Race, Anarchy, and Punk Rock

[by the way, this is a real good site, worthy of support, as is 
http://www.passionbomb.com/race/.  check it out when you get a chance.
-marc]

http://www.passionbomb.com/words/race_punk.htm

Race, Anarchy, and Punk Rock
by Otto Nomous

"Yes that's right, punk is dead ... Punk became a fashion just like
hippy used to be and it ain't got a thing to do with you or me."

         - lyrics by Crass, The Feeding of the  Five Thousand (1978).

Ever since the historic protests against the WTO in Seattle at the close of 
the last millenium, anarchism as a revolutionary theory has been sought 
after by an increasing number of people from wide ranging walks of life than 
ever before in recent memory. However, the undeniable fact remains that the 
make-up of the anarchist movement in the U.S. for the last couple of decades 
has been a largely homogenous one, i.e. predominantly white and middle 
class. It also happens to be the case that the vast majority of people who 
identify themselves as anarchists in the U.S. today are connected to 
“alternative” subcultures, such as punk rock, in varying degrees. As a 
person of color and an anarchist with roots in punk rock, I have become 
deeply concerned with the lack of diversity within the anarchist movement. 
As long as we fail to attract significantly diverse participation, thus 
remaining isolated and politically weakened, and fail to link-up with and 
support anti-racist struggles, we shouldn’t keep our hopes up for any 
radical social transformation in this country. I began to realize that a 
significant part of the problem lies in the subcultural lifestyle of many 
anarchists, including myself. What follows is an attempt to offer insight in 
finding answers for the ever-pressing quest for “diversity” within the 
anarchist community. [...]



---*---
+ Marc Rodrigues: [email protected]
+ cell: 914-661-9783
+ Queens College SFS: Students for a Free Society: [email protected]

  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QCactivist

"We declare our right on this earth ... to be a human being, to be respected 
as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, 
on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any 
means necessary. -Malcolm X

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