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Cathedral in Santiago Vandalized in Hate Crime

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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Because people are people.
And maybe angry and alienated? Who knows?
Even if they are never caught, whoever did this will eventually have to live out the painful results of their actions. Sad. On all levels.
 
Peter, this is a question only to be answered by the person/s who did it. It is a long way along the road from the villages we all were born into, but the anonymity of city living gives a false bravado. In the larger scale of things, it is small, but still, it hurts.
 
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Some really strange and stupid people in the world. They choose the most childish, invasive and ignorant way of expressing themselves. Just as all illegal graffiti is. A form of bullying. Forcing yourself upon others.
I suppose if caught I would have them scrub it off with toothbrushes and solvent/soap and water. No matter how long it would take.
 
Peter, this is a question only to be answered by the person/s who did it. It is a long way along the road from the villages we all were born into, but the anonymity of city living gives a false bravado. In the larger scale of things, it is small, but still, it hurts.
I know that we can't answer this question but some times I think where is this world going to. 🙏💕
 
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<shaking head in disgust> I hope it wasn't a Camino walker/pilgrim who had been tagging markers and structures along the way, who decided that this was just another bit of graffiti to add to his 'collection'.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
<shaking head in disgust> I hope it wasn't a Camino walker/pilgrim who had been tagging markers and structures along the way, who decided that this was just another bit of graffiti to add to his 'collection'.

Well, more like "her" collection, judging by what was written...
 
Would someone mind translating for me? I know what the last word means so no need for that one...
 
Would someone mind translating for me? I know what the last word means so no need for that one...

well I don't want to give it more airplay than it deserves, but here goes: "I didn't come out of your rib - you came out of my [vulgar term for part of the female anatomy]"
 
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Jan_D

Thank you for that. I was originally going to 'like' your post because you were helpful, but I thought better of it!
 
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I managed to open the article, click to accept terms and conditions vox De Galicia and the whole article was in English. In a nutshell vandals have put obscene graffiti on the Obradeiro face of the Cathedral , related to the hard rock group Kiss. The council has put a tarp over the graffiti and there is no CCTV I think to identify who did it. There has been a similar anti religious graffiti attack in la Coruna very recently. I will read again and let me know if you want more details?
 
I managed to open the article, click to accept terms and conditions vox De Galicia and the whole article was in English. In a nutshell vandals have put obscene graffiti on the Obradeiro face of the Cathedral , related to the hard rock group Kiss.
The vandalism referring (presumably) to the rock group was an incident that happened last year. As far as I know, the perpetrator(s) were never caught.

This time, on the facade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela appeared a series of graffiti directed against the Catholic church (women's rights), the political party VOX and the Spanish monarchy.

There is no CCTV in the vicinity that records and stores images.
 
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The vandalism referring (presumably) to the rock group was an incident that happened last year. As far as I know, the perpetrator(s) were never caught.

This time, on the facade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela has appeared a series of graffiti directed against the Catholic church, the political party VOX and the Spanish monarchy.

There is no CCTV in the vicinity that records and stores images.
Thank you
 
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More on point, earlier this month, like least week, I came across this interesting development in the field of using technology in new ways. I think it relates to this issue of graffiti.

Perhaps Ivar or someone else at Santiago could make the Cathedral authorities aware of this important development.


In fact, what about Ivar sponsoring or crowd funding one of these for the Cathedral as a Camino Angel project? I have no idea if they are even available for purchase. But Santiago de Compostela has as much of a need for this as does Florence. But, I will grant you that Florence is an excellent place to test this without ruining the art underneath...and it IS everywhere you turn in Florence.

There is no such thing as bad publicity...

Then again, there is my preferred punishment for the culprit when caught. I would like them sentenced to scrub Plaza Obradoiro with a TOOTHBRUSH. That should do the trick.

Perhaps 100 square meters (10 x 10 meters) PER drawing. I believe that will inculcate the idea that this will not be tolerated. Oh, an extra 100 square meters should be added for EACH vulgarity or swear word used.

A police officer should monitor the cleaning, which would be taped off with crime scene tape for all to see during the day as they pass by. Perhaps a nice bilingual sandwich board sign on the periphery stating what is going on inside the square would be illustrative.

Who knows, some idiot touristas might think this is performance art and throw coins at the penitent. But, these should be donated directly to the poor or to the Cathedral's cleaning fund.

The punishment should fit the seriousness of the crime.

Hope this helps the dialog...
 
the current graffiti has nothing to do with last summer's AC/DC stupidity.

this does not mean that the current graffiti is not stupid as well, and an act of vandalism.

however, i do not think the graffiti can be described as a 'hate crime'.

the graffiti on the front of the cathedral voices feminist concerns about policies that legislate on women's reproductive rights, which is a major concern in Spain as the conservative party and their extreme right allies appear to be closer to winning the upcoming elections.

that said, the graffiti is vandalism and does the feminist movement in Spain a disfavour
 
Here is the La Voz article (above) translated into English and saved as a pdf file. See attached file below.

I made a very few edits to get the file to fit the Forum's limits. Translation is from Chrome's built in translation capability.

BTW, the word "pussy" was originally translated in an earlier edition as the "Cxxt" word containing four letters and being more vulgar. Evidently someone persuaded the editors to select a less offensive word. nuff said on this point.

Hope this helps.
 

Attachments

  • Cathedral Graffiti March 2019.pdf
    1 MB · Views: 77
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well I don't want to give it more airplay than it deserves, but here goes: "I didn't come out of your rib - you came out of my [vulgar term for part of the female anatomy]"
According to this ,one of the authors is a young girl who participated actively in the demostrations of past 8th in Santiago, doesn't know the Galician language so may be from outside Galicia and is a hard rock follower.
Those are clues for the police.
 
the graffiti on the front of the cathedral voices feminist concerns about policies that legislate on women's reproductive rights, which is a major concern in Spain as the conservative party and their extreme right allies appear to be closer to winning the upcoming elections.
Thank you for providing this background information, @jefferyonthecamino. I know that one shouldn't give any publicity to this sort of vandalism but publicity is of course exactly what is happening and what was intended. I mean, the vulgar slogan in front of the Cathedral was covered immediately with a large cloth but here we have the large photo at the top of the linked article in La Voz de Galicia, with two workers holding up the cloth so that the press can photograph the slogan - there's a videclip somewhere where you can see a number of news photographers taking pictures.

I could put the various slogans into context, except for Nin sumisas nin devotas but I know now where that one comes from, too.

Very sad. I had the impression, up to now, that religious and historic buildings along the Camino Frances had been respected and spared from these kind of vile acts.
 
Thank you for providing this background information, @jefferyonthecamino. I know that one shouldn't give any publicity to this sort of vandalism but publicity is of course exactly what is happening and what was intended. I mean, the vulgar slogan in front of the Cathedral was covered immediately with a large cloth but here we have the large photo at the top of the linked article in La Voz de Galicia, with two workers holding up the cloth so that the press can photograph the slogan - there's a videclip somewhere where you can see a number of news photographers taking pictures.

I could put the various slogans into context, except for Nin sumisas nin devotas but I know now where that one comes from, too.

Very sad. I had the impression, up to now, that religious and historic buildings along the Camino Frances had been respected and spared from these kind of vile acts.
Nin sumisas nin devotas is Galician but it was in Coruña.
In Santiago was written in Spanish so it was not the same author for sure.
 
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Thanks for the link - in more disturbing news, I see Die Antwoord and Iggy Pop are headlining at "The Sound of the Camino" music festival. Definitely not the "sound" I'd associate with the camino!!
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the current graffiti has nothing to do with last summer's AC/DC stupidity.

this does not mean that the current graffiti is not stupid as well, and an act of vandalism.

however, i do not think the graffiti can be described as a 'hate crime'.

the graffiti on the front of the cathedral voices feminist concerns about policies that legislate on women's reproductive rights, which is a major concern in Spain as the conservative party and their extreme right allies appear to be closer to winning the upcoming elections.

that said, the graffiti is vandalism and does the feminist movement in Spain a disfavour

IMHO, NO graffiti is acceptable ANYWHERE at ANYTIME in a civilized society. There are other ways to get a message across without vandalizing Spain's cultural heritage.
 
the current graffiti has nothing to do with last summer's AC/DC stupidity.

this does not mean that the current graffiti is not stupid as well, and an act of vandalism.

however, i do not think the graffiti can be described as a 'hate crime'.

the graffiti on the front of the cathedral voices feminist concerns about policies that legislate on women's reproductive rights, which is a major concern in Spain as the conservative party and their extreme right allies appear to be closer to winning the upcoming elections.

that said, the graffiti is vandalism and does the feminist movement in Spain a disfavour
I cannot be angry at this woman. When I read the graffiti and knew what it said and how it applies to the issues of women in Spanish society, I could only feel sympathy for whoever did it. Nonetheless, I would be willing to give my money and my strength to remove it.
I have taught feminist biblical interpretation and know how some biblical texts have been, and still are in some societies, used to remove from women that most basic of all human rights: control over our own bodies. The political situation in Spain and the recent commemoration of International Women's Day have apparently brought this issue to public notice. On my first camino, I found myself in Santiago surrounded by a parade of persons protesting against abuse of women and was given a scarf printed with the words: "camino ao respecto." Those of us who walk the caminos as pilgrims cannot claim the city of Santiago and its monuments as our property. Surely it belongs, first and foremost, to those who live there and who must challenge their society and its institutions to follow the ways of respect for all.
 
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I hate graffiti. And this particular piece is particularly awful. It is ugly and it defaces something that I love. It's shocking and vulgar. If I thought blasphemy was a big deal, I'd be upset about that too. But ...

Some injustices warrant destructive acts. In my country, women resorted to vandalism as a tool in their struggle to win the right to vote. That militancy was instrumental in bringing a necessary social change.

It's true that Spain offers other ways for protesters to send this kind of message ... but does the church? I feel that none of the "acceptable" ways to protest would have been as effectively targeted and powerful as this. While I'm upset about the damage, I'm actually quite impressed by the protest. I think that we will need the benefit of hindsight to judge whether it was justified.

And guess what? I see two silver linings in relation to this incident:
1) This is one piece of ugly graffiti that won't be allowed to stay
2) Nobody was hurt in the making of this protest
 
IMHO, NO graffiti is acceptable ANYWHERE at ANYTIME in a civilized society. There are other ways to get a message across without vandalizing Spain's cultural heritage.
Yes, at the end of the day, no matter what the argument, it is just plain a dumb thing to do.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I hate graffiti.
And I also hate the kind of poisonous misogyny that seems still to be present in Spain, where a woman can be gang raped and the perpetrators are not vigorously punished, where...etc., etc. etc...

This act - as bad as it is - smacks of angry desperation. I can't help but sympathize, even though the means of expressing that is shocking. That was no doubt the point.
Hopefully this will wake a few people up, but I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, there are some treasures to clean up and protect so that in the future this kind of thing is not possible.
 
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I hate tagging but the graffiti around Spain does give an insight into the political issues of the area. If the graffiti does truly reflect the political persuasions of a place, right wing parties such as Vox may do very well in Valencia in the upcoming election. Which truly frightens me. While in Leon the results will favour the left.
Sometimes there is a fine line between street art and graffiti.
I do not condone people vandalising churches or even camino markers. I have scrubbed off unwanted graffiti off my own fence at home and my thoughts towards the perpetrator are not in the slightest forgiving. But the political sentiment can be clever and enlightening especially in Spain.
 
The conclusion is that the author doesn't like Vox and the fact that the Bible says that Eve was created from Adam's rib. I don't like many things and never did a graffiti about them.
 
This article has some information about the work needed to remove the paint and about the problems connected to the nature of the stone. Of course they have lasers but even removal by laser may leave traces or cannot undo lasting damage, depending on the stone in question. These are the people who did incredible restoration work on the Pórtico de la Gloria after all.

We all know about graffiti and slogans on walls along the Camino Frances and elsewhere. We all know that, all over the world, the sprayers and scribblers don't respect property that is not their own, be it privately or publicly owned. I just feel immense sadness that buildings of immense value for so many, be it religious or historic or artistic, are not respected.
 
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I hate tagging but the graffiti around Spain does give an insight into the political issues of the area.
It sure does. I was puzzled by the graffiti slogan about the Borbones mentioned in the news article. Of course I knew about Iñaki Urdangarin and Cristina and how strongly some people felt about the embezzlement and fraud. But I had not really registered what was going on concerning Valtònyc, just that he had fled the country and gone to Belgium last year. Now I even know a Spanish rap song about ladrones.
 
the graffiti around Spain does give an insight into the political issues of the area.
It gives insight into all sorts of political issues. :rolleyes:

According to the article @Kathar1na just posted, rather than working harmoniously together to deal with this, the Regional Minister and Local Administration are busy infighting. While that may not be as bad as the original crime, it's just as pathetic.
 
Many statements of outrage at the vandalism have been expressed and discussed. It does not appear that more discussion will add to the condemnation of the act.

Further discussion of the political response of the Spanish officials is outside the rules of the forum and it may be time to close the thread for now.

Thanks for understanding.
 
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