Optic Chiasm — הצומת האופטי

Although I do not support a complete unselective boycott of Israeli businesses, cultural events, etc., I totally support boycott of everything closely connected with or supporting Israeli Hafrada (הפרדה; an (official!) Hebrew term which, just like Afrikaans apartheid (=apart+hood), means ‘segregation, separation’) or any other racist (or sexist-, militarist-, etc.) behaviour. The Jerusalem Municipality perfectly fits under ‘closely connected with Israeli Hafrada’: it is, de facto and de jure, a Hafrada municipality — resources for education, sanitation, community institutes and the like are most unequally distributed between (sub-)neighbourhoods populated mostly by people of Native Palestinian origin and those populated mostly by people of Jewish origin. People of Native Palestinian origin cannot (legally…) build houses in Jerusalem (which means the houses they do build are in danger of being demolished by Israeli forces due to administrative demolition orders ordered by the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Interior), and they are deprived of civil- (East Jerusalem Native Palestinians have no Israeli citizenship, but only residency) and human rights. That’s just the tip of the iceberg; read more at these pages (I implore you: do read!): the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, B’Tselem and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition.
So, seeing a gigantic poster promoting the International Jerusalem Marathon, I couldn’t resist but taking out a thick marker and changing the poster for the better: by adding ‘Boycott Apartheid’ speech balloons and writing beneath the words ‘the Jerusalem Municipality’ the words ‘is a racist municipality’ (in Hebrew). Next time I will elaborate it with ‘I will never run under the sponsorship of the racist Jerusalem Municipality’ or ‘I would love to run, but I can’t because of the closure’ (see the update below). Here is another photo of the improved poster (sorry for the reflection!):

There are many kinds of propagandas: by the deed, by the Xerox, and… by the marker. I really like this non-violent non-destructive direct action tactic of propaganda. In my humble opinion, it is more efficient (and by far more fun!) not rip off a poster/advertisement/sticker you oppose to, but to subvert it to make people think and rethink the issue. Humour plays a major role here. It can be seen as culture jamming. By the way, I carry with me a permanent marker in all times, and I absolutely recommend it.

P.S. Notice that racism is often accompanied by chauvinism, as can be seen in this very poster.

Update (2011/03/09): After it was vandalized, I wrote the new text:

Original file:

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