It is in my upbringing, I think, that my interest in justice and social equality are rooted, and therefore my interest in anarchism. I was raised in a small house, my mother a homemaker and my father a carpenter. We were Catholics and lived in a rural area roughly two hours from Washington DC so, as one can imagine, the traditional values of the Christian working class had been spoon fed to my ears as early as I could hear.
Throughout my childhood I had a profound respect and admiration for the rural experience and was a devout catholic. To me, my small town was a utopia; everyone worked hard, went to church, and would wave when they passed me on the road. I had grown into quite the traditionalist, believing that if everyone lived the lifestyle to which I had grown accustomed, the world would be a better place.
At the age of eleven I transferred from a mostly white (actually about 95%) elementary school to a predominantly black middle school. It was at this school that I was enrolled in college prep English courses and developed my interest in reading and writing, particularly the works of JRR Tolkien. It was also at this school that my perception of the world began to change. I met many students whose financial and family situations were deplorable; students who didn’t have television or electricity, and students whose parents were divorced, did drugs, or were dead. Despite having been exposed to the plight that other people had to deal with, my Christian/capitalist viewpoint lead me to the conclusion that the hardships I’d seen could be attributed to a lack of real values, that somehow these people deserved where they were because of who they were. I later learned I was wrong.
The perceptual revolution which occurred in my mind was a long and turbulent hurricane that hit the shores of my world toward the end of my middle school years. Despite my above average athletic capability, I had become a frequent target for bullying from the stronger black students. I was a nerd, and had some pretty strange mannerisms to boot. Even though I continued to attribute their bullying me to a lack of traditional values, I began to understand what it was like to be a minority. I understood what it felt like to be oppressed.
By 8th grade I had given up on trying to fit in, and began to develop a very cynical view of the superficial social situations that occurred around me. I thought myself a nonconformist and started listening to heavy metal and wore as much black clothing as I could. By high school I had developed a strong taste for punk rock music. During high school I made friends with a lot of people whose interests were similar to my own, people who were poor, people who were homosexual; all of them people who were abused and mocked by the same “good Christian Americans” that I used to consider my friends.
Pretty soon, having been exposed to a world which was previously foreign to me, and having heard differing viewpoints, the religious teachings of the church and the rants and ramblings of my parents and television personalities like Bill O’ Reilly made less and less sense, and eventually appeared to me as fascist in nature. It was in hearing arguments about same-sex marriage and the legalization of marijuana that I started to compare the beliefs on which I was raised to those that perpetuated slavery, those that perpetuated segregation, and those that fueled the Nazis during WWII. I saw that these beliefs were based on the well being and viewpoints of only one group and not only did they not consider the well being of other groups, but in many cases oppressed them. I slowly started to see many of my former beliefs as just rationalization for keeping the powers that be in their position, for keeping male white Christians in control and everyone else in their place.
My falling out with Christianity and traditionalism lead to my falling out with the state and with capitalism. Unlike what we were taught in elementary school, I saw land and natural resources as something of a gift from God that we were all meant to share, something that could never, and should never be owned. I saw the market give people unfair advantages and leave the overwhelming majority of others without any means to change. I saw teeming masses toiling to benefit the wallets of the few. I saw a system in which you needed money to make money, but where many people had none at all. Most of all, however, I saw a country full of people who had, through years of indoctrination, been conditioned to believe that this system is the best in the world and that not only were all others wrong, but even considering them as rational was heresy.
I also began to feel a great aversion to the nature of government. What began as disenchantment with corrupt politicians and counterproductive party politics grew into complete resentment. It was actually a quick process, how I came to my conclusion. Initially, while debating the same sex marriage issue with a civics teacher, I asked him: “since when was it the government’s place to dictate our lives based on tradition?” I then thought to myself “since when is it the government’s place to dictate anything about our private lives?” a question which ultimately forced me to ask myself “what the hell is the government even for?”
Naturally, based on the contemporary understanding of different political ideologies, I was torn between the two polar opposites I had come to identify with: libertarianism and socialism. On the one hand my contempt for capitalism as I understood it led me to feel that socialism was the best answer for equality. On the other hand my contempt for the state began my interest in libertarian beliefs. According, as I said earlier, to the contemporary understanding of these ideologies, neither seemed like a good alternative. American libertarians seemed to only be against the state based on the interests of their own private property and unrestricted capitalism, while contemporary Socialists preferred to use a strong federal government to keep their fragile economic system in check. I had quite the decision to make.
Up until then my understanding of the anarchist sentiment was no different than that of any other American. Anarchy was a lyric in a Sex Pistols song that meant a complete absence of government. Anarchy meant chaos. Despite this, although completely uneducated, I had considered the possibility of an anarchist society around the same time I had considered the possibility of libertarianism. Claiming “anarchy and peace,” I was accused of being a utopian dreamer, and knew deep down that it was true.
It wasn’t until I was surfing around on Wikipedia that I discovered Libertarian Socialism, which was essentially the same thing as Anarchism. I continued reading this and other articles including the Anarchist FAQ, and learned that true anarchism, as defined by true anarchists, was the perfect marriage of socialism and libertarianism. Anarchism is based on the idea that a truly equal socialist society cannot exist as long as there is a government (see George Orwell’s Animal Farm), and that a truly free libertarian society cannot exist as long as capitalism remains in practice.
I read online for hours, fascinated by what I had discovered. While it still seemed somewhat farfetched to me, there were always checks and balances to ensure prosperity and equality. I felt like I had finally found a school of thought that made perfect sense, one that could mean prosperity and equality for all people, one that meant brotherhood and community solidarity.
From then on, while I considered myself an anarchist and had an interest in politics that seemed abnormal to most teenagers, I was never a very active anarchist, expressing my political beliefs through my bands lyrics and occasional poems. I would argue with people about social injustices and opted to live my private life based on my beliefs. It was during the 2008 presidential election that I felt I needed to start voicing my opinions.
Prior to 2008, my parents separated and eventually divorced. During my middle school years since my mom started working, my dad got an office job and we had built an addition onto our house. We had decent money and were living the middle class dream. After the divorce, however, money became very tight, sometimes seeming like we had none at all. Because of the country’s financial crisis, the sector of Cherry Cove that my dad worked for had to be dissolved, and because of a legal complication with a hospital, my mom too was out of work. Along with this poverty, I became incredibly frustrated with the politics present during the presidential election. My frustration quickly grew to cynical hatred for the way our society worked. In light of this, I started voicing my views. I started to spread my views and show people an alternative to contemporary politics. I desperately hoped to maybe change the way people thought.
That is the nature of this essay, to give people a look at the mind of an all American boy turned anarchist, to intimately show people what we believe, and why we believe it. Perhaps my reader is not convinced, I suppose I can’t blame him. What I hope, if anything, is that he has at least taken a hard look at the way he sees the world. That’s the first step toward any kind of progress, be it revolution of society, or just revolution of the mind.
Before I go any further about this excellent album, I want to just give every reader who might not know better a little bit of an education about the skinhead culture. First off, they aren’t all Nazis. I don’t know what the exact demographics are for the culture, but the origin of the skinhead movement was very close to the british ska/reggae/rude boy movement. Often left in the shadow of their headline grabbing, queer bashing, race baiting counterparts. In fact anyone familiar with antifa work is likely aware that at anytime they counter-protest a group of hate mongers, there are likely to be skinheads on the “good guy” side of the barricades.
The cornerstone of the antifascist skinhead culture is middle class solidarity. As trade unionism, an opposition to capitalism, and home rule are all common themes of middle class activism, it is easy to see why many skinheads would be attracted to ideals we would find very similar to our own ambitions. Groups such as Red and Anarchist Skinheads (RASH), Skin Heads Against Race Prejudice (SHARP), and countless others are well known in skinhead circles as rally points for radical change in their community.
Like I said in an earlier music review, our communities would be well served by greater cooperation between the anarcho-skinhead community and the anarchist community at large. These are people with similar aims to ours, we should collaborate for the good of all involved.
But, back to Oi Polloi. Scottish. Anarchists. Diverse (sort of). While the name is clearly suggestive of the Oi! subculture of punk, the members of Oi Polloi have been drawn from the punk (and the vegan-, peace, anarcho-, and street- versions thereof), skinhead, and straight up rock cultures. As such their music, while easily categorized as Oi! or street punk, stylistic elements from all of the genres represented in the members of the group add a depth and variety to their sound not exactly common in the genre.
The unifying feature of Oi Polloi’s constituents is their anarchist beliefs. Tracks like Pigs For Slaughter (about police brutality), Nuclear Waste (environmentalism), and Commies and Nazis (opposition to totalitarian ideologies) all show a close relationship between the band’s musical drive and their political positions.
While not the most accessible musically for some, fans of punk will find them to be a good listen and offering plenty of mosh-inducing tracks to keep them listening.
Sadly I will not be able to provide a link to a torrent of their work, as it appears to have disappeared. Alas! I am sure some reader is resourceful enough to find some and let us know at peoplesinformative@riseup.net so that we can share it with you all.
While they have been around for some time (this album is from February 2000) dead prez have stayed decidedly underground. There are probably a number of reasons for this, most significant of which is probably the fact that they have decided to be there. It is worth noting though, even if they wanted to be mainstream, their politics would likely have left them in a quite similar position.
Self identified as socialist, dead prez seem to represent the more modern libertarian socialist views rather than the statist totalitarian socialism of the past. I know what you’re thinking “PIC! How can you be writing about those stinking commies! This is an anarchist blog, not some pinko nutjob farm!” Well my irate reader, the fact is that if we are to be anarchists we have to let people be wrong about somethings (not that I think socialism is so wrong), but more importantly these guys are serious musicians and I don’t want you to miss out just because they are “only” libertarian socialists.
The biggest song of the album (and of dead prez’s career thus far) is the jawdroppingly well arranged Hip Hop. While the YouTube version has merely acceptable audio quality, the video is excellent, but in order to fully appreciate this song you need a quality sound set up. I know talking about material goods is uncouth in anarchist circles, but seriously. If you have a good set of speakers, don’t listen to this song anywhere else. You are going to want something with powerful bass to appreciate the gravity of this song.
Other shining stars on the album include They Schools, Propaganda, and Be Healthy. If you are at all a fan of good, well written hip hop, then you can’t help but like “Let’s Get Free”. Then when you throw in their politics, well I think I am in love.
But the significance of this album goes beyond all that. Here is an amazing musical group, with a solid fan base, who have been around for nearly a decade. But this is the first time you have heard of them? There is a very simple reason for this: segregation. I am going to make a wild assumption here: you, our readers, are mostly white. Even though we are seeking to bring down all oppression, we rarely collaborate with a whole segment of the population who have been fighting a much more explicit form of oppression. When is the last time you saw an African American fist in a black bloc? Or a Hispanic at a Food Not Bombs dinner? Radical movements exist within these communities, and yet we basically ignore them. It is so obvious it is cliche to say so, unity is strength. So why haven’t we united with these fellow soldiers of the movement?
In closing, get this album. The YouTube clips don’t do them justice.
The police department of Tenaha, TX have stopped over 140 motorists, predominantly non-white, over the past year and seized their belongings despite no charges being filed against the motorists. The police are abusing a facet of Texas law that allows police departments to sieze any good involved in the commission of a crime and use the procedes (from the sale of the siezed goods) to supplement their annual budget.
When asked for comment Tenaha officials have simply said “We enforce the law here. We are not doing this to raise money.” The Texas statute Tenaha PD claims to be following is designed to help fight the “War on Drugs“, and is generally aimed at the large sums of cash large drug busts usually leave in the government’s possesion. However Tenaha PD aren’t busting drug king pins. They don’t even appear to be busting anyone. A sampling of the type of people Tenaha PD have victimized include a grandmother from Akron, OH ($4,000 in cash) and an interracial couple from Houston, who surrendered over $6,000 of cash and belongings after the patrol officer threatened to have their children taken from them and put into foster care. You read that right, a couple was blackmailed over the threat of losing their children, simply because they were a “mixed” couple.
Behavior such as this serves as a prime example of what anarchists have been saying for some time: the police are as vile and destructive as every other group of armed thugs roaming the streets. While the romanticized image of gangland Chicago says that Al Capone was the only one running a protection racket, the fact is it is well documented that those businesses not falling victim to the illegal gangs were paying equal sums to the “legal” gangs. Those still entrenched in the validity of our justice system may be compelled to say things are different now, but the victims of the Tenaha, PD will beg to differ.
