Perfectly Replicates CCP Propaganda: Erasing Other Voices, Leaving Only Monotonous Slogans

Recently, a group of Chinese students studying art in the UK painted over the original works on the East London graffiti wall (Brick Lane) and repainted it with the 24-character core socialist values.

The core socialist values are the values advocated by the Communist Party of China since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012. The basic content includes the twenty-four characters of “Prosperity, Democracy, Civilization, Harmony, Freedom, Equality, Justice, Rule of Law, Patriotism, Dedication, Integrity, and Friendliness”.

This move has sparked huge controversy, and the original authors were criticized for “destructive creation” and for not respecting the norms and boundaries of public creation. Some netizens mentioned that the place is a graffiti holy land in London, and the original wall had a large number of high-quality works before being covered with white paint, even including paintings paying tribute to deceased artists, but these were all brutally replaced with political propaganda slogans that can be seen everywhere in China.

In response, the planner Yique said, “It is indeed a pity to cover up other people’s works, maybe that is the price of freedom, let me be the one to magnify the price”.

Different from some netizens’ initial interpretation of “high-level black”, the authors of “core socialist values” are very sincere in completing this “work”, and the planner also tried to explain it with some theories – “using the socialist construction method to counter the false freedom of the colonial West” and “to reflect the Roguesism of freedom and cultural colonialism”.

The authors of “core socialist values” described the creation process on Xiaohongshu and WeChat platforms:

Nowadays, this “performance art work” is criticized by many netizens as “crude and barbaric low-level red”, and the criticism of replicating this kind of political slogan is a disaster from the aesthetic and ideological levels.

WeChat author @没品驴 published multiple spoof pictures in the article “Graffiti Wall More Suitable for Small-Stay Physique”, but the original text has been deleted.

I woke up early this morning and saw some small students in London scraping the wall, and then carried out a cultural output. (P6)

Some people say that they covered up the last work of an artist, and some say that they are evading fines. I would say that these are all trivial matters. The key is that you have to be careful when choosing slogans, and don’t choose those that have little to do with yourself.

I have selected some for you small students, please take them.

From the subsequent development, various expressions of opposition/resistance have appeared on this graffiti wall, and there is a trend of becoming a “anti-communist graffiti holy land”.

The following are comments from Twitter users edited:

dabian_ju: The freedom of modern society is graffiti that lets the self fly on the wall, and the freedom under the rule of the CCP is white paint that erases the faces of all beings, and then red paint covers the word “freedom”.

tendo_fune: It’s a bit disrespectful… At least leave other people’s works and find a white wall to paint yourself.

bGqJTd5wClhQIpy: I thought this person was a counter-attack at first, but then I found the article he posted in China, and found that he was sincere, this person is too abstract.

metadogepay: I support the small students to replicate it in Tiananmen Square after returning to China.

TuomasLinLi: It was just a fig leaf and a fig leaf for their anti-democracy and anti-civilization nature, but they still have to show off all over the world and be ashamed. The result can only be self-inflicted humiliation. But it is not necessarily a bad thing to get the real views of the outside world.

ni1hannah: The London graffiti thing is actually quite interesting. It seems to show the Western world how simple, crude, and uniform “communist aesthetics” are; it clears all colors and diversity overnight, and replaces them with propaganda slogans. And its follow-up is also full of allegorical colors – its arrogance, arrogance, and self-talking, even if it tries its best, it is difficult to truly integrate into the Western world, let alone “penetrate”. Their so-called “freedom”, “democracy”, and “rule of law” are too far away from modern Western values, and in the end, they become a slap in the face.

yaling_jiang; I have to say it’s really ugly… But it also reflects the (lack of) aesthetics of our propaganda slogans through the mirror effect.

zhoujiadang: The graffiti of the small students in London, not to mention the stench of the three views, the aesthetics alone is a disaster: it has turned the artistic and rich street area into a rust belt 18th-tier small city in the wall country of Northeast China.

ferntrino: East London wall painting graffiti, purely personal feeling: the work itself is strong, regardless of perspective. The author’s character is despicable, regardless of position.

chinajoke1984: It perfectly promotes the CCP’s totalitarianism: erasing other voices, leaving only monotonous slogans.

ni1hannah: So the little pink’s art finally became high-level black, and then they will be questioned when they return to China.

ChengWeiLai2: In fact, these are not a problem in themselves, but it is a problem to be promoted by the Communist Party of China. Because they have not achieved any values.

NewCivi: A typical symptom of the CCP’s “anti-civilization disease”.

PuGanming: How to view a group of “Koreans” promoting their “Juche ideology”?

Gabbysmert: The patriotic wall turned into a wall of humiliation overnight, this wave of counterattack is comfortable haha.

lilaoshizuikeai: Yesterday, the patriotic big Vs were clamoring for “freedom of expression”, and as a result, in just one day, the patriotic wall turned into a wall of humiliation. This freedom is as you wish.

WeiWang8964: This performance art… I understand that it expresses at least a few meanings: domineering: covering up everything else; hypocrisy: the vocabulary is far from reality; rigid: no originality; pretentious: official tone, foolish people’s eight shares

torontobigface: To be honest, no matter what the author’s starting point is. But the result is indeed that this wall has become an exhibition board to humiliate the CCP to the world.

Cao Zhe: It fully demonstrates how certain things are brutally covering up everything beautiful, leaving the whole wall with nothing but standard printed matter. Propaganda products. The creation of a graffiti artwork requires superb skills, a long time, fleeting inspiration, and perhaps a one-time story, and they only need a bucket of white paint to destroy it. This is what we are experiencing.