A âstreet artâ campaign backed by Welsh tech billionaire and venture capitalist Michael Moritz is being targeted by graffiti artists in San Francisco, California. The campaign features posters and even wheat-pastes which call for a âlaw and orderâ approach to homelessness and fentanyl related deaths in San Francisco.

Graffiti of billionaire backed âstreet artâ reads, âThe War on Drugs Failed!â (Source: Indybay.org)
Moritz, in an effort to further social cleanse the poor from urban core areas, along with many on the Right, have rushed to blame âthe Leftâ for rising homelessness, crime rates and drug use in San Francisco. In February, the New York Times published an editorial by Moritz entitled, Even Democrats Like Me Are Fed Up With San Francisco, which echoed far-Right talking points demonizing those most displaced and excluded from the capitalist system.
As Tim Redmond of 48 Hills wrote:
The only âtyranny of the minorityâ thatâs happened in San Francisco in the past 40 years is the dominance of a few big business leaders and plutocrats who have funded campaigns that have kept their allies in the Mayorâs Office.
But local graffiti artists in San Francisco hit back on the billionaire backed âstreet artâ campaign. According to a post on Indybay.org:
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Graffiti reads, âFuck Michael Moritz!â (Source: Indybay.org)
Under the cover of night, with the Frisco fog as our accomplice, a crew of friends vandalized over 10 of the right-wing, pro-police âFentalyfeâ street poster installations.
We painted messages such as âNarcan Saves Lives, Cops Kill People,â âThe War On Drugs Failed,â âTogetherSF = SFPD,â âCops Sell Fentanyl,â âFuck You Fascists,â and âFuck Michael Moritz.â
These disturbing posters are part of a $300k campaign, by reactionary group Together SF (who are funded by billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz), that is shaming drug and Narcan users, and calling for the racist criminalization of poor people. They are also calling for the criminalization of graffiti while themselves wheat pasting posters on the streets.
These fascists will never win the terrains of street art or graffiti; they will never have the streets. We call on all creative vandals to resist the fascist creep into our visual landscape.
Against police, prisons, politicians, billionaire capitalists, and their society.
For care, love, and solidarity.

Graffiti reads, âTogetherSF = SFPD!â TogetherSF is a publication owned by tech billionaire Michael Moritz.
The recent âstreet artâ campaign backed by Moritz comes as anger is boiling over against the recent killing of Banko Brown, a 24 year-old Black transgender man who was shot and killed by a security guard at a Walgreens on April 27th. The district attorney of San Francisco decided that the city would not seek charges against the security guard, who shot and killed Brown after accusing him of shoplifting and physically attacking him inside the store.
This decision by the district attorney to not prosecute Brownâs murderer comes hot on the heels of attempts by the cityâs Mayor, London Breed, to re-ignite drug-war era policies and increase sweeps of houseless encampments. Just as with the brutal murder of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway, Brownâs murder and the stateâs subsequent passive support sends the message that vigilante violence against the houseless and poor, especially people of color and queer and trans folks, is not only encouraged, but sanctioned.
Center to promoting this narrative have been corporations like Walgreens, who have waged a propaganda campaign falsely claiming increased shoplifting has led to the closure of multiple stores across the city. In reality, in the post-pandemic world, not only are people more strapped for cash and less apt to spend money on goods, but those with extra money to spend are more likely to buy online and are also increasingly working from home remotely; leading to a decrease in foot traffic in major cities. As Axios reported:
San Franciscoâs sluggish recovery is due at least in part to its heavy concentration of tech workersâmany of whom decamped elsewhere amid the pandemicâas well as a shortage of affordable housing.
In fact, recent investigations have shown that stores like Walgreens overinflated claims of âcrime.â According to The Guardian:
A major U.S. drugstore chain that supposedly experienced a surge in shoplifting last yearâfanning the flames of conservative outrage over a purported spike in crime and disorderâsaid on Thursday that it might have overstated the problem.
âMaybe we cried too much last year when we were hitting numbers that were 3.5% of sales,â Kehoe said, according to an earnings call transcript. âWeâre down in the lower twos, call it, the mid-2.5, 2.6 kind of range now.â
While shoplifting might not have hurt Walgreensâ bottom line as much as it once thought, the company said it suffered a $3.7bn loss in its first quarter, partly relating to litigation over the U.S. opioid epidemic, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans in the last decade. Walgreens reached an opioid-related settlement with state and local governments last quarter to pay $5.7bn over 15 years.

Graffiti reads, âNarcan Saves Lives, Cops Kill People!â âFuck Your Fascists!â Source: Indybay.org
Regardless of the facts, this anti-poor and anti-houseless hysteria has reached epic heights. On April 4th of this year, Bob Lee, the founder of CashApp, was stabbed to death and many quickly rushed to blame a houseless person. In reality, Leeâs killer was a âtech executive in San Francisco [who] also worked in the tech industry.â Meanwhile, across the country, acts of violence against the houseless are increasing, including in San Francisco. As Forbes reported:
Former San Francisco fire commissioner Don Carmignani is facing accusations he was behind a series of attacks on homeless people, after a lawyer for a man accused of beating him reportedly said in court Wednesday sheâd uncovered evidence suggesting that Carmignani might have attacked homeless people with bear spray.
Rising rents, flattening wages, and cuts to social servicesâpolicies backed by the billionaire class of both parties have led to the current crisis in San Francisco, a situation which has only worsened since the pandemic. These are the same factors pushing out working and middle-class workers from urban cores, which in turn are causing the closure of many retail stores, like Walgreens. Increased police repression and âlaw and orderâ policies wonât address any of these problems, which in turn are feeding the growing mental health and drug overdose crises.
Capitalism offers no solutionsâonly more police in an attempt to keep everything from falling apart. What is needed are movements, struggles, and actions from below which meet our needs directly, outside and against the interests of the rich who control and benefit from this disaster.
Source: Mronline.org