Historic Portrait of Lord Balfour Slashed by Pro-Palestine Protestors

Probably the only type of destruction of art as protest I condone. The piece:

Is not very old or culturally/historically important
Directly depicts someone at the root of this conflict
Was deliberately targeted and the reasons layed out

Trying to destroy unrelated art work is just wasteful of our shared human heritage. Attacking symbols of oppression however is perfectly valid in my opinion and is to me perfectly reasonable escalation when peaceful protests obviously do not bring the changes needed.

I put this on the same level as African Americans attacking statues of confederate generals and other proponents of slavery to hammer home their point.

Probably the only type of destruction of art as protest I condone. The piece:
Is not very old or culturally/historically important
Directly depicts someone at the root of this conflict
Was deliberately targeted and the reasons layed out
About where I'm at. Normally I get immensely irritated by 'protesters' who go and vandalize unrelated and historically important artwork, but this isn't particularly objectionable.
- I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the first story I’ve seen of protestors actually destroying the painting itself, they’re usually splashing paint on the protective cover, not on the painting itself. I’ve never seen one where the actual art was destroyed before now. Is that what you’re talking about? Or am I missing a bunch of stories where unrelated artwork was destroyed by protestors (usually climate protesters)?
- I so wanted to be annoyed yet again by annoying people, but …. Huh, the artwork they destroyed is relevant to their cause, as is destroying it. I’m still not ok with destruction as a form of protest, but there’s a reasonable line of logic
Agreed, except that I would call this peaceful protest. Vandalism isn't violence. Violence is against a person. As long as no person was relying on this painting for their meals or shelter or whatever - and they definitely weren't - then no person was harmed.
- No no no, you don't understand. Violence is everything that disturbs those in power!
  Mediocre art being damaged in one of the centers of power is violence.
  Tens of thousands of people somewhere else dying is just a minor inconvenience.
- so vandalism is in fact violence if you rely on the object? Like your car, your house, your bike...
Another important detail to consider is that these pieces are really only worthwhile for their historical value. I would argue that this response is more significant than the original production of the painting.
If anything, the value of this painting will increase due to the added historical value of this event.
actually later on this will add more historical value to it.
Definitely. Historic or not, don't put bad people on pedestals. E.g. there's a reason why you don't see statues of Hitler in Germany.
- But you do have statues of Bismarck for instance. Who also "set in motion" the holocaust, as much as this guy the current situation in Gaza.
  Both did things that some 50 to 100 years later ended in death of innocent people.
I just want to point out that most of the other time you hear about "attacks" on art the piece is perfectly fine. They'll attack pieces shielded by glass. It makes a statement and does no damage (maybe a little mess to clean up). Like the recent Mona Lisa "attack" you can't miss that it's covered by glass as you're spending 30m getting closer. It wasn't a mistake that no damage was done.
I do agree in this case it's fairly justified. This man doesn't deserve to be remembered fondly.
Ok, ya got me.
They can burn this picture of some dead asshole for all I care.
I will say though, I doubt it's particularly effective at drawing undecideds to the cause.
- If they made a single person google the Balfour Declaration I'm pretty sure they won the exchange. Now you're getting to get a split of people reading just the Declaration, which seems harmless enough, and people reading what it actually did, which was anything but harmless, but you can't control that.

It’s from the 20th century, and of the guy directly responsible for the mess in Palestine today as well as his shit in Ireland.

I’m about as outraged about this as I would be a Jew slashing a “historical” painting of Hitler.

I wonder if in a hundred years people will be upset over Trumps portrait getting ruined?

If we are going to shed tears for the loss of culture, then the loss of Roman era bath houses and early Christian churches in Gaza is quite a bit more concerning to me than this painting.
- This is something I am woefully uninformed about. Can you provide additional information/resources?

Based. Take those genocidal maniacs off the wall.

Or leave it: I think it's improved this way: a terrible man, a mediocre painting, in context with the ongoing genocide he put into motion. It invites the viewer to wonder what kind of legacy the rich folk who paid for these paintings have.
- Hope they put it in the Genocide museum, not on the wall of a university as some hero
They can go into the same pile as all those Confederate statues and flags.
I don't know much about Balfour. Was he a genocidal maniac?
- He was the one who promised the Zionist movement their own state in Palestine (which at the time was in the hands of the Ottomans).
- He specifically created the problems we are dealing with in the Middle East. He figured that you could displace a group of people and let the heat stay away from Europe. Basically modern Israel was created as a terrorism target so that western powers didn’t have to deal with it. Also notable that he was a territorial governor is the area as part of the former British empire.

Take a look at everyone clutching their pearls over this painting and think about what doesn't upset them

Oh no, a painting! So much more important and relatable than children dying. That happens all the time.
/s
Edit: I'm agreeing with the above point, folks. Lives are more important than paintings. We need a lot more outrage about people dying and less about property damage.
- Has this prevented any kids from dying? Or is it in addition to children dying? Can people be upset at two (or even... three!) things at the same time?
The Israeli army is retreating in fear. Now it's a painting, next time they might smash a vase!
The thing is that the is plain useless. Nobody is going to have a change of heart because somebody slashed a painting. If anything I think it can have a slight effect on the opposite direction.
It's also very interesting, some people defending this action and upset about Israels invasion seem very chill about Russia's invasion...
- You're getting down voted, but you're absolutely right. Zionists will use this as another excuse to ignore the movement, while it does nothing to help the Palestinian people.
If they punched a baby, instead, which is actually better than what's going Gaza, would it be wrong for people to be upset about them taking it out on something that has nothing to do with the criminals they are protesting?
It's a dumb thing they did and they are a piece of shit. But what Israel is doing is Gaza is infinitely worse. It completely reasonable and easy to hold these two positions at the same time.
- Uh... Balfour definitely has something to do with Israel.
No amount of destroyed paintings won’t make me care more about Palestine

This has the same energy as destroying confederate general statues. Good on them.

There was a news article a day or two ago about a pensioner vandalising a statue of Thatcher. I feel the same way about this act as I did that - good on the perpetrator.

Unless a work of art is housed somewhere meant to cause reflection on all the actions a person took in their full context which includes making clear the problematic acts of the subject, they shouldn't be somewhere clearly meant to commemorate them. And if they are, then they're fair game.

... the artist ...

Hang on a tick. Is that my old cheese? My good-time boy?! Or is he but a simple human man?
- Impossible, Jackeeeee d'tonaah is not that old. He is still in the spry of youth!
- The very same, my dear boy!

The comments are full of people who value one shitty painting more than they value human life.

Or people who can’t see any causal pathway between slashing the painting and lives being saved.
- It's a form of protest. Protest against against Britains continued support for genocide and in this case even the root cause of the current situation. It's great symbolism and nothing of value was lost.
- Just like that one black preacher babbling about his dreams, right?

Mooooommm.. lemmygrad is leaking again.

Tankie is when you don't care what happens to a bastard's portrait, one very specifically related to the thing they're protesting.
- LoL, when the end justifies the means.
  Look at them, out in force, giddy and supportive over a fucking mentally ill woman slashing a painting. The only thing these people need to do to kill a cause is support it.

See, climate activists? This means something. Now please stop throwing tomato soup at Van Goge and Da Vinci.

Little known fact, Van Gogh actually founded BP.

The Balfour declaration was just a letter

The British did not 'give' the Jews anything.

Hating Jews since the beginning of time is fairly sick. Thinking this will improve anything and being historically ignorant is just plain stupid.

i think the person who did this not hating the jews since the beginning of time and maybe the person did not hate anyone at all. how about focus on the actual eventlike the ongoing genocide by the israelimilitary instead of playing the victim card
- how about focus on the actual eventlike the ongoing genocide by the israelimilitary instead of
  some dead guy from a century earlier in time?
  Why aren’t we discussing the Israeli military as the responsible party?
- Perhaps she hates herself for the penalty of her actions to be imposed, but let's not be Pollyanna about this, we both know why this "demonstation" happened.
It was "just a letter" written on behalf of the British state giving their full support for the creation of Israel in what was, at the time, British-occupied Ottoman land that the British had already promised to return to the Palestinian people.
So yes, the British literally give the land - which was not theirs in any legitimate form - to a group other than the native population.
They then provided (and continue to provide) financial, political and military support for decades, while Palestine was progressively colonised.

That's how you get negative attention

If this attracts negative attention, Imagine the one commiting genocide could attract.
- Billions in aid and weapons?
- Corporate media decides whether the attention is negative or positive.
  For myself, I don't approve of vandalism but I fully understand their rage
I know right! At first it infuriates you, then you find out it was the guy who started this Palestine mess, and that it was a directly targeted attack.
Not blocking some road, gluing your hands to something, or throwing stuff at art behind glass and generally doing something that actually has any relation to your cause.

That will win them sympathy for the cause. As if people need more reason to see Palestine and their sympathisers as violent criminals.

Also now money will be spent on restauration that could have gone to planting trees, or something nice.. instead it will be a very expensive restauration, increased security.

Maybe these protesters could do something more usefull like doing a collection and charity run for the people in Gaza.

Anyone who loses sympathy for Palestinians after this probably didn't have much to begin with.
- If your goal is to stop the genocide then the concern from the people without much matters a lot.
- The thing is, this takes away from the actual human disaster in Gaza. This lunatic made the discussion about the art, the vandalisation, her and her mental illness. And she is loathed because of this.
  And then that loathing is transferred with her onto the cause.
Balfour doesn’t deserve a portrait
- Sure, let's forget about history and the people that made it. Forgetting about people like Balefour will erase history and assure it will never be repeated.
  Wonder why most people don't care about what's going on in gaza.? The people that fight for its plight as such insufferable c...s that manage to alienate whole swaths of the public with their stunts.
  And the person in the video must be mentally ill, so I hope they find her a bed in a closed institution.
What’s the money collected going to do when Israel isn’t letting aid in?
- I don't know, smuggle it in?
  A whole port is being constructed now. And in the mean time, refugees outside Gaza, already making sure aid is ready. All these choices...
  Everything is about what others should do, but for this there is a defeatist attitude. Oh, and destroying paintings.
But that’s hard. Swiping at a canvas with a razor is easy.

Wow lets destroy history thats a great idea maybe it will help us repeat it. Fucking morons

Apparently you didn't read the article, the guy had a direct role in the destruction of Palestine
- I did read the article and because he had a direct role in the destruction thats all the more reason not to deface it. Its a reason to hang it in a gallery with a little plaque explaining what he did then when people see that artwork and read the plaque they will understand maybe they didnt understand before maybe this is news to them maybe they are learning and forming a more informed opinion maybe it will inspire them to do something. Or we can deface it remove it hide it away and that discussion about what he did why he did it will be lost forever.
- or maybe they read it and think that nonetheless. I read the article and found this action shitty.
Do you cry about confederate statutes too?
- Yes because I wanted to shit on them before they got toppled.
  But hey, while we're on the topic, I wanna give you some perspective on one of the types of people who defends confederate statues. Buckle up, it's a long personal read.
  Growing up a white Jew in Texas, we were taught about the civil war and about how it started over lots of things, but our teachers were pretty open that it was about slavery. We got taught about brother fighting brother and that we lost and that slavery is bad, yadda yadda (I say it so blasé because that's kinda how it was treated). As young students, we'd be really upset by these concepts and the teachers would reassure us that all this was a long time ago and everything's all better now and that racism is dead. Then they'd take us to see a fun little Civil War reenactment.
  This Civil War reenactment was this cute thing where we elementary school students would go to a fair and get either an American flag or a Confederate flag and you're told that you have to cheer for your side. You're told not to worry if you're on the winning side or the losing side cuz we're all here to have a good time! I got a Confederate flag. Of course, I was sad, my side was gonna lose! Overall, it was a pretty fun day, though.
  I went home with my losing-side flag, and I used some thumb tacks to put it up on my wall. My Dad said I probably shouldn't do that and I said that I know they lost but it was a lot of fun. Why wouldn't my parents want me to have a souvenir from my fun day? So, there it remained on my wall. Just like the posters on the walls of my classrooms. Posters of General Lee, the Confederate flag, the Declaration of Independence... You know, American history things.
  You see? It's ok to have a Confederate flag on my wall, cuz I'm not racist. Racism is dead. Sure, our side lost, but it's just part of history: things from long ago. That's why we need to have posters and statues to remind us of these things that happened a long time ago. Statues help you remember things. Like great people, such as George Washington, Davey Crockett, the Minutemen..., Confederate soldiers..., Sam Houston. Obviously, all great people, cuz they had statues and statues are made of great people...
  Fast forward to high school and I'm now in a Jewish youth group. We're a bunch of silly guys and we open every meeting with the pledge of allegiance. The meeting guide we follow, which is nearly a century old, says to honor the colors of America—being such silly guys, we would have everyone check their underwear and would say the pledge to up to three guys with red, white, and blue underwear. When I became the chapter vice president, I decided that our practices were disrespectful and decided to put a flag inside our mobile podium.
  So, I took my souvenir Confederate flag, now left hanging for nearly a decade, and I pinned it inside the podium. At our next meeting, we said the pledge to the Confederate flag. The youth group advisors said nothing cuz we were such silly young guys and boys will be boys. Plus, it was just a Confederate flag, exactly like the ones on classroom walls, on our statues, at our theme park.
  Not long after this, one of our black Jewish friends joined our youth group. Really, his family were just about the only black people that most of us knew. When he attended our first meeting after I'd added the Confederate flag, he grew livid seeing us say the pledge to such an artifact of hatred. Her lectured us and told us to remove it, but everyone defended our use of the Confederate flag.
  Surely, he was joking when he said that it made him uncomfortable, it was no different than the dozens of other Confederate flags around town and in classrooms. We all played along with his, what we thought was pretend, anger. I jokingly said something about the flag being there to represent the colors of the United States; someone else made a joke about our black friends being part of the colors of the United States. I laughed loudly and senselessly repeated this awful and offensive joke to the treasurer to make sure he put it in the meeting minutes so we could laugh again at our next meeting.
  Our now revictimized friend shouted at us and then loudly and passionately explained how offensive we were being and why, which was honestly more than we deserved and more patient than I think I could ever be if I were in his position. A number of the guys didn't get it at all, and I only understood that I'd hurt my friend's feelings, but I didn't understand how or why he was hurt so badly. All that I knew was that I did something bad starting with that flag and that I needed to make things right, so I offered to let him burn my flag.
  Fortunately, he accepted and we all watched him burn this silly little souvenir. As I watched my childhood memory burn and considered what an extreme measure it took to help my friend feel better, I started to understand that part of the problem for our friend was how casually we were willing to accept offensive imagery. And that our ideas which hurt him because of his race and the jokes that we made as part of it proves that racism was alive and well as living among us. That day, I began to recognize that my entire life since being young to that moment, we'd been surrounded by propaganda which convinced us that the Civil War was not that bad, that the villains were cool guys, and that racism was dead.
  So to everyone who says that statues should be left alone and aren't hurting anyone, you tell them about how they're such powerful propaganda that it was able to guide a group of Jewish boys to innocently pledge allegiance to a Confederate flag and mercilessly harass a beloved friend as a joke. Those "harmles" mementos are propaganda and they only confuse the young masses who study them in school.
  Crush and burn all of the statues and flags and teach the kids the fucking truth. This shit isn't a game and we need to stop letting people act like it is. Burn them all. Not another child should be indoctrinated by these atrocious symbols. It happened to me and it needs to never happen again.
- Should they stand where they do probably not. Should they be destroy definatly not. Put them in a public government museum next to a plaque describing what awfull fuckers they where. Or skip the museum and just add a plaque explaining this is the awfull shit this cockface stood for every month on a friday afternoon we have an egg throughing contest for his face etc etc.
  For example i went to a cynagog/museum u know what they had in said museum a friggin nazi uniform along with a plaque and the story of how it was taken as a trophy when they ripped the fucker limb from limb while the allied forces looked the other direction. That sends a message that tells more history of how awfull the camps must have been that soldiers would look the other direction while some guy gets killed by the mob.
  For goodness sake destroying history nomatter how dark will lead to worse places. "Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it".
Lol, "destroy history."
If we could actually wipe this guy from history and all that he's done, that would be great.
Unfortunately, none of us have time machines.
- Ohh great idea lets wipe all awfull people from history lets just pretend hitler didnt exist what an incredible idea i dont see six million problems with doing that at all.

Look, you wanna protest and shit? Go ahead, but if you start vandalizing art in museums you instantly lose my sympathy.

If art of the dude responsible for the genocide makes you lose sympathy for the victims, then maybe it’s time to stop pretending you care at all and just embrace the genocide.
- I should've worded myself better, I lose sympathy for the person doing the defacing, as in I don't care about what they have to say and I could care less if they get in trouble for it.
- How the fuck is that “the dude responsible for the genocide”?
  Pretty sure that man is dead. Don’t you think maybe multiple people are responsible? Don’t you think those people are the ones carrying it out?
If all it takes for you to lose sympathy is damaging some art of a coloniser, they didn't have your sympathy to begin with.
Apparently you didn't read the article, the guy had a direct role in the destruction of Palestine
- That’s not how the word “direct” works.
This is like taking down Confederate statues.
Why y'all worshipping assholes?
- Not really the same. The public gets a say in which art pieces are displayed in public. Museums exist for the preservation of history, good or bad.
Ugh. You insufferable robots moved over here from Reddit? At least you’re being downvoted.
It was in a college, not a museum.
Paintings and statues in public places is a fair game imo.
- Sure. But I still think the destruction of art is destruction of history, regardless of how someone feels about it. If you don't like it in public, then it's better to take it down and store it somewhere else for preservation purposes if nothing else.