 

"God, that was the longest six months of my life," Flannegan declared, as he stretched his back out, the rest of the Misfits following closely behind him.

 

"We were there three weeks, tops," Rigger pointed out.

 

"I know what I said," Flannegan replied stiffly.

 

As they walked out to the courtyard, Blake and Joey jumped back in fright, Gar and Flannegan drew their weapons, Kuttler ducked behind Walker and Reardon took a deep breath.

Waiting for them outside, flanked by some twenty armed men, was The Great White Shark. Behind him, the Bookworm nodded to Walker affirmatively.

 

"Look, boys. Hitchhikers," White joked. "A little bug told me you lot needed a lift."

 

"Uh, Drury?" Chuck asked, awaiting an explanation.

 

"I mean, I said you wouldn't like it."

 

==Gotham City==

 

Hellhound exited the Stacked Deck through the back alley and smiled, riffling through a stack of newly acquired green bills. All in a day's work... Dekker would take his cut, of course: but there was no need to split it evenly. After all, he was the one doing all the work. A trash can toppled over behind him, and he spun around. "Who's there?" he called out to the dark, reaching for the knife in his pocket.

 

"Your worst nightmares. Your nastiest dreams," a raspy voice hissed.

 

Hellhound stumbled back in fright, tripping over an empty tin of cat food. "Hey, no hard feelings, man," he insisted. "I didn't actually believe in any of that crap: It was just a trick, a con, a dirty grift! I didn't actually do anything: that thing, with the knife and the fat guy? That was all the Misfits, I swear!"

 

"I believe you," the King of Cats agreed, as he bent down, and licked his face. "Good doggy."

 

"Ahem," a second voice called out. "Sorry to intrude upon this, ah, tender moment, but my partners have a proposal for you."

 

"Ah, the clever-clogs," the King recognised Day. "How did you find us?"

 

"I followed the smell," Day said stiffly.

 

"Oho," The King laughed. "Clever!"

 

"You've taken a new form, I see," Day noted. "Which poor unfortunate host is it this time?"

 

"A City Counsellor from Hub City. A frequent adulterer not worth your pity," the King giggled maliciously, the moonlight glinting off of his leather catsuit.

 

"Curious. But what if I told you that we could do better? Restore you to your former glory: So to speak."

 

"I'm listening," the King replied, his green eyes narrowing. "But if you don't mind, first, I'd like to finish my supper," he announced, gesturing to Hellhound's incapacitated body.

 

Julian's skin crawled. He despised being the middle man between the clown and these... creeps. "Do what you have to. Just don't make a mess."

 

"Clever Clogs, please," the King scowled. "I make no such promises."

...

 

 

 

Lighting/Setup Info

- SB80DX at 24mm zoom and 1/4 power level in a 28-inch Westcott Apollo softbox with 2 sheets of full CTB gel. Positioned camera-left about 6.5-feet high and about 4-feet from subject. (Rim Light)

 

- SB600 at 85mm zoom and 1/32 power level, bare with red gel. Positioned camera-right about 5-feet high and about 4-feet from subject. (Rim Light)

 

- SB600 at 24mm zoom and 1/16 -0.7 power level, bare with shoji paper and 2 sheets of full CTO gel. Positioned on-axis about 2-feet high and about 2-feet in front of subject. (Up-light)

 

- Cybersyncs.

 

Bryan Mackenzie Redden is serving 44 years to Life for the murder of a mother and her daughter. The two were killed after he had broken into their home to burglarize them while Redden was high. Redden is housed at Elmira Correctional Facility in New York and is eligible for parole in August 2061

According to historical records "There are many people at Versailles today." was the only sentence spoken between the young dauphine Marie Antoinette and Madame du Barry, the mistress of the old king Louis XV. Marie Antoinette, coming from a strict christian background could not palate the king flaunting his lover at court and enmity sprouted between her and the sexually liberated du Barry.

 

I depicted this rivalry between the two women as a cold war of fashion, a contest where the gowns got bigger and the wigs more ridiculously elaborate. Marie Antoinette's pink silk robe à la française follows the traditional period fashions; where as dy Barry's blue gown is a more modern interpretation of the silhouette and "indecently" sleeveless. Both gowns come with a front hemline that can be hoisted up to reveal either their pantaloons or a tableau of a stage depicting the propaganda of the era, smearing each lady of the court for their frivolities.

 

Marie Antoinette is FR2 Agnes sculpt by Integrity Toys, painted with a disapproving expression as she utters the famous words "There are many people at Versailles today." Madame du Barry is the Luchia sculpt from the same company, her face charismatic enough to climb to to court from her humble beginnings, and amused at the small victory she gains as Marie Antoinette is finally forced to acknowledge her.

 

The pair comes with two sets of wigs: huge ones evoking the outrageous size of the fashion drawings of the era, decorated with hand carved ornaments of a three mast schooner and a girl on a swing; the other pair of wigs are a more modern interpretation of the pompadour style.

 

The OOAK shoes are hand sculpted from epoxy putty, covered with silk and lace and embellished with Swarovski crystal ornaments.

 

The pair is a commission project and not for sale.

Meaning of demist in Hindi

 

SYNONYMS AND OTHER WORDS FOR demist

पद त्यागना→demist पदत्याग करना→demist,step down,go out

Definition of demist

defog

 

Example Sentences of demist0

Tag:- What is the answer of in hindi, what is the definiation of in hindi, englishinhindi site gives yo...

Meaning of demist matlab, meaning demist hindi, synonyms demist hindi

#DemistMatlab, #MeaningDemistHindi, #SynonymsDemistHindi

Let's start off this Sunday's spin around the Horn Lake Target with a fun game of “Who can tell me what's wrong in this image?” Correct guesses win infinity points and a new flashlight (flashlight not included).

 

While y'all get to guessing, I'm going to take up this description with a story about my evening chatting with a Target representative online. Back in October, when Target announced that they would soon be remodeling 1,000 (of ~1,800) stores, I was worried that the Horn Lake store and its classic wavy neon would be on their radar. So, to either confirm or quell my fears, I decided to hop online and visit Target's chat room to see what I could find out about Horn Lake's fate. The rep I “spoke” (typed?) to was named Mark, and to make it seem like I was interested in the remodeling initiative as a whole rather than simply this store, I asked him about Olive Branch as well. (Truth be told, I would of course be sad if the OBT were to remodel as well... but not only would it be less unfortunate, it would honestly be less unexpected, too.)

 

Mark was very courteous and helpful, and asked for my email so that he could get back to me at a later date (as that information was unavailable to him right at that moment). So I went my merry way, and heard back from Mark via email five days later. Now... I was surprised, in the first place, that he said he would contact the Real Estate team to look into this for me – Target's got some darn good customer service, evidently! Upon receiving his return email, I was then relieved to see that Horn Lake (and indeed, Olive Branch as well) was/were, in fact, NOT listed among the stores to be remodeled “in the foreseeable future.” However, I was mortified when I read Mark's next sentence: “I will request that they be remodeled in hopes that plans might change.”

 

As I subsequently wrote in an email to [https://www.flickr.com/photos/l_dawg2000/] and [https://www.flickr.com/photos/113856435@N07/] about that response... well, that backfired XD (cont.)

 

(c) 2018 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

Start this sentence…

  

More Yorkies at: itsayorkielife.com/start-this-sentence/

 

#Yorkies #YorkshireTerriers #YorkieLove

"A noun sentence, no verb

to it or in it: to the sea the scent of the bed

after making love ... a salty perfume

or a sour one. A noun sentence: my wounded joy

like the sunset at your strange windows.

My flower green like the phoenix. My heart exceeding

my need, hesitant between two doors:

entry a joke, and exit

a labyrinth. Where is my shadow—my guide amid

the crowdedness on the road to judgment day? And I

as an ancient stone of two dark colors in the city wall,

chestnut and black, a protruding insensitivity

toward my visitors and the interpretation of shadows. Wishing

for the present tense a foothold for walking behind me

or ahead of me, barefoot. Where

is my second road to the staircase of expanse? Where

is futility? Where is the road to the road?

And where are we, the marching on the footpath of the present

tense, where are we? Our talk a predicate

and a subject before the sea, and the elusive foam

of speech the dots on the letters,

wishing for the present tense a foothold

on the pavement ..."

 

by Mahmoud Darwish

translated by Fady Joudah

“What was the source of the stranger’s incredible power?”

 

From the back cover:

 

They were trying out a new drive when a cosmic accident took them incalculable light years off course. A miracle of courage and astrogation meant that there were some survivors from the inevitable crash. The ship itself did not escape unscathed. What had been their vehicle became their prison. The buckled lock could not be opened from the inside and they had no other means of getting free. The air was slowly running out.

 

The planet they had hit was raw and primitive by their own standards, but it did hold intelligent life. One of the natives found the ship. Dare the trapped space travelers hope for a miracle? If they got out what kind of strange life forms would they be involved with? Could they hope to find the types of raw materials which would get their crippled ship into space again? If not, could they face life sentences on this strange, unknown, primitive world . . .?

 

Faced by a thousand fantastic difficulties the astronauts battled untiringly for their right to survive.

 

402 Commercial Avenue.

"This ornate brick building, the first of its kind in Skagit County, was constructed by Lewis & Dryden Engineers of Portland, Oregon. It was originally chartered as the Bank of Anacortes. The Bank closed during the depression of 1893. Two vaults and other bank-related features have survived alterations."

- City of Anacortes.

 

"The Platt Building on the SW corner of P/Commercial and 4th was the first brick building on Fidalgo Island. It was built by John Platt during the summer of 1890. The ANACORTES AMERICAN reported on 7-31-1890, "Platt bank building will be done in 30 days." On 10-9-1890, "The New Bank ... Fine store and Offices ... To John Platt is due the credit and honor of building and occupying the first brick block to be erected upon Fidalgo Island."

The building had several names, such as Post Office Building (Post Office housed here from 1895 to at least 1898) and, in 1901, the Wells Building after it was purchased by W. V. Wells. The structure also housed the first telephone company."

anacortes.pastperfectonline.com/photo/96E694C9-0FE0-46F1-...

 

A semicolon represents a sentence the author could have ended, but chose not to. That author is you and the sentence is your life.

 

I've been following the semi colon project since it started when I was 15, and I have been obsessed with drawing semi colons on my wrists since. I knew then that I wanted to get a tattoo, so the message of the project would be with me permanently. On Friday, I made it official and got a semi colon tattoo.

Do me a favor and search the hashtag #projectsemicolon on facebook, instagram, or twitter to find out more of what this is all about.

Scenes outside the Federal courthouse on 12/18/18 during the Flynn sentencing (postponed)

She is five and still can not speak full sentences yet, but she loves to read and write.

Pentagon leaders often speak of the need for disruptive technologies in the Fleet to mitigate the risks of shrinking defense budgets, declining U.S. military technological superiority and improving adversary capabilities. Last week, a remarkable example of disruptive innovation occurred. How did the Navy react? It simply reaffirmed its unimaginative plan to send its carrier-launched drone to the boneyard—and potentially sentence the aircraft carrier to a similar fate.

 

The Navy’s test carrier drone, the X-47B UCAS-D (Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator), recently participated in the first-ever fully autonomous aerial refueling at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Though the implications of this engineering feat are wide-ranging and not wholly known at this point, successful demonstration of unmanned aerial refueling does shed light on several ongoing arguments about the future of U.S. military aviation.

 

First, the success of X-47B in breaking engineering barriers supports the expansion of unmanned aviation both within the carrier air wing and throughout the military as a whole. This is an autonomous aircraft as opposed to remotely piloted, and it just completed one of the most difficult tasks to perform with another aircraft through refueling. The Department of Defense has been working on developing a stabilized drogue to enable more reliable aerial refueling, but the X-47B did not even use this new system. Rather, the autonomous aircraft did all the work itself, demonstrating incredible feedback sensitivity.

 

Perhaps the reason there is not more fanfare or appreciation for the leap ahead in technological advancement is because the successful demonstration of autonomous aerial refueling, for some, supports an argument for replacing more F-35 Joint Strike Fighter carrier variants with X-47B-like platforms. There is a suggestion that such a progression would put the Navy’s sixth-generation fighter (F/A-XX) in jeopardy, a program which enjoys considerable support within the naval tactical aviation community. In this budgetary environment, relying on proven technologies—like those in the X-47B program—is a far better bet than the imagined, untested technologies in the yet-to-begin F/A-XX program.

 

Further, Pentagon leaders are fighting with Congress—specifically Chairmen John McCain, Mac Thornberry, and Randy Forbes—about what those unmanned combat aircraft should do in a program called the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS). Should the UCLASS merely serve as the eyes and ears of the aircraft carrier with limited strike capability in only non-contested environments, or should it be capable of striking enemies through their denied zones?

 

Last week, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus weighed in, commenting bluntly that the F-35C “almost certainly will be the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly.” This would seem to signal his strong support for the transition to unmanned platforms, especially for deep penetrating strike missions. Coincidentally (or not), Secretary Mabus last week also created two new civilian and military positions to focus solely on unmanned systems within the Navy to recognize the untapped potential of these types of platforms.

 

The UCAS-D’s successful autonomous refueling means that its impressive range of 2,400 miles can now be extended by tanker, thus allowing the carrier drone to carry vastly more ordnance. Already the X-47B carries about 85 percent of the payload of a F-35 Joint Strike Fighter—and carries it three times further. Even if tankers must turn around at 600 miles from the outer edge of an adversary’s denied zone, this breakthrough capability gives the X-47B enough “legs” to deliver true firepower anywhere US commanders want, especially if the ordnance delivered is capable of extended range flight of its own.

 

Without a refuelable UCLASS in the future carrier air wing, the Navy might as well take the “strike” out of carrier strike group. A key value of an aircraft carrier is its ability to accept new planes when the character of warfare changes, something it has done remarkably well for over seven decades. That change is happening now, and failure to procure a strike version of the UCLASS renders the Navy’s investment in new aircraft carriers far less cost-effective.

 

Outside of the carrier air wing, autonomous aerial refueling could result in several other force employment changes. For instance, the Marine Corps is currently putting the finishing touches on its program to develop a tanker variant of the V-22 Osprey. Combining tanker Ospreys with refuelable low-end land-based drones could result in much-improved reconnaissance abilities for the austere Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Forces that have become a staple of American forward presence. The Army has already developed a manned-unmanned teaming system for its Apache helicopters to control drones. Tanker V-22s could implement a version of the same to control and refuel fleets of unmanned aircraft and achieve true persistent surveillance. Even within the Navy—which will soon have V-22s onboard carriers to deliver supplies—the possibilities are enticing and need to be explored further through testing and experimentation.

 

These are only a small subset of the possibilities that opened up over the skies of Pax River last weekend. To fully exploit such disruptive technology, the Department of Defense should open access to the UCAS-D program to aviators from every service. Despite a long record of achievement, the Navy still maintains that it will shut down the UCAS-D program and send the X-47B to the aircraft boneyard in Arizona with less than a quarter of its rated flight hours used up. This is a true waste. As we suggested in 2013, the Navy should reconsider this policy and allow creative military thinkers to continue experimental testing of the two planes beyond fiscal year 2016.

 

The rhetoric of Secretary Mabus points the Navy in the right direction for the future. Now, he must follow through with action. Extending the UCAS-D test program and refining UCLASS requirements toward a high-end strike aircraft would cement Mabus’ legacy and truly put the Navy on the path to continued dominance in the future.

 

On September 8th, 2010 23 year old Ian Debeer was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in state penitentiary for writing graffiti.

 

www.freehert.org

Kormakitis (Cypriot Arabic: Kurmajit; Greek: Κορμακίτης, Kormakítis; Turkish: Kormacit or Koruçam) is a small village in Cyprus. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus. Kormakitis is one of four traditionally Maronite villages in Cyprus, the other three being Asomatos, Agia Marina and Karpaseia. The Maronites of Kormakitis traditionally speak their own variety of Arabic called Cypriot Maronite Arabic (CMA) in addition to Greek and recently Turkish and they follow the Catholic Maronite Church. Cape Kormakitis is named after the village.

 

All of the remaining Maronites villagers are elderly. The Republic of Cyprus government gives those who stayed in the north pensions of $670 a month per couple and around $430 for an individual. It also pays instructors to teach CMA, and funds week-long summer visits by young Maronites to put them in touch with their communal roots. Maronites also receive help from the United Nations. Every two weeks UN troops make the trip from Nicosia to deliver food, water, fuel and medical supplies across the border to the north's Maronite population. The UN aid convoy is manned by soldiers from the 12 Regiment Royal Artillery. Aid is funded by the Republic of Cyprus government but is delivered by the UN.

 

During the weekends the population of Kormakitis increases to more than 600 as displaced former residents return to visit relatives and celebrate Mass. Access has been made easier since 2003 when the Turkish Cypriot authorities relaxed rules on visits to Northern Cyprus. Many Maronites who were displaced from Kormakitis have renovated and upgraded the village and homes for weekend use.

 

There are several versions for the name of the village. The most common instance of folk etymology is related to the Maronites who arrived from Kour, Batroun. Feeling nostalgic, they used to repeat the sentence "Nahni jina wa Kour ma jit" "We came (to Cyprus) but Kour hasn't come". Another instance of folk etymology is related to the Phoenician settlement of Kormia. The present village would take its name from the expression Kormia jdide, or "New Kormia". These hypotheses seem consistent with the pronunciation of the village in Cypriot Greek (Κορματζίτης /Korma'dʒitis/) and Cypriot Turkish (Kormacit /Korma'dʒit/). The standard Greek name Kormakitis is an attempt to adjust the name to standard Greek pronunciation, whereas the new Turkish name Koruçam was made up after 1974 for political reasons.

 

Originally from Lebanon and Syria, today's Maronite community in Cyprus was shaped by four successive waves of emigration that started in the 8th century. With the Islamic conquests radiating outward from the Arab Peninsula, many Maronites abandoned Syria and Lebanon[dubious – discuss] and settled in Cyprus. In 938, the destruction of St Maron's Monastery[citation needed][dubious – discuss] in Lebanon prompted a second wave of refugees. Another three centuries passed and Crusader king Guy of Lusignan purchased Cyprus from Richard the Lionheart, leading the former to import Maronite warriors to the island to protect its coastlines. The last wave of emigration came 100 years later when Acre, last outpost of the Crusader edifice, collapsed leading to the last migration of Maronites to Cyprus. Kormakitis was originally built near Cape Kormakitis, but because of Arab raids the village was moved to its current location. The new location of the village was chosen because it provided better protection against raids and contained an ample supply of water and lush vegetation for agriculture and livestock. During the period of 1191–1489, the village of Kormakitis was one of the richest fiefs of the island, which belonged to the French feudal Denores. The Maronites at the time held 60 villages with a reported number of 60,000 and was the second largest community after the Greek Cypriots. In 1570, Kormakitis had 850 inhabitants.

 

During the Ottoman rule of Cyprus, the number of residences decreased; in 1841, there were only 200 inhabitants. Villagers who remained were highly taxed and harassed by Ottoman Turks and Greek Cypriots alike. The number of Maronites across Cyprus decreased simultaneously: In 1572, there were between 7,000 and 8,000 Maronites, living in 23 villages, while, in 1596, there were 4.000 Maronites, living in 19 villages. Under the British administration in Cyprus, the Maronite Community was promoted by the British government, whose policy was to support minorities. This resulted in better living conditions for the population of Kormakitis. By 1910, Kormakitis relied on agriculture and livestock, which produced grain, olives, beans, cotton, cocoons and other crops.

 

After Cyprus gained independence in 1960, projects were carried out within the village. In 1962, the village school was constructed, which was able to enrol 210 students and employ seven teachers. In 1965, the village was connected to the electric grid and houses were connected to water mains for the first time.

 

Following years of intercommunal violence, on 15 July 1974, there was an attempted coup d'état led by the Greek military junta to unite the island with Greece. The coup ousted president Makarios III and replaced him with pro-enosis nationalist Nikos Sampson. On 20 July 1974, the Turkish army invaded the island in response to the coup d'état. Despite the restoration of constitutional order and the return of Archbishop Makarios III to Cyprus in December 1974, the Turkish troops remained on the island occupying the northeastern portion of the island. This resulted in the island being divided into its Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities respectively. Many of Kormakitis's residents choose to migrate to the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus.

 

Before the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Kormakitis had around 1,000 inhabitants. The number of Maronites has since decreased. It is estimated that between 100 and 165 Maronites remained in the TRNC. The decline in population has been attributed to a lack of jobs and secondary education, leading to migration, migrating mainly to Nicosia and Limassol. During the school year 1999–2000, the Kormakitis Primary School was forced to close down, due to a lack of pupils, providing evidence of Kormakitis's declining young population.

 

In 2006, TRNC officials announced that Maronites from the village of Kormakitis have been given an opportunity to return to the village. This has been made possible by the fact that the houses and properties in question at Kormakitis, were not seized by Turkish settlers and Turkish Cypriots during the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. However, the Maronites have to meet a certain criteria. Firstly, they need to be the legitimate owner of a house or property in the village to be allowed to resettle. Secondly, they also have to move back to the village and reside there. Maronites are not allowed to reclaim their property and then commute to and from Kormakitis to the Republic of Cyprus controlled areas. Some 40 people, mainly elderly couples, meanwhile, have permanently resettled in the village.

 

Several churches and chapels have been built within Kormakitis and the surrounding fields. These churches and chapels belong to the Maronite Church, a denomination of the Catholic Church. Saint George's Church, located within Kormakitis was built in 1930. Devoted to the patron saint of the village the Church, construction started in 1900. The designs and plans of the church were prepared by the Maltese architect Fenec and the Maltese Civil Engineer Cafiero. The inhabitants of the village offered donations for the construction of the church. The church constituted as the official church of the Maronite Church of Cyprus, prior 1974. Today, Saint George's Church is used by the remaining inhabitants. Icons and religious items dating from the 12th century are located within the cathedral.

 

The Chapel of Saint George, often referred as Chapel of Saint George of the seeds, is a chapel situated near the Mediterranean Sea, north of Kormakitis. It was built in 1852. Every year, on 3 November, a Mass is celebrated by the Maronite Community dedicated to Saint George. This is done to coincide with the start of the agricultural season, the farmers pray to Saint George for a successful harvest. According to the tradition, after Mass, the Maronites have lunch by the sea to celebrate Saint George.

 

The Chapel of the Holy Virgin is a small chapel situated in the west of the village. The chapel was thought to have been built in 1453. Recently renovated it is frequently visited.

 

The Chapel of Saint George, often referred as Chapel of Saint George of the Nuns, is a chapel situated next to the monastery of the Franciscan sisters, in the center of the village. It was built in 1534 and was the first chapel to be built inside the village. The monastery of the Franciscan sisters was built in 1936, next to the village's square.

 

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.

 

Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.

 

A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.

 

Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.

 

Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.

 

Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.

 

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.

 

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

 

Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.

 

By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.

 

EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.

 

However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

 

On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

 

In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.

 

By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.

 

In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.

 

The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.

 

After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".

 

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.

 

Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

 

On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.

 

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

 

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

 

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

 

Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria

An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."

 

In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.

 

Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.

 

In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.

 

Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.

 

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

 

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:

 

UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.

 

The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.

 

By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."

 

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.

 

On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.

 

The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

 

During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.

 

In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.

 

Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.

 

A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.

Sanaa and Mona Seif, sister of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, an imprisoned Egyptian-British democracy activist on hunger strike, talk to the press outside Britain's Foreign Office.

 

Alaa is over 200 days into his 100 calorie a day hunger strike in prison in Egypt. A candle-light vigil is planned for this Sunday 6 November at 4pm opposite 10 Downing Street.

 

Alaa Abd El-Fattah has endured much of the last twelve years in some of the worst prison conditions anywhere in the world, on account of his brave work in promoting democracy in Egypt.

 

He was last arrested in September 2019 while attending Cairo's Dokki Police Station and in December last year was sentenced to five years imprisonment for "spreading false news undermining state security." More precisely, he had shared social media posts explaining the hell-hole reality of Egyptian prison conditions.

 

PROTEST OUTSIDE THE FOREIGN OFFICE

 

Alaa's two sisters, Mona and Sana'a Seif, are currently staging a protest in London's King Charles Street outside the British Foreign Office in the hope that the Egyptian government can be pressured to release him, as media attention begins to focus on the upcoming COP27 conference at Sharm El Sheikh on Egypt's Red Sea coast.

 

TORA PRISON - "A DAY HERE, IS LIKE A YEAR IN BELMARSH"

 

In April, Alaa began his hunger strike in a cell in one of the most secure sections of Cairo's sprawling and notorious Tora Prison - a maze of grim high concrete walls and watch towers, which strike fear into even the thousands of commuters who have to pass daily.

 

In 2012, one young Londoner confined to one of the least uncomfortable and most survivable wings of Tora prison, contrasted it with his own previous experience at Britain's high security Belmarsh. I can never forget his exact words. "A day here, is like a year at Belmarsh!" A little over 12 months later, he died of TB - the prison authorities had refused to listen to the pleas of his aunt, who fell on her knees during a rare visit, begging that he be admitted to the prison hospital.

 

ALAA'S HUNGER STRIKE CONTINUES AT WADI EL NATRUN PRISON

 

More than 200 days have passed since Alaa started his hunger strike. He has now been moved to the Wadi El Natrun prison complex in the desert north of Cairo, dubbed by inmates as the "Valley of Hell."

 

He may not survive much longer. However, as he holds British-Egyptian nationality, one would hope that the British government would be doing everything they could to secure his immediate release and it would be reasonable to suppose that the Foreign Office could get an immediate pledge in this regard, especially given that the British companies, including the likes of British Petroleum and BP, are the biggest investors in Egypt.

 

NO CONSULAR ACCESS

 

However, the British government have failed even to get him any consular access - think about that. That's an outrage. Even a convicted mass murderer, if British, would be entitled to consular access while in prison. That meeting would obviously not take place in his cell - but in a designated room in the prison or the highly supervised prison visiting area.

 

British men and women convicted of drug smuggling and other crimes in Egypt have received consular visits, so why not Alaa? The answer is because Alaa's crime is that he dared to tell the truth about Egypt, and the injustice both inside and outside its many prison walls. Nobody knows exactly how many political prisoners Egypt now has, but the number is estimated to be at least 60,000.

 

ALAA WAS ONE OF THE LEADERS OF THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLT THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN

 

Alaa Abd El-Fattah was one of the leaders of arguably the most inspirational democratic revolt the world has seen in the last hundred years. Although the first phase of the 2011 uprising in Egypt lasted just 18 days, and although it followed the toppling of the dictator Ben Ali in Tunisia - the streets and bridges around Tahrir Square became a deadly stage watched by the world, where protesters from every walk of life were pitted against Egypt's feared state security forces. Against all the odds, and at the cost of many lives, Egyptians refused to leave the square, sleeping in front of the tanks and fending off attacks from government militia.

 

The Egyptian people's initial success in toppling the dictator Mubarak led to further revolts not just across the Middle East (most notably in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria) - the highly organised Tahrir-Square sit-in provided the inspiration for strikes and workplace sit-ins against austerity across the United States and Europe and to the Occupy Movement of the same year. The people of Egypt showed that it does not matter how brutal, feared and authoritarian a government is, it can be toppled if people act collectively.

 

THE MILITARY BACKLASH

 

It's true that Egypt's flirtation with the path to greater freedom seemed to be only temporary - the Egyptian authorities deployed the usual divide and rule tactics - encouraging the less committed protesters to return home - and then rushed to elections without allowing time for genuinely democratic opposition parties to develop.

 

Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood won the presidential election in 2012 - the Brotherhood (contrary to the perception many people have here in the West) had genuinely progressive elements within it, but the chance for any transformative radical programme was prevented partly by the corruption and self-interest of some of the main political actors and partly by opposition to its democratic mandate from the deep state (the military, the Interior Ministry, State Security, the police etc.)

 

The army, seeing its chance, seized power in 2013, superficially in the name of the people, but in reality, to advance the interests of the generals. The new president, Abdel Fattah El-Sissi, moved quickly to crush all opposition, and ordering his security forces to attack Muslim Brotherhood supporters who had gathered in eastern Cairo at Rabaa al-Adaweya Square, killing at least 800 people - the bloodiest massacre of civilians in Egypt's modern history.

 

DON'T ALLOW EGYPT TO USE COP27 TO GREENWASH ITS REGIME - AND PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE ALAA

 

Now COP27 is scheduled to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh and Sisi has been given a golden opportunity to greenwash his murderous regime, which has also seen ever increasing levels inequality and corruption. While British representatives at COP27 will be given accommodation in the most luxurious five star hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh and fall asleep listening to the sound of the waves, another British citizen, Alaa Abdel El-Fatah is near death, on a painful hunger strike in the darkest of places - his dimly lit cell. The only thing he might hear at night is the desperate cry from some prisoner in another cell appealing for medical help which most likely never comes.

 

If we care for freedom, real democracy and justice, we can't allow the British Foreign Office to forget Alaa - especially if it's simply not to upset the highly profitable relationship British multinationals have with one of the world's most authoritarian and corrupt regimes - a relationship which only benefits the wealthiest of Egyptians.

 

If you live in London, please show your support at the protest at King Charles Street - and wherever you live please sign the petition -

 

www.change.org/p/help-free-my-brother-before-it-s-too-lat...

Alcatraz

 

Early Years as a Military Prison

 

In 1775, Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala (1745-97) mapped and named rugged Alcatraz Island, christening it La Isla de los Alcatraces, or Island of the Pelicans, due to its large population of sea birds. Seventy-five years later, in 1850, President Millard Fillmore (1800-74) signed an order reserving the island for military use. During the 1850s, a fortress was constructed on Alcatraz and some 100 cannons were installed around the island to protect San Francisco Bay. Also during this time, Alcatraz became home to the West Coast’s first operational lighthouse.

By the late 1850s, the U.S. Army had begun holding military prisoners at Alcatraz. Isolated from the mainland by the cold, strong waters of San Francisco Bay, the island was deemed an ideal location for a prison. It was assumed no Alcatraz inmate could attempt to escape by swimming and survive.

 

During its years as a military prison, the inmates at Alcatraz included Confederate sympathizers and citizens accused of treason during the American Civil War (1861-65). Alcatraz also housed a number of “rebellious” American Indians, including 19 Hopis from the Arizona Territory who were sent to the prison in 1895 following land disagreements with the federal government. The inmate population at Alcatraz continued to rise during the Spanish-American War (1898).

 

During the early 20th century, inmate labor fueled the construction of a new cellhouse (the 600-cell structure still stands today) on Alcatraz, along with a hospital, mess hall and other prison buildings. According to the National Park Service, when this new complex was finished in 1912 it was the world’s largest reinforced concrete building.

Doing Time as a Federal Prison: 1934-63

 

In 1933, the Army relinquished Alcatraz to the U.S. Justice Department, which wanted a federal prison that could house a criminal population too difficult or dangerous to be handled by other U.S. penitentiaries. Following construction to make the existing complex at Alcatraz more secure, the maximum-security facility officially opened on July 1, 1934. The first warden, James A. Johnston (1874-1954), hired approximately one guard for every three prisoners. Each prisoner had his own cell.

 

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) viewed Alcatraz as “the prison system’s prison,” a place where the most disruptive inmates could be sent to live under sparse conditions with few privileges in order to learn how to follow rules (at which point, they could be transferred to other federal prisons to complete their sentences). According to the BOP, Alcatraz typically held some 260 to 275 prisoners, which represented less than 1 percent of the entire federal inmate population.

 

The federal prison on Alcatraz Island in the chilly waters of California’s San Francisco Bay housed some of America’s most difficult and dangerous felons during its years of operation from 1934 to 1963. Among those who served time at the maximum-security facility were the notorious gangster Al “Scarface” Capone (1899-1947) and murderer Robert “Birdman of Alcatraz” Stroud (1890-1963). No inmate ever successfully escaped The Rock, as the prison was nicknamed, although more than a dozen known attempts were made over the years. After the prison was shut down due to high operating costs, the island was occupied for almost two years, starting in 1969, by a group of Native-American activists. Today, historic Alcatraz Island, which was also the site of a U.S. military prison from the late 1850s to 1933, is a popular tourist destination.

 

Source: www.history.com/topics/alcatraz

The sentence "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose." was written by Gertrude Stein as part of the 1913 poem Sacred Emily, which appeared in the 1922 book Geography and Plays. In that poem, the first "Rose" is the name of a person. Stein later used variations on the sentence in other writings, and "A rose is a rose is a rose" is among her most famous quotations, often interpreted as meaning "things are what they are", a statement of the law of identity, "A is A". In Stein's view, the sentence expresses the fact that simply using the name of a thing already invokes the imagery and emotions associated with it, an idea also intensively discussed in the problem of universals debate where Peter Abelard and others used the rose as an example concept. As the quotation diffused through her own writing, and the culture at large, Stein once remarked: "Now listen! I’m no fool. I know that in daily life we don't go around saying 'is a ... is a ... is a ...' Yes, I’m no fool; but I think that in that line the rose is red for the first time in English poetry for a hundred years." (Four in America)[1]

(Wikipedia)

 

Blüte einer Kletterrose in unserem Garten in Hannover.

 

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James Scullion was sentenced to 14 days hard labour at Newcastle City Gaol for stealing clothes. After this he was sent to Market Weighton Reformatory School for 3 years.

 

Age (on discharge): 13

Height: 4.2

Hair: Light Brown

Eyes: Grey

Place of Birth: Newcastle

Status: Single

Occupation: Labourer

 

These photographs are of convicted criminals in Newcastle between 1871 - 1873.

 

Reference:TWAS: PR.NC/6/1/1281

 

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To purchase a hi-res copy please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk quoting the title and reference number.

 

Sentence: 50 Years

Convictions: Murder

WEEK 29 – Columbus Kmart Closing, Set 4

 

I *did* say it should’ve been Christmastime in the seasonal department at the time of my visit, didn’t I? Yeah? Okay, just checking… seems there’s a heck of a lot of patio furniture over here instead, haha.

 

I’m just joshing ya – in truth, most of the Christmas stuff was off to the right from my point of view here, with a lot of it also within the interior garden center itself; this space – which is, as I said, technically within the salesfloor and separate from, yet also adjacent to, the garden center – seemed to be clearing out a bulk of the merchandise leftover from other seasons that this store must’ve had hiding around its stockroom.

 

Unfortunately I don’t think I have another view coming up of how open the interior garden center is to the rest of the salesfloor, which is what makes distinguishing the two in these descriptions somewhat difficult, but that previous shot (one click back) with the darkened ambience seems to do a good enough job of showing the openness to which I keep trying, unsuccessfully I’m sure, to refer.

 

In the meantime, I like how this pic captured the row of store closing signs above the actionway. And the price scanner sign. Lots of neat colors there in that top half; it just sucks that there’s so much boring old white taking up a majority of the middle and base of the frame!

 

(c) 2020 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

One of my favorite clips showing a staged gag where Leaonard Nimoy in costume from Spock's Brain is handcuffed at gunpoint while reading the headline of the LA Times from July 11th 1968. On this day Benjamin Spock was sentenced to a two year jail term for supporting draft evaders and declaring the Vietnam war unconsitutional in the famous Boston Five trial. This is the exact same time as the thrid season episode Spock's Brain was filmed, hence the costume. A great reminder of the political climate of 1968 in addition to the production of Star Trek.

  

Sentence Of Death.

Iudicium aeternae volubiles ferinae carnis dolore dolores confitentes,

sgrechiadau grotesg arteithio galarnadau dryswch llym chi,

pecados submundo descendente punições consciência tons escuros situação sombrio vazio,

проклятые зловонные зубы в обморок гниения в хищные когти забытые пророчества боли,

εμβάθυνση rankled μυαλά πανέμορφη δαίμονες πράσινο αιώνια βρίσκεται εμβρόντητοι,

duisternis naamloos ogen vacant ontsteld is ademhalingen mom,

prädisponierenden Trägheit unzureichende Dichtung Tragödien imprägniert Geister Sturm brennt,

transzcendens félelmetes csúcsok között véres szerzetesi spekulációk üvöltő szunnyad álmok,

frissons cerveaux odieuses inexplicablement tempêtes répugnance apparitions incongrues de crimes immuables,

plukker skapninger vinger dødsleiet transformasjon forvirrende gigantiske frykt ensomhet vibrasjoner ubevisste,

まごまご法律障害触知悲惨さの幽霊横柄ハープが崩壊耐え難いアンソロジーを.

Steve.D.Hammond.

Amazing sentence at Apsara [Tea-House]

Skarnu, 22

Riga

 

Picture taken by ASmyshliaeva.

The sentence on the bench says waiting for you in french )

Bernadette ~ La Dame des Silhouettes

 

Piece unique - Blythe doll 2012

 

PRESENTATION VIDEO

 

"Rebeca Cano ~ Cookie dolls"

 

© All rights reserved

Doronjo: “Oh, foolish ninny, don’t overstep your bounds. I am accustomed to murdering girls just like you with my bare hands.”

 

Dr. Quinzel: “Ya don’t say! I’m used ta…”

 

Dr. Quinzel: *thinking* “Oh! Can’t give away my secret identity!”

 

Doronjo: “Used to what, you fool? You can’t even complete your sentences.”

 

Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2010.

 

An embryo takes nine months to become a human.

 

A human takes a life time to grow up, to love, to dream and to bond with other humans. They become individual worlds.

 

Then you appear.

 

You kill them and send their souls to so called Heaven or Hell.

And those who loved them are sentenced for lifetime in a prison of unbearable memories.

 

God.

You are a joker, and life is the biggest joke ever.

 

In the night of June 3, 2010, a little community of Nimtoli at Old Dhaka was burnt to ashes by a sudden fire, which claimed more than 120 lives. Most of the inhabitants died, leaving a few alive with painful memories as a burden for rest of their lives. The woman in this photo lost her brother, who owned this shop. What remains of this shop is nothing but ashes.

  

All rights reserved worldwide. DO NOT use this image in any commercial, non-commercial or blogging purpose without my explicit permission. Otherwise, you'll face legal action for violating national or international copyright law.

 

For permission, mail me at:

monir.micro@gmail.com

monirmbdu@yahoo.com