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Indybay Feature

Swastika grafitti in South Berkeley

by Luci Ernaga
in times like these, you can't go around posting swastikas without explaining what your intent was in using such a loaded symbol! What was the intent of the person/s who posted the swastika?
swasphoto731.jpg
This grafitti is on the side of a continuing education high school building in Berkeley. It's on the other side of the building from where the Tuesday Berkeley Farmers' Market is held each week (that is on Derby, this is on Carleton). I noticed it there late last night, and it brought to mind the swastika I had seen on the sidewalk outside of a now-defunct liquor store (turned petstore in the course of gentrification) on Shattuck in South Berkeley, about 5 or 6 blocks away from this location (about two years ago, maybe?). I went back today to take this picture and then I looked up "swastika" on the web.

Apparently the swastika that we see in this photo is an "Oriental or Native American Swastika," (see image on http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/government/lampposts/attachmentB.htm) and a description of similar grafitti swastikas at http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/government/lampposts.html).

Apparently the swastika was originally a good luck symbol:
http://www.luckymojo.com/swastika.html It is still used for good luck in places like Nepal, Ireland, and Panama. It was adopted by Hitler's Nazi party (http://www.intelinet.org/swastika/) and many Europeans and Americans have never been able to look at it the same way. According to Wikipedia, "...in the West, the Swastika is most easily identified as the symbol of the Nazis, who believed that the early Aryans of India, from whose Vedic tradition the swastika sprang, were the prototypical white invaders, and thus saw fit to co-opt the sign as a symbol of white unity." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

The thing is, in a time like this, you just can't just go around posting swastikas without explaining what your intent was in using such a loaded symbol! What was the intent of the person/s who posted the swastika?


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saw some
Wed, Aug 4, 2004 9:44AM
RIP
Wed, Aug 4, 2004 12:25AM
just wondering
Sun, Aug 1, 2004 9:17AM
Luci
Sun, Aug 1, 2004 2:18AM
Trudi
Sat, Jul 31, 2004 11:18PM
Chris
Sat, Jul 31, 2004 8:09PM
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