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Gaza supporters cover Swansea in Graffiti

Undercurrents | 08.01.2009 03:05 | Palestine | World

Undercurrents reports on the student group who have covered many of the billboards in Swansea with provocative slogans about Israel's invasion of Gaza, Palestine.

Provocative slogan
Provocative slogan

Save Gaza slogan on Swansea prestigious SA1 area
Save Gaza slogan on Swansea prestigious SA1 area


A radical group took paint brushes and spray cans to billboards all over Swansea city last night. Our camera crew met masked activists dressed in red boiler suits who allowed us to film their actions.

The masked activists painted slogans Israel= a swastika symbol with questions marks.

More than 600 people (200 children) have died since Israel began bombing a week ago. Israel has lost 7 soldiers during the invasion.

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Heart in the right place, but shit politics

08.01.2009 12:13

Israel's policies are fucking repulsive, but they aren't the same as the Nazis. When Western politicians make calls for "restraint on both sides", we all know they're talking shit, because the level of suffering that Hamas has called doesn't begin to compare to the hundreds Israel's killed, and you have to suspect that anyone who would say that doesn't recognise Israel's victims as fully human. Right? So why can't people understand that that the hundreds Israel's killed in the current conflict (even taking into account the thousands more they've killed over the years) is not the same as the way the Nazis systematically exterminated millions in a very short period of time, and to say otherwise is to trivialise the Holocaust.
Comparing Israel to the Nazis also smacks of shit liberal politics that see "normal" states as being nice and peaceful, with mass killing being something that only a few exceptions like Israel and Germany do. The truth is that what Israel's doing now is exactly the same as what the founders of the US, Australia, and any number of other states did - so why aren't we seeing any "Israel = the US"slogans, eh?

Anarchist

Nip it in the bud

08.01.2009 14:06

We don't have a bad record on anti-semitism compared to many places in Europe but we need to stamp it out completely.Let's hope the police catch the perpetrator of this racially aggravated piece of vandalism.

Pete

Hmmmm

08.01.2009 15:32

Israel is not a race, neither were the Nazis, and I cannot see how comparing the two is racist.

Israeli realises it cannot exterminate the Palestinians quickly so it has to resort to a slow assault of attrition. Clearly 250 dead Palestinians versus 4 dead Israelis is not proportionate, but this statistic hides the tens of thousands of children and elderly who have died from malnutrition and disease due to the Israeli blockade.

So yes, the Israeli state can be compared with Nazis.

Hmmm

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reply to

08.01.2009 18:26

Those numbers are very incorrect. So i'm not sure of your 1000s reference.
But you'll argument is pointless. The only motivation to achieve proportionate casualty figures is vengence. To use your example: Israel 250 deaths, Palestine 250 deaths..... would that make it better?

A few days ago, one of the Hamas leaders called for "Israel children to be murdered the world over". The only thing that stops them is their ability. So, following your reasoning, you could also compare Hamas to the nazis for their genocide plans.

9thofthebar

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IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

offensive

08.01.2009 18:27

some people might find this discrimination offensive

lot

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IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Deplorable

08.01.2009 18:30

THis is just another example of what is wrong in the world. Inflaming hatred of one group against another. People are dieing both sides and people here are rubbing salt in the wounds. There is no defence and no justification for this.

Lucy

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IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

nice to see someone taking action

08.01.2009 20:09

Don't worry about the armchair critics and cop-loving wannabe-snitches like Pete, it's great you are taking action.

I don' t think this is anti-semitic because it is clear to criticize the state of Israel and not Jewish people. The "Nazi" comparisons are obviously not exact, but it is a clear irony that the previous victims of ethnic cleansing are now practicing their own type of ethnic cleansing through a religious state, and that is the whole point of the comparison.

I can't see how it is "inflaming hatred" either - just criticizing the overwhelmingly powerful side in a one-sided conflict.

I'm sure Hamas would also be like the Nazis if the opportunity presented itself - they are bigoted religious nutcases just like the Jewish leaders. But fuck the religion, this is about basic humanity and kudos to the graffiti artists. The sooner we see Judaism and Islam (and Christianity) die out and atheism rise, the better. It still won't be perfect, but it will be a big improvement.

For an end to states and organised religion!

@non

SA1 public sector development...

08.01.2009 20:44

Support the action wholeheartedly, but the SA1 development as a case in point is a publicly funded development which the tax payers of Wales will have to fund clean up work on. Maybe you could adorn large private companies' buildings instead and at least let the shareholders shoulder the clean up costs!

chris

Whatever the rights and wrongs

08.01.2009 23:53

Whatever the rights and wrongs of comparing Israel to the Nazis, if you look into the tactics of the pro-Israeli lobby in the Western world, you would quickly understand that maneouvring their opponents into making statements they can decry as anti-Semitic is their primary tactic. So if you really care about Gaza and the Palestinians DON'T INVOKE WW2 OR THE HOLOCAUST WHEN CRITICIZING ISRAEL!!!

IMO we are not yet at the point where we can call the Israelis hypocrites for founding a state based on the sympathy the Jewish people received after the holocaust, while forcing the natives of Palestine into concentration camps. The holocaust was too vast, too many orders of magnitude removed from what has happened in Palestine. To get a bit of perspective, the US has done more slaughtering in Iraq than the state of Israel has throughout its entire history.

But modern Israel creates a spectre, a frustrating symbol of the repudiation of honest human conduct and of ideas, by a people so associated with intellectual excellence and repression.. This is particularly threatening to the left, who see ideas and honesty as the solution to repression.

Not all Jews and not all Israelis are cynical... don't abuse them as a group because of the actions of their gangster capitalist leaders and representatives.

anonymous

To Anarchist

09.01.2009 01:12

I think you're getting ahead of yourself historically.

Maybe if we compare the nazis policy viz-a-viz the warsaw ghetto? That make more sense?

I can understand your frustration, and it is wrong to compare a political party to a nation state, and yes the nazis did systematically exterminate millions, but only when they though they could get away with it.

Malatested

Graffiti in Wales video

09.01.2009 12:46

 http://visionontv.blip.tv/#1655685

Watch video of graffiti action
- Homepage: http://visionontv.blip.tv/#1655685

What's the problem?

09.01.2009 17:01

What is the problem with the people slagging this off? How exactly is it anti-semitic? I could vaguely see how a "star of david = swatiska full stop" logo could be interpreted as anti-Jewish but that isn't what is printed.

The article states the swastika is followed by question marks. So the graffiti is short hand for "Is the Israeli state acting like Nazis ?"
Is it anti-semitic to even question the morality of any state commiting massacres?

The graffiti message is perfectly valid. The graffiti itself though is pretty poor, I suggest you go out every night and spraypaint something until you improve your style. Ask the local graffiti kids for tips...





Critter

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