Freedom for Humanity
Freedom for Humanity was a temporary mural by the American artist Mear One (Kalen Ockerman), painted on a wall in Hanbury Street, London in mid September 2012.
A local Conservative Jewish councillor likened it to antisemitic propaganda in pre-war Germany.[1][2] Lutfur Rahman, then Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said "the images of the bankers perpetuate antisemitic propaganda about conspiratorial Jewish domination of financial and political institutions", and sought to remove it.[2]
Mear One responded
"I came to paint a mural that depicted the elite banker cartel known as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, the ruling class elite few, the Wizards of Oz. They would be playing a board game of monopoly on the backs of the working class. The symbol of the Free Mason [sic] Pyramid rises behind this group and behind that is a polluted world of coal burning and nuclear reactors. I was creating this piece to inspire critical thought and spark conversation. A group of conservatives do not like my mural and are playing a race card with me. My mural is about class and privilege. The banker group is made up of Jewish and white Anglos. For some reason they are saying I am anti-semitic. This I am most definitely not... What I am against is class."[3]
Geoff Whitehouse, a commentator on graffiti art asked "So why is this mural so offensive to the local community that Mr Rahman is asking for it to be removed? Because it reveals that the global financial system is run by white, middle aged men, some of whom are also Jewish? I really hate to break it to Mr Rahman but if he travelled a few miles down the road to the City of London and went and sat in the boardrooms of the major banks I think he'd be in for a shock."[3]
When Jeremy Corbyn received via Facebook an image of the mural with a message from Mear One that it was to be effaced the following day and appealing to freedom of expression, he asked "Why? You are in good company. Rockerfeller [sic] destroyed Diego Viera's [sic] mural because it includes a picture of Lenin."[4][5] His response was queried by The Jewish Chronicle in November 2015[5]; and in March 2018, Luciana Berger demanded an explanation for his response. Corbyn replied, "I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and anti-Semitic."[6]
See also
- Snow White and the Madness of Truth, an artwork relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
References
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