When we think of punk, we often relate it to an era of music and fashion – but punk is, and has always been, political.
Punk politics are defined as being anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian, fighting for individual freedom, and rejecting mainstream corporate culture. Punk politics have made waves globally, throughout the Global North and Global South – but punk is an ideology that is rarely attributed to countries south of the equator. However, what falls under the punk umbrella – a DIY (do it yourself) ethos, grassroots resistance, and community activism – are all aspects that are deeply embedded within the countries and individuals who have fought against colonialism, western supremacy and systemic oppression.
Now, as we witness a new global rise in oppression and a decline in political freedoms, we are seeing a new wave of resistance. The resurgence of rebellious, anti-capitalist, anti-establishment movements calls back to a punk tradition.
In this reading and resource list, we highlight punk movements in the Global South from the past and present. From punk’s presence in the protests for free transportation in Brazil; to the rise of punk in Morocco; the relationship between punk and feminism in Indonesia; and movements which follow a politically punk ethos, such as Sampat Pal’s pink-sari-wearing, pink-baton-wielding gang fighting against patriarchal oppression.
Thank you Matt Davies (Reader in International Political Economy at Newcastle University and Third World Quarterly Academic Editor), Kevin Dunn (scholar, author, novelist, musician, documentary film-maker, community activist and DIY cultural producer), and Hikmawan (Indra) Saefullah (Lecturer in Digital Humanities (Indonesian Focus) at the University of New England) for your support and recommendations.
1. Punk in Translation podcast, narrated by Ceci Bastida
After listening to Punk in Translation, you will never again think of punk as the exclusive territory of white men with mohawks. In eight immersive episodes, this Audible Original reveals the overlooked yet crucial role of Latin artists and Latin music in the origins and evolution of punk.
Much of the rule-breaking sound and style of punk’s music and political attitude was created and defined by Latin punk pioneers in the US and Latin America, starting with Question Mark and the Mysterians, the sons of Mexican migrant workers who formed the first band ever to be described as “punk rock” in a music magazine.
2. Punk & Post-Punk Journal’s Special Issue on Punk in Indonesia
Punk & Post-Punk is a journal for academics, artists, journalists and the wider cultural industries. Placing punk and its progeny at the heart of inter-disciplinary investigation, it is the first forum of its kind to explore this rich and influential topic in both historical and critical theoretical terms.
This Special issue on Punk in Indonesia covers Punk and the city: A history of punk in Bandung by Frans Ari Prasetyo, ‘Nevermind the jahiliyyah, here’s the hijrahs’: Punk and the religious turn in the contemporary Indonesian underground scene by Hikmawan Saefullah, A.C.A.B.: Studying up the rule of law in Banda Aceh, Indonesia by Marjaana Jauhola and Yudi Bolong and more.
3. Blitzkrieg Bops: A Brief History of Punks at War book, by Alli Patton
What happens when aggressive, riotous music becomes the peacemaker? Since its inception, punk has defied convention. Angry, unruly, and equipped with an ‘anti’ ethos – aggressively anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian, anti-corporation, and anti-conformity – it became a rebellion bound in leather, secured by safety pins. But it also became so much more.
Chronicling a brief history of punks at war, Blitzkrieg Bops studies those who have soundtracked a movement, whether Belfast’s Stiff Little Fingers against the backdrop of the Troubles, the integrated National Wake in Apartheid-era South Africa, through Kyaw Kyaw witnessing violence pierce through peace in Myanmar’s Saffron Revolution, to those protesting for a free Palestine to this day.
Journalist Alli Patton speaks to musicians who wield their music as a weapon on the frontlines for their future, spanning decades and continents, and digs more deeply into the intersection of politics, protest and punk – of those creating music to overthrow corrupt governments, stomp out oppressive regimes, fight the establishment and, in turn, fight for their lives.
4. Punk and feminism in Indonesia article, by Jim Donaghey
A strong feminist strand has run through punk since its earliest incarnations, but, because punk scenes are inevitably affected by their wider social contexts, the influences of sexism and patriarchy must be continually (re)negotiated – feminist punk interventions are therefore a key aspect of contemporary ‘global punk’. This deliberate and conscious feminist interventionism is a key aspect of punk in Indonesia too, recursively taking its cues from ‘punk history itself’. Feminist punk interventions in Indonesia include feminist zines, women-centric bands, explicitly feminist gigs and festivals, communication and support networks of punk women, and anarcha-feminist ‘info-house’ initiatives.
These interventions are necessary because, as elsewhere in the world, sexism is part of the lived experience for punk women in Indonesia. Patriarchal repression is acute in wider Indonesian society, and, despite the rhetoric of equality and opposition to oppression, these sexist norms are reproduced in the punk scene in the form of homosocial gender division, marginalisation of women, derision of feminist initiatives, sexual objectification, and sexual assault. The influence of morally conservative fundamentalist Islam in Indonesia also shapes expressions of sexism in the punk scene.
5. Persepolis film, by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
Based on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel about her life in pre and post-revolutionary Iran and then in Europe. Satrapi lived through the Iranian Revolution as a little girl, and documented her story as a child entangled in the history and politics of her country.
The film traces Satrapi’s growth from child to rebellious, punk-loving teenager in Iran. In the background are the growing tensions of the political climate in Iran in the 1970s and 1980s, with members of her liberal-leaning family detained and then executed, and the background of the disastrous Iran/Iraq war.
The film grapples with the tension between homesickness, cultural identity and the fight against oppression.
6. Global Punk: Resistance and Rebellion in Everyday Life book, by Kevin C. Dunn
Global Punk examines the global phenomenon of DIY (do-it-yourself) punk, arguing that it provides a powerful tool for political resistance and personal self-empowerment. Drawing examples from across the evolution of punk – from the streets of 1976 London to the alleys of contemporary Jakarta – Global Punk is both historically rich and global in scope. Looking beyond the music to explore DIY punk as a lived experience, Global Punk examines the ways in which punk contributes to the process of disalienation and political engagement.
The book critically examines the impact that DIY punk has had on both individuals and communities, and offers chapter-length investigations of two important aspects of DIY punk culture: independent record labels and self-published zines. Grounded in scholarly theories, but written in a highly accessible style, Global Punk shows why DIY punk remains a vital cultural form for hundreds of thousands of people across the globe today.
7. Black Punk Now anthology, edited by Chris L. Terry & James Spooner
Black Punk Now is an anthology of contemporary nonfiction, fiction, illustrations, and comics that collectively describe punk today and give punks—especially the Black ones—a wider frame of reference. It shows all of the strains, styles, and identities of Black punk that are thriving, and gives newcomers to the scene more chances to see themselves.
Curated from the perspective of Black writers with connections to the world of punk, the collection mixes media as well as generations, creating a new reference point for music-lovers, readers, and historians by capturing the present and looking towards the future. With strong visual elements integrated throughout, this smart, intimate collection is demonstrative of punk by being punk itself: underground, rebellious, aesthetic but not static—working to decentre whiteness by prioritising other perspectives.
8. Pink Sari Revolution: A Tale Of Women And Power In The Badlands Of India book, by Amana Fontanella-Khan
Sampat Pal was married at twelve, essentially illiterate. Today she leads a vigilante group fighting for women’s rights: the Gulabi (Pink) Gang.
This non-fiction book follows the leader of the Pink Gang and her fight against patriarchal oppression in North India’s Uttar Pradesh. When Sheelu was arrested for stealing from a powerful politician, she was sure that she would be forced to accept a prison sentence, not least because she alleged that she had been abused by a man in the politician’s household. But then Sampat Pal heard word of the charges, and the formidable commander of the pink-sari-wearing, pink-baton-wielding, 20,000-strong ‘Pink Gang’ decided to shake things up.
In the story of Sampat Pal and the Pink Gang’s fight for Sheelu, as well as others facing injustice and oppression, Amana Fontanella-Khan delivers a riveting portrait of women grabbing fate with their own hands – and winning back their lives.
9. Distortion and Subversion: Punk Rock Music and the Protests for Free Public Transportation in Brazil (1996-2011) book, by Rodrigo Lopes de Barros
At the turn of the 21st century, the Brazilian punk and hardcore music scene joined forces with political militants to foster a new social movement that demanded the universal right to free public transportation. These groups collaborated in numerous venues and media: music shows, protests, festivals, conferences, radio stations, posters, albums, slogans, and digital and printed publications. Throughout this time, the single demand for free public transportation reconceptualized notions of urban space in Brazil and led masses of people across the country to protest. This book shows how the anti-capitalist, anti-bourgeoisie stance present in the discourse of a number of Brazilian bands that performed from the late 1990s to the beginning of the 21st century in the underground music scenes of Florianópolis and São Paulo encountered a reverberation in the rhetoric emanating from the Campaign for the Free Fare, subsequently known as the Free Fare Movement (Movimento Passe Livre, or MPL).
This allowed the engaged bands and the movement for free public transportation to contribute to each other’s development. The book also includes reflections on the Bus Revolt that occurred in the northeastern city of Salvador, unveiling traces of the punk and anarcho-punk movements, and the Revolution Carnivals that occurred in the city of Belo Horizonte, an event that mixed lectures, vegetarianism, protests, soccer, and punk rock music.
10. Subversive South Africa: Race, Class and Gender in South African Punk, 1976–1985 chapter, by Amber Beeson
In Music, Subcultures and Migration‘s chapter, Amber Beeson explores South Africa’s punk scene in the 1970s and 1980s. Punk rock burst onto the scene in a flurry of black leather, wild hairstyles and anti-authoritarian attitude. Despite censorship laws, punk and other underground musical forms reached South Africa largely thanks to individuals bringing records from places like New York and London that were subsequently reproduced and – often illicitly – distributed. Punk as a subculture in the Global North has been the focus of extensive scholarship, including gender dynamics and race within punk scenes, examined by scholars such as Leblanc (1999), Duncombe and Tremblay (2011), and Rapport (2020). Conversely, punk rock in the Global South has been hugely undervalued in scholarship, eclipsed for decades by punk scenes in the West. Despite the dearth of book-length studies of punk in the Global South, punk music, styles and attitudes did exist outside the West, often fuelled by systematic oppression and colonialism.
This chapter looks at the punk scene in South Africa during the latter decades of the apartheid era. It argues that punk was thriving in South Africa at the time and was a subculture that transcended race, class and gender in a country that was deeply and systematically divided. By drawing from a diverse range of sources, including interviews, newspaper articles, documentaries, memoirs, photographs, flyers, music videos and audio recordings, this work attempts to demonstrate the ways that South African punks carved out their own spaces and renegotiated their identities in a country that had deeply segregated its people and set strict rules on who and what different types of people could and could not be.
11. Faouda Wa Ruina: A History of Moroccan Punk Rock and Heavy Metal article, by Brian Kenneth Trott
While the punk rock and heavy metal subcultures have spread through much of the world since the 1980s, a heavy metal scene did not take shape in Morocco until the mid-1990s, and there had yet to be a punk rock band there until the mid-2000s. In this paper, Brian Trott details the rise of punk and heavy metal in Morocco.
12. DIY Cultures and the Global South, edited by Andy Bennett and Devpriya Chakravarty
This issue of DIY, Alternative Cultures & Society journal features work from the growing community of scholars invested in studying DIY cultures in a global context. The concept of DIY, its history, and socio-political and cultural agendas are well documented in academic scholarship. The date, however, most of the work published on DIY cultural production and consumption has been written by Global North scholars and focuses in large part on Global North contexts and examples. Undoubtedly, the succession of radical movements that have arisen across the Global North during the 20th and early 21st centuries merit close scrutiny and analysis. Such movements, from Dadaism in the 1920s (Elgar and Grosenick, 2004) and situationism (1957–1972) (Wark, 2011) to the late 1960s counter-culture (Clecak, 1983) and (anarcho) punk (Cross, 2010; Hebdige, 1979) from the late 1970s onwards have each in their own ways forged counter-hegemonic narratives using such mediums as art, music fashion and literature.
Acknowledgements
Matt Davies
Matt Davies is an Academic Editor for Third World Quarterly (TWQ), a Reader in International Political Economy at Newcastle University, and a Visiting Professor at the International Relations Institute at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio. His research interests include politics, popular culture and ubanism.
Read our Q&A with Matt: Punk, Politics, & Popular Culture in IR: An Interview with Matt Davies
Hikmawan (Indra) Saefullah
Hikmawan ‘Indra’ Saefullah is a Lecturer in Digital Humanities (Indonesian Focus) at the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of New England (UNE). His Ph.D. research has drawn him to a deeper interest in the studies of Indonesian politics, subculture/counterculture, social movement, youth, and Islam, Islamic politics, and Islamism in Indonesia and their connection with the broader Southeast Asia and the Middle East region.
Read his article in Punk & Post-Punk Journal: ‘Nevermind the jahiliyyah, here’s the hijrahs’: Punk and the religious turn in the contemporary Indonesian underground scene
Kevin Dunn
Kevin C. Dunn is a Professor at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY. He is author and editor of almost a dozen academic books on topics ranging from African politics, international relations, and global punk culture. He is also a novelist, a musician, and a documentary film-maker. He’s a community activist and cultural producer. Ultimately, he is a lifelong contributor and defender of DIY punk culture.
Read his book: Global Punk: Resistance and Rebellion in Everyday Life
