You’re My Butt Hole: The Vandal-Artiste Speaks & A Brief History of Mural Defacement

 

Austin Autonomedia: Keeping Austin Criminal

In the early days of January, Austin’s “You’re My Butter Half” mural was modified to read “You’re My Butt Hole.” A picture of the vandalism was posted to reddit, where the original artist responded positively. Under his post, a user with the name “YouAreMyButthole” responded, claiming to be the vandal-artiste, and offering some commentary on their work. We’ve republished both statements here, and follow up with some commentary on the recent history & implications of mural defacement in Austin.

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Graffiti in Solidarity with Palestine

Two grey electrical boxes on the side of a street are decorated with a message in green spray paint. The box on the left reads "Viva Palestina" while the box on the right reads "No $ 4 Israeli Bombs"

Spotted in South Austin, according to an anonymous transmission

 


Got a something you need to publish? Send it to us! We take all kinds of radical/revolutionary content, with a special affinity for anarchist/autonomous movements and crews. We specialize in research and strategic intelligence that can inform direct action, but we’ll take art, opinion pieces, and other stuff too! Submit content to austinautonomedia [@] autistici [dot] org.

Austin Police Association President’s Car Vandalized

On May 10th, we found out that Ken Casaday–president of the Austin Police Association, and director of the anti-homeless organization Save Austin Now (which was responsible for the passage of Prop B, the renewed camping ban), had his car vandalized.

We love getting good news on a Monday. We hope the culprits disappear, never to be found. If they are, we hope people will mobilize to defend & support them.

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Call for Decentralized, Autonomous May Day Actions!

A flyer of white background with black text. Text reads: "Decentralized & Autonomous Action. Against Displacement, Police, & Property. Find your COVID Pods, Affinity Groups, or Vaccinated Friends. Act Together. May Day 2021. Center of the flyer has a black & white photo of someone dancing in frot of a burning car during a protest.

An Anonymous Transmission

The Message

More than a year and a half into a set of escalating crises–a global pandemic that has bled the poor and working classes dry while enriching the ruling classes, a globalizing insurrection against anti-Black police violence, a State whose violence has not ceased with a simple change in the figurehead–we remain at a crossroads. The way things are is not sustainable. We feel this deeply in every aspect of our lives: physical, spiritual, social, emotional. We reject the tyranny of working long hours to barely meet our basic needs. We denounce the extraction, exploitation, and hoarding of the land’s precious gifts. We deny the manufactured necessity of police, prisons, and surveillance.

The experiences and struggles of the past year–from mutual aid networks & rent strikes to riots & autonomous zones–have fundamentally transformed us and our local conditions. One the one hand, the growth of local organizing networks and the explosion of insurgent strategies has expanded the window of possibility for autonomous activity in the city. On the other hand, the weight of over a year of furious organizing, the heigtening of internal contradictions and conflict amongst organizations, and the slowing down of the waves of local insurgency have sapped much of the energy that propelled us last year. Finally, we look ahead to an oncoming struggle around multiple proposals to criminalize homelessness, heigtening antagonism to the police and the regime of property they serve, and a summer which many predict will be hot and riotous. It is amidst these conditions that we offer this proposal for May 1st.

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Keeping Austin Criminal: An Insurgent Review of 2020

Austin Autonomedia: Keep Austin Criminal

2020 was a year of insurgent milestones in Austin–an explosion of autonomous initiatives, a proliferation of insurrectionary tactics and revolt, and the weaving together of new connections between fragmented worlds inhabiting this territory.

We’ve decided to forefront some of the highlights of this year, to celebrate the high points of this year and look forward to the next one. This is not a claim to a comprehensive review of the activity of this past year, an attempt at in-depth analysis and critique, nor a claim to what projects/initiatives/actions “mattered” or not–it’s merely a reflection of things that we have found on our radar, find inspiring, and wish to highlight and remember. We encourage any fellow insurgents reading this to put out their own analysis and perspectives about the event of this year, whether through our page, your own platforms, or wheatpasted on the walls of the city.

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Rent Strike ATX Graffiti

Spray paint in support of a rent strike in Austin. Location unknown. Submitted anonymously to us. The artist sent this statement:

We are at an unprecedented point in our lives. A time where the flaws of the capitalist system and faults of the state are glaringly obvious to even those we would consider to stand in opposition to our political message.
I want to be one of those people that stands up to the plate and helps their friends, family, and entire community in this time of need… For me part of that means showing my support and solidarity with the rent strike. Now is the time to be brave in whatever ways we can be

Yesterday, Rent Strike ATX released a statement calling for a city-wide rent strike and coordination. 

You can download the statement here: https://cryptpad.fr/file/#/2/file/TAz5mkNXXl0qnunapKDXYog+/

You can fill out the Rent Strike Form here: https://tinyurl.com/tvq822s

 


Got a something you need to publish? Send it to us! We take all kinds of radical/revolutionary content, with a special affinity for anarchist/autonomous movements and crews. We specialize in research and strategic intelligence that can inform direct action, but we’ll take art, opinion pieces, and other stuff too! Submit content to austinautonomedia [@] autistici [dot] org.

 

Sheepz is a Creep: Abusive Artist Rudy James Lunsford

Autonomous Student Media: Gestures Towards the Ungovernable

This is Rudy James Lunsford. He is a predator with a pattern of emotionally & physically abusing women, and has also reportedly raped one woman. He is approaching 30 years old this year, but preys on women as young as 19. By preying on young women in particular, he exploits them so that they will provide and care for him–described as simply wanting “sex, a free meal, and a ride when necessary.” He has been described as living a parasitic lifestyle, lacking “any sense of empathy without reward.” He is a skillful manipulator that knows how to use people, including by claiming that he used to be a bad person but that he’s changed.

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Barbarians at the Gates: A Statement From the Vandals (2017)

In April 2017, a wave of vandalism struck frats across West Campus over the course of three nights. Frats were tagged with “racist” and “rapist,” among other slogans. Fiji, which was targeted the first two nights, held a racist “border patrol” party in 2015. A study published in March of 2017 found that 15% of undergraduate women on UT campus reported being raped. Actual statistics are believed to be much higher. 

The anonymous statement republished here was originally sent to It’s Going Down, which made the acts even more notorious across the country. The graffiti came near the end of a year marked by student struggles against fascist activity on campus, the University’s failure to address racism, and other issues. The University, ironically, tried to make use of its (at the time) new hate & bias incident policy to investigate the vandalism. Shortly afterwards, the piece was again thrust into the spotlight as fraternities and the alt-right tried to connect the May 1st, 2017 stabbings at UT with the vandalisms (and by association all “antifa” and leftists). 

Three years later, almost to the day, the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority was tagged with “Eat the Rich.” We host this article to keep alive the memory and intergenerational spirit of insurgency against Greek Life. You can find online readable and printable zine versions of this statement HERE.

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