Punk And Racism

I thought I had sufficiently covered this subject but as there is a whole chapter ' Rethinking Punk and Racism' in 'Punk Rock - So What ?' by Roger Sabin. A reply is necessary.

He says basically this.... that punk as non racist etc has become an accepted fact through being repeated by journalists etc till it has become accepted truth.

He argues quite persuasively that far from being non racist it was actively racist in fanzines, records,band names, group's attitudes,lyrics and fashion. That anti racism was a pose and that all the above laid the grounds for fascist music like Skrewdriver and various oi bands. Now this is a big and controversial point to argue and would be a good scalp . More than this the book is sociological academic book.

The more you look at his evidence though the more vague and insubstantial it becomes. There are a couple of points here that need clarifying here first.

1)Punk in a geographical context and 2) Punk - Politics or rock'n'roll.

Punk in general is a wide term . For most of us, geographically, Punk refers to London and there's no doubt that there will be differing amounts and sorts of racism around the country as there is now. The centre of punk was London and its there we have to look and take as the yardstick.

The first point is this How do you argue this ? Do you take punk as being political. If you do then what is the standpoint ?.... the answer is none. A nihilistic two fingers to the establishment does not make a standpoint. No punk band ever espoused a coherent political standpoint in any of their music be it NF, socialist or whatever. For all the amount of swastikas on clothes, a few ambiguous lyrics punk had no politics. Like he says journalists were more or less left wing and in a way they helped raise the specter of the National Front and turn punk towards shows of anti-racist solidarity. So what ?

Without doubt the swastika wearing was misguided and naieive to say the least but as the implications set in together with the rise of the National Front punk did or was forced to make a stand.( see Ripped and Torn piece below)

He points out the inconsistencies in the Stranglers and mentions the song 'Feel Like A Wog' yet happily prints the Sounds cover which says JJ Burnel would be deported if the NF ever got into power. Why ??? He mentions 'Nazi Baby' by the Vibrators but doesn't mention that the rest of the song makes no mention of anything remotely fascist. He mentions Adam & The Ants ( Jewish drummer by the way) and'Puerto Rican not being on the released John Peel show as a cover up of past sins but neglects to mention that 'Deutsche Girls' which includes the line 'why did you have to be such a nazi' and was about a female death camp commandant was included so what's his point ? Whose covering what up ??? The Ants flirted dangerously with some dodgy subjects( and were well hammered in the press for it) before discovering pirates and red indians !!I have said before I have a problem with the Banshees 'Love in A Void' line but I can't base a whole theory on it. They dropped it.. they moved on and they later did anti racist benefits as did Adam & The Ants. He mentions the Art Attacks 'Arabs in Arrods' lyrics. This is altering the pieces to fit the puzzle. This was something going on at the time and the lyric is a witty if black humorist look at it.

He mentions two bands Stormtrooper and London SS as bands with names having Nazi echoes.... so what ? There were over 1000 bands in the punk years. neither band had any fascist connection.

Perhaps the thing I find strange is that Sabin quotes a piece from 'Ripped and Torn' about wearing swastikas and how when the wearer was criticised defended the killing of jews. Somewhere in the notes at the end he mentions though not quite in the words of the actual piece that the writer warns of the dangers. Here is the whole piece.

This is sloppy and gives the wrong impression. The piece was against wearing swastikas . I view the writers attitude as when you are young if someone tells you not to do something you do it still. Selecting the piece from the article that fits your argument is not academically sound.And what about fanzine writers like Lucy Toothpaste who wrote the following in The Jolt and later wrote for Temporary Hoarding. Even sloppier is the picture of Skrewdriver with him saying they wore their swastikas with 'pride'. Its conforming to the myth and lazy writing. It was 5 years before the singer declared himself openly fascist. Read the Skrewdriver entry.

He does the same with quotes from The Vibrators and Art Attacks. He reports they did RAR gigs because they paid well. This gives a very negative slant because we don't know if they were asked ' Did you support the fight against racism ? ' or ' Would they have done them if they paid less or none ?? These questions weren't asked ? And what about Gen X, X Ray Spex The Clash and Tom Robinson... Did they do it for money ???

A lot of bands at Live Aid were given a new lease of life by the publicity. How many did it, if you excuse the phrase, for whiter than white reasons. How many people turned up to see so many famous bands for a cheap price and how many turned up to genuinely help the famine. The point is it doesn't matter. It raised public awareness of an important issue. To try and take it to bits helps noone. Its the same with punk and anti racism. It may not have been 100% bona fide but every little bit helps to make a more tolerant society and some sort of effort was made.

For Sabin one of the most damning points he makes is that punk failed to support the asian community under attack. My answer to this is simple the question is irrelevant. If we take it then that punk wasn't political and was just a form of rock'n'roll then why should it stick up for anyone. It allied itself to black music because it recognised similar features in itself. It wasn't a crusade. It was the job of the anti Nazi League to support the Asian community not punk. Any failings are theirs and the Socialist Worker's Party.

I am a little worried that Sabin is retrospectively applying todays standards to the past to find evidence. ie Nigger, black, coon,chinky paki, jock were, like it or not,all part of the vocabulary in 1977 so I think it inevitable that such words will crop up in punks speech. I mean these words were being heard on telly in 'Love they Neighbour' and 'The Sweeney' so there is no point getting PC about the past. ( I mean fuck sake these words are now back in ethnic street language)People have always used a persons characteristics as part of descriptive speech be it 'the black bloke over there' or ' the hippy over there' or ' the freak with piercings'or ' the gentile' and so on. The day those descriptions go will a sign that racism and any sort of discrimination is on the wane.

On reflection punk wasn't a political movement that sought brotherhood and harmony with disparate cultures it was music and that's where different cultures interacted. This was a novel thing. That 100,000 people could come together under an anti racist banner whatever the motives of the bands, organisers or fans involved. The fact that there was something proactive could occur. battle was fought between left and right to claim a highly vocal dissaffected youth culture. As both realised the possibility of furthering each agenda. the NF attempted to claim songs like White Riot and Feel Like A wog etc and recruit among the fans attracted to the violence of punk and attach themselves to bands like Menace and Sham 69. Nazi thugs will always find somewhere to breed be it football violence or something else. Like the NF the SWP saw the harnessing of the energy of punk and the manpower for political ends and they won that round. Whether Sabin likes it or not the ANL and RAR gigs helped halt the rise of the NF. So what if years later  punk / oi attracted nazi boneheads ? 

A few names and lyrics with echoes of Nazi Germany or nationalism, spurious selective quoting from fanzines and bands, everyday language and assuming punk was a political force then criticising its non existent policies cannot hide that it helped make a difference and should be applauded. Noone else bothered.

Though Sabin has done a punk a disservice he has at least helped to clarify its position.

Paul@Punk77 aug2000

Read Review of 'Punk Rock - So What ?'