I recently came across long gone punk tee s, telling the visual story of my youth rebellion and coming of age. The oldest of the tees I found, is a standard black & white tee, showing a stencil print of a fist smashing the swastika and the German slogan "Gegen Nazis"("Against Nazism"). At the age of 14 and determined to move on, exploring the world of ideas and dive into whatever turned my interest on, it seemed like the definitive must-have for an aspiring PC anarcho punk in the year of 1987. A young rebel that wanted to wear on sleeve his sudden departure from one extreme to the other.
2 years earlier, at the age of 13, I got briefly into the dark blue wing of political ideology, eventually pushing it further into the brown corners of that section of political(non)thinking. I got expelled for 3 days at school, for reading Adolf Hitlers “Mein Kampf” during class and wearing a Luft Waffe pin on my denim jacket. In fact, the very first lyrics I ever wrote, for my first punk band BELSENFANGAN, opened with a statement that would make most punks see red. Except the very few of them patronizing the works of SKREWDRIVER or NO REMORSE.:
"I am the black fascist, don t need nobody else, all that matters is a world of myself".
On top of this, the song I applied these words to was not our own composition but a number of a band that during their entire career worked hard to assimilate the most black genre in popular music, reggae and dub, as well as headlining the "Rock Against Racism" festival in UK in the late 70s: "Clash City Rockers" by THE CLASH.
Changes came fast in those days and I remember me and my 2 best friends, Mad Dog and Tømme, actually took the giant step from national socialism to anti-national socialism within 2 weeks of Xmas vacation. We decided, in plenum, to wise up, and to get rid of one common extreme in prior to the other. Soon I wore my DEAD KENNEDYS "Nazi Punks Fuck Off " badge on my military green park and organized demo s against apartheid and racial discrimination.
"I am the black fascist, don t need nobody else, all that matters is a world of myself".
On top of this, the song I applied these words to was not our own composition but a number of a band that during their entire career worked hard to assimilate the most black genre in popular music, reggae and dub, as well as headlining the "Rock Against Racism" festival in UK in the late 70s: "Clash City Rockers" by THE CLASH.
Changes came fast in those days and I remember me and my 2 best friends, Mad Dog and Tømme, actually took the giant step from national socialism to anti-national socialism within 2 weeks of Xmas vacation. We decided, in plenum, to wise up, and to get rid of one common extreme in prior to the other. Soon I wore my DEAD KENNEDYS "Nazi Punks Fuck Off " badge on my military green park and organized demo s against apartheid and racial discrimination.
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