London’s Brick Lane is famous for its street art. However, one wall of this area recently turned into a battlefield, as it was covered with slogans praising the ideology of Communist Party of China (CPC). Videos posted widely on social media showed a group of people painting big red Chinese characters on a white background. They composed the “core socialist values” (first expressed by Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao) with 12 two-character words, which are the most common political slogans of the Administration of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Videos suggest that Chinese students, studying in the UK, spray-painted the wall with 24 large red characters that read “prosperity, democracy, civilisation, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendliness”. Such political propaganda in the form of red block characters on a white wall is common in China. However, Chinese graffiti have been painted in the British capital in a rare first.

As expected, people got involved in an online debate over whether they could be considered as street art, immediately after the appearance of Chinese slogans in Brick Lane. Some people added new graffiti, criticising the Government of China, on other walls. They also added “no” and posted messages or images over the Chinese graffiti. The Guardian reported that the pro-Chinese slogans were soon painted over with references to the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, with phrases, like, Free Taiwan, Free Tibet and Free Uyghurs. One image showed an GBP 800 fine issued, citing graffiti and flyposting should be considered as offences.

Meanwhile, Wang Hanzheng, one of the creators, said that the piece of art work “did not have much political meaning“. In a photo post on Instagram, Wang wrote in Chinese that the group used the political elements in order “to discuss different environments“. “In the name of freedom and democracy, it illustrates the cultural centre of the West, this is London’s freedom… Decolonise the false freedom of the West with the construction of socialism, let’s see what happens,” he stressed.

Wang told BBC: “Needless to say what is the situation on the other side. there is no question that the 24 characters are not only goals of China, but common goals for the world.” He stated: “More and more people are using this subject for their own purposes and displaying maliciousness, this is not my intention.“

Some Chinese nationals argued that one should consider the Chinese graffiti in Brick Lane as Freedom of Expression and protect them. On Wang’s Instagram post, a user commented: “Obstructing Freedom of Speech is not a part of Freedom of Speech. The jargon you used cannot justify your brutal destruction of other people’s art.” Another user wrote: “Do you dare to go to Beijing and write Democracy and Freedom? If you dare, the home country you love will dare to arrest you.“

At a time when the graffiti war was going on online, several rights groups and activists called the move disgraceful and Orwellian doublespeak propaganda. It still remains unclear whether the people who painted the original slogans were being serious or ironic. Badiucao, a well-known Australia-based Chinese political cartoonist, told the Voice of America (VOA) Cantonese that the Chinese graffiti should be considered as “a crude piece of work”. He believes that although the Chinese students made an attempt to be patriotic or satirical, the real cost was not borne by them, but by the local street artists who spend weeks or even months to finish their artworks. “Some may ask, is graffiti not about free expression? Are not all artworks eventually covered by new ones? Yes, indeed, street art is like a carousel, but street artists do not cover other artworks randomly. Often, we choose to cover old works or ones that have been tagged as heavily damaged. For new works, especially those with commemorative significance, artists tend to choose to show respect,” stressed Badiucao.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das