Wall post

Graffiti is easy to spot around Ramallah's pale stone walls. Until a few years ago, almost all the walls of Ramallah's city centre were covered with graffiti. A lot of it have now been erased with sand blasters. I don't particularly find graffiti aesthetically pleasing, but I think I can appreciate that it is interesting. I've read that urban graffiti is a great tool in understanding various segments of society in a city, revealing hidden knowledge of subcultures and transcribing the language of the oppressed. So what can Ramallah's graffiti (what's left of it) reveal?

I contacted my friend and emerging local artist Lydia Marouf to help me out with this mini investigation. Lydia just finished a six-month internship at Qattan, a local culture and education development foundation, where she worked as a photographer and website editor. Currently Lydia is working on starting her own handmade clothing line in Palestine.

We set out on a Saturday morning without any real plan of what we intend on photographing, but soon enough we began to see themes emerging whereby we could identify distinct categories. I decided to classify the graffiti in four categories: Political parties territorial marks, internal conflicts, anti-oppression, and avant-garde art (though the last two categories kind of overlap).

Territorial marks

We only came across two political party logos: Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Hamas seemed to be missing but then again Hamas isn't particularly popular in the West Bank. We also came across one armed wing organisation: Al-Quds Brigades.

PFLP (bottom right)                                             Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

Fatah                                                                        Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

Fatah                                                                       Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

Al-Quds Brigades                                                Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

Internal conflict

There were a lot of anti-government and anti-Abbas slurs across the city centre. The graffiti weren't authored, but I imagine that some would have come from the PFLP. The PFLP is known to oppose negotiations with Israel on the basis that it objectifies a two-state solution. Perhaps some graffiti could have also come from unaffiliated citizens who are, like the PFLP, frustrated with the Abbas-led Fatah government in the West Bank.

Homoeroticism?                                                    Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

The graffiti in the picture above really confused us. It seems as though the artist is using homosexuality as a means to degrade Mahmoud Abbas (left) who appears to be kissing an unknown man (as far as we know). Or perhaps the artist is using homoeroticism to allude to some ulterior political cause, but what?!

"Government of shame"                                        Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

"No to the negotiations (with Israel)"                 Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

"The nation wants Abbas ousted"                        Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

"Bring down Oslo"                                                  Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

The writing in red is referring to the 1993 and perhaps 1995 Oslo accords. Oslo is considered shameful by a faction of Palestinians as the accord (signed by the PLO) officially recognises the state of Israel.

   Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

Some of the graffiti also reflected internal social struggles. We weren't sure what the graffiti above was supposed to refer to, but I think it might be criticising Palestinian police brutality. However I'm not really aware of any extreme cases of police aggression in the West Bank.

"The revolution is female" (in black)                  Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

This one is my favourite; the revolution is female. It's no secret that most Palestinian resistance movements are male-oriented, this tends to marginalise women who feel equally as strong about the Palestinian cause as men do.

Anti-oppression

I like this category because it unites all Palestinian people regardless of their political affiliation. Fatah, the PFLP and other groups and individuals are all fighting against the same act of oppression.

Grassroots revolution                                             Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

   Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

Hunger strike                                                Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

The man in the picture above is a reference to the hunger strikes that Palestinian prisoners undertake. The bearded man can be seen on several walls around the city centre.

   Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

"NObama"                                                               Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

Palestinians were led to think that the election of Obama in 2008 would offer something better for politics in the region. However it wasn't long before the U.S president was regarded as "the same as the rest of them", as Obama continues to pressure Palestine to recognise Israel as a legitimate Jewish state. Having said that, I'm not sure if McCain or Romney would have been better for us.

   Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

The picture above shows a palestinian man wearing a swimming ring standing in a bucket with the label (Ramallah beach). Satire like this is often used in Palestinian graffiti to criticise and condemn oppression.


Avant-Garde art

Some of the graffiti we came across seemed to veer away from politics. I can't really provide commentary on some of the pictures because I literally don't know what they are referring to, but I suppose they don't really have to mean anything!

   Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

   Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

   Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

"These vagabond shoes"                                       Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

The boots in the two pictures above are recurrent across Ramallah's city centre.

   Photo credit: Lydia Marouf 

xoxo                                                               Photo credit: Lydia Marouf

I like the last picture above because it's light-hearted (no pun intended). Maybe if everyone drew hearts on their walls the world wouldn't be such a bad place.

I'm sure there's a lot more graffiti to be discovered in Ramallah, although i'm satisfied with what we saw and what was revealed. Please leave comments below if you have suggestions on what some of the graffiti might mean!