As I was riding in the taxi from the airport on Sunday
morning, I was taken aback by the stark differences between my experiences of
the United States and Buenos Aires. Admittedly,
I've never been in such a large city before, but I was caught very unaware by Buenos Aires. There are
so many differences; I'm having trouble keeping up.
On that taxi ride, I noticed one thing in particular, all over the city:
graffiti, graffiti, and more graffiti. There’s hardly a place you can find in
this city that hasn’t been tagged; the walls are for the most part covered.
Even historical monuments are not safe; I was shocked to see graffiti on
statues in public parks and even in the famous Cemetery in Recoleta.
Maybe I’m looking at the graffiti wrong.
Perhaps it’s not a
slight on society to have the graffiti around as much as it is in the States. In
Atlanta,
graffiti is reserved only for the sketchier parts of town. I think there’s a
deeper lesson to be learned about Argentines through the graffiti. Most of the
words written on the walls carry a political message, expressing dissent over
one issue or another.
Political participation is extremely important here in
Argentina, much more important
than in America.
The Argentines demonstrate quite a bit against the government, always trying to
express themselves on the important political issues. In the same light, the
graffiti must be a part of the culture of political expression; a somewhat
accepted form of getting your opinion out about the government. So I guess I
shouldn’t be so surprised about the amount of graffiti; Argentines have a lot
to say and a lot of space to write it on.
