In the animal kingdom they call it ‘spraying’; the habit of using urine as markers to designate territorial boundaries. Cats, dogs, and many other mammals, pee on tree trunks, or boulders, or whatever landmark there is, in order to indicate that this is ‘their’ land. They spray during territorial disputes, during aggressive conflicts, and during sexual encounters.
In human society it’s called ‘piecing’. In American inner-cities, gangs mark their turf with intricate and colorful works of graffiti. This is called ‘piecing’, or ‘tagging’ an area. Piecing is most prevalent in areas between two rival gangs. They challenge each others authority by leaving their own tags (graffiti) over the other gang’s tag.I’m not sure what we call it in Beirut, but rival factions having started to tag the neighborhoods again. It was a common sight when I just got to Beirut; a political party – although we called them militias in those days – would ‘claim’ an area by painting its logo on a wall, and specifically in border areas, between neighborhoods.
As the war faded in our memories, so did the murals, until only those that still remembered them could spot the faint traces of the paint. The paintings got replaced by posters of politicians.
But that is not hacking it anymore these days, and we’ve gone back to ‘piecing’, or ‘spraying’ the neighborhood. You don’t see any piecing in my neighborhood, but that is because my neighborhood is so indisputably somebody’s, that no one in his right mind would come here with a bucket of paint and try and tag the walls. But it is in contested areas that it pops up.
I noticed these – still freshly painted – murals on my way to a friend’s house, somewhere in between Mar Elias and Basta. I thought that both areas were predominantly sunni areas, (The murals are from shia political parties), but it seems pirates are on the horizon. A sign of times to come?
Fisk is pretty upset about labeling areas as ‘predominantly’ one religion or the other. He wrote a rather upset piece – ‘how easy it is to put hatred on the map’ - about it.
But that is not hacking it anymore these days, and we’ve gone back to ‘piecing’, or ‘spraying’ the neighborhood. You don’t see any piecing in my neighborhood, but that is because my neighborhood is so indisputably somebody’s, that no one in his right mind would come here with a bucket of paint and try and tag the walls. But it is in contested areas that it pops up.I noticed these – still freshly painted – murals on my way to a friend’s house, somewhere in between Mar Elias and Basta. I thought that both areas were predominantly sunni areas, (The murals are from shia political parties), but it seems pirates are on the horizon. A sign of times to come?
Fisk is pretty upset about labeling areas as ‘predominantly’ one religion or the other. He wrote a rather upset piece – ‘how easy it is to put hatred on the map’ - about it.
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