'No Fascist USA!': how hardcore punk fuels the Antifa movement

theguardian.com ^ | 9/9/2017 | Jamie Thomson

[rktman]

“No Trump! No KKK! No Fascist USA!”

When Green Day chanted the repurposed lyrics from Texan punk trailblazers MDC’s 1981 song Born to Die during the 2016 American Music Awards, it gave the burgeoning anti-Trump, anti-fascist movement the slogan it needed – and it would soon appear on placards, T-shirts and be chanted by protesters in their thousands in months to come.

It was a tiny piece of punk history writ large on American cultural life – but it only gave the merest hint of US hardcore punk’s influence on the current political landscape.

[rktman]

"Entertainers" are SOOOOOO brilliant eh? Thinkin' rage against the machine with little tommy morello and assclowns green day should get together for a tour. Make sure there's plenty of cameras and facial recognition in use at the entry gates. And again, they wouldn't know oppression if it smacked them in the face.

[a fool in paradise]

So says ‘millions of dead cops’
MDC

The militant left is antiestablishment, not just antinazi.

Ask them to denounce Islamic terrorism, Communism, black nationalism, or brown nationalism and they will attack you.

[a fool in paradise]

To hear it from the Left
Nixon was a Fascist
Reagan was a Fascist
both Bushes were Fascists
Trump is a Fascist

6th grader name calling by a bumch of Communists is what that is

[Travis McGee]

Rule 308 (three-oh-eight)

When Marxist mayors order their police to stand down,
So that Antifa thugs can beat old men to the ground,
Don’t think they’ve surrendered, or been run out of town.

Politicians should consider, and media bosses beware:
When Amendment One is abridged, the Second’s still there,
Just watching and waiting, like a rattlesnake in its lair.

When justice is perverted, and Marxist judges legislate,
When free speech is censored, then banished as hate,
Then the only rule standing will be Rule 308.

[Chipper]

Green Day is neither hardcore, nor Punk. They are LARP’ers.

[DoodleBob]

This article is utterly garbage, #FakeNews, and revisionist history.

Of course some punks are diehard leftists. But even The Dead Kennedys who this article champions - no fan of Republicans - wrote California Über Alles, about when President Jerry Brown and other "zen fascists will control you...you will jog for the master race...". While you're at it, check out the lyrics to Holiday in Cambodia. The Kennedys were anti-fascist but

A search on FR for "conservativepunk" show about a dozen articles covering that movement. Indeed, Andrew Wilkow was a big force in that movement.

Former Misfit and current Undead leader Bobby Steele put it best:

Bobby cleared up the most popular misconception about conservative punks, "That we're Nazis – National Socialists. It's impossible for someone on the right to follow the teachings of socialism, which is a left wing belief. There's also a misconception that we're blindly following President Bush. We're not. If you were to read the opinions expressed at Conservativepunk.com, you'd see there are a lot of criticisms of the way things are being done right now. I'd say the thing that really brings us all together isn't so much that we're conservative as it is that we're sick and tired of being dictated to on how we must think to be punks. The left has consistently shown itself as the 'Thought Police.' We believe in the constitution, human rights, free speech and freedom of the press."

Right after the election, there was a well-written article on this topic called Is Trumpism the new punk rock?. In short, yes.

Trump may get lost in the details, but he gets the big things attitudinally right. Put another way: He may know only three chords, but Wattenberg says his followers hear the "right three chords."

I'd rather have a coffee with your average punk fan than your average Springsteen fan.

[Louis Foxwell]

That is the absolute truth. Punk has been rebelling against Mommy and Daddy for so long its adherents actually believe the simplified “us vs them” attitude that pit them against their parents in the first place. They want to have a moral free society but want it to accepts punk morals. They are a little bit more intellectually sophisticated than progressives but, on balance, both groups exist as a hostile reaction to traditional Christian morality.
I have always had a soft spot for Punk. Lots of punk youth are idealistic and bright. They see themselves as black sheep turned off by hypocrisy and immorality. They are the Beatnik of the 50’s, my people.
The problem with Punk is its gullible acceptance of the mischaracterization of consertavism by the left. At its deepest, Punk is precisely what its spokespersons say it is, pro independence. It is in fact a tea party movement in both the old and the new expression of that fundamentally American experience. Punk and tea party are identical in ideology if not in expression.
Punk/Antifa needs to grow up and realize it is part of the movement that brought Trump to power for the express purpose of destroying the institutional racism and fascism built into our government and society by the Left. They are, quite frankly, being complete dunderheads. They need to stop being stoners long enough to realize not only do Mommy and Daddy love them but they - none of them - are bad people.
The Youngbloods tried to tell them but were dismissed as not dark enough. Nonetheless, “Come on people now, smile on your brother everybody ‘Get Together’ try to love one another right now!” IS what the punk experience is all about. It is hippie with an attitude. I know. I was king of the hippies.

[Bogey78O]

Yup.

[Bogey78O]

The folks who bill themselves as modern punk, like Green Day, want everyone to know how cool they think big centralized government that tells everyone what to do is. Hard to take someone as a rebel when they’re telling you how awesome the master is.

[Shady]

ANTIFA is the epitome of a fascist organization....jackboots of the new Left.

[rktman]

;-). More than likely the guardian could find some actual hard core punksters if they tried.

[Dutch Boy]

I’m still trying to figure out what Trump has done that is fascist and why they can’t recognize that much of what they are doing is.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

They are also an oxymoron like scheduled anarchy.

[DoodleBob]

I agree - Green Day have been posers for a LONG time.

If you really want to get the true spirit of punk (based on my experience it ranges between centrism and Trumpism), drop $10 and go to a 5-band showcase. Yea, you may hear some lousy acts but you'll likely see some great unsigned band that has more in common with you than Antifa.

Buy a CD for $5 and support the DIY approach...more than likely they're not slobbering over some bureaucrat for a NEA grant.

[rktman]

What has he done? I heard just the other day that because he supposedly didn’t call out the kkk quickly enough is proof that he’s a fascist nazi. Seriously. Well, actually the claim was he ‘never’ denounced them and when proof was presented the quickness became the issue. There is NO talking to these people and by remaing silent on the subject, you’re automatically complicit in actions by the kkk, nazis and white supremacists. Or something. Are they off their meds? Yup.

[mothball]

All of the guys that I grew up with in the early 80’s that were into punk, turned out to be staunch conservatives.

[Sasparilla]

...“No Trump! No KKK! No Fascist USA...
They’re doing one slightly different.
“No Trump. No Wall. No USA at all.”
This one goes directly to their ultimate goal.

[jughandle]

Green Day is NOT hardcore punk. Not even close to punk.

[rktman]

LOL! Yup. I don’t see them turning down the capitalist paychecks.

[DoodleBob]

As if you couldn't tell from my post, I, too, feel more of a linkage with punks than your average Billy Joel fan. And while I agree that there is leftism in some punks, most of the people I've seen recently at shows and flea markets have more in common with me than DU. A good number of them are actually pretty sensitive souls...outcasts...fellow inhabitants of The Island of Misfit Toys, if you will. They'll may cut you if your not careful.

Speaking of Misfit, ex-Misfit Bobby Steele (who I mentioned) used to gig with his band, The Undead, wearing this "inflammatory" shirt.

He also played a NJ Tea Party benefit show. These guys are around - all hope is not lost!