Urban destroyers and builders

I am finishing the wonderful book Pedagogy of the Oppressed written by Paulo Freire in 1970 and i must say it is an inspiring read for anybody (still) interested in revolutionary social change. While this book deserves a lengthier discussion particularly about education and activism, i stumbled upon this sentence that begs to be quoted:

“The destroyers call themselves builders,
and accuse the true builders of being destructive.”

I immediately had to think of the discourse around street art. While commercial billboards are accepted and legitimate, street art gets criminalized and denounced. Yes, i also dislike many types of graffiti, tags, etc., but i have encountered so many beautiful and revealing pieces of street art that i just cannot resist seeing city administrations as the true destroyers here. Many of the pieces i have photographed have been destroyed by the true destroyers. For example, a wheatpaste of a homeless person under the bridge in Calgary—which also has the anti-human rocks—had a very short life span…