British republican strategy, part 2

As we know the British Republicans are a bit slow at getting rolling.

They see a documentary for the Queen's 60th Horrible Anus and they
complain.
It seems that they're gonna let this anniversary pass without much
more than a grumble.

Wasn't there a particular cultural artefact that gave the government,
local councillors and the Queen a run for her money 30 years ago,
on Elizabeth's 30th anusversary?

That's right. The Republicans didn't even get up off their couches
to support the Pistol boys. They were banned everywhere.
The Republicans probably still hate the Sex Pistols.
The Reps are probably rich, Oxford grads.
Unfortunately, they've decided to take on the biggest mafia in town,
so the Rep lads are outsiders now, too.

Maybe a change in strategy is necessary.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, innit?

Embrace punk, boys.
Punk works well against repressive regimes, like that of the UK.
Observe a cultural juggernaut, that people are still talking about-



IshitUnot: Guardian
Punk rock … alive and kicking in a repressive state near you
Punk rock is ancient history here, but elsewhere disaffected young people are discovering its anarchic energy – despite the enormous risks they face from their oppressive regimes
John Harris
The Guardian, Saturday 17 March 2012 Article history
On the edge … revelers who wear 'decadent' clothing during Burma's New Year celebrations can face up to a month in prison, according to local media. Photograph: Khin Maung Win/AP
It's been a long time since the term "punk rock" could strike fear into the British establishment. The Sex Pistols' John Lydon – aka Johnny Rotten – was long ago transformed into a pantomimic national institution, and now advertises Country Life butter; it's 16 years since Tony Blair admiringly mentioned the Clash in a speech at the Brit awards. The spiky-topped punk look is as harmless a part of vernacular British style as Harris tweed; the concert nostalgia circuit is now home to any number of ageing punk groups, from the Buzzcocks to Sham 69.

The last few months, however, have brought news from abroad suggesting that in many places, punk's combination of splenetic dissent, loud guitars and outre attire can cause as much disquiet and outrage as ever. The stories concerned take in Indonesia, Burma, Iraq and Russia – and most highlight one big difference between the hoo-hah kicked up by punk in the US and Britain of the late 70s, and the reactions it now stirs thousands of miles from its places of birth. Back then, being a punk rocker might invite occasional attacks in the street, a ban on your records, and the odd difficulty finding somewhere to play. Now, if you pursue a love of punk in the wrong political circumstances, you may well experience oppression at its most brutal: torture, imprisonment, what one regime calls "moral rehabilitation" and even death.

First, then, to Iraq, and news that will surely warm the heart of anyone who still believes the US and Britain attacked that country to introduce it to the wonders of democracy and tolerance. Last weekend, Reuters reported that at least 14 young people had recently been stoned to death in Baghdad, thanks to "a campaign by Shi-ite militants against youths wearing Western-style 'emo' clothes and haircuts".

For the uninitiated, "emo" is short for "emotional hardcore", and refers to a music and dress-code traceable to a variety of punk invented in Washington DC in the mid-1980s, lately smoothed out and rendered massively lucrative by such teenage favourites as Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco and Paramore. In February, the Iraqi interior ministry said it equated "the 'emo' phenomenon" with satanism, and warned of young people who "wear tight clothes that bear paintings of skulls" and favour "rings in their noses and tongues as well as other weird appearances". The same ministry has since denied that emo had anything to do with the killings, claiming that "no murder case has been recorded with the interior ministry on so called 'emo' grounds. All cases of murder recorded were for revenge, social and common criminal reasons."

One thing is definitely true: figures for emo-related killings are blurring into those for homophobic murders (put at up to 58 in the last six weeks alone), reflecting a widespread perception in Iraq that emo is a byword not just for devil-worship, but homosexuality. A leaflet distributed in east Baghdad gave any local emo fans four days to "leave this filthy work", under pain of "the punishment of God … at the hand of the Mujahideen". At least two lists of intended victims have been posted online, and tattoo parlours in the city have reported terrified young people asking for their punk-esque body-art to be removed.

In Moscow, a court ruling on Wednesday marked the latest chapter in the story of an all-female band called Pussy Riot, two of whom were arrested last month after they illicitly took over the pulpit in a Moscow church, and attempted to recite a "punk prayer" written in opposition to Vladimir Putin. Pussy Riot's music is scratchy, unhinged stuff that takes its lead from a fleeting genre known as riot grrrl – once again traceable, at least in part, to Washington DC, and brought to fruition nearly 20 years ago by such groups as Bikini Kill, and a British band called Huggy Bear. Their music was clearly derived from punk's basic idea, but took its lead from such feminist groups as the Slits and the Au Pairs rather than the Clash and the Pistols: apart from anything else, the controversy around Pussy Riot has at least served as a reminder of this overlooked strand of punk history.

let's cut to the video-
at the 5 minute point: