Have you tried to….

Watch Channel 4 Robbo vs Banksy Graffiti Wars documentary online, or

Watch Channel 4 Robbo vs Banksy Graffiti Wars documentary on YouTube, or

Watch Channel 4 Robbo vs Banksy Graffiti Wars documentary on Channel 4 OD On Demand?

Well you can’t; here’s why.

Channel 4 Robbo vs Banksy Graffiti Wars documentary has been censored.

That’s right ‘someone’ has decided that YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WATCH IT.

No prizes for guessing who.

As the machine grinds onward in it’s desecration, homogenisation, censorship and pillage of underground culture, it must try to censor any unapproved expression from the REAL underground, or dissent, or lingering traces of it’s hypocrisy, with an iron fist, exalting only the idealistic false image of the hero myth.

Careful censorship, exile, blacklisting, marginalisation or mismanagement of serious, old-school talent keeps the mainstream spotlight on one artist (and occasionally his mate), rendering the establishment approved ‘art scene’ and any ‘causes’ highlighted, as mere stage props and backdrops, window dressing to add realism to the charade.

The documentary ‘Graffiti Wars’ made the big move of revealing the tip of a whopping great iceberg to the masses and demonstrated elements of the awful truth that runs diametrically counter to the cute kitsch and contrived legend, and highlighted the negative stereotyping in the form of sweeping and grossly inaccurate generalisations about graffiti writers -“It’s all about male ego, damage and stealing your paint etc…”

From all comments I have read and personal feedback I have recieved, almost everyone who watched Graffiti Wars left it with the beginnings of a completely new reality map.

That meant well over 600,000 on Sunday and over 22,000 on YouTube exposed to truth and freedom of expression, that great old enemy of despots worldwide.

This is bad news for the totalitarian capitalist heart that beats *ker-ching ker-ching* at the core of the libertarian anti-authoritarian anti-capitalist hero myth…

Which is doubtless why there is currently not one single mention of ‘Robbo vs Banksy Graffiti Wars’ on any of the Banksy forums.

Any circulated thread URLs discussing Channel 4 ‘Graffiti Wars’ documentary, I am told, have landed on a “this post does not exist” message, hell those moderators must have been busy, PRAVDA would be proud of you guys! Medals all round! Our community are not even given the opportunity to debate the issues at hand, hurrah!!!

“Censorship reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself, it is the hallmark of an authoritarian regime” Potter Stewart

The lie is beginning to unravel before their eyes, and the eyes of the world. The gravity of truth and passion for art and free choice of the people assures this. However in the meantime…

…on the 19th August Channel 4 Robbo vs Banksy Graffiti Wars documentary disappeared from the web.

Channel 4’s YouTube channel deleted the film, so did 4 On Demand, despite there being 23 days left to view the film on OD and it supposedly being on YouTube forever.

I can’t say much more on here other than there have been “Legal Challenges” raised; I’m sure you can work out the rest.

Lets hope it’s back online soon, our commiserations go out to Robbo’s young family who’ve been denied the chance to get closer to their big man by re-watching his film on the web as he lies in hospital in a coma; to his crew We Rock Hard who are busy organising his fundraiser event and are missing out on publicity and potential new donors for Robbo’s ongoing care and that of his family while the film is offline; to the fantastic production team who worked so hard to make the film a success, to Channel 4 who are missing out on the advertising revenue they need to recoup the cost of making the film all the time it is offline; and of course to everyone who actually wanted to see the thing for the first time or watch it again but can’t.

One can’t help but feel that such a panicked reaction amounts to turning the deckchairs around on the Titanic so the passengers are looking the other way.

To learn more about book burning click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning .

“You can cage the singer but not the song.”

Harry Belafonte, 1988

“…There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist/Unitarian, Irish/Italian/Octogenarian/Zen Buddhist, Zionist/Seventh-day Adventist, Women’s Lib/ Republican, Mattachine/FourSquareGospel feels it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse.

Every dimwit editor who sees himself as the source of all dreary blanc-mange plain porridge unleavened literature, licks his guillotine and eyes the neck of any author who dares to speak above a whisper or write above a nursery rhyme….”

Ray Bradbury

I’ll finish this post with what used to be one of my favourite quotations:

People are taking the piss out of you every day. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small…..

They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are the advertisers and they are laughing at you.

You, however are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

Banksy