Greek Symbols of Solidarity

A brief trip to a Greek island left me with more photos of graffitied solidarity than I ever expected.

A spray-painted image on a gray wall shows a figure wearing a kuffiyeh and holding a slingshot, with the words “SMASH ZIONISM” below.

I recently traveled to Greece to visit family who cannot come to see me in Palestine. My family members, also visiting the country for the first time and having arrived first, were immediately struck by the ubiquitous symbols of support for Palestine across the various geographies they traversed. When I arrived, I was equally impressed, finding these public expressions of support for Palestinians and a rejection of zionism such a breath of fresh air. Of course, Bethlehem is known in part for its graffiti art, particularly on the apartheid wall. But in my previous travels around North America, cities in Europe, and southern Africa, I have never come across so many pieces of art expressing these sentiments as I did in these few days of travel. To have marched with thousands of people in Cape Town, South Africa in solidarity with Palestine, but see more graffiti for Palestine in one small city on a Greek island, was bewildering (in a good way — and no shade to the graffiti artists in Cape Town, either, but maybe step it up!).

As Palestine, zionists’ ongoing attempts to colonize it, and Israel’s genocidal aggression in Gaza have become more widely discussed in the international sphere (and, in response, suppressed), expressions of solidarity are meaningful. They are not just about ending genocide — an important enough goal on its own — but reaffirming basic moral principles. When people refuse to be cowed into a rejection of Palestinian resistance, they assert their own understanding of justice and injustice: foreign occupation, settler rule, mass murder, land seizures, imprisonment, etc, are all unjust. They cannot continue. They should be resisted. Perpetrators will face consequences here, if nowhere else. The presence of Palestine in graffiti and art across Greek cities (and cities worldwide) is also a rejection of the physical and existential absenting of Palestinians through daily slaughter, mass imprisonment, torture, systematically-constructed famine, an ongoing siege, and a bureaucracy built to facilitate our forced disappearance.

I’m sharing these photos (my own, as well as those provided by friends and family and shared with their permission) for two reasons. First, I think folks around the world will also have their hearts warmed by these casual, yet clearly substantial, images of solidarity. It is nice to get the ethos of a place even if we haven’t visited it ourselves, and there is no shortage of need for heart-warming images today. But second: graffiti, art, and the rhetorics of solidarity are important, but they are not a place where action lives. They help to make public those sentiments which folks otherwise might feel shy or intimidated to express, opening the door toward more collective and material interventions — boycotts, strikes, legal action, and much more. Whether or not your city has this much Palestine solidarity graffiti, you also have the ability to both express your support publicly and make sure your advocacy is tied to a meaningful impact on the ground in Palestine.

Enjoy.

A spray-painted image on a wooden board shows a face wrapped in a kuffiyeh, with the words “STOP GENOCIDE” painted below.

A Palestinian flag is spray painted in a public square.

A stone bench has been painted to say, “FEEL GAZA”.

A mesh net placed over a building under construction in downtown Heraklion reads, “SEE GAZA FREE PALESTINE”.

A stone wall was spray painted in red to say “FREE PALESTINE”.

A glass wall is spray painted with the words “ISRAEL IS TERROR STATE” and “PALESTINE” with a red triangle below and a heart above. Likenesses of Benjamin Netanyahu and another man have targets on their faces, with the words “you are targets” above their heads.

Spray-painted text on a column reads “No rest for child murders. Israel is the real terrorist.”

Hand-drawn graffiti in a central roundabout reads, “BOYCOT [sic] ISRAEL” and “IDF soldier are war criminals”.

The side of a building is painted in the image of a Palestinian flag.

A Palestinian flag hangs inside of a local cafe, an expression of solidarity with Palestinians and an acknowledgement of nationhood.

A Palestinian flag adorns the entrance of a Greek bookshop. Across the entranceway from the flag is a spray-painted image of a Palestinian adorned in a kuffiyeh covering their face.

A sticker on a wall shows a butterfly colored with the image of a Palestinian flag, and the word “FREE” underneath.

A stone wall is spray-painted with the words “Palestine is a feminist issue”.