Fromm BBC NEWS - bbc.co.uk

Graffiti: Free speech or vandalism?

Designer Marc Ecko is backing a graffiti case against New York City In New York this week, seven young artists - backed by fashion designer Marc Ecko - filed a law suit against New York City over its strict anti-graffiti law. The law, which took effect this year, bans people under 21 from possessing spray paint or broad-tipped markers. The artists say the law violates their constitutional right to free speech. But Gabriel Taussig, a lawyer for New York City, said it strikes a "constitutional balance between the First Amendment rights [to free speech] and the need to control the long-standing plague of graffiti". In Berlin, an international conference is under way to discuss ways of dealing with the city's graffiti. Organiser Karl Henning, of the Christian Democrat Party (CDU), and his organisation Nofitti want all forms of graffiti banned and are aiming for the Scandinavian zero tolerance model. So, is graffiti a democratic means of expression or is it plain vandalism? New York City councillor Peter Vallone - who sponsored New York City's new law - and Felix, a member of the Berlin-based reclaimyourcity.net - which documents "artistic intervention in modern cities" - argue for and against graffiti. We also want to know what you think, so please use the link at the end of the page to send us your views. PETER VALLONE, COUNCILLOR, NYC Is graffiti art or is it a crime? It's a simple question with a simple answer. Graffiti done with permission is art is in the eye of the beholder. My office has even funded many beautiful graffiti-like murals. Subway trains are a favourite canvas for New York's graffiti writers However, it becomes a crime when you put that "art" on someone else's property. I have a message for the graffiti vandals out there - your freedom of expression ends where my property begins! If illegal graffiti were truly an art form, these thugs would have their tags all over their own homes and vehicles, which is not the case. As City Public Safety Chair and a former prosecutor, I can tell you that art is not what motivates the vast majority of taggers. At its best graffiti is just a way for immature vandals to seek notoriety and at its worst it is messages between rival gangs and drug dealers. Graffiti is a gateway crime that both leads children and adolescents astray and sends a message that a graffiti-covered neighbourhood is ripe for criminal activity. Costly clean-up Over the past few years in New York City the writing has literally been on the wall. Graffiti from the 80s was removed as New York cleaned up its image After removing graffiti left over from the crime-ridden 70s and 80s, graffiti is again on the rise. Last year graffiti arrests went up by more than 89%. Through April 2006 the City has received over 13,000 requests to clean graffiti. In the United States it costs approximately $15 to $18bn annually to remove it. In New York City, I have recently passed a number of innovative graffiti bills that will help fight the scourge that is destroying our neighbourhoods. As a result of irresponsible corporations like Ecko Inc and Atari targeting our children with graffiti-based marketing themes, more and more of the people being arrested are younger teenagers and adolescents. To combat this, my new law takes away their graffiti tools and makes it illegal for anyone under 21 to simply possess spray paint, large broad tip markers and other tools of the trade. Spray-painting punks Stopping the spread of graffiti is everyone's responsibility. Building owners who find graffiti on their property must now clean that graffiti themselves or contact the city to have it removed free of charge. If they take no action my new law will hold them fiscally responsible Of course there is no substitute for stronger law enforcement and stiffer penalties. Graffiti is a quality of life crime that plagues every major city in the world. It's time that we stand up to these spray-painting punks and take our cities back. FELIX, RECLAIMYOURCITY.NET Graffiti, big and colourful letters and pictures, and street art, also known as post-graffiti which includes stencils, stickers, posters and other media - are the vibrant expressions of modern cities. 'Riot cops' graffiti in Berlin: a critique on society? Nowadays, urban public spaces are reserved for those who have enough money. Advertising dominates the urban landscape, and we are constantly bombarded with slogans from multinationals everywhere we go. Architecture and the streets are shaped by commercial interests, not by the residents of the city. It is impossible to avoid, the public have no access to these spaces, that is, unless we claim them for our own. Graffiti and street art are the only ways that people can interact with public spaces actively. These art forms can, for example, express emotions, give critique on current politics or society, or offer venues for public art. Graffiti on the Berlin Wall was once widely seen as a symbol of freedom Therefore, they create a space for communication and discourse, where private experiences can be made visible, and where critical, personal or artistic messages can be passed onto others outside the artists' immediate circles. Graffiti makes the streets colourful, brings life into the greyness of everyday life and sterile architecture, showing signs of life of the people living behind the facades. Graffiti is a democratic means of expression. Historically in Berlin graffiti was, above all, a symbol of freedom in the West. Freedom of speech and movement made it possible for graffiti all over the Western side of the Berlin Wall to starkly emphasise the tighter restrictions of society in the East. The city recognised the symbolism of the graffiti and in this sense, welcomed it. Punishments If current opponents of graffiti, like "Noffiti", only associate damage to property with this art form, they misunderstand the meaning and importance of these urban signs. One writer's humorous addition to Berlin's graffiti While complaining about malicious damage, they clean the spray-painted, pasted walls, just to see them sprayed over again almost immediately. It would be a much more effective use of public resources to invest the money used for cleaning in workshops and painting lessons, in order to raise the quality of the graffiti. By imposing unjustifiable punishments and police action, they are trying to take action against a mostly harmless group of people, perhaps only to distract the public from the failure of politics in much more important questions. A city with graffiti and street art is a much more vibrant one, and therefore, it should not be criminalised but rather given as much space as possible.