Activism - Workshop, Minsk

(eng.subs) Masterskaja / Workshop - The Film (2009) from Anti Copyright on Vimeo.

"Workshop is the result of processing a kind video diary of the activities of militants and activists in Minsk from May to October 2008 - a time when we believed in squatting in Belarus and were covered by the novelty and joy sometimes difficult experiences.
The euphoria of what was happening is long gone. We analyzed the error and then have learned from it, took into account criticisms and made conclusions. We were actively looking for abandoned buildings last year, but not forgot the joint action - the workshop brought together many of us.

But we are still aware of units of autonomous spaces, physical place of activity in our atomized society, and we intend to implement their desires in different ways.

We are happy to share this experience with you, and would be happy if this would inspire someone to any collective endeavor, based on a desire to change themselves and life around for the better!

Squat the world! Fuck the system! :) :)"

Belarus - Minsk 3

Belarus - Minsk 2

“Hi everyone! My name is Nikita, and I am from Minsk – the capital of Belarus – a small country between Russia and Poland. Our country is better know for agricultural machines, dictatorship president, and an economical collapse in 2011, but I am going to tell you about local hardcore punk community.


The first hardcore punk bands appeared here in the late 90s - beginning of 2000s . I think everything starts from Hate To State – a primitive crust band with sharp and radical political lyrics. Actually they sung small rhymes, placed on heavy and dirty music. But all this was associated with the crust-punk image. Sure, there were more punk, rap-core or ska-punk bands, but I don’t think they had much in common with hardcore-punk culture except the music. HTS gave start to generation of hardcore and punk kids, bands, fanzines and small DIY lables.

A few kids started to re-release records of dutch Commitment Records, polish Refuse Records and american Smorgasbord Records.

A few fanzines started in that period (2000s), like Left Hander (first sXe hardcore fanzine in Belarus. Only one issue, but it inspired lot of people.)

Rebro Zhostkosti (meaning can be translated like “straight-edge” is also a sxe hardcore-punk fanzine. There are some materials about the ska and skinhead scene)

Bez Namordnika (Without Muzzle. Hardcore-punk fanzine. I was involved in making it.)

Don't Panic (one of the first hardcore punk fanzines in ex-USSR. It was made by the bassist of Hate To State).

Actually, in that period Belarus was known among ex-USSR countries, as a region with a strong fanzine-scene. Lots of different magazines were issued in different cities. I think it helped a lot in spreading the word.

A little bit later, more bands appeared in Minsk such as…

Scum Out (hardcore-punk)

Tyazholie Posledstvija (hardcore-punk) and others…

Grodno was famous for Antiglobalizator, veterans of anarcho- and folk-punk Deviation, and Contra La Contra (shit, these kids were awesome in those times. Pure anarcho-punk with radical lyrics, made our youngsters insane :)).


People were communicating, visiting Poland and other countries, and in the middle of 2000, I think, there started the first few hardcore bands, and hardcore began. First it was…

Rescue 811 (hardcore)

Follow The Sun (emotional hardcore).

After a few years these bands split up to start different ones:

Fuck It All (old school hardcore)


Pull Out An Eye (tornado thrash)


Voice Of Boys (street-punk, oi. These kids were the voice of the skinhead wing of the local scene)

Devil Shoots Devil (emotional harcore with two vocals)


Appleshout (fast and aggressive hardcore-punk. One of the most insane bands here). Shows started, touring bands appeared in Minsk, and everything started with the new energy.


Right now there is a pack of hardcore and punk bands playing show after show, which take place every month, or even every week. You have to check:

Face Forward - modern melodical hardcore. As for me it sounds bit like Killing The Dream, bit like Champion. For sure the most touring band here.


Try One's Luck - check these kids. Rough hardcore from Minsk. Very sincere.


Hard Stance - rather young band. Only three shows, but they are kicking asses. Tough hardcore.

Pull Out An Eye - fast and angry thrash hardcore from Minsk. Six years already, but now seems they play only on anniversaries. Played a few great tours in Poland with Vitamin X, and other hardcore-punk heroes.


My Dog’s A Cat - very good and 80s-sound-like hardcore punk. Belarus\Russia band - kids from POAE and Appleshout, singer from Belgorod city. One of the best bands here in my mind.


Find Yourself - melodic hardcore punk with very good social and personal message.


xCheck Your Chestx - straight edge hardcore with metal sound in vein of Recon, Black My Heart. Seems, that now it is the only completely straight-edge band in Minsk.
http://ifolder.ru/22182809


Insane Human Resort - metal kids. I have seen them one time on a hardcore show - pretty good band in the vein of The Acacia Strain, Betrayal etc.
http://ifolder.ru/22622963


Unsilent - started as melo-hardcore band, kids turned into very good rock sometimes roll :) Check them! Worth it!


As Sure As Gun - tough and heavy hardcore. Not very active, but I’ve seen them a few times here.


All Day Night - neo-crust \ dark-hardcore kids. Very nice social lyrics, and dark music.

So, there are more new punk and hardcore bands, but I think I can’t mention all of them. Check my blog - To This City - and from time to time, I am going to interview all of them. It is all in russian, but I think google translate will help you.

Also feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the Belarus and Minsk scene, or just want to visit our city.”

Nikita

sheltercafe@gmail.com
www.tothiscitymag.com

Activism - Hardcore is More Than Music 2011

HARDCORE IS MORE THAN MUSIC 2011 (FULL) from WHITE LABEL on Vimeo.

"In recent years we have been witnesses to new trends amongst neo-Nazis. Still more and more of them leave the skinhead image, and try to “catch onto” something else. One of the targets for them is the hardcore scene.

They find the aggressive music and uncompromising lyrics impressive. The leading figures of Czech neo-Nazi scene have been trying to infiltrate to hardcore shows and to take pictures with famous faces of the international hardcore scene. But they do not care about HC ethics, history or culture of hardcore. They only care about the “tough guy” image and macho poses. But that has never been what hardcore is about. People in hardcore scene differ from one another in many aspects, and that’s a good thing. But hardcore has never been connected to racism or Nazism. Hardcore community has always been a space for the people to meet without prejudice. And we want it to stay that way. That’s why we turned to some of the bands that have something to say. Among them were the bands whose shows attracted Nazis, who attempted to attend them. You can find the views and opinions of these bands on this DVD. Our questions remained the same, but the answers varied significantly. But they have something in common – there is no space for racism, prejudice and Nazism in the HC scene.

For us, HC scene is a family. For Nazis, it is just another scene they wish to abuse to gain support for their political goals.

The message is clear: Go to hell, assholes! There is no space for fuckers like you in the hardcore scene!"

http://2011.mayday-festival.cz/en

Festival - Punk Illegal 2011, Munkedal, Sweden

"Punk Illegal is an autonomous group in the religiously- and politically independent network (Ingen människa är illegal, IMäI, in Swedish). The No One is Illegal Network is voluntarily run and works to provide practical support to people who are forced to live illegally after having their applications for asylum refused.

No One is Illegal demand permanent right of residence for all people who have arrived in the EU and wish to remain. No One is Illegal believe in a world without borders, a world where No One is Illegal.

Punk Illegals strategy is to raise money directly to IMäIs work with helping refugees. We also distribute information to raise awareness about the racist migration politics of the EU."

Line up for Punk Illegal 2011:

ANTIDOTE (NL)

BURNING KITCHEN

CONFUSA (FI)

DEFIANCE (US)

EPA

EXHALE

FILTH OF MANKIND (PL)

FREDAG DEN 13:E

GRAVEDIGGER AND THE TEACHER

HELLBASTARD (UK)

JUGGLING JUGULARS (FI)

LASTKAJ 14

LIFE SCARS (PL)

MEINHOF (UK)

MONACHUS

NAILBITER (UK)

RUIDOSA INMUNDICIA (AT/FI)

SIMBIOSE (PT)

SOTATILA (FI)

THE FIGHT (PL)

TUNA (BR)

TWOPOINTEIGHT

VITAMIN X (NL)

UK - Southampton

"There is a collective still active (kind of) called the STE (Southampton Totton Eastleigh). They've been putting on shows since the 80's, I won't pretend to know a great amount about their history but I know they're good guys and still do full/half day events at a pub called the Hobbit. They used to do a bulletin but I haven't seen it in a while and they are so old school I believe they stay away from blogging and facebook in favour of more grass roots but they can be found on the South Coast HQ forum along with other DIY fans/promoters from Portsmouth.


In the meantime, as a contrast, there's some great bands slipping into a club called Unit, Iron Chic and Title fight will be playing soon, The Lawrence arms and Smoke or Fire have played there in the past, so very current stuff coming through the city there.


Also a small pub in town called Goblets has been host to some pretty cool floor shows organized by some pro active kids at Solent Uni, the shows are ridiculous because it's tiny but I remember checking out a show for The Hard Way and Abolition and it was intense.

So, in my opinion we're spoiled, the history of punk in Southampton is vast and colourful to say the least :)"

Basque Country

Bizkaia, Guipuzkoa and Alaba

“First of all I would like to say that the person who did the first report about the basque scene did really good work and I am going to add some other information to give another point of view to it and also I will write something about the northern basque country scene, which really is located on the south of France.

I live in a small town near the border where the scene is non-existent, although the scene is growing up here, more and more international bands who are touring Europe stop here now and it is great for the scene.


Normally if there is a hardcore concert in the region of Gipuzkoa, it can take place in two places. The first one is Mogambo, a concert place located in San Sebastian which has a quite active calendar during the year and the other one is a squat located in Zarautz called Putzuzulo, both of them work always in a DIY way. However a lot of concerts are also organized by different squats (here called normally Gaztetxe).


In Bilbao the scene has taken an amazing direction since last year, where a group of kids called Fekal Criu Chous have started to organize concerts with international bands like Another Breath, Cruel Hand, Anchor... before it was quite impossible to see these bands here and always also supporting the local scene. These concerts take place in Bilbao or in the cities near to it.


In northern basque country the scene is not really active but sometimes it is possible to enjoy a good concert in Baiona (a city located next to Biarritz) in a small bar called Kixkil, but sadly it is not really often.

Now I would like to mention some bands that are working nowadays and they were not described on the other report.

Thanks to Losers: An amazing fast melodic hardcore band from Astigarraga with members from Bisai, Dreza, Neutral Kick.... They have just recorded their first LP.


Forus: A really great fast technical melodic hardcore band from Baiona.


Antifun Krieg: An old school hardcore band with female vocals.


No Komply: A really young technical melodic hardcore band from Zalla.


Tres41: A good hardcore band.

Critikers: Simply a great melodic hardcore band.


Keep Digging: With members from Geriatric youth, good old school hardcore.


Ezinean: A nice melodic hardcore band that sings in basque.”

Australia 2

Australia 1

"Some old bands to check out:

Pure Evil Trio (Sydney) noise


Stockholm Syndrome (Sydney) hardcore

The Undersided (Sydney) punk rock

Unpaid Debt (Sydney) punk


Frenzal Rhomb (Sydney) punk


Schifosi (Melbourne) crust punk


Abc Weapons (Melbourne) crust punk

Pisschrist (Melbourne) punk


Straightjacket Nation (Melbourne) hardcore punk


The Kill (Melbourne) grind


H-Block 101 (Melbourne) ska punk

Area 7 (Melbourne) ska punk


Draft Dodger (Brisbane) hardcore


Short Straw Warfare (Brisbane) hardcore punk


Just Say Go (Brisbane) hardcore


The Bigots (Canberra) punk

Anti Fish (Canberra) punk

Hard Luck (Canberra) hardcore


Captain Cleanoff (Adelaide/Melbourne) grindcore


Topnovil (Wollongong) punk


The Plague (Wollongong) power violence

Australian hardcore punk website resources:

Bombshell zine


Kill Your Stereo

Romania - Bucharest 2

Bucharest 1

“All the important stuff is already on the blog, so there's nothing much left to say. As far as I know, there are only 2 hardcore bands in Bucharest…

ProoF is a hardcore-metal band formed in 2007. The first EP "Blood Money" was released in 2010, currently working on material for the second release.


H8 are veterans of the scene, kickin' asses since 1995! Their latest album "Printre Voi" is a fuckin blast!


Our local promoters for the hc/punk scene:

Bring The Noise


BHCB


cheers!”

Activism - Bridge Town DIY, California

"Bridge Town DIY is a community center dedicated to empowerment through education, collaboration, and sharing. We encourage members to teach and learn from each other, and use the resources provided to build bridges across age gaps, gender differences, racial boundaries, political schisms, and geographic centers.

We are an open and dynamic space that molds to the growing and ever-changing needs of our area. Our unique programming, created by fellow community member participants, is designed to target the issues identified by said community members. We strive for unity, social justice and collaborative learning.

We seek to empower the community through means of direct education, outreach and action."

bridgetowndiy@gmail.com

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