One-Granny War On Hate...

[Lord Jim]

Just saw this on CNN; I thought it would be a nice story to post for Christmas Day:

The septuagenarian fighting hate with a spray can



Berlin (CNN)Irmela Schramm has the eyes of a hawk. Mid-stride, the 70-year-old suddenly yells "Halt!" and points at a metal container across the street in Berlin's Lichtenberg neighborhood.
It's hard to make out the graffiti amid all the other spray paint but after some squinting, the words jump out: "Nazi Kiez" or "Nazi neighborhood." And scrawled on a small electrical box next to it: the unmistakable lines of a swastika.

Schramm quickly rummages through her bag and whips out a can of red spray paint. Then she gets to work before stepping back to survey the result. A giant red heart now blocks any view of the swastika.
"A beautiful heart!" she exclaims, waving her stained fingers in delight.

Schramm is on a mission to rid the world of neo-Nazi and racist graffiti, one spray-painted heart at a time. She calls herself a "Polit-Putze" -- a political cleaner. Her tools: a can of red spray paint, nail polish remover and a scraper that she carries in a cloth bag with the hand-painted words "Anti-Nazi."

"I'm really concerned by this hate propaganda. And I want to take a stand," she tells CNN. "Not just hollow words. But to do something. I could look at that swastika and "Nazi Kiez" graffiti and say 'oh, that's awful' and walk by. But no one would dare to do anything. Well, I don't want to wait for someone else to do something about it."

She has traveled across Germany and six other countries on this quest, and can spend up to 17 hours on the "hunt" a few days each week. She estimates that, over the years, she has removed or painted over more than 130,000 signs and stickers.

Her relentless drive has landed her on a "most-wanted" list of a neo-Nazi group and she has received plenty of violent threats. She's even come across a large graffiti sign that read "Schramm, we're coming to get you."

Police have told Schramm not to provoke attacks with her mission and are often bemused by this 70-year-old woman brandishing a can of spray paint. Usually, she's let off with a gentle warning but for the first time in October, she was threatened with a €1,800 euro fine (around $1,875) for defacing public property if she continues her unconventional hobby. [Excuse me? she's only painting over other graffiti that's already "defacing public property"...yet another example of bureaucratic brilliance... ]

In the East German town of Bautzen -- the scene of repeated brawls between refugees and residents -- she found graffiti that read: "Democracy = Death to the People."

Once Schramm got her hands on it, the text became "Democracy Loves the People." But when an off-duty police officer caught her in the act, he threatened to put her in jail overnight.

"I told him: Go ahead," she laughs, "I need the holiday!"

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/17/europe/ir ... rt-racism/

[RayThom]

Due to the nature of the graffiti I suppose granny's effort should be applauded. However, and regardless, in Berlin, Germany the fines for graffiti can be pretty stiff -- up to €7,000 or $7,436.

The fine is 15 Euros for stickers or wheat-pasting. Up to "several hundred euro per square meter" for using spray-paint, according to the Berlin Police website.

One report had a woman catching a 7,000 euro fine for spray painting a wall.

Despite the city of Berlin’s efforts, graffiti remains a part of the city's landscape. As of mid-2013, railway operators in the city were considering putting surveillance drones in place to cut-down on rail-cars getting graffitied.

http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/city ... r-graffiti

[Jarlaxle]

The fines are clearly not enough. 50,000 Euros and 50 strokes of a cane might do it.

[Lord Jim]

The fines are clearly not enough. 50,000 Euros and 50 strokes of a cane might do it.

Good, then impose them on racist troglodytes who first engaged in writing the graffiti...

[Jarlaxle]

Impose them on everyone. Make examples of a few and the rest will fall into line.

The cane strokes should be to the face.

[dales]

You really are a sadistic fcuker.