Spray-painting a government building, defacing a statue, or tagging public transport—disgraceful to some, protest and self-expression to others.
Call it what you want, it’s one of the most visible yet misunderstood political and cultural tools.
“I can agree with the cause,” people often say, “but why ruin property?” What they miss is that, for those lacking institutional influence, such as marginalized communities and youth, it’s a language that forces a reaction.
Whether political slogans or ‘meaningless’ tags, graffiti disrupts space and shifts ownership. The millions of signs around don’t ask for permission. They demand to be seen.
Tags represent the local culture and political slogans voice its discontent. During BLM, protestors defaced statues of enslavers. In apartheid South Africa, youth used graffiti to resist exclusion. And in today’s Berlin, “Free Palestine” tags cut across a political spectrum that refuses to engage. Open letters may go unanswered, but when the message is scrawled across one’s daily commute, it’s hard to avoid it.
Telling people to “use other methods” is a rather privileged stance. When people do speak up in institutional settings—if they’re even invited—they are often lazily dismissed as too radical.
Some say ‘vandalism’ is too confrontational. That’s the point. It isn’t about polite persuasion. It’s about taking the culture and the troubles to the spaces where they get ignored. The often-spotted slogan “if Gaza burns, Berlin burns” embodies that. So does the tag of a misunderstood teenager in a municipal waiting room.
Will it drive change? Maybe. But it breaks the shield of indifference. And that’s often a necessary first step.
Cazper Steigstra is the Editor-in-Chief of The Governance Post and a Press Officer for the S&D Group in the European Parliament. He studies Public Policy and holds a degree in Political Science and International Relations.
This article reflects his personal views.
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