In the eighties I discovered New Wave music. It was like a mass to me. I used to be a "discothèque" addicted in the seventies so I missed the initial punk offspring. I used to think they were a bunch of "punks" making misunderstandable noises, not music. But in the eighties, moved by the "wave" I finnally realized what they really meant.
It was a musical breaktrough for me. A "revolutionary" way to make music. "Forget Eagles, Rod Stewart and all that dirty hippies". The motto "make your own music" really excited me.
Much later, I had another glimpse that punk was not a revolutionary movement, but instead, "reactionary". Watching some documentaries related to the first punk generation (Pistols, Clash, Damned) I could to know the environment that created such movement. England in the seventies was almost finishing. Labour Party was ruling for a long time around 1976. They implemented welfare programs, nationalisation that drove the whole country to the crash: unemployment rates were incredibly high - specially for young people, strikes were spread in almost all public services (there were no even mortuary services to the dead the people thought that they must had to throw corpses into the sea or Thames).
Punk emerged to react against the uniformization, egality, and welfare. They were individualists that claimed that anyone could have a band, they could be whatever they want, that each individual must decide what is the best for him, not the government.
It´s surprising that just after the punk efervescent years, British people chose for conservatism, electing the "Iron Lady" (a punk in their own terms, I must note) Margareth Thatcher. But I always felt that it was an odd thought, hence majority of the punk´s band supported left initiatives. It was for me totally insane that the same people that used to scream against big government and supportes individualism went under the left, that is pro big government and against free-choice.
But this site , called "Conservative Punk", makes me wonder that, finally, my first thought was right after all: The left kidnapped the movement, and the punks led them do it. Here´s the official goals of this initiative:
[q url="http://www.conservativepunk.com/about.asp"]
# To try and inform the young voters of today that identify themselves with the punk scene with the facts, rather than rumor and conspiracy theory.
# To stretch their political minds by exposing other political ideas outside the usual bi-partisan arena and making them think about what else may be out there (aside from what is heard, read and seen in various forms of media).
# To provide a forum for nearly all walks of the political spectrum in that their voices, concerns and questions may be presented and subsequently addressed.
# To encourage today’s younger, burgeoning generation to register to vote and become engaged in politics.
# To encourage the young voters to draw their own conclusions rather than indoctrinate them to a certain way of thinking (i.e. not buying in to being so close-minded that all your problems are blamed on a single politician or candidate, not becoming a mindless coalition of lost hope based on what others try to jam into your head, etc).
# To try and bring to light societal issues which are of concern and have consequences to an entire nation, not an individual.
# To try and nurture the importance of individuality, personal liberties, freedom and civil rights all the while maintaining the importance of teamwork.
# To try and foil myths surrounding the United States military and the freedoms it protects.
# To focus on the future of this nation rather than lag behind and wallow in pity when things don’t go your way.[/q]
By the way, many punk songs were really conservative. "God Save the Queen" is an anthem against government and welfare (in its own terms) and "Bodies" is a song against abortion!
Never mind the bollocks:; Here`s the Sex Pistols!
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