2012/08/24 by Kevin C. Dunn · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Music History and Culture
paper · doi:10.1386/punk.1.2.201_1
openalex publication_date 2012/08/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Punk and anarchism have frequently been linked within the popular imagination. Many of the original punks employed the circle-A symbol for its shock value, but for many bands and individuals who followed, anarchism came to mean more than a symbolic affectation. Inspired by bands such as Crass, an anarcho-punk culture evolved that connected punk’s do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos with anarchism’s perpetual struggle against hierarchies. Today, anarcho-punk continues to be vibrant across the globe, though often outside of the mainstream gaze. Drawing upon extensive global research, this article explores the ways in which anarcho-punk offers its adherents opportunities for political resistance within their daily lives. The article begins with a brief summary of the development of anarcho-punk, then explores how various anarcho-punks conceive of ‘anarchism’. The article contends that anarcho-punks are currently important in reviving and sustaining anarchism as a political way of being. The article then examines some of the ways in which anarcho-punks practice anarchism and resistance in their everyday lives, focusing on squats, youth houses, touring bands, and DIY record labels and distros. The article concludes with a critical examination of the potential of anarcho-punk for a sustained project of political resistance.