Sober Living for the Revolution

Description

Straight edge has persisted as a drug-free, hardcore punk subculture for 25 years. Its political legacy, however, remains ambiguous—often associated with self-righteous macho posturing and conservative puritanism. While certain elements of straight edge culture feed into such perceptions, the movement’s political history is far more complex.

Since straight edge’s origins in Washington, DC, in the early 1980s, it has been linked to radical thought and action by countless individuals, bands, and entire scenes worldwide. Sober Living for the Revolution traces this history.

It includes contributions—in the form of in-depth interviews, essays, and manifestos—by numerous artists and activists connected to straight edge, from Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi) and Mark Andersen (Dance of Days/Positive Force DC) to Dennis Lyxzén (Refused/The (International) Noise Conspiracy) and Andy Hurley (Racetraitor/Fall Out Boy), from bands such as ManLiftingBanner and Point of No Return to feminist and queer initiatives, from radical collectives like CrimethInc. and Alpine Anarchist Productions to the Emancypunx project and many others dedicated as much to sober living as to the fight for a better world.

Sujets

• CrimethInc
• CrimethInc.
• Social change
• Ian MacKaye
• Straight edge

Informations

• Publié par: PM Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781604863437
• Langue: English

Extrait

www.pmpress.org
Praise for Sober Living for the Revolution:
Sober Living for the Revolution is a great compilation with passionate manifestos, insightful articles and inspiring stories that demonstrate the radical potential of a sober lifestyle. With perspectives from straight edgers involved in various struggles the world over, this book is not just for (sXe) hardcore nerds, but for anyone willing to put aside prejudices and find out about the impact straight edge has and can have on radical politics.
Splitz – Projekt X, Vienna, Austria
When punk has become the soundtrack for luxury cruises, and most bands think they need commercial licensing deals to survive, this collection inspires resistance to Consumerism in all its forms. Combining conversational style with rigorous scholarship, it offers an essential exploration of the explosive possibilities at the intersection of straight edge, punk rock and political action. You don’t have to pour all your booze in the sink. But you should read this book.
Kris Lefcoe – writer/director of Public Domain and Tiny Riot Project
This book is as important for radicals who drink as for those who don’t. Its international scope is what makes it so appealing, talking about the development of political punk/hardcore throughout much of the world. Plus, there’s no way you can put down this book and still believe that all straightedge punks are a bunch of hardline asshole jocks.
Margaret Killjoy – editor of Mythmakers & Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction
If you don’t know anything about Straight Edge, you should read this book. And if you already know everything, you will definitely discover something new!
Michael Kirchner – compassion|media, co-director of Edge - Perspectives on Drug Free Culture
At last a book that gives a voice to the “other edge”: the edge that searches for a political and social transformation, not only in the U$, but around the world. The value of its well chosen interviews and essays resides in decentralizing straight edge history by exploring its radical politics and its global manifestations.
Diego Paredes – Colectivo Res gestae, Red Libertaria Popular Mateo Kramer, Bogotá, Colombia
This is a great international(ist) sidekick to the recent avalanche of books about American-only hardcore. Instead of just crazy tales and funny characters, the story here is kids, all over the globe, pre-internet, taking the original straightedge idea one step further, adapting it to different realities and trying to empower it by connecting it to a broader political and social context. If you want to know what happened between the early days of hardcore and the nostalgic/fashioncore era of the 00’s, look no further.
Pedro Carvalho – Newspeak, I Shot Cyrus, B.U.S.H., São Paulo, Brazil
Many ways of life have revolutionary potential: the lumpenproletariat, the anarchosyndicalist industrial workforce, the disaffected petty-bourgeoisie, and, of course, punk. Getting pissed as a fart is a typical part of these lifestyles (and I like that!), but it might not always (or ever) contribute to overthrowing social structures of oppression, inside and outside of our scenes. This collection provides crucial and self-critical insights on, well, sober living for the revolution – without just preaching to the already converted. Highly recommended!
Peter Seyferth – Pogorausch Beer & Booze, Munich, Germany
No myths, no bummer, no bullshit! At least I can fucking read this sober book.
Johannes Ullmaier – co-editor of Testcard: Beiträge zur Popgeschichte
I remember so well my first Seein Red concert ... The anger about issues in society was expressed in this raging, fast and furious music in this really energetic way – which made complete sense to me and which I could completely relate to. This is something I remembered by reading these interviews and articles – and it sparked my enthusiasm once again.
It’s always great to read how people are trying to make a radical change by combining personal and social choices with a broader political perspective in a positive sense, with the idea of building up something. These texts are not just about rage and frustration, not just about anger, but also about an effort to create an alternative, more constructive way to deal with life.
Sanne – Het Fort van Sjakoo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This clamour of voices, essays, and manifestos shows that there’s more to nay-saying the intoxication culture than male posturing and aggressive dogma. With interventions by queers, the sXe sisterhood, and anti-imperialists, alongside many other activist goals and players, Sober Living for the Revolution creates a gloriously messy tale of straight edge history and idealism, told with unfailing passion and an eye for challenging the scenes’ own myths and shortcomings. Straight up, this book dares to document, talk back, and re-engage the sXe idea of creating community through putting original pleasure, dissent, and care back centre stage.
Red Chidgey – DIY activist historian, www.grassrootsfeminism.net
A refreshing addition to the ongoing documentation of punk and political subculture, this book accomplishes the remarkable task of being highly relevant both as a focused academic resource about political straight edge and as a source of potential inspiration for a broad range of activists who want to change the world. Kuhn captures the visions and ideas of key straight edge figures from various generations and from around the world in order to present a multi-faceted and fascinating read regardless of whether one was previously familiar with straight edge subculture or not. We all face the challenge of seeking change in a world where profit is made by clouding the minds of tired souls. The existence – and prevalence – of a straight edge movement with progressive elements needs to be remembered and examined. If nothing else, this book should help set the record “straight.”
Troy Eeyore – Kingdom Scum
Timeline
This timeline is meant to be a reference guide for the readers of this book. It does not claim to offer an exhaustive overview of straight edge history. While one intention was to include “objectively” important periods, bands, and events, another was to focus on aspects of straight edge history that are of particular relevance to this volume.
While there have been straight edge scenes in Australia/New Zealand and several Asian countries since the late 1980s, the lack of international recognition they have received puts them beyond the scope of this project. Their history is for others to write. (Images A, B, C, D and E)
Image A
Image B
Image C
Image D
Image E
Introduction
Gabriel Kuhn (Image F)
Image F
The history of the term “straight edge” in the hardcore punk community has been much more colorful and long-lasting than Ian MacKaye could have ever imagined. MacKaye, at the time singer in the Washington, DC, band Minor Threat, wrote the lyrics to the song “Straight Edge” in 1981:
I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Than sit around and fuck my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white shit up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don’t even think about speed
That’s something I just don’t need
I’ve got the straight edge
I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Than sit around and smoke dope
Cause I know that I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
Always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch
I’ve got the straight edge
Against both expectations and intentions, these lyrics would not only provide a label embraced by scores of drug-free hardcore punk kids, they came to spawn a self-identified straight edge movement spreading around the world and remaining a vital part of the hardcore punk community to this day.
The US history of the movement has recently been traced by Ross Haenfler in the book Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and Social Change (2006), a study that is highly recommended to anyone interested in the straight edge phenomenon.
A superb history of straight edge from an international perspective is provided by the Brazilian band Point of No Return in their essay “Bending to Stay Straight,” which is included in this volume.
Roughly speaking—numerous exceptions will be encountered throughout the book—straight edge history can be divided into four phases:
1. The early days of Washington, DC, hardcore punk when straight edge ethics became a prominent part of a fledgling and visionary underground scene—roughly 1980 to 1983.
2. The first wave of self-identified straight edge bands across North America, often referred to as the “youth crew movement”—roughly 1984 to 1990.
3. The “new school” straight edge bands of the 1990s, strongly characterized by the increasing significance of animal rights, hence often known as the “vegan straight edge movement,” with the so-called “hardline movement” as its most ardent wing—roughly 1991 to 1999.
4. A rather diverse global straight edge movement, including old school revivals as much as vegan straight edge reunion tours, straight edge pop bands as much as straight edge power violence bands, and anti-materialist attitudes as much as a lucrative st