To all the people who believe the political events of 2016 will lead to a revival of Punk. It will not happen, at least not in any influential way, until:
- you come out of bubble and start engaging with the people you are supposedly protesting for. It’s nice to write ironic comments on Twitter or your Facebook page, but only your (political) friends will read it, the people who already have the same ideas as you.
- musicians start playing for the people again instead of for themselves. How often do major acts play small venues in small towns for a small entry price? I will tell you: never. They all make a lot of money by playing in big stadiums for people who (a) have the money to buy themselves a ticket, and (b) support the artist and their ideas already. It’s not for the people. It’s for their bank account. It shows that they’re only in it for the money.
- progressives, liberals, europhiles and other minority groups start organising themselves in real life, in real communities instead of Twitter groups and Facebook profiles. Stop preaching to the converted. Go out and convince people who don’t agree with you. The only way to counter fakenews and alternative facts is to ditch virtual life and go real. It’s impossible to beat the army of provocation trolls, and it’s not even important. Take the battle to the streets again.
- we treat the threat as certain. Trump is a narcissistic psychopath, Putin’s only aim is to destroy the EU (and occupy some parts of Eastern Europe in the process), the French, Italian, German and Dutch populist movements only want to destroy EU and go back to a 1950’s illusion of an all white, patriarch society and the so-called Brexiteers nothing more but a bunch of xenophobes with ‘grand old England’ fantasies.
Punk, in its mid 70’s heyday, was a grassroots social movement. It was a movement from the people for the people. It combined nihilism with real protest against the political and economic situation.Today, America and Europe are just as much in a political and economic mess, but this time music plays no role. Music and well-paid musicians are actually among the targets of today’s protest. In the 70’s Punk was a reaction to musical dinosaurs and to technically advanced but emotionless music. Anno 2017 people protest against celebrity artists who happen to support a multiethnic, free and liberal society, without even noticing the concerns of the common man and without doing any concessions to their own bank accounts.
It’s money that matters. It’s actions that count.
Punk can be big and important again, but only if the aim is to destroy and rebuild. Celebrity artists need to go. The Devilish pact between celebrity artists, big money and politics need to go. We need to occupy the streets again, we need to ‘search and destroy’
I thought I would open a second Twitter account, but I decided against it. I will not play that game. I will be street active. That’s where it all needs to start again.
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