diy hc/punk has no room for leaches, capitialists and profiteers.
By Brob
People that I correspond(ed) with, that know me, will be aware of the fact that I believe that the idea of making a living off HC/punk dosen't align with what is the ideology of this subculture. Those who read Tilt! #8 will have noticed that already too. Maybe you should re-read my column "I've invested a lot more money than you did...".
But I can explain shortly(once again) why this is. This is my frame of thinking, this is what I believe HC/punk is about... the HC/punk scene is supposed to be an alternative to the capitalist music-industry and the rock'n'roll circus. This industry attracts and tries to bind young people to a consumerist lifestyle (which guarantees them their profits and thus more power) by commodyfying what plays a big role already in young people's lifes: music, fashion, and an alternative lifestyle (their "alternative" is a superficial and temporary reacting against parents, school, etc. but doesn't attack the real powers). Our alternative aims to be a profound, honest and lasting struggle-based on solidarity-against those that want to control our lives, dictate their rules of power and greed and destroy our world. I believe it's impossible in the given situation to win this fight (not in this era, where egocentrism rules) in the mainstream, in the global capitalist society. That's why I think it's much more appropriate and feasable to teach, to show people what can be done on a smaller scale, i.e. the HC/punk-scene-where the atmosphere is leaning much more towards co-operation and where there's already a global network of like minded people established.
Maybe now you can understand why I react so passionately, fervently against people who want to adopt the capitalist ways of doing into our subculture. people who (try to) make a living off any of the aspects of the HC/punk scene(bands selling out, agencies and commercial clubs cashing in, distribution marketing music/merchandise as just another commodity, shops trivialising the honest efforts and messages of people who work for our alternative, etc.) are greedy vultures abusing and exploiting the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of people constructing our scene. They don't feel part of a bigger whole, they don't feel solidarity.
That's why I fulminate against people running commercial record-stores (especially when they also sell major label merchandise). It's not about making profits that I worry about in the first place (but of course these should be minor in order to keep the prices as low as possible). I worry about what the profits are used for, if one re-invests in the scene then there's hardly a problem. People who want to make a living by doing this, have the intention of surviving by doing this. They drain the scene of the energy and money it needs so badly. it also means they will have to compromise with the capitalist system and it's bureaucracy controlling activities within the HC/punk scene to such an extent that it strips the subculture of it's essence. We all compromise but it's my strong belief that people making a living off it, crosses the limit.
HC/punk is-for lots of people that get into it for the first time-a music-scene; music and the ways it is presented and handled is very directive for those people. I mean, if they see it's bein' handled in a way different from the mainstream it can show them the way to an alternative way of thinking and living. If they see this scene is copying the capitalist ways of promoting and selling, the competition, they won't change the attitudes spoonfed to them already by the system. People running record stores have a very big responsibility towards the scene. Unfortunately very, very few run their businesses in a solidary way but many-practically all-are just hypocrites, selfish, and greedy pawns of capitalism. I don't see any harm in running a small solidarity-based record-store outside of the capitalist system though. The latter make an essential contribution to the scene.
I'm not gonna give examples or names here. First of all people involved in the scene evolve; someone with seemingly decent DIY attitudes may become a money-grabbing business-person once (s)he has figured out all the tricks. This was very apparent in countries of the former 'eastern block'. Before 'the berlin wall' fell most people there were ultra-DIY, now that they've been introduced to the free-market-system loads of punx there have adopted capitalist techniques. Secondly, I realise that there's a (cultural) difference in the way people in the american and asian and european scenes look at at this. Over here stores have always been considered something for business-people, in the US any non-chain store is considered an alternative. Also when I mention someone that I consider to be commercial, everyone will see all others in relation to this person and label him DIY or commercial according to their norms ("if X is a business-person than surely Y can't be one"). Whereas I opt to install an under-limit. Do I make myself clear? A last reason is that loads of people will acknowledge what I say but will still act (inconsequently) against their beliefs because this or that person is a friend or because" (s)he did so much for the scene in the past". I notice that a lot of people are hesitant to take a radical stand...All this also depends on the fact if you accept my frame of thinking (as I described in the introduction)..
I hope all this is a basis for discussion. Please get in touch if you have an opinion on this. More on this is published in my zine and in a collective zine I'm involved in (Newland).
Brob/Tennisbaanstraat 85/9000 Gent/Belgium
Anarchy and the Art of Homebrewing, Part One
by Dan Psycho
My interest in self-sufficiency was first by the DIY attitude of early eighties punk scene as well as my introduction to the work of Aleister Crowley around the middle of that wretched decade. I was actively seeking something without having any idea as to what the hell it was. I wanted to form a band, that much I did know. I wanted to perform the rituals that I was reading about, but I couldn't put my finger on any specific motives behind my desire. It was nearly a decade before I finally took one of Crowley's most profound statements to heart. "Do What Thou Wilt..."
My college studies didn't do much more than cloud my vision. I was constantly making things more complicated for myself. I majored in alcohol consumption and had a split minor in Art and English. Even though I never graduated, I was transformed into another typical over-educated and pompous ass that our colleges seem to pump out incessantly. Out in the real world, I realized that the regular Joe had insights with which I was entirely unfamiliar, things that I could never learn in school. I actually had to unlearn some of the things they had taught me in college to that I could regain my focus. I know that I would have to acquire my practical skills before I could ever pursue my goals.
I calmed my ego. Narcissism is the enemy of creativity. But suddenly, everyone seemed hateful to me, as if by loving outwardly, they would somehow dwindle their own inner strength. This attitude seems to generate a lot of the general apathy that we feel towards each other. We are all too busy thinking about ourselves to give a shit about anyone else.
Finally, I accepted the fact that in everything I did, I alone was responsible. Success or failure depended entirely on my own resolve. Our modern civilization has undermined society's standards, which are primarily based on how much money they can make when it's not being based on the color of their skin or their religion. I pick the people that I spend time with according to my work. People who show respect for my efforts, and especially the rare bird that might actually contribute something to it is always a welcome addition to my life, but there's nothing that turns me off more than a lazy, leechy person. I am happy to pass a bit of time with anybody who does not compromise that I consider my purpose in life. Most people seem to be entirely incapable of showing this courtesy, which should be common and to which everyone is due. Those people have dropped out of my life like so many dead flies.
Coming to terms with the nature of my existence was not an easy task. It took me all thirty years, which means that I probably wasted a number of them. Now I constantly question myself. Why am I doing this? What should I try to learn next? When I thought I had it all pegged, I realized that my purpose wasn't a constant, that it displayed a natural sort of flucuation over time. Life never stays the same and neither do we. This is a general delusion that we hide behind generated by the powers that be. In any undertaking, there are obstacles. The reasons that anarchy fell right into place for me, on this note, is because when we pursue our own personal goals, it necessitates coming up with our own sets of rules and regulations by which to accomplish them. For example, the goals of my government are definitely not in accord to my own.
It is hard sometimes not to fall into complete pessimism over the state of things. But as I watch the world devour itself, I can't help but feel that we must be protected somehow. It's like we're all living some sort of charmed life without even realizing it. How else do we escape our self-destruction by such narrow margins again and again and again? In relative terms, our species hasn't really been here very long. I think that whatever humanity was put here to achieve is a project still in it's infancy.
Can we blame technology for the sorry state of things? At least half the blame lies on we the people. We have chosen to apply our knowledge in the worst of ways. You can't really blame the television set for it's wretched, inane programming because that is what we respond to. The potential of the boob-tube is just incredible. You can't really blame the automobile for polluting the air unless you ride a bike to work. How about the petroleum keeping down hemp seed oil, the perfect fuel, as an alternative to gasoline? Technology in the field of communications is advancing by leaps and bounds, so when the hell are we going to start talking to each other?
Once I realized that I would never be able to go through common channels to accomplish my tasks, I felt a little lost. It seemed to that everywhere I turned, self-sufficiency was being discouraged. The music that my wife and I were putting together would never be heard unless we could put it out ourselves. I was greatly inspired when I received tapes in the mail for kids who recorded their bands in bedrooms with boom boxes. It meant that whether or not we had money was a moot point because we could still be heard and we didn't have to live up to anybody's standards but our own.
For as long as I could remember, I dreamed of being a comic book artist. I went to school, but I spent more time worrying about how the hell I was ever going to get into a real art school than learning. I thought that I needed some fancy diploma to do comics as well as some big corporation. It may be a Xeroxed piece of shit, but it's all mine. I will never again bend over and beg some fuckhead to strip away my creative dignity. This Path of Freedom led me directly to my next conclusion.
AMERICAN CITIZENS: WATCH YOUR BACK. UNCLE SAM LURKS.
by Bill Hogseth
From birth until death, we are force-fed patriotism. In school, as children, we are taught of oppressive governments, which when a person speaks out against the state they are kidnapped, imprisoned, or killed. We are taught to appreciate the political freedom bestowed upon us in the United States. However, as far as the truth is concerned, that appreciation is built upon stones of institutionalized ignorance. Those who glorify this nation cannot see past the glossed over, shiny product of bureaucratic hypocrisy and the global imperialism of the American monster. Those who defy this empire are plucked out of line with the hand of our secret police.
During the 60's era of social upheaval and public backlash, an all-out war was fought against political freedom in the U.S. by the ever trustful and always deceiving Federal Bureau of Investigation. Targeting many of the radical political groups of the 60's era such as the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, the FBI proved successful in their efforts to stifle leftist activities within our nation.
First cultivated in the early 1940's by the infamous J. Edgar Hoover (former director of the FBI) were are series of operations called COINTELPRO's (Counter Intelligence Programs) designed to destroy political organizations which were considered subversive. Nearly all the tactics employed by the Bureau were illegal, unprovoked, and highly criminal, ranging from campaigns of disinformation to outright murder and assassination.
One of the first groups to feel the tight grip of the FBI's reign of terror, was the Socialist Worker's Party (SWP). At the time, 1961, socialists were earning places on ballots and gaining respect as legitimate candidates by the American public, until the FBI took the SWP name off the ballots and eliminated andy chance of the SWP to hold office.
As time went on, the Bureau expanded COINTELPRO's to many more and much larger political factions. One of the most well-known groups disrupted by the FBI was the Black Panther Party (BPP). Working to unite African-Americans and create strong black neighborhoods, the BPP's militant stance on black liberation was classified as subversive and thus experienced some of the hardest hits ever exerted during a COINTELPRO. Although the Black Panthers fell victim to COINTELPRO's many times, the following are just a few examples of the FBI's activities.
In a careful and precise effort, the FBI provoked the US (United Slaves) Organization- another black liberation group which once worked together with the BPP- to engage in a physical attack on the BPP, which resulted in the murder of two Black Panthers (Bunchy Carter and Jon Huggins) on January 17, 1969. Letters were sent to the BPP by the FBI in the name of the United Slaves Organization- bashing the Panthers and creating a tension between the two groups. The FBI would send letters to the US Organization in the name of the BPP, exacerbating the already strained relations. Assortments of cartoons and pamphlets were distributed by the Bureau- each of them slandering the other group. The FBI had divided the two groups, once strongly unified, because they saw the threat of a solidarity between the active political groups, the government cannot afford to have an actual unified resistance in this country. The murders, the letters, and the fliers completely disrupted the two groups and thus marked another victory for the FBI.
An FBI agent by the name of William O'Neal infiltrated the Chicago BPP by falsely posing as a Black Panther and rose up to the rank of Chief of Security. He became a personal bodyguard to Fred Hampton, the promising nineteen year old leader of the Chicago BPP. O'Neal provided police with an intricately detailed floorplan of Hampton's apartment, which was used to conduct a destructive raid on December 4th of 1969 upon Fred Hampton's dwellings. The night of the raid, O'Neal successfully drugged Hampton's Kool-Aid, sedating him into helplessness. At 4:30 am, two armed squads busted down the doors of the apartment and proceeded to execute a sleeping man named Mark Clark, who died instantly with a point-blank blast into his chest. Then, a young lady named Brenda Harris was shot and killed. Finally, they went for Fred Hampton, who was in the exact position described in O'Neal's floorplan. A total of forty-two bullets were blown through Hampton's skull.
These unprovoked assaults on the Black Panther Party, and many other groups not mentioned, are nothing more than a blatant attack on freedom. The United States government will not allow any opposition to the underlying fascism of its foreign and domestic policies. And when that opposition becomes too strong, they deny us the rights to stand up against the status quo. Our government understands that the people have the full capacity to take back the power, and is frightens them to death.
During April of 1971, J. Edgar Hoover claimed to officially terminate the COINTELPRO's in order to "avoid embarrassment to the Bureau", but only after the atrocities had been made clear to the American people and had drawn considerable public outrage. However, there is painful evidence that the legacy still continues, as groups like Earth First! (militant environmentalists) are being subjected to car bombings in the same fashion as a traditional COINTELPRO.
So, is this America? Have the ashes of freedom been buried along with the scorched remains of those who rose up against oppression? What does it mean to be patriotic when dissidents are gagged into silence by the threads of our flag and beaten into submission by Uncle Sam himself? Freedom has taken on a whole new meaning. Just keep your mouth shut and you'll be safe.
For further reading:
Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall.
COINTELPRO: The FBI's Secret War Waged Against Political Freedom. Edited by Cathy Perkus, with an introduction by Noam Chomsky.