Zine - Drunk Nach Osten

I asked the usual questions but Paaya didn't give the usual answers...this is a zine on a mission!

Drunk Nach Osten

"Well, why a fanzine about East-European punk??? However this whole punk/hardcore/bullshit tries to be/look international and „without any borders“, the borders are still there. And I’m not talking only about the actual borders between the states, which practically bring complications to peoples’ connection, but also about the borders in peoples’ minds. About the borders of prejudice, fear and laziness to learn anything new, to give a chance to something unknown.
I've simply realized, that thinking of most East-European countries (from the point of view of my interest that means the area of ex-Yugoslavia, ex-USSR, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Greece; not that much Czech, Slovakia and Poland as the general knowledge about what’s going on in these countries is way better over here…), there’s a just a big black hole in my knowledge about them (at least concerning the DIY scene over there, but definitely not only that…). And still, many of the people over there, the places etc. are physically so close to my home, we all could easily cooperate together, but we don’t. We know nothing about each other, we’re not in contact, we don’t visit each other… At least that’s the general situation in Czech from my point of view.
Everyone knows what’s going on in Umeå, Portland, Osaka, whatever… but hardly anyone knows a shit about the activities of punks fucking 600 km further East… It’s time to dismantle these borders and I hope this piece of paper will help to reduce this isolation between the punks (and what the the fuck between punks… between ANYONE) “here” and “there” at least another little bit. But it’s also up to everyone else!
Well most of the zine was primarily written for the Czech language version, but having lots of stuff in English, why not make an English version as well? However, certain things may be written in a way that is not easy to understand without knowing the certain local context or whatever, so sorry for that.


Oh, and let me give a little disclaimer - I definitely wouldn’t like to give anyone the impression, that DNO is trying to build some artificial barrier or even rivalry between ‘us in the East’ and ‘them in the West’. Christ no! I appreciate and respect every sincere DIY activity, be it done by a lonely guy in the middle of Siberia, a girl in Indonesia or by a collective in London. Then, logically, you might want to ask why do I not write about other ‘neglected’ scenes. The answer is simple – I’m not so tempted by them cause as they say – near is the shirt, but nearer is the skin. The regions I write about are usually less than one day of a train ride away from here. And still the mutual collaboration is pretty weak. This is a thing I’d like to help to change."