Ok, so me and some friends put together an anarchist zine called "Smash". The project started a couple months ago and we started with about 15 copies of the 1st issue which we handed out at school. Now we've been working on the second which I've written an article for called "Culture V.S. Counter Culture" and I was wondering if I could get a few opinions on it. I'm gonna try to get the 1st copies of the 2nd issue printed some time next week. ANyway, here it is: ----------------------------------------------------- Everyone with a bit of common sense knows more or less what anarchists want. What a lot of people don’t realize, including many anarchists themselves, is how we intend to reach our goal of a free society. The popular belief is, first we’ll destroy the state, and only then will we begin to build a new world. Well sorry to disappoint anyone who lives by this creed, but this is a very outdated belief. First of all the world is not what it was a hundred years ago. The state is much more powerful and coercive; money plays an even bigger role. People, though they may be freer than before, are at the same time much more disciplined and inward looking. But more importantly, that which has proven to be far more devastating to our own lives and those of so many others, as well as our environment, is our culture. By culture I mean of course the neo-liberal materialistic xenophobic “fuck off” culture that stems in the United States and is progressively taking over the rest of the world. This is a culture that teaches kids to be apathetic and conforming, instead of following their dreams and thinking for themselves; a culture where it is normal to have two men holding guns but weird for two men to be holding hands; a culture that encourages people to compete with one another for wealth and resources instead of working together; a culture of fast food, reality TV and magazines; a culture that puts money and materialism at the centre of everyday life instead of people and passions; a culture that places more importance on a person’s appearance instead of their ideas. This raises a first set of questions: Who, or what, is to blame for all of this? Why is our culture like this? Where did we go wrong? What is fuelling all this mindless consumerism as well as waste & destruction? At present, let’s face it: we are but cogs in a machine. We are pushed from an early age into school where instead of learning about the world around us, we are taught how to work in that world so that once we are done with school, we are able to go out and sustain the society in which we live. Cities are overrun with billboards advertising fast food, banks and other corporations, yet nothing that expresses people and sincere emotions. More and more natural land is being destroyed to make way for luxurious hotels and golf courses, instead of being preserved for everyone (as well as other living organisms) to enjoy. If you really want to blame someone for all of this, then look no further then yourself. Certainly, corporations, governments and celebrities have all played a large part in pushing this culture onto us and even popularising it, but we have all contributed to it in some way or another. But if you truly care about this world, about the future, and about people, then the question is not “Who is responsible?” but rather, “What can I do to make things better?”. Blaming someone or something for all of the world’s problems is easy, but it won’t get us anywhere. What counts is what we do to fix these problems. Before I go on, let me say one thing: there is no point in trying to “improve” the mainstream culture we live in today. By now this culture has grown into something that can no longer be tamed. The norm is, without society one can not survive at all, yet without you society can survive perfectly fine. No, what we need now is something new, something fresh… something that stems from our love for one another, our ideas, and our dreams. Something that connects us and brings us all together, yet allows us to retain our individuality. This doesn’t mean we have to go back all the way to the zero and start from scratch. In fact, this culture I speak of has been around for quite a while, in various forms, and recently it has resurfaced and begun to grow and develop again. All over the world people have rejected a culture of waste and consumerism in favour of something which does not revolve around money, or class. From musicians and artists to your common hippy, thousands upon thousands of people have essentially ‘dropped out’ and become what is known as ‘the counter-culture’. Going back to anarchists, though they only make up a small part of this counter-culture, the culture as a whole essentially works on anarchist principles. There are no leaders telling people what to do. There are no written laws, yet everyone respects each other. If there is a problem, people sort it out themselves. These are just some examples of the foundation for a free culture as well as a successful and caring community. It’s obvious that in our current environment we can only go so far in terms of what we create, because as history shows, as soon as anything becomes ‘too big’ it is immediately labelled a threat by the state and destroyed. That’s why most of what we do continues to thrive in the ‘underground’, but is not as visible in everyday life. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It just means we have to take a longer route to reach our goals. At this stage, we need to focus our energies on laying down the foundations for this future culture and begin to build small communities from the bottom-up. This can be done anywhere: work, school, neighbourhoods, music scenes… whatever works for you! This is, if you like, a process of ‘planting seeds’ which can, with a little nurturing and caring, eventually bloom into something beautiful. If we are capable of doing this, then we are capable of anything. And it is only after we have established an active culture that we will be able to properly do away with current institutions such as the State and capitalism. It should also be noted that it is impossible to sketch out in a detail the type of culture I’m speaking of or to even come up with a fully detailed plan of how to build and develop such a thing. But no matter who you are, you’ve got to start somewhere, even if that means starting alone. If you see something you don’t like, change it! Or else create something better in its place. The worst you can do is to turn your back on it and pretend it’s not happening. Because no matter what you say, it IS happening and it’s up to you to make the first step. What we need is cultures of love & friendship, solidarity, peace, fun, excitement, passion, adventure… whatever you want it to be! Make it happen! Build it, shape it, nurture it, watch it grow, and above all, nurture it. Start a band and play for free, put a zine together about a topic that interests you, put on a play, don’t buy Che Guevara shirts, make your own, write, sing, draw, shout… push the limits! Find what works for you! Again, going back to Anarchism, although it is an idea that has existed for a very long time, Anarchism has never really been given the opportunity to be tried and to thrive on a large scale, so therefore we can’t really know what works or what doesn’t. We’ve learned from past mistakes, but we still have a long way to go, and for this it cannot be stressed how important it is to experiment. That’s right, we need to be experimenting, coming up with new ideas & trying them out. See what works and what doesn’t. Talk to people, organise, unite… and more importantly: have fun! And the best place to start is with ourselves. We need to revaluate and question everything we have until now taken for granted. This includes the way we talk, the way we act and the way we treat each other. We need to be challenging relationships we have with others, the earth and with society. After all, big changes are really only a result of lots of people making little changes. Bear in mind that this is nothing new. Take the 60’s, with the so called ‘hippy’ movement. Back then it was a big shock to see young people reject the old culture and to begin experimenting with sex, music and drugs in order to create something better. Those ideals have become a part of the youth today, then nothing of that sort had ever really happened on such a big scale. Lots of important changes were made, but ultimately the whole thing resulted in failureThe problem with the 60s, and the whole ‘hippy’ movement, is that even though they shared a lot of the same ideals we had, they didn’t really have a proper sense of direction. Most people just wanted to be left alone doing there thing, and eventually the establishment swallowed them up because few were actually pushing for something new. There was also the whole drug culture, along with the popular motto “if it feels good, do it” and other ‘distractions’. But now the torch has been passed to a new generation and the time has come for us to make a stand. You could say it’s harder to do these days, but that’s no reason not to try. After all, we are the youth, we are the future, and the future is unstoppable! Be the future! So, to resume everything in a single paragraph, here it is: Protesting and committing acts of violence against the State and the current system can be effective to weaken their power, but those methods won’t actually get us anywhere. I’m not saying we should forget all about those methods, but in terms of where we spend the most of our energy, I think it should be in creating rather than destroying. And yes, it may feel overwhelming at times, even impossible, but the truth is, if you really want to make a change, in the end nothing can really stop you, because by rejecting the mainstream lifestyle and culture of today, you have in a sense already set yourself free. A new world is only possible if we work together, but then again, we all have to start somewhere, even if that means starting alone. “We look at the world around us Everything we see is crazy So we drink, and we smoke, and watch the tv They say don’t take your life so seriously And I say, this is the only way I know how to be Caus we need passion, not fashion We need food, not bombs We need action, not factions We need everyone here to be singing along We need stories, not glory We need friends, not fans We need guitars, not rock stars We need more than just loud drunks straight white male punk bands Let’s destroy out of love And build out of anger Get our heads out of our asses See, our lives are in danger Caus the world as we know it Is not gonna last forever These could be the last days So let’s spend them together!” (Taken from the song “Never Surrender” by Evan Greer)
Read a book called "Lipstic Traces (A Secret History of the 20th Century)" by Marcus Griel - that will give you a lot of ideas for anarchist views of culture and counter culture - Its a history of anarchism and how it is the pervasive ideology of the counter culture in modern times - its mainly about the history of anarchism since the 50's http://www.eyecandypromo.com/GM/GMBooks.html .
