Comments on: Silent Protests

By: balma

balma — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:22:03 +0000

Nadia, you want to spray paint? go to Lahore or Islamabd or somewhere else in Panjab. Don’t make our city streets and our buildings ugly. Let me know which train you are on, on your way out of the city.

By: nadiaa n

nadiaa n — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:12:54 +0000

well…i know and i have seen over the years how succesfull grafitti has been in getting a respone frm the layman, no matter what, it is a visual experience, just like billboards… and yes as for Balma’s comment….i really want to know what Balma has been upto regarding this case, i wonder what action have you taken apart from pointing fingers and categorising people. Your comment is a clear example of how we differentiate amongst ousrselves, its better to get together and find similar traits in people rather than passing thse comments and creating even more differences…please grow up…i think this burger and bun kabab thing is veyr old…alot of people have grown out of it, coz nothing could have been done to avoid these categories…now i can go on and on about why these differences exist. but my advice to you is that you should analyse situations before you say something….and lastly…. i am myself in an art world,and if you must have noticed alot of students from my school have worked on walls opposite Abdullah Shah Ghazi. i agree its a challenge to spray political comments on the walls, but believe me if u go through the right means at the right time then you can!!! nonone is talking about spraying anyones ghar ki walls!!!

By: nadiaa n

nadiaa n — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:10:44 +0000

By: nadiaa n

nadiaa n — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:10:29 +0000

By: Misbah Islam

Misbah Islam — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:20:46 +0000

The person who’s commented before me, against all this grafiitti business, perhaps i should tke the name- namrah. Well, for her i would say on one thing that if someone has no other way of raising their point, then things like these have to happen. i mean if the authorities are acting deaf, then this is the kind of reaction they would get. if you graffiti like this, you get your point across and you’re not even caught. so i think it’s not that bad. After all , there are so many people talking about it, so that means their successful in getting the attention and conveying the message.

By: namrah fareed

namrah fareed — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:10:05 +0000

Well i really agree to the fact that everyone has their right to voice their thoughts and one really must. one should have an opinion and must react to certain things. But this reaction has to be acceptable enough as well as effective enough. so the silent protest is one way of doing it. Even i loved that “I love Khi”, but i don’t lke the fact that its being sprayed on walls. It’s like making your own city ugly. If the people who really loved this spraying idea, then they should carry it first on their homes’walls( which i’m quiet sure they won’t!) so if one doesn’t like something for his own , then how can you carry it on for others. And the walls on which this phrase is sprayed on, doen’t belong to him, it’s a public property and no one has any right to destroy it. One can make posters or billboards which can be placed on proper locations with permissions, but the whole idea of spraying things on public property, doesn’t seem right to me. This is my personal opinion, you are free to disagree.

By: Balma

Balma — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:38:14 +0000

Anyone indulging in spray painting habib jalib’s verses on Karachi streets: please take a hike to other cities of Pakistan. Our city’s walls have enough from aamil bangaalis and sanyaasis baavaas.
Last thing you burger activists-nikammaas want is getting caught rangay haath spray painting on my home’s walls. Either attend your classes / show up at your jobs/bizs or buzz off to other cities.

By: nadiaa n

nadiaa n — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:36:44 +0000

Well, i must say graffiti is a very effective way of showing ones resentment especially if its regarding the situation we are in. It is difficult for us students to go out on the streets and protest, especially in the kind of locality i live in “Defence” it is ironic that although i am living here i am defenceless as i can be court marshalled anytime for chanting my concerns and views. One can definitely see what happened with renowned people like Salima Hashmi and Imran Khan along with their young supporters in Lahore. I must say i am trying hard to participate in one of these groups who are contributing to silent protests mainly graffiti, I believe we can all contribute our own symbols our own slogans and one liners. We can nail it by just saying few phrases which are direct, for example “What do you want?” “Democracy or Dictatorship?” or a verse of Habib Jalib’s poetry we can even have Pervez Musharrafs face stencilled on the walls. The eject button idea seems interesting but it is difficult for the layman to reactto or even perceive it as some ones reaction to what is happening around us. Graffiti is a great medium of expression and communication, we should carry this idea forward and add elements to it, and therefore it is a large collaborative work displaying several reactions to the same situation… apart from all this I must say the ‘I love Karachi’ graffiti is interesting as it is present on the Karachi walls at the time of crisis, it is satirical, mocking and forces one to question its actual context…

By: nadiaa n

nadiaa n — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:34:37 +0000

By: Sundas Tariq

Sundas Tariq — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:15:33 +0000

Graffiti..Hmm.. I would agree with Saba when she said, she personally didnt find the idea of having “I love karachi” graffiti on walls bad!! Well, its actually ironic how the tradition of graffiti is so STRONG in our part of the world- which has never been more than a bunch of Political slogans harping abt “Jiye Jiyo and Chalo!” or if anything else than political than,”Ugham ka badami halwa” or some add saying “Lern English in Ten Day”!:S When we see the tradition of Graffiti in the Western world, its completely different. ITS more dynamic, lively and creative. Its mostly the students expression out on the streets – which sometimes turns out as the street art there. We as a nation are depressed, and disheartened.. therefore what we see on the streets also never helps us to cheerup, but makes us more irritable. the Grafiti saying – I love karachi.. has definitly my vote. The concept of the “Eject button one seems interesting! Atleast SOMEBODY is voicing his/her opinion! Let us all back them up.. and make this Silent protest a more Vibrant and Voiced one!