incredible!
today the motherfucker italian government drived by the rich delinquent Silvio Berlusconi has voted a law that give the police the possibility to take writers in prison for 3 months!
guys who want to write walls in italy pay attention to those assholes!

peace ( ??!)

Yeah, it's quite crazy.

Sounds like the first few steps toward a new dictatorship are being made. Or am I totally wrong here?

unfortunately is not only the first step...
they vote also more hard laws against immigration...
you know, in italy we have a Big Brother, he sit down on the parlament as chief. he has 3 or 4 big televisions channels, 3 journals ,different supermakets, 1 bank, the milan a.c. footbal club and so on...
so , basically, is like this:
you citizen looks at his tv,read 1 of his journal to see that everything goes ok in italy (we don't have ANY economical crisis in italy, you know...), then go to the supermarket to spend your money on product as seen on his tv or journal; and if you want to save money you can go to his bank, the big brother will help you, don't worry...

haha. . italian government/business has always been corrupt hasn't it?

no, not always.
but in the last 20/30 years there were lots of corruption cases that came to chronicles more easy.

I read this great graf book "Trans European Express" about European train writers and there was this Italian dude (from Milan if I remember correct) and he said the police don't care much about writing trains. At some point he turned in to heroin and football hooliganism and the cops even suggested him to stop that shit and get back to painting trains

This book is really good btw. It covers many European countries and there's a legendary (train)writer from each county telling his story and stuff about the scene in his country. And of course lots of pictures.

cool.
thanx for sharing this.

just when you thought personal freedom and human rights were on the rise....


WW3?

Well, as a writer who has never sprayed in Italy, this doesn't really effect me. But that certainly sounds ridiculous. Shouldn't they focus on fixing their major problems?
Anyway, what punishment do you get when you organize nude pool parties with hoe's on coke?

yes i see the point.
the problem is that this government has made also some laws againt immigration. for them, and for many european government of right party, the Security of citizen came as "the major problem" to solve...no good argument about the job, the health and pollution, no, only the security...

anyway, this prime minister we got, berlusconi, is also accused of making coke-parties, sexual troubles with some minor girl, and, more recently, to be an asshole

It's the same all over the world ever since 9-11,

"Security" is being used as a guise to take away our rights.

is jail time really all that surprising or unnecessary for graffiti? ive painted off and on since 1996 and the threat for jail time and felony charges have ALWAYS been there.. its nothing new in the states... if you intentionally break windows or set fire to a car you cause damage and face the music.. why would painting subway cars or walls make any difference? because its art? please.... real artists dont do graffiti and real graffiti isnt art.. the guys painting production walls and legal walls and all that jazz arent going to jail its the street level and people doing the illegal work out there..

this is sarcasm, right?!

not really to be completely honest...

on one hand i want to agree with you but an etch tag on a glass storefront isnt art.. doing tags with a fire extinguisher filled with paint isnt creating something artistic.. creative maybe

but is a 4 hour painting on a wall in broad daylight with permission to be there that just happens to be done with spraypaint REALLY graffiti? or is it a mural or just a simple painting done with spraypaint..

unfortunately this is new in italy (and europe, i think...).
you cannot compare vandals to someone who paints to something...is like putting cocaine and mariujuana at the same level. maybe the question is: where to do graffiti?