DIY Democracy: The Direct Action Politics of U.S. Punk Collectives

Somewhere between the distanced slogans and abstract calls to arms, we . . .discovered through Gilman a way to give our politics some application in our actual lives.Mike K., 924 Gilman Street One of the ideas behind ABC is breaking down the barriers between bands and people and making everyone equal.There is no Us and Them.Chris Boarts-Larson, ABC No Rio Kurt Cobain once told an interviewer, "punk rock should mean freedom." 1 The Nirvana singer was arguing that punk, as an idea, had the potential to transcend the boundaries of any particular sound or style, allowing musicians an enormous degree of artistic autonomy.But while punk music has often served as a platform for creative expression and symbolic protest, its libratory potential stems from a more fundamental source.Punk, at its core, is a form of direct action.Instead of petitioning the powerful for inclusion, the punk movement has built its own elaborate network of counter-institutions, including music venues, media, record labels, and distributors.These structures have operated most notably as cultural and economic alternatives to the corporate entertainment industry, and, as such, they should also be understood as sites of resistance to the privatizing