I was so delighted to return home from my daily ocean swim and find an unexpected package waiting for me at my door. To my surprise, it was the rad new book in which my book chapter on punk rock, punk film, and eco-anarchism in Wuhan (for which I interviewed China’s founder of punk, Wu Wei from the punk band SMZB) was just published. I was so excited I had to take a photo with it right away.
DIY or Die! brings together a diverse collection of punks, scholars and activists to explore Do-It-Yourself and Do-It-Together production of punk culture and punk spaces. A DIY/DIT ethic has animated a wide range of punk-associated anarchist activisms, and this extensive influence is on display in this book. The relationship between anarchism and punk is explored through numerous intersecting themes, starting from the tangible anarchisms found in punk spaces, squats and social centres, and extending to a range of DIY/DIT cultural production including: films, records, and fanzines; performance art; sports clubs; and other anarchistic sites of resistance. Across the chapters, the DIY OR DIE! attitude of anarchist punks across the globe is critically examined and celebrated.
The book was created and produced by the Anarchism and Punk Rock Project (https://anarchismandpunk.noblogs.org), and I am so grateful to be included in this impressive and important volume.
Here’s a link with the Table of Contents: https://anarchismandpunk.noblogs.org/book-2-diy-or-die/
And you can purchase the book at this link: https://pmpress.org.uk/product/diy-or-die-do-it-yourself-do-it-together-punk-anarchism/
If you want to hear from some punk from Wuhan, here’s a link to Wu Wei’s song: “Wuhan, Wuhan” (aka “Great Wuhan”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ2L2tDzpOg
And here’s a link to his song “Ten Thousand Ways to Rebel”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk4EspwLpzc
Rock ON and UP the PUNX!