Activism - Mixtapes for Aceh

"We read the news about punks being apprehended and detained in the Aceh region of Indonesia recently, and like many of you, were extremely disturbed at the thought of the police sweeping these kids off the street, shaving their hair, and forcing them into some sort of bullshit military training to deprogram them. We are privileged to live in a society where we are free to express ourselves as we wish, and while the US and other Western states have their fair share of police injustice, this incident is a harsh reminder to how good we really have it. That is why we are starting a small initiative in solidarity with our friends overseas, to let them know that we stand behind them and fully support them.


The mixtape is a crucial part of our subculture, and is solely responsible for the spread of punk influence worldwide. Mixtapes have introduced myself and many others to so many amazing bands, and the act of making them is one of the most sincere forms of friendship that exist in our world. So, we are asking our friends, our community, and anyone else who remotely gives a shit to make and donate one mixtape cassette to the kids in Aceh who were forced into detention solely for being punk. It’s a small gesture, but it means a lot to people who need our support. The content entirely of their choosing as long as it’s somewhat falling in the punk/hardcore/crust genre. If you have an awesome tape you never listen to anymore, or would like to make a new one specifically for this endeavor, that would absolutely rule. We are collecting these tapes to send out in early January, so your deadline to submit is December 30th, 2011. We know that the post office is fucked right now with holiday shipping, but right after xmas it frees up largely, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Please try and pack as much music onto these tapes as possible, and try to avoid sending a short 10-min long demo cassette. This is an out-of pocket initiative for me (Rob) personally, and I’d like to make what we send as substantial as possible. And include your address in the tape, you might just make an international buddy out of the process!


***NOTE: Please do not send t-shirts, CD’s in Jewel Cases, vinyl, or anything else outside of a mixtape or a burned CDR in an envelope. We need all submissions to be media so we qualify for the right shipping. If you do send shirts or anything else we can’t use we will donate them elsewhere. We only have the bandwidth to deal with qualifying media. Thanks!***

You can send your mixtapes to our label address:

Aborted Society Records
attn: Mixtapes for Aceh
1122 E. Pike Street #1377
Seattle, WA 98122-3934
USA


We are currently investigating the best way to get these over there safely, so if you have any specific ideas please email us and let us know. Thanks for listening, we really encourage your participation, and hope that something like this can never happen again.

Stay strong, stay fucking punk.

xoxo ABSOC"

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Sign a petition

You can contact the Indonesian Embassy to complain about the unfair treatment of punks in their country:

Indonesian Embassy
38 Grosvenor Square
London W1K 2HW

Tel. (020) 7499 7661
Fax. (020)7491 4993

E-mail: kbri@btconnect.com