Is the writing on the
wall for graffiti artists? When, as part of his travelogue Lights Out for the Territory, Sinclair toured
the urban streets - highlighting the prevalence and significance of its graffiti
- he concluded that the thoughtful mind, the spraycan and the "playful
collages of argument and invective" that can result have their place in the
discourse of London.
But in the offices of City Hall and in police stations around the capital,
officials have reached a different conclusion. Bolstered by new policing
techniques and renewed political backing, the war on graffiti in London is about
to escalate as never before.
A crackdown on graffiti is to be a central element of a drive against
anti-social behaviour in the capital. Graffiti artists will be traced and
prosecuted. They will be forced to erase what they have written. Retailers
caught selling them spraycans will be held responsible.
Officers involved in the new "zero tolerance" neighbourhood
policing plans launched last month by Tony Blair, the London mayor, Ken
Livingstone, and the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir John Stevens, have
been told to stamp out graffiti. There is also pressure for a ban on the sale of
"graffiti materials" to minors.
For the "spraycan bandits" - whether vandals or urban polemicists -
and for those who like to assess their worth, life is going to get a lot harder.
But Sinclair said the crackdown needs careful thought. "I think the case
for graffiti is that it gives a kind of public voice to people who have no other
access to the city. There are interesting messages and hints and aborted bits of
poems. It is not just vandalism by any means. The areas that have it are in many
ways more vibrant, interesting places than those that do not."
He added: "We talk about cultural diversity but there are vast areas
that are innocent of graffiti even now. There is none in the CCTV-controlled,
highly policed zones like Docklands. The whole point is to have an overall
picture. There are zones where you have it and zones where you don't. But if the
whole thing was cleaned up, the city would be a soulless place, like Milton
Keynes. If a crackdown is too severe it will be like damaging the freedom of the
press. We have taken this idea from New York and [former mayor Rudolph] Giuliani
that you sweep away the beggars and sanitise the city. But London has never been
like that. If it tried to be it would be false."
That argument, however, cuts little ice with policymakers. Last year the
London assembly estimated that illegal graffiti and its consequences costs
Londoners £100m a year. An inquiry found that the cost to schools, hospitals,
public transport and business has risen dramatically in the past five years.
London Underground said it would need up to £10m to replace all the glass on
trains etched with graffiti. The Arriva bus company complained that on sending
25 new buses on to the streets, 85 of the windows were etched with graffiti in
just a month. London boroughs spend £7m a year removing "tags"
(artist signatures), and more intricate designs. Their concern is that the
presence of graffiti gives an impression of social disorder and adds to people's
fear of crime. Under the "broken windows" policing theory, small
crimes create the atmosphere for bigger ones to be committed. The talk among
officials is of "taking back the streets". That will not be easy because some graffiti artists are prolific. In
Richmond, west London, three youths were prosecuted for 133 offences. Culprits
are being taken around the borough and are required to identify all of the
markings they have completed to date. The thinking is that they will not be
rearrested for what appear to be new offences at a later date.
But officers have been frustrated by the penalties. One juvenile convicted of
eight offences recently received a referral order and was told to pay £500
compensation.
Invaded Andrew Pelling, who led the assembly's inquiry, conceded that graffiti on
legalised appropriate sites could be considered as art and social comment. But
illegal graffiti could not be allowed to flourish. "Many Londoners resent
their environment being invaded. A distinction must be made. In some cases there
may be some kind of message but a lot of it is just scrawling. When the only
message is 'I was here' I don't think that is a message worth despoiling the
environment for."
But Camilla Batmanghelidjh, who runs the organisation Kids Company, has
worked with many graffiti artists. "For some of the young people, graffiti
is the only real speech they have, in the absence of access to democracy,"
she said. "Some of the most profound things I have heard from kids have
been written as graffiti."
DJ is 16 and, though he has written illegal graffiti in the past, he has
moved on to more traditional artforms. "People write and draw what is in
their heads, whether it is about their area, or their parents or a friend who
has died," he said.
"I can see why some people are worried but they need to take the time to
look at it a bit more carefully."
Police and politicians have
declared war on London's army of 'spraycan bandits'
Hugh Muir
Thursday May 6, 2004
The Guardian
To Iain Sinclair, the acclaimed chronicler of London's life and landscape, they
are a mirror into the soul of the capital, "the spites and spasms of an
increasingly deranged population".