I haven’t seen this mural off Brick Lane in Hanbury Street for myself yet, but Tower Hamlets Tory group leader Peter Golds has fired off a letter to the council’s most senior director Stephen Halsey. 

Here’s the mural:

And here is Peter’s letter:

I am horrified at this mural which has appeared on Hanbury Street.  It bears an awful similarity to anti semitic propaganda produced in pre-war Germany.  As well as the anti Jewish overtones, there is even the quasi Masonic (and dollar bill) aspect to encourage conspiracy theory.  What will be done about the person or persons who has produced this and when will it be removed?  The fact it has appeared over Rosh Hoshanah/Yom Kippur gives added menace. 

The history of the mural is detailed on this admiring website here.  It seems to have ben painted by Los Angeles graffiti artist Mear One (aka Kalen Ockerman) two weeks ago.  He’s described as “political”. 

Another website, The Rebel News, has more:

In his latest amazing stop-motion video, the artist creates a mural depicting a group of wealthy businessmen huddled around a monopoly board situated “on the backs of the working class” with a background of the all-seeing eye pyramid and coal and nuclear plants polluting the earth behind them.  Early on several people were expressing their disgust and hatred at the sight of the all-seeing eye, who they said was a symbol of their oppression.  Little did they know the artist intended his work to spark conversation, debate and critical thought. 

Comments on that site say:

The characters on the two ends of the table are clearly caricatures of Jews – this mural is racist. 

A few years ago, Labour’s then environment chief in Tower Hamlets, Abdal Ullah, announced a zero-tolerance approach to graffiti in the borough, including–and he was ridiculed for this–the removal of any Banksy murals. 

It’ll be interesting to see what Mayor Lutfur Rahman, who regularly aspires to a ‘One Tower Hamlets’, makes about this latest effort in Hanbury Street, where there is so much proud Jewish history. 

There is art, there is politics and there is subtle and overt racism.