"Racism Report 2004" is available for free - Zara

Racism Report 2004 Racist Graffiti Page 17
These statistics are by no means representative for the actual quantity of graffiti in Vienna. Tendencies with regard
to the graffiti’s contents can be seen from their respective percentage.
It is impossible to record the geographical frequency of graffiti as the reports depend to a large extent on witnesses.
In 2003 for instance, due to a high motivation on the part of witnesses most of the graffiti were reported
in the 2nd Viennese district; in 2004 an increasing number of reports were related to the Vienna Public Transport
System.
Meaning and Significance of Racist Graffiti
Considering that the functioning of a city’s public space is ruled by a system of signs and signals graffiti have tremendous
symbolic power. A city produces information by way of advertisements, illuminated advertising, posters, graffiti,
street names, etc. Graffiti are quickly produced and function as message bearers. Because they are not subject to any
control worth mentioning racist graffiti, depending on the circumstances, may be perceived as freedom of expression.
The extreme frequency of racist graffiti and the fact that they are often not reported for a long period of time and
thus not removed may also suggest to society that they are somehow “legitimate”.
The critical approach to dealing with manipulations in the public space differs from person to person. With regard
to racist graffiti ZARA very often gets to hear “… I don’t even notice them anymore” or “… it does bother me but I
can’t do anything about it.”
The permanent visibility of racist graffiti and related thereto their imperceptible and worrying legitimisation in
the public space prompt a number of critically minded people to report graffiti to ZARA week after week and to ask
for their removal. The way in which people in our society are either confirmed or humiliated and discriminated by
racist graffiti shows that racism is produced by language and that it works. On the other hand, to people who don’t
concern themselves with the issue, such graffiti may even signal: “… if nothing is done about it, it’s probably true ….”
For each of these reasons ZARA believes in the absolute necessity of consistent removal.
Witnesses
ZARA works for and with people who don’t want to lead their lives in the awareness that racism remains unchallenged.
Witnesses who resist racist graffiti strive to contain the emergence of racist stereotypes and negative attributions.
Time and again ZARA is told by tourists how appalled they are by the racist graffiti they come across around
Vienna. They stress Austria’s past in the Holocaust and point out the similarities between the anti-Semitic baiting at
the time (e.g. “Jews Out”) and today’s racist graffiti (“Niggers Out”). This clearly shows that there are people in and
outside Austria who perceive graffiti with great concern. Unfortunately the broader public is still more aware of the
large number of graffiti than of ZARA’s work or of the commitment of other institutions such as the Wiener Linien
to fight them.
Removal by all means—but how?
Some people who communicate their disgust with racist graffiti to ZARA are themselves full of ideas how to respond
to and deal with these racisms. Some argue in favour of coordinated and widely applied activities to paint over the
graffiti, others change individual letters to change the meaning of the graffiti. Another suggestion is to have racist
graffiti removed and replaced with a notice saying that a racist graffiti had been removed in this particular spot in
order to make the counter action just as visible as the racist act itself. One of the most recent ideas is to make the
graffiti disappear in an abundance of other graffiti and to create a space which no longer leaves any room for individual
texts transporting a message either by way of its content or optical presentation. This idea is primarily related
to schools where those in charge find that as soon as graffiti have been removed they almost immediately reappear.
ZARA’s STOPP RACISM stickers were also used to simply cover graffiti. The problem with these strategies is that all
these activities are considered wilful damage to property. ZARA is therefore unable to recommend them.
What does ZARA do about it?
If graffiti are reported to ZARA, information about the location and content should be as precise as possible (number
of the tram or U-Bahn carriage, address …). ZARA volunteers record the content, location and type of graffiti and
organise—if possible—a photographic documentation. In a next step the authorities in charge and/or the owner of a
building are asked to remove it. After some time monitoring takes place to see whether the graffiti is still in place.
If necessary, the whole process is started from scratch. ZARA considers cases of graffiti as resolved only if the graffiti
has actually been removed.
Christa Markom is currently writing her PhD. She works as an assistant teacher at the Institute for Social and
Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. She is also a volunteer at ZARA where she works within the field
of documentation and removal of racist graffiti.
Please report racist graffiti to: office@zara.or.at