Robles 1 Jessica Robles Professor Altman English 115 October 17, 2013 The Use of Graffiti to Criticize Governments

In todays society many political activists get their views and points across in very unconventional ways. One such way is through the use of graffiti. Banksy, a European based graffiti artist and political activist, is one such person to use graffiti to broadcast his views. In some of his artwork, one can see how he feels about governments of major countries in the world. Banksy uses ethos and logos in order to get a reaction out of people. This can be especially seen through two shocking and stunning pieces he has done, one titled One Nation Under CCTV and the other If at First You Dont Succeed- Call an Airstrike. In both Banksy criticizes the American and European governments. One of the first most controversial pieces of art Banksy did was in London, England on the side of a Post Office yard back in 2008. His work, titled One Nation Under CCTV, consisted of a little boy on a ladder painting the words One nation under CCTV with a security guard standing by, filming it. As Banksy was painting this there was a CCTV camera pointed at him from the Post Office, which is ironic since CCTV cameras are meant to stop vandalism. The little boy represents Banksy and the security guard standing by videotaping the little boy vandalizing the wall represents the CCTV camera. The little boy is meant to represent Banksy because the little boy is writing, One Nation under CCTV, which is what Banksy did. The security guard is supposed to represent the CCTV camera because instead of stopping the boy, the security guard is just standing by letting it happen while filming it. Here Banksy is intentionally criticizing the use of cameras by the United Kingdoms government to watch over citizens.

Robles 2 Banksys piece caused much reaction since it took up an entire wall of a Post Office building, and he did it right in front of a CCTV camera without the fear of being caught. The words One nation under CCTV is supposed to mimic the United States of Americas Pledge of Allegiance line of One nation under God. This line is meant to imply that God is watching over us, so Banksy is implying that the government is always watching people. This is a grim image for most as it reminds us of novels written about dystopias of the government always watching over its people such as George Orwells 1984. Banksy uses ethos in the piece because its supposed to get people to feel something about always being watched by the government. Banksys use of ethos is meant to convince his audience of his credibility. He is also using logos because the United Kingdom is full of CCTV cameras and Banksy is criticizing the government for it. Banksys use of logos is meant to help him convey his argument using logic. There has been much controversy about how the government is using technology to spy on their citizens all over the world. This theme of Big Brother has been the topic of many types of media over decades. In the United States, there have been controversies of the NSA surveilling their citizens through technology without the citizens permission. The NSA recorded Americans phone conversations and monitored their internet usage (Reuters). This was thought to be a breach Americans right to privacy and caused many arguments and debates. A citizen should be able to talk on their phones and use the internet without the fear of their every move being recorded by their government. It gives the feeling that the United States government distrusts their citizens since the citizens are being recorded without consent. This gives rise to the citizens having a sense of disillusionment of the United States government, which also happened post-World War I and led to the Lost Generation. People of the United States should be entitled to their privacy and should not be recorded without consent since phone conversations can be intimate and private. While there is

Robles 3 not an Amendment in the United States Constitution that clearly states a citizens right to privacy it can be argued that it is implied by different Amendments of the Bill of Rights. The Fifth Amendment is an example of this since it does not force a citizen to self-incriminate themselves giving the right of protection of personal information. In an article by BBC News about the United Kingdom, it says that there were 129,299 HD CCTV cameras in the UK in 2012 and they are expecting to raise the numbers of CCTV cameras to 3.7 million by 2016. The article also quotes Andrew Rennison, the first ever surveillance camera commissioner in the UK, saying, The technology has overtaken our ability to regulate it, (BBC News). Technology is becoming so advanced that soon it will take over even more jobs of many people creating an even bigger unemployment problem around the world. This outsourcing of jobs to technology which the world is heading to can have a dramatic and devastating effect on the people of the world. Since people will not have jobs that were originally needed to be done by a human they will not be able to provide for themselves or their families which will lead to a rise of homelessness, starvation, and ultimately deaths. Banksy also uses a little boy in his piece, which raises feelings that the concept of Big Brother can be understood by children and it is becoming more common in the future with todays young generation. Technology is becoming very common among todays youth as it is becoming easier to access among almost every socioeconomic class. There are even schools of all grades, elementary through high school, which have integrated technology use into every school subject. Some schools even require that every student must have a laptop or tablet in order to attend their school. Just over this past decade there has been a dramatic increase of young children using technology daily. This increase in use of technology in schools will lead to the youth growing up to become more adapted to using technology and making it even more advanced in the future.

Robles 4 In another one of Banksys graffiti artworks, If at First You Dont Succeed- Call an Airstrike, he criticizes the United States of Americas government. This piece was created in April of 2010 in San Francisco, California. The piece is of a young boy with a backpack holding spray paint can wearing a gas mask next to the words If at first you dont succeed call an airstrike. Here Banksy is mocking the quote If at first you dont succeed try, try again. Banksy is playing on the criticism of the United States love for being involved with wars. He is calling out Obama for automatically using force to resolve international affairs without much effort of solving them peacefully. Banksy is using ethos, or ethical appeal, by making people feel that America automatically results to war when there is an international affair. Also, the boy wearing a gas mask is startling. This evokes feelings of sadness and helplessness since children should not have to wear gasmasks in order to be able to breathe. Banksy uses logos, or logic, because the United States is infamous for often using airstrikes and drones in places in the Middle East. In August of 2013 the United States used drones in order to try to kill followers of Al Qaeda in the country of Yemen. While trying to stop terrorism is very important to the United States and many other countries, it should not be at the expense of young children and other innocent people. In an article from The Christian Science Monitor it said that there were four drone strikes in two weeks with little success of killing Al Qaeda followers. This can seem a bit excessive to some, given that the United States were not very effective in killing those in Al Qaeda and instead killed other innocent people. This raises questions of the United States governments ethics and how it is not justified to kill many innocent people in order to kill just one terrorist. Overall Banksy is successful in conveying his messages of how governments of major world powers and corrupt in ways through his graffiti artwork. His creative and unconventional methods to broadcast his views make it easier to be understood by many. His pieces cause

Robles 5 controversies and open peoples eyes to subjects they would usually choose to ignore. Banksys artwork is out for the world to see and he is not afraid to publicize his feelings on political issues, raising feelings in people who see them.

Robles 6 Works Cited Beale, Scott. "New Banksy Street Art in San Francisco." Laughing Squid. N.p., 23 Apr. 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. Chao, TIm, Tuan Pham, and Mikhail Seregine. "The Dangers of Technological Development." The Dangers of Technological Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. "Graffiti Artist Banksy Pulls off Most Audacious Stunt to Date - despite Being Watched by CCTV." Mail Online. N.p., 14 Apr. 2008. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. "High-def CCTV Cameras Risk Backlash, Warns UK Watchdog." BBC News. BBC, 10 Mar. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. Monitor's Editorial Board. "Drone Strikes That Hit Civilians: Time to Rethink Intelligence." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. Reuters, Andrea Shalal-Esa, and Joseph Menn. "NSA Spying Controversy Complicates Cybersecurity Efforts." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 June 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. "The Right of Privacy: Is It Protected by the Constitution?" The Right of Privacy: Is It Protected by the Constitution? N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.