In the News

Iraqi Labor Mayday Statement

Posted May 4, 2008 by jmacphee in In the News

If you've got a couple minutes, give this May Day statement by a sector of the Iraqi labor movement a read. It shows that there might be another path for Iraq than US occupation or sectarian bloodbath. I don't know the exact political positions of these unions, and don't know enough to endorse them or anything like that, but it's valuable to hear another voice from Iraq.

May Day 2008 Statement from the Iraqi Labour Movement:
To the Workers and All Peace Loving People of the World

April 29, 2008

On this day of international labour solidarity we call on our fellow trade unionists and all those worldwide who have stood against war and occupation to increase support for our struggle for freedom from occupation - both the military and economic.

We call upon the governments, corporations and institutions behind the ongoing occupation of Iraq to respond to our demands for real democracy, true sovereignty and self-determination free of all foreign interference.

Five years of invasion, war and occupation have brought nothing but death, destruction, misery and suffering to our people. In the name of our 'liberation,' the invaders have destroyed our nation's infrastructure, bombed our neighbourhoods, broken into our homes, traumatized our children, assaulted and arrested many of our family members and neighbours, permitted the looting of our national treasures, and turned nearly
twenty percent of our people into refugees.

Read the rest of the entry »

AK Press in Publishers Weekly

Posted May 2, 2008 by jmacphee in In the News

Our friends at AK Press, one of the largest and best anarchist book publishers and distributors in the world (which I guess unfortunately isn't saying too much, but still...), just got a really nice write-up in Publishers Weekly, one of the big mainstream industry rags. Maybe some people are starting to notice that there are better ways to sail a ship than the corporate model....

From the article:

"But perhaps the most unusual thing about the press, which has doubled the number of units it sells over the past decade and grossed $1.4 million last year, is that it's organized as an anarchist collective. Although its 10 U.S. staff members specialize in different areas—publishing/editorial, distribution and sales and marketing—each gets an equal vote when it comes to which books, CDs or DVDs to publish."

RALLY AGAINST THE VERDICT IN SEAN BELL CASE

Posted April 25, 2008 by molly_fair in Events

TODAY, FRIDAY, APRIL 25th at 5:30 pm

All three cops who murdered Sean Bell were found NOT GUILTY this morning by Judge Arthur Cooperman. Join us in protesting this outrageous verdict! Demand justice for Sean Bell and an end to police violence now! People's Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability is calling for a rally and community speak-out in front of the Queens DA's office TODAY.

Rally will include performers & speakers who have been directly affected by police brutality.

In Nov. 2006, Sean Bell was murdered by the NYPD in a hail of 50 bullets. His friends - Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman - were seriously injured. After a two-month-long trial of his killer, three detectives, the judge has announced his verdict of NOT GUILTY on all charges. The NYPD's murder of Bell and attempted murders of Benefield and Guzman are NOT isolated or random events. They represent the continued targeting of communities of color by the police and the lack of accountability for police misconduct and abuse.

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Why People Riot

Posted April 23, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in In the News

Quiz. A major riot took place in Montreal on Monday night where store windows were smashed and close to a dozen police cars were set on fire. Can you guess why?

A. The city rises up against capitalism.
B. Anger over police brutality turns into a full-scale riot.
C. Axl Rose.
D. Justseeds cannot fulfill all of its orders on time. The public freaks.
E. The Montreal Canadians defeat the Boston Bruins in game seven of the playoffs. Rabid sports fans loot downtown.

For the answer, check out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSQ5uw2UVbY&feature=related

Fairey Crys "Thief"

Posted April 10, 2008 by jmacphee in In the News

In what can only be described as classic, Shepard Fairey is suing another artist for stealing from him! After decades of pillaging other people's work wholesale, I guess Fairey thinks he's special, and should be protected from people just like him? Here's the full story on Animal New York. Texas-based artist Baxter Orr has put a medical mask over Andre's face, and gotten a cease and desist letter for his troubles.

Human Rights Protests Interrupt Olympic Torch

Posted April 8, 2008 by dara_g in In the News

In Paris, London, Istanbul, and San Francisco, protesters have interrupted the passing of the Olympic torch in solidarity with the people of Tibet and against China's human rights abuses. Here are two mainstream newscasts about it, I haven't found any good independent coverage yet so for now: in Paris

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Press / Play for an international conversation on art

Posted April 6, 2008 by bec_young in In the News

Press/Play is the first of six experimental broadcasts of 24 local, national and international artists exhibiting a five-minute presentation of what is currently happening within their local art community. The presentations will be projected to an audience of artists and art supporters live via Skype. Press/Play will take place May 10th at 6pm EST. The first event will be exhibited at the 555 Gallery in Detroit, and the Press/Play events will broadcast every other month for one year. Each will concentrate on individual themes within the arts. In September the broadcast will focus on "Art in social context and expressing political issues," and the November broadcast will be about D.I.Y.

The project coordinator, Kt Andresky, is still seeking artists to represent these cities: Pittsburgh, Chicago, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Seattle, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montréal, Rome for this first, and future, broadcasts.

The Press/Play broadcasts will be recorded by professional volunteers, and all of the documentation will be used to create 200 pressed records, 200 screen-printed newspapers, and a website. The website and newspaper will provide further detail of each artist representative and all topics brought to attention within the five minute presentation. Each artist involved must have access to the internet (from 6pm – 8pm est. on May 10th 2008 for the first broadcast), needs to have a Skype account, an internet videoconferencing system, which can be downloaded free from skype.com, and should be prepared to communicate to an audience in Detroit through Skype for five minutes discussing what is happening within the art community of their city.

Graffiti on the Tate

Posted April 3, 2008 by k_c_ in In the News

Not what you think, or maybe exactly. The Tate Museum, a world renowned contemporary art museum, is looking for some new muralists . Graffiti can stake its claim on museums and galleries again. This time institutions have gotten smarter, they are keeping street art outside. Instead of giving the newest generation of street artists canvas' to paint on the Tate museum will be sanctioning a 35 meter (approx 115') mural on its facade, spokesman stress that the building will not be harmed.

Banksy, English stencil artist, hasn't been mentioned in the press as participating in the exhibit. Yet he was able to sneak his own work into the museum a few years back! looking at his site lately it appears that he has been influenced by Kara Walker.
Artists that have been invited to submit proposals include Os Gemeos, Faile, Blu, Never, JR, and Sixart.

It will be a curious thing, street art has been a passing trend in many cities around the world. Its been adapted to market and sell products and has commodified itself. Is this just another marker of its assimilation into consumer society and bourgeois culture? Will it encourage a new generation of artists to challenge the constraints of public space?

Free Tibet Demo in NYC & beyond

Posted March 24, 2008 by k_c_ in In the News

There have been a lot of activity around the current events in Tibet. A lot of actions focusing on the Olympics in China. One I came across today on the BBC newswire is about the disruption of the lighting of the torch in Greece.

Even a few months back at "Where Have You Been?"
one story focused on a trip and action at the base camp of Mt Everest.

Recently, in NYC, there were reports of some aggression outside of the Chinese Consulate on 42nd street, leaving injured people and broken glass. People are demanding a stop to the killing in Tibet and a boycott of the upcoming Olympics in China.

This past weekend in NYC, a march passed thru Union Square. Here's some flicks I was able to snatch of the posters and banners. The messaging was really clear in their images and chants, and was a very moving experience as the thousand or so demonstrators moved thru the Union Square Greenmarket.

Read the rest of the entry »

This is what you look like.

Posted March 12, 2008 by jmacphee in In the News

'nuf said.

SF8 Info Day In Portland

Posted February 26, 2008 by icky in In the News

'People's History' headed to movies

Posted February 12, 2008 by meredith_stern in In the News

'People's History' headed to movies
By Borys Kit
Feb 8, 2008

BERLIN -- Historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is being adapted into a feature documentary.

Called The People Speak, the documentary will feature dramatic readings and live musical performances from the likes of Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, David Strathairn, Marisa Tomei Jasmine Guy, John Legend, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Michael Ealy and Kerry Washington.

Four performances in Boston at Emerson's Cutler Majestic Theater have already been shot and a planned spring shoot will have Matt Damon, Sean Penn, Eddie Vedder and Steve Earle, among others.

Damon, along with Dan Fireman, Ara Katz Art Spigel of Artfire Films, as well as Carolyn Mugar are producing. Zinn, Anthony Arnove and Chris Moore are exec producing. Damon has long been a fan of the book, throwing in a mention in his Good Will Hunting, as well as narrating the audiobook.

Cinetic Media is handling domestic sales while Cinema Management Group, headed by veteran international sales and distribution executive, Edward Noeltner, is overseeing worldwide rights, launching the project at Berlin.

The book, first published in 1980, presents American history through a bottoms up approach, focusing on voices seldom heard in history books such as defiant Indians, mutinous soldiers, striking workers, and rebellious women.

South End Press Hiring!

Posted February 12, 2008 by meredith_stern in In the News

South End Press is currently seeking qualified applicants to join our small, majority women and majority people of color collective as Editor/Publisher/Financial Coordinator.

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Pay for Graffiti on the Apartheid Wall??

Posted February 11, 2008 by jmacphee in In the News

I had some serious questions about Banksy's Santa's Ghetto project in Bethlehem (like the point of Faile's boxer piece, which flattens out the Palestine/Israel conflict to a simple equation of two brute's punching each other, rather than one massive military bully with billions of $$ in arms squeezing the life out of an out-gunned, out-financed and generally brutalized people), but this new project on the wall really makes my head spin. A Dutch group called Send a Message has set up a website where you can pay a Palestinian 30 Euros to graffiti a message of your choice on the Apartheid Wall?!?!?!? The group is a non-profit, and the Palestinian painters are artists and getting paid for the work. Supposedly the money is funneled into Palestinian NGOs working on local infrastructure projects.

Certainly capitalism isn't going to provide a solution to the conflict, but I'm afraid that's what these people think they are doing. They claim to want the wall to come down, yet their first example of why the wall is bad is that it "kills business"!! It's certainly a great to create some cash flow to beleaguered Palestinians, but does the cost have to be the crass commercialization of one of the largest symbols of oppression in the world?
What does it mean to turn the wall into a giant billboard, so that Jenny and Mike from San Francisco can express their undying love for each other on the historic (as the company calls it) wall?? The tag line is "It was meant to keep people apart, now it brings people together."

I don't want to attack people for trying to help solve serious problems, but something about this project feels wrong. It comes out of a workshop design pros held in Ramallah with young Palestinians, and smacks similar to a number of well-intentioned design projects where designers over-value the importance of their skill sets. Convinced by the integral relationship design and advertising has to the turning of the gears of global neo-liberal capitalism, designers believe they can advertise and photoshop a new world into existence. Rather than look at and address the historical relationships that the state of Israel has had to individual and organizations of Palestinians, or the real power differentials at play, there is the creation of a marketing device to raise awareness.

I'm really interested in what others think about this, because my guess is we'll be seeing more and more projects like this in the future. Soon we'll be able to pay Rwandan refugees draw caricature's of our loved ones in order to get enough food to eat. My fear is that we're on a very slippery slope, where soon (if we're not already there) solidarity with the Global South will look a lot like a minstrel show.

Operation First Casualty

Posted January 30, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art

Hands down, the Iraq Veterans Against the War(IVAW) are doing the most kick ass political and cultural work in the US today. For a year or so they have been organizing a series of actions under the title Operation First Casualty, the first casualty of war being truth. Fully geared up Iraq War veterans have been descending on cities across the country and performing military actions on the street. This video gives a hint at how intense this is:

In addition IVAW is gearing up to hold their Winter Soldier tribunal March 13-16 in Washington DC. Here's what they have to say about it:

Winter Soldiers, according to founding father Thomas Paine, are those who stand up for the soul of their country, even in its darkest hours. With this spirit in mind, IVAW members are standing up to make their experiences available to all who are concerned about the direction of our country.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time America has needed its Winter Soldiers, in 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.

Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam.

Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into an increasingly bloody occupation. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.

Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.

Check out the IVAW website for more information, and definitely pass it on to anyone you know who is a veteran or is currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Remarking on the walls of Oaxaca City

Posted January 26, 2008 by k_c_ in In the News

Last week there was an encuentro in Oaxaca that was attended by many organizations of the APPO (Popular Assembly for the People of Oaxaca) and others struggling for justice in southern Mexico. What follows is a demonstration held, demanding justice for political prisoners, many of whom showed leadership during the social uprising in 2006.

In spanish here.

Many artists have been involved with the recent social movement in Oaxaca, creating posters, graphics, imagery, and as seen in the above video, painting messages in the streets during demonstrations. Their markings leave an ephemeral, yet longer lasting, memory of the demands made during the protests. The slogans and demands painted on the walls remind the tourist heavy city of Oaxaca about the injustice the population faces.

Not only are demands for the freedom of political prisoners David Venegas and Isabel Almarez expressed, rescinding the bus fare increase, the profit of banks and frivolous businesses, and labeling police as assassins were also painted on appropriate targets.

Nancy Davies explains on NarcoNews

The range of protests includes: removing price increases for basic foods such as tortillas, and for gasoline; freeing political prisoners; returning the disappeared alive; canceling changes to the national social security institute (the ISSSTE); protecting streets in the center of the city; rescinding the increase in bus fares; and handing the schools still held by the breakaway teachers union Section 59 (promoted by governor Ulises Ruiz, who the teachers and APPO tried to force out of office in their 2006 uprising) back to Section 22.

The causes of the discontent and poverty in Oaxaca remain and so tourists passing by can expect to be reminded despite the "cosmetic changes" tried in the past.

Double Happiness Second Life Jeans

Posted January 26, 2008 by jmacphee in In the News

My friend Stephanie has created an amazingly interesting and weird new project by opening a factory in Second Life! In an attempt to raise serious issues about the intersection of 3d web environments like Second Life and World of Warcraft and our real world economy, she's created the Double Happiness Jean factory, the first virtual sweatshop. It's a little hard to wrap your head around, but they are selling real world jeans (that you can wear) that are digitally printed onto a special fabric, but in order to have the jeans produced a number of people need to be "working" in Second Life. A half dozen people need to literally be simultaneously online and pressing buttons on virtual machines in order to make the virtual conveyor belt run, and for the jeans to be produced (printed out) in the real world.

These workers actually get paid in Lindens, the currency that is used in Second Life. They are paid 200 Lindens an hour, which is about 90 cents. Word is that this is good pay in the virtual world. People talk a lot about how Second Life and other virtual worlds allow for all kinds of experimentation that is difficult or impossible in real life. But can we seriously talk about something being different or alternative when the same exact capitalist social relations that exist in our first life are reproduced in Second Life? What does it mean that people who spend hours and hours in virtual worlds, I would assume in part to escape the problems, pressures or seeming limitations of their real lives, go to work in a virtual factory in order to be able to buy virtual clothes and code scripts to be able to perform virtual sex acts on other avatars?

I feel like I hear more and more about protests, strikes and other activist actions within Second Life, but I'm still unsure as to what they all add up to. There is an excitement and buzz around these things, it seems largely because they are new, but do they challenge any power in a real way? Are the virtual offices of a company a site where they are vulnerable? Is anything actually created there that can be stopped or blocked? Are companies dependent enough on their virtual presences that disrupting them has a real world effect? I guess I don't really know, but I'm very skeptical.

A Response to OBEY Plagiarist

Posted December 14, 2007 by jmacphee in In the News

It's taken me a long time to get this together, but I wanted to throw my ideas into the discussion around the artwork/plagiarism of Shepard Fairey that has been spinning around the web. For those that might not know, Shepard Fairey is the creator of the "Andre the Giant has a Posse" sticker campaign, which became a long running series of "Obey Giant" posters. Mark Vallen, a Los Angeles-based artist (who created some of my favorite street posters from the early LA punk scene), recently published a long critique of Fairey on his blog, Art For A Change. What I'm writing here directly relates to Mark's piece, so if you haven't read it, give it a look here.

Mark's write-up came out of a long discussion that has been going on between a number of politically-motivated artists and archivists about Fairey's work. Throughout the whole process of discussion it has seemed clear that we have been coming from parallel but divergent positions, with different parts of the larger issues at hand being more or less important to each of us. Mark is clearly concerned with social and political potentials of ART, and believes Fairey's wholesale "theft" of historical images cheapens the potential for art to make change in the world. Lincoln Cushing, an artist, archivist and author who has been involved in the discussions, is very concerned with how plagiarism hurts efforts to empower our communities with their own revolutionary art history. However, he also supports strategic use of existing copyright law, and recently got Fairey to pay retroactive royalties on a t-shirt with Cuban artwork appropriated without credit. Favianna Rodriguez, also involved, has been particularly frustrated with Fairey's use of and profiting off of the art of people of color, and the images of the struggles of people of color, while he has had to pay none of the costs for having to live as a person of color in this society or world.

Read the rest of the entry »

Abu Ghraib Art Contest?

Posted December 7, 2007 by jmacphee in In the News

As if the war in Iraq wasn't surreal and fucked up enough already (with televised "victory" events before the real war even started, mass public spectacles like the tearing down of Saddam's statue and the freeing of Jessica Lynch which were completed fabricated by the US Military, and regular "We're Winning" announcements when it is painfully clear that the largest, most trained and well equipped military in the world is generally unable to do much of anything in the face of a ragtag Iraqi resistance with little or no comparable weaponry or training), Abu Ghraib, home of the famous "thumbs up, we've got you naked and on a dog leash" torture and photos is now home to a strange US Army PR stunt, an art contest!!!

I shit you not, we are now supposed to think warmly about how well we treat our prisoners in Iraq because we let them paint the outside of their torture chambers! Awesome! This has to be one of the strangest public art projects of all time....Here's the lead paragraph in the Army press release come news story:
"Concrete bunkers, strategically placed within the confines of Abu Ghraib prison for detainee protection, turned into works of art when juvenile detainees were offered the challenge to paint them in the form of a contest."
You can read the rest here. Does anyone else think this is totally bonkers?

Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History

Posted December 4, 2007 by meredith_stern in Events

Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History
Traveling Exhibit! Arriving in New York at CUNY Graduate Center
Opens: December 10th, 6:30 - Recital Hall

To read the article in it's entirety: http://www.friendlyagitate.net/category/art/

This text lifted directly from their website:
The SDS Comic Show, a traveling exhibit drawing upon the book Students for a Democratic Society: a Graphic History, will be open at the CUNY Graduate Center in December. Come see the exhibit and join us for a book signing and panel discussion for Students for a Democratic Society: a Graphic History, scripted by Harvey Pekar and others and edited by Paul Buhle, editor of the 1960s SDS magazine Radical America. Harvey Pekar, real-life star of the award-winning film and the book series American Splendor (and sometime Letterman Show guest), will deliver a talk on comics and politics, followed by a panel including Buhle, former SDS-NY regional officer, Weatherman Jeff Jones, and members of the New SDS.

Howling Mob Society Strikes Pittsburgh

Posted December 2, 2007 by jmacphee in In the News

Justseeds is having its first annual meeting and retreat in Pittsburgh this weekend! And while we're here we ran into some amazing political street art. The Howling Mob Society has installed a series of historical markers correcting the public perception of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which was one of the most lively and violent labor uprising in the history of the US. Here's who they are (from their website):

"The Howling Mob Society (HMS) is a collaboration of artists, activists and historians committed to unearthing stories neglected by mainstream history. HMS brings increased visibility to the radical history of Pittsburgh, PA through grassroots artistic practice. Our current focus is The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a national uprising that saw some of its most dramatic moments in Pittsburgh."

Graffiti in Iraq

Posted November 9, 2007 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti

My friend Bettina recently sent me this list of links to stories and images of graffiti in Baghdad. Most of them are old, back from the beginning of the war when the graffiti was being heralded as a sign of "new found freedom." It's interesting to go back and re-read these, and also look at the youtube videos of more more recent graffiti:

National Public Radio
Christian Science Monitor
Slate
YouTube 1
YouTube 2

Europe Communique #1: Ungdomshuset

Posted October 18, 2007 by jmacphee in Political Art

Icky and I are traveling around Europe and have been meeting with some great people and learning about some amazing art and activist projects. Here's our first missive about a struggle going on in Copenhagen:

While in Copenhagen we learned about a huge struggle going on now around the Ungdomshuset, which was the "youth house," a squatted community center for mostly punk and anarchist kids. As far as we understand, the city sold the building to a religious group who evicted them, which led to days of rioting back in the spring. Since they have torn the whole building down and are now trying to sell the land.

The location of the former squat is a sad blank spot in the landscape now, with both the building and the garden that were in the back completely destroyed and removed. The address of the building was 69 Jagtvej in the Nørrebro neighborhood, and now the entire city (and I mean the ENTIRE city) is covered with graffiti that says "69." The memory of Ungdomshuset is everywhere you look.

The kids came up with a plan to squat another building, and publicly advertised the date, time and place they would do it for months, having huge build up events almost every week, demonstrations of 5000 kids taking over different streets. One of the big things we noticed was that each event was advertised with tons of large scale posters, most full color and amazingly designed.

Finally last week came the announced day and something like 15,000 kids came from all over the country and occupied the building, and just sat down and refused to leave. It took the police hours to drag them out and after they finally did, the chief of police said the police would no longer fight the kids or deal with the kids, and it was a problem for the politicians, and they needed to solve it...so the movement forced a split between the cops and government, which seems pretty interesting...

Here is the Ungdomshushet website in English.

Vieques Radio

Posted October 8, 2007 by jmacphee in In the News

This came in the other day from The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, who were instrumental in the fight to get the US to stop bombing the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques a few years back:

The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CPRDV) is in the process of applying for a Full Power Non Commercial Educational Radio license from the Federal Communications Commission.

This is part of a long-term project to establish an educational community radio station based in Vieques which will broadcast to the Eastern Region of Puerto Rico, under the name of RADIO COMUNITARIA VIEQUES-FM (RCV-FM).

Read the rest of the entry »

Everyday Transactions- An IN:SITE Mural

Posted May 10, 2007 by in Political Art

Colin Matthes recently completed a mural for Milwaukee's IN:SITE temporary public art program. The mural is titled "Everyday Transactions: The Familiar Inconceivable". The mural draws upon elements of the everyday, and reflects much of what occurs- business, warfare, and leisure. Water plays an important role in this mural. Water simultaneously connects us and divides the space. With talk of global warming, tropical storms, and the increasing scarcity of water in poor countries we are asked to question our relationship to water, as well as our relationship to each other in the world around us.

detail views:

IN:SITE has been providing resources and opportunities to create temporary public art in Milwaukee since the fall of 2006. In that time a number of wonderful projects have been created such as:

“Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else.” by Chris Silva and Michael Genovese

“Super Subconscious” by Harvey Opgenorth and Nate Page

This most recent round of projects also includes:

•“Phyto Remedy” by Benjamin Martinkus

•“Through 30 Steps Backward” by Mike Genovese

•“Flight” by Darryl Jensen

•“Urban Radio Network” by Bridget Quinn and Jessica Vandevort

•“PARK(ing)” by Rosheen Styczinski

and many more...

For more information on the current round of IN:SITE projects, to view the archive of past projects, or to find out how to get involved in the program please visit the IN:SITE website at http://www.insitemilwaukee.org.

The NAFTA Effect

Posted November 22, 2006 by in Inspirations

In October members of THINK AGAIN did some large-scale projections in Los Angeles for a project was called "The NAFTA Effect" organized by Outpost for Contemporary Art. THINK AGAIN's mobile projectors roamed the streets of Los Angeles after dark emblazoning giant projections on building facades. This project acknowledges the contribution and participation of immigrant laborers in the life of Los Angeles. On the level of policy, The NAFTA Effect highlights how international treaties like NAFTA, in concert with national anti-immigration efforts, reshape the ways that families live and work on both sides of the border as well as challenging the proposed 700-mile border fence, and the criminalization of undocumented workers.

To see a slide show, and for more information on the project visit: http://www.saltinthewound.org/

Mom will drive her son to community service?

Posted October 20, 2006 by in In the News

Im currently in Daytona Beach, FL and there isn't a whole lot to do late night, so I was sitting with my computer in front of the TV. Now I don't find much interesting on television, so it didn't matter that I was watching Cardon Daly's late show. What caught my attention was when he made a bad joke about a mom that drove her son and a few friends around to throw up some tags on Sunset Blvd, in LA. I did what most curious people with a laptop in front of them might do, I hit google news and searched! What I found was the latest in graffiti crimes and convictions.

Prosecutors have dismissed vandalism charges against a 42-year-old mother accused of shuttling her two sons and their three friends around in a sport utility vehicle so they could spray graffiti.

The charges against Victoria Villicano were dropped "in the interest of justice," but her 20-year-old son was prosecuted for spraying dozens of tags along Sunset Boulevard in late August, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

David Ramirez pleaded guilty to two counts of felony vandalism of more than $400. He was sentenced Thursday to 46 days in county jail and three years probation. Superior Court Judge Norm Shapiro also ordered Ramirez to serve 200 hours of graffiti removal.

The judge ordered Villicano to serve another 90 days in jail for violating her probation stemming from a drug arrest earlier this year.

Villicano was charged in January with one felony count of possession or purchase of a cocaine base for sale. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in jail with credit for nearly three months behind bars and was placed on probation.

The status of any charges against the other four suspects, ranging in age from 14 to16, were not immediately available.

Incarceration for over six weeks and 3 years probation will do a lot to a person. Deter other people from writing their name on walls, I'm not so sure.

You can check out a short clip abou the HIVC-High into Vandalism Crew over at CBS.

Mexico's Walls Exclaim: "The revolution of the 21st Century will arise in Oaxaca"

Posted August 29, 2006 by in Posters

For decades, teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico, have conducted strikes to demand educational reform from the federal and state government. Some of the teacher's demands include living wages, sanitary schools, text books, and more public school facilities. Historically, these strikes have lasted short periods of time and caused minimal or no disruption to the state's economy. The government, except for minor concessions, has been able to ignore the teacher's strikes and their demands

An independent journalist, referred to by the Mexico Solidarity Network as an "unidentified Chicano," reports:

May 15, 2006: It's National Teachers Day in Oaxaca. And the leadership of Oaxaca's 70,000 teachers representing Section 22 of the National Teachers Union declared that if there was no further movement in their negotiations with the government, then the following week "would see a state-wide strike by Oaxaca's school teachers" and that "This one will be different than all the previous strikes"...

May 22-24, 2006: 70,000 Oaxaqueño school teachers go on strike. And the first indications that this was to be a "different" kind of strike were immediately apparent in and around the city's historic centre. There, for the first time, the teachers, in the thousands, erected a tent and awning city, occupied day and night in the Zocalo and in the streets surrounding the Zocalo. It's a peaceful occupation of the city's center, but it is also immediately apparent that more teachers are coming into the occupied area on a daily basis. And these teachers are not just from the City of Oaxaca. They're swarming in from the outlying villages and towns in the Valley... (Mexico Solidarity Network Weekly News and Analysis, August 21-27, 2006)

The teacher's strike, their encampments, their independent media infrastructure, and their continuous mass mobilizations (marches reaching up to 300,000 people) have been perceived as a serious threat to Mexico's dominant political and economic order. In the early morning of June 14, 2006, the state attempted to crush the teacher's movement by launching an army of several thousand uniformed and plain clothed state and municipal police in an all out attack against the teachers. Police violently destroyed the encampments and scattered the teachers throughout the city.

Within two days, the teachers released the names and photos of 12 teachers and 3 students who were killed and/or disappeared during the attack. The government denies the charges. To date, it is confirmed that five union members have been shot and killed by police.

Since the June 14th attack, teachers and their sympathizers have taken the city center back. They have rebuilt their encampments, their radio stations, their newsletter circulation, and their barricades. The mass mobilizations continue and, following a police attack on independent radio stations, they have been complimented by another effective tactic, the occupation of main stream media centers. From here, the teachers have promoted their most recent and immediate demand, the resignation of Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

Government repression also persists. Police continue to attack and kill members of the APPO, a recently formed network of organizations sympathetic to the teachers strike and dedicated to removing Governor Ortiz from power. On August 22, 2006, police attacked APPO members who were guarding commercial station La Ley 710, killing Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes, head of the education sector of the state Department of Public Works and an APPO sympathizer.

For more information check out these websites:

narconews.com (English)

Mexico Solidarity Network News and Analysis (English)

Indymedia, Mexico (Español)

Indymedia Mexico, Desalojo Oaxaca (Español)

Centro de Medios Libres, DF (Español)

Indymedia, Chiapas (Español)

To learn more about the historical context of Mexico's teachers movement, come to a special movie screening of Granito de Arena. August 31st, 8pm. Times Up!, 49 East Houston (bet. Mott and Mulberry)

Granito de Arena: Award-winning Seattle filmmaker, Jill Freidberg (This is What Democracy Looks Like, 2000), spent two years in southern Mexico documenting the efforts of over 100,000 teachers, parents, and students fighting to defend the country's public education system from the devastating impacts of economic globalization. Freidberg combines footage of strikes and direct actions with 25 years worth of never-before-seen archival images to deliver a compelling and unsettling story of resistance, repression, commitment, and solidarity.

The pictures in this post were taken by Sasha Hammad. Thank you to her.

New York Banners Wave in Winds of Change, Demanding Justice for all Immigrants

Posted May 22, 2006 by in Artwork Needed

New Yorkers throughout this City’s diverse communities this morning awoke to messages calling for justice and equality for immigrants throughout the United States.

The messages, including “No Deportations”, “Legalization for All Immigrants”, “Rights for All Workers” among others, were painted on banners unfurled over prominent public sites throughout four boroughs.

The banners – penned in languages from English, Spanish, Korean, Urdu, Chinese and others - were dropped throughout the city in the early morning hours. Manhattan locations include 155th & Riverside Drive, 120th Street & FDR Drive, and Chinatown. Queens locations include the Queensboro Bridge and Jackson Heights and Brooklyn locations include the Prospect Expressway and the BQE.

With Bush's national televised speech on immigration reform on Monday, this action is designed as the people’s response and follows recent national protests, including one in NYC on May 1 that drew out hundreds of thousands of people.

This also comes within New York City's “National Week of Action” called to coincide with the Senate resuming Immigration Debates the same day of Bush’s immigration speech. Here is the press release for the national day of action.

Immigrants Demand Real Legalization & Reject Inhumane Compromises

As the Senate reconvenes on Monday, May 15th for the last stretch of its immigration reform debate, immigrants in New York City will join thousands across the country in a National Week of Actions from May 14- May 20 to say "No Deal!" to a three tier legalization bill, guest worker programs, increased enforcement, and border walls. Immigrants warn the Senate against compromising our futures with the bill on the table which has drawn mass opposition for its attempt to split up immigrant families and increase criminalization through expedited deportation and indefinite detention. Instead grassroots coalitions of diverse immigrant organizations stand firm in saying that immigrants deserve no less than:

(1) Legalization for all immigrants; No guest-worker programs of work & leave

(2) Improved and faster family reunification opportunities for all;

(3) Enforce the protection of human and civil rights by reducing detention & deportation, ending collaboration between the DHS and public agencies, and ending deaths & abuses of migrants at the borders;

(4) Non-compliance with the REAL ID Act and the guarantee of equal access to driver's licenses for immigrants;

(5) Equal protection of labor rights of undocumented workers.

Also, check out our small, but hopefully growing, archive of immigrant's rights artwork. All pieces are available for download and free dissemination.

Chalking is Not a Crime

Posted April 3, 2006 by in Political Art

The Gothamist recently posted a story about a festive day of street chalking, which was ruined by a pair of self-righteous snitches and some bored police officers. An eyewitness and participant in the day of chalking describes his experience.

We took a grand old stroll near the cube in Astor Place. On the sidewalk around the cube, we saw a ginormous yin yang drawn in chalk on the sidewalk, and two girls drawing stuff around it. We grabbed some chalk and joined in... Others joined in and left whatever messages they pleased. Eventually, one of the girls started to draw on the cube itself. Verily, this was the trickle that started the flood, as everyone else followed afterwards. Including us. People climbed ontop of the cube to defa-- draw on it. It was a grand old time.

Judging from these pictures, the chalking engaged the interest and participation of many a passer-by. Fun for the whole family. Sadly, a pair of cranky graffiti haters were so disturbed by the chalking that they decided to call the police. The authorities arrived and arrested several chalkers, as well as a group of girls who had protested the arrests by chanting "let them go!" These two girls eventually spent 26 hours in police custody, were tried and eventually their charges were dismissed.

Seth, one of the individuals arrested, posted these comments on the Gothamist, reflecting on his experience in detention.

i spent 26 hours in jail for this shit, was rather ridiculous. it wasnt free speech or defacement, it was us having a little bit of fun that didnt hurt anyone. everything was temporary, but the cops treated us like shit. noone was caught with drugs, though they mistook a bag of maple sugar candy my friend had for crack before they tested it. it was outrageous to waste my weekend like this, and thats not mentioning how many different ways the cops broke the law in processing us. they held us for 12 hours in the precint, denied food, water, or bathroom usage. one of the guys in the cell with me was a diabetic (arrested on a different charge) but his request for medical attention or a sugar level check after he realized he couldnt feel his fingers was delayed for 2 hours while the cops told him to wait. meanwhile, it was 6 hours after we had been taken in before the precint bothered to notify our parents. i resent how some people have made us out to be the villan of this piece, but our having fun was not a justification for how the cops had theirs at our expense.

One of the kids who was arrested, calling himself "the marshmallow kid," summarized his experience before the judge.

after spending 26 hours in police custody (2 of them were released after 20 hours) we were released by the judge who basically said: "this is a bullshit charge. chalk is not considered grafitti and therefore the charges pressed against you are unjustified and you should not have been arrested to begin with. stay out of trouble for 6 months and it wont be on your records. get out of my face.

The marshmallow kid's statement is true. Chalking on the sidewalk is technically not a crime because there is no mention of it in any of New York City's graffiti laws. However, many police, who either don't know this or pretend to not know this fact, will arrest and detain you anyway.

For more info on local chalk artists, check out this post about the Ellis G's chalk shadows.

First photo by cooler1011, second photo by minusbaby.

Unexpected Graffiti Archivist!

Posted January 31, 2006 by in In the News

Ed Hay may spend most of his time cleaning up graffiti from the railway cars for the CN. But, for the past six years during his "break time" he has taken pictures of what he considers to be some of the best pieces--before he paints over them! By his own count he now his over 300 pictures, and some of his favorites will be on display at the Graffiti Gallery in Manitoba. Though Mr. Hay admits that the CN would probably "frown" on his contributions, he contends, along with the artistic director of the gallery Pat Lazo, that the work "shows the importance of having legal places for graffiti artists to work."

The Graffiti Gallery is no stranger to the controversies that inevitabley follow any efforts to frame graffiti outside of the mainstream context of illegality and property damage. In its own words, the Gallery has been "using art as a tool for community, social, economic and individual growth." Started by Steve Wilson seven years ago, it has been navigating the awkward problems of legitimizing graffiti without alienating the graffiti writing community. And, its come a long way, now operating as a non-profit organization, it offers a diverse set of educational programs and holds various shows and exhibitions. Not to mention, it has helped to invigorate the creation of numerous murals in the surrounding area, which have helped to blur the lines between graffiti "vandalism" and "art".

For more info about the gallery click here. To visit their webpage go here. To read the rest of the article on Ed Hay go here.

photos are from the Graffiti Gallery

Chilean Stencils and Politics

Posted January 20, 2006 by in Political Art

A while back, I asked my friend Salvador to take some pictures of political graffiti during his trip to Chile. Salvador is back and he has brought 26 pictures of excellent stencils and slogans he spotted on the street. A wide spectrum of radical politics color Chile’s urban landscape. Some pieces are explicitly anarchist, others socialist; others are less ideological but deliver a clear and powerful message of dissent and hope for a better world. Click here to view all of the pictures on Salvador's Flickr account. The image above reads, "Rebel Action Muralists"

This might also be a good time to mention the recent presidential election in Chile. Michelle Bachelet, a 54-year-old pediatrician, is Chile’s first female president and the first democratically elected women president in Latin America. Bachelet is part of a new generation of political leadership for the center-left Concertación coalition – an oftentimes testy alliance of the Christian Democratic Party, the Socialist Party, and the Party for Democracy and the Radical Party.

Bachelet is the daughter of a high-profile Air Force general who strongly supported the government of President Salvador Allende in the 1970s and who later died as a result of torture received in Pinochet’s prisons. She and her mother were later briefly arrested and tortured, before exiling themselves – first to Australia and then East Germany. She returned to Chile from exile in 1987 to practice medicine and continue her involvement with Socialist Party politics.

Bachelet is also a single mother of three and a self-declared agnostic. For many, her political victory represents an important challenge to the sexist machismo and Christian intolerance of Chilean political institutions. Her socialist ideology also represents another obstacle for the United State’s quickly sinking neo-liberal agenda in Latin America. Of course, many remain skeptical that any political party can ever bring freedom or sustainable solutions to the people of Latin America. The first image bellow (from left to right) reads, "The political parties are not part of the solution. They are part of the problem. Annul and Organize!"

The second image reads, "Political prisoners. On hunger strike since 12/4/2004. To the streets!!!" The third image reads, "Because they take everything from us. We reclaim everything. We will take everything. Capitalism is misery."

Tony Blair's grandma was a vandal

Posted January 17, 2006 by in In the News

Submitted without comment:

If Tony Blair wants to know what drives young vandals to cover walls with graffiti, he won’t have far to look. His own grandmother would have been a target of the respect agenda that he launched last week.

Friends of Mary Blair say she helped to daub Communist party slogans on walls in Govan, Glasgow. She did no actual daubing, it was her job to mix the whitewash.

The revelation is particularly embarrassing because young Tony went out of his way to praise the respectful attitudes of 1930s Govan. “They didn’t have as much money as we did,” he recalled, “but people behaved more respectfully to one another.”

But Alex Morrison, 86, once a neighbour of Mary Blair and fellow Communist party activist, poured scorn on that idea. “I’m sure Mary would have been laughing her head off at her grandson’s description of Govan as some kind of idyllic community,” he says. “The reality was that Govan was a terrible place to live.”

Link.

Myspace.com enables police in Massachusetts

Posted January 16, 2006 by in In the News

Recently in Massachusetts police used the networking website Myspace.com to find 3 graffiti artists that are suspected to have caused $75,000 worth of "damage." Stoughton Police Officers "spent more than two months surfing the popular website Myspace.com for Stoughton youths who were active in the graffiti artist community." According to the Boston Globe.Officers turned to the website after attempts to identify the "perpetrators" in the local high school were unsuccessful.

Myspace, a free website, allows users to form networking groups based on shared interests. All three of the teenagers charged were members of a group called ''Graffiti Artists," which features artists from all over the world.

Police used photographs, of the graffiti, and the list of "interests," tagging, found on the website as probable cause to bring the three teenagers in for questioning.

CBS4 in Boston reports in their news clip:

(one) 18-year-old has been charged with 28 counts of tagging property and 11 counts of malicious damage of more than $250; , (another) 17(years old), has been charged with 17 counts of tagging and 11 counts of malicious damage of more than $250; and (another) 18 year old, has been charged with 14 counts of tagging.

They were charged according to each "tag" on every building and vehicle, which accounts for the numerous counts. The Stoughton Journal reports that they face "felony"criminal charges and the possibility of paying restitution.

As graffiti artists and websites proliferate it is assumed that police and detectives will use them as an aid, much like this example and what happened recently in Dallas.

Philadelphia Murals

Posted January 2, 2006 by in In the News

The Washington Post had a nice article a few days back on Philadelphia's extraordinary public murals:

White-haired Marian Custus peers out her door where a row of elegant townhouses once stood. The owners fled, and crack and arson crept in. All became rubble. Two years ago the artists arrived and enlisted neighborhood kids and painted two radiant murals on the sides of rowhouses, known collectively as "Holding Grandmother's Quilt."

"Do you know how lucky I am?" Custus confides to a visitor. "It's like waking up every morning and having a museum painting in your neighborhood. I feel so lucky to live here."

No city in America has so much mural art, a brick wall poetry that reflects every mood in Philadelphia. There are portraits of Dr. J and Frank Sinatra and a brilliant mural of Jackie Robinson sliding home. But as touching are murals of neighborhood children and a beloved cop who died in Iraq, a "Healing Wall" that stretches 300 feet along the railway tracks and a 50-foot Brobdingnagian garden mural that dominates a now-drug blasted corner in the Mantua neighborhood.

Full article here. Many of Philadelphia's public murals were initiated and funded as an anti-graffiti program. Here's a program that actually defines quality of life positively, cultivating beauty on the city's walls. NYC's politicians could take a lesson in constructive thinking from Philly!

Photo at top from Fivefity_Tom's flickr photostream.

Arresting Graffiti

Posted December 23, 2005 by in Free Speech

In what was an extensive and coordinated effort yesterday morning, at least 30 Dallas police officers attempted to round up 10 persons with arrest warrants. In the operation, six graffiti artists were arrested for alleged property damage totaling about $100,000. Two face felonies punishable by up to 2 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. The other 4, including a 16 year old, face Class B misdemeanor charges that carry a possible 6 month jail term with $2,000 in fines.

Police Chief David Kunkle has apparently been motivated by a website that he claims features two of the apprehended suspects. Kunkle argues that anyone who would post their work on such a site, (presumably because the site pokes a bit of fun at the police) must have "a lack of respect for the community," and they are in fact making "an arrogant in-your-face kind of statement." Kunkle has taken it personally. He has asked the district attorney not to accept plea bargains in any of the pending cases. Sites that feature graffiti, and you know who you are, beware of the message that you may be promoting--according to Kunkle it cannot be celebatory or positive.

These arrests come on the heels of Borf's, or as he has now become known, John Tsombikos, arrest and consequent trial. He, in fact, did put in a plea of guilty to one count of felony destruction of property, a charge that carries a maximum prison term of 10 years and a fine of as much as $5,000. Though he answered routine questions at his trail he never had to directly mention any of the actions that put him in court. He is expected to do so however at his sentencing hearing on Feb. 9, 2005.

As part of his plea Tsombikos has agreed to clean graffiti for 80 of the 200 community service hours that he has, on top of $12,000 in fines. Jail time, if any, will not be known until the Feb. 9th hearing. According to another part of his plea, Tsombikos is not allowed to carry any art supplies on his person while attending art classes at Corcoran College of Art and Design.

In both of these cases, I cannot help but notice a serious sort of personal satisfaction in bringing these kids to "justice." Dennis Butler, the D.C. public official in charge of cleaning up graffiti stated that he would give Tsombikos the remaining "Borf"graffiti to clean up, claiming that it was "unwanted art," going on to say that, "let him see the headaches we went through to keep the city clean with his miscellaneous antics." Though Butler admitted that Borf "was very good at what he did," he would never consider that it might have been warmly received by the community. I suspect that many more individuals hold the same feelings as these responders who wrote back to an ARTery post about Borf, but such views are not easily heard through the one-sided reporting about graffiti.

"Reforming" graffiti writers has become part of the fight against graffiti. The logic says, get someone who has been through the system to tell kids that its not worth it, and because they have credentials kids will listen and not fall into a "life of crime." I feel very strongly about community-based arts programs, especially ones that go out and transform neigborhood walls into vibrant and colorful expressions that reflect the feelings and hopes of that community. But, it just seems to me that too many people fail to admit that there is something positive about graffiti, without immediately bracketing it with a "but."

Case in point, this article writes about it "as a therapeutic form of expression," but then they can't help but add that it is "often a springboard for youngsters into a life of crime." This particular piece had several compelling comments that at least broadened the discussion on graffiti. Alex Avila, a Cultural Director for the Arts Council for San Benardino, stated that "it can also be a child's plea for help or a way of processing the struggles of life." She went on to suggest that community based programs "build confidence in the kids," and "allow them to take ownership of something and bring awareness to the community." Though some of her comments entangle themselves in the dangerous logic of "redeeming wayward youth," she at least points out that a lot of what is at stake is explicitly about ownership.

The "Myth of 3rd World Debt" mural images come to us via the Woostercollective site and I think they illustrate perfectly the problems that a community-based art collective, or any public muralist, has to contend with when their work is presented on a wall that is privately owned. The mural, no matter how open or unrestricting it may seem, must always pass through a filter, and if the message is not on point then it will be censored. In this case a poem by Nyarai Humba was painted over the day after it was put up. You can read it in full here.

On a final note, the WoosterCollective site has begun to map out where graffiti arrests have occured in NYC area. This is an excellent project and it may make more transparent which communities have been targeted by the Vandal Squads.

(also thanks to Wooster for the first image)

Graffiti in the Classroom

Posted December 3, 2005 by in Events

If you are a teenage student, frustrated with authority and looking for a creative outlet, or a teacher looking to challenge the institutions of art education, or a graffiti head looking to be a mentor to young folks, here's something that might interest you:

My mom, a high school art teacher at Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ recently showed me some of the work her students have produced. She encourages them to add personal elements to each art exercise they do. Clearly graffiti is an important element in these students' identities. One student drew a self-portrait incorporating graffiti style letters. Another drew a still life of wrenches with his name thrown up in the background. Another student drew a still life of his id tags (which each student is required to wear in the hallways) juxtoposed with his name written in bubble letters on a brick wall.

The recogniton of graffiti as an art form can lend itself to be a powerful lesson in the classroom.

Right now in New York City, graf legends Tracy 168, CoCo 144, Rate, Case 2, and JA are working with high school students at the Urban Academy to cover the walls of the school with tags, throw ups, and whatever else they can dream up. The school has been covered in chalkboard paint so that students and graf writers can piece up everywhere.

The project is open to the public, but you can only see it for the next 2 Saturdays at the Urban Academy in Julia Richman High School, 317 East 67th Street, from noon to 4 p.m.

This is indeed a radical approach to art education, and one that teachers should take notice of. Teaching non-traditional methods of art to students encourages them to think critically about existing institutions of authority in a positive way.

In a recent New York Times article, teachers and administrators commented on the importance of creating a supportive venue for students to express themselves through graffiti:

"You can't act like it doesn't happen," said Roy Reid, an Urban Academy teacher who has created a class that centers on street art. "You have to try to direct it and channel it instead of just saying, 'Don't do it.' "

Even the principal Herb Mack expressed support for the project noting that it stands in opposition to Mayor Bloomberg's criminalization of graffiti:

"I'm not sure how it's going to be seen by Klein or Bloomberg," he added, referring to Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the mayor. (A spokeswoman for Chancellor Klein and the Department of Education said the department supported the project, but added, "We would expect the school to make clear both the importance of appreciating art and respecting property.")

Mr. Mack, one of the founders of Urban Academy, said he had watched it develop into an unlikely collaboration. "It's enriching for the kids to be able to see legitimate artists at work and to critique it," he said. "They see some of these guys as the da Vincis and van Goghs of their world. They know who they are, and they're excited that they're here. In fact, they can't believe they're here."

Borf Endorses Grad-Student Worker Union!

Posted November 25, 2005 by in Posters

Well, maybe not exactly. But he (borf) should!

Graduate student workers at NYU have been on strike for two weeks now. In 2002, NYU Graduate Assistants (TA's and RA's) were first in the nation to secure their right to unionize at a private university. Since then, Bush appointees to the National Labor Relations Board have reversed their decision to acknowledge grad-student workers' right to unionize. NYU is no longer obligated to recognize their union. Since the grad-student worker contract expired in August, NYU administrators have capitalized on this opportunity by spending thousands upon thousands of dollars to crush the three year old union.

Without a grad-student worker union, NYU's administration will have a blank check to implement unilateral decisions that affect TA and RA working conditions and undergraduate learning conditions whenever they want. Class sizes can increase, wages can decrease and health care can be cut without the university being held accountable to any kind of democratic process. This will solidify an already wide spread corporate model in universities around the country. For more information, check out this indepth analysis offered by proffessor Alan Sokal.

Graduate and undergraduate students are pissed and have taken their frustrations to the street. The poster above was designed by undergraduate photo students. It appropriates and subverts one of NYU's many advertising designs. The poster encourages students to call NYU President Sexton to demand he negotiate with the union now.

Here is another sticker, by a grad-student worker group called Nerds on Strike!

For more pictures visit NYU inc.'s photo archive.

For up to date information about the grad-student worker strike visit www.nyuinc.org

The Graffiti of Disaster

Posted November 3, 2005 by in In the News

Via Charles & Ed, a great article on the "graffiti of disaster" in post-Katrina New Orleans:

A can of spray paint was a crucial tool for New Orleans rescue teams marking buildings in the search for survivors after Hurricane Katrina. Seven weeks later, the homespun graffiti is spelling out another kind of message.

"FEMA, where y'at?" reads the writing on a toppled column in the median of a deserted street in St. Bernard Parish, where residents remain bitter about the slow federal response to the flooding and winds that flattened homes and flipped cars.

In the storm-devastated neighborhoods of New Orleans, the DayGlo letters have transformed from emergency markings to a means of subversive commentary on the slow-paced recovery....

In the poor, mostly black Lower Ninth Ward, an abandoned fishing boat has drawn a new name in mocking honor of the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown. "SS Brown," the bow reads in bright orange letters.

Foul-smelling refrigerators, which line the streets of the French Quarter and the Garden District awaiting pickup, have become a public canvas. One on Royal Street has an obscenity directed at Vice President Dick Cheney. Another says: "Please send to George W. Bush."

Full article here. The messages described run the gamut from outrage to wry humor, expressing the emotional range of a city in grief and shock.

Image at top from nolacat's flickr photostream.

Vallone Jr.'s "vendetta"

Posted October 12, 2005 by in Free Speech

Legacy Queens councilman and Giuliani-wannabe Peter Vallone Jr. is once again dragging his favorite scapegoat around the city's newsrooms:

The scourge who has been defacing buildings, vehicles and trees across the borough was busted this week after becoming the No. 1 target in Councilman Peter Vallone and the 114th Precinct's anti-graffiti crusade.

"I want this punk, and I want him bad," Vallone (D-Astoria) proclaimed, following the Tuesday morning arrest of Oliver Siandre, 27, better known by his tag, "Kiko."

"Catching this guy has been a personal vendetta of mine for a few months now," Vallone added.

Vallone Jr. --- who inherited his council seat from his father --- was one of the main hot-air opponents of Marc Ecko's street party and made a big stink about Cope2's Time Magazine billboard. He constantly bleats to whatever reporters will listen about the menace of graffiti-writing hoodlums run amok. Now he's playing the white-collar Dirty Harry at press conferences, claiming Kiko caused $100,000 in damage. The showboating demagogy of Vallone Jr.'s personal role in the pursuit of KIKO and the studied stupidity of the Daily News' tabloid style are both symptoms of a public culture that's beyond rotten. Doesn't anyone get sick of this cheap, cynical grandstanding?

Photo from vidiot's flickr photostream.

Ojeda lives on!

Posted September 27, 2005 by in Free Speech

September 23rd marked the 137th anniversary of the insurgency of Lares in Puerto Rico, the attempt to gain independence from Spain in 1868. While the pro-independence movement celebrated, FBI assassins surrounded the home of nationalist leader Filiberto Ojeda, and proceeded to brutally attack him and his wife. Ojeda went into hiding 15 years ago after being charged for the 7.2 million dollar robbery of a Wells Fargo truck in Connecticut in 1985. This money was used to finance the independence movement of Puerto Rico, and for charity in poor Latin communities in the U.S. The murder and circumstances surrounding his death were initially concealed by the FBI. At the time of the ambush, Puerto Rican government agencies were forbidden from entering the area and news media and press were denied access. While the events that transpired were not recorded, protesters and mourners are taking to the streets armed with their own visual media.