"DEATH TO BANKERS" scream Paris walls as crisis looms

1 of 2. A man walks past a graffiti message written on the pavement next to the former Bourse (Stock Exchange) in Paris December 7, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

By Alexandria Sage

PARIS | Wed Dec 7, 2011 10:20am EST

PARIS (Reuters) - Europe's politicians can drone on about solutions to the euro zone crisis as much as they like, but the popular sentiment is clearly spelled out on the streets of Paris: "DEATH TO BANKERS."

That message scrawled on a mail box in the fashionable Marais district of the French capital is part of a growing commentary cropping up on walls and streets, revealing deep-seated distrust and simmering disquiet as a euro zone crisis threatens to wreak yet more havoc with France's economy.

As France gets sucked deeper into the crisis, Paris is catching up with Athens, where bankruptcy woes and austerity measures have spurred waves of graffiti and the finger of blame is pointing firmly in one direction.

"Thanks, bankers, for the loss of a few more billions," says another scrawl near the Paris stock exchange.

Anger at budget cuts, concern over violent swings in financial markets and fear that the euro zone could disintegrate have all trickled down to the street level.

"Did you elect your banker?" read a stencil spray-painted on the seat of a public bench near the Bastille, a key target of the 18th century revolutionaries who chopped off the heads of a French elite that spent too much and paid too little heed to trouble brewing among the lower orders.

"Because the masses aren't productive enough, France will lose its triple-A," reads a sarcastic message on the side of the church which provided the religious tools needed for Louis XVI's last Mass before his execution at the guillotine in 1793.

That graffiti appeared this week as a warning on euro zone ratings by Standard & Poor's fanned fears that markets could put the single currency to the sword.

The company hired by the city to remove graffiti, HTP, said it is seeing 25 percent more of it this year than last, with a notable rise in scrawlings about economic malaise.

City hall tries to have graffiti removed within 10 days of it being reported but backlogs mean the wait is often longer.

One large message spraypainted in red block letters on the side of an HSBC bank branch in central Paris -- "Guilty for the crisis!!!" -- was removed within days, however.

The messages now popping up throughout Paris are a more topical contrast to the more common variety of graffiti, namely initials or nicknames that taggers leave to mark territory.

Political graffiti is an act of rebellion tantamount to "an alarm signal," said graffiti artist Antonio de Oliveira, 33, saying it showed people are fed up with the disconnect between politicians and the masses.

"When you have political graffiti, the situation is dire."

REBELLION WRITTEN ON WALLS

France is gearing up for an election where President Nicolas Sarkozy faces possible defeat by Socialist rival Francois Hollande as three years of economic gloom, stubborn unemployment and dwindling purchasing power demoralize voters.

Youth unemployment is stuck at 21.6 percent.

"Young people have pretty precarious lives," said de Oliveira. "Our only way of rebellion is graffiti."

A recent example in a working-class neighborhood read, "Full employment died of a work stoppage."

HTP says it scrubs off 500,000 square meters of surface each year to the tune of several tens of millions in euros.

HTP's sales manager, Etienne Kiraly, said this year's rise in graffiti was sparked by a number of influences, including the Arab Spring uprisings, the overthrow of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and the sex scandal of former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

"There are elections, there's everything on TV, young people see that and write it on the walls," said Kiraly.

The city of revolt has a long history of graffiti. Catacombs dug below the surface of Paris still yield a glimpse of scribblings from the time of the 1789 Revolution, when France's enormous debt woes triggered massive social upheaval.

In the late 19th century, the walls of public urinals were a target for the dissemination of political insubordination, and the 1968 student-led riots featured memorable graffiti such as "Boredom is counterrevolutionary" and "Your boss needs you. You don't need him."

An outlet for expression is the driving force behind most graffiti, says Marion Haza, a professor of psychology at the University of Poitiers who has studied young urban taggers.

The goal of spraypainting on walls is intended to "bother or to shock," she said, as it forces passers-by to take note.

"Even if there isn't any real impact it gives the sense of not being passive," she said. "It's all about not being passive."

(Editing by Catherine Bremer and Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

Economy crisis saves Spanish ruins but buries future

A man walks with a torch in the La Pastora dolmen in Valencina de la Concepcion, near Seville, October 14, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Marcelo del Pozo

By Tracy Rucinski

VALENCINA DE LA CONCEPCION, Spain | Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:36am EST

VALENCINA DE LA CONCEPCION, Spain (Reuters) - Spain's pre-historic burial chambers have survived invasion, war, a long dictatorship and a property bubble which paved over vast tracts of the country.

But the economic crisis which ended the building boom that buried some of the country's greatest archaeological treasures under shopping malls and new housing may also be bad news for those hoping to provide lasting safeguards for Spain's remaining tholos dolmens or passage tombs.

The Aljarafe region outside the city of Seville in southern Spain, with a rich Arabic and Christian history, is believed to house Europe's most extensive grouping of tholos dolmens, dating back some 5,000 years.

Many of these archaeological treasures were buried under new construction during a decade-long building craze that swept across Spain and left 1.5 million vacant homes when it ended.

A debt crisis ravaging Spain's economy has saved some of the dolmens by freezing funds for construction. But the credit crunch also means scarce money to explore these little-known Copper Age settlements and turn them into tourist centres.

"It's as if we had a gold mine under our feet; all we need is the investment muscle to reap the benefit. I don't see this latent potential in any other industry or sector," Juan Manuel Vargas, a local archaeologist said.

Vargas is head archaeologist in Valencina de la Concepcion, a small town outside of Seville and home to many dolmens, two of which -- La Pastora and Matarrubilla -- are open to the public and receive about 10,000 visitors a year.

Dolmen constructions are large stones stood upright to support a large flat boulder like a roof or gigantic table. They were erected around Western Europe, from Ireland to the Baltics, starting about 7,000 years ago. Human remains have been found in or near many of them, leading to the theory that they are tombs. In the passage dolmens, the stone structure forms the entry way to a burial mound.

La Pastora dolmen in Valencina boasts the longest corridor ever discovered in a passage grave in Europe, while its sister Matarrubilla houses a stone altar inside its burial chamber offering clues into the funerary rituals of early settlers.

Driving along a dirt road to La Pastora past rolling hills dotted with olive trees under a brilliant sun it is easy to imagine the centuries of civilizations who have inhabited this mystical land. But the visitor is catapulted back into the present upon reaching the dolmen.

The chamber sits beside a giant telecommunications tower, and empty beer bottles are strewn inches from an archaeological site which provided a range of ancient artefacts before excavations were halted after the funds ran out.

"It's a problem of mentality. After seeing it every day, our residents aren't aware of what they're living next to," Vargas explained.

The youth are not the only ones who have failed to recognize the historical value of the land underneath their beer bottles.

The Montelirio dolmen, a unique two-chamber structure in neighbouring Castilleja de Guzman, was nearly suffocated by plans to build a supermarket and a retirement home.

APPARENT LEADER BURIED WITH 19 WOMEN

In 2007, archaeologists discovered the remains of what they thought was a chieftain in Montelirio, and to their surprise, 19 women believed to have drunk a poison in a ritual to accompany their leader on his journey to the netherworld.

The remains of the women sit in a circle in a chamber adjacent to the bones believed to be of their chief.

"Montelirio offers important clues into these societies and their possible burial rituals," archaeologist Vicente Aycart said, adding: "Who knows? Maybe this was a matriarchal society and that one man was their favourite eunuch!"

Aside from the archaeological wealth yet to be unveiled, these little-known prehistoric sites may prove a profitable tourism mine for a country that needs fresh growth drivers to battle sky-high joblessness and the threat of another recession.

Economists agree that Spain would do well to draw on its rich history and culture to promote itself as an all-season tourism destination and fuel a sector worth about 11 percent of gross domestic product.

"Spain has enormous opportunities to further boost cultural tourism linked to music, history, architecture and archaeology," said Jose Luis Zoreda, CEO of Spanish tourist lobby Exceltur.

"But given autonomous communities' financial difficulties right now, I don't know if this kind of investment will be on the top of their list in 2012," he said.

Spain's indebted autonomous regions, which invested heavily in the construction boom, are now at the heart of financial market concerns that the country may miss its budget deficit target and need a bailout just like Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Plans to create an archaeological park in Aljarafe with a visitors' centre, museum and a route taking visitors from the dolmens to the nearby Phoenician artefacts of El Carambolo and the Roman city Italica are at a standstill.

Once money starts to flow again, archaeologists and non-profit associations warned that steps must be taken to protect this triangle of ancient history while developing controlled and sustainable tourism.

"The real gem of these places is the scientific depth that we don't even know yet. First we need to create a cultural site. The tourism will come later," said Jorge Arevalo, vice president of a dolmen protection association said.

"If we don't take care of it, future generations won't be able to enjoy it. We have a responsibility to history."

(Editing by Judy MacInnes and Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

"DEATH TO BANKERS" scream Paris walls as crisis looms

1 of 2. A man walks past a graffiti message written on the pavement next to the former Bourse (Stock Exchange) in Paris December 7, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

By Alexandria Sage

PARIS | Wed Dec 7, 2011 10:20am EST

PARIS (Reuters) - Europe's politicians can drone on about solutions to the euro zone crisis as much as they like, but the popular sentiment is clearly spelled out on the streets of Paris: "DEATH TO BANKERS."

That message scrawled on a mail box in the fashionable Marais district of the French capital is part of a growing commentary cropping up on walls and streets, revealing deep-seated distrust and simmering disquiet as a euro zone crisis threatens to wreak yet more havoc with France's economy.

As France gets sucked deeper into the crisis, Paris is catching up with Athens, where bankruptcy woes and austerity measures have spurred waves of graffiti and the finger of blame is pointing firmly in one direction.

"Thanks, bankers, for the loss of a few more billions," says another scrawl near the Paris stock exchange.

Anger at budget cuts, concern over violent swings in financial markets and fear that the euro zone could disintegrate have all trickled down to the street level.

"Did you elect your banker?" read a stencil spray-painted on the seat of a public bench near the Bastille, a key target of the 18th century revolutionaries who chopped off the heads of a French elite that spent too much and paid too little heed to trouble brewing among the lower orders.

"Because the masses aren't productive enough, France will lose its triple-A," reads a sarcastic message on the side of the church which provided the religious tools needed for Louis XVI's last Mass before his execution at the guillotine in 1793.

That graffiti appeared this week as a warning on euro zone ratings by Standard & Poor's fanned fears that markets could put the single currency to the sword.

The company hired by the city to remove graffiti, HTP, said it is seeing 25 percent more of it this year than last, with a notable rise in scrawlings about economic malaise.

City hall tries to have graffiti removed within 10 days of it being reported but backlogs mean the wait is often longer.

One large message spraypainted in red block letters on the side of an HSBC bank branch in central Paris -- "Guilty for the crisis!!!" -- was removed within days, however.

The messages now popping up throughout Paris are a more topical contrast to the more common variety of graffiti, namely initials or nicknames that taggers leave to mark territory.

Political graffiti is an act of rebellion tantamount to "an alarm signal," said graffiti artist Antonio de Oliveira, 33, saying it showed people are fed up with the disconnect between politicians and the masses.

"When you have political graffiti, the situation is dire."

REBELLION WRITTEN ON WALLS

France is gearing up for an election where President Nicolas Sarkozy faces possible defeat by Socialist rival Francois Hollande as three years of economic gloom, stubborn unemployment and dwindling purchasing power demoralize voters.

Youth unemployment is stuck at 21.6 percent.

"Young people have pretty precarious lives," said de Oliveira. "Our only way of rebellion is graffiti."

A recent example in a working-class neighborhood read, "Full employment died of a work stoppage."

HTP says it scrubs off 500,000 square meters of surface each year to the tune of several tens of millions in euros.

HTP's sales manager, Etienne Kiraly, said this year's rise in graffiti was sparked by a number of influences, including the Arab Spring uprisings, the overthrow of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and the sex scandal of former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

"There are elections, there's everything on TV, young people see that and write it on the walls," said Kiraly.

The city of revolt has a long history of graffiti. Catacombs dug below the surface of Paris still yield a glimpse of scribblings from the time of the 1789 Revolution, when France's enormous debt woes triggered massive social upheaval.

In the late 19th century, the walls of public urinals were a target for the dissemination of political insubordination, and the 1968 student-led riots featured memorable graffiti such as "Boredom is counterrevolutionary" and "Your boss needs you. You don't need him."

An outlet for expression is the driving force behind most graffiti, says Marion Haza, a professor of psychology at the University of Poitiers who has studied young urban taggers.

The goal of spraypainting on walls is intended to "bother or to shock," she said, as it forces passers-by to take note.

"Even if there isn't any real impact it gives the sense of not being passive," she said. "It's all about not being passive."

(Editing by Catherine Bremer and Paul Casciato)

View the original article here