New project - Moscow Graffiti

I am pleased to announce that I've created a different outlet for the many photos I've accumulated of graffiti in Moscow (and other cities) which would otherwise be posted here or perhaps nowhere. If this topic (covered on this blog in the past here, here, and here) is of interest to you, check out Moscow Graffiti. The inaugural post is here.

This will leave more space in Scraps of Moscow for political and social commentary (if only I had more time!) and for underground/metro photos, at least until I create a separate site for those as well...

In any event, the Russian Communist Party appears to be doing its part to raise the profile of graffiti in the political discussion in Russia - check out this AP story:

Communism in Russia gets trendy rebranding
The Associated Press
Monday, March 14, 2005

[...]At a party plenary meeting outside Moscow that focused on propaganda - a word that in Russia evokes images of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution - the party's first deputy chairman, Ivan Melnikov, said the Communists should turn to methods such as graffiti and cellphone messaging. [...]

The Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, called on his comrades to smarten up their propaganda efforts, using artistic images, satire and advertising. Using a phrase from capitalism, he said they should seek to "sell the brand" of the party, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. [...]