The power of public art and particularly the aerosol tradition has been its ability to spark dialogue. This piece by MEARone is an excellent example of how strong a piece can impact and community. MEAR’s story of his interactions with the community tells an insightful tale of his experience painting a mural that sparks such a conversation with neighborhood residents. The response to the mural is also equally telling. A business website posted several articles accusing MEAR of being anti-Semitic and attempting to have mural painted out. Is the painting racist or a proper portrayal of the banking elites wealth power being built on the backs of working people? The debate should continue. However, it is interesting to see how the municipal leaders and business community have called for the mural’s censure and erasure. CRP will follow this story and bring you the responses as things progress.

Below, you have the story of mural from MEAR’s perspective and the response in the International Business Times. Finally, you will read another opinion piece that goes beyond questioning to pure accusation.  The introduction is somewhat confusing, because its appears to condemn the statement that it makes, as if it is a reproduction from another posting.

“Most troubling about those delicate petals with offended sensibilities is the inherent tendency for their knees to jerk towards authoritarianism.

They want justice, not in an eloquent rebuttal of what offends them that appeals to reason, logic and rationality, but state-backed policing and persecution of anyone they deem to be, in their own subjective view, offensive.

This pathetic, spineless and scary instinct is most recently exemplified by Peter Golds, the Tower Hamlets councillor calling for the prosecution of a street artist under repressive hate speech legislation, which sidelines free speech in favour of courtroom diktats.”

We ask to read on and make up your own mind.

From the Huffington Post Article:

Los Angeles-based artist MEARONE recently was making a mural in the UK and faced a lot of scrutiny about his piece. He recently shared his thoughts and experiences with me that I wanted to share as it informs the subject of cultural boundaries, understanding and acceptance in Street Art:

I came to paint a mural that depicted the elite banker cartel known as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, the ruling class elite few, the Wizards of Oz. They would be playing a board game of monopoly on the backs of the working class. The symbol of the Free Mason Pyramid rises behind this group and behind that is a polluted world of coal burning and nuclear reactors. I started noticing that the people were giving me some strange looks. Suddenly a car pulled up and some dudes got out, some kids from across the street walk up and everybody is asking me, “Why am I painting the sign of the Illuminati in their neighborhood?” & “Do I believe in Satan?”I was feeling some serious heat and anger.

I said I was creating this piece to inspire critical thought and spark conversation. I heard “f***** American” said, and “f*** the Illuminati!” They said my mural wouldn’t last till the morning and I should just quit now. I continued to express my intent but they were not trying to hear me.
I felt that I was all alone, but I continued to paint when another larger group approached with older men & women telling me to cross it out and this is a symbol that has haunted their people down for over a 1000 years. So much passion and they were very versed with the taboo subject of a secret government banking cartel and they didn’t quite get me. I explained my mural & how these elite few were living easy lives on the backs of the working class, I wasn’t in promotion of these thieves. They said then write something on the wall to convince us that you mean what you say. I walked over and wrote, “The New World Order is the enemy of Humanity!” They started talking and I couldn’t understand. A few walked away, a few said OK, and some stayed and talked with me about our money system and how they see us Americans. It wasn’t directed to me as much as is was shared. I had no Idea this was going to be such an intense experience from the get go and still running. The next day I painted the bankers in with the playing board and I noticed people were becoming more curious. Some of the people from the day before were saying hello a few said good job. My third day I got the working class holding up the game board painted in and people were smiling and saying how much they were enjoying its evolution. They were getting it! This was empowering and gave me fuel to work out the meticulous details.

This whole adventure was very draining but suddenly my energy was back. Come the fourth day there was a street fest going on and people were engaging with me with total knowledge of the subject matter in my mural. Older white men to young Muslim children were talking to me, explaining how we Americans spend beyond our means and how we don’t know what our military does around the world. Our money is worth nearly 50 percent of their Pound$. For America to fall all the world has to do is nothing and an economic war can be waged and won. A lengthy conversation of post 9/11 America and foreign policy. My mind was blown, this experience transformed my whole understanding of the game. I finished my mural and drank a beer, smoked a joint, and conversed with the people, my dream to paint a mural that would rally people together and inspire conversation of things that matter, was just realized and it was a bit humbling and emotional. I feel as if I can never see the world the same again, I came into London and was treated as a third world citizen and given my first world privileges back only to be confronted by the same culture and people the UK and America are waring against. I feel very close to all the people I met at the Shoreditch District and Brick Lane, these people shared there lives and thoughts with me unfiltered.

We are all earth people. — MEARONE, 2012

COVERAGE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES WEBSITE:

Mear One’s Brick Lane Street Art: Is Mural Anti-Semitic?

A mural in the heart of bohemian east London has caused uproar among local politicians and community leaders who have accused it of being anti-Semitic – in an area with a long Jewish and immigrant history. But Mear One, the American artist who painted the mural on a wall on Hanbury Street, off Brick Lane, has denied charges of anti-Semitism. The painting depicts caricatures of wealthy Jewish men playing Monopoly, using the backs of hunched people as their table. In the background is a pyramid with an eyeball in it – synonymous with the Illuminati conspiracy theory. To one side of the painting, a man holds up a placard that says: “The New World Order is the enemy of humanity.” “I have received a number of complaints that the ‘New World Order’ mural on Hanbury Street has anti-Semitic images,” said Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of the local council, Tower Hamlets. Follow us “I share these concerns. Whether intentional or otherwise the images of the bankers perpetuate anti-Semitic propaganda about conspiratorial Jewish domination of financial and political institutions. “Where freedom of expression runs the risk of inciting racial hatred, as for example when the EDL attempted to march in Tower Hamlets last year, then it is right that such expression should be curtailed. I have therefore asked my officers to do everything possible to see to it that this mural is removed.” Rev Alan Green, a local dean, also condemned the picture. “While I appreciate street art in Tower Hamlets, it must always respect the principles of our diverse community,” he said. “This mural uses images that have for centuries been used to incite hatred and persecution against Jewish communities. There is no place for such incitement against any community in this borough.” Underneath a video showing him creating the Hanbury Street mural, Mear One has defended his art. “My mural is about class and privilege. The banker group is made up of Jewish and white Anglos,” he wrote. “For some reason they are saying I am anti-Semitic. This I am most definitely not. “I believe in equality and brother- and sisterhood on a global scale. What I am against is class. Ruling class – this is a problem and we need humanisation.” Local Tory councillor Peter Golds urged the police to pursue Mear One under race hate legislation. “I am horrified at this mural,” Golds wrote in a letter to council bosses. “It bears an awful similarity to anti-Semitic propaganda produced in pre-war Germany. “As well as the anti-Jewish overtones, there is even the quasi-Masonic (and dollar bill) aspect to encourage conspiracy theory. “What will be done about the person or persons who has produced this and when will it be removed? “The fact it has appeared over Rosh Hoshanah/Yom Kippur gives added menace.” East London has a significant multicultural community that has often fought against intolerance and racism. In the 1930s the leader of the British Union of Fascists, Oswald Mosely, was famously stopped in his tracks with his supporters by anti-fascists and the local community of Cable Street in Limehouse when the Blackshirts tried to march through the area. More recently a demonstration by the English Defence League was refused permission to march in Tower Hamlets and was stopped at the borough’s border in Aldgate by police.

OPINION PAGE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES

Anti-Semitic Brick Lane Mural Controversy Exposes Authoritarian Mindset