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Permission is the key.

Without permissions of all kinds our lives are


haunted by the spectre of illegality like a deranged artist painting Web:
on any available surface with their own entrails. The demons of the Issue 38
lower depths are haunting the walls awaiting their chance. Every October 2007
daub of paint, every swish of the spray can is bringing them ever
closer to breaking through into our level of existence.

We can forgive Steve Beardon his casual plagiarism, for in his


fervent quest to keep the streets safe for flat painted surfaces
Steven obviously cannot afford to stop and attribute every source
- there is a war to be won and in any war the first casualty is flat
painted surfaces. In the Paris uprising of 1968 the Situationists
inflamed the situation with their criminal acts. ‘Beneath the
paving stones - the beach’ was written on the walls. Today in the
Cranbourne such criminal activity would be faced with the strictest
intervention and diversionary programs the law could apply.

There is a proper place for political sentiments to be expressed, and


that is at the ballot box and in paid political advertising in reputable The New Reality have been made aware of a scourge that is
newspapers and in reputable electronic media owned by reputable menacing the very existence of civilisation across the globe - the
old white men in reputable suits and ties. Expressing an opinion terror of graffiti.
without permission is no different to setting an orphanage ablaze.
To this end, the New Reality have taken it upon ourselves to
Simply because the history of graffiti is as long as the history of produce a series of informational pamphlets to assist the public in
civilisation is no reason to believe that Steve Beardon is engaged reaching an understanding of this hideously complex issue. Guest
in a futile effort to control how people express themselves. editor Steve Beardon, prominent anti-graffiti campaigner and voice
of reason against unapproved self-expression, presented the New
Remember - the enemy of progress is a teenager with a felt pen. Reality with a series of arguments, each more reasonable than
That is all. the last, until we relented and allowed him the space in this issue
of ‘Web:’ to present his philosophy to the public.

All hail the buffed walls of the New Reality!

Authorised by the New Reality


PO Box 2096, Fitzroy, MDC, Victoria, 3065, Australia
Printed by the New Reality Ministry of Propaganda
newreality@gmail.com.au

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R.A.G.E C.A.G.E for the future!
(Residents Against Graffiti Everywhere) Citizens Against Graffiti Everywhere suggests the required level
of rigour and appropriate punishment metered out to serial graffiti
Rage is an emotion one would feel if one’s private property was offenders. The jailing of Noam Jason Shoan for three months in
vandalised, be it damaged by wasps or the target of graffiti. Rage August 2007 is but the first step on the ladder to a clean ‘environment’.
is an appropriate response when we take time and effort to keep
our property in good condition, or when someone changes lanes Permission should be sought before any form of ‘decoration’ is
in front of you without indicating. applied to an exterior building surface, or indeed any interior
surface which is visible from the outside.
Our aim is to work on strategies with governments at all levels
and the public to educate and share our opinions on the evils of Permission is the key. Without permission, any piece of ‘art’ is
graffiti desecration. Ultimately, it is desired to have no graffiti or rendered graffiti.
vandalism anywhere in the world. As with everything, this idea is
something that is ‘progressive’ and requires constant reviewing However this permission should only be given after the designs
and reassessment, but not changing. have been approved by an appropriate elected body such as the
local council or a suitably qualified federal politician. The recent
We see graffiti on paling fences, public monuments, along road and bans on a variety of forms of public entertainment such as movies
rail corridors. Some graffiti is colourful and quite impressive, but (Kent Park) and computer games (Getting Up: Contents Under
it has not been commissioned, it was not wanted by people who Pressure) are only a beginning.
are against graffiti, and it is vandalism. The place for art is where it
would be appreciated, which is out of sight in galleries that are big When James Joyce’s Ulysses was banned in Australia until the
old buildings, not little strange warehouses down laneways. 1950’s, it showed the kind of desicive, forward thinking leadership
that made winning the cold war possible.
NO GRAFFITI VANDALISM ANYWHERE - THAT IS
WHAT I, STEVE BEARDON, AM WORKING TO ACHIEVE! Further back in time, James Cagney’s depiction of a crime lord in
‘The Public Enemy’ with his iconic cry of “Top of the world, Ma!’
was the pivotal moment in the slide towards the modern malaise
we find ourselves in today. Without such moments of cinema and
literature there would be no graffiti crime and the world would be a
better place for all walls.

Councillor Steve Beardon


(left) and a man with a
beard (right)

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Emotions
Rage. Along with Love, Fear and Confusion, Rage constitutes the
strongest of emotions humans can experience. Surely this is a
worthy cause, worth a lifetime of devotion to photo opportunities with
local newspapers. Troubled youth, disadvantaged by socio-economic
factors and peer pressure would fall in amongst the notorious gangs
of the south-eastern growth corridor, and possibly with the notorious
Crips or Bloods, or some other gang from Los Angeles.
Deigo Rivera (Mexican), Keith Haring (homosexual), Jean-
Michel Basquiat (black, drug addict) are all seen as heroes in the Residents Against Graffiti Everywhere. No matter where the
graffiti underground. But in a chilling prophesy they are all dead graffitist plies his evil trade the stoic members of R.A.G.E feel the
- proving that the wages of graffiti are a harsh mistress. dire implication of the crime. A teenager writing on the security
wall dividing Israel and Palestine, the scratching in the stones of
Private citizens who allow graffitist’s to be painted upon their the pyramids - even the 4000 years separating the heinous act
property, especially in the form of non-heritage colours are and our viewing today of their ‘tagging’ does nothing to lessen the
doing nothing more than contributing to the downfall of western pain of the Pharaohs, legal owners of the pyramids.
civilisation as we know it today. The reason these murals are
rarely tagged or painted over by other vandals can only be put
down to the intimidatory nature of the gangs who painted them.
Secret gang markings are encoded into every large mural as a
territorial warning to other graffiti gangs.

The internet offers an even wider audience to these vandals,


who publish their mess on the web, unlike the beautiful R.A.G.E
website (see http://au.geocities.com/ragepages/aims.html).

PARENTS NOTE: If you see some strange letters or writing on your children’s
books, notebooks or in their room , they could be a graffiti vandal. You should
take note of it and ask them what it means. If they are uncommunicative and
seem preoccupied they may be part of a gang who are plotting to paint colourful
and intricate murals on a wall which is most probably private property! Or it could
be calligraphy, which is well known as the precursor to gang tattoos. Copperplate
gothic is the chosen mode of expression for the Emo movement, who are
renowned for their tattoos and lame music and hair.

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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22291267-2862,00.html The banning of the Videogame ‘Getting up: contents under
pressure’ was a victory for all right-thinking people who saw the
Three-months’ jail for graffiti vandal obvious link between playing a game and committing crime. In the
War on Graffiti there can be no distinction between pretending to
A GRAFFITI vandal has been jailed after a judge overturned a court’s decision do something and actually doing it - the link to too strong to deny.
not to convict him over a five-year wave of attacks that caused $50,000 damage. Magazine and newspaper depictions of graffiti should be banned
by legislation. Graffiti should also be ‘cleansed’ from television
Noam Jason Shoan, 25, was yesterday sentenced in the County Court to three and films, with only clean walls being shown, either by painting
months’ jail over 42 counts of criminal damage carried out on Melbourne’s public exterior sets or digitally adding large white patches to scenery in
transport network between 2001 and 2006.
post-production.
Judge Tim Wood said a magistrate’s decision in March this year not to convict
Shoan and to place him on a community-based order was “totally inadequate”. This is not to say R.A.G.E advocates censorship, merely that we wish
Shoan’s relatives cried loudly and one relative accused Judge Wood of “wrecking to ban those games, magazines, films, books and music cd’s that
our family” as Shoan was led from the dock. glorify and encourage impressionable youth to commit acts of graffiti.
Judge Wood said Shoan needed to take responsibility for the destruction he caused. After this initial step of banning games which encourage graffiti,
the ban should be extended to games which encourage other
“It’s not a case of a young person in a moment of madness damaging property,”
illegal acts such as driving fast, taking drugs, stealing, shooting
he said.
people, showing dissent, karaoke, skateboarding, World War II, and
“It was not your right, in the name of art, to damage the property of others.” especially sex.

The jail term was imposed after the Director of Public Prosecutions won an Impressionable youth, incapable determining between concepts
appeal against a sentence imposed on Shoan in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. such as art and crime are too easily swayed by things they see
It is believed to be the first time in Victoria a graffiti vandal has been sent to
on television, computer games and their parents behaviour. They
prison for such a stretch. need the guidance that only locally elected officials in suits and
coordinated ties can give.
This year, NSW vandal Derek Allen spent one day in custody after he was caught
breaking into a Carrum Downs train holding yard and spray-painting anti-nuclear
slogans on several trains.

Allen was fined $1200 and freed the next day.

Residents Against Graffiti Everywhere president Steve Beardon praised Judge


Wood for being tough on graffiti vandals, saying it would send them a clear
message.

The County Court heard Shoan, of Mt Eliza, was part of a graffiti group dubbed
70k – for ‘70s Kids – that defaced Melbourne’s train network and several CBD
buildings with tags such as “Renks” and the notorious “Stan and Bonez” signatures.

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‘187 Lil Weasel’ is obviously a death threat to a gang member
Lil Weasel. Luckily for the residents of Cranbourne, Lil Weasel
lives in Los Angeles, in the state of California, which is over six
thousand kilometres away. Gang members can cross out the
graffiti of another gang with a ‘puto mark’, but only in the unlikely
event they are Latino and from LA. Serious injuries have resulted
when rival gang members have been caught crossing out (or
‘dogging’) a rival gangs graffiti, but again this occurs in a city
across the other side of the Pacific, the worlds largest ocean.

In the movie ‘Escape From New York’, Kurt Russell played the
character of Snake Plisken. The New York portrayed showed
graffiti everywhere, an obvious extrapolation of what would
happen should Donald Pleasence ever become President.

Waging War on Graffiti


Graffiti is done without permission. Exactly like spam and junk
mail, graffiti invades our streets, our places of work and even our
homes. Vigilance is necessary and effective. If a wall is tagged,
make sure it is painted over as soon as possible. If it is tagged
again, make sure it is painted over as soon as possible. If it is
tagged again, make sure it is painted over as soon as possible.
If it is tagged again, make sure it is painted over as soon as
possible. If it is tagged again, make sure it is painted over as soon
as possible. If it is tagged again, make sure it is painted over as
soon as possible. If it is tagged again, make sure it is painted over
as soon as possible. If it is tagged again, make sure it is painted
over as soon as possible. If it is tagged again, make sure it is
painted over as soon as possible. If it is tagged again, make sure
it is painted over as soon as possible. If it is tagged again, make There is an obvious link between Donald Pleasence and graffiti. Many of the
sure it is painted over as soon as possible. If it is tagged again, movies in which he starred depicted super villians, gangs and cats, all renown
make sure it is painted over as soon as possible. If it is tagged for their links to notorious graffiti gangs in New York and Los Angeles.
again, make sure it is painted over as soon as possible. John Carpenter was right. Again.

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This process may go on for many years, but eventually the
taggers will give up or move on somewhere else or leave school
and get a job, leaving them with no time for tagging, or perhaps
even go to university. After all, he or she can’t say ‘That’s me’
if the tag has been painted over. One day the tagger will stop
tagging and become a valuable member of society. Then they
too will get their thrill from attending meetings and working with
disadvantaged youth in diversionary programs.

Why do vandals ‘tag’?


Tagging is a thrill the likes of which are unavailable without the
use of drugs. The ‘thrill’ of getting away with anti-social behaviour
makes tagging and graffiti in general a ‘gateway crime’. The desire
for risk taking behaviour, needs continual updating, each ‘fix’
After the painful experience of seeing their tags painted over the
tagger obviously is getting such a visceral thrill from overcoming
their fear of getting caught that their next step will be to embark
West Coast Gangs and Graffiti in Cranbourne on an orgiastic spree of tagging, covering all around them with
Taggers often get together in the form of a ‘crew’. Graffiti is seeming indecipherable inscriptions.
a criminal act, much like striking, forming a picket line and
secondary boycotts. It is little known that such infamous LA
gangs the Crips and the Bloods have extended their reach
to Cranbourne. Gang graffiti is more territorial than tagging
crew graffiti and often is meant to proclaim imaginary territorial
boundaries, such as those distinguishing the City of Casey from
the City of Stonington. Gang graffiti is Notoriety Driven, Brags
about or Announces a Crime and is meant to Challenge or
Disrespect, such as boastful comments about prison sentences
handed out to other gang members or graffiti artists.
Tattoos are nothing more than
personal graffiti. Under new
legistlation tattoos will be
permitted, but all designs must first
be submitted to local council prior
to being applied to skin. Existing
tattoos must also be checked for
‘tag-like’ qualities and painted over
as required.

12 9
http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/10860 The wave of vandalism, which included 8m murals of Shoan’s markings sprayed
on countless trains, caused more than $50,000 damage.
Graffiti game ban win for campaign He was arrested in July 2005 after police raided his father’s St Kilda flat and
By Alison Noonan found 46 spray cans and artwork featuring his “Renks” tag.
2nd March 2006 09:09:01 AM
In March, magistrate Sarah Dawes chose not to convict Shoan because she said
Erasing the problem: Graffiti fighters councillor Steve Beardon and councillor Wayne Smith
it would interfere with his prospects of working overseas as a graphic designer.
took up a successful campaign to ban a video game promoting graffiti in Australia.
“You are a talented artist and I accept you are genuine in your remorse,” she said.
TWO Casey councillors believe their successful campaign to ban a video game promoting
graffiti has set a precedent for the reclassification of other titles in Australia.
Shoan was “a hard-working young man who pulls his weight at work and at
Cr Beardon and Cr Smith this week praised a recent decision by the Federal Government’s home”, Ms Dawes said back then.
Classification Review Board to refuse classification of controversial computer game Marc
Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. She ordered Shoan do 250 hours of community service and pay $30,000
The board claimed the game, which rewards players for tagging public property while evading restitution to companies, including Connex, Yarra Trams and V/Line.
police and other graffiti gangs, might promote or incite a crime.
A computer game that is refused classification cannot be sold, hired or imported into the country. Judge Wood yesterday overturned the ruling, saying it was far too lenient.
Australia is the only country in the world to ban the game.
Cr Beardon, co-founder of RAGE (Residents Against Graffiti Everywhere), said he and Cr He said Shoan had set out to commit a “sustained and relentless project of
Smith launched the Victorian campaign to ban the Atari game last year. damaging property” and deserved jail.
He claimed the game incited criminal behaviour and violence toward authority.
“We had the support of many politicians here and overseas, including the mayor of New York “(It was) so prolific that it required a special police unit to put an end to your
(Michael Bloomberg). activities,” Judge Wood said.
“RAGE wrote to Atari, the Australian Federal Government and lobbied through the press to
harness community awareness and support for the banning of this game. Shoan was convicted on each of the 42 criminal damage charges.
“As this game was modelled on graffiti culture and even designed by ex-graffitists, it was
imperative that it be banned so as not to further give street cred to the illegal activity,” he said. Police set up the transit safety divisional response unit seven years ago to tackle
Cr Smith said the ban was a victory for the protection of young people from games glorifying the graffiti scourge and other transport safety problems.
graffiti and anti-social behaviour.
“This game was rewarding criminal activity and sending a message to kids that it was OK to The unit has been responsible for catching some of the state’s most destructive
commit illegal acts.
vandals, including Shoan, “Vosco” tagger Simon Nelsen and several interstate
“I think this win will set a precedent for the banning of other games that promote illegal
activities.
vandals in Melbourne on “graffiti tours”.
“It is significant that Casey played a part in an international campaign,” he said.
The video game ban comes in the wake of threats made against Cr Beardon by graffitists who
Mr Beardon said the community would welcome the tough stance against vandals.
last week warned of pay back for his anti-graffiti stance.
Vandals have threatened to paint Cr Beardon’s face across Melbourne and published messages “It shows this is a crime against the community that costs us a lot of money and
of hate on a website promoting graffiti. will no longer be tolerated,” Mr Beardon said.
“I have received plenty of threatening comments over the years and it’s never stopped me before.
“I certainly won’t be backing down. Why should I? I would be conceding defeat if I stopped
campaigning,” he said.
The matter is being investigated by police.

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Zero Tolerance - the path to inner peace
If you’re not for us, you’re against us. On one side of the fence
there is art, such as that seen in galleries*. One the other side of
the tracks there lies the scourge of graffiti.

Ultimately all art will be sanctioned by an official body, generally


located with your local council. This body will be composed of
those citizens who have proven themselves responsible with a
history of responsible and of sound thinking will arbitrate over
when a work of art has crossed the line from art to graffiti. Keen
Rotarians and property owners who have been victims of graffiti
will be encouraged to apply.

Once graffiti is controlled in this way, the same permission


scheme can be expanded to other areas of community unease,
such as film, television and books.

* Unless the gallery is showing graffiti. Obviously, this will be banned by legislation.

The New Realty and R dot A dot G dot E dot


Residents Against Graffiti Everywhere (R.A.G.E.) is a little known
group based in the thriving metropolitan hub of Cranbourne,
nestled deep within the city of Casey. The cunning acronym was
conceived by visionary Steven Beardon as the emotion felt when
he looked upon a fresh, steaming piece of graffiti marring and
otherwise pristine wall. How dare some delinquent leave their
juvenile territorial pissings upon the property Steve Beardon had
worked so long and hard to deserve!

Steve Beardon looked deep within his soul and decided that line
had been crossed. A line which was drawn across the face of
the city in indelible ink and traffic paint, a line that encompassed
our very way of life, the ability of our civilisation to distinguish
between good and evil, to distinguish between when someone has
permission to write on a wall and when they did not. This would
be his mission in life, this would be the driving force that propelled
him through existence.

16 5
Consider the ‘Dig’ tree of Bourke and Wills, irrevocably scarred by
the scratching of the ill-fated expedition. Did Wills ask permission
from the traditional owners of the tree? No, he simply hacked
away with no consideration of how his tagging would be seen by
those who next passed by.

This local ‘zero tolerance’ approach is but the first step. In later What is Graffiti?
phases the good citizens who constitute the R.A.G.E. membership Graffiti is a criminal act, along with its culture. By definition a
will petition the United Nations and APEC member nations to graffitist is a vandal and a criminal. The difference between art
present a coherent plan to fight graffiti across the globe. and vandalism is permission. When you go to art school you
obtain permission to do art. If you don’t, it’s graffiti. Billboards are
The War on Drugs, then the War on Terror, now the War on art, as they have permission from the owner of the land they are
Graffiti. This is a fight we must win, or the forces of evil will have constructed upon or the building upon which they are attached.
triumphed. If you are not with us you are against us and therefore Street signs, lines painted on the road (by properly sanctioned
a graffiti vandal, or more aptly, a graffiti terrorist. council officials of course) and sky writing are art because they
have permission. However, simply giving permission for an
In 1999 advice was sought from the office of the then mayor ‘artwork’ which is in the graffiti style does not make it art. Some
Rudolph Guiliani. The zero tolerance policy of New York and weak-minded councils actually commission large scale ‘murals’
Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe had proved remarkably effective at on council property in the misguided notion that this will give
reducing graffiti crime against the state, civic and public property. a sense of self-respect and pride to those who may otherwise
paint illegally. But instead of encouraging ‘legal’ graffiti, councils
The New Reality suggest the a new phase of the War on Graffiti should instead try to divert young offenders into commercial
should begin. This will necessitate a name change to Citizens art programs so otherwise disenfranchised youth can become
Against Graffiti Everywhere (C.A.G.E.) valuable members of the advertising world.

18 3
Issue 38
September 2007

“You arrive punctually at the university, you pick your way past the
young men and girls sitting on the steps, you wander bewildered
among those austere walls which students’ hands have arabesqued with
outsize capital writing and detailed graffiti, just as the cavemen felt the
need to decorate the cold walls of their caves to become masters of the
tormenting mineral alienness, to make them familiar, empty them into
their own inner space, annex them to the physical reality of living.”

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller


Italo Calvino (1979)

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