BOLIVARIAN UNIVERSITY OF SANTIAGO DE CHILE

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Signed

Christian digitally by
Christian Castro
Bekios

Castro
Name of
recognition
(DN): cn=Christian
Castro Bekios

Beckios
Company no
verified
Date:
August 25, 2005
08:11:24 -04:00

EMERGING URBAN CULTURAL MICRO IDENTITIES:

YOUNG PEOPLE, PUNK AND CULTURAL IDENTITY.
A LOOK AT TODAY'S CITIZEN PARADISE
ON DAY, FROM A GROUP OF YOUNG PEOPLE
PUNK FROM SANTIAGO DE CHILE.

THESIS PRESENTED TO OBTAIN THE TITLE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGIST AND

TO THE ACADEMIC DEGREE OF BACHELOR IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

THESIS WRITER:

Christian Castro Bekios

GUIDE TEACHER:

BÁRBARA MATUS MADRID

Social Anthropologist

SANTIAGO DE CHILE, JULY 2004

INDEX Page

I. INTRODUCTION

II. THANKS................................................................................................................11

III. FOUNDATION OF THE THESIS TOPIC

IV. RELEVANCE AND SCOPE OF THE TOPIC..........................................................................17

V. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DISCUSSION.................................................................19

VI. NATURE OF THE STUDY TO BE CARRIED OUT.......................................................35

VII. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES..............................................................................37

VIII. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK......................................................................................37

IX. THE DEVELOPED METHODOLOGICAL STEPS

IN THIS RESEARCH.........................................................................................................94

X. THE TECHNIQUES AND INSTRUMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION

FROM EMPLOYEE INFORMATION.....................................................................................101

PART ONE: PUNK AS PART

OF THE HETERODOXIES.

XI. HETERODOXIES AND PUNK.................................................................................103

XII. WHAT DOES THIS PUNK THING CONSIST OF?: A SKETCH OF

THE PUNK HISTORICITY, TO UNDERSTAND THE STUDY
IN CASE........................................................................................................................................132

XIII. SPECIFIC AND RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE

PUNK HISTORICITY, TO UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT
GENERAL OF THE CASE STUDY..........................................................................................261

SECOND PART: THE CASE STUDY: YOUNG PEOPLE, PUNKS AND

CULTURAL IDENTITY, ITS APPROPRIATION AND USE THROUGH
IDEAS, PRACTICES AND TERRITORIES WITHIN THE LANDSCAPE
CURRENT CITIZEN OF CHILE.

XIV. RELEVANT BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND OF YOUNG PEOPLE

FROM THE SAMPLE: ITS BIOGRAPHICAL MARKS
SIGNIFICANT FOR THE CASE STUDY....................................................................277

XV. WHAT WAS THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S VIEW OF PUNK IN THE SAMPLE?
BEFORE GETTING INVOLVED IN IT?........................................................................................292

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XVI. THE ARRIVAL OF THE YOUNG FROM THE SHOW TO THE PUNK CONTEXT.........297

XVII. SIGNIFICANT NARRATION FROM THE ACTORS AND THEIR CASES:

SIGNALS FROM YOUR PUNK EXPERIENCE AS CONSTRUCTION OF
A CONTEXTUAL REFERENCE OF MEANING.......................................................................300

XVIII. PRODUCTION OF MICRO CULTURAL IDENTITY:

IDEAS, PRACTICES AND TERRITORIES...............................................................................335

XIX. ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES: THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE STUDY

IN CASE OF PUNK ACTIVIST HISTORICITY.........................................367

XX. THE CITIZEN LANDSCAPE OF CURRENT CHILE: YOUNG PEOPLE

FROM THE SAMPLE AND ITS IDEAS ARISING FROM THE EXAMINATION
OF THE NOTIONS OF DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, COMMON GOOD
AND SOCIAL PARTICIPATION ............................................................................................. 387

THIRD PART: CONCLUSIONS.

XXI. CONCLUSIONS BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE

OBJECTIVES OF THE THESIS............................................................................................................396

XXII. BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................422

3
I. INTRODUCTION.

Perhaps... (as a sign and measure of the times of 'products

light" or of partial or more thorough certainties), a reified world,
dehumanized by the culture of plastic money and end-of-month debts
, of the majority of the Chilean population, divided! (Wasn't it before?)... in
comfortable long-term installments, or transferable, after the customer's death,
to the newly arrived offspring. The "reality" life, invisibly coagulated in the
headaches and drooling before going to sleep, so that the next morning,
one more among others, they fit together like livestock homo sapiens towards the
different transport alternatives - 'kind' and 'yours' - to the places of
production and reproduction, (if one has work) under the watchful threat of
a 'friendly' backing from the great head of the family and his 'gift' of giving life
material to our expectations, inoculating the nature per se of the
current social and cultural order?

How do I position myself regarding the research topic?

I will allow myself to speak in the first person within this segment of the
introduction, as it allows to convey to the reader a feeling of 'closeness' of
the lived experience and considered to work in research.
It will be nearly 20 years since I learned about and got involved in this type.
of expressions (now analyzed). Before that, at the age of 9, various
musical, aesthetic, energetic manifestations (perceived this way at that moment, and
expressed from current concepts), caught my attention, because not
they corresponded to the traditional guidelines and expressions channeled quasi-
mandatorily from life in the world of preschoolers and education
basic, for example: dancing cueca and dressing up as a huaso, singing the national anthem and

to exercise discretion in front of the visit of military authorities from different

branches of the Armed Forces, while some professors did and others did not, silenced their

humanity - emotional in the face of the fear of the uniformed neutralizing gazes.
Uniformity, conformity, the school camaraderie immersed within the
paradigm of generalization and cultural patterns of competition for
status symbols, demarcation, hierarchization, of the attributes of the - now -
fruits of the Chilean modernization (including myself in that vortex as well).
Already in adolescence and the problems of it like others, feeling foreign to
an unwanted life model (systematically channeled), unclear, never
accepted, just silenced with a smile to not feel much more alien and more
4
I miss the behaviors, efforts, and the searches with few noticed questions.
in the environment where I moved daily... I didn't have an answer, rather
a feeling of suffocation and a great desire to express those feelings (at the same time
worries). In school, the actions, the word that was different had no
fruit more than in a space perhaps parallel, perhaps transversal to school life.
All the questions, starting from the suffocation, were being answered, but they were

producing also asphyxia, a chronic asphyxia. The generational disputes

They mattered, but not as much as the background that I sensed in that.
Properly, towards the end of 1986, I became involved in a concept of being,
different from what was given, within a 'something' that I did not handle analytically, rather

I felt the need to channel my feelings and visibly propose my identity.

(under construction, secondary socialization), my being, against the adverse environment. I knew,

what was called at that time: Thrash Movement.

Well, by the end of 1987, I already knew and had access to quite a bit of information about the

Thrash and other expressions that can be grouped in the underground. That year,
I have closely followed punk (music, related styles, attitudes) since 1987.
until 1990, I felt that I was building - individually and together with others - "something", something

true - despite the regular aesthetics and stereotypes -, a "truth", where my

wishes could be expressed, my actions carried out. Since 1987, I was able to
meet people from other countries without traveling, contact distant people felt like
close, some good friendships, others not so much. Finding out and taking control of
certain words that pointed to deep concepts, which were confirming my
existential concerns regarding wanting to be and being able to be, regarding a
reality and order considered "absurd", which proportionally made me
to feel alien (although problematized and deeply involved in such a dilemma).

Everything that happened in those times was simultaneously adding up to a

reflection (probably conceptually more limited) of the medium and the totality
where I moved, as if from my own existential and identity contingency. In a
over time I found myself separating from expectations and definitions - many times
narrow - that provided the observed thrash or punk ethos. Things that do not
shared and others did. Forging from there a more refined, particular perspective and
autonomous, not only from the punk or thrash environment, but from society, from life, the
solitude, the mass, conformity, alienation, power, the uniformity of

5
thoughts and criteria, classism, discrimination, hypocrisy, double standard,
etc.
Later, living in Santiago in 1996, I was able to witness the birth
from 'that' contemplated when my adolescence began: to be part of 'something'
what is being built. That was what I saw in the behavior of the people in the punk world

activist (and related to it) and from those years. Now my performance was more of
accompaniment, sharing and observing, from an analytical perspective, 'the new
situation." Some questions that I already had were being clarified, appreciating the
the behavior of the people I met, shared, formed friendships, or just
limited to observing. The questions that he brought were connected to knowledge
acquired social anthropology, embodying the need to rescue what in the
the background of behaviors and discourses was being shaped and signified in front of society
actual.
In light of the investigation, I positioned myself separately from the specific experience of

the young people from the case study and activist punk context, I only referred to my experience
of life and testimonial, to refine and guide the research towards a procedure
analytical and interpretive that will take the individual cases and combine them as much as possible

approximately possible to the events that occur around group dynamics as to the
context that make up.
This study, regarding the sample, considers the shared experience of
these and other young people from the activist punk context: from 1995-2002.
Resuming the use of the third person - What is it about and how is it done?
specifically develop the thesis?
This thesis represents the fruits of a research of nearly 3
years, which are part of the process of completing the studies conducted in the
discipline and degree of Social Anthropology offered by the University
Bolivarian of Santiago Chile.
The developed topic started from the issue of locating within a
general context of current Chile to our 'subject and object of study', a context that
we define as 'damaged social fabric'.
Our 'subject and object' of study is a group of young people (at the same time
sample group) of Santiago de Chile and its identified and situated social practice
from us, within a cultural process of identity construction
emerging in the urban context, which under increasingly deterritorialized logics of

6
cultural aggregation is nurturing "different" cultural components and ethos
significant and imaginary of recovery and territorial creation (within the
symbolic field), being significant for the young people in the study, both in the
individual and collective scope of a society and city increasingly inclined towards
feeling of isolation within crowds. A city with surveillance and
control, which makes possible the objective and subjective subjugation of people to the
fields established and instrumentalized by the hegemony of the institutions.
Where - every time - many areas of life are at risk of being surrendered.
definitely to the merchant and private logics of profits, power and the
"Natural" rules, visible and invisible of hierarchization.
In this way, an attempt was made to access the subjective elaborations themselves.

(emic perspective) of the protagonists on a segment of the 'punk movement' in

order to the appropriation and use that they give within the societal context of current Chile.
Contemporary Chilean society reveals a fissure. y
transformation in its essential elements: the now called citizenship in a
general sense, and in particular, in the sense of a 'we', as a vector of
changes and impacts on society. A cracking of that 'citizenship' so
thoroughly discussed by various intellectuals and politicians, regarding ties
binding in order to shared objectives as an essential social fabric, at the time
to articulate founding and enveloping processes of social interaction and sociability of
base.
The logics of power and institutions see and accept only one.
direction for social linking: market, consumption, democracy
representative, institutional and legal legitimacy, etc. It is therefore part of this
investigation reveals that there exists, invisibly within that damaged fabric and
associative retraction, other ways to seek that; that which belongs, and not
it is exclusive to a specific human group: society and culture, the
production of society (sociability) and culture (ideologies, practices, territories).
Social and cultural anthropology seeks to understand its logics, to the
different human forms of being, witnessing, and existing socio-culturally. Since
an anthropological perspective, every associative phenomenon generates a cultural practice, which

legitimately and over time, it shapes an identity and a respective cultural practice. That
it is the starting point, the social relationship and the elements that are interconnected to
to shape and build a meaningful platform, guiding ways of being
7
and signify the world. From that reflection and feeling, we turn towards the
observation of 'new alterities', arising from the conjugation of
individualities build fields of production of a "we", with certain
own logics, which - probably - discard the collectivist paradigm of
long ago (constraints for the individual in favor of the collective) and confront
rejecting the individualism of neo-liberal society, seeking and proposing
towards a balance between the collective and the individual.
Our 3 initial specific objectives were developed to
capability, while the 4th specific objective was defined and integrated into the
conclusions, since it similarly represented a sort of synthesis of the others.
resolved objectives.
While the present study is contextualized in what arbitrarily is
culturally define ourselves as youth, we believe from this research that
regardless of the socially assigned age range, they are people who with their
Acting and thinking produce something more than saying: 'Youth is a bad thing that passes.'

with age." If it is relevant to identify this thesis with a research area

specifically, we point out the following: Our topic combines the approach
socio-cultural anthropology to the emergence of cultural expressions and
cultural identities, within the context of the Hegemonic Institutional
considering, from the beginning and transversally, as a building platform
of such phenomena: the processes of cultural transmission and acquisition.
We clarify that on this occasion, our research means and implements
a sort of 'entry' into the work area and described topic.
With all the limitations and errors that this work may present, it
wants to make visible another perspective of socio-cultural phenomena, trying to look
outside the logic of the institutions of power, whether they like it or not, the sciences
social issues are not exempt from them; for this, we try to design and present a
conceptual model of the approach to the emergence of these cultural identities
emerging within the urban (within the section of the theoretical framework) that would give
account of the hegemonic context and the logics that operate, that is to say that the
made themselves visible to be taken into account when entering this type of studies.

8
 How were the objectives outlined in this study developed?
The results of this study are presented as follows:

First Part:

1. The first specific objective identifies certain historicity and continuities of

punk. This objective exposes us to analytical elements and conceptual precisions.
tools to understand and contextualize our research (punk, punk movement,
etc). In itself, this section implies a kind of specific 'theoretical framework'
of the punk that is channeled into the following mission: firstly, support our
case study; and secondly, it makes the punk universe understandable to the
both the academic community and the external one.

Second Part:

2. The second specific objective is divided into thematic axes: Ideologies (The
set of ideas that people have regarding the topic
selected), Practices (The set of meaningful activities to which
they link the selected youths) and Territories (The spaces both physical and
symbolic that are significant for the actors of this thesis). Starting from the
identification of certain significant individual and biographical marks of the
study subjects, we turn to the interpretative analysis of the ideologies, practices
and territories that this approach to the construction of a micro encompasses.
urban cultural identity in relation to the meaning of punk, to then frame it
within a particular historical context where these are and were linked
young people express their components.

In the third specific objective, the notions and the discussion that
people in the sample develop perspectives on current society through the axes
thematic: democracy, common good, freedom and social participation (indicators to the
These four ideas were selected for being common in daily discourse:
press, government, etc. Similarly, these thematic axes involve
9
directly the theme of sociability, social interaction, the relationship with a
another, the establishment of societal ties and credibility in the current system.

Third Part:

Finally, our conclusions are presented in the form of an exercise.

reflective, of the chapters developed around our objectives of
research, allowing us to outline and test (in light of the results) some
conceptual directions for future work.
Within the conclusions, we add the 4th specific objective that
constitutes a synthesis objective, which puts the elements in question
developed in the other objectives, around the issues of society
current Chilean referred to the damaged social fabric.

Christian Castro Bekios

Thesis student

10
 II. THANKS. 1

Rodolfo Fernández (history professor from Valdivia, for urging me to develop the topic of punk in
the thesis), Leonardo Ríos (for his help translating from English to Spanish, and his constant collaboration, friendship and
information facilitation), Alirio Castro Saavedra (collaboration in translations from English to Spanish),
Teresa Bekios de Castro (help in reviewing and correcting spelling and writing of the thesis), Yayita Teresa
(RIP), Professor Oscar Ortiz and his always good disposition, Catalina Navarro Ch. (Her unconditional
support, friendship, affection and understanding!), Carlos Brito Castro, Pato Lanas (for their willingness to
fixing the computer), Aunt Ruby, Manolis Jusakos (for providing me with his computer to write the
thesis protocol), Diego Navarrete, Juan Castro Bekios (for lending his computer to write the thesis),
Vicente Navarro (provide a computer and printer to print the thesis draft), Alejandra Lupita
Peña Valdivia, Marcela Araya and Ricardo (and his good disposition), José Donoso SJ., Marcela Araya Tapia
(Antofagasta/ La Serena, for material provided), Alejandra Werth, Juan Bekios Calfa, Cristian Matus
Madrid, Julio Reyes, Alex Leiva, Antonio Castro-Nilo, Lorena Núñez, Marlene Holender, Professor Bárbara
Matus Madrid (his concern and friendship), Julio Cortés, Felipe Perry, Joao Da Silva, Juan Carlos Valente,
Luis Filoza (Antofagasta), Alejandro Stephens, Raúl Ortega/ Alejandra/ Betty/ Pollo (the people in the time of
"The Cry!"), Peter, Bosco Guzmán, Millarca Fernández, Soledad Espinosa, Anita Avendaño, Hugo
Villavicencio, Javier Elizalde, Bolivarian University Library, David Bitner from the punk band Orgasmo,
Cristian Beck, Carlos Krestner (BBS Paranoicos), Pedro (History Teacher/ BBS Paranoicos, for sending his
degree thesis), Miguel Martínez (Spanish sociologist who contributed with information), David Mugglenton
British sociologist who published his works, Richard Cross (British sociologist who facilitated
relevant information), Francisco Albornoz, Cristián Vásquez, Coco, Roberto (de Gris), Roberto (punk
old), Paula (Reaction zine, Argentina-Chile), Daniela (Sequela zine), Masapunk, Julio Durán and The
Flamethrowers (Peru), Gonzo (RIP) from 'Coprofilia' from Mexico, Victor Martínez from 'Thoughts and Feelings'
zine (México), Biblioteca Social Reconstruir (México), Esteban “Oldschool”, Jarol (Valparaíso), Claudia
(Valparaíso), Ángel Aedo (525/ Life and Death), Roly (Fiskales Ad-hok), Pablo and Joyce Darker, Meli
(Terminally Ill), Paula Pérez, Francisco (by Marcel Duchamp), Leonardo Piña, Pablo Pérez de Arce
Carlos Aliaga the 'Talquino' and Radial Therapy (radio program of the University of Chile radio station)
issued a few years ago and its information delivery), Oscar (ex-Blood of Roses), Gorlak, Cesar Albornoz
(folklore and rock historian, for information), Dick Lucas from Sub Humans/Citizen Fish from England
(to respond quickly to inquiries), Greg Graffin (Bad Religion USA, to confirm information
relevant), Mateo, Ricardo Santander (RIP), Guido Flores, Victor Vásquez, Vicente Hernández, Domingo
Godoy, Eric Ramos C., Yohanna Rojas, Teresa Cárdenas and Cristian Cárdenas (Ancud), Pelluco, Amy
Pamela, Javier, José Alberto Pérez, Sra. Ely, Karen Beth, Guillermo Molina, Mauricio Rodríguez, Sra Liliana
Montt and Hall of Researchers and Critical References of the National Library of Chile (and to the space of
the 'Thursday Tertulia'), Fabio Salas, Susana, Marcela Espínola (Bolivarian University), Guillermo,
Arturo S., Francoise, Manuela Valle, Amy P. (Dischord Records, USA), Iam Mckaye and Joe Picciotto
(Fugazi, USA), Group of Conscientious Objectors 'Neither Helmet nor Uniform' (to the people from its beginnings),
Cultural Center Occupy the Little House, Pablo, Occupy the Little Roll (to the people who had good intentions), Erika
Espinosa, Cristian Olea, Cornejo Brothers (Eskaso Contribution), Luis, Nico (Sonora del 8), Nico (Viña del Mar)
Guaro, Jero, Gonzalo, Yete, Palomo, Profe Boyle, Calambre, Juan Colina, Paulina Vásquez, Iván Sotomayor,
Alexander D. (France), Claudio Infante, Maritza Urteaga (Anthropologist UNAM, Mexico), El Benja, Oscar
Huenchunao, Oscar Bustamante, Felipe del Solar, Miguel Romero (Venezuela), the direction of the School of
Anthropology of the Bolivarian University, Fugazi, 7 Seconds, Albert Camus, Pierre Bourdieu, Herman
Hesse, Marvin Harris, Manuel Rojas, Tolstoy, Eduardo Galeano, Simón Rodríguez, Kierkegaard, Unamuno,
Friend of Enrique Barrios, among other people and circumstances.

1
Acknowledgments and mentions to all those people who supported (both directly and indirectly and in
at some point or always) with ideas, information, corrections, critiques, questions, concerns, viewpoints,
networks, access, breath, infrastructure, friendship, comments, 'good vibes', etc., the long process and
completion of the thesis.
11
III. FOUNDATION OF THE THESIS TOPIC.

The Punk Movement2together with young people and the construction of collective identity
within the current social context is the central axis of this thesis, elements that form a
related totality, which cannot be dispensed with when accessing and attempting
to become aware of it.
The above stated does not clarify much before the expectant eyes of the cult to
the sciences and the curious perspectives of what is called common knowledge. The objective and
subjective trapped in a dialectic of the enigmatic. The enigmatic stripped of its
complexity through measurement, classification, the coherent understanding of our point
from a perspective. Our viewpoint flooded by experience and personal biography, which
converges alongside other biographies and ways of acquiring and transmitting knowledge: to give
meaning to our lives.
Why start the description of our thesis this way? Because it can be.
establish that the 'Punk Movement' is a phenomenon of a social and cultural nature
complex, if we consider that it emerged mainly in England in the '70s of the
last century and spread around the world. And to this, we add the following: about three
decades since its emergence, the different contexts in which it develops (countries and cities
from the first as from the third world, times and spaces as different languages), the
experiences of the protagonists themselves, the curious or external gazes, and the approach
social anthropology; the science of the human from the human, of the human understood in
the social and cultural. An approach that pertains to this study, an approach that is not

2
For the moment, in the context of this section, Punk Movement will be understood as that movement
aesthetic, musical, social, and cultural that emerged in England in the mid-1970s, the result of the
confluence of countercultural traditions with working-class subcultures and the result of various circumstances of
economic, political, historical character, etc., whose origin has young people from the lower class as actors
British worker. It is a movement, which at the moment it burst into British society, it
expanded to other countries until today.
In itself, this is a provisional general definition that does not account for the complexity of
punk phenomenon. From the first chapter of this thesis, in light of our analysis of the data, an attempt is made
establish a more instrumental definition for our case study.
12
isolated from the historical social becoming and the anthropologist's experience in the social dynamics

actual.
At first glance, it can be noted how complicated it becomes to address it and this is due to
that the young people who participate in Punk can be observed in many neighborhoods,
neighborhoods, the center of Santiago or disconnected from a specific neighborhood. In short, within
what is understood from the outside as 'Punk Movement' or 'Punk youth' can occur
it shows, at first glance, a heterogeneity in terms of origin, occupation, age,
education, socio-economic extraction, Punk aesthetics, and likewise, ways of being Punk that
may differ from each other (in Santiago). These observations are based on the
testimonial experience of the thesis student. Thus, it can be said that we are in the presence of a
difficult social subject to situate for conducting research, research that
Develop a melody that resonates with the concrete practices and experiences of the protagonists.
To begin to clear up this complexity, the following question can be posed:
What to know about the Punk phenomenon from the thesis of a graduating student.
School of Social Anthropology of the Bolivarian University? Considering also that
the thesis student is originally from the city of Antofagasta and currently resides in Santiago for
these reasons and has experience on the topic of Punk; finally, that the performance of
The research will depend on the resources of the thesis student.
To answer the question, we started by contacting3to young people (men and
women) from Santiago who participate or relate to Punk, developing some
activity, etc.
The central objective of this study on the social and cultural phenomenon of Punk is to provide

account of the subjective construction that the protagonists develop based on Punk and its
participation as Punk Youth within the current social context, emphasizing:
in the ideologies and practices that give meaning and significance from their experiences, in the
intersubjective construction of cultural identity, the territories, productions, and activities
that connect them to Punk and its reaches in the society where they are inserted. From this

3
The criteria will be explained in the section on the research methodology. They are.
influenced to some extent by the knowledge they have on the subject (to the level of experience and the
observation), the thesis student. This approach to specific individuals (protagonists of Punk) helped to specify
and to substantiate the objectives of this study.
13
In this way, some of the following questions can be established that we attempt to
What is Punk for Punks?
of meanings and what senses underlie Punk, among the protagonists? What form and
What role and reach can young people have in the study?
the society?. And if there is any extent, how is it understood and developed? .And if it is
So, what characteristics does this form of cultural identity present and what implications does it have?
for current Chilean society in terms of social fabric?
Briefly, it can be established that the study, by the social sciences
about young people and the Punk Movement, it can be traced back to the early 20th century,
specifically, in the early studies on youth groups, conducted by the so-called
Department of Social Ecology of the Chicago School. At first, the
youth groups were associated with criminal activities. Subsequently, both the perspectives and
Theoretical approaches were being constructed and expanded, leaving behind certain criteria.
biased. This School considered its study from the paradigm of functionalism,
prevailing concepts such as anomie and social deviation.
It can be asserted that these studies were one of the first approaches.
theoretical and empirical research on subcultures4post-war juveniles.
In the mid-1950s, one of the first groups appears in England.
juveniles classified and analyzed as subcultures: the Teddy Boys. Other subcultures
which began to appear from the 1950s to the 1980s - not only in England - are:
Mods, Skinheads, Rude Boys, Hippies, and Punks, among others. From the Beatniks and then the
Hippie movement, the concept of counterculture begins to be used.5.
The Birmingham School addresses the topic, contributing with approaches that
They consider factors such as social class in the formation of youth subcultures.

4
Subcultures: Cultural minority that occupies a subordinate position in relation to a hegemonic culture or
a parental culture. Youth cultures are subcultures in both senses. ( Definition extracted from
Excerpt from the glossary of the text by Feixa, Carles 'Of Youths, Bands, and Tribes'. Ed. Ariel. Spain 1999. Page.
270.)
5
Countercultures: Youth subcultures that had a particular development in the Western world at the end
from the 1960s, characterized by an explicit opposition to the hegemonic culture and by the attempt to
generation of alternative institutions. (Feixa 1990: 208)
14
Studies intensify with the emergence of other subcultures as
time passes, making us consider other aspects and contributions; these are: the role that
music and leisure time in youth subcultures, and the confrontation with the
dominant classes and hegemonic culture, theoretical contribution from the Studies
Cultural studies developed by Antonio Gramsci. The British School approaches the topic,
from a perspective associated with Marxism.
In summary, in these studies on youth subcultures, two can be found
predominant looks:

Liberal: Which emphasizes the relationship between Youth/leisure time.

Marxist: With emphasis on the relationship between Youth / social class.

Punk emerged in the public eye in England in 1976, but it began to take shape.
since before. Some authors point out that the Punk movement "constitutes the group most
difficult to classify in relation to the set of youth subcultures6Mainly the
Punk became known in England, later resonating in the United States and in
many places in the world until today.
Punk is considered, from the social sciences and the world of art, a
phenomenon of a social, cultural, aesthetic, musical, and political nature. The explanations that
they detail their emergence and characteristics, they state (in the case of England) that 'the
Punks not only responded directly to the increase in unemployment, to the change of the
moral bases, to the discovery of misery, to depression, etc., but they theatricalized the
called <<decadence of England>>, building a language that was, in
contrast to the prevailing rhetoric, in the rock establishment, relevant and catchy
to the ground (hence the curses, the torn clothes, the lumpen attitudes). The Punks
they adopted a rhetoric of crisis and tragedy in termstangible assets7”.
Punks are considered a subculture, but also a counterculture. Various
researchers, sociologists in general (late 1970s and mid-1980s

6
Pere- Orial, Costa and other authors: Urban Tribes. Ed Paidos. Spain 1996. Page 68
7
Feixa, Carles 1999: 148 citing Dick Hebdige (1983)
15
in England), they study Punk like other youth subcultures, considering its origin
in the working class, analyzing their confrontations with the system, with types of 'resistance'
in the form of rituals (Hall- Jefferson: 1983)8, the identity youth and subcultural style.
In Chile, and specifically in Santiago, they appeared in the early 1980s,
as depicted in a documentary made by Chilean filmmaker Gonzalo Justiniano in
1984, called 'The Peaceful Warriors'. During these years, Punk is covered in magazines,
like Cauce (in its Marginalia section), Apsi, La Bicicleta among others and in programs
television, such as Temas, Informe Especial, youth programs like Extra Jóvenes, etc.
also in the press of the time such as El Mercurio of Santiago, Últimas Noticias;
characterizing it as a countercultural group, musical, artistic, of protest against the
dictatorship, copy of foreign models, criminals, drug addicts, 'blown' youth,
eccentric fashion, youth linked to gangs, youth with family problems or children
from separated parents, a way to attract the attention of young people who do not feel
integrated into society.
In the 90s, there began to be more journalistic interest in them (like
totality), and periodically the topic is addressed in some media outlet (by
example, programs like El Mirador of Canal 7 (TVN), Contacto of Canal 13, until
television debate programs like La Manzana de la Discordia from TVN), but they persist
the sensationalist, generalizing, and paternalistic approaches. Generally, one resorts to
the expert opinion of psychologists and sociologists to explain youth behavior, in
reference to these groups. It also draws the attention of public opinion when
Punk youth appear in demonstrations like the one taking place in protest against the 12.
of October or those of September 11. And lately, attention has been focused on the
young people who occupy abandoned houses (related to what is happening in
Spain with the phenomenon of squatters), as well as some young people who participate in
conscientious objection groups related to compulsory military service (CMS) and
other organizations, areas where the participation of some young people can be observed
Punks.

8
Pere- Orial, Costa and other authors 1996: 70 and 71
16
 On the other hand, background from research related to the topic of the
youth groups, originate from the studies conducted in the mid-1980s on the
popular urban youth. Also, starting from the Concertación governments and through
from INJ (currently INJUV), there is talk of <<social debt with young people>> and through
public policies and competitive funds, an effort is made to prioritize and integrate this sector into
Chilean society.
Finally, from the perspective of the thesis writer, it can be noted that in Chile not
There are many studies, not to say any, that have developed research.
deep about Punk in Chile and focus on the forms and contents of Punk,
from the experience and perspective of the protagonists, immersed in a broader social context
wide.

IV. RELEVANCE AND SCOPE OF THE TOPIC.

For Social and Cultural Anthropology (especially for Anthropology

Urban), Punk and the people who participate or relate to it can represent
an innovative social subject or a human group more than studying. An atypical subject, for the
still traditional Chilean and local culture, which can integrate various cultural elements
(values, aesthetics, identities), interesting to study and understand, beyond what
curious and disruptive as these manifestations may seem at first glance and that now make
part of the everyday in cities, like Santiago. It can also be integrated into phenomena
like the Hybridization and Deterritorialization of traditional cultures in cities,
what authors like Jesús Barbero, Néstor García Canclini, among others, propose. Or to the rise of
"Urban Tribes" as part of the processes of Neo-Tribalization, described by Michel
Maffesoli and his concepts have been taken up by various scholars in the social sciences.
in Europe like Latin America and Chile. We can add the relevance that this topic has
for the studies of the processes of transmission and cultural acquisition that understands the
anthropology of education, but focusing on these processes within non-
"formal" and "institutional" forms of cultural acquisition and transmission; that can lead us to
situate in 'new' agents and socializing contexts (or questioning socialization)

17
from traditional institutions, as a hypothesis and topic for future research
by the thesis student) in today's society.
Specifically, this study means, for the case of Social Anthropology
in Chile and its foothold in society, a concern that recently developed, to
based on the studies on 'youth associative forms' (so-called gangs, tribes
urban, etc.) and "youth culture". A topic that also appears on the public agenda,
since the early 1990s with the governments of the Concertación (referring to a
social and historical debt with the youth of the country.
These youth associative forms represent, for the anthropological perspective, a
diversity of cultural expressions that some young people can represent, create,
develop and disseminate, in a world under the dynamics of information globalization,
of the market and consumption, which imposes its hegemony throughout society and uproots the
ancient references and local parameters (cultural, identity, and social). Where also
a neoliberal imprint socioeconomic arrangement prevails, which brings with it a
series of problems for the most deprived and weakened sectors, being affected
due to unemployment, inadequate remuneration, the difficulty of accessing a good
quality of education, the excess of professional offers and the few job positions,
malnutrition and health, in a large sector of Chilean youth.
The importance of this study about a group of young Punks refers to and nourishes
from what was indicated by Carles Feixa (1999) regarding youth cultures and micro-cultures,
approach not with a gaze that only sees young people as passive receivers of
external and predetermined schemes, but to appreciate their creative ability to
develop culture and influence the hegemonic culture. In this way, the study that is
it does not reduce to looking at the Punk phenomenon as the simple adoption of schemes
emerged externally, without delving into the contents and developments made by
people, or classify and conceptualize, a priori, as 'urban tribes' or 'gangs' of the
current Chilean society (without first stopping to study each group in particular); proposes
problems such as the formation of cultural identities that emerge from young people,
of ways to socially relate and actions that transcend the same group and are
articulate in society, forms of associativity in continuous progress and that do not

18
they necessarily want to participate in the spaces legitimized by the institutionality
current. In the end to the production of culture from the socially connected individual.
Likewise, this study aims to contribute and suggest research and inquiry.
on this topic, granting vital importance to the contributions made by the protagonists themselves
they make of their experience. On the other hand, it is not intended as a final objective to legitimize or

to delegitimize this particular group, but humbly to account for their perspective
youth, rescuing the social subject, artisan of their own existential, social becoming,
cultural and historical. On the other hand, the results of this research aim to provide
elements for the discussion and reflection of the own 'punk community' linked to the
themes presented in this work.
Ultimately, the particular study on this selected group of young people, such as
from other youth sectors, it may glimpse reflections and proposals that
they recall what is today referred to as civil society (in a sense more oriented towards the idea of
community), meaning spaces originated from them, where today's youth - in
this case - interesting protagonisms develop. Different social actors, of which
Anthropology must fully account for and enhance (from the point of view of
graduate student.

V. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DISCUSSION.

Undoubtedly, the first theoretical and empirical approaches to the topic of 'Movement
Punk and the Youth" is due to the studies conducted by the "Centre for the
Contemporary Cultural Studies (hereinafter referred to as CCCS9) from the University of Birmingham. A
starting from 1964, it constitutes an area of interest, the rise of the so-called subcultures
post-war juveniles.10

9
It is also commonly referred to as the British School.
10
Although the British School is often taken as a starting point, it is necessary to emphasize that the School
from Chicago was the one who focused his attention and tested theories and methodologies on this topic of emergence
youth groups in the urban life of societies in the process of industrialization at the beginning of the century
XX.
19
 The CCCS is inscribed "in the heterodox tradition of British Marxism (of R.
Williams and E.P. Thompson11The authors of the Birmingham School borrow
elements of Symbolic Interactionism, Structuralism, Semiotics, of the
Countercultural Literature12to articulate a complex theoretical framework that accounts for the
historical, social, and cultural roots that explain the emergence of youth expressions
innovative in Britain after 195013.
A capital approach to understanding the phenomenon of the Punk Movement - used
by the CCCS - was the notion of Youth Subculture. For the authors of the CCCS, the
subculture refers to the group cultural expressions produced by young people
from the British working class - at least in the period from the '60s to the middle of
the '80s - in relation to the distancing from paternal culture, influenced by access
majority in education (separation in terms of cultural information), the first
period of the welfare state produced from the 1950s onwards (and also its
posterior decay in the mid-1970s) in Great Britain (post-war), which
allowed young people from the working class access to leisure time and consumption of the
emerging cultural industry, which would shift towards the young consumer (situation

11
Raymond Williams discusses that 'objective social analysis combines society with complete processes.'
When society is reduced to rigid forms, social processes evade analysis." (Rosaldo, 1989:
103 and 104). The author proposes the existence of "structures of feeling," processes that shape and
they reflect the quality of social relations. "The structures of feeling differ from concepts like
global perspective e <<ideology>> because they are just emerging, still implicit y no
articulated" (Ibid). On the other hand, the historian E.P. Thompson begins his main work "on the
formation of the English working class, insisting that time is the primary means of its
analysis"(Ibid.:103). He believes that class is an active process of creation and not a tangible structure.
Class formations occur on their own, through a progressive historical process where
We, who are united in the struggle against them, forge an identity that can
"the notion of class"
Thompson says, "links to the notion of historical relationship. Like any other relationship, it is a fluidity that
it evades analysis if we try to stop it at a given moment and anatomize its structure>>”(Rosaldo. R.
1989: 103 citing E. P. Thompson.
12
Especially in the works of Herbert Marcuse, T. Rozack and in the literary records of authors such as:
Jack Kerouac and the literature of the Beatniks (Beat Generation).
13
Feixa, 1990: 72 and 73
20
which today is a fact that is already firmly established in our society). From this
finally, it is clear that the analysis of youth subcultures was conducted along two axes: the
relationship Young People/ Free Time and Young People/ Social Class. Albert Cohen is the one who makes this.

distinction and at the same time guides the CCCS with a relevant article in which an example is given
operational concept of subculture: 'The latent function of subculture is to express and
to resolve, even if magically, the contradiction in the ideological realm, between
traditional Puritanism of the working class and new consumption ideologies; and at a level
economic between the rising elite and the new lumpen (Cohen. P., 1972:23)14.
On the other hand, the working-class paternal culture is located in the suburbs.
Londoners where immigrants from the former British colonies also begin to arrive.
relationship between the working-class paternal culture and the dominant culture (market
work, consumption, education) creates that the old traditional references of identity
make the existing cohesion between them collapse. In this way, it becomes deeper
break with the young generation.
In relation to the above, another important concept that the CCCS uses for
his studies of subcultures is that of Hegemony, extracted from the work of Antonio
Gramsci; "this situates social space as a place of conflict in which classes
social struggles seek to establish a meaning, involving instances of domination,
negotiation and continuity of the cultural products that enter circulation15, " is
the capacity for ethical-political direction exercised more through consensus and control
Ideological rather than the use of force, hegemony is closely related to the issue.
youth: on one hand, the education of new generations is fundamental in the
reproduction of a hegemonic work16by the dominant culture, which may
to be understood as the set of ways of life and values disseminated by institutions
dominant (State, education, market, etc.), which corresponds to the distribution of power
cultural on a wider societal scale.

14
Ibid, 73
15
Castro Bekios, Christian: Model of approach to the topic of youth from the construction of
Personal and Cultural Identity in the Hegemonic Institutional Context. Specialization Course in
Community Development. Bolivarian University. Santiago 2001
16
Feixa, Carles Ob.Cit. p 60
21
 The CCCS understands subcultures as a phenomenon that is not only generational, but also
also of class conflict, for whose meaning, the subculture takes the form of a means
to repair and symbolically resolve the unresolvable contradictions in culture
father in front of the dominant system. Likewise, the search for cohesion can be appreciated.
social and the fusion of white subcultures regarding immigrants of origin
Jamaican.
Punk as a subculture in Britain in the late '70s and early '80s
'80 reflects for the studies of the CCCS, the following arguments that appear in a
article by Simon Frith (1983):

The style of the punk subculture served to represent the consciousness of young people of the
working class: In the words of the main author of these studies on punk, Dick
Hebdige (Frith, 1983:158) implies the existence of a reaction, a challenge.
oblique not direct to the hegemony of the culture of the dominant classes through style.

Punk seemed to change the capitalist control of mass music (there was an emphasis on
do it yourself") and take control of the technical means of production.

3) Based on the elements that shaped the punk style, the English punks
they promoted questions regarding the meaning of rock music, new sounds emerged,
new forms and texts.

Returning to point number 1, whose meaning is related to the other two, as it

It was indicated: Dick Hebdige is credited with studies on the creation of style in the
youth subcultures (such as punk), the direction it takes mainly follows the axis
youths/ social class17The category 'social class' brings forth the discussion about the crisis.
social in England in the late '70s (including the decline of the welfare state) not only

17
It is important to note that previously the emphasis of studies on subcultures was placed on the
relationship between young people and free time.

22
in the family structure of the working class but with the confrontation to the culture of the
dominant classes.
Dick Hebdige in "Subculture: The Meaning of Style" (1979;1984) proposes to read the
subcultures identifying the hidden messages in the style, "to keep track of them like a
map of meanings, which vaguely represent the many contradictions of
they (the subcultures) are designed to resolve or reconcile” (Hebdige, 1979; 1984:18), already
that for the authors of the CCCS, "punk style" represented an apparent chaos, a
disaggregation of disconnected elements; for this reason, Hebdige makes use of elements of
analysis of underground literature and mainly of the analytical instruments
structuralists and semioticians as 'bricoleur' and 'homology'18Based on the study of
cases, it is evident that behind the apparent unintelligibility of punk lies the construction of a
subcultural style, provided with the resignification of already existing elements within the system
of the significance of the official and dominant culture, of other white and black subcultures
(like that of Jamaican emigrants <<Rastafarians>>); identified through analysis
"handyman", these new meanings for punks are coherent - according to the analysis of
Dick Hebdige – product of the relationship of homology between all the elements that
They compose their subcultural style (practices, rites, music, aesthetics, discourse, etc.).
The meaning and function that Dick Hebdige gives to punk style is that of
represent noise (a character of opposite sound), from an interference when represented
socially as a metaphor for an eventual 'liberation' and semantic disorder, that
puts the system of representation of the dominant culture in crisis, 'the style in the
subculture, is then, pregnant with significances, its transformations19against the
nature>>, interrupting the process of <<normalization>>20As such, there are gestures.
twists in speech that offend the principle of unity and cohesion, which contradicts the
"myth of consensus" (Hebdige, 1979; 1984: 18).
The work of Dick Hebdige proposes interesting analytical backgrounds on the
punk style as a meaningful expression of resistance and protest of punk youth

18
Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roland Barthes respectively.
19
The resignifications created by the members of the subculture.
20
The author refers to the interruption of socialization according to official and traditional institutions.
(family, school, etc).
23
English natives. Several criticisms have been made of the CCCS approach and its work.
from Hebdige; these have been raised by the same colleagues from the Birmingham School
criticisms, arguing against: the generalization of the results of the
studied sources and the unilateral vision that prevails in the deterministic class analysis
of the punk style as an unconscious manifestation of the working class consciousness
British, resulting in a static picture of the possibility of others
analysis more open to the variations and particularities than the protagonists themselves
They are made. To this end, three objections can currently be found that concern these.
classical studies, according to David Mugglenton21:

The empirical basis of this data is supported by a succession of sources.

secondary, not all sociological.

2) The sources are interpreted within a theoretical a priori framework: the “grid
"methodological" from a neo-Marxist perspective. From there, the CCCS approaches the style
subcultural with the answer already known in advance: subcultures as forms
of resistances generated by class relations. The meaning of style is read
textually through semiotic analysis. It does not notice the introduction of
meanings from the members themselves.

3) Because of the generative mechanisms (that give rise to subcultures), the

the condition of subordinate classes is extended and valued too much, in the theoretical aspect,
the idea of a genuine form of collective resistance of the working class.
In relation to the above, the CCCS makes little reference to the dissemination of its
resistance to the "marketing process"22.

David Mugglenton needs that the origin of subcultures is in itself, a

cultural phenomenon rather than a class reaction resulting from conflicts in its

21
Material that belongs to the abstract of the conference 'From Subculture to Neo-Tribe' provided by the
Author via email during the month of December in the year 2001. Dr. David Mugglenton: Senior
Lecturer in Sociology School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences University College Chichester Bishop
Otter Campus, College Lane, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 4PE, United Kingdom
22
The CCCS was more oriented towards observing the commercialization process of the subcultural style (aesthetics,
music, etc) and the consequent loss of the focal practices and meanings that the members had and did not
of the sense of <<resistance>> that it had for them. By the way, the marketing process was
provoked, resulting from market motivations and the subsequent reappropriation by other people, giving
as a result, the variation of the original structure of the subcultural style
24
structure. The use that the early studies of the CCCS gave to the concept of subculture,
they were placed within an essentialist category and as a homogeneous whole. And Punk, for
Dick Hebdige was understood as such.
In the monograph 'Inside the Subculture'23(Mugglenton, 2000), it is stated that the
subcultures and in the case of punks, there would be a fragmentation regarding that whole
coherent that supposed the subcultures. Under the context of postmodernity, the author
visualize that the limits and meanings that members give to subcultures always go
in expansion and the construction of identity - in this case individual - occurs in opposition
to another considered homogeneous (both within the same subculture and outside of it)
a sensitivity that underlies the members of subcultures in this context, is
It orients towards the rescue of individuality and the construction of it as a project.
progressive. At the same time, it proposes that these sensitivities of contemporary subcultures
they present an 'elective affinity'24with two central values of the countercultures of the
60: license and release. The license, understood as freedom of self-expression
and liberation, like the freedom from those social and cultural restrictions that inhibit
and they prohibit this own expression. Given that the first rather depends on the last,
Both feelings are usually articulated in conflicting ways." (Mugglenton: 238).
With this portrait, one can speak of an individual sensitivity that runs through the
subcultures and this sensitivity would be shaped 'by a combination of a deep
modernist model of reality25and a postmodern emphasis on hybridism and diversity
(Ibid.:230). That is to say, there is a tension between postmodern and modern sensibilities in the

23
An empirical study based on the methodology of <<Verstehein>> (Ritze, 1993:252 and 253) by Max
Weber, who emphasizes the sociological explanation that recognizes the subjective motivation of the actors.
social. Around 55 people from different subcultures (Punks, Skin-Heads) were interviewed.
Goths, etc) in the United Kingdom, about the subjective perceptions of their style and the ideas that are behind
of them.
24
In Michel Maffesoli's (1990) idea about <<neo-tribes>> and their grouping dynamics, which
they are governed more by affinity and sensitivity than by contract and instrumental reason.
25
In the idea of a <<therapeutic attitude>>, 'in which individuals are stimulated to find the
realization and knowledge through one's own knowledge and realization" (Bella et al. 1985:98 cited by
Mugglenton, 2000: 233.
25
subcultures26concluding that a 'romantic liberalism'27has impregnated and accompanies
the culture of the working class and the distinction between countercultures28middle class and
working subcultures are not rigid29and it is possible to move from one to the other. Within this
Logic is understood with Carles Feixa (1999) that the punk movement can also be
considered a counterculture since 'like the counterculture of the sixties, punk
it underwent a fusion process that involved, on one hand, the massive diffusion of
some of its elements (including a trend towards commercialization) and, on the other

26
This distinction can be related to the idea of <<subject>> that Jesus Ibáñez supports when stating that "the
The structure of the symbolic order is not immutable. It changes over time, and therefore the structure changes.
of the subject" (Ibañez, 1991: 86). Due to this, two movements can be distinguished in the idea of the subject: The
first relates to the subject caught in the symbolic exchange (subject in the symbolic order, which is
prior to him), and without the possibility of operating in any other way. This movement coincides with modernity. The
another movement is a 'return of the repressed <<of the subject of enunciation>>' (Ibid), of the subject
true, and of the part that does not embody "in the symbolic order, which is not metabolized - nor
metabolizable - by society” (Ibid.). Idea about the openness of the subject. This last movement that acts
Already in modernity, it coincides with postmodernity.
27
In the social and cultural aspect of individual freedom that underpinned Liberalism, and in the tendency to
to follow one's own ideals, where imagination and sensitivity prevail over reason: as proposed by the
literary, artistic, and ideological movement of the first half of the 19th century called Romanticism
(In the poetry of the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), and German Romanticism).
28
It is worth noting that the authors of the CCCS tended to establish clear distinctions between subcultures.
working-class juveniles and middle-class subcultures: while the former are collective structures
compact ones that take the form of <<band>>, the latter are more individualized diffuse means; some
They arise from the dichotomy between the institutional world (family, school, work) and leisure time, others propose
a synthesis or alternatively propose alternative institutions (for example: The hippie communes of the '60s) In the
In the first, experiences prevail in the discourse; in the second, there is no experience without ideological discourse.

Justification; Some were seen as variations of traditional worker vandalism, others were analyzed.
as more articulated and dangerous forms of political-moral dissent (Brake, 1983: May and Jefferson, 1983
quoted by Feixa: 83).
29
In Thornton's work, S(1995): 'Club Cultures: Music, media and subcultural capital'. Cambridge Polity.
UK.: It is shown that in the subcultures of contemporary English youth, differentiated identities
they can be united by behavior in the context of practices and consumption (drugs, parties,
music, attending clubs, etc). Understanding that the idea of traditional social class can lead to understanding
youth as a class that transcends its socio-economic background (at least temporarily).
Reading appeared on the website:Invalid input, please provide text for translation.(consulted: 4/20/02).
26
part, its fusion into various aesthetic-musical currents" (Feixa, 1999:153), such as the
formation of alternative institutions, giving rise just like with countercultures of
the 60s30, to two orientations or "poles" (Ibid.):The expressive pole, more related to the
fashion and consumption, and the activist pole, focused on political cultural initiatives.
Consequently, it is obtained that for the case of the punks, 'the margins
existing in the subculture are not so rigid and it follows that the meaning of
Punk surely changes and transforms temporarily and territorially.31It is
it is necessary to emphasize this idea, because it allows to delve into the world of meanings that
the protagonists develop; that is, both individuals and groups can redefine the
knowledge, reconstruct reality, negotiate systems and meanings, innovate and create32.
In this regard, the work developed by anthropologist Carles Feixa (1999) on two
stories of young people's lives from different latitudes (Mexico and Spain) who participate in the
punk, shows the trajectory and the meanings that the protagonists are constructing about punk,
from his personal biography. Each step, in the interviews, reflects the reflective process
of individuals regarding their location within a space in which others also
they signify punk and are influenced by their environment and the hegemonic culture.
By the way, Feixa's approach can be considered an analytical model.
multidimensional anthropological, as it brings together in its analysis, different dimensions (for
example, the territory, the hegemonic culture, gender, generation, the creation of style of the
youth culture, etc.) mutually related to delve into the understanding of the
youth cultures33where two areas of analysis stand out: the study of forms,

30
Phenomenon analyzed by counterculture theorists such as Herbert Marcuse and the 'left'
Freudian,
31
In the idea suggested by (Dr. Sociology) David Mugglenton.
32
Berger-Luckmann: 1972 cited in Bouché Peris, Henri and others: Anthropology of Education. 1st edition,
Dykinson editors. Spain 1998. Page 254.
33
The author refers to the way in which the social experiences of young people are expressed.
collectively through the construction of distinctive lifestyles, fundamentally located in the
free time, or in interstitial spaces of institutional life. In a more restricted sense, they define the
appearance of <<youth microsocieties>>, with significant degrees of autonomy regarding the <<
adult institutions>>, which provide specific spaces and times" (Feixa, 1999:84). Carles Feixa refers to
Youth cultures in plural.
27
through which each society shapes the ways of being young and the study of the
youth construction of culture (the ways in which young people participate in
the processes of cultural creation and circulation.
Following with a gaze that delves into the production that the protagonists
they make punk from an approach that focuses on identity construction
personal and collective, can be observed in the work of Maritza Urteaga and Inés Cornejo
Social and Symbolic Construction of Active Punk Girls34(hereinafter CHAP's)
drawing on Alfred Schutz's phenomenology of the "face-to-face" relationship 35and in the
gender identity approach, they discover that the space of the collective formed by the
punk girls serve as mediation for the construction of female identity in the
relationship "we" that takes place "face to face" in the conscious mutual participation of
themselves, through artistic and cultural activities and political activism. This
the notion of 'we' creates a space that calls for personal and
belonging in the resolution of personal, cultural, and structural issues
self-esteem, family disintegration, machismo, authoritarianism, poverty, etc. through
of 'doing something': 'the band space'36it is the symbolic place where they are concentrated the most
"forces meaningful interactions" (Urteaga; Cornejo, 1998: 2) and "find themselves in the
punks an 'interesting proposal' that aims to do something for those who are like them.

34
Article from the original study by Maritza Urteaga and Inés Cornejo: 'Culture and feminine identity: the case of'
the Active Punk Girls >”, in Communication Spaces, No. 1. Blue Series, Division of Sciences of
man, Department of Communication. Ibero-American University, Mexico 1996. This article called:
"Social and Symbolic Construction of Active Punk Girls" from 1998 was found in the following
web page:Invalid URL format(consulted: 2/4/00).
35
In what Schutz calls <<associates>>, or people involved in face-to-face relationships that
and in relationships - we where "are defined by a relatively high degree of intimacy, which
is determined by the extent to which the actors are familiar with the personal biographies of
others. The relationship - we pure is a face-to-face relationship in which the participants are
mutually aware of themselves and participate in each other's lives in solidarity for some time
time, no matter how short it is>> (Schutz, 1932/1967: 164 cited by Ritze; 1993: 381)
36
In the sense of a type of collective aggregation that is significant within the sociolect of some
Mexican youth.
28
The band is the main anchor for the symbolic proposal of 'doing something for the band,'
for the youth and society" (Ibid.: 3).
In this study, it is possible to appreciate that punk (in terms of practices it develops
the group of girls) is given a sense of vehicle for identity construction and
of meaningful spaces, it is thus that the authors observe: "that some of them that
They participated in the creation and development of the collective, using that space to explore.
and to consider a new form of femininity. This "new femininity" or construction
female identity is established in contrast or by distancing itself from roles of
what is conceptualized as 'being a man and being a woman'; proposals constructed and transmitted in
the popular parental cultures and lower middle-class Mexicans” (Ibid.:4). So,
One can think from this thesis that there is a significant cultural construction - in this
case of the punk by the protagonists, which involves a specific area of punk
that relates to 'two organizing principles of everyday life, of recognition,
of interpretation, 'two ethos': on one hand, its inevitable social destiny and, conversely, the
alternative cultural proposals, being a member of challenging movements, being
defender and represent women" (Ibid.:5).
This construction of identity from punk and the construction of punk implies the
idea of a 'punk us' as can be observed in the work 'The fanzine in the
punk movement37(Lo Coco, Mauro and others, 1998), in which the authors discover that
Given the difficulties and internal differences presented, it can be said that the <<we
punks>> the construction of the fanzine's enunciation has to do with heterogeneity and
with the selection and reading of the movement that its producer performs" (Lo Coco, 1998: 12) is
to say: from the reading that the subject makes about punk. So 'the identity of
<<we punk>> is built on heterogeneity, a product of the conditions of
recognition and the conditions of fanzine production" (Ibid.:13). As well as the analysis
"handyman" by Dick Hebdige, there exists a selection of various objects to which they are
it grants a new significant meaning for individuals. It is an identity that is constituted in
the fragmentation "based on the fact that there is no visible leader of the group that delineates the

37
Research conducted by a group of Sociology students from Argentina. From a theoretical framework
that borrows elements from interpretative anthropology (Geertz) and from structural cognitivism
(Bourdieu) through the analysis of fanzines (punk publications) and participant observation.
29
ownership of the proposals of the movement" (Ibid.). Due to this, the limits of
The meaning of punk should vary according to individuals and groups.

The construction of punk as an identity also needs to be seen

influenced by the environment and the ideas attributed to it. In this regard, in 'The Movement
Punk: Counterculture or Stereotype?38(Manzilla and Da Silva: 2000) conclude that in the
construction of punk that individuals create, operate stereotypes, produced both outside
(media, cultural industry) as part of the movement, being that
in many cases the basis for interpreting the meaning of punk.
The gaze of the 'urban tribes', according to Michel Maffesoli.39(1990) implies a
possibility of accounting for the complexity of societal phenomena and relationships that
they occur in the transition from modernity to postmodernity. As Jesús Ibáñez suggests40:
it is a metaphor (Maffesoli, 1990:16) of a new sociability, where the
groups and individuals function in a network form, governing parameters that highlight the
groups such as "emotional communities" whose structure is rather complex and organic
(postmodernity) that mechanics (modernity). Forms of human grouping in which
underlying processes of deindividuation and characteristics that resonate in the experience
subjective and intersubjective, based on proxemics, that is, on everyday experience, the
contact between people in the sense of an 'elbow to elbow'. Conjugating in this way,
a social power that is composed of a multiplicity of lexicons and ways of navigating
by society, in ways of being opposed to formal and instrumental rationality,
productive and contractual of modernity.
From this approach, a hypothesis is raised that tries to contradict 'those who'
They lament the end of great collective values and the reduction to the individual.
This hypothesis "consists of the new fact that stands out (and that develops), results

38
This work by sociology students can be consulted in the Classroom Research Series
No. 53 (2001), published by the Social Research Center, ARCIS University. Santiago.
39
Architect in a way of this <<new>> conceptualization and contextualization of the concept of
<<tribes>> traditionally used by Anthropology.
40
Jesus Ibáñez, Doctor in Sociology, Director of Methods and Techniques at Complutense University
Madrid. It has developed a line in social research whose most well-known technique is the group of
discussion.
30
to be the multiplication of the small groups of existential networks, a kind of
tribalism that rests both on the spirit of religion (re-link) and on localism
(proxemics, nature)"(Ibid.); it is a reappropriation against the homogenizing and
globalizing.
The idea behind the "tribe metaphor" reflects this current transition between
modernity and postmodernity, and transcendentally, it allows us to read daily life, the
interaction between subjects, the plurality of relationships, that is, the argument behind the
the notion of "urban tribe", considers sociability41as something dynamic and not static.
But the use given to it, both from the social sciences and from the perspective
Journalistic in Chile is reduced to the young social segment. For example: urban tribes
they star in rituals that they define as shared emotions, it happens in football, it happens
in rock, it is a neotribalism characterized by a very strong fluidity, very
dynamic, spontaneous grouping that does not result in <<organizational balances that
they will improve the organization for action and raising the level of consciousness,
etc>>42says the psychologist Sergio Balardini about the new perspectives on the
youth. Another case points to 'this new type of youth cultural manifestations, of
new subjectivities and socialities shaking us off from certain traditional frameworks to
understand the phenomenon of youth, young people and their cultures, which currently is
express the phenomenon of 'urban tribes'43.
Michel Maffesoli's approach not only includes young people, and its premises
theoretical perspectives call for attention to the following aspects that they present to us and in turn

we share with the sociologist Miguel Martínez López44"Seeing the everyday things, from the
city in which we live, as if we were foreigners. To observe the
ritual behaviors (including economic and political ones) in each social group

41
Michel Maffesoli prefers to call it 'sociality'.
42
. Last Decade No. 13: Balardini, Sergio “On Young People, Youth, and Youth Policies.” CIDPA
Viña del Mar, September 2000. Page 22
43
Last Decade No. 13: Zarzuri Cortes, Raúl 'Notes for a theoretical approach to new cultures'
juveniles: The Urban Tribes.” CIDPA, Viña del Mar, September 2000. Page 82
44
Contact via email with Miguel Martínez López, Sociologist and Doctor in Political Science.
University of Vico. Spain. (contact date: December 2001 and January 2002).
31
regarding the social integration models that are configured. To calibrate to what extent the
individualism is a product of capitalist-liberal society and to what extent 'the fact
To be 'solitary' does not mean to live 'isolated' (Maffesoli, 1990: 242)45.
Michel Maffesoli, with this metaphor of the 'urban tribe,' wants to make us aware of the
everyday human life within postmodern urban society and its tensions
existential, relational, political, and cultural within the field of behavior
cultural, reserving an explicit macro political orientation, as we read in its
work: "Be that as it may, it can be stated, regardless of any judgmental attitude, that the
tribalism, under these more or less shining aspects, is increasingly permeating the
ways of life. And I would almost dare to say that it is becoming an end in itself
the same; that is to say, that through the mediation of gangs, clans, or groups, it recalls the importance

of affection in social life (...) It is precisely this network that connects, as I have already indicated.
before, the group and the mass. This union does not have the rigidity of the modes of organization that

we all know, but rather refers to an environment or a state of spirit,

expressing themselves preferably through the lifestyles that will prioritize the
appearance and the <<forms>>. It is, in a way, a collective unconscious (or not
collective consciousness, which serves as the matrix for the multiplicity of experiences,
situations, actions and group wanderings" (Maffesoli, 1990:178).

The theoretical approach of 'urban tribe' does not account for - for our research
of thesis - of the process of cultural identity construction by the subjects. To
regarding, if it were used in the reverse sense, that is, not from the concept of 'Urban Tribe'
nor of the reflexive elements that compose it (detailed in the previous paragraphs),
it serves to capture the manifestations that occur in these so-called 'new ones'
"sociabilities." On the contrary, if the concept "tribes" is used a-priori
"urban", this can dilute the internal processes of the groups and rather, it would be given a
negative sense to the term 'tribe', obscuring the specificity it might present
some manifestation -in this case- youthful. This observation is supported by the reflection of

45
Martínez López, Miguel
1998.Page 12 of the document published on the following website:Invalid input format. Please provide text for translation.
(Consulted: 22/01/00).
32
Miguel Martínez46(1998:11) in which the concept 'urban tribe' tends to 'emphasize not only
the character of youth subculture (or youth culture) in general (metalheads, punks, and others)
groups considered and added by the <<going out and exclusive music>>)
but also those from preferred marginality, the disorganized minority or just in a way
informal, the use of gratuitous violence and the similarity to other behaviors
disorderly and somewhat inexplicable juveniles (football team fans, neo-Nazi skins,
criminal gangs, etc.

Similarly, taking the concept of 'urban tribe' in a sense of opposition

to institutional power, as proposed by Claudio Duarte, Mauro Jofré, and Daniel Chernito
cannot be understood outside of the phenomenon conceptualized as delinquency, in the
the sense that tribes, as primary groups of countercultural socialization, are
potentially dangerous to the established system, and therefore stigmatized,
homogenized and repressed, as well as partially reproduced in their behaviors,
to be brought to the market in the form of cultural added value47.
The subject of youth (in the traditional sense) is regarded as a matter
relevant today, in addition to the reasons for understanding and designing policies
institutional48For this sector, youth has also "transformed into a
privileged recipient of market strategies, both in terms of its
specificity as a consumer of goods, symbols, and products as symbolic value
What the sign of youth acquires is a order of behaviors and practices that are expressed.

46
The author will elaborate on this reflection based on his topic about the Okupa Movement in Spain. Analyzing
the conceptualizations that have been granted to it from the social sciences and the press in general. In this
Reflection, some elements were altered to contextualize it in the Chilean reality.
47
Creation Magazine No. 1: Duarte, Claudio; Jofré, Mauro and Cherniro, Daniel 'About Urban Tribes'.
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Chile. Santiago 1997. p.10
48
In this regard, it can be noted that "most of the programs are of the type <<for young people>> and
service providers; or else, they are manipulation and mobilization for the regime (<<by>>); or, they participate and go
building elements of democracy (<<with>>); or, they tend towards the space of self-management of the
young people (<<since>>)” (Balardini in Última Década nº13, 2000:25). They appear in different forms. By
For example, the treatment of INJUV towards young people may be determined by the idea of service and the
promotion of social participation.
33
dominantly through the mass media of communication" (Marafioti;
Cornick, 1996: 87 and 88.
The development of the theme of youth and youths in Chile has had a
treatment from an "adult-centric" matrix as Claudio Duarte (2000) qualifies it "in
It positions adulthood as a reference point for the youth, based on duty.
to be, what must be done to be considered in society (maturity, responsibility,
integration into the consumption and production market, reproduction of the family,
civic participation, etc)"(2000:67).
To get out of the above, the author points out - as a hint - the need to
learning to look at and understand youth, as bearers of differences and
singularities that constitute their plurality and diversity in the different social spaces;
since the trend is to generalize youth manifestations in limited aspects, for
Thus, the diversity of dynamics within it becomes invisible. In this regard, in a
research carried out by the School of Social Anthropology of the University
Bolivarian for the INJUV on 'Urban Youth Gangs', it refers to 'that in
initiatives that come from the public sector are often characterized by the
lack of knowledge about both their cultural traits and their daily practices, among the
that mostly highlight their ignored styles of territorial and particular demarcation
control of the urban space in which they exercise their citizenship
INJUV, 1999:278), for example.
Currently, the approaches have incipiently derived into the rescue.
of the diversity of ways of being young and the specialization of researchers on the
theme of youth. In the same way, the creation of institutional references of
research and consultation on the topic of youth, such as the Observatory of the
Youth, dependent on INJUV.
The institutional government vision and mission regarding the youth world is
it directs towards the desire to integrate into the broad spectrum of the youth universe - now understood

as diverse-, since this sector of society is supposed to be a social capital and a bet to
the development and future of the country.

While a certain mission, from the institutionality, towards a wide sector of

young people not registered in the electoral rolls (and therefore considered non-participants of
34
representative liberal democratic system), is to try to captivate them to participate
within the democratic system (mainly in the economic field through the
training, employment insertion, youth entrepreneurship, youth rights, using
spaces and strategies such as "Dialogue Cafés", etc.). Recently it has
awakened interest, certain emerging sociocultural phenomena, such as the case of the
visualization of 'new sociabilities and youth associativity' in the form of 'tribes'
"urban" within the broad spectrum that encompasses "youth culture".

VI. NATURE OF THE STUDY TO BE CARRIED OUT.

The subject of this thesis is limited only to the topic of cultural identity construction.49
and the relationship of this with the current social context in terms of the 'damaged social fabric'. No
a deep development of the gender topic is made in this study internally.
of the group (but it is taken into account), since what is considered relevant at the moment,
for this study, it is to account for a first approach to this topic, that is,
a first entry and therefore it cannot be substantiated to take other guidelines
in the analysis.
From that perspective, the research started as exploratory.
The study was framed within a bibliographic-documentary research.
(investigation of written and living sources) and ethnographic qualitative research on a
small segment of young people who participate in Punk. Due to being a small group of
people, the research focused on a case study.
For the purpose of guiding the study from the theoretical perspective of the anthropologist.

Clifford Geertz on his interpretive concept of culture, this research assumes

an analytical and interpretive character, performing an emic approach regarding the
constructions and experiences of the protagonists.
Both in the analysis and in the conclusions, the etic approach is used.

49
In this case from punk, by the selected group of men and women in relation to their
context of action.
35
 This study is based, in a certain way, on the 'naturalistic' conception of the
social sciences and the ethnographic work that advocates studying the social world in its
state <<natural>>, without contamination from the researcher, nor by the imposition of methods
"pre-established" (Bouché Peris, 1998:170 and 171). From this perspective, "the researcher
it must be faithful to what is observed and not to the body of methodological principles, since the

social phenomena have very different characteristics from the phenomena studied by
the natural sciences" (Ibid.:170). And this is so, "because human actions are stained
always of social significations: intentions, motives, attitudes, beliefs, etc. (Ibid.).
While the rigor with which the above is stated leads to a certain ideal.
What is difficult to bear, this study tries not to fall into a certain theoretical rigidity.
methodological regarding the researched reality. That is why the theoretical use
methodological of the conceptual material (immersed within the theoretical framework), has as
condition, to orient the study rather than to strictly adhere to it. In this way, the meaning
and use of each concept, for the theoretical framework, was developed as they were
relevant data is appearing for the objectives of our thesis, since in this way not
we wanted to establish a-priori criteria that could bias the analysis and
interpretation. Since "qualitative researchers emphasize the validity of their
research. Qualitative methods allow us to stay close to the world
empirical (Blumer, 1969). They are intended to ensure a close fit between the data and what
what people really say and do. Observing people in their daily lives,
listening to them talk about what they have in mind, and seeing the documents they produce,
the qualitative researcher obtains direct knowledge of social life, not filtered by
"concepts, operational definitions, and classificatory scales" (Taylor and Bogdan, 1994:22).

36
VII. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES.

General objective:

Account for the appropriation and use made of the Punk Movement, a
selected group of young people (men and women) from Santiago, in the context
current Chilean social

Specific objectives:

1.- Identify the main characteristics of the Punk Movement, from its
origin and arrival in Santiago de Chile in the 1980s of the last century.

2.-Analyze the meanings that these young people in the sample construct of
punk.

3.-Analyze the conceptions that these young people in the sample develop of the
current Chilean society.

4.-Projecting the scope of this cultural identity for what is termed

damaged social fabric, in today's Chile.

VIII. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.

To develop this thesis research on what we call

emergence of emerging urban micro-identities and our specific study about
the construction of cultural identity from young people was taken into account as a criterion
basic, a theoretical approach that would express some plasticity with reference to processes
complex, such as the construction of cultural identity within a context (socio-
37
urban cultural, in whose horizon dynamics (cultural) are reflected that present the
emergence of these "new" urban identities, more diffuse and disconnected from
traditional notions of territory and local identity. A theoretical approach that will not limit to-
prioritizes the protagonists' capacity to create meanings, but that also does not
it will exhaust itself in it. In this way, the interpretative perspective was chosen50of Clifford
Geertz on culture. Since this theoretical approach allows for strengthening the analysis.
cultural rescuing the production of meanings that the protagonists within a sphere
socio-cultural realization.
Therefore, the perspective that was implemented to address this study on the topic of Punk and
The current concert in Chile is oriented towards the experience of young people as subjects.
protagonists within a segment of what is understood as the punk movement51,
considering also, the current context of Chile (post coup d'état and after more than
10 years of Concertation Governments, where situations are involved and identified
how participation (political, cultural, social) in current Chilean society, especially
of the youth, the damaged social fabric and the emerging associative forms
currently. From this perspective, the research focused its attention on the forms and contents
what Punk is acquiring from the production that young people are creating and the relationship
that establish with today’s society, rescuing the perspective of the youth from a point
from the perspective of the subjective and intersubjective construction of reality.

Production of Cultural Identity from a perspective

Interpretative of Culture: Processes of Transmission and Acquisition
cultural, in the context of reformulating forms of construction
of identities.

First of all, it is necessary to start with the meaning of the concept of

Culture for Clifford Geertz. Culture is an intersubjective and symbolic construction, which...
What it means is that the human being in society develops and lives immersed in a network of
meanings that give significance to their experience and behavior within a context

50
Like Symbolic Anthropology, Interpretive Anthropology is "coincident in the conception of
culture as a system of shared signs" (Bouché Peris, 1998: 166).

38
specific social. And this conception of culture, in turn, implies 'the apprehension and
application of specific systems of symbolic meaning52that are being recreated
constantly interpreted and reworked by the members of a culture. This
interpretative approach to culture allows us to focus on understanding how
the experience of the young people in the sample and the environment in which they move becomes

significant, based on how individuals interpret and understand their experiences and
what shapes its interpretation is linked to concrete actions and productions that
they carry out.
From this perspective, cultural identity for the purposes of this research,
it would be a structure of meaning that underlies the set of meanings,
symbols and actions developed in the discourse of culture. Therefore, from this
cultural identity is understood from the perspective like a space that is not given
definitely, that is to say it does not tend toward the static and towards an essentialist conception of
identity53rather, it is granted certain plasticity because it is understood that it is in
continuation of creation and re-creation by the young protagonists of the exhibition
what they mean. Since it is the product of exchange and intersubjective construction of
symbols.
Traditionally, cultural identity, in its sociocultural anthropological sense and
Classical ethnography has always been linked to a geographical and territorial context.
specific, however, the current process of globalization "runs the risk of blurring
the borders and cultural contours, uprooting people and creating in them such
"openness to all possible cultural influences" (Bouché, 1998:226), occurring
tension and deconstruction processes within traditional forms of organization
world of the local, community, identity, and daily social relationships: affecting in
greatly the terrain of the symbolic, a product of other forms of symbolic circulation,

51
The notion of punk movement will be exposed in the development of the analysis and the conclusions.
52
Geertz, Clifford: The Interpretation of Cultures. Ed. Gedisa. Spain 1991. Page 55
53
In the idea that identity is composed of a set of fixed and unalterable characteristics and traits:
as Jorge Larraín proposes in his critique of the essentialist conception of identity - in his case -
Latin America and national (Larraín: 1996).
39
phenomenon54called deterritorialization55by Néstor García Canclini (1990). And
Consequently, the loss of identities and the reformulation of new identities occur.
in the postmodern context and neoliberal globalization 'a process that modified
"substantially sociocultural aspects" (Tamayo Flores, 1996:71), as well as
within the tension produced by the postmodern whirlwind that caused the loss of <<the
idea of a central rationality of history>>, with which according to G. Vattimo 'once
the idea of a central rationality of history has disappeared, the world of communication
generalized bursts forth as a multiplicity of <<local>> rationalities - minorities
ethnic, sexual, religious, cultural or aesthetic (such as punks, for example) that
they take the word and finally stop being silenced and repressed by the idea that only
There is a true form of humanity deserving of realization, at the expense of all the
peculiarities, of all limited, ephemeral, contingent individualities" (Vattimo and
others, 1994:17).
This reformulation of modern identities, previously of a territorial nature
and monolingual, within the current and postmodern context, assume a meaning
trans-territorial and multilingual for Néstor García Canclini (García Canclini, 1995:30-
whose general characteristic is that they are "structured less from the logic of the States
that of the markets; instead of relying on oral and written communications that covered
customized spaces and were carried out through close interactions, operate
through the industrial production of culture, its technological communication and consumption
deferred and segmented goods" (Ibid., 1995:30-31), therefore: the new forms
territories where identities emerge, signify, and resignify
in the postmodern context, they assume that 'the classic socio-spatial definition of identity,
referring to a particular territory, it needs to be complemented with a definition
socio-communicational." (Ibid.:31). These new identities that begin to emerge, according to
the UNDP Report of the year 2000 acquires the following characteristics (UNDP, 2000:
32-33):

54
Within the context of the transition from modernity to postmodernity, globalization and the establishment
up to the moment of the 'definitive' neoliberal economic system.
55
Identify the loss of ancient identities based on physical space and territory.
40
 Their constructed identities: precisely their recent emergence highlights their character of
social construction. They did not exist 'since always', but instead express a current work:
the preparation of a new identification code. In some cases, they refer to the
nature as an undisputed reference; in others, they arise from the defense of interests
threatened and postponed demands. Many times they have a strong expressive accent,
emotional and playful. Generally, they combine various elements in a constellation
mobile that varies according to the opportunities and constraints of the environment.

A plurality of identities: identities diversify as a result of the

social and functional differentiation of Chilean society and the pluralization of the
“worlds of life”. That is, of the set of values, assumptions, and norms that the
the person assumes it as something normal and natural, beyond discussion. Furthermore, they dissolve the
factual consensus, historically sedimented. Then, a rise occurs of
multiple identities focused on simple themes, from a countless number of bands
juveniles to the various environmental defenses throughout the country.

Flexible identities: it is often referred to a process of 'Tribalization' to

characterize that expansion of loose and nomadic identities. The totalizing codes of
the past becomes obsolete. A time horizon anchored in the immediate favors
an adaptation attached to the environment and a profile of mobile geometry, with delimitation
weak among identities.

Easy circulation among identities: from the above, it follows that the
the commitment of the members is more circumscribed and temporary than before. There is no a
unconditional militancy with a cause. This facilitates the transition between identities.
Or, so to speak, multiple and transversal belongings.

Defensive positions: in the midst of the ambivalence of opportunities and

restrictions, it becomes more evident to define the risks that must be avoided. It is more
plausible what should not be done and more doubtful what should be done. Hence, according to what is
It indicated that collective identities tend to be established in response to a situation of grievance.
oh injustice.

In light of these dynamics that we identified with the UNDP Report, as flexible.
of socio-cultural aggregation, we suspect -and partially accept- (hinting at a
question to explore in future research) that these collective identities do not
they necessarily present a weak component of affiliation; rather, in them coexist
In the same way, more structured parameters of cultural and identity aggregation or
tending to this, in which "new methods" may probably be found
strategies to rationalize and constitute identities, from more reflective certainties
(and therefore flexible), without excluding certain permanences or existential directions,
cultural, social, political. In the same way, we appreciate and do not reject the
existence of aggregate environments that enable spaces to "share" and
41
disaggregate later (as well as remain), for example, what can come to
occur within the space of the so-called "youth reel" and the general image that is presented
after the label "Urban Tribes (in the characteristics of the new identities pointed out
in the UNDP report). Therefore, we assume that various phenomena coexist
identity and associative expression (not only youth), under multiple and transversal logics of
production.
From the previously described characteristics, we also visualize and integrate
a problem related to the new spaces of transmission and cultural acquisition
what affects the young people of current Chile like the young people in the sample, it converges in
the following:
Today’s youth (and society in general) move in a social space,
where the everyday is increasingly 'shadowed' by streams of information56, whether it is
virtual or traditional. With this, the capacity for assimilation by individuals,
you can observe, to some extent, overwhelmed by these references of different signs.
Now, much of sociocultural learning is located within the heritage of the
reality of everyday life and this is organized "around the <<here>> of my body and
the <<now>> of my present. This <<here and now>> is the focus of the attention I pay to
the everyday reality" (Berger and Luckmann, 1997:38), and furthermore, this <<here and now>> that
it presents itself in the consciousness of individuals regarding the reality of everyday life 'no
it is exhausted by these immediate presences, but it encompasses phenomena that are not present
"here and now" (Ibid.). This implies experiencing everyday life "in different degrees".
of proximity and distance, both spatial and temporal” (Ibid.:40). So it is there,
where it is possible to find the significant implications of the actors regarding their
experiences as participants in punk, of practices and ideologies, that not only situate themselves, as
formerly, in the neighborhood, the school, etc., but it is increasingly integrated into parameters
discontinuous and fragmented, but individuals tend to and try to make them part of the
reality of their daily life.

56
In addition to various structural determinations to which individuals are exposed in their development.
social and existential (quality of education, nutrition, quality of life in general).
42
 Consequently, in line with what was previously stated, the notion of context that
is inseparably accompanied by cultural identity and likewise the operationalization of
The concept of cultural identity is illustrated and limited in the following way:
Among the needs of human beings (physiological, psychological, and social), there is one
very important to understand cultural identity; "it is about the need to
affiliation or belonging to a symbolic world, assimilated and incorporated into their nature, in
the one to lean on and find security. A similar need precedes it psychically
of self-awareness and acceptance of its possibilities and limitations. It is
personal identity, studied by Psychology. Upon it, cultural identity is built.
"Object of Anthropology and Sociology" (Bouché Peris et al., 1998:226). Before
continue, a scope, for this research the construction of personal identity, only it
it took into account regarding the construction of cultural identity.
For contemporary anthropology, identity implies both the construction of a self
the same as a dialogical process, which implies reducing complexity, to account for
the 'others' through our own structures of meaning57.
Personal identity assumes a 'self', which is understood with Jorge Larraín
(1996:24) as the result of social experiences through language and the
communication developed by individuals. From there, it can be argued that the "yes
The same" is built due to the prior existence of the group. And it articulates its
possibility of being in relation to the identities of the "others", and theirs with yours.
Well, what has been mentioned earlier reveals a certain origin of identity.
cultural and certain broad context of gestation, whose starting point can be found in the
socialization, both primary and secondary, and acculturation, both enculturation and
. Acculturation. Primary socialization and enculturation take place, as is known, in
the family nucleus or in parafamilial groups, because in them and in those, the child learns to
to interact and coexist with others and to incorporate family culture, which usually coincides
with the most frequent in the society to which it belongs or is affiliated. Psychology
evolutionary testifies that child and youth development occurs, in a high percentage,

57
Idea taken from Alvarado, M.: Recompiling the Mirror "Social Subject and Ethnic Perspective", in Magazine
Social Work, Catholic University of Chile, No. 67, 1996: p. 81
43
through the principle of identification with parental behaviors, or in terms
psychoanalytic, of introjection. In simple and primitive societies, it has great purity and
absence of 'contagions'; not so in the complex and 'evolved'. In our society
Currently, it does not convey a unique cultural heritage, "so the enculturation can be
plural and result in a transculturation, regarding the capacity to understand one's own
culture and the others also present58.
Secondary socialization occurs in contact with institutions and groups
foreign to the family circle: school. Churches, associations, peer group, media
communication and communications and trans-territorial identities, etc. 'The experiences,
opposite or contrary to the family, trigger the personal identity crisis and
cultural, for coming from subcultures or symbolic subuniverses" "(Bouché Peris and others,
1998:226). In multicultural and plural societies, contrast is a daily occurrence and must be
to find a balance, to avoid feelings of insecurity and instability59.
This last point refers to secondary socialization and identity crisis
personal and cultural, is the area that allows us to visualize the period in which young people
demonstrates relate to proposals that change certain perspectives regarding the
life. While it sounds very severe and harsh, the situation of crisis (as the only criterion), from
this research expands the previous vision towards a moment open to
personal and collective questioning and search60.
Due to the above, from our interpretative perspective of culture, we can
make visible processes of transmission and cultural acquisition (vision of Anthropology of
education) that transversally accompany the production of cultural identities
emergent -in this case- in urban space. With this we enrich our perspective and

58
(Escotet:1992,189 cited by Bouché Peris et al., 1998:228).
59
Ibid.
60
Trying to express with that, what is not a situation of questioning, crisis, reflection, or change.
that only affects young people, but the developmental situation that the individual goes through from birth,
within a sociocultural and productive context like ours, it leads to distinguishing this evolution and
periods: child - young - adult. That is to say, if secondary socialization is what influences the later one.
the development of individuals, it is also necessary to keep in mind that human beings in a certain way always
is exposed to other socializing redefinitions. For example, the identity issues of the
globalization, migration, etc. But this is material for another research and analysis.
44
we highlight that within the processes of transmission and cultural acquisition, the encounter
between culture and education (understanding education in a broad sense and its
by integrating it outside the school institution), implies that both 'culture and education
it points to the same foundation: the real projection of a value. Both aim to make
the ideality of value through incorporation into life or the creation of goods
"cultural" (Bouché Peris et al., 1998: 177), this value, within the cultural sphere, it
we understand as a specific type of creation of a certain human group that
Share a certain space for action in the development of cultural identity, since such
The relationship between culture and education "has the function of creation, assimilation or

transmission of culture to members of a society so that they can assimilate it and, from this
mode, integrate into it" (Ibid., 1998. 177-178). In this case, the mission of culture and the
education as transversal processes within the creation, development, and reproduction of
emerging micro cultural identities present some of the following characteristics
and meeting points (Ibid., 1998: 178-179):

Culture and education are always intentional human intervention, in the face of
evolution and spontaneous development of nature.

Cultivation and care of value, of what is considered good by someone or some people, by performing
Thus the real projection of the ideal, although the disagreement regarding the value allows one to name it.
the same reality as cultural / educational or countercultural / educational.

One and the other, culture and education, are permanently process and result, that is,
achievement of certain partial goals, but never total goals, given the nature
ideal of values and the incompleteness of the human being.

Culture and education coincide in the socializing purpose: creation,

assimilation and transmission of culture.

Both are plural in terms of spatial-temporal evolution, in history and in

the personal and social geography.

Education, like culture, can take place in institutions and outside of them. Both
They are cultivated in formal, non-formal, and informal settings.

45
Cultural Identity from the axis: Ideologies, Practices, and Territories.

Within this research, the interpretative concept of cultural identity of

Geertzian cut61it is composed of the following significant triad (at the same time
indicators):

• Ideologies: the set of meaningful ideas one has regarding the subject
of the protagonists and are directed towards the construction of certain ideologies.

• Practices: The set of meaningful activities to which they are linked

young people from the sample.

• Territories: The spaces both physical and symbolic that are significant for
the actors.

This significant triad (and axis) is part of the context that emerges and constitutes the
cultural identity and that allows us to access the meanings methodologically
developed by the young people from the studio.
Now, to analytically access the composition of this operationalization
of the concept of cultural identity, two dimensions and indicators were established, for the
search for significant repertoires of the studied topic:

Significant individual references: Based on life history and experience

personal.

Significant shared references: Based on group experience or

relational.

61
Clifford Geertz understands culture not as complex concrete schemes of behavior - customs,
uses, traditions, sets of habits - but rather as a series of control mechanisms, plans, formulas,
rules, instructions (what computer engineers call programs that govern the
behavior)(Geertz, 1991).
46
3) Cultural Identity and Social Fabric within the Institutional Context
Hegemonic.

For the purpose of situating this cultural identity within a general historic moment
of current Chile and to delineate a specific issue that afflicts society
The current Chilean society is referred to as the fabric.
damaged social (developed later within our theoretical framework under the proposal
conceptual about Hegemonic Institutionality.
In addition to the theoretical-methodological use of the interpretive concept of identity

cultural, there is also a contextual theoretical argument for its use. And that is that the
problematic of the damaged social fabric in the area of citizenship and the formation of
cultural identities (in this case of some young people) are debated in the general context
identified in this study under the concept of Hegemonic Institutionalism.
By Hegemonic Institutionalism, we understand the institutions that arise from the
society but they are above it, distinguishing themselves from society and its citizens62for
its organizational structure, functions, means, and ends that it performs; also by its
infrastructure in terms of human, technical, financial, and scientific resources. Sustaining
his discourse and action in mechanisms such as law, divine law, the law of the market,

62
We make it clear that we will not develop a discussion on citizenship and the concept of society.
civil. We understand civil society with Robert Lechnert from a sense that rescues the community,
referring to the issues now facing the idea of a fragmented 'us', a result of the processes
of economic modernization that has occurred in Latin America and in Chile in recent years. The notion of Lechnert
It suggests 'an interpellation from the new social actors (...) that points to the new social movements.'
The reorganization of society is interpreted in terms of the emergence of renewed forms of action.
collective that incorporate new points of view and interests. Instead of identifying civil society with the
market society is distinguished, on the contrary, by the development of networks of solidarity that counteract the
market forces" (Lechnert in State Issue, year 2, no. 11, 1994:11-13). In that sense, society
civil and its community aspect represents for this thesis an expression of the social that differs from the
political society (political class), upon acquiring certain autonomy, distinguishes it from the ancient notions (based
in commercial relationships) that reduced civil society with the market.
47
etc. This hegemonic institutional framework is materialized and represented in the figure of
State, Market, and the Church (The Catholic Church in the Chilean case)63.
The hegemonic sense of Institutions is based on the Gramscian concept.
of Hegemony. This places social space as a site of conflict in which the classes
Social forces fight to establish a meaning, putting instances of domination at play,
negotiation and continuity of cultural products that enter into circulation. It is 'the
ethical-political leadership capacity exercised more through consensus and control
Ideological rather than the use of force, hegemony is closely related to the issue.
youth: on one hand, the education of new generations is fundamental in the
reproduction of a hegemonic work64And it is possible to understand it in 'the whole of
ways of life and values spread by the dominant institutions, which corresponds to the
distribution of cultural power on a broader societal scale65, that is to say that the

Institutionality will know what is and what is not convenient to socially legitimize. For example
the modern state - says Gramsci - becomes an <<educator>>, an instrument of
intellectual and moral unit, as a complex of social relations66through the
which not only dominates but also directs society, integrating the governed
in a consensus of universal values67.

63
The figure of these three <<hegemonic institutionalities>> is proposed as a guiding framework within
of the research and not as part of a specific analysis of that. Since each of them implies the
development of a specific analysis, and as we have reiterated within this thesis, our mission is to account for
from the specific production of group cultural identity and the described activist punk context.
64
Feixa, Carles on Antonio Gramsci in 'Of Youths, Gangs, and Tribes'. 1st edition, Ariel. Spain 1998.
Page 60
65
Ibid. Page 268
66
He refers to the "practical and theoretical activities."
67
Portanier, Juan Carlos: Gramsci and the cultural crisis of the 900. Paper presented at the 'Conference'
International Studies GRAMSCI AND THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Cagliari (Italy), from April 15 to 18, 1997. Document found on the website of the Faculty of
Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Website:
The provided text is a URL and cannot be translated.
(Consulted: July 22, 2001).
48
 This consensus of universal values that the Hegemonic Institution
(specifically in the case of the State) attempts to arrange towards society, it may result
relative if we take into account the amalgamation of current interests and complexities, therefore
in the field of culture we find mechanisms of ideological domination (for
Gramsci intellectual and moral direction), which develop from institutional power with
the objective of containing and making it objective before society, who has total control and
aligning citizens towards the idea that the only legitimate social reason is the one that
exposed in the current representative liberal democratic system and market economy
of the neoliberal phase (observable behind the recurring presidential phrase: 'The Institutions
They work”). To achieve this, the goal is to create certain social effects through the following
mechanisms that Göran Therborn (1980)68state from the analysis of the writings
Gramscians on hegemony and considering its subjective effects. These
the mechanisms and dimensions of domination are the following:

Adaptation: Society, in this case the dominated, in accordance with the order
existing "renounce" knowing themselves as subordinate and to avoid that subordination,
considering other fields more relevant to their daily life: Consumption, family,
sport, work, sex, etc.

Inevitability: The prevailing order is considered irreversible and without any hint of
achieve being transformed from other social, economic, cultural alternatives, etc.
Here lies a sense of obedience out of ignorance, marginalization in participation
politics. The good, the bad, the just or the unjust of the system does not affect an attitude of
social change.

Representation: It is considered that the dominators have the approval of the

dominated to guide their desires and needs because they dominate in their favor
within an order of things that are supposed to function, to be fair and necessary.

Deference: The dominators are considered a caste or a separate class, which is

possessor of special qualities to dominate.

68
Cited by Mabel Thwaites Rey in 'The Gramscian Notion of Hegemony at the Tumultuous Turn of the Century.'
About the material bases of consensus” (pages 30-33 of the document), published in Ferreyra, L.;
Logiudice, E.; Thwaites Rey, M.: 'Gramsci looking south. On Hegemony in the '90s'. K & AI Editor,
Critical Theory Collection, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 1994. Chapter of the book published on the website
"Antonio Gramsci Free Chair" of the "Argentinian Left University Movement". Website:
www.geocities.com/catedragramsci/textos.htm(Consulted: 23/05/02).
49
 Resignation: A pessimistic view from society about any social change.

Obedience: It is the impossibility of putting into practice a social alternative.

Fear: Not only of death and repression but of the insecurity of ending up without
work, being rejected, being unable to access consumer goods, etc.

Cooptation: Consumer society and the cultural industry guide with their messages
the constitution of what is 'desirable' and 'possible', as parameters to follow,
goals to achieve, messages that can be aimed at social segments
differentiated as towards the entirety of the population, but that in sum fit together
homogeneously due to the access of broad social sectors to the media
mass communication. This makes some disadvantaged social sectors available in
situations of frustration and resentment for not being able to access a certain style of
arbitrated life.

For example, regarding what has been outlined, in the case of Chile, we were able to observe the

effects of domination on the emergence of a type of citizen that Tomás Moulian

denominated 'credit citizen', which 'is not someone who feels chained to
monthly payment discipline, rather it fulfills it to maintain its power, its
real citizen credentials. Keeping them is staying in the world of the
instant gratification, in the universe of pleasure, compensated by the consumption of the
disciplinary asceticism of wage labor” (Moulian, 1998: 106). This generates a profound
isolation of the subject in front of another, another considered a threat, for the
conservation of that power (enabler of social integration) described by Tomás
Moulian, and what is defined by the possession of 'the credential' that allows the
displacement as a citizen and consumer.
Resuming our presentation on Hegemonic Institucionality, of the
previously, two ideas emerge: Institutionality and hegemony, with which the
concept of Hegemonic Institutionality. What happens when this concept is materialized in a
analysis of the social reality of the cultural identities generated in this case by the
young people in the sample and their reference context?
Currently in Chile, for example, the State has lost its total hegemony over the
society, due to various events and restructuring factors within
this, within a historical process. To define and materialize the entities that imply
From this model to the Hegemonic Institutionality (hereinafter IH), it becomes necessary

50
to resort to an analysis of the historical context through which society is passing, but by
reasons for delimiting the study on cultural identities were based, in this regard, on the
review of bibliographic material analyzed and discussed for the purposes of the objectives of the
research. Concluding that the most representative axes that are contended and combined in
the Chilean case, are the following 'institutional frameworks':

State: Corporation and institution that has changed and restructured its action towards a role
of the administrator and regulator of society. Overwhelmed and limited in its capacity
to generate equal conditions for the population in this society governed by the
market economy.

Market: Institutionality that calls for the global economy that governs and influences the
economic parameters and their implications in nations at the national and local level, to
business world (mainly large companies) national, international and
transnational (high-tech industrial complexes in information, services,
resource exploitation, manufacturing, cultural industry, etc.), which imprint their
influence on the country's development through investment, employment, access to
information and consumer goods.

The Catholic Church: A historically influential institution that triggers its influence
and pressure in the moral actions of society, through demands on the powers of
State (in this Chilean case) and society in general.

The main characteristic that brings them together is subscribed to the idea of concentration.
to gain power for oneself, and from there, to influence and determine the course of social events
and society itself.
On the other hand, the IH makes use of expert knowledge (scientific, technical,
philosophical, theological, political, legal, etc.) to guide, define and design their
intervention in the social sector and in this case in the 'youth world'. These expert knowledges

they maintain a certain relative independence from the IH, as its area of influence tends to
to surpass them and make use of them.
Related to the above, the following tasks of IH can be distinguished:
Define, delimit, appropriate, redesign, resignify, manage, discipline, control the
social spaces; which from this hegemonic logic, are constituted as fields (from the
logic and analysis of Pierre Bourdieu), where certain properties are at play and
symbolic goods (authority, stability of the hegemonic project, identity,
concentration of power, etc.), that is to say, a specific capital that is valuable in relation to a
51
determined field and its limits (the fields from the market, State, the Church), by
example: consumption, social and political participation, moral action. These limits depend on
certain socio-historical conditions and the movements they undertake in society each
component of the IH. For example, currently the market limits have crossed
the textures of the traditional fields of other institutions, as is the case of
State, whose decisions in the field of economy and social development must be based
directly in the guidelines of the market economy and the various interests
business and corporate.
Ultimately, IH tends to monopolize (more or less completely), the
specific capital of the various fields within social space, and this specific capital
it is the foundation of power or of the specific and characteristic authority of a field and of the
development of conservation strategies. This specific power and authority and that at some
the way it hegemonizes social spaces is primarily through political capital, as
He names and points out to us Pierre Bourdieu in his analyses through his works.
The IH, to maintain the properties intact in the social space, will make use of the
symbolic violence is legitimate, that is to say that in the fields under hegemonic control, it
will activate this mechanism, as they have social legitimacy and the means of
the necessary legitimization for this (infrastructure, superstructure, etc.). This is developed
as much in the fields it constitutes69like those who try to appropriate, control and
to instrumentalize for its purposes70.
On its part, the contextual theoretical argument for the use of the concept
interpretative anthropological of cultural identity, implies first, that the basis or what
envelops any human group that shares a specific physical and symbolic space and

69
For example: in the spaces where young people are allowed to participate, sports, education, in
politics: the vote for those over 18 and registered in the electoral roll, traditional political parties and their
youth section, the case of the youth parliament, etc. In recreational artistic cultural activities, groups
youth pastoral. Any type of adult organization that builds a waiting room, an intermediate period for
be part of adult institutions.
70
Associativity, cultural identities or cultural expressions developed by young people, the spaces
physical and symbolic where they develop their practices and trajectories, languages, productions, aesthetics, and styles,
political concerns, leisure, etc.
52
certain shared historicity: it is culture (in its interpretive anthropological sense). And
The identity that emerges depends on the process of getting to know oneself and sharing certain guidelines.

common, criteria, certain objectives and projects or conflicts of interest. Second, the
cultural identity in this case youth, being under and in a social, cultural context,
economic, of hegemonic logics (which tends to surpass them), is involved in the
the situation of the fields and some of their properties will be limited and will pass to
to constitute a symbolic capital at stake71. For its part, the IH72will operate, either
making invisible or making visible, legitimizing or delegitimizing its essential characteristics and
properties through control, assimilation, classification, inclusion or exclusion, the
moral sanction, employment and unemployment, access to information and education, to services
and consumer goods, to political decisions and participation, etc.
It is worth noting that within the context of the IH, cultural identity can be
classified, identified and taking the form of: gangs, urban tribes, subcultures,
countercultures; through the relationship of symbolic, economic, political domination of
speech and actions of the IH*.
To operationalize our concept of Hegemonic Institutionality, as
current social context where we place our analysis of the specific case study,
We will develop the following item (as part of the theoretical framework) in the form of an exercise.

contextualizer, which we titled:

71
By the way, this model does not exclude the analysis of these same logics within the
cultural identities.
72
So far, reference is made to the IH in a general way, but when putting the model into practice, each
The component and subcomponent of the IH have their particular relevance.
*
It is worth noting again that the use of the concept of Hegemonic Institutionalism within the study is only
fufills the function of situating cultural identity within a general context.
53
A Globalized World between Modernities, Postmodernities and
Hegemonic Institutional Domination... To Our Chile of
Damaged Social Fabric and Today's Youth:

What is happening in the World?: Modernity and Globalization. Some considerations

General information about the Contemporary World.

So far, modernity has been, thinks Nietzsche, in the triumph of consciousness, in the
alienation of human energy that separates from itself and turns against itself when
to identify oneself with a god, with a non-human force that man must submit to. The
modernity has encountered nihilism, the exhaustion of man, and all the power of this has been
projected into the divine universe by Christianity, so that man is left with only his
weakness, which leads to its decline and inevitable disappearance"... "Only renounce the ideal, to
God, only the triumph of the will to live over the will to die allows for liberation...

Alain Touraine on F. Nietzsche (1992, 1998:112).

The prophecy made by F. Nietzsche in his writings and later taken up by the...
contemporary thinkers, regarding modernity and postmodernity, would resonate
in the 'daily soul' of the third world citizen, who in a not too distant past
was called 'people', by the totalizing discourses of the emerging modern states,
and the political contest in pursuit of the leadership of dreamed radical transformations
for the Latin American nations of the second half of the 20th century, whose political struggle
the ideological battle was shouted from the capitalist or socialist strongholds and mediations of
social democratic character.
The transformations of the young Latin American nations, under the
nomenclature of the modern, embodied in the breath of development, would begin to be debated
since - as we indicated - the late 1950s, amidst revolutionary experimentation of
Marxist cut, social democrat, and capitalist interventionism of market rationality.
However, in order to continue on this path, it is necessary to address the reasons behind what was stated by

G. Vattimo (1994) regarding modernity as 'the end of all project and norm.'
totalizer.

54
 The urgency of the modern conception, whose antecedents are based on the
dismantling of the theocratic worldview that prevailed in the Middle Ages, as
Jorge Larraín (1996) points out that it brings with it the conception of the human as 'the basis of

all knowledge, the lord of all things, the reference point of everything that
happens" (Ibid., 1996:21), thus installing a mechanism of self-reference that
it serves to point out the target world that surrounds and complicates it. The immediate relationship with

the daily issues (needs and their resolution), no longer mediated by the
designs of medieval divinity embodied in earthly representatives, creating a
a rumble about the 'order created by God' (Ibid.) that soon 'comes to constitute as
part of his nature, with its own and autonomous logic that the subject must
control (Ibid.).
Modernity involves a way of life, a form of social organization, a
type of philosophy that allows acting in the world and reacting against the past, tradition,
the setback, the not 'civilized'. 'This way of life combines democracy with the
industrialism, generalized education with mass culture, markets with the
large bureaucratic organizations" (Ibid.:20). A complex phenomenon for its analysis
immediate, but that can be appreciated in three types of sociological thought, such as
describe Jorge Larraín (1996)73that is now quoted verbatim:

For Marx, what lies at the base of modernity is the emergence of capitalism.
and from the revolutionary bourgeoisie, which leads to an unprecedented expansion of the
productive forces and the creation of a global market. The content of the
transformations that modernity has produced are reflected in the achievements of the
revolutionary bourgeoisie that, according to Marx, put an end to all idyllic relationships,
patriarchal and feudal, which replaced feudal personal relationships with the link of the
money, which drowned the religious fervors, the chivalric enthusiasms and the
philistine sentimentalism with the water of selfish calculations, which resolved the value of the
person in the value of exchange, who instead of the numerous recognized freedoms
publicly, established freedom of commerce, which stripped all of its aura
honorable occupations, which stripped the family of its sentimental veil and that cannot
to live without constantly revolutionizing the means of production.74
Durkheim approached the problem from another angle, fundamentally following the
Saint-Simon's ideas on the industrial system: Although the starting point is the same as

73
Larraín, Jorge: Modernity, Reason and Identity in Latin America. 1st edition. Andrés Bello Publishing.
Santiago 1996. pages 17, 18, and 19.
74
Jorge Larraín based his work on the following text: K. Marx and F. Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (Beijing,
Editions in Foreign Languages, 1995, pp. 35-36.
55
 In Marx, feudal society, Durkheim emphasizes much less the emergence of the
bourgeoisie as a new revolutionary class and almost doesn't refer to capitalism as the
new mode of production implemented by her. The fundamental impetus of the
Modernity is rather industrialism accompanied by new scientific forces.
These two elements not only managed to destroy the feudal order, but also, under their
influence, a new social order began to slowly emerge within society
ancient75This new order has the advantage over the previous one of being peaceful and not military;
promote the industry that provides nations with means to become rich and
powerful and replace the teachings of the priests with the demonstrated superiority
of scientific propositions. As in the long run, no society can be stable if
contains contradictory and incoherent elements, Durkheim believed that 'the
modern societies will only achieve a complete balance when they are organized
purely on an industrial basis. 76
On the other hand, in the classic work of Max Weber, 'modernity appears in close...
association with the processes of rationalization and disenchantment of the world. These
processes imply that there are no immeasurable mysterious forces at play, but rather
that one can, in principle, master all things through calculation. This
it means that the world has become disenchanted. One no longer needs to resort to the
magical means to dominate or implore the spirits, as the savage did, to
"who such mysterious powers existed".77However, the rationalization processes
and disenchantment were conceived by Weber as millennial phenomena in the
the history of humanity and not just as typical occurrences of the West. Therefore,
the question about his relationship with modernity was more specific for Weber and had
what to see with a special form of rationalization that had only occurred in the West
with universal value and meaning. For this reason, Weber admits that it only occurs in the West.
the science that we recognize as valid and that also includes art and architecture
They acquire unique characteristics. However, what characterizes modernity is
above all, it is the rationalization that penetrates human organizations constituting
the bureaucracies: no country, no era has ever experienced, in the same
sense that modern West, the absolute and complete dependence of all its
existence, of the economic, technical, and political conditions of their life, of a
specially trained organization of bureaucrats.78

Since then, the general criteria for placing modernity were based on
industrialism, capitalism, and rationalization, so that later access would be obtained
towards other contexts and reflections.
In the discourse of modernity, the influence of the ideas of 'freedom' is distinguished.
and "individual autonomy," freedom along with subjectivity (Ibid.:24) are part of the foundation

75
Jorge Larraín quoting E. Durkheim, Socialism and Saint-Simon (London; Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1959), p. 115.
76
Jorge Larraín citing the same text by E. Durkheim, this time on page 131
77
Jorge Larraín citing the text by Max Weber 'Sciences as a vocation' in H. H. Gerth & C.W. Mills, From
Max Weber (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970), p.139.
78
Jorge Larraín quoting the text by Max Weber 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London,
Allen & Unwin, 1978), p. 16
56
of modernity. On the other hand, it presents several levels and considerations: "The
freedom appears as a basic and inalienable human right. At the economic level
it means the possibility of pursuing one's own interests within a market; at the level
political means the possibility of participation of each individual with equal rights in
the formation of political will; at the private level, it implies ethical autonomy and the
possibility of self-realization"(Ibid:24).
Modernity in crisis is already decreed from the vestiges of its own steps,
understanding, with Alain Touraine (1996), by modernity, the idea of movement that is
acts in the constant criticism of what is given and with the later creation about itself: “The
the idea of modernity is defined, not as a new order, but as a movement, as
a creative destruction79This creative destruction decrees the momentary expulsion of
the doubt and human differences in the hands of a unit and homogenization, which is not
will leave room for a plural and fragmented human social reality, always latent, or
eager to escape the designs of totalitarian regimes, or blind to their
development and modernization claims.
This crisis of the modern paradigm, which can be called into question
definitely with the disastrous episodes of the two world wars, it can also
to be observed, whether in its criticism, rejection or redefinition: with the type of rationality that

instrumental rationality began to operate, decisively in the early 20th century,

as the only valid criterion of action, a repository of key examples in the development of
Latin American nations. According to Alain Touraine about Horkheimer, who has
denounced "the transformation of the degraded 'objective reason' into 'subjective reason' is
to say, a rationalist view of the world turned into a purely technical action in the
which rationality is put at the service of needs, whether those needs are the needs of a
dictator, or that of the consumers, who are no longer subjected to reason and to their
principles of regulation of social order and natural order80.
Then, the ground that supported the forms of knowing began to weaken;
modern thinking, in its eternal advancement, crumbled, just as it crumbled

79
Touraine, Alain. Op. Cit. Page 94
80
Ibid 94
57
regimes sustained under totalitarian states and the public's trust in it. The routes of
the hegemony and control would expand into unforeseen corners, such as the
subjectivity analyzed by neo-Marxists and post-structuralists. The crowd,
then, clustered around unitary discourses, it would fragment and lose its
traces, behind their own searches and contradictions.
According to Alain Touraine (1996), three stages generated the process of the crisis of the

modernity: "the exhaustion of the initial movement of liberation and the loss of meaning"
from a culture that felt trapped within technique and instrumental action,
they determined a third stage, more radical since it called into question not only the
shortcomings of modernity but also its very positive objectives81That is, the
human progress, which at least conceptually included "everyone," as a goal of the
modernity, through the advancement of science and technology, wore itself out in itself and in the
used to dominate others, to the detriment of the ideal of human progress and initial liberation.
That expansive project of liberty, hailed by modernity, which to a great extent
tried to rescue the expression of subjectivity, was halted and subdued by reason
instrumental, science and technique in the hands of their executors. As Alain exclaims
Touraine "despite being half of a complete idea of modernity" (Larraín,
1996:24). This aspect, expressed as a limitation on individuals' expression, is
understood, as a source of ambiguity in modern discourse (Ibid.), since although
the subjective desire for freedom of individuals was argued, they are subjected to the
reports, for example: of the 'common good' (recognition of collective purposes), whose
architecture is built before the needs of individuals.
The echoes of the Nation-State 82they suggest reclaiming the appeals and longings of
freedom and progress of the society in which they are established and serve as a corporation. The

81
Ibid
82
They develop in a long process, which began to gain strength and form at the end of the 15th century, when -
Among some causes - the Western states managed to impose modern direct taxes on the towns.
they controlled, resolving two major difficulties: The first was popular opposition, as
direct and universal contribution requires certain consent, and this decisive step in the construction of
The national state was given by the transfer of primary loyalties from the group, the city, the country, to the State.
58
arbitrary link conferred from the legal standpoint allows the appropriation of needs and
signals that manifest societies.
The common good, a rhetoric under instrumental rationality, covers a type of
expert mechanism in modeling social dynamics.
The nation-state 83, the subsequent separation into functional subsystems (public
and private), have an impact in modern times, whose main rule is 'to renew oneself
or to die84.
Society, that thought of as a totality under modernity and the empire of a
rational order, divides underground when it is not close to daily life.
Consent85and the delegation envelops society and allows the
emergence of expert systems,86that are useful for the hegemony of the
institutions of power such as the modern State, etc.

nation, concurrent transfer with the recognition of a supreme and abstract authority capable of deciding on
last instance.
This excerpt from the text by Eduardo Colombo is a contribution presented at the Agreement
International Studies on Anarchism, which took place in Venice in September 1984, and was
published in the magazine 'Volonta' No. 3 of 1984. Translated into Spanish by the magazine 'Utopia' No. 5 of 1985,
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eduardo Colombo: "The State as a paradigm of power," in Christian Ferrer
(Compiler) 1999: The libertarian language. 1st edition, Altamira Editorial Group. Argentina. p. 59.
Eduardo Colombo (1929) of Argentine nationality, Doctor. He was a professor of Social Psychology.
the National Universities of La Plata and Buenos Aires. Between the years 67 - 70, Director of the magazine of
Social Psychiatry of the Argentine Association of Social Psychiatry. In 1984, part of the magazine Volontà of
Milan.
83
Ideally, the State is at the service of the human person in society and the purposes that this has.
Theoretically, the state exists to serve as a means for the achievement of individual goals and
not to become and transform into an end in itself, where the individual transforms or reduces to a
my means (mechanism), for the achievement of purposes foreign to it, such as the purposes of the State or the
market (in the name of the common good). Comment based on the interview conducted with Juan Castro Bekios.
Law degree from the University of Antofagasta in Chile, July 2002.
84
Part of the lyrics of the song 'Modern Times' (1986) by the rock band from the city of Concepción
Clandestine Emotions
85
According to Noam Chomsky (2001:47): 'A decent democratic society must be based on the principle of '
consent of the governed", as the people must be governed and controlled by rulers and
ruling elites; which within a democratic context, require to some extent of
59
 On the other hand, time and space cease to be a continuous unit, as "the
modernity increasingly disconnects space from place by promoting relationships with
other absentees, situated far away from any face-to-face interaction
(Larraín, 1996:25). In the same way, the specialization of the different spheres of
social life (for example: art, economy, culture, education, etc.) allows excessively
this distancing confers different levels of development, due to its increasing nature
relative autonomy that in turn depends on the specific characteristics of each
society.
In this regard, the appeal to the common good by the generalizing rhetoric of the
modern institutions have an effect in different times and spaces, influencing,
determining, stimulating social life to some extent.
This system that emanates from modernity renews itself, as it carries
the instruments to exercise it: science, technique, and instrumental reason allow for a
channel in social action, since "social practices are examined and reformed from
I continue to the light of new information about those same practices, thus altering
constitutionally its character.87Thought and action are always related to each other.
another. This is one of the reasons why modern society keeps changing: the

consent of the governed. Related to this, Chomsky describes the rise of the industry of the
public relations in modern democratic societies, and the need and importance of controlling the
public opinion to guide social processes, increasingly installing a mechanism of <<consent
without consent>>, which we can understand in the representative democratic system, a place where the elite
the leader and specialized is legitimized in its technocratic function; and the public 'is put in its place',
within the role of <action spectator>>, <<participating>> only during election periods in the
legitimation of the system, due to the fact that the information and the understanding of this information is managed
by an elite of experts and specialists who will implement certain programs, despite the objections of
the vast majority of the population.
86
Expert systems are complex technical or professional systems that support vast areas of
our life continuously, even if we don't understand it well: that the house is not going to fall down, that the car is going to

walk, because the light is going to turn on, etc. Both symbolic means and expert systems demand
trust or faith, not so much in specific people as in abstract capacities that everyone values (Larraín:
1996).
87
Larraín (1996:25) citing A. Giddens, “The consequences of modernity. Cambridge, polity press, 1990.
p.38
60
social practices are systematically reviewed in light of new knowledge about them
practices, without a necessary connection to the past or tradition. "Modernity is
constitutes thus through applied knowledge in a reflective manner” (Ibid.:26).
This same overwhelming dynamic of modernity led to the end of the dream of
progress, freedom, equality, and justice, in the hands of the institutions of power and executed
under the shelter of instrumental reason by the great bureaucratic and techno-orders
administrators. So postmodernity: another classification for a new order that
mutates and changes? Or rather, will it be a new device designed by the discourse of the
science and philosophy backed by power?. Culture, the broad sense of the field and
the sense of culture is appropriated by guidelines and regulations. Changes are felt, the
postmodernity emerges as a critique, a disenchantment, a possibility, a search, a
context of 'new' or rather 'dormant' sensitivities that awaken unabashedly,
whether through the reflection of individuals, the possibilities of unlimited consumption, the
horizons marked and designed 'strikingly' by advertising and culture in hand
of the cultural industry or the modernization that occurred in the functional subsystems of the
developed countries and those on the way to that.

The beggary of the human being is always present, trying to explain its
unbearable anxiety and a desire to have a fixed place on this earth, which of course does not
you will find so quickly in the postmodern and neoliberal world. The questions before
marked, set a path to follow, a guide that rather establishes itself in the development of
these pages, but not to unveil something that is clear enough, but for the
on the contrary, that the "current peak" produces these same uncertainties and questions. There is indeed,

a search for a horizon or several at once, that radically allow for understanding
our individual and collective lives, despite the limitations of our condition
human within a complex social context (often indifferent to the diverse
beneficial sensibilities.
Now, in the present, there is discussion about the emergence of postmodernity, whose
the horizon is perceived as the decomposition and fragmentation in the field of action
social emanating from modernity (Touraine, 1996). A movement of deconstruction and
unmasking of the illustrated reason as a response to the modernist project and its
subsequent failure. Expressing an "ontological rejection of Western philosophy, a
61
epistemological obsession, with fragments and fractures and an ideological commitment to
minorities in politics, sex, and language.88
As several authors point out, including Norbert Lechner (1990, 1995), the era
the one indicated as postmodern brings with it a process of disenchantment, as for
example in the plane of the metanarratives that grouped people. Something like
waking up and feeling disconnected from one's own nature. The return to a
"reality" or condition of instability that was always evident, but ignored by the
expectations of progress, truth, and justice. At the same time, all of this is complemented by a
"cultural climate" of postmodern culture, expressing sensitivities that are fading away
implying two significant traits highlighted by Norbert Lechner (Ibid.:105): "the
fading of affections, a cooling of emotions and, on the other hand, a
erosion of critical historical distance, flattening social life into a collage without reliefs.
Although they are traits of a mainly aesthetic sensitivity, counteracted
by other trends (the emphasis on subjectivity and, in particular, on authenticity and
intimacy or the role of political and moral fundamentalism), this must be taken into account
<<mood>>, primarily 'youthful', upon rethinking - says the author - for example
the case of the current meaning of politics in relation to the Latin American case.
From this perspective, the idea of truth supported by instrumental reason is
questioned by the postmodern movement, although after all, the domination within
the so-called crisis of the modern paradigm is expressed through the logics of reason
instrumental and technique. In this case, we can mention the transition of societies
disciplinary actions against control societies89An important part involves the emergence of the
discipline and subsequently of control in modern societies. Michel Foucault as
G. Deluze (Ferrer, 1999:105-110) placed disciplinary societies in the centuries
XVIII and XIX: these societies reached their peak at the beginning of the 20th century and proceeded to

the organization of large confinement spaces. The individual continues to move from one
closed space to another, each with its laws: first the family, then the school ("here

88
Picó cited by Urdanibia, 1994: Page 65. Urdanibia, Iñaki (1990) 'The Narrative in Postmodernity' in G.
Vattino and others "On Postmodernity". Antrophos Publishing. Spain 1994. pages 41 - 69

89
Analysis and reflections that can be observed in the work of Herbert Marcuse among other authors.
62
"you are no longer at home," is often said), then at the factory, occasionally the hospital, and
eventually the prison, which is the quintessential place of confinement.
But what Foucault also knew was the brevity of the model: it happened at the
sovereign societies whose objectives and functions were very different (to collect more than
organize production, decide death more than administer life.
Then, the disciplines would suffer a crisis, benefiting new forces that are
they would be installed slowly, and they would rush after World War II.
From this sphere, control societies imply, no longer the confinement in
establishments and in classificatory units of the type individual/mass, but rather within a
continuation of mechanisms in the form of signs that vary according to the movement of the subjects
from one point to another, forming a perfect geometry in a dynamic and tending world to the
change. In this way, the individual in the society of control is not in a situation of
enclosure (for example in the idea of a cubicle), like in the society of discipline, but
that is faced with a context of domination that transcends, in the form of ripples,
the different points where the subject is located. The above can be observed in the mention
What Gilles Deleuze does with Félix Guattari (Ferrer: 109 and 110) about the city in the
context of the society of control. Felix Guattari 'imagined a city where each
One could leave their apartment, their street, their neighborhood, thanks to their electronic card.
(dividual)90that could open such or such barrier, but the card could also be not accepted such
day, or between certain hours: what matters is not the barrier, but the computer that
indicate the position of each one, lawful or unlawful, and perform a universal modulation.
The postmodern context made the socio-cultural variability evident and the
possibilities of moving and also getting lost in a world tending towards globalization
it is commercially instrumentalized. Relativism, mainly in the realm of
daily relationships and in the dynamics of human culture (for example in relation to the
other cultural aspects: minorities, cultural identities and their practices), did not allow for reason to catch a breath

90
In the idea that in this social instance, control is referred to with a strong sense of necessity in a way
multifaceted in the points where the individual is located. It is a power that is exercised in a specific field
of strength, in this case in the social arena where subjects move, not simply responding to a
causal relationship; since control allows evading the variability of movements of individuals in the
society.
63
instrumental, to the technical administrative organization. The power91moves her ways towards
strategies that would allow to mitigate the complexity of current societies.
Antonio Gramsci envisioned with his analysis on hegemony, the new field of
social struggles, where primarily power would shift its actions towards formulas that are not so
brutal or violent” forms of social containment and coercion, which would increasingly lead to
through consensus, the codes of culture, information, education, and alliances
between hegemonic sectors. This is evidenced by the rise, in the realm of relations
diplomatic, the reforms of the educational curriculum, the reinforcement of the discourse of inclusion
of the so-called ethnic, sexual, etc. "minorities" of the different social components:
men, women, elderly, children, young people, disabled. All this triggered by the
periods of crisis in European countries among others, where it was brought into check
hegemony of the ruling classes at some point (May '68 in France for example).
Hegemony is a complex category that articulates the capacity for leadership in
the different dimensions of social life. Hegemony emerges from a recognition
collective that encompasses both moral qualities or precepts that acquire status
universal like the force or energy to enforce its compliance. Gramsci observes in the
hegemony, the ability to transform one's own, particular conception into truth
universal, it is because of the material conditions that generate it and the action of the subject
collective that supports it, manages to build broad consensus, whether because the mechanisms
of social correction and the establishment of regulations related to this conception of
world, they impose themselves as moral essence and shared values, through the use of
violence in all its forms, thus justifying the sanction against dissent, in any of
the fields of social life.
The vital importance of the concept of hegemony developed by Gramsci in the
cultural field, lies in the fact of making visible how power articulates the construction of
imaginaries that lead to the reorganization of social practices. Understanding that the
The construction of imaginaries is not an externality of the social system but rather its greatest product.

profound. A situation that can be observed in daily life and in expectations that

91
When this text refers to power, it alludes to the institutionality that holds power in
general (States, Market, etc.). Not in the case of power relations in everyday life.
64
support the people and the system. For Gramsci, the essence of the conception of
the world is in everyday life, in the concrete and specific relationship of workers (in
the case of their analysis), a relationship that begins with their fundamental social space of
socialization. The Institutionality, the State does not impose this vision, but contributes to
forge it ensuring compliance with the collectively recognized moral standards,
even if it is a dissident group.
In the case of power in the hands of the State, Gramsci, keeping in mind the analyses
classical Marxists argue that the State is essentially domination and coercion, but to this it
sum the concept of "consensus" which along with the idea of "hegemony" and "direction"
"the new forms of domination" by the ruling classes, of power
State, etc. This power manifests in two ways: as intellectual dominance and direction.
moral. And with that, the hegemony of the dominant group will depend on the characteristics
contextual (economic, political, military, ideological factors) of society as well as
the correlation of forces between fundamental social classes. And this, according to Gramsci, is
transfers to the social arena through "civil society"92, because it is there where the
dominant classes, the dominant culture, manage to consolidate their power and their worldview.
Although in the case of current societies, and specifically Latin American ones such as
Chilean, the political participation of the citizens is deteriorated, the world
union is detained and fragmented by the system of political parties, it is through the

92
Antonio Gramsci reintroduces the 'ethical content in the notion of civil society of political society, to
highlight the importance of the educational and cultural activity that takes place in the state sphere and that
contributes to raising – in a certainly differentiated way – the education of citizens.” Gramsci
clearly distinguishes, within the State, civil society from political society, in such a way that both
terms are linked in a famous equation: "In the general notion of State enter elements that
they must be referred to civil society (it could be noted in this regard that: State = political society +
civil society, that is to say, hegemony cloaked in coercion), in it, Gramsci thus includes the multiplicity of
organisms <<commonly considered private>> (Schools, Churches, press organs) that correspond
to the function of cultural and political hegemony that, according to his analysis, the dominant group exerts over the entire

society." Comment extracted from the text of Oscar Fernández "The vicissitudes of the notion of civil society".
Published on the page of the 'Left University Movement' of Argentina on the 'Free Chair' portal
Antonio Gramsci. Website:www.geocities.com/catedragramsci/texts/RThe avatars of the notion of
civil society.htm (Accessed: 12/07/02)
65
inclusion, within the fields marked by power, where hegemony is debated. By
example, what the integration of citizenship is through consumption and other forms
classics, such as political participation through voting and the use and expression of
right93.
With the above, it can be established that in the present, the societies of the world
modern (not necessarily modernized societies from the Western conception
Eurocentric) and postmodernism as conceptualizations supported by studies,
reflections, etc., bring with them, in the realm of the social structure, a sponsored system
and governed in power and domination, but with a tremendous level of complexity. No longer only
this oppression is found not only in the form of the State, but in multiple forms and institutions.
This has not disappeared, it is perhaps no longer -in appearance- about the antagonistic classes.
represented by the single party and the so-called 'bourgeois world,' sheltered in the F.F.A.A.
and economic capital. It can involve individuals and perhaps thoughtless masses! or to
Individuals and collectives aware of the situation as well! The invisibility of the
domination can be made visible from a simple discourse on domination that
it aims to make it visible, but this same complaint and discourse of domination also
it can become a form of domination by the word (through the legitimization of the word
institutionalized, which only authorizes some voices of interest representation according to
certain purposes).
While the above can be appreciated from a 'dense analysis' or from a
"complex thinking", it remains empty if it is not connected to these dimensions or layers of
meaning, the phenomenon of modernity, postmodernity, and society in context
of intricate relationships of domination, control, exploitation, and reproduction of the
dominance; where discourses are elevated by means of subtleties, sheltered in

93
The comment is based on the document called 'The Gramscian Notion of Hegemony in the'
"convulsed end of the century" by Mabel Thwaites Rey. Published in GRAMSCI LOOKING SOUTH. ABOUT
HEGEMONY IN THE 90s. By L. Ferreyra. E. Logiudice, M. Thwaites Rey. K & Ai Editor, Collection
Critical Theory. Buenos Aires. 1994. Published on the page of the 'Left University Movement'
Argentina in the portal "Free Chair Antonio Gramsci".
Website:The provided text is a URL and cannot be translated..
(Consulted: 07/23/02).
66
structural determinants such as social position and access to information and the
analysis of her (in the reproduction of social hierarchization through cultural capital and
political).
With the above mentioned, it was desired to indicate, from this research about
emerging urban cultural identities (in this case of the youth), that the current
society is a society of control and the attempt to maintain total hegemony by
of power: towards society, cultural diversity, and the cultural production that arises from it
they make the subjects.

Continuing with the analysis of the current context: Can we talk about postmodernity?
like the border that emerges and definitively halts the passage to the conception and contraption of
modernity?
It is always favorable to venture into directions to follow. From the readings of
Alain Touraine, Giddens, Castells, and Habermas on modernity, it is possible to observe
that modernity does not end, but rather mutates and expands towards a conception of
multiple modernity, always governed by instrumental technical rationality, but
adapted to the heterogeneous nature of the social spectrum, invading traditional mechanics,
locales or the emergence of processes of deterritorialization, reterritorialization and
cultural hybridization (in the idea of García Canclini, 1995).
Postmodernity is a palpable environment in the dimension of culture, of life.
social daily (and especially within the intellectual elite), but in whose movement there
silently or sometimes loudly makes visible the conception and modern apparatus
their utilitarian and contractual logics. When observing the global order, whether of the country,
of the world, the drive of instrumental reason and its use by power, instrumentalizes or
neutralize any denying argument of contingency. From this point of view, it is
it is possible to consider the postmodern subject, trapped in the belief that they have escaped from the

logic of the disciplinary society (detailed above) through access to consumption

of services, goods, and symbolic means of social legitimation94This belief,

94
Elements that affect the status of the subject, in the way they observe themselves, imagine how they
others observe it and how they observe it. The elements can be any type of object or value that
it moves away from its original use and rather fulfills a communicational function.
67
subterraneanly installs a control device, a panopticon95without watchtower, possible
to be appreciated in the regulation mechanisms of the different fields: Labor, assistance,
educational, cultural, recreational, etc. That is, in the rules of the game that allow access to
the participation and realization of the expectations regarding it.
This panoptic surveillance system no longer requires a watchtower and modules.
that allow visibility of human behavior under conditions of confinement, but as
mechanism installed in the subjectivity of individuals. Thus, combining a
surveillance system that plays with the visibility and invisibility of subjects and their
behaviors, at the different points through which they socially move. And one way
quick access to this system, is in the field of expectations96that are being assembled and
they are encouraged to develop individuals, in their need to be, within the
various social fields (for example, social integration through consumption).
The control mechanism is set in motion the moment he 'himself' prepares to
to participate in the expectations of being able to be. Control subjugates every step that is taken.
subject for the realization of their expectations. The halo of surveillance is internalized by the
individual and expresses itself unconsciously or consciously, reflectively or unreflectively, in the
steps, decisions of the subjects in their desire to meet expectations within a field
determined. Control shifts from the mechanisms developed and integrated by society
and the hegemonic institution to the individual, from the individual to himself. And from the individual

towards others who participate in the different fields that make up the environment
daily life. "Control is short-term and rapidly rotating, but also continuous
it was unlimited, while the discipline was of long-lasting infinite and discontinuous.

95
In the Foucauldian idea.
96
The terrain of expectations can be understood from the perspective of the increase in
commodification of human life in society. For example, as Tomás Moulian points out regarding the role
which is assigned to money as a constituent of sociability: 'Money in this commodification
It becomes a constitutive element of the self because it has been transformed by different discourses.
social (those of advertising and those of success characterization), in the symbolic fetish object, in the object
which occupies the <<central>> place, because it is the mediation of all desires, its condition of
realization (Moulian, 1997:138).
68
the man is no longer the imprisoned man but the indebted man” (Deluze in Ferrer
1999:109)
And this society of control that attempts to transcend geographical limitations,
cultural and linguistic, is part of the current horizon under the nomenclature of the system
globalized. A system that favors the trend towards hegemony, to thus maintain the
world leadership of powerful countries, economic conglomerates in the form of
transnationals, and mainly the United States (its State apparatus, financial system, and groups
of power), a country that largely concentrates financial and economic hegemony,
politics and culture regarding the world.
Jorge Larraín (1996:27) notes that globalization as a trend has always been
has existed, but it intensifies and asserts itself as a tangible economic order in the
global, through the development of capitalism. Since the globalization of a character
The economy is, in principle, the engine that drives and transcends territorial boundaries.
symbolic, transferring the old mercantile hegemonies to distant territories and
geographically, politically and culturally inaccessible. For example, in the global context of
Currently, sophisticated information systems have gained significant importance and
linguistic deciphering of cultural plurality, by those in power, such as for example
in the case of the Government of the United States and some of the departments
specialized within the Pentagon. In the same way, but on a daily life scale,
it is possible to observe the frequent study of the different social segments (that constitute
society), to design social planning by the States or define
consumers of products and services. It is a strategic use of expert knowledge (for
example Social Sciences) to classify and make the population visible by the market,
the state, etc.
At the origin of this trend towards globalization, there lies a growing force to
the internationalization of the economy, which at present can be referred to as the domain of
transnational companies and global economic regulatory bodies
such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the WTO, the
G7 (or G8 now), and institutions that "try" to balance the forces or cushion not only
the impacts related to the economy such as the UN, the European Community, etc.

69
 This is the scenario of strategic alliances and geopolitics that benefits
nations like the United States (or economic groups, government, political parties,
families, etc. that operate within it), and those who align with him and provide support
in the international arena, etc.
Now, with Jorge Larraín (Ibid.: 28 and 29), four elements can be established.
relevant issues presented by globalization in general, in its establishment in modernity
turbulent of the last decades of the 20th century:

Eminence of transnational companies in the global economy. While the

old multinationals "operated in several countries and adapted their products to the
different national preferences, today’s transnational corporations operate
with a single global market, or rather, with a variety of markets that do not
they are not nationals but segments of similar consumers everywhere in
world (Ibid.). It is worth observing the fast food chains or the industry of
entertainment such as: video games, toys, computers, movies, etc.

The emergence of the Nation State (as noted above). The Nation
The state allows configuring political centralization, with nations appearing under a
only government, one customs, and one law, plus an increasing connection to the
international relations. Subsequently, the Nation State transforms,
trying to decentralize internal management, but after all,
with the emergence of the Nation-State and its legal and economic order
politician within a single regulation allows for international linkage with the
increasingly decisive influence of powers and financial organizations,
politicians and hegemonic ones.

With the two previous points, an international division of labor is provoked.

Arena that allows segmenting and compartmentalizing production and service areas,
manufacturing, exploitation of resources on a global scale; that in a way
strategic, will serve multinational companies, conglomerates
financial, etc. to regulate and stabilize their investments.

The cultural industry. Based on the global mass culture and always in
expansion was boosted by the development of information technology,
whose dominance by some economic groups hegemonizes a large part
of the globe. For example: "The most important characteristic of this form of culture
Of global mass is its peculiar form of homogenization, which does not reduce everything to
specifically North American, but has the ability to recognize and
absorbing cultural differences within a general framework that is essentially a
North American conception of the world,97it hegemonizes other cultures without dissolving them,

97
Jorge Larraín quoting S. Hall 'The local and the global. Globalization and ethnicity' in A. King ed.
Culture, Globalization and the World System (London, Macmillan, 1991). p 28.
70
 operates through them" (Ibid.:30). That is to say: "Globalization does not mean the end of
the cultural and ethnic differences, but their conscious use" (Ibid.:31).

The new Global system, points out Manuel Castells,98is constituted from networks of
exchange and flows of communication, is at the same time extremely inclusive and
extremely exclusive. Inclusive of everything that has value according to the codes
dominant in the flows and exclusionary of everything that according to those codes, has no
value it or stop having it: as globalization has developed,
essentially as an instrument for the articulation of capitalist markets, profitability
economic (whether through profit or increase in asset value), becomes
in the fundamental criterion for inclusion and exclusion in global networks. Then it
You can add these arguments to the effect that 'we live in neoliberal globalization.'
as pointed out by the Mexican sociologist Sergio Tamayo (1996). A process that is modifying
increasingly the cultural, political, and economic dimensions at the local and global scale.
A 'new world order' (as declared by George Bush, then president of the
United States during the Gulf War), in whose habitat the decisions and
actions operate under the previously described logics.
The previous characteristics of globalization with a neoliberal imprint are
you can add the following elements developed by Néstor García Canclini (1995):

A resizing of institutions and public exercise circuits:

Weight loss of local and national organisms for the benefit of
transnational business conglomerates.

Reformulation of urban settlement and living patterns: From the neighborhood to the
condominiums, from the interactions close to the polycentric dissemination of the
urban march, especially in large cities, where activities
basic activities (working, studying, consuming) are often carried out away from the place of residence
and where the time spent traveling to unknown places in the city
reduce the available to inhabit the own.

The reworking of 'the own', due to the predominance of goods and messages
stemming from a globalized economy and culture, on those generated in the
city and the nation to which they belong.
98
Document based on the text by Manuel Castells: 'The Information Age: Economy, Society and
"culture" (3 volumes). Siglo XXI Editores. Mexico 1999.
71
 The consequent redefinition of the sense of belonging and identity, organized each
less for local or national loyalties and more for participation in
transnational or deterritorialized communities of consumers.

The passage from the citizen as a representative of public opinion to the citizen as
consumer interested in enjoying a certain quality of life. One of the
manifestations of this change are that the argumentative and critical forms of
participation gives way to the enjoyment of shows in electronic media, in the
which narrative or simple accumulation of anecdotes prevails over the
reasoning of the problems, and the fleeting display of events about their
structural and prolonged treatment.

These decisive elements of the current global landscape, more in terms of

dynamics of culture, reduce the real dimension that the effects of rapid changes
socio-cultural transformations generate in the daily life of citizens, of young people.
With that, it is possible to perceive a new imprint in the socialization of the 'new'
human components of societies. Thus witnessing the development of a
type of socialization in cyberspace, which constitutes an anthropological transformation of
human being, whose characteristic is understood in 'the reduction of homo sapiens to homo
oeconomicus whose value for the social and political community depends exclusively on
both roles express the fetishistic character of bourgeois society, in which the
needs and potentials of human evolution become a function of the
expanded reproduction of capital. The human being remains, as throughout its
pre-scientific history, slave to its own mental and material products" (Chomsky -
Dieterich: 119). This panorama is economically supported by the neoliberal machinery,
whose areas of global influence present, according to Heinz Dieterich, 'a relationship between
capitalist hardware (technology in function of profit imperatives) and its
human software (complement), that is: the anthropological paradigm that makes it operational
First, it has to acquire a different profile in global society compared to the previous stage.

Fordist99(Ibid.). The author argues that global-scale production presents the

next: first that multinational companies, both financially and in

99
Fordism generated the anthropological correspondence required for its mass industrial production,
extreming the valuation of the human being under two aspects: as a Taylorist producer of goods and
consumerist producer of surplus value (Chomsky – Dieterich: ibid).
72
productive and commercial, emerge as the determining training entities in the
national and international economy, for example with respect to the industry of the
information and the military-industrial complex. Second, for the training entities of the
global society, the national market ceases to be the primary space for reproduction of
capital, as was mentioned a moment ago. And finally, the electronic media of
images become global and hegemonic against national societies.
The latter, regarding culture and information, brings with it the
following cultural guidelines:

Nomadism of objects, values, and work. Both in the real dimension because
Constant transfers and virtual movement occur in the idea of generalized 'zapping'.

The idea of a 'Borgesian' inspired labyrinth that stands in contrast to chaos. The search.
continues in daily life by trial and error.

Encapsulation, withdrawing to individual action without contacting peers and

superiors. Everything can be resolved at home.

The aforementioned redefines and enriches the transition from the idea of a people to the conception of

the citizen. The speeches of yore that championed the people now shift to the
citizenship. This refers to the citizen as a fundamental actor of the bond.
institutional, that is to say 'it means feeling responsible for the proper functioning of the
institutions that represent human rights and allow for representation of the
ideas and interests" (Touraine, 1998:324), from a liberal conception of citizenship and
the democracy that prevails in democratic nations that implies 'a civil society'
vigorously structured, associated with an integrated political society and both societies
they must be as independent as possible from the state, characterized as the power that
work in the name of the nation, responsible for war and peace, the place that the country occupies in
the world and the continuity between its past, present, and future” (Ibid.:325). For example, in
In this context, 'the connotation of the concept of class struggle has lost its importance.
theoretical" (Tamayo, 1995:77). The workers' movement of the past, it seems, is no longer the factor

fundamental articulator of social transformations.

73
 Current societies are becoming more complex, heterogeneous, and fragmented.
allowing to reduce this diverse range of citizenship 'within narrow limits and
"trade union grievances of the labor movement" (Tamayo: Ibid.).

Citizenship is understood by the members of the State and civil society in

different form and that does not simplify and fades 'that the contradictions generated
due to the legal existence of private property, the class segregation of society and
the phenomena of exploitation, domination, and inequality have disappeared" (Ibid.78).
As Sergio Tamayo (1996) points out, the struggle for citizenship manifests itself in other ways.
these same contradictions, it is really the struggle for the expansion of rights that
correspond to a group, segment, or social class. Because the struggle for citizenship in the
capitalist society provokes, in parallel with a certain type of equality, other forms of
inequality: that is to say, with the inclusion of rights, other ones are generated at the same time.

forms of exclusion (Ibid.). For example, fighting for social citizenship is to confront the
poor people with the privileged sectors that have full access to it; fight for the salary
indirect workers is to oppose social rights to individual rights of
patterns of accumulation. The right of street vendors to work selling
wherever they can, it contrasts with the right that established merchants assume to have, and
Moreover, to demand their eviction because the practice of street vending harms them. The right
a decent wage or that of the strike increasingly opposes the right of property of
boss because it is true that both owners and employees have the same
property rights, the two different classes do not have the same opportunities to
obtain them.
Therefore, within citizenship, three conceptions are debated: one of them
it favors cultural relativism emphasizing that all cultures are equally valid, and
another close one: pluralism, which seeks to present freedom in society by promoting the
participation of groups that represent very diverse interests competing with each other. And
finally, the liberal individualism that sees democracy as competition between
pressure groups, each defending their cause (Tamayo, 1996).

74
What is happening in Chile?: The damaged social fabric and today's Chilean youth.

The current context of Chile, which those close to the Concertación would define as
of the completion of the transition to democracy and now of 'enhancement'
democratic." "The fundamental "institutions" "function" and the administration of
The constitutional model of 1980 remains in place, except for some minor modifications. The character
and the presence of the Concertación government differs - apparently and being generous - from
the neoliberal right opposition in aspects of focus, where to aim for development.
One seeks to enhance the social (relatively) as an end, the other sees the social as a means.
But the habitat remains the same, that of competitiveness and the increase of the
profits as a strategic economic imperative of the economic sectors
business and finance. As José Cademartori (2001:33 and 34) rightly points out in this
era of the transnationalization of the economy: "So far, official conduct has been
governed more by continuing than by rectifying, more by the pressures of private interests
that for the national interest. One of the dogmas with which politics is justified.
Governmental is: that free trade and the spontaneous action of competition
capitalism is the panacea. Another dogma is that everyone plays and respects the same rules. And
a third is that foreign capital and its local partners work for the benefit of the whole
"Chilean community." The truth is that the so-called international free trade benefits.
the countries with the highest export capacity; it is a matter of observing the customs barriers that
they place the products from abroad, in the case of Chilean exports.
It is true, José Cademartori continues saying, "that the creation of the Organization
World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Marrakesh Treaty that complements it, imply
commitments that march towards free trade. But the process will be long and filled
of interruptions and conflicts. The most important are the disputes between the large
powers, the formation of regional blocs that combine free trade within,
with a certain degree of protectionism outward and the active intervention of many
governments, in the face of the adverse effects caused to companies, sectors, and regions” (Ibid.: 34).

In light of this, the Chilean state is conceived with a focus on this path: “the
direction to adapt the functions of the State to the new conditions of the economy, the
society and culture; even if not at the required speed. Indeed, the State is no longer
75
replaces markets where they can operate more effectively, nor prevails
the idea of opposing the public sector to the private one. Rather, everywhere - in education,
health, the development of infrastructure, even in the various fields of art and the
sciences - initiatives for cooperation between both sectors emerge, a biased vision
that, in one case, distrusts the State and attributes all the evils of society to it, and in another,
distrust the private sector, attributing purely selfish motives of personal profit100.
This type of current State is organized "around two principles: in front of society it acts
as an innovation agent, seeks to expand essential capacities for development,
invest in them and stimulate the creation of participation opportunities. Internally,
himself, acts as an agent that evaluates performance and results. Hence,
"the name of innovative and evaluative State."101And their means are not the
traditional forms of bureaucratic operation, state production of goods and services and
the multiplication of administrative acts. They consist, on the other hand, of a larger number and
more sophisticated instruments of policy, information, spending, and regulation, such
such as the assignment of missions, the establishment of regulatory frameworks for various
markets, the use of concessions, the generation of incentives and stimuli, and,
In general, the use of evaluative procedures related to coverage, efficiency and
quality of the services provided102.
With this, the State has withdrawn its action as a totalizer of the social spectrum, and
product of the cut in its resources during the military regime and the civil sectors
associates have been left at the mercy of the dictates of the free market game, field
social that largely privileges the large Chilean business community.

100
Brunner, José Joaquín: Towards the modernization of the State and its management (Presentation by the then Minister

Secretary General of Government at the I Conference on Citizen Participation, September 1998,

Santiago). Published in Correa, Enrique; Noé, Marcela (Editors): 'Notions of a Growing Citizenship.'
Edited by Flacso – Chile, Santiago 1998. Page 349
101
Ibid.
102
Ibid.
76
Where do the decisions made from 'above', the changes and
mutations of the State apparatus?

In society, in civil society, in citizenship, from a conception that

rescue more of the community, the neighborhood, the street, the citizen who works daily
to support themselves, the salaried father and mother, worker or professional, who pays
taxes and their subsistence is hindered when periods of unemployment come.
The return to representative and liberal democracy and not less tutored
also; what else! that panoptic system called the Constitution of 1980, managed
by the "winners" of all presidential plebiscites to date. And the suspicion, and
criticism from some sectors regarding the future, following the plebiscite of 'yes and no', marks the
beginning of a continuous back and forth in the Chilean societal landscape.

Everything that began to take shape back in the 19th century regarding the 'issue
social”, and even before the proclaimed “society of equality” by Francisco Bilbao and
Santiago Arcos, up to the workers' organizations, student groups, grassroots groups,
etc., that is, the associative movement: began to crumble, with the policies
undertaken by the military and associated civil regime. But not exclusively from just
there, also the party system and its interference in grassroots organizations like the
of workers, diminishes the engine of struggle for party strategic needs, over there to
end of the 1950s. Although in the 1950s large mobilizations begin of the
different social components (students, workers, professionals, etc.) and
participation in organizations, party coalitions and their tendency to hegemonize
social processes began the weakening of the foundations. This is partly due to the
assault by the institutions against the popular movement that began in the first half
of the 20th century, as can be seen in the following passage that illustrates us
historians, sociologists, and renowned researchers, Gabriel Salazar and Julio Pinto:

In 1948, the 'Cursed Law' maximized not only the public actions of
Communist Party, but also that of any other party with strong
representation in the movement of masses. Elías Lafferte wrote in his
memories: <<time has proven us right, for the Damn Law has been
applied not only to communists but also to socialists, radicals, falangists, and even
liberals>>. In June 1961, the populist parties (already converted into
law's defenders), although they were in the Opposition, forced the cancellation of
77
 National Strike organized by Clotario Blest and other union leaders
partisans. Blest felt compelled to abandon the leadership that he had held for over 10
years had worked in the popular movement. Upon retiring, he said that this
cancellation meant handing over the movement to the <<current regime of legalism
and pseudo democracy”, and to prolong “indefinitely this long agony of the
"working class." According to Blest, after his resignation, President Jorge
Alessandri called him and said: 'As you can see Clotario, I continue to be President.'
from Chile and you now in a Nobody>>. And since 1964, the State replaced the
popular movement taking the initiative in the Reform processes
Agrarian and Educational Reform. The old revolutionary project of the youth
from the year 20 was thus immobilized and imprisoned between the constitutionalist bars
and bureaucratic measures that the generation of '38 sharpened to defend itself from its great
historical fears.
The net result of that behavior was not only to neutralize for a bit more than
four decades the <<black danger>> of militarism (the expression was by Arturo
Alessandri), but also to dismantle for something less than two decades the
<<red danger>> (Alessandri) of social movements. The neutralization of
Black danger was achieved by concentrating all powers in the State and delivering
these, in monopoly, to the civil political class. This placed, under conditions of
privilege to the political parties that had dual representation: in the
organized mass movement and in the state apparatuses. The hegemony
built by the generation of '38 as a civil political class (CPC, in
forward) I needed, for greater security, to impose the <<central planning>>.
at the same time, on the Market and Civil Society. That meant imposing the
hegemony of the CPC over all social actors.103

From there to today, in post-military dictatorship Chile and among the civilian sectors.
associates, the discussion begins about the damaged social fabric. This is the result of factors
complexes that can be classified under the label of "modernization process in
Chile.
Some elements that influenced the breakdown of grassroots sociability
from today - from the current citizenship - in the recent history of the country:

The policies of the military regime and associated civil authorities to neutralize dissent
politics.

The culture of death and terror established by the exceptional regulations of the regime
military and civilian associated, based on the idea of "internal war and internal enemy"
in relation to the doctrine of 'national security'.

103
Contemporary History of Chile V. Childhood and Youth
Editions, Santiago, 2002. pp. 208-209
78
 The development programs implemented with the return of democracy, for example
the FOSIS, which indirectly contributed to stimulating the process of individualization and
retraction of traditional associativity in the community. In view of the notion of
competitiveness in securing the benefits of development projects on the ground
of micro enterprises, which generally favored a small family group (for
example).

Historical and structural factors such as the culture of delegation of the

individual responsibilities y collectives, paternalism, welfareism,
clientelism; based on the pyramidal structure of society and on the concentration of
power in that way.

The economic system that excessively encourages profit, gain, and the
competition. In pursuit of meeting needs that are increasingly being noticed
unlimited due to the work of the cultural industry and consumption habits. Existentialism as
north of the realization of the self before the otherness.

The current regulations regarding labor, union, etc.

The representative democratic system based on the party system (under the
regulations and binomial logic.

For Norbert Lechner, it is already a commonplace to talk about the fragmentation of the fabric

social provoked by authoritarianism. But this destruction, certainly traumatic, is not a

The exclusive trait of authoritarianism does not disappear with it. Authoritarian breaks are embedded
in a transformation of capitalism on a global scale (Lechner:120).
This issue leads to disillusionment with democracy. Since in the field
from culture and daily social relations, what Norbert Lechner can be applied
He perceives regarding the disillusionment of democracy within the social habitat of culture.
Postmodern: “The relativism of values also contaminates and relativizes the <<rules of
game>>. There are no <<true>> procedures or <<objectives>> but agreements.
contractual agreements that establish a right, but not an obligation; do not provide guarantees in the

sense of an ethical obligation "(Ibid.). Since the process of democratic transition in the
In the case of Chile, it rather disconnects society from the institutions and itself from its
close and everyday networks. Because uncertainty invaded both directions in the
relationship of citizenship with the institution and with itself. So "the same
value neutrality of democratic procedures that makes certainty a
matter of individual consciousness, at the same time introduces uncertainty into the sphere
public" (Ibid.). Democracy and the world that operates under the mechanics of politics.
79
(party system), lose their credibility by not sending signals of certainty to the arena of the
citizenship. There is no grounding wire, only seasons when they drop down.
momentarily (for example in situations of election or re-election)
"image whitening" or "to transparently" clarify confusing situations or situations of little probity).

Continuing with Norbert Lechner, who exemplifies the Chilean case.

uncertainty of society regarding the political institutionality in its procedures
within the context of democratic transition, exclaims, "how difficult it is to neutralize the
fear of threats, real or imagined, through formal procedures. The
Difficulties of institutional engineering refer to the symbolic world and to imaginaries.
collectives; we rediscover that politics is not guided solely by interests, but
likewise by passions, images, beliefs, and emotions. The tearing apart of society
brings to light the hidden face of politics: the fear of social uprooting, the anxiety of
collective belonging, the anguish of transcending the immediacy of singular life. The
democracy cannot ignore these cries under penalty of being swept away by them
125).

And what happens to the social fabric then?

First of all, the social fabric understands and acquires relevance "since the
guarantee of continuity and consolidation of organizational experiences are associated with
links that establish with the fabric of the everyday relationships that pre-exist in the neighborhood
the action area. Individuals who become part of groups and organizations
they already participate in relationships (family, neighborhood, work, religion) that have shaped a
legitimate shared subjectivity: the social fabric is like a mesh or a network quite
dense that in some places is broken or disconnected and in others relationships accumulate.
daily life104Thus, the social fabric is made up of different elements such as the

104
Castro, Angélica and Gachón, Angélica (Social Workers O.N.G. of Development Cordillera, Center of
Municipal Studies): "Social fabric and construction of society. Quoting Torres. A "Education and
pedagogy in popular organizational experiences.” La Piragua magazine, no. 11, CEAL, 1995. Page 51.
Article published on the website:http://www.sociedadcivil.cl/accion/portada/documento.asp?Id=196
(Consulted: 26/02/02).
80
local development, participation, organization, citizenship, democracy, culture, and capital
social that also includes various elements such as everyday life, representations of
world, daily relationships, autonomy and self-determination 105According to the above, a
The constitutive element of social tissue is the 'social capital' that consists of all those
elements accumulated by people throughout their lives, which involve processes of
socialization and that are useful for effectively facing future situations,
this in turn includes the representations of the world and of everyday life.106

What happens with the issue of youth in current Chile from this perspective?

It is undeniable that in the face of this question, it is not possible to formulate an answer close to

the youth realities, which we understand from this study as plural. Let this serve for this
Let me point out the following:

The topic of youth (in the traditional sense) is considered a relevant topic in
the present, in addition to the reasons for understanding and designing policies
institutional107for this sector, youth has also 'transformed into a
privileged recipient of market strategies, both in terms of its
specificity as a consumer of goods, symbols, and products as symbolic value
what the sign youth acquires as it orders behaviors and practices that are expressed
dominantly through the mass media" (Marafioti;
Cornick, 1996:87 and 88).
The development of the theme about youth and youthhoods in Chile has had a
treatment from an <<adult-centric>> matrix as Claudio Duarte (2000) qualifies it "in

105
Castro, Angélica and Gachón, Angélica; Op. Cit p. 51
106
The same.
107
In this regard, it can be noted that "most of the programs are of the type 'for young people' and
service providers; or they are manipulation and mobilization for the regime (<<for>>); or they participate and go
building elements of democracy (with); or, they tend to the space of self-management of the
young people (<<since>>)” (Balardini in Última Década no. 13, 2000:25). They appear in different forms. By
for example, the treatment of INJUV towards young people may be determined by the idea of service and the
promotion of social participation.
81
thus situates adulthood as a reference point for the youth, based on duty
to be, regarding what must be done to be considered in society (maturity, responsibility,
integration into the consumer and production market, reproduction of the family,
civic participation, etc) (2000:67).
Currently, the approaches have incipiently derived into rescue.
the diversity of ways of being young. An example of this is the relevant work and
study plotted in the text by Andrés Medina, Alicia Valdés (Compilers): "Neither
adapted, nor maladapted... Just young people," published by the P.I.I.E at the beginning of the
'90, which gives us insight into the plural youth world and from a conception of culture
youth and youth identity, based on the experience of urban youth inhabitants.
A little history. During the military regime, from the social sciences
only the young inhabitants and the excluded and marginalized were considered as
mark the document of the sociologist Juan Carlos Molina108Youth and urban tribes109 ,
those who starred in numerous public disorders and protests against the government
military." According to a study by the former Youth Institute at the beginning of
90s (INJ), young people were one of the most affected groups in the population by the
military government policies: 'The high unemployment rates as well as the most visible
sequel of political persecution, violation of human rights, psychological harm,
regulatory transgression, they focused on this sector110.
Since the period encompassing the "return to democracy," Claudio Duarte believes
that "youth is studied based on the application of an idea about young people completely
default, her criticism is directed at the tendency of the social sciences to globalize what
youthful, not considering the radical differences that exist among young people

108
Text from the author to be referenced in the presentation of this section.
109
Juan Carlos Molina: Youth and Urban Tribes. Viña del Mar, July 2000. Published in the Forum
Youth of the ILO. Website:
www.Cinterfor.org.uy/public/spanish/region/ampro/citerfor/temas/youth/nov/index.htm
(Consulted: 20/01/2001). Article that can also be consulted in the magazine LAST DECADE.
No. 13 of the year 2000.
110
Molina, 2000: citing the INJ document (1992) 'Project for the construction of a comprehensive policy of
Youth: Diagnosis of youth reality of the 90s. Santiago.
82
peasants, residents, students, etc., besides not considering the dialectical nature of
young world (ignoring it as a process in motion), but rather perceiving it as
starting from defined and independent stages111A fundamental criterion of which is made
This study begins. Continuing, 'this is how a discourse is stigmatized.'
stereotyped about the rebellion of young people (for example), understanding it first in the
framework of biological evolutionary change, and then evaluating it as a problem of order and the
social integration112.
In this period ('return to democracy') that begins, they start to talk about
"young promise" and "historical debt with youth," that's how from the first
the concertation government creates a department (INJ, currently INJUV) that
develop the theme of youth.
The youth of Chile, according to a study by Chile Sustentable113, passing through
difficult paths. They are stigmatized by official discourse as apathetic, anomic and
lacking concerns; stereotyped as subjects prone to violence and the
delinquency (for example in the tone of the propaganda that echoes the corporation Peace
Citizens), they do not find trustworthy spaces today where they can express themselves. While it is true
the desire of some to want to show themselves assumes that there will be others who do not and their search goes on

on other sides. The authorities, for their part, design plans and programs seeking a
equity that never arrives, largely because young people are also treated as
their economic resources, being domesticated to be functional to the model, points out the
document of the Sustainable Chile Program. But regarding this, one must ask: to what extent
Is the point functional within the current model of society? Are we outside or inside the model?
Social exclusion is a common practice that subtly creeps into everyday language.
But just as the system reproduces inequity, there will also be those who invest.
that iniquity and opt for a path of self-marginalization, for example in the case of the
young people who make their anti-systemic ideas a nest of alternative proposals, like in

111
Molina, 2000: citing Claudio Duarte (1994) “Popular Youth”: Lom Ediciones and Collective
Newsense. Santiago.
112
Ibid.
113
Molina, 2000: on the study of the Sustainable Chile Program.
83
the case of some young punks related to the sample of this research (such as
it could be verified).
Continuing with the document by Juan Carlos Molina, it should be noted that there are few

valued youth practices that do not relate directly to the economy, the
work and consumption, and it is also true that these practices represent for many theorists such
only a transitional period of the development of the subject's thinking and acting; they are not considered,

therefore, as managers of significant, creative, or foundational actions. Moreover,

classical thought: irresponsibility is typical of young people, has led to not
consider within the concept of youth, those young people forced to take on their
reality (taking responsibility) for various reasons, primarily due to their condition
socioeconomic. In relation to the above and continuing with the study of the Chile Project
Sustainable, it is supposed that young people are in a process of forming their personality.
and that, consequently, they are experiencing the optimal moment for moral intervention and
regulations for the elderly. Is there another way to do things? Well, a conception
how it is articulated soon with another parallel, which does not seek to define what it is to be young, but rather

what should be. This is a relevant point, if you reconsider what was previously presented about
the society of control and the expectations regarding participation in social fields. The
official society project in Chile channels it towards production and consumption tasks,
and wants to transform it into a citizen integrated into the established order. It is worth adding the role of

reproducer of the hegemonic work.

Another relevant aspect of the current observations about Chilean youth is the
leisure time or leisure space, characteristic of modern societies or ways of becoming so.
This is a space where young people develop a certain distance from the tasks of being
student, etc. In that field, several activities can be seen developed, as well as
the occupation of this space by advertising propaganda or television programming.
For example, a study conducted in Santiago by Adimark (1995)114with a sample of
631 people over 15 years old revealed that 45.4% dedicate their free time to watching
Television, only 34% was dedicated to sports and 26% to listening to music.

114
Molina: about the Adimark survey 1995. INJ document section information and documentation
84
 This study can be associated with the incidence of the commodification of everything
aspects of social life in current societies, regarding leisure and free time in a
study conducted in Sweden115:

Commercialism neutralizes fundamental needs while simulating

satisfy them.

Commercialism creates a distorted view of humanity and works in favor of a

egocentric humanism.

Commercialism cultivates the myth of eternal youth.

Commercialism reinforces alienation and uses popular insecurity.

Commercialism creates artificial needs through advertising and studies.

market.

In the same way, a study116about the 'misuse'117of free time outside of the
high schools in Chile, indicate the following:

Development of routine, passive, and minimally creative actions during their free time.

Spontaneous gathering in streets, forming the typical 'corner groups'.

High levels of exposure to television.

Little or no participation in sports organizations and groups.

Increase in psychosocial risk.

It is noted in points 2 and 4, as it does not observe any attempt.

understand the reasons for that demonstration. If a breakthrough in that direction is in sight
in the study carried out by the School of Anthropology of the Bolivarian University of
Chile, commissioned by INJUV, about youth gangs in Santiago, towards the end of
the '90s.

115
Molina: on 'The commercialization of leisure', Sweden, INJ documents. Santiago 1996.
116
INJUV studies: Youth, work, and education. Santiago 2000.
117
Concept and valuation are questionable and dangerous in their use, which is why this clarification is made.

85
 But from the perspective of this thesis, both the conceptualization of gangs is
debatable when trying to appreciate the internal dynamics of youth sociability
actual
Regarding the previous study, the lack of social content and the communicational void.
what the commercialization of individual freedom, particularly of young people, proposes
easily influenced by this cult of the image - they create an atmosphere of coldness that
freeze any associative action (for example).
For its part, although certain youth (certain youths) tend to be pointed out, from
the ruling elites as a threat and reluctant to participation legitimized from the
political elites and associated intellectuality, is the young segment, as the report indicates
1998 of UNDP, those who are more prone to interaction with third parties and to
development of associativity (formal and informal). Although this is made invisible by the
expectations held by adult institutions118regarding how the "quality" should be
from youth associativity (more focused on differentiated integration, within the
division of labor and the instrumentalization of this sector, as an investment in social capital to
future, in accordance with the logics and demands of the market and the division of labor
international). That is to say, much of the current youth associativity (spontaneous,
from the corner, from the neighborhood, from the high school, etc.), went unnoticed by the leading institution or

for leaders (the case of the world of current NGOs).

Various works carried out on gangs and 'urban tribes' - continuing
with the document from sociologist Juan Carlos Molina -, they conclude that in the face of isolation

individualist typical of the competitive society, within every young person a

instinctive and expressive reaction, particularly provoked by the need for contact
humano: Youth, despite television, continues to find itself, gathering around
squares, liquor stores, passages, the stadium; the sociologist points out and continues saying that the

nightclubs, bars, pubs, and malls are also gathering places119, but how are they

118
What attempts, through the policies addressing the youth, to exert control over the considered young person
problem, conducting studies and interventions (from the service of expert knowledge), regarding
variables such as: poverty, alcoholism, crime, school dropout, etc.
119
But in the idea of the "non-places" proposed by the French anthropologist Marc Auge.
86
mainly focused on consumption, tend to segregate young people according to their
socioeconomic status.
Another relevant aspect is the topic of education. According to the INJUV text
Youth, work, and education (INJUV Studies, Santiago 2000), education becomes
to become a fundamental requirement to achieve social equity, considering
Furthermore, the evident deterioration of this sector after more than a decade of postponements;
thus, at least three major problems carried over from the military regime are detected:
the decrease of state resources, inefficiency resulting from the process of
municipalization and the deterioration of the teaching function (Essential part of education, both
in the delivery of content as in the hidden curriculum).
The above is part of the factors that influenced the current reform of the
education. The case of education reform and its relationship with young people is another
illustrative aspect of the current view of young people and the logics
institutional that operates in daily reality. The globalization of the economy, due to
example – points out the INJUV text – conferred the requirement and the need to raise the
competitiveness, and education, is a key factor to increase productivity and
to add value to export products. Based on this, in the year 1994,
the then director of the INJ, Francisco Estévez, pointed out that: “... It is the responsibility of the authority

official focus their policies thinking of those young people from popular sectors who
face more difficulties. A developing society cannot stop investing in its
young people because it would deprive them of a high future profitability; and that investment must

channel towards the improvement of the educational system and the enhancement of the
job opportunities" (Ibid.:24). Education and work, two axes of the process of
social integration of young people, according to the agents of INJUV.
The educational reform in the field of school culture and the construction of
youth identity integrates the concept of 'youth culture', a concept that is not old for the
social sciences and the anthropology of education, but it is new - at least in its
application - for the government's social policies, which it has recently integrated.
From there, the youth and school world appears as a possibility to expand the concept.
of 'youth identity', endowing it with the dynamism and diversity that culture has
youth. In each era, it only manages to establish itself outside the educational curriculum, displacing
87
the task of training young people towards socialization and integration activities among
pairs. Fundamentally associated with the variable: free time. The idea is to integrate the
youth cultures to the reform.

What impact will that bring?

It is not possible to glimpse it right away, but yes, a reflexivity becomes urgent in
the process that young people experience regarding their journey through the institution
educational. Reflectiveness that will allow to develop in the medium and long term: a path
towards personal autonomy, responsibility, enhancing creativity and the
just the right to criticize what they don't like and why not say, to transform together with
others their situation and society.
Something important emerges from this INJUV document, based on the concept
of youth culture in contrast to youth identity; it is noted that the notion
of the subject, possibly extractable in the observation of the concept of identity, is seen
made invisible with the youth culture: as it would hinder seeing the shortcomings and potentialities
of the individuals. If this appreciation were aside from the reproduction of the bond
Hegemonic would be interesting. This does not mean that the 'new' is of no use.
"view" and the attempts to acknowledge plurality and relevant aspects of socialization
relegated to a second plane.
Youth culture is associated with situational or circumstantial manifestations of
youth events (in the INJUV text), which are presented rather dispersed, not
forming a unique integrity, since inside they can and must have diversity.
Currently, it is observed that a break or disorientation has been caused in the
school tasks regarding young people. In the school tradition, the construction of
identity (with its limitations), was a formative task of the specific area of guidance,
that today tends to shift in the task of integrating youth culture, without linking
the dynamics of both processes.
It can be noted that another relevant aspect regarding the issue of young people
Chile is one of social intervention, as since the governments of the Concertación, it has
treasure the desire to fulfill that "social" and "historical debt", placing this sector
88
of the population as a priority. But the problem is that the 'story' is always found
in motion like the different actors and what was young once, is no longer so;
from an arbitrary point of view and related to the standards of the moratorium and integration
to the productive apparatus and social reproduction. Which are the visible youth for the
system or when do they become visible?, By occupying which and such social fields do they become
visible?. Regarding social intervention based on social programs, both of
government entities as private, it is vital to know what type of programs
They are and what objectives must be achieved in their execution. According to the definition adopted by Pro-

Young120programs that address prevention and education can be identified,

training and free time. "These program definitions have been associated with a
multiplicity of approaches, where the concept of the psychosocial now gains strength and its
multivalent connotation, linked to 'harm' and the need for intervention in that
aspect121Recently, there has been discussion and work on the idea of 'harm reduction'.
the consideration of young people prone to being harmed or as harmed young people. With this, the
The horizon is impeded if resource issues for social work are not resolved.
that is carried out in the interest of improving the quality of life of the population. The way
how one approaches the topic is another matter. A problem of a cultural nature and of
formation of an action, which reorganizes the conceptions about society and the
youth122.
Regarding citizenship and youth, we can establish with Mario Sandoval.123
Two experiences of citizenship that occur in Chile in general:

120
Medina, Andrés and others: Neither adapted nor desperate... just young. Published by the P.I.I.E.. Santiago
1995. P. 92 citing the previous INJ (Pro-Youth: Program of opportunities for youth. INJ, Santiago
from Chile. 1999.
121
Ibid.
122
Part of this reflection on young people is based on the document by Christian Castro Bekios (Author
model): "Model of approaching the topic of young people from the construction of personal identity and
cultural in the hegemony institutional social context. Paper presented for the Specialization Course
in Community Development. Bolivarian University. Santiago de Chile, July of the year 2001. Pages 6 - 11.
123
Sandoval, Mario: citing Mario Villareal 'Building Citizenship, Democratic Construction of Power'
Last Decade Magazine No. 10, Cidpa editions, 1999, Viña del Mar; in 'Youth of the 20th Century', 1st edition,
UCSH Editions, Santiago, 2002. Page 179
89
 Political citizenship, which refers to the rights to participate in political power, already
be it as a voter or through active political practice.

Social citizenship, which refers to the right to enjoy a certain minimum standard of
life, of well-being and economic security.

And based on the above regarding the youth, Mario Sandoval124in his study
about the Chilean youth of the 21st century, it outlines 5 ways of shaping citizenship
youthful, indicating that the first three are the most common:

Denied citizenship, experienced by excluded sectors, denying them the

practical possibility of exercising citizenship; in this case, the response of the young person whose
citizenship has been denied due to your membership is more difficult: it involves overcoming the
self-denial generated by the same contempt of the dominant culture towards that
identity.

Second-class citizenship refers to those sectors whose citizenship is not

explicitly denied, but when exercising it they face a series of barriers that
they hinder, in this sense; it is worth thinking about the young people who are affected by a
discrimination of gerontocratic institutions.

3. Disdained citizenship is that which is rejected by young people, whether first-class or

second class. In the first case, it concerns young people who possess the conditions to
exercise their citizenship, but out of selfishness, passivity or idealism they do not exercise it. In the
In the second case, the situation is worsened by the deficiencies they experience, perceiving the State.
and the institutions 'for others' and their 'offer of citizenship as a false promise.'

4. Latent citizenship, in this the young people have not found any motivation.
to the exercise of citizenship, but they have a favorable disposition towards the
participation.

5.Built Citizenship is that in which the individual, through learning

codes, knowledge and practical essay, builds their citizenship.

One of the dangers that threatens citizen participation in general and in the
youth sector, outside the feeling of not "feeling represented" - as is often referred to
from public opinion-, and disregard democratic functioning or not sympathize with
the order of things is the weakness of the democratic model proposed by the elites

124
Sandoval, Mario; op. cit. p. 179-180, citing John Durston 'Limitations of citizenship among the
Latin American youth", Last Decade Magazine No. 10, Cidpa Editions, 1999, Viña del Mar.
90
partisans and from the political and institutional power in an exogenous way to the citizenship; and
Another of the dangers, according to Alain Touraine, implies that 'democracy is
threatened at the same time by the imposition of common values, norms, and practices and by a
extreme differentialism and individualism that abandon social life to
the management devices and market mechanisms.125Since the countries -not being
Latin America and Chile the exception - "they are split in the same way between a
extreme confidence in the virtues of the global market, which exempts them from defending the
political freedom, and an integrist communitarianism, that is to say hostile to secularization and the

autonomy of the political system. Democracy, threatened from all sides, no longer has a
clear image of itself; often content to be reduced to market opening
political and cultural tolerance. All the more easily due to the fact that minorities already
do not correspond to the 'popular classes' but to a vast middle class of consumers who
they defend themselves at the same time against the elitism of the oligarchies and against the insecurity that it creates.

weighing on them the presence of the excluded and the marginalized.126

In summary, the issue that underlies this scenario of the
current Chilean society and of the youth, it is possible to materialize it in the notion called
damaged social fabric
triggered by the Chilean modernization process.
Within this logic, the youth sector is part of it, as it is believed that they are
consider apathetic and reluctant to dynamics that involve social, political or
generation of some level of social commitment. Similarly, when they are associated with
collective participation processes, it refers to the ephemeral nature of their
sociability, or of danger to the institutions or anomic portion on the verge of the
social pathology.
From this issue that not only affects the youth sector, we understand that
based on the report 'Human Development in Chile 1998 (subtitled The Paradoxes of
the Modernization, developed by the UNDP United Nations Development Programme
Development, in relation to the "Vulnerated Subjectivity" chapter No. 4 and "The State

125
Touraine, Alain: "What is Democracy?"
1998. Page 289
126
Touraine, Alain; op. cit. p. 288
91
of our sociability” chapter n°6, which is the result of the modernization process and its
impact on Chilean society, the phenomenon of the weakening of social ties is
a phenomenon that is confined within the context of citizenship and sociability of the
last years, but definitively occurred in Chile with the institutional breakdown of
1973 and its refoundation promoted by the military government board (and associated civil world)
through the amendment of the constitution and the establishment of the economic model
neoliberal. It is important to note that many complex processes are articulated in this that lead to

to propose the idea of this weakening:

Initially, there is a weakening of the bond with the institutions or
functional subsystems (work, education, health, etc.), due to the effect of a precarization in
the relationship with citizenship. This is one of the trends described in the report
UNDP and it is understood as "the weakness of the public us," which assumes the closest ties.
distant, less intense, and among the anonymous. An important aspect of this weakness "is the
perception of lack of recognition and representation by public institutions,
specifically those responsible for creating the links that make up citizenship
modern" (UNDP, 1998:147). This process paved the way for serious transformations in the
social relationships of people (in general), giving rise - among the most relevant - to
a weakening of the bond between individuals and the community, which has resulted in
a fragmentation in the social fabric that is evident in the trend of distrust in the
another.
Secondly, all of this has been triggered in the subjectivity of individuals,
placing them in states of vulnerability and insecurity. One effect of this is their
influence on the reduced participation of people in public matters and
associative. For example, the UNDP report (1998) points out that one of the trends that
presents this phenomenon as what could be called 'the retraction of sociability'.
we
establishes its networks, it is restricted to the intimate circles of family and friends. The public
appears as space occupied by another anonymous and sometimes threatening person"(Ibid.:147) and to the

regarding - the report continues - "what defines the retreat to intimate circles is the
"distrust" that one has of the other anonymous ones" (Ibid.), which has led to the
the notion of 'we' arises more as a refuge than a space for encounter.
92
 Despite the processes of individualization that affect today's society
Chilean and the apparent distancing in developing ties outside the family sphere.
local (school, neighborhood), it is believed that there are other processes that disrupt society,
perhaps in a subterranean way, where different dynamics can be found on their horizon
sociability and the recomposition of the social fabric. From these processes, in a way, it gives
it refers to the 2000 UNDP report "More society to govern the future." In it
the report indicates that in the realm of expectations and dreams within the
conversations among citizens give rise to desires for a type of common identity that
identify, therefore it refers incipiently to a certain intentionality to improve
the quality of life within the close environment, in topics such as: violence, lack of communication

familiar, overcrowding and lack of privacy (household of poorer sectors), etc., pointing
definitely towards strengthening human relationships within families and
neighbors (neighborhood, district, etc). Bringing that together, towards the aspiration of a quality of

a 'more human' life and 'human scale': 'Rehumanize' and 'more human' are two
words that are constantly repeated throughout the stories of the most diverse
interviewed. Both are used to describe the characteristic that they should have or
recover the different spaces and activities in which daily life unfolds
Humanizing means many different things depending on the context to which it refers;
it can be a more rewarding job, a more effective public communication, a better house
welcoming, a more respectful public procedure" (UNDP, 2000: 32).
These assessments found in the UNDP Report of the year 2000 are a result of
from the reaction of individuals to the profound changes in the organization and values of the
society, for example, in the face of 'humanizing', there arises the demand to 'organize relationships

social policies to create more opportunities under equal conditions, so that

strengthen the common and to allow the integration of diversities" (UNDP, 2000: 93). But
likewise, there is no outlook for a politics emerging from society that
I tried to transform society like in the old days, rather, a type of approach and is observed.
valuation of the micro social and relational space of individuals.

93
IX. THE METHODOLOGICAL STEPS DEVELOPED IN THIS
RESEARCH.

Methodologically, we approach a study of a bibliographic and empirical nature.

The study comprised two moments. These two moments were part of the process of
methodological linking:

Historical bibliographic background on the Punk Movement.

The case study on selected Punk youth.

The beginning of the research.

Based on previous contacts and networks close to the thesis student and the stage of
information gathering for the research, was intentionally selected to
a group of around 16 young people (men and women) between 17 and 29 years old who
they participate in or relate to Punk.
Finally, for the purposes of this study, of the 14 interviews conducted with
men and women, 10 were employed, due to reasons of time, space and to fulfill the
sample selection criteria. These contacted individuals and the data collection stage
of information, influenced the development of the research objectives. By
127
Consequently, this selection follows a type of non-probabilistic sampling. , based on
the features and criteria stated below:
The characteristics exhibited by this group of selected and summoned people
from the realm of Punk, it is about being heterogeneous in terms of their places of residence in
Santiago, occupation (university students, high school students, workers, and professionals).
Regarding socio-economic extraction, it is a totality relative to the middle class and its
subdivisions (fluctuating between average and ascending average). What brought them together for this

thesis research, their common networks among them, participation and transit in
activist-related Punk activities, such as playing in a band
musical, edit a publication (fanzine), participate in some collective (organization)

127
Hernández Sampieri, Roberto and other authors, Op. Cit. p. 209
94
Punk) or another social organization like the Conscientious Objectors (like the group
against mandatory military service SMO "NEITHER Helmet NOR Uniform," among others.
The general character of this selection is a certain activist participation from Punk,
criterion based on what Carles Feixa describes (considering the distinction he made)
Stuart Hall in an essay about the Hippie movement128) en Of Youth, Bands, and Tribes
(Ed. Ariel. Spain 1999), about Punk, referring to the existence of two types of
polarities within the Punk Movement: One of them is the Expressive polarity associated
to the mask, the carnival, which advocated the discourse of self-destruction, of nihilism
cynical, of provocation for provocation, the evolution and popularization of fashion129
and the other is the Activist (which is of interest in this study) and this deals with 'political initiatives'
cultural, from anarchism to squatters, from fanzines to video, from experimentation
artistic to the anti-racist and anti-militarist protest 130And to the above, one's own is added.
experience and knowledge of the thesis student.

The Sample131:

Pamela (19 years old): Participation in the beginnings of the Objectors group
Consciousness 'Neither Helmet Nor Uniform', at the Occupation 'La Kasita', collective
Go Rebel. High School Graduated.

Víctor (22 years): Participant of the Aguante Rebelde collective, Okupa House La
Kasita, group of Conscientious Objectors, university student of the
Architecture degree.

Pablo (22 years old): He was a member of Indymedia, part of groups.

musicals, university student.

Francisco (22 years old): Participant of the Masapunk collective and label, member
of the musical ensemble Marcel Duchamp, university student.

128
Feixa, Carles, Ob.Cit.p 82 and 83.
129
Feixa, Carles, Ob,Cit. p 153
130
Ibid: 153
131
The information about the young people in the sample considers data on their participation experience.
conducted from 1997 until the year of the research and 'in-depth interviews' (2002),
including the time spent selecting the sample (2001-2002).
95
 Claudia (27 years old): Host of the radio program "Libertarian Waves"
community radio "Los Placeres (Valparaíso), organizer of the "Fair
Libertaria in Valparaíso, Engineer.

Amy
Rebel

Alejandro (24 years old): Editor of the fanzine 'Subnormal', member of the group
"Against You", member of the label and collective Masapunk, student
university student.

Esteban (27 years old): Editor of the fanzine "A Por Ellos", founder of the collective
Libertarian Force, participation in groups of Conscientious Objectors.
Higher education student, works.

Leonardo
member of several musical groups. Student of the degree in
Journalism.

Javier
superior, work.

These people were interviewed separately, and in addition, observation was added.
directly from their practices and productions.
The observation and interview stage was supported by the perspective of interpretation.
significant; this 'seeks the meaning that the actors give to their behaviors'132.
Consequently, our research itinerary was carried out as follows
form:

Bibliographic documentation: on the topic of punk (in Chile and abroad)

internal and external sources of punk (researchers, journalistic reports). This moment
it was intense from the start of the investigation, but later it became transversal and
intermittent, as there was a need to stay alert to new data to go
corroborating the ones already obtained.

Contact with the study context and sample selection: By links

previous ones of the thesis with the study context, the search focused more on subjects

132
UACH Document: Briones, Guillermo, Op.Cit pages 83 and 84
96
representative, that had some coherence with the selection criteria of the sample
already statements in this section.
Having already established contacts, meetings were arranged to carry out the
interviews, which were conducted after the fieldwork (based on
participant and direct observation.

Field work: This was carried out during the months of May, June, July,
October and November of the year 2001. Subsequently, other approaches were made in
land, as a way to update certain data, this occurred between the months of May, June
and July 2002. Specifically, the frequency of field work of the first
months of the year 2001, was focused on attending contexts of participation of the
punk activist youths, 2 times a week, in spaces such as: shows, meetings,
marches, workplaces (workshops with children, self-managed libraries). In the months
marked in the year 2002, at significant times and dates such as: the march of January 1st
May (among others) and also visits to some squats. To participatory observation, we
It combines the thesis writer's own experience and closeness to the punk theme.
In the fieldwork, we sought to capture significant elements that from the
subjects will express themselves about their participation, around 30 conversations were established with

meeting participants, marches, collectives, musical ensembles, etc. Furthermore,

They conducted about 8 open and semi-structured interviews with protagonists.
keys. The interviews were noted and the information was recorded in a 'notebook of
"Field notes". This information helped us to contextualize our study,
cement it and corroborate the 'in-depth interviews.'

The "in-depth interviews" were conducted individually with each young person.
the sample. The interviews were finally conducted between the months of December 2001 and
August of the year 2002, applying the following interview guidelines:

1) Presentation: Describe yourself autobiographically (highlighting relevant facts)

that were marking him/her.

97
 2) Describir: ¿ Cómo y cuándo fue la primera vez que supo del punk? y ¿qué idea
he suggested from that experience?

3) Describir: ¿Cuándo y cómo se acercó a participar del punk? y ¿qué importancia

What did you attribute to that experience?

4) Describe the experience within punk that you are currently participating in:
Considering the journey taken since becoming initially involved and
rescuing, the personal changes and ideas that arose from their
participation.

5) Considering the current Chilean society (economic, political, cultural system)

and their participation within the punk context: Discuss the ideas of: Freedom, good
common, social participation and democracy.

Data analysis.

What called for this study was the perspective of today's young punks.
From this perspective, the analysis was developed based on the responses obtained.
from the 'in-depth interview' and observations made in the research
ethnographic (support material).
Based on the results of the interviews and observations, a ...
search for general thematic areas in relation to the study objectives and the guideline
from the interview, to then establish an analysis of similarities and differences. In this
At the moment, the data was worked with a double-entry table. Specifically, in the
the data analysis process of the "in-depth interviews" was carried out from the
next way:
Upon obtaining the transcription of each interview, a first analysis was conducted of the
data, to start organizing them, based on thematic areas arising from the subject's account
based on the topics proposed in our objectives, theoretical and methodological framework,
about the indicators: ideologies, practices, territories and the damaged social fabric in relation to the
Democracy, social participation, common good, and freedom133In order to obtain

133
These indicators and at the same time thematic axes were selected, as we believe they dimension and
directly involve our thesis: the topic of sociability, social interaction, the relationship with the
98
a "document - text"134possible to be analyzed and interpreted. After that, our
"text-document" was subjected to an analysis of similarities and differences, from logic
from a meaningful analysis (based on significant individual references and
shared), giving special attention to the shared references, as it is a
thesis oriented towards the collective production of emerging cultural identities within the
urban context. Consequently, the analysis and interpretation framework of the data
(double entry table), took the following form:

(For example) Topic: x

Youth of the sample References significant references significant
individuals shared

Throughout the process of analysis and interpretation of the data135(obtained from the
"in-depth interviews"), relationships between synchronic data began to be established
(interviews and observations) and the historical background of Punk, in the manner of
methodological triangulation

The final analysis of the data and the conclusions were aimed at providing
two-dimensional account:

First of all, to account for the production of identity and culture (in terms of
cultural identity) that a group of young people related to punk are carrying out
activist character. Based on the selection of the thematic areas found in each
youth speech, we analyze with our basic indicators, ideologies, practices
and territories, their respective significant repertoires in relation to our objective number 2:
Analyze the meanings that these young people construct of punk. In relation to the

"other" and the establishment of social ties; due to the daily use given within public discourse of the
political party and government entities.
134
Part of the 'document - text' and analysis material is presented in the second part of our thesis.
as a descriptive substrate of relevant data (from the subjects).
135
It is worth remembering that our research placed its emphasis on 'in-depth interviews.'
(conducted with the young people in the sample), therefore, the role of 'direct and participant observation' was
support the analysis and interpretation of those data.
99
 Specific objective No. 3: Analyze the conceptions that these young people develop of the
current Chilean society was observed from the indicators: common good,
social participation, democracy and freedom.

Secondly, with the material obtained from the previous objectives, space was made for the
reflective exercise to project the scope of this punk micro cultural identity
activist, regarding the current Chilean society of the 'damaged social fabric'. The development
This objective was integrated - as part - into the item of the conclusions (as
we point out within the section of the introduction.

These two dimensions were worked from the interpretative perspective that
Clifford Geertz develops, therefore the analysis of culture consists of unraveling
structures of meaning and determine their social field and scope, distinguishing the
different structures of interpretation (description and dense analysis of structures
subjective and latent meanings) that intervene in the studied context regarding what
"expressed" by the subjects through what is "spoken" (discourse) and "acted" (behavior).

X. THE TECHNIQUES AND INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION

EMPLOYEE INFORMATION.

1. Bibliographic research. Access to written sources (press, magazines, archives of

microfilm press, youth "fanzine" publications as living sources136,
information from the Internet. Historical background was recorded about the social context
actual through specific bibliography.

2. Open and semi-structured interviews: They were used both in the work in
land like when consulting the living sources.

136
Interview with experts or individuals who provide relevant information for the study.

100
3. Participant and direct observation: Participated in some activities carried out by
the youth and the context related to them, recording data in an etic manner in the
observation.

4. 'In-depth interviews': They were conducted with the selected young people, putting
emphasis on lived narratives to highlight the constructions of meanings and
meanings that they produce, from an emic approach. A guideline was used
interview to guide the discussion towards the topics mentioned in the objectives of the
research

101
 FIRST PART.

Punk as part of the heterodoxies

102
XI. HETERODOXIES AND PUNK.

From this thesis research, we argue from a theoretical point of view that
Punk has resonance and origin in the idea behind what is called Heterodoxies.
Heterodoxies arise from the manifestation of two tendencies considered per se
for Fernando Savater137one of them is Orthodoxy, understood as the aspiration to the
identity founded on heritage, unchangeable customs, and social tradition, whose
social reach is sustained by the preservation of tradition, social conventions, the
social structure and a type of historicity tending towards the cyclical and repetitive138elements
that define Orthodoxy as a kind of 'social and communal impulse for
excellence, the desire to merge into the welcoming and protective indistinction of a collective
unanimous139.
One of the functions of Orthodoxy in society would be to establish and concretize the
social and creative spirit of the human being since without it "the spirit would not achieve
solidify in no lasting form nor exert its founding influence beyond some
days or of a generation140that is to say, on one hand, orthodoxy would fulfill a function of
accumulation of knowledge and experiences allowing for advancement, social progress and,
On the other hand, it would be a social mechanism for the concentration and crystallization of forms, norms,

customs and ideologies aimed at hegemonizing society.

Orthodoxy along with the concept of Heterodoxy that occupies this section, are part of
of two 'essential' trends for human action, they are two trends that
the dialectical way defines the tasks of one and the other, although the social forms
they are crystalizing into this trend which is Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy is being defined
in plural, since the ways of disagreeing with the demonstrations of the
Orthodoxy is many.

137
Heterodoxies and Countercultures
S.A., Barcelona, Spain, 1989.
138
In the idea presented by the classic ethnographic descriptions of traditional and rural societies.
139
Savater, F.; De Villena, Luis Antonio, Op. Cit., p. 11
140
The same place.
103
 In this way, the desire for rupture and the evocation of individuals towards a type
of disengagement from their society and culture in the hands of a demand for 'selfishness', it is the

the trend of Heterodoxy that Fernando Savater considers as the 'intimate necessity of
asserting one's own and unrepeatable individual difference, the vocation to found a world with
our peculiar will141In this need to assert the own and unrepeatable
The difference is that actions to break with the considered social symbols arise.
orthodox; for this, other symbols will affirm such a rupture and such a desire to constitute symbols
that support the rupture, since we consider culture from its symbolic nature.
Now, as mentioned earlier, the term 'Heterodoxies' is referred to in
plural since there are various ways to express disagreements, the break with what
established, regulated and unchallenged, from the field of art, through politics and
religion or with everything. In every human social sphere, this impulse is present and the
examples are within the annals of human history; to cite a few: in the
Renaissance with the so-called Utopians and Skeptics, as is the case with Erasmus of
Rotterdam, at the height of the Christian religious schism, does not side with either.
these groups and from a humanist and Christian perspective present their ideas on the
human responsibility within divine creation since both positions
Protestants and Catholics configured the human being as a pre-defined project;
On the other hand, Thomas More was writing his "Utopia" of a totalitarian nature and Etienne de la

Boétie wondered why men accept to obey one, whatever his

legitimacy, before preferring to be independent and free?, in his work called 'Discourse of
the voluntary servitude.” Or the sect of English heretics of the 16th century called
"Ranters" (Vociferantes), pursued by the authorities for their satirical opinions,
blasphemous, to the ecclesial authority of the time, as they tried to restore to
practice the sense of the "primitive church" of the first Christians.
Before these last ones, there were also the medieval heretics and later,
Thomas Munzer advocating from a radical Protestantism 'The kingdom of God in the
earth,” N. Copernicus, etc. In short, countless cases with which we cannot deviate.
the attention of this thesis. It suffices to say that in every era and society, many were

141
Ibid. P. 12
104
persecuted, tortured, stigmatized by those who dominated and wished to maintain their
orthodoxy and on the other hand, many who broke and wished to break with certain
powers, cultural norms, and social regulations.
In summary for our thesis, Heterodoxies are the product of a mechanism
constant that exerts "cuts" and "breaks" with certain areas of life
human or with the totality of them, establishing symbols and meanings as a taking of
materialized position in the idea of "break" that provides the trend called
Heterodoxy. A break that implies a disconnection from the whole or part of the machinery.
social, what can be identified in the divergent symbolic expressions before the
official symbols, instituted and hegemonic of Orthodoxy. For each Orthodoxy,
various forms of break and divergence (aesthetic, ideological, economic, cultural,
etc.). In the same way, what is heterodox may eventually settle down as
dogma and becomes orthodoxy that dominates society or some area of it; for
example, the case of science and its origins of persecution by the inquisitors of
the church, by revealing certain truths that contradicted the theocentric truth
imperant, and that later becomes a worldview already established in the
society in a categorical manner, as well as, within the same science, are presented
breakthroughs as emerging scientific paradigms.
Finally, an Orthodoxy can also become a Heterodoxy, such is the case
for example, from the current resurgence of neo-Nazi movements in several countries (before,
totalitarianism established in some societies), appealing to a type of nationalism
anti-globalization neoliberal capitalism.
Ultimately, what the Heterodoxies express - in accordance with what has been indicated
by Fernando Savater - it is a need for rupture that stimulates a type of search for
to build a particular view of the world, often opposed to the current one. A type
of rupture that involves individuals and groups. In summary,
its various materializations and significations and as will be seen later, punk
present this breaking component.

105
1) Some Relevant Heterodox Manifestations Prior to Punk:
Between Social Philosophies, Vanguard and Underground.

Social Philosophies:

Within the concept of heterodoxy -as we have specified- there is a place for the idea
of rejection of the human being in the face of certain situations of an orthodox, imposing nature, and it is

more, a cry to transform those situations. In that regard, anarchism, as

social doctrine, ideas and momentum developed by its various practitioners and methodologies
during the nearly 150 years of existence, it is linked with these heterodox expressions
through its sense of disruption, against an orthodox order, represented in the plot
historical of capitalist society, as well as of any oppressive form of existence in
society.

The case of Anarchism142

So... freedom, equality, justice, free determination of individuals and

collectives; expressions that are not foreign to the anarchist crusade to forge in a way
essential, a material and spiritual transformation of the historical human being, rescuing
material and spiritual elements that have benignly preceded the condition
human. A search for forms of freedom, equality, and justice for all individuals,
definitely transcending the strictly legal; that is to say, a socio-cultural context
founded on these premises and not as an expression of a social contract, rather, in unison
of individual and collective productive forces continuously expanding their
will of self-determination in order to establish a social, cultural and
economic governed by the 'non-exploitation of human beings by human beings'.

142
Given that our case study is framed within the punk realm linked to activism and the
Anarchism, in this section we will develop some general notions of this philosophy and ideology.
social.
106
 Well, in light of the various determinations and oppressions experienced by the being
social and historical human, a sign, a sense of rejection has risen in the form of
individual and collective rebellion aimed at a cosmogony of ethics
revolutionary, either due to the abuses of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt, as in the
disobedience to the gods in the legend of Prometheus, or against labor conditions of
workers in industrial societies and those on the path to industrialization of the early
20th century. Well then, what is anarchism as a historical fact about?
social doctrine?. As the professor and doctor in philosophy, Ángel Cappelletti, rightly points out,
anarchism as a philosophy and ideology "was born in the first half of the 19th century. Just like
Marxism, therefore, assumes the French Revolution, the rise of the bourgeoisie, the
formation of the working class, the birth of industrial capitalism143, detaching
therefore, the anarchist doctrine arises and expands in the context of the working class of
general way, but it is not exclusive to her, as it also integrates and represents "a
ideology of the oppressed and exploited classes as such, as long as they are capable of
free oneself without oppressing or exploiting other classes144, as suggested by Professor Cappelletti
citing the work of A. Meltzer and Sturt Christie (Anarchism and class struggle, Buenos
Aires, 1971, p. 32). In this regard, the author adds that 'although all classes can be'
revolutionary and produce great changes in society, only the productive classes
they can be libertarian because they do not need to exploit others145Outline proposed by
the French Pierre Proudhon (1809-1865), one of the first ideologues within the range
from socialist perspectives146from the beginnings and mid-19th century that developed a body
doctrinaire around anarchism, as testified by the sociologist Pierre Ansart in his
study on Proudhonian work and the emergence of anarchism:

143
Cappelletti, Ángel: The Anarchist Ideology. First edition Tropics Collection, Alfadil Ediciones S.A.
Caracas/ Barcelona. Spain, 1985. Page 7
144
Cappelletti, Angel: Op. Cit. Page 13
145
Ibid.
146
He is often identified within academic circles and from the perspective of historical science as Pierre Proudhon.
part of the 'utopian socialists' to make the distinction from 'scientific socialism' (developed from
of Marxist thought).
107
 The anarchist revolution can only be made by the producers. As
Proudhon will not stop repeating it during the Revolution of 1848, it is
radically impossible for anarchism to be realized by a decision of
State. It is possible for a communist society to be instituted by a
revolution "from above", since it must effectuate submission of
individuals and their integration into a unique form. On the contrary, a
anarchist society that frees the plurality of individual wills
it can only be fulfilled <<from below... by the initiative of the masses>>.
It cannot be established by the thoughtless force of a mob either.
occasionally unified in a paroxysmal integration. It cannot be
carried out but by the popular 'instinct': demands the 'concert' of the
workers, their reason and their experience, just as it demands from them the
understanding of their action. It must be done without a boss because the producer does not
he can abdicate his will in favor of the chief, or, as Proudhon says, of a
<<idol>>, but it has no reason to exist in an anarchist society147

That is to say, one of the basic ideas derived from anarchism - in light of
mentioned text - it is their stronghold of << non-exploitation of human by human
human>>, hence its libertarian sense opposed to the present hierarchization and authoritarianism
in state social and political systems, of class, gender, etc. This expression of
permanent opposition that arises, is not only against the capitalist regime and its various
forms but also towards political and economic practices considered totalitarian (such as
the Marxist socialisms of Leninist, Stalinist character, etc.), due to the replacement of
one authoritarian order for another (in the economic, political, and cultural aspects).

Anarchism advocates achieving the well-being of humanity through

abolition of private property, based on the capitalist appropriation system of the
resources, services, and products such as raw materials, means of production,
etc., which the owners and power groups sheltered by the political system make of it,
legal and economic legitimized and safeguarded by the institution of the State (as of the
various institutions that emerge from it).

147
Pierre Ansart citing in his analysis the Proudhonian work in Ansart, Pierre: "The birth of
Anarchism. Press Universitaires de France, 1970, only edition in Spanish, Amorrortu editors, 1973.
Argentina. Page 224.
108
 The general proposals of classical anarchist thinkers148himself
they translate in a charge against all expression of authoritarianism and dogmatism built

148
It is noted that the following descriptions of some artisans of classical anarchism are basic and
they deserve a detailed and extensive study to fully account for their proposals, interconnections and
evolutions over time.
The individualist ideas of Max Stirner (1806-1856, his original name was Gaspar Schmidt) that place the
individual over the State, its rejection of state socialisms and capitalism, proposing the 'union
of egoists,” where the individual would freely associate to obtain freedom and satisfy their desires.
According to Stirner, these "unions" will multiply the means of the individual and ensure their individual property.
alibi, which implies that solidarity is the means to stop the abuse and concentration of power.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) denies private property, asserting individual property as
condition of social life. The right to occupy the land (resources and means of production) must be
extensive for everyone without establishing ownership. Due to the resulting value of the fruit of labor of the
individuals(time and effort), they have equal salaries; in accordance with this, a system is used to
exchange of products that are organized around equivalence, without allowing for profit and
profit. This system is governed by the principle of 'free association' between producers and consumers (of
Proudhon underlies the idea of anarchist federalism, a kind of system that is organized 'from the bottom up.'
up>>, from free and local associations of producers/ consumers, going through local federations,
regional and national confederations until establishing an organized system in that way that is
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) advocates for an economic system based on
collectivism where the land and tools are common and affordable for all, but the fruit of
work must be in proportion to the effort and quality of each person's work (under the system: from each one)
according to their ability; to each according to their merits). Piotr Kropotkin (1842-1921) takes an anarcho- position
communist who tries to completely suppress the notion of salary present in the two previous authors (in
a non-capitalist format); for him, not only must the land and means of production be common but also
also the product, since the distribution system is oriented according to the actual needs of each
member of society. Enrico Malatesta (1853-1932) gathers these previous elements and decides to go
experiencing them in the field and in practical action. George Sorel (1846-1922) stimulates practical action.
within the union world through anarcho-syndicalism. And finally, the educational experience and
anarchist pedagogy of the 'Modern School' of Ferrer I. Guardia (1858-1909) and related expressions
towards a primitive and anticlerical Christianity inspired by literary and practical work (their experience
pedagogical of Iasnaïa Polaina) by Leon Tolstoy (1828-1910). These authors are joined by countless others
personalities (through time) that contribute with specific and interconnected themes that range from
amor, la familia, la mujer, antimilitarismo, apoliticismo, individualismo, pacifismo, ecologismo,
assemblerism, violent action, art, science, technology, Christianity, anti-theism, health, urbanism
psychology, libertarian municipalism, etc.
109
about the concentration of power (symbolized in the State) and the exploitation of human beings
by the human being. Anarchist doctrine does not deny all power or authority as it analyzes
Cappelletti is rather a "denial of permanent power and established authority or,
in other words, denial of the State149for example, "anarchists may admit
perfectly the intrinsic authority of the physician regarding the disease and to the
public health in general or that of the agronomist concerning crop cultivation: they cannot
to accept, on the other hand, that the doctor or the agronomist, by virtue of having been chosen by the

popular suffrage or taxes by the force of money or arms, decide

permanently about anything, substitute each one's will, determine the
destiny and the life of everyone150This denial of the concentration of hierarchical power is

symbolized by the classical readings of anarchism in the figure of the State (mainly
for its legitimizing role of private property), capital and religion; therefore, the
anarchism "rejects the State, which is the one that imposes authority in the political sphere, capital
in the economic aspect and religion as a moral authority" (Bouché Peris et al., 1998:
131).
Anarchism supports the 'suppression of political power and promotes the establishment of
a singular socialism, just like self-management and the abolition of the State” (Ibid:131). A
difference of Marxism "the anarchists know... that a revolution aiming to put an end
with class differences unresolved while simultaneously ending (and no later) with power
politician and the force of the State is inevitably condemned not only to consolidate the
State and assign it the entirety of the rights, but also to engender a new class
dominant151In response to this with Cappelletti, we argued precisely with the following
full reference on this subject analyzed in your text "The Anarchist Ideology":

In one word, anarchists do not deny power but that coagulation of

power that is called State. They try that the government, as a political power
transcendent, becomes immanent, dissolving into society.
The society that all anarchist thinkers distinguish
carefully of the State, it is for them a natural reality, so natural

149
Cappelletti, Angel: Op. Cit. Page 16
150
Ibid.
151
Cappelletti, Angel: Op. Cit. Page 18
110
 at least like the language. It is not the result of a pact or a contract.
It is not, therefore, something contingent, accidental, or fortuitous.
The State, on the contrary, represents a degradation of that reality.
natural and native. It can be defined as the hierarchical organization and
coercive of the society. It always implies a permanent and rigid division.
between rulers and the ruled.
This division is obviously related to the division of classes and, in such
sense, implies the birth of private property.
Marxism generally agrees with this last thesis. But a
a serious problem arises in this regard and its solution returns to
divide Marxists and anarchists.
For the first, private property and the emergence of social classes
gives rise to political power and the State. This is nothing but the organ or the
instrument with which the dominant class secures its privileges and
safeguards your property. Political power thus becomes a consequence
of economic power. This arises first and gives rise to that one. There is, for
thus, a linear and unidirectional relationship between the two: economic power
(class society) ➞ political power (State).
For anarchists, on the other hand, it is true that the State is the organ of the
dominant class and that economic power generates political power, but
this is but a moment in the genetic process: it is also true that the
the ruling class is an organ of the State and that political power generates it
economic power. The relationship here is circular and, undoubtedly, dialectical (to
despite the fact that some anarchists like Kropotkin reject all forms of
dialectics)

Economic power (class society)

Political power (State)152

The anthropology that emanates from anarchism "places the freedom of the individual in
first place and, therefore, there is no limitation to it. This freedom is understood
as the dominance over external things, based on respectful observation of the
nature" (Bouché Peris et al.:131), advocating for a spirit of cooperation and
solidarity among human beings, from an ethics arising from the individual's will
aware of their own social, cultural, psychological, etc. determinants.
In order for the anarchist experience to take place from this anthropology, a
emphasis on direct action on society. This implies the direct connection of
individual with a specific practice: propaganda, development of experiences
self-managed, strikes, etc., but fundamentally, direct action implies the non-
disassociation of the anarchist subject with their practice and experimentation in the reality of the

111
anarchist proposals. Hence their rejection of representative democracies
parliamentarians, since "anarchists have always opposed democracy
representative and to parliamentarism because they consider that any delegation of power by
part of the people inevitably leads to the constitution of a separate and directed power
against the people153In response, anarchists propose direct democracy as part
from anarchist direct action.
Continuing, direct action has a close connection with self-management that by
antonomasia expresses the anarchist practice and methodology regarding its project of
society: "the self-management that anarchists talk about is integral self-management, which
it involves not only the possession of the land and the tools of work by the
labor community and the economic and administrative management of the company in the hands of the
workers' assembly154this comprehensive self-management supports the need for
organize world society from an interdependence that goes from the micro to the
macro. Self-management can start as an experience of local autonomy of a
productive context in the hands of the producers, but this, as an aspiration to a
Anarchist-type organization requires the participation of a totality, since the
self-management ultimately represents a kind of organizational system of society by the
as centralized power disappears, so does the State and all forms of hierarchy
social organization. Self-management promotes individual freedom without internal coercion and
externals within a specific social context, where individual and collective action
they lead political, administrative, social, economic management, dismantling the centers
of power and the exploitation suffered by producers in the form of exploitation and
alienation within the capitalist economic organization. Self-management does not exist,
anarchists warn, without the end of the sense of capitalist property.
Anarchists have played a significant role in the development of the labor movement.
international and the struggles of producers, from the mid-19th century until the
Current events: The Paris Commune (1871) as a place of anarchist reflection, The Martyrs
of Haymarket (May 1, 1886) as an expression of the organized movement of the

152
Cappelletti, Angel: Op. Cit. Pages 17-18
153
Cappelletti, Angel: Op. Cit. Page 27
154
Cappelletti, Angel: Op. Cit. Pages 38-39
112
workers and revolutionary unionism (influential in the early decades of the century
XX in Chile), the Kronstadt uprising (1921) and the anarchists of the Russian Revolution
as I reject the direction taken by the Bolshevik Revolution, the Spanish Revolution
(1936) as a space for the concrete experimentation of self-management through the
collectivization of some productive sectors, and to this day as an influential part
of the anti-globalization movement.
In the case of Chile, we have evidence of a proto-anarchism in 'the Society of'
the Equality” by Francisco Bilbao, to the mutual aid societies, press
anarchist, protest and mobilizations against the enactment of the Military Service Law
Mandatory (1900), IWW affiliates, anarcho-syndicalist organizations,
alternative and countercultural communities such as the "Tolstoyan colonies" of artisans and
artists (early 20th century), the strike and occupation of 170 leather factories and of
Footwear (July 1955), up to the influence of anarchists in the formation of the CUT and the
PEACE155

The Avant-Gardes

The Avant-gardes set their precedent in the early 19th century, mainly
in Europe. This term aims to encompass all those artistic manifestations and
also policies, philosophical, social and cultural that announced a certain spirit
revolutionary for its time: the ideals of the so-called Utopian Socialists, the Commune
from Paris, Romanticism, Modernism, the so-called Damned Poets (Charles
Baudelaire, A. Rimbaud, etc.
Although the term avant-garde comes from military strategic jargon, used to
to designate the 'beachhead' of a troop, a small and select group of soldiers that
advancing positions in enemy territory, it begins to be used properly in the field
cultural-arthritic towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. For that reason, if the term

avant-garde provokes a certain ambiguity in its use, the basis of the avant-garde can be

155
We refer to this based on the text by: Ortiz, Oscar and Vitale, Luis: 'Anarchist Chronicle of
The Forgotten Subversion / Contribution to a History of Anarchism in Latin America. 1st edition,
Historical Collection Osvaldo Bayer, Ediciones Espíritu Libertario. Santiago de Chile, 2002.
113
understand in the already mentioned idea of rupture, rupture not necessarily with currents or
past expressions but with present and situated manifestations, for example within
the same field (for example, the artistic field and within it: in the area of theater).
It is a break with the conventional representations of art and culture; in the case of
art, is an opposition and a tenacious struggle against the institution of hegemonic art and

monolithically settled.
The French theater professor and essayist Léonard Pronco, in his work 'Theater of'
Avant-Garde (Noel Editions, Paris 1962, p. 13) states this idea of 'break' when quoting
French critic Bernard Dort, whose perspective holds that the avant-garde 'is a rupture with
the bulk of the <<troops>>, a rejection also of discipline and of the common aspect.
That can be exemplified and distinguished in the post-war Theater or Anti-Theater,
especially in France, in the works of Romanian Eugène Ionesco, works in which
express, with a tone of provocation and rebellion, a break against the structures
traditional theater practices of the era (of a naturalistic and realistic style)156. Al regarding,
we can mention the avant-garde theater developed in the 1950s by Eugène
Ionesco - among others - presented in his work 'The Bald Soprano', the isolation and
social discommunication and the fears of the time, in a completely different way from the
traditional performances: 'the intrigue was absent; the unusual emerged from the everyday;'
the language - made of slogans, of received ideas, of clichés - revealed the absence
of the inner life of that man today who no longer knows how to be himself, and who, when transforming

in anything makes the prevailing world one of the impersonal. They contemplated a
attempt at abstract theater, pure drama, antithematic, anti-ideological, anti-socialist-realist
anti-philosophical, anti-psychological boulevard, anti-bourgeois, and rediscovered a new theater
free. Free, that is to say liberated, that is to say without commitment, instrument of search: the only

that can be sincere, exact and bring to light the hidden evidence” (Glukman, Marta;
1965: 8).

156
One of the forerunners of the artistic avant-garde and in this case of theater is Alfred Jarry with his work 'Ubo'
Rey
burgess of his time and the realistic and naturalistic forms of stage drama.

114
 So, it is understood that the notion of vanguard, in general, calls for
dissidence, to provocation and experimentation of new ideas and forms,
especially in art, but also in other fields (with other nuances). In the case of the
art, a confrontation with the institution of art and its rigid forms develops.
elitist perpetuation. This call for dissent is the clear break with the institution of
current art, its arrangement and its forms of circulation and administration. At the same time, this
break, in the transgressors, highlights a self-awareness of the subversive role that
they acquire their works and productions for the moment, based on the paradigms
communicational, aesthetic, and prevailing scenographic.
In this way, it is possible that in the history of the avant-garde we find some
manifestations connected in some way with punk, as will be seen later.
For the moment, some general considerations will be presented, of vanguards that
they present, from the perspective of this thesis, some closeness to Punk. It should be noted that
Although these vanguards are observable within the field of art, all kinds of
manifestations - in this case artistic - are directly or indirectly linked to it
political, social, etc.
As a result of the passage of the different avant-gardes, a break was forged in what the
The institution of art was traditionally considered, and a broader perception was established.
of what art can become.
Some Avant-gardes:

Futurism.

One of these artistic vanguards is Futurism, a movement born in the

the early 1900s in Italy, as a result of a series of manifestos. The first of them published
in the newspaper 'Le Figaro', in Paris (February 20, 1909) by F.T. Marinetti, one of his
most well-known founders and ideologists. These manifestos aimed to transform the
expressions of art (literature, music, painting) in the name of the frenzy of modern life,
the rise of machines and above all, the aggressiveness and recklessness, expressing thereby
a desire for glory from a battle won against existence. Likewise, it opposed the

115
melancholy and the idea of defeat inscribed in certain expressions of Romanticism such as
literary movements that exalted human melancholy and despair.
Here lies a latent idea of grandiloquence and 'triumphant entry of the army
Napoleonic after crushing his enemies.
Technically, futurism calls, in literature, to materialize this frantic existence.
modern through "words in freedom" that invited the elimination of syntax, punctuation
of the qualifying parts of speech (adjective, adverb). Put into practice in the theater
futurist, the idea of surprising the public by any means. For example, by reducing the
idea exposed for just a few seconds in the narration of the scene, that is, kinds of flashes
daily life as if it were the photography of scenes of a striking nature.
Futurism in his work shows a continuous projection towards the future
through a strong will to break with tradition.
He used advertising techniques to express his moral content and
rupturists. Introduced new meanings to the idea of space in the field of the arts
figurative. It finally influenced some artistic and avant-garde movements such as the
Dadaism, Surrealism.
Filipo Tomaso Marinetti157its founder approached the nationalism expressed in the
emerging fascism in Italy, through its writings, and these ideas about aggression and the
speed, the capricious triumph, the materialized machine in the automobile, translated into
exaltation of violence and the glorification of war as indicated in the manifesto
"War, the only hygiene of the world" (1915). Not all futurists adhered to this.
ideological conception (fascism), but explicitly, futurism exalted these
themes of triumph and the cultivation of aggressive forms, expressed in a scandalous manner
in their works, in the streets and cafes of that time.

157
Other exponents are: C. Gononi, A. Pazzechi, Carrá, and Russolo.
116
Dada.

Dadaism, originated in Switzerland and the United States, and especially initiated in
Zurich (1916) then advanced towards Germany and France.
In Europe, especially, a state of shock was manifested, the result of the
"brutalities" committed during World War I and on the other hand, a society of the
time, oscillating to hypocrisy.
In Zurich in 1916, artists (poets, musicians, painters) and philosophers from different
origins, and influenced by other currents, they settle in a cabaret-café, called
Cabaret Voltaire, creating the first manifestos from there and publishing a magazine
called Dada.
Dadá, a term of confusing and imprecise origin, but that is only understandable
analyzing the work of the Dadaists. A theory about the term focuses its attention on the
first sounds emitted by a newborn; another version by Hugo Ball and Tristan Tzara
(philosopher and poet, initiators of Dada) points out that when they open a dictionary with the edge
from a knife, the first term that appeared to them is "da-da" and another theory refers to the
languages spoken by some of these immigrants and refugees who attended and gathered in
the space of the Dadaists in Zurich (Cabaret Voltaire), mainly those of Russian origin,
since when speaking their language they emitted a characteristic sound similar to 'da-da', when expressing
your statement (yes, yes).
Tristan Tzara, its founder, in response to the reality of his time and alongside his
companions, they develop a language opposite to any kind of aesthetic norm, this
through provocation and aggression as the driving force of their creations, where the discourse
expressive moves in a form of illogical and incongruent patches with each other, combinations
cursed objects, symbols that suggest to the audience a sense of absurdity and
shock with their own structures that determine how to see the world. That is to say, expressiveness
Dadaist mobilizes in "spasms" of forms, texts, colors, figures that when being
framed within the Dada manifestation, they also refuse, producing the idea of
absurd, a metaphor of the very society of the time.
Painting, music, poetry, under the principles of "nothing is logical" and "everything is

"allowed," metaphorically translates the idea of a nihilistic relativism of every principle,

117
in the face of reason, the advancement of technology, the incoherence of a society that cries out for the

modernity as a condition of human progress and its contradiction in ruthless use

to destroy the people (World War I).
The techniques of photomontage and muralism became known with the Dadaists.
to express their wishes.
Ultimately, Dada used art as a means of provocation to confront the law,
religion and orthodoxies (the prevailing art) in general.
Around 1919, the group disperses, influencing other movements like surrealism.

Surrealism.

Surrealism, as a term, was used by the poet Apollinaire in 1917. In

1924 André Breton founded the surrealist movement with the publication of the 'Surrealist Manifesto'; this movement

literary and pictorial influenced by Freudian theories about the autonomous world of the
dreams and the subconscious, revealing imagination and desires before hegemonic logic
of art since the Renaissance.
Surrealism expresses a rebellion and a transgression of norms and the
conformity of artistic forms and expressions.
Since its inception, surrealism transcends the borders of Europe and reaches America.
stimulating the emergence of sister movements until 1958.
Surrealism, in addition to being an avant-garde or artistic movement, is presented as a
leftist political commitment, for example, in the case of France, distinctions can be made
two groups associated with the French Communist Party (PCF) and Trotskyism. This closeness does not
It is well regarded by the French Communist Party and Stalinism.
Within surrealism, a dissident group also emerges (a kind of
heterodoxy) of its classical current led by A. Bretón, refers to the COBRA group.

The Situationist International.

In the creation of the Situationist International, groups and ideas from the
International and European artistic vanguard, such as: The Psychogeographical Committee of London,
the COBRA group, -primarily- the Italian section of the Anti-Experimental Group
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functionalist of the International Movement for an Imaginary Bauhaus, The International
Lyricist, the work of Guy Debord "The Society of the Spectacle" and Raoul Vanergen
Treatise on the art of living for younger generations, in the candor of some reflections
developed at the Congress of Experimental Trends for a Revolutionary Front
in the Culture, held at the end of 1956 in Alba, Italy.
The Situational International was formed between 1957 and 1972 (in France as well as in other
parts of Europe and the United States), guided by Guy Debord and Sanguinetti, and a
set of individualities related to the world of architecture, philosophy,
urbanism, poetry, political activism, criticism, aesthetics, literature.
They start from questions and criticisms of post-war capitalist society, oriented
to the consequent "lockdown" in the cities of the developed world and the third world, to the
eminence of consumer society, and regarding the role of the human being within culture,
facing a reality of their existence that is increasingly foreign, the product of the constitution of a

paradigm of the representation of life events, managed by the

expert systems and scientists in the hands of the dominant elites.
The Situationists identify the limitations that human beings must face in order to
its full and creative realization in a society of capitalist economy and rationality
that which is not objective is not scientific”), supported by the Cartesian model, whose effect
it provokes a 'separation' of the world, increasingly noticeable between the person and their life; a

dichotomy and "scientific" objectification of human life, which positions the human being as
my observer of social events, and likewise, of my own actions and
creations. Since capitalism, backed by scientific objectification as it states
Heidegger, following the line of Nietzsche - Gianni Vattimo indicates to us - "has shown that
conceiving being as a fundamental principle and reality as a rational system of
causes and effects is merely a way of extending to all being, the model of
scientific <<objectivity>>, of a mindset that, in order to dominate and organize
rigorously all things must be reduced to the level of pure appearances
measurable, manipulable, substitutable, ultimately reducing even to this level to the
man himself, his interiority, his historicity..." (Vattimo, 1994: 16).
Guy Debord identifies this separation and division in the human being, (separation
theoretical and practical, separation of life and world), within the capitalist consumer society
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with the notion of 'Spectacle', and specifically identifies this type of society as
The Society of the Spectacle. A social stadium and at the same time a mechanism of objectification that

supported by consumer society, advertising, information technology, etc., goes

wearing down the malnourished active participation of the subject within their own processes and
social processes. An acclimatization to a state of passivity and contemplation, of
my receptor of social facts and events, which are also being assembled
and systematically targeted by the system and power as a new form of
consciousness for human beings. Consciousness centered on the guidelines of contemplation, the
to see, observing and in the isolation within a historical and social becoming. For example,
we can appreciate that in the relationship that the viewer establishes with the programs
from television broadcast through your television set installed inside your house.
And another related and telling example: the live broadcasts of the last two
wars in Iraq and the attacks on the Twin Towers (September 11, 2001 in New
York United States). One is and is not in the fact, but lives a certain emotionality in the face of
the events within their home, there is also the game and the doubt of what is real and
unreal; in both cases the separation and the awareness of seeing and passivity are at play.
Similarly, in the following quote from the brief description that Noam gives
Chosmky on the current democratic system and power, making reference to the essays of the
democratic theory of the progressive intellectual Walter Lippman, a quote in which it is possible
observe the quality of the spectator of events and passive receiver of the
decisions, mounted as a mere illusion of democratic participation through the
elections

... for a democracy to function well, the decision-making power must remain
limited to a small elite of "responsible men". It should not
no intrusion of <<ignorant and meddlesome intruders>>,
term that applies to the general public, whose "function" is that of mere
spectator, without participation in the political system. Although it is allowed for the
an audience that knows what is happening, and that lends its newspaper support to one
or another member of the ruling class, what they call <<elections>>.
Then the citizens return to passivity and obedience.158

158
Chomsky, Noam: 'Politics and Culture at the End of the 20th Century. An Overview of Current Trends.' 2nd
reprint, Editorial Ariel S.A., Barcelona, Spain, 1996. Page 23
120
 The notion of spectacle suggests to us the idea that society, the
Social events and daily life are, in a way, shaped by a
unprecedented scenic machinery that breaks into human consciousness and its
way of conceiving events.
The Situationists aim to return active participation to human beings.
regarding their lives, and also to point out that there is no theory without practice, in the sense that
the experience is carried out together and not separately.
The Situationists want people to take an active role in the
revolutionary transformation of culture through the construction of situations, under
the assumption that human action constructs experience and senses of the
events and facts. In this way 'to build a world for us and not for the
power and the system”, no longer fading away in the reproduction of given events
in pursuit of the continuous construction of the system and its reproduction.

On its part, the system reinforces in people the idea that it is an illusion.
to go against, and that the subject's action on events, the facts and the
objects will never lead to a transformation of the order of things.
Situacionism, through the everyday observation of human behavior
and the geographical environment, proposes the construction of new situations and meanings in the
human behavior and its journey through the streets and spaces of the city. Proposals are made

redefine and reinvent spaces through what they call unitary urbanism,
using the available techniques and arts for their use in the integral composition of
middle.
The Situationists aim to build – but from the same people – new
situations and thus subvert the hegemonic order in all areas of human life
(political, artistic, familial, etc). Their rejection is absolute to what they consider the reflection
of a 'falsified and staged' reality, of which the everyday habits of beings
humans unconsciously contribute to perpetuating and expanding.
The Situationists are partly related to the student uprisings of
May of '68 in France.
Some definitions of the use of the Situationist International (International)
Situationist, 1975: 13 -14):
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a) Constructed situation: moment of life constructed concretely and deliberately for the
collective organization of a unitary environment and a game of events.

b) Situacionist: Everything related to the theory or practical activity of construction

situations. The one who is dedicated to building situations. Member of the International
Situationalist.

c) Situacionism: A meaningless term, abusively forged by derivation from the root

previous. There is no situationalism, which would mean a doctrine of interpretation of the
existing facts. The notion of situationism has been evidently conceived by the
antisituationalists.

d) Psychogeographic: Related to psychography. What manifests the direct action of the environment
about the activity.

e) Unified Urbanism: Theory of the use of the whole set of arts and techniques that converge in
the integral construction of an environment in dynamic combination with experiences of
behavior.

f) Culture: Reflection and prefiguration, at each historical moment, of the possibilities of

organization of daily life; composed of aesthetics, feelings, and customs
through which a community reacts to the life that is objectively given to it by
the economy. (We define this term only from the perspective of value creation, and not in
that of his teaching.)

Fluxus159

International movement that began in 1961, both in Europe and

United States, inspired by Dada. They seek a liberating artistic expression that is opposed to
the institutionality of art and tradition. It aims to make use of different languages and
understand these as a means, through various techniques and expressions like the
music, theater, poetry, painting, art actions, such as making posters, pamphlets,
movies, etc.; but all under an 'anti' sense (anti-music), directed towards the limit of
a total energetic experience that captivates, impresses, and infects the audience in the
participation of the action. They seek to create multiple reactions in people, to trigger
emotions and expressions through the idea of spill and flow of multiforms of
artistic expressions operating as a whole that flows before reality.

159
The last of the Avant-gardes that we present within this journey.
122
 In this movement, artists such as Vostell, Brecht, Dick Higgins, Al participate.
Hansen, La Monte Young, George Maciunas, among others; is also associated with this.
movement to the Japanese artist Yoko Ono (wife of John Lennon from the Beatles).

Rock

Rock as a socio-cultural phenomenon has its massive expression at the end of the
50', previously setting itself in the post-war (World War II) and going back to
its origins between the 1920s and 1940s, significantly in the United States.
Rock, as a musical and stylistic expression, emerges from the fusion and synthesis between
gospel, blues, and rhythm & blues from urban suburbs and rural areas, inhabited by
people of color, and, on the other hand, country & western music from the southern United States,
as noted by the scholar Fabio Salas (1998), "Rock has a proletarian origin" and to this
it can be added -on one hand- that its root is within an ethnic group
socially, culturally, politically, and economically discriminated against, as has happened with the

colored population in the United States.

The rise of Rock was known through musical and stylistic expression.
called Rock & Roll in the 1950s, primarily due to the dissemination carried out to
through the media of that time, mainly Radio. In the
expression of musicians both white and of color, although the latter were
reduced to the circuit of the black population and through the 'white translation' of this style
With interpreters like Elvis Presley, black artists became widely known.
Some precursors of Rock and Rock & Roll were Bob Diddley, Loui Jordan,
Chuck Berry, Fat Domino, Little Richard and white musicians like Bill Haley, Elvis
Presley, Pat Boone and others. Precisely, the roots of Rock are found in
Africa and it is brought by black slaves, then it is spread towards the end of the 19th century and

beginnings of the 20th century, in the religious music called Gospel, performed in the
Protestant churches of people of color, and from there to the streets of Chicago and the clubs of
Jazz (also in the '20s) and Blues from the '40s.

Black music has an obvious chaotic potential of sexual feeling, and

the rock of the people of color expressed in the form of dance has always been

123
 perceived by moralists as a threat to the codes of
respectable behavior. The censorship of the media gave
immediately note that Elvis Presley's rock 'n' roll was a form of
sexual exhibition. Black music, in summary, became a means to
make public the normally private expressions for teenagers
whites in the 1950s, but the institutions in which the musicians
Blacks always played, offering an atmosphere of risk and excitement.
promising; they offered the youth to lead them to the symbols of
rebellion" (Frith, Simon; 1983:19).

From the time described above until today, styles and expressions
musicals that have appeared are many, like movements and cultural expressions that
have developed around you.
The phenomenon of Rock is not only generational and limited to the youth world as
it is usually estimated, it is a situation that definitely transcends time and space. From the
in the same way, 'rock is the result of a constantly changing combination of
independent musical elements, each of which carries its own
cultural message" (Frith, Simon; 1983: 15). Moreover, Rock is a phenomenon that involves
cultural, economic, political aspects, etc. and that is manifested in phenomena
sociocultural such as the emergence of microcultures and countercultures (Frith, Simon; 1983)
as is the case with the hippie movement (or some of its most original and non-
marketed by the cultural industry), among others. Also, within the phenomenon of
Rock, we encounter two very important instances: on one hand, the corporate management that
it makes use of the cultural industry and on the other hand, the artistic and stylistic creation based on the

the author's own creative impulse.

Finally, Rock, being embedded within a free market society,
acquires a transnational character due to the large music industries that have
made from this expression a currency-generating product. Therefore, Rock
managed by this industry, acquires a globalizing influence on habits of
consumption of mass culture from different points of the planet. On the other hand,
regardless of the hegemonic management of the corporations associated with the business of
Music, rock, in general, is always present within popular culture; and
consequently, the different audiences and expressions of Rock have the ability to

124
create and territorialize with other meanings, the spaces occupied by the developed Rock
and promoted by the music industry.

Counterculture

The CCCS, in its studies of English youth groups, considers counterculture.

within a context of expression development and institution constitution
alternatives to hegemonic culture, primarily driven by the middle classes and
British universities, and in expressions developed in the 1960s in the United States
In England, like the Hippie movement, in opposition to the subcultures, which do not
they are necessarily contesting the dominant system and if they are, they are characterized by a
rather symbolic opposition. For scholars of the CCCS, youth subculture and
opposition to the dominant culture would mainly be composed of subjects from the class
worker.
Within the framework of the CCCS, the sociologist Bruce Cohen points out that: “A

counterculture is composed of groups that harshly challenge and reject the norms of
the dominant culture160And instead, the subculture 'is a group smaller than a
society, and it relates to the broader culture in the sense that it accepts various of the
norms of this; but the subculture is also distinguished by having some norms that it
are their own161
In another case, the term Counterculture is associated with anomic groups, under
variables such as crime, more in connection with a functionalist perspective. For
another part, as referenced by the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, the
Counterculture is related to movements that emerged in the 1950s (Beat Generation)
the 60s (the Hippies) and in cultural expressions that challenge the dominant culture.
For the Mexican playwright and writer José Agustín, in his book 'The Counterculture'
in Mexico" (1996), clarifies that in counterculture, the rejection of institutional culture
it does not come through political militancy, nor ideological doctrines, but rather many times

160
Cohen J. Bruce: "Introduction to Sociology". McGraw-Hill Publishing, Mexico. 1979. p. 26
161
Cohen J., Bruce Op Cit p. 26
125
In an unconscious way, a deep dissatisfaction is shown. There is something that does not
allows for full realization for the individual, for human groups. Something that walks
very bad, it cannot be. In situations, whether circumstantial or existential, the
counterculture generates its own media and becomes a body of ideas and signs of
identity that contains attitudes, behaviors, distinct languages, ways of being and dressing, and
in general, an alternative mindset and sensitivity to the prevailing system; of this
ways emerge options for a life, less limited by the general context. In the text
"The Counterculture in Mexico," the author points out that counterculture is also understood as -
in Sociology - in the form of alternative or resistance culture.
The meaning of the Counterculture, for this research, does not dismiss the conception of
the CCCS, but does not limit it to a social class factor. It considers the examples of
Hippie movement or historical manifestations like the heretics of the Middle Ages and the
characteristics provided by the Mexican writer and playwright José Agustín in his text
The Counterculture in Mexico.
So, the concept of Counterculture, for our thesis, is understood in the idea of
a cultural movement confronted with the established system and social values
dominant in that world; in one word, with the norm understood as unquestionable or
immovable162and from there, the emergence of 'the will of optimistic marginalization, the
possible search for happiness here and now - on earth -; the permanent desire to be
(also in intimacy) co-fraternal and free; that is to say, as the possibility of constituting
a type of alternative culture and institutions born from the community itself, because the
Counterculture in relation to hegemonic culture is constituted by subcultures and
social subgroups.
Therefore, the Counterculture is essentially an attempt to establish a distinct culture.
to the vivid, they are experiences that appear from time to time and disappear, but that
maintains as a project of social and cultural transformation within a constant
historical, from ancient Greece (for example, with the case of the Cynics) and within the
Western culture of the first world, with the case of hippie culture in its communal aspect and
collectivist; like other less known manifestations, from these last ones we can

162
Savater, Fernando, De Villena: Ibid. P.90
126
make reference to The MOVE Organization163, a group of Black activists - mostly
that lived in community164and had several locations within the United States from the years
70.
This organization has always been under the scrutiny of security departments.
North American; for them it meant one of the last bastions of the old movement.
Black Panthers165The fate of the MOVE has been threatened since 1971, and
especially on August 8, 1978 when the Philadelphia police along with the team
SWAT under the command of Mayor Frank Rizzo stormed the MOVE headquarters in Powelton Village.
violent manner. 9 people (men and women) from MOVE are detained and
sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison, are guilty of the death of a police officer,
crime that has not been proven to this day. Currently, they are still imprisoned. It is worth noting
that by the late '70s and '80s there were many racial disturbances as a result of the
police brutality against the Black community (especially in suburban areas)
from the big cities).

Underground

Similar to the Counterculture, the Underground is associated with the 1950s.

United States and the Beatnik Generation, and also with the 60s and early 70s
with the Pop Art artist, Andy Warhol and that world made up of artists, musicians,
photographers who populated the space called The Factory, among those known to the public
in general.

163
For more information: The Move Organization/PO Box 19709/ Philadelphia PA 19146/USA.
164
Based on collectivist ideologies close to anarchism and certain aspects of Rastafarianism.
165
By the way, the Black Panther organization of the 1960s was dismantled under surveillance and
FBI control and its counterinsurgency plan COINTELPRO, which aimed to dismantle and control the
youth activist movement, university, and anti-Vietnam War (from the '60s), that went beyond the
hands. An emblematic case is that of the African American journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu Jamal,
sentenced to death in 1982, after being accused of the strange murder of a police officer. Currently, his
Liberation has become a cause for many activists around the world.
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 The Underground is a whole concept, reflected in works like that of L.
Racionero in "Philosophies of the Underground" (1984), which the author refers to as "great
"Underground tradition" and it is characterized by two transcendent trends: "the search
of a worldwide solidarity and the short circuit of the lines of power, distribution,
production and information of authoritarian organizations166. In his analysis, Luis
Racionero connects the Underground with the so-called Western individualist philosophies:
from romanticism and its individual ethics, and anarchism, with eastern philosophies like the
Taoism, meditation, and cultural components of tribal societies such as the
shamanism. The Underground, according to the author, implies a tradition of thought that
it runs underground in unison with Western history, but it opposes it, since
this presents a counter-hegemonic and universalist search, where values such as the
individual experimentation, communal vocation, decentralization of power and
information is transcendent.
So, the Underground as a concept, is linked with a series of
unknown cultural manifestations, operating underground to the official medium and to the
mass culture advocated by the cultural industry and the production of expressions
musical and entertainment arts. As Fabio Salas notes, who clarifies this
Concept for our thesis: 'The Underground is characterized by fundamentally tending to
the pursuit of global solidarity, and, on the other hand, the breaking of structures of
production and information of authoritarian organizations. There where the orthodox system
It favors the right of property, the Underground emphasizes the individual right;
where technocratic imposition is highlighted, human needs are contrasted;
likewise, the Underground opposes sexuality to violence, decentralization to
massification, enjoyment over effort; while the system gives preferences that tend to
to favor the production of its dominant structures, whether in the media of
superstructured production, in the establishment of social conventions that constrain
individual expression, in the constant hierarchization of the social framework, in manipulation
of the information, etc., always justifying the means over the ends167.

166
Racionero, Luis. “Philosophies of the Underground”. 4th edition, Anagrama Editorial, Spain, 1984. Page 11
167
The Cry of Love
128
 Although the term Underground is a word of English origin and its
The conceptualization we refer to is recent, the Underground or 'the World
"Subterranean" has always been present in human society throughout history; in
secret societies, divergent cults from the official (religious) ones, up to the first
Christians who lived in the catacombs when they were persecuted by the Roman Empire
before his conversion to Christianity. Therefore, we agree with the characteristics
previously mentioned by the work of Luis Racionero and the expert in the Underground and of
Rock, Fabio Salas. In this regard, it is necessary to add that the Underground, at the same time, is a

half as a "niche ecological", a vital space where expressions and currents

artistic, cultural, etc. are cultivated and spread in a purer way without intermediaries
externals (state, church, mass media, etc.). And that many times, the
dominant culture and the cultural industry makes use of expressions born from the Underground;
just as the personalities that inhabit there influence the different fields of
art and culture168.

World Context Before Punk:

• The growing hegemony of the United States after World War II.
The northern country is starting to demonstrate its technological, economic, and military superiority.
geopolitics; in part, thanks to the political and economic dividends obtained from the
treaties, pacts, and loans offered to European countries at the end of the War and the great
arms industry.

• The division of the world between the Soviet and capitalist blocs
Americans, and other effervescent political and ideological options, divergent or
observers of the two hegemonic blocks: Yugoslav, Cuban and Chinese socialism,
Latin American socialist attempts (Peru, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, etc.), models
Christian-inspired social movements, leftist movements of Trotskyist and Maoist bent,
dictatorial regimes in Spain and subsequent opening, Greece (year 1960), Portugal, etc.

168
For example, the Dada movement can be pointed out as a participant of the Underground and its use of technique.
the replicated photo montage to this day within the educational activities (the use of collage) of the students
preschoolers; or the aesthetics created by the first Punks and their later use within the catwalks and
youth fashion, the use of colored lights and audiovisual projections by characters linked to
Hippie culture and Psychedelia (1960s) or performances carried out at Andy Warhol's The Factory, whose
elements are common in the nightclubs of today's world, etc
129
subsequently, the accentuation of military dictatorships in Latin American countries in the years
'70.

Western Europe and post-war economic growth. After the end of the second
world war, countries like France, Germany, and Great Britain recovered
economically - in part - under the auspices of the Marshall Plan advocated by the States
United.

Between 1950 and 1973, the implementation of a political plan emerged in some European countries.
and social policies called the Welfare State. The development of extensive social policies and
inclusive for society as a whole, especially directed towards the sector of the
workers; in areas such as healthcare, education, pensions, insurance of
unemployment. It gives the workforce a certain sense of security and
safeguarding their quality of life, offering them with these prerogatives a recognition of
the years of social struggle undertaken to conquer certain rights. That is achieved
through new labor legislation that benefits this sector and the intervention
direct state intervention in the country's economy and the nationalization of certain sectors
productive and service-oriented.

In the United States, the welfare state is not developed, but the desire for it does exist.
apply the American ideal known as 'American way of life' in the 1950s
primarily favoring the middle-class white American in its power
purchasing. For its part, the colored population is affected socially, culturally, politically and
economically, initiating the development of a movement for the
civil rights. At the beginning of the 1960s, under the presidency of L. Johnson, there will be some
government support for the civil rights of the colored population.

The 1960s is the era of student and university movements, the young power,
the anti-Vietnam protests, the environmental movement (Green Peace, Earth First! in the '70s)
feminist, the communal and countercultural hippie movement, the Black Panthers, but
also the increase of consumer society, due - in part - to the rise and
standardization of the middle class and its annual income, mitigating the gap between the rich and
poor in the first world. The above, within the developed countries at the end of the
the '60s, it provokes a situation of legitimization of the system and a subsequent rise of
social conformism and retraction of social criticism. A situation that will be shaken by the
different movements and social mobilizations such as the Prague Spring in
Czechoslovakia, and especially in university movements (together with others
entities), like those of May '68 in France, inspired by revolutionary readings of the
called 'new left', and in thinkers like Herbert Marcuse and his work 'The Man
Unidimensional
of the Spectacle" by Guy Debord. And characters like Che Guevara, Malcolm X, M. Luther
King, etc., The Red Brigades in Italy (around the 1970s).

The cold war that has ruled with its threatening cloak from the '60s until the late years
80.

The economic crisis of the 1970s. The welfare state developed in Europe under
progressive governments from a social capitalism and a social democracy are affected
130
As companies and their revenues decline, a result - among their arguments - of the benefits.
wage and social standards established for the working population. For companies in this
At this moment, it is essential to secure the market against the different economies that
they compete in it. And added to this, the organization of producing and exporting countries of
oil (OPEC) raises crude prices as a way to pressure countries
developed, which in turn makes it impossible to access payments to countries
underdeveloped. Similarly, large companies from developed countries
they start to install branches in third world countries as a way to reduce costs
production costs to increase your profits, economic speculation and the
preferred positioning within the global market.

Increase in the creation and expansion of large companies and conglomerates

economic, through the expansion of global capitalism in its phase of
neoliberal installation. Beginning of Integrated World Capitalism (IWC), from the analysis of
Felix Guattari.

The exponential growth of cities and urban areas in developed countries; and after
their passage, those of the so-called 'third world.' The cities are turned into 'few
welcoming", focused on the tasks of production and consumption, while increasingly
they privatize public services and the cost of living rises, which leads to a
deterioration of the quality of life of citizens (previously referred to as 'the people').

The cultural domination and introduction of stereotypical cultural patterns of style

of American life, configured for the average American: focused on consumption
of goods and services and of the products offered by the leisure industry.

The English language has a character of universal use, as does the dollar currency.
American (before the Euro).

Shocks and war conflicts in the east, as a theater of strategic operations of

the North American and Soviet Union geopolitics.

Rise of the mafias and drug trafficking both in America and in Europe.

Social movements of protest and international solidarity against dictatorships

military in Latin America.

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XII. WHAT IS THIS ABOUT PUNK?: A SKETCH OF THE
PUNK HISTORICITY, TO UNDERSTAND THE STUDY OF
CASE.

In 1989, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) incorporates the

word of English origin 'Punk'169to the dictionary:

It is said the youth movement of the seventies, musical,

protest against conventionalism. It is characterized by the use of dresses
eccentric, dyed hair, unnatural hairstyles, and accessories
embedded in the body in a masochistic way. Their followers are
violent.

With this materialization of the term Punk, referred to a youth movement, etc.
it is officially recognized, legitimized, and crystallized, within the linguistic heritage of the dominant culture, a

a purely sociological and cultural phenomenon; a product of enunciation and standardization

of the characteristics of Punk within the terms indicated by the RAE.
Based on the above, from this thesis we warn that the possible classifications
that they distance themselves from the context where the Punk phenomenon originated, are not useful for

understand and answer the question what is Punk for punks?, since we estimate
And we noted from our research that punk, as a phenomenon developed in the
Everyday life will never be exhausted in categories without empirical arguments to support them.
due to the dynamic nature of everyday events where it has been created, it continues to be created and

recreating. For the daily dynamics unfold in diverse times and spaces with
different protagonists, who often find themselves physically distant, but
they experience certain events in a similar manner, as can happen with certain
aspects of the socio-cultural development of the Punk phenomenon or other phenomena that are
relatively shared, as it is situated within an existential experience that presents a
continuous movement, the product of global processes of transmission and acquisition of
culture, ways of being and understanding the world, that are willing to travel from one side to the other,

to be later re-situated in distant yet close identities; constants

169
Its meaning in English: (s) Pebete, tinder, hupe. (vulg.) Whore, prostitute, worthless trash (adj.)
useless, worthless (slang) bad, of poor quality.
132
information flows, result of processes of deterritorialization of identities and
cultural traits that it brings with it, including the tendency towards cultural homogenization
provoked by the effect of the primacy of the market economy that geopolitically
it needs to extend globally.
But well, let's not stray from our question: what is Punk? One possible way
to answer this question, is to respond to another question: what happened to the
Punk for our thesis? Well, through a review of certain aspects of historical significance of the
Punk, portrayed under the analysis of documents originated, both within the universe of
people linked to Punk, such as data from research and journalistic reports
together, we will open a path, guided by the torch in the hands of the thesis writer, in the thicket
what surrounds the Punk phenomenon.

"Punk", a word from English slang, generally defined in any

dictionary of this language as something worthless, of poor quality or referring to
pejorative towards the world of crime and prostitution.
In England, specifically in 19th century London, during a time that plagued the
murderer "Jack the Ripper", semantically, in the so-called "underworld" of the
society, in vulgar terms, referred to "punk" the women who engaged in commerce
street sexual. On the other hand, in the U.S. in the late 19th century and mid-20th century,
juvenile and novice offenders, within the penitentiary context, were accused of
"punk." This sociolect of the criminal environment became popular and began to be used.
to denigrate people. That is to say, the word 'punk' is probably a term of
origin and 'street' use and makes sense in communities of speakers connected in
First, to the criminal context and sexual commerce, and then it delves into the jargon of
other urban social groups that use it as their own, especially in the States
United and England.

133
How does the word 'punk' come to the phenomenon known as the Punk Movement?

Mainly, in part of the Underground literature originating from the 1950s in

USA, in authors of the Beat Generation like William Burroughs and his novels
"Junky" and "Naked Lunch", especially in some
young characters portrayed in their works, who carry with them an atmosphere of
existential exhaustion expressed in behavioral and expressive formulas of an ironic nature,
burlesque and chaotic in front of society; disbelieving subjects who disturb others with their
obscene and buffoonish manifestations. Individuals who present lifestyles at the limit
and from an apparent lack of control, within a graphic representation of the effects of the incipient society of

consumption in the first world and the self-centered economic mechanics, leaving the
subjects in search of their own meaningful universes, whether constructive or
self-destructive.
On the other hand, within the scenario of music and the social environment of Rock, there was
something happening towards the end of the 1960s, as pointed out by the scholar of the phenomenon
from Rock, Fabio Salas: “Rock undergoes an ideological process that makes it abandon
his previous exalted celebration stance leads to an egocentric existentialism,
intellectualized and skeptical170in comparison to the rock of the '60s linked to
context of student protests (Europe, USA, in Latin America in countries like
Chile, the university students of Mexico and the lamentable event of 1968), the Power
Young, May '68 in France, the Hippie counterculture, the environmentalist, pacifist movement,
feminist; the Black Panthers and their Black Power among other movements
and lesser-known groups, and in musicians who had massive appeal and stimulated
with their interpretations of these movements: Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Joan Baez, Jimmy
Hendrix, Santana, etc. At the same time, 'rock is experiencing a phenomenon of gigantism
industrialized and an academic institutionalization that will be the cause of its progressive
"stagnation" (Salas, Fabio: Ibid.); between the years 1969 - 1976, within the rock scene
described, bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Queen, Iron Butterfly,
Rush, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Eagles showcase this

170
Salas, Fabio: “The Cry of Love”. Lom Editions, Santiago de Chile, 1998. Pg. 93
134
state. And similarly within this period, but oriented towards an aesthetic proposal
With glamorous music, a musical scene known as Glam Rock or Glitter Rock emerges.
that brings with it an aesthetic and atmosphere aimed at highlighting androgynous sexuality through
the use of female makeup and outfits that provide an ambiguous appearance; of the
in the same way, bands and musicians emerge that use these precepts of Glam Rock but
varying its aesthetic towards personifications of darkness and terror like Alice Cooper,
then the group Kiss among others. From the original Glam Rock, we find David Bowie (and the
band Roxy Music), one of its most significant proponents. This style expresses a nascent
disbelief in human life and a search for immediate self-satisfaction.
Glitter or Glam Rock is often associated with the homosexual community and with
certain claims of the gay movement, but as Fabio Salas (1998) clarifies to us, the
Glam and its theatricalization of sexual ambiguity, remained within those margins and
I did not intend to carry out any objective of a revolutionary or reivindicative nature.
regarding the Gay cause; <<it was just a prefabricated product that emerged as a reflection of
certain circumstances of the time.
Likewise, during the period 1969 - 1977, mainly within the Underground.
from New York, a series of groups and soloists appear, which in small proportion are
they are related to Glam Rock, and a large number lean towards a type of rock and roll
laid-back who turned to the essential roots of rock music influences: the
expression of a feeling in a frantic way, which we can find in rock &
roll of the '50s, the 'mersey sound' of the early '60s, surf (like Beach Boys), the
rock & roll performed in the style of the Who. A type of emerging musical movement,
based on a simple rock, but full of piercing guitars and fast-paced melodies for that
time or experimental sound searches. That which was being born was begun to be
to name music Garage (bands like: The Sonics, 13th Floor Elevators, The Seeds, The
Kingsmen, The Leaves). And other bands from the mid-60s that fused music
jazz with other rhythms, some of them like The Fugs played in the underground
named "The Dom" of a New York club called "The Electric Circus." The club
The Electric Circus was a meeting and festive space for the intellectual and artistic elite.
in vogue and from the glamorous Underground of those years, while 'The Dom' was a
space occupied by unknown Underground manifestations. In the end, 'The Dom'
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it became a more popular place than 'The Electric Circus', due to a certain 'vibe'
transgressive that revolves around musicians and regular attendees. Some of the bands
that are related to this environment and space, we have: The Stooges (with Iggy Pop171),
MC5 (Motor City Five), The Up, The Monks (English), Television, New York Dolls (that
they used Glam aesthetics), Heartbreakers, Tangerine Puppets, Flaming Groovies, The
Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, The Cramps, Patti Smith, The Dictators, Richard Hell
The Dead Boys; in the period 1969-1977. With a rock that distanced itself from psychedelia and
the symphonic rock of the 60s and the beginnings of the 70s.

Not all the bands mentioned had the same musical characteristics
and expressive, or were established within a precise time coordinate, rather they were
part of an evolution and connections of events, of a growing demand for
musical and aesthetic renewal, but above all, it will culminate in an explosion of
expressiveness at the limit (creativity, nonchalance, violence, self-destruction, release) 172).
A necessary search in the face of rock stagnated in elitist academicism and proposals
closed in on themselves, and of social discontent in the face of the increasing loss of horizons
identitarian. A reaction that, through carefree sounds, made one feel: the
to awaken their creators from their existential slumber, a 'shock treatment' so that
react the "dormant brains" of some young people of the time.
In the case of Punk, bands like The Ramones (among other bands of the
USA) in its beginnings between 1974 and 1976, with its rock and roll of minimal chords,
they influence with their simple rock, but overflowing with energy (for the time), sarcasm and

171
Iggy Pop is often seen as a pioneer of a certain attitude of future Punk on stage. Except for
that these last ones would take him out of that space. Iggy Pop's live performances were known for
his aggression expressed in his body movements on stage; it was very common to hit himself
and insult the audience.
172
If we observe this demand for expressiveness to the limit, from the analysis of "rooster fighting in Bali".
carried out by Clifford Geertz, regarding violence; we would have to consider within the growing individualization
In the metropolises, the increase in crime and social violence, both physical and psychological, the frustrations
the economic situation of young Americans in the face of the unfulfilled 'American Dream,' a type of locker where
to convey these feelings, instincts, etc., through music and its representation.
136
a stage expressiveness distant from the attitude of a 'rock star'173like Mick's
Jagger (vocalist of the Rolling Stones, whom many singers of those years imitated),
with a type of lyrics that anathematized about everyday life, comics, movies of
horror, romantic love, unrestrained sex, street violence, drugs, etc.
With a type of sonic explosion that reacts against the tedium in which they are involved.
day by day and the scarce expectations of a society that does not welcome them and they feel that
they do not belong to them, a society that they rather wish to destroy. Clubs like CBGB's in
New York, they allow space for these demonstrations. Sporadic tours of bands like
The Ramones in England, ignite the fuse in the Underground music scene there.
a different expressiveness of rock was beginning to emerge and there was no
precise classification, as is often the case with all human expression. To the environment of

Individuals and bands like The Ramones were called 'The Blank Generation' - in part -
for a film that portrayed that environment.
But it was between 1975 and 1976, when in New York a series begins to appear
of stripes and posters on the walls warning: 'Caution, Punk is coming' ('Watch
"Out Punk is coming"), this unsettling phrase came from three friends: Legs McNeil,
Ged Dunn and John Holmstrom, who were preparing to edit a magazine (fanzine type) that
would be named 'Punk Magazine', a publication that would accommodate and gather a
a series of personal and shared tastes, among which was mainly
this new rock. That unclassified rock was added to the social environment where it
developed, B-movies, comics, sex, underground literature, photography, and art
independent, urban vagabondage and thoughts. Most likely, they are the ones to
Who can be credited with the materialization and baptism of this incipient movement?
called 'Punk'. 'Movement', in general terms, that rejected neat rock and
elaborate, of social conformity of thoughts and forms, of the authoritarian culture and
militarized, of the nuclear threat and of a society increasingly focused on the

173
The person as an icon, with which a distance from the audience that brought them to life is presented.
"rock star" is positioned over her as a "living god", which is the result of many factors that
they result in the effect produced by the media and marketing within the business of
music, in addition to psychological and social variables that require a particular study to unveil this
phenomenon of the 'singer and their fans'.

137
consumption, indifference, and the representation of daily life by the mass media,
political leaders, etc.
From there -in part- the term Punk would become popular, and by the year 1976,
both in England and in the United States, it would start to be associated with a type of music,
aesthetic and general atmosphere.
If bands and publications in the U.S. provide certain guidelines to the nascent
punk movement, "it is the English who massify it and provide new aesthetics,
sounds and attitudes," as pointed out by the biographer and punk essayist, Craig O'Hara in his
book 'The Philosophy of Punk'ndedition, AK Press, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1999.
pp. 23–24.
England in the 1970s is also: 'a medium shaped by the weakening'
from the pop scene, the overwhelming youth unemployment, the spreading IRA terrorism
from Belfast to London, the growing street violence among British neo-Nazis,
the colored English, the socialists and the police...174
What has been described above is partly the effects of the crisis of the 'state
"benefactor" in England in the mid-1970s. Social context that it brings with it.
a certain bias of frustration in the middle and lower social layers of young English people,
used to a certain social security that will support them. On the other hand, they are influenced
since the 1960s - within the working-class neighborhoods - due to the arrival of immigrants from the former

British colonies, with which they share styles and behaviors, and also,
concerns regarding the dispersion of traditional cultural patterns of the sectors of the
British working class. The generational gap is widening in relation to the
generation of their parents and older siblings, since the welfare state, through the
access to generalized education provides these young people with a cultural capital different from that of
his parents and therefore a looser cohesion in terms of class identity.
In the same way, this access to a generalized education causes in the
working-class youth a sense of uncertainty and demotivation, due to effect
that educational expectations are oriented towards a cultural model of the middle classes

174
Crimson Trails. A Secret History of the 20th Century
Anagrama, Barcelona, Spain, 1993. Page 79

138
and high, which sharply contrasts with the reality of this sector of young people, whose
expectations were more realizable in the street and its influence, as the welfare state
allowed these young people an increase in their free time. It is in this general context of
the working-class youth described to us by the British semiotician Dick Hebdige
(1979), where the emerging English punk movement mainly develops. Although
there is a social crisis situation, there is also within the British youth sector, the
search for a bohemian lifestyle, acquire new experiences and have fun
(Mugglenton, 2000). While we are situating ourselves in the Thatcher era and her momentum.
neoconservative towards the country, England of the 70s and 80s is a society that culturally
has developed since the post-war period, an increase in its quality of life expectations and
of consumption of goods and services, like any industrialized society nourished within a
capitalist system in transformation towards a neoliberal and post-capitalism
industrial.
Craig O'Hara, a scholar of punk, points out through his documentary study and
experiential, some aspects of the emergence of punk - for example - in the case of the
troubled Great Britain of the 1970s: "Crime has been the most popular response in
recent times but in this place and time the "thugs" started to play guitar
as much as to commit petty crimes out of frustration.175He also warns us that
Ignoring the obvious connections between the Punk phenomenon and economic inequalities
social issues in Great Britain would be to deny the validity of the philosophical underpinning of the

movement. Punk in Brittany was essentially a movement that privileged, despite

its limitations, support for the working class of young whites. Many of them
they felt deeply their social situation and used the means of Punk to express their
dissatisfaction176. With Hello, the author tries to explainthat the origin of punk is worked in 'the
"street," in everyday life and in light of significant events for individuals; in this
in case of a setback in the quality of life of young people from the working classes, to which
they were used to it years before and since their childhood. On the other hand, a marked neo-

conservatism that will bring – over time – what will be the Prime Minister of Great

175
O'Hara, Craig: The Philosophy of Punk. 2ndedition, Ak Press, San Francisco, USA. Page 26
176
Ibid.: pp 26-27
139
Britain, Margaret Thatcher "The Iron Lady", whom we will observe applying measures
economic measures that restructure capitalism, through a marked offensive of capital
in front of the work and the historical achievements of the working class (such as the
institutionality of the "Welfare State".
Continuing, researcher Craig O'Hara explains to us that "The purpose of saying
this provides a basis of where the Punks come from and why they hold the ideas they do.
It would be a lie, however, to say that these original Punks have developed theories.
social and political. They may have been against all the rules - doctrine - but they were
more suited to spit than to explain their feelings to public opinion. "These were
Punks, not social activists, and their message was bleak. The music of the Sex Pistols was
an explosion of hate and despair. We face life as we see it, they exclaimed -
frustration, lack of meaning and disgust. Shout it with us... <<There is no
future>>177O'Hara then establishes that the objectives of these first punks
...was to express their rage in a
unpleasant and original way. The most hated thing in the world was to be a conformist.
compliant with the system. Many Punk bands have founded their ideas or
messages with the defense and prerogative of disagreement. Conformity is rejected in
every possible front in the quest for truth or sometimes just to offend the
people178.
What is wrong with conformity? -asks Craig O'Hara and answers-, the
noted sociologist Elliot Aronson defines conformity as: 'a change in the
behavior of a person or opinions as a result of a true or imagined
pressure from a person or group of individuals" (Elliot Aronson, The Social Animal, Freeman
and Company, San Francisco, 1972, 16).179Punks reject the social pressure to have
that accepting certain rules of the game in order to be socially accepted, the idea is
build your own rules through the experimentation of breaking with morality
prevailing and public. And being a conformist in Great Britain meant accepting the order of
things that emanated from that neoconservative environment that coexisted with a capitalism that

177
Ibid.: p. 27
178
Ibid.
179
Ibidem.
140
It stimulated the consumer habits of citizens in the search for acceptance, as
the meaning that a certain merchandise could socially grant him. We must remember
that in the 1970s, both in England and in the United States, there is a whirlwind - despite
to the issues - in the construction of mega markets and commercial establishments
(which in Chile are known as "Multitiendas" and "Malls").
Breaking with the conformity of those times, for these original punks, was to use
certain outfits or expressing themselves differently from what they observed in the
society. For example, the influence of young Black people from the Caribbean (Jamaica),
in addition to the dissemination of certain musical and cultural elements (Reggae, Ska, Rastas and
Rude Boys), contributed their particular way of speaking the English language, which some young people

punks adopted in the midst of neoconservative England: listening to a white young man talk
as a black person, it was an insult. For this was happening, in part, to break or "make noise" inside
of the dominant system (Dick Hebdige, 1979). These punks sought to discomfort others.
and this discomfort and rejection from others only confirmed her conformist attitude.
people.
To this we can add the general distinction that the anthropologist Carles
Feixa effects of the original punk's becoming: 'most of the punk <<actors>>
they came from urban-popular environments; the aesthetics of the movement, the initial rhetoric of
self-destruction, of aggression, reflected a proletarian identity; the anti-attitude
intellectual and the apparent disenchantment of life - the no future - kept him away from the veins

current contestations in the previous decade; the forms and contents of the movement - in
sum - continued the tradition of the British post-war working-class subcultures. Without
embargo, as time went by, punks tended to catalyze a good part of the
characteristics of middle class youth movements, approaching
progressively to a countercultural identity180. Carles Feixa - in the case of punk-
it reiterates the dichotomy between subculture and counterculture (used in cultural studies of the
CCCS) referred to the social class situation of British youth, but also we
It suggests that certain subcultures of proletarian origin can become countercultures.

180
Feixa, Carles Op. cit. p. 152
141
as in the case of punk, which from our thesis research, we delimited within
some punk spaces immersed in a wide range of punk expressions.
Subsequently, Carles Feixa (1999) points out that punk recovers 'the anarchist vein.'
capturing elements of avant-gardes such as surrealism, dadaism (among others
vanguards), which makes their opposition to the system more ideological, are organized in
collectives and "despite their verbal opposition to the Hippies, the punks had with them each
More parallelism: like the Hippies, the punks raised a global critique of the system.
(generically inspired by anarchism), promoted the creation of institutions
alternatives (self-managed artisan cooperatives, distribution networks for their products,
musical artistic collectives) generated their own cultural creations (costumes, music,
theater, fanzines)181
Focusing on punk from a generational perspective, as well described
The scholar of Underground and Rock, Fabio Salas: 'Punk is more than a phenomenon'
musical, it is a new psychosomatic state. It is a borderline response to a borderline state of
the reality. To the state of lack of communication, unemployment, uncertainty, deprivation, and boredom of

In the mid-70s, punk responds with violence, disaffiliation, and self-destructiveness.

For him, there is no future at all, everything must be lived here and now, enough with the unchangeability.

of life, it is necessary to burn the energies that flood us, to relive once again the eternal
cycle of the energy that is consumed to rise from its ashes182This quote illustrates - in
part- certain generational sensitivity of the original punk youth (English,
North Americans, Europeans, and the world in general, between the years 1976 and 1979). Boredom and

saturation of continuing in the same as part of the life expectations of the time: to try
to have a job, to live unemployment, to have a home and then to die, to become a
"old" or "adult", being young. A state of boredom that erupts at the encounter of
fun and release of contained energy.

181
Ibid. p. 152-153
182
Salas, Fabio Op. Cit. p. 116
142
 This original punk183Besides what was previously mentioned by Fabio Salas,
presents an attitude of self-denial, but oriented towards not being classified by
others. It is a continuous affirmation of an 'I' that is desperately sought after under surveillance and

the rigors of the dominant culture and system. It is a reaction to a state of mind by the
feeling trapped in the social structure, which through the Punk symbol
it intends to break and make the rupture visible, presenting an open rejection to society,
a panopticism in front of a panoptic society. Greil Marcus in "Carmine Traces" (1993),
it refers to punk and its musical expression through punk bands, as a 'kind
"paradigmatic" that carries its individual message and that as soon as it appears, it disappears. Each

punk band - in general - "says what needs to be said," as long as the sound lasts
musical expression. A situation that suggests not having any consideration for the idea.
to crystallize to become part of the 'show business' that they deny; metaphorically we
alludes to a type of 'suicide', as the only way to preserve the 'message'. Such is the
recurrence of the first punk bands writing songs titled 'Punk is'
dead" (Crass), like others "Punk is not dead" (The Exploited).
It should be noted that it is complex to give a specific definition of Punk, since
there would be as many as the individualities and groups that comprise them; in part certain sounds,

aesthetics, attitudes, and ideas generally resemble them, but, let's say that Punk
We can understand the idea: that it is us who can express what happens.
in our lives and we do it here and now, breaking with hierarchies, molds and
established conventionalisms; and not others.

I think this is the moment when

let's discuss this carefully.
I think you have taken it too far.
I never wanted to be different.
I didn't ask to be anyone's star.
I try to take control of this.
because what you see is what you get
Try to take control of this and not of me
You say there is a discourse of revolution,
So, what's new?

183
Referring generally under this term to the first English punks (mainly), and
integrating the various components that emerged alongside in other countries between the years 1976-1979; without making
distinction of the different meanings that could have existed for each individual or collective.
143
 You say there's a fight in the air
Do you think I have the solutions?
But, do you really think it's fair?
Try to take control of this/
because what you see is what you get
Try to take control of this and not of me

I don't want to be anyone's hero.

I don't want to be anyone's star/
I don't want to be anyone's hero
Get up, go out, and be what you are

Do you think it's the moment when you took care of me?
to do what you cannot do yourself
But don't let the heroes get your emotions for you.
It depends on you and no one else
Try to take control of this
because what you see is what you get
Try to take control of this and you'll see/
You think you are a nobody, and that I have all the fun.
But no one is a nobody, everyone is someone.

I don't want to be anyone's hero.

I don't want to be anyone's star
I don't want to be anyone's hero
Get up, go out, and be what you are/
I know what you are.

Nobody's Hero

As we have pointed out our difficulty in defining Punk, we also want to

It is difficult to pinpoint the boundaries and characteristics of the Punk movement.
homogeneous that integrate a set of elements, which we empirically consider
as variables. So as can be seen previously, we tried to emphasize that
our reference to punk has generally been, keeping its complexity in mind. The
that we can present for the interests of the chapter of this Thesis are specificities
of punk that emerged from a totality of punk inhabited by a heterogeneous amount of
expressions. From now on, we will try to delineate the aspects of Punk
related to social and political activism, of which the interest of this Thesis is part,
focused on the case study of a group of young people from Santiago de Chile today.
Continuing, it was a time when advertising spared no effort to
convince the young population to consume a type of identity, a type of aesthetic;
situation that was parceling out the idea that individuals can live by their own
rules for being protagonists of their lives, and not just mere observers and television viewers
144
of new idols, clothing brands, and events designed by the cultural industry:
for example, the rock stars of the time (Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, and the Rolling Stones
Stone, etc.), that had to end - some of the early punks believed - it had to
to open a gap, a crack, and a deep break that would rupture or distinguish them from
all previous generations, in terms of music, expressiveness, aesthetics, attitudes and
ideas.

Punk.

Punk had been born, before the media phenomenon of the Sex Pistols in 1977.
(England), not as a predefined idea but as a collection of experiences of
people linked to a seemingly homogeneous medium observed from the outside, but
diverse looked closely from within; what these protagonists had in common -
visceral desire to express and break with all socially imposed coercive concept.
That was their 'real appetite', from there 'crashing' against society and 'dying' (like a
Japanese pilot 'Kamikaze' from World War II), this 'crashing' and 'dying' in the idea
of a tsunami ravaging the coast of some city. An immediacy of being and being present before me
own experience of co-participating along with others who experience this desire and rage in
expressive gale form to the limit, illustrated in outfits, music, attitudes, ways of
to have fun, etc.
As can be seen in our analysis of the data on Punk, we never do...
he intended to found a movement, the movement - in general - began to take shape, and
it was individual and collective wills that crystallized aspects of Punk that it
they showed it as a movement (certain musical groups, certain ideas and
aesthetics), movements within an unforeseen movement. That is why, generally,
from theory it tends to point out Punk as a homogeneous movement, which is
complex and unlikely to be found empirically; an idea that we uphold in this Thesis and
that we share with the English sociologist (Dr.) David Muggleton (2000), in his notion
about the meaning of Punk, which he points out, must vary depending on the subjects within
a specific space and time, 'the meaning of punk depends on what a member

145
individual expresses regarding this184that is to say, there is no meaning of Punk that remains
static and that assumes a homogeneous character, we can only talk about certain traits
generals.
In the classic study of the English semiologist, Dick Hebdige, on subcultures and the
punk refers to the difficulties of establishing a unanimous criterion for finding 'the
meaning of punk,” as the semiologist clarifies in his specific analysis of punk:
"It would seem that any approach to punk subculture, from traditional semiotics - "
semiotic analysis that began with some notion of 'message' from a combination of
elements aimed at unanimously setting a number of signifiers - failed, in providing us
from an outlet to the contradictory difficulty of punk style text.
Any attempt to extract a final series of meanings seems doomed to
to fail. Here, there is an infinite play of meanings. The idea of a fixed number of
meanings is discarded. Discarded in favor of the idea of polysemy, since for
observed each text tends to generate an infinite potential of ranges of meanings.185.
That suggests to us that attention should be paid to the speaking subject within the process.
of meaning construction.

What happened to the original Punk in England in the 70s?

A fundamental premise that began to operate within the British Punk environment
From the 70s, it was the practice of the concept 'do it yourself' (DIY) that
I simply invited to take action to solve problems 'by yourself' and seek
means of expression that did not depend on the execution of a third party (a related third party
with the cultural and musical industry). Based on this premise, some labels were created
independent of the big record companies, musical groups formed "by

184
Response from English sociologist, David Mugglenton regarding the meaning of punk within the forum of
interdisciplinary academic discussion on subcultural and countercultural styles: 'Subcultural- Style'.
Website: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/list/subcultural-styles/1999-03.html.
(Consulted: 05/07/00). Information confirmed by correspondence via e-mail between the thesis writer and the
sociologist (Dr.) David Mugglenton.
185
Hebdige, Dick; op. cit., p. 59
146
"friends" from the neighborhood and the same members of the audiences at punk concerts. The
the objective of the practice and the premise of 'do it yourself' was to take control of the
production and distribution of the musical product of Punk bands (in general and of
ideal way), to safeguard the message of each musical proposal.
The original Punk, in general, aimed to break the dichotomy that
was presented between the viewer and the artist (very common in the world of elites, the
rock stars and the Rock and Roll business); here the "spectator" assumed a
active participation, for example, within Punk performances, both the audience and the
bands formed a whole in action. In these early original Punks, a
rejection of the rock star image and anything related to a hierarchy among the
musicians and the audience. A situation that will change over time, when a considerable
The number of Punk musicians will assume the status of rock stars upon being recognized by a
external public to Punk and entering the world of music contracts with the big names
record labels of music (EMI, CBS, Virgin Records, etc.). Primarily, the
the breaking of this dichotomy between 'artist and audience' sought to return - and at the same time create - a

territory within rock that had been appropriated by the rules of the elites and the
show producers (based on the fact that the people within the circuit themselves
punk, produced, cultivated and established that practice).
In early 1976, one of the first recordings of a Punk band appears.
it is the British group The Damned (the single called 'New Rose', which on the 'B' side
included a punk rock version of The Beatles' song 'Help'). But it's the Sex Pistols, in
during 1976-1977, who popularize and standardize the Punk phenomenon, and it
make visible mass media, the cultural industry of consumption and the
general public. Those who will be responsible for announcing the emergence of a new
youth movement of an aggressive and eccentric nature: the so-called Punk, young people who
they wear shaved hair on the sides, colored hair, dog collars, work boots
Dr. Martens, tennis shoes, used clothing, sadomasochistic outfit (bondage),
botas militares, ropas de cueros, ropa militar usada, aros, alfileres de ganchos, cadenas,
wristbands with spikes and that in some of their outfits announce phrases like: 'fuck off',
there is no future
the face of Marx, the face of Queen Elizabeth (her mouth closed with a safety pin), and
147
obscene conduct and vocabulary in public, such as their frenzied dancing styles and
pounding oneself alongside other individuals at their performances. This is how this was described.

youth Punk movement through the media of the time (press

writing, TV and radio) :

(...) so that people began to dress in rags and

holes, safety pins and staples in the flesh and in the clothes, they wrapped themselves
legs with garbage bags and covered their shoulders with scraps of
curtains and sofa covers found on the street. Following the line of the
designs by Malcom McLaren for the Sex Pistols and the Clash, the people
he painted slogans on the sleeves and on the pant legs of his pants, on his
jackets, ties, and shoes: the names of their groups and songs
favorites, passwords like <<anarchy>> or <<fight>>, more phrases
<<Where is Durruti?>> <<You are in the never-never>>, or a
striking cut-up (cut it!) that reflected the spirit of the time: <<no
We are proud punks a great confusion, like anything else The School of
Disintegration that is born in all this, everywhere if you don't do it we will include it.
twenty pennies>>, all marked with a giant X.186

They were ugly. There were no palliatives. A twenty-five-centimeter safety pin.

crossing the lower lip inside a swastika tattooed on the cheek not
it was a fashion statement; a fan sticking a finger down their throat,
vomiting in their hands, then throwing the vomit at the people who were there
the stage was like a disease spreading. A nimbus187of
a two-centimeter thick black mask suggested death before
Another thing. Punks were not just pretty people who became ugly, like
the Slits or Gaye, the bassist of the Adverts. They were fat, anorexic,
covered in pustules, acne, stuttering, limping, people with scars and
wounds, and what her new decoration emphasizes was the failure already inscribed in
their faces.188

That was the general image of some of the early English punks.
Sex Pistols... Behind the Sex Pistols phenomenon is their manager Malcolm
McLaren, the owner of a Sex Shop and a store of extravagant items and 'bondage'
Londoner called "Sex" (in the Kings Road neighborhood of London), who also had some
relationship with artistic, avant-garde, and revolutionary proposals such as the International
Situacionist. Malcom McLaren gathers a group of Punk kids (some regulars to
(their store) and promotes them like the Sex Pistols, through abundant advertising.

186
Marcus, Greil. Op. cit. Page 78
187
A kind of surrounding halo used in images of saints.
188
Marcus, Greil. Op. cit., p. 84
148
of posters, murals, etc. In addition to the media of the time, from which
makes use of, a product of the scandals led by the Sex Pistols (just being called
Sex Pistols in England, in the mid-70s, were scandalous.

Punk started as a false culture, as a product of the sense of

the fashion that McLaren had, of his dreams of glory, of his premonition of
that the sale of sadomasochistic fantasies could constitute the next big
business.189

Malcom McLaren, keeping in mind the premises of the "International

Situationalist190about the "created situations", created with the Sex Pistols191a
social spectacle, developing a situation in which the British audience participates
in general and the rest of the world. There was a moment when the news broadcasted primarily
attention to the behaviors of the Sex Pistols (this made them known in many parts of
world).
A publicized situation was on June 7, 1977: the Sex Pistols performed a
concert on the Thames on the Queen Elizabeth barge, performing some of their
songs at the moment of passing in front of the British Parliament, the date coincided with the
the 'silver' anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's ascension to the British Crown. Then are
approached by a police barge and are detained.
At this moment, the media and moral authorities of the
British society opinions and 'demonizes' the emerging Punk youth movement led by
media-wise by the Sex Pistols, creating public alarm and social panic towards the

189
Ibid., p. 78
190
If you want to delve deeper into this, consult the text by the essayist and expert in aesthetics, Greil Marcus.
Crimson Traces. A Secret History of the 20th Century.
Barcelona, Spain, 1993. (526 pages). In this text - among other things - the connections of punk are addressed.
specifically the expressiveness and lyrics of the Sex Pistols with the Situationist International, the movement
Dad. And specifically about the Situationalist International: Situationalist International:
"Situationist 1958-69". Champ-Libre Editions, Paris, 1975, (116 pages). Documentary text of the work of the
International Situationist (manifestos, essays, techniques, the Situationist groups, etc.).
191
For his part, Steward Home (2000) assures us that with or without the Sex Pistols, punk would still exist.
149
traditional British family, a situation that leads to the censorship of some spaces and
punk manifestations.
At the same time, Malcom McLaren and his Sex Pistols obtain a contract with the label
multinational EMI, then they lose it and release their first and only LP (1977) under another label:

Never Mind The Bollocks (Don't give a shit, here are the Sex Pistols).
Until 1979, they will release some other recordings (7”, EP) and will have a troubled tour.
through the United States, where finally due to internal problems and with their manager
Malcom McLaren, the band will dissolve. It is worth remembering that during this period, he joins the

a band with a young man named Sid Vicious, playing the bass (which he does not play well), it is about
about a boy who makes his life wandering the streets and using drugs.
Malcom McLaren takes Sid Vicious192and enhances it as the prototype of Punk (image
which will be subsequently disseminated by the media and the 'merchandise', to
through posters, printed t-shirts, famous quotes, etc.), as an anti-hero, as a
symbol of the attitude of the time after the slogan 'there is no future'193. Then in the
In the aftermath of the Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious will be found dead after having committed suicide.
(in prison), as he is accused of having murdered his girlfriend Nancy. An event that will pass to
to enlarge the list of rock musicians who died young, and to say 'live fast, die
young", and there will also be a movie called "Sid and Nancy", along with the advertising of the time
it will try to give an atmospheric sense of a 'modern version' of 'Romeo and Juliet' 'punk'.
In this regard, we can take two readings of the Sex Pistols phenomenon, first, the
staging of a media phenomenon based on the provocation of panic, in aggression, the
irony and vulgarity, propelled by the ideas of his manager Malcom McLaren, and
second, what was happening in each of the lives of the members of the Sex Pistols,
as part of a generation of young British people who faced certain issues of

192
Sid Vicious is a true idol (or anti-idol, as one may see it) of popular culture.
as were the characters played by Marlon Brando, James Dean, among others. The image of Sid
Vicious crossed borders, and his self-destructive, hedonistic, nihilistic attitude undeniably represented,
guided and inspired various young individuals within the punk scene of the '70s and '80s (with greater force in
those years).
193
Phrase used in a different context and meaning by the Situationists.
150
economic, social, existential nature and therefore, they joined Punk, with a sincere
and visceral rebellion of contained rage (at least on stage)194.
The fact that punk sound lacked musical sense – points out to us in its
Greil Marcus research - made it socially meaningful; in a few months the
punk appeared - Marcus continues - as a new series of verbal and visual signs,
signs that were both opaque and revealing, depending on who observed them. "By their own
lack of naturalness, their insistence that a situation could be constructed and then,
like an artifice, to flee from her –the graffiti was now ascending from the tattered clothes to
the faces, even the dyed and chopped hair and through the whites in the hair that
they left the skull exposed-, punk made ordinary social life seem a
deception, the result of an economy195sadomasochist196The interpretation of Greil
Marcus of the punk suggests referring it to the sense of the absurd, the social absurdity staged.
for the punks in the faces of English citizens. A feeling of social absurdity
like the one described by Albert Camus in his literary work 'The Stranger', through the
becoming of his character embodied in the young Meursault and his bet to show himself as such
how is it, since they don't have it for him sense of social conventions and the
representation of conventional roles, since they "are the same", when considering the
life as something meaningless. Society expects a certain role that the individual
should represent: father, son, mother, teacher, police officer, criminal, the bad guys, the good guys
the just, the unjust. Before such existential predetermination, it is that the character reflects
on why to act like everyone else and decide to be himself, even though it costs him his life (after being

condemned by others).
In the following excerpt from the work of Albert Camus, "The Stranger", we can
appreciate how the individual is constructed by others within a situation
dad, and how their expected social role limits and divides their quality of existence; limitation, and
social constraints that some punks experienced in the idea of 'dispensability of
"me," and, symbolically abolished with their aesthetics and rupture practices for society.
of the era:

194
As Johnny Rotten points out in the documentary 'The Filth and the Fury.'
195
In reference to the capitalist economy society.
196
Marcus, Greil op. cit., page 79
151
 "It is always interesting today to talk about oneself, even from the sidelines"
accused. During the statements of the Prosecutor and the lawyer, I can say that
he spoke much about me and perhaps more about me than about my crime. Were they very different,
On the other hand, what about those allegations? The lawyer raised his arms and defended my
guilt, but with excuses. The Prosecutor extended his hands and denounced my
guilt, but without excuses. One thing, however, vaguely bothered me. Despite
I was sometimes tempted to intervene in my concerns and the lawyer told me
then: "Shut up, it's better for the defense." In a way, they seemed
deal with the matter without me. Everything was happening without my involvement.
intervention. My fate was being decided without asking for my opinion. From time to time
I felt the desire to interrupt them all and say: "But in the end, who is
the accused? It is important to be the accused. And I have something to say.” But
Thinking it over, I had nothing to say. On the other hand, I must acknowledge that the
the interest that one finds in attracting the public's attention does not last long. For
For example, the prosecutor's argument tired me very quickly. They only called me the
attention or sparked my interest fragments, gestures or entire throws, but
separated from the set.197

In this regard, - based on Greil Marcus - we consider that the original punk
cut through like a knife heated to cut through butter
(figurative), making social absurdity meaningful towards the classifications themselves
and borders established by the original punks; a visibility of what society
integrated consumption seeks to hide -apparently-, the punks made it public,
bypassing the sense of dispensability that the public and citizens have pre-
established within certain spaces and institutions: scenarios, rallies
politicians, plays, festivities, football matches, elections, media
communication, etc.

Punk drew the borders: it separated the young from the old, the rich from
the poor, then the young among themselves, the old among themselves, the rich among themselves, to
the poor among themselves, to the rock'n'roll of rock'n'roll. Rock'n'roll became of
new in an old story, something to discuss, something to investigate,
reward and reject, something to hate, something to love. Once again, rock'n'roll
it was fun.198

197
The Stranger
Santiago De Chile, 1991. p. 61
198
Ibid.
152
 The massification of Punk is largely due to the Sex Pistols and to promotion.
carried out by Malcom McLaren, and directly and indirectly through the media of
communication of the time (since it was an important media event, both in England
as it were outside its borders).
At the same time, between 1975-1979, a large number of emerged in England.
punk bands or related styles and certain circuits, some contracted by the
large record labels, thanks to the good economic dividends they brought with them
Punk as a media phenomenon. A scene around Punk also emerges in the
which develops independent publications, labels, and distributors, etc.
Some bands from the period 1977-1984 within the United Kingdom (Ireland, England)
and Scotland) that present distinctly punk rock sounds as musical styles
related199(Hi200, Mod Punk, Dark, New Wave, Hardcore, Tecno Industrial, punk

199
The bands are not classified according to their ideological sensitivities.
200
Oi is a musical style from the late '70s and early '80s pioneered by the bands
skinheads and the British skinhead movement (including its stylistic and ideological derivatives).
Briefly, the skinhead movement developed in the second half of the 1960s in England as a result of
the influence of subcultural expressions of the working and middle classes such as the Mods, and the relationships with
young black people and their subcultures brought from the Antilles and Jamaica: the Rude Boys and their musical style of
Ska, Reggae, and Rocksteady. The first British Skinheads enjoy black music and reject the
hippie movement of the time, they like football and are thrilled with England's victory in the World Cup.
The term skinhead begins to be used from 1969, before they were usually called 'Lemon Heads', they wear the
shaved head, elegant clothing, Doc Martens boots, Sherman brand shirt, Bombers jackets (fly
jacket), three-button suit. Within the skinhead universe of the time, there are some trends of
thoughts, as well as young white and black people participate; there is racism, as in any other
human group, within a socio-cultural context that instills those patterns.
Returning to the 'Oi', it's the year 1977, Skinhead music as such does not exist as its own style, but starting from
this year bands emerge that due to their simple but aggressive rock and roll sound and "animated" choruses
"glorious", begins to merge with the ancient rhythms of black music and the mods, from there it forms the
sound 'Oi' that British skinheads perform. Bands like Sham 69, Cockney Rejects, Cock Sparrer,
Skriwdrivers, among others, are the pioneers. The Skinhead will be debated since the '70s in positions of
far-right racist and anti-immigrant and left (redskins) and far-left, as well as other positions. Towards
the second half of the '80s will see the emergence of the SHARP (Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice/ Heads
Shaved Against Racial Prejudices) and the political faction and combination RASH (Red Anarchy Skin
Heads/ Red Skin Heads and Anarchists.
153
experimental and others not subjected to classification): The Damned, The Stranglers,
Buzzcocks, Uk Subs, Crass, Penetration, Nipple Erectors, Menace, Mekons, The Lurkers
Jermz, Heretics, Last Resort, Rudi, Generation X, Drones, Dangerous Girls, The Boys
Cortinas, Cocksparrer, Cockney Rejects, Chelsea, Bleach Boys, Automatics, Gang of Four,
Art Attacks, Adam & The Ants, London SS, Civilised Society, Albertos and The Paranoids,
Adverts, 999, X Ray Spex, Discharge, Poison Girls, Wire, Rudimentary Peni, UK
Anarchists, The Unwanted, Special Duties Red Alert, The Understones, T.V
Personalities, Blitz, Abrasive Wheels, Vice Squad, Stupid Humans, Sub Humans, The
Addicts, Conflict, The Only Ones, English Dogs, Ultravox, Suburban Studs, 4-Skins
Crisis, Spitfire Boys, Anti-Pasti, Slaughter & The Dogs, Skrewdriver,Charged GBH,
Chaos, The Business, Combat 84, The Exploited, Court Martial, Siouxsie & The Banshees
Sham 69, The Jam, Castrators, The Police, Schoolgirl Bitch, The Slits, Stiff Little Fingers,
The Dark, Flowers in the Dustbin, The Chameleons, Public Image Ltd. (band of Johnny)
Rotten, alongside and after Sex Pistols), Killing Joke, The 101ers201The Clash, The
Newtown Neurotics, Red Alert, The Fall, Joy Division, Sex Pistols, The Rezillos, The
Warm, Rich Kids and many more. In the same way, some publications referred to as
Fanzines that emerged during those years: Sniffin' Glue, Ripped and Torn, 48 Thrills, etc.
Record labels such as: Rough Trade Records, Southern Studios, Bizarre
Records, Stiff Records, Crass Records, Clay Records, Small Wonder, Step Forward, Do It
Records, Raw Records. Not everyone was completely independent (but they followed the ethics of
do it yourself (DIY)
The classic venues for punk concerts: The Roxy Club and 100
Club.

201
The first band of The Clash's leader and vocalist, Joe Strummer, alongside some Chilean exiles (between
they to the musician Alvaro Peña). In this regard, Joe Strummer in an interview - during his time in Chile - for the magazine

Extravaganza No. 29 of November 1996, Santiago, p. 9, tells us: "When her terrible tragedy occurred
In 1973, I was living in a squat trying to start a rock 'n' roll band. The refugees.
They were coming from Chile. One morning I woke up and found in front of me a section of winds directly from
Santiago, a tenor saxophone, a soprano saxophone, and a drummer. Refugees... this was a group called The 101ers,
my first group. And it really helped me because the guys from Chile really knew how to play.
154
 It is worth noting before continuing that in unison with what was happening in Great Britain and

In the United States between the years 77-79, it was replicated within its specificities in
other countries: Holland, Germany (Federal and Democratic), Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark,
Bélgica, Yugoslavia, Checoslovaquia, Grecia, Italia, Francia, Portugal, España, Hungría,
Soviet Union, Japan, Malaysia, Canada, Iceland and Latin America (Mexico, Venezuela,
Brazil, Peru, Argentina.

In West Berlin, youth movements of English origin reach

in all its splendor. The ideology that accompanies those movements is embraced
by the young Berliners as a profession of faith. Punks in their purest form
they provoke, gesticulate, and drink beer in the center of a labyrinth of tribes
Urban (...) On the other side of the wall, there are also punks, skinheads, or rockers.
They appeared in East Berlin in 1981, and nobody has been able to get rid of them. The
assaults by the East police on places where they gather to listen
groups, as happened in March 1981 with a hundred rockers, has not
could have dominated what someone exaggeratedly called the <<rebellion of the
youth of the east202

By 1978, punk bands had signed with major record companies, and the
punk outfits (and the instrumentalization of the concept) were appropriated by the world of
fashion (designers, specialized magazines, producers, promoters, models, etc.) and the
youth consumption industry. Punk became a business, and bands like Sex Pistols,
The Clash, The Damned, Buzzcocks, Generation X203, they became rock stars.
Regarding the above, while mass acceptance may be tempting and still
profitable for some, points out the punk scholar Craig O'Hara, we find in the
words of Dick Lucas, vocalist of the English bands Sub Humans, Culture Shock and
Citizen Fish, a shared feeling - as affirmed by Craig O'Hara in his research - by

202
Report: "Youth Divided in Two. On Both Sides of the Wall, Rock is Present"
from February 9 to 15, 1987. Santiago de Chile. Page 52
203
From this band came Billy Idol, a singer who had his moment of fame in the mid-1980s. On the other hand,
on one side, the recurring way of classifying (politicians, academics, journalists, media,
advertising) to the young generation of the early '90s, has -in part- its terminological derivation in the
name of this punk band (both Generation X and The X from Los Angeles, United States. The use of
the "X" as a way to materialize - in part - a generational feeling of those years: a generation
unknown, strange, etc.): the so-called Generation X.
155
a considerable amount of punks from the late '70s and early '80s, especially
the punks linked to activism, anarchopunk and oriented towards the ethic of 'Do it yourself'
same". Dick Lucas refers to the mass acceptance (for which some punks
they feel attracted), is part of the reproduction of the status quo:

I have never come to a definitive answer with the idea that I am <<part of
the society >> and that I should build my actions to satisfy the forms
pre-existing in accordance, acceptance, and social practices accordingly.
Adjusted by the rigorous training of the mind carried out since school and
the media. Mass thought underlies culture
occidental that turns around, holding onto the past to try
to secure the future, while one suffers the present beyond their control
"insurance" in the hands of the government, which feeds the present of the masses with the
technological advancement, material and industrial progress (Dick Lucas, Threat By
Example, edited by Martin Sprouse, Pressure Drop Press, San Francisco Ca.
1989, 13).204

Political Punk.

Many British punk bands and personalities turned to activism.

political and social (between 1978 and 1984), including bands like: The Clash, The Redskins
(related to the leftist skinhead movement), Angelic Upstarts (red skinheads)
Stiff Little Fingers, The Newtown Neurotics, Crass, Crisis, Subway Sect, The Au Pairs,
The Flowers in the Dustbin, Political Asylum, Thatcher on Acid, Billy Bragg, The
Apostless, Sub Humans, Mekons, Conflict, The Opressed (anarchist skinheads), Flux of
the Pink Indians, Rudimentary Peni, The Fall, Poison Girls, Oi Polloi (red skinheads), The
Mob, The Pop Group, Zounds, Gang of Four, Discharge, Chumbawamba, etc. Stuard Home
In 'The Assault of Culture. Utopian Currents from Lettrism to Class War' (2002) in
the punk section refers to the English bands of the late '70s - for the most part -
they presented a leftist rhetoric, but also bands with signs of right (Chelsea,
Siouxie And The Banshees, Skrewdriver, among others.
For example, the band The Clash always had a connection with what was happening in
Latin America and in Chile, as can be seen in the lyrics of the song "White Riot".

204
Cited by Craig O'Hara in 'The Philosophy of Punk'. 2ndedition, Ak Press, San Francisco, USA. Page 30
156
Also for their participation in the benefit concerts called 'Rock against the'
racism" (RAR, Rock Against Racism). The Clash had sympathy for positions
socialists, but closer to local figures like the leader of the Dockers, Jack Dash.
On the other hand, the members of the group Crisis205, they were part of organizations like the
Socialist Workers Party and in the International Marxist Group of England. Skrewdriver,
after their beginnings in Punk Rock, they move towards the Oi musical style and adopt a rhetoric
far-right nationalist with close ties to the British National
Front206.
We are mainly interested in focusing on the faction of punk that approached the
anarchism and activism, which will later be identified as Anarchopunk. The
The Crass collective meets these conditions and represents one of the visible examples within
the history of punk, as we will see below.

205
Subsequently, some members of this band will form the experimental band Death In June.
206
The 'British National Front' was formed from a meeting held
at Caxton Hall, Westminster on February 7, 1967. This new party is founded from the confluence of three
political groups: the Racial Preservation Society, the British National
The British Nationalist Party
Each of these groups agrees on the basic and fundamental precepts that give rise to the British
National Front: Great Britain and the British have the right to determine their own future, the relations
multiracial immigrants is a tragic mistake, patriotism is positive, and capitalism, communism
internationalism has taken power away from individuals. Towards the elections of the late 1970s, the
The British National Front has a strong electorate, in order to obtain political seats through voting.
Due to this, a strong opposition arises from leftist groups such as the 'Trotskyite Socialist Workers'.
gathered in an Anti-Nazi League, joined by the far-left factions of the Labour Party (MPS),
which generates a wide movement against the British National Front. It is circumstances like the continued
the arrival of immigrants in England and settlement in working-class neighborhoods stimulates the spread that the British
National Front operates within the punk and skinhead movement (related to nationalist sentiments)
right-wing). As a result, both gangs and individuals will join their ranks and those of the Young National Front.
English neo-Nazi skinheads would stand out for their extreme anti-immigrant, anti-communist, anti-IRA attitude.
(Irish Republican Army), anti-anarcho peace punk, etc.

157
The relevance of Crass's experience for anarchist punk.

The punks attacked the racial, class, and creed barriers/ But
observe how it is now, do you really think you are free? / The punks a
they supported freedom, not violence, ambition and hatred/ The punks do not
had nothing to do with what you were trying to create/ Anarchy, violence,
Chaos? / You damned without criteria / Don't you realize that you are talking
the way the system does it?/ Throughout all our damn
history violence has been the game/ The message you offer is the same
mess/ You are the pets of the system with your senseless violence/
That's right, stupid ones, they criticize us because we say 'give them
a chance for peace"/ Punk is dead, clumsy ones, because you
they killed one and again/ In your violent world of chaos, what are you going
do?.” ("It’s the greatest working class rip-off", Crass, "Christ- The
Album, 1983 Crass Records, UK.

Crass (from Essex, England), is both a community and a political position that
it is expressed as a musical band (among other means) that began to take shape in 1976.
Some of its original members had information about the activist hippie movement.207
which formed communities outside the cities and another part of the group did not, some
they knew about the postulates of anarchism and others declared that if they had
hearing about any Russian anarchist, like M. Bakunin, they would have associated him with
some brand of vodka. Yes, because before 1976 those who were members of Crass,
they debated between feelings of desolation due to the failure of experiences of the
leftist student youth movements in the 60s and the helplessness in the face of
an increasingly conformist English society focused on trivial life that
consumption brings, despite the economic crisis for some British social sectors. They were

207
Some members of Crass were closely familiar with the experience of Wally Hope (Phil 'Hope' Russell), a
hippie activist (from the late '60s and mid '70s), who died (at age 28, in 1975) due to the
abuse provided (among them, a suspect "treatment" with anti-psychotic drugs, which it
they were broken mentally and physically) in their confinement within a psychiatric institution, when being judged
product of his activist action. Wally Hope took a self-managed, pacifist political position.
communitarian, who transferred to his daily activism. One of his most recognized milestones to date is having
originated the "Stonehenge Free Festivals" (each year on the summer solstice). Wally contributed to the
creation of a countercultural movement and context, which brought together hippies and class organizations
worker. Later, Penny Rimbaud (JJ. Ratter) from Crass investigated the events that led to the

158
times of 'drunkenness and boredom', 'poorly channeled', as noted by a member of Crass
(Penny Rimbaud).
Between the years 1976-1978, they decided to change the situation and react against the
the course of events of the time: the loss of the sense of rebellion of Punk, the
merchandising of their products, the standardization and acceptance of their expressions as
consumer goods, neo-conservative politics, and the impending military incursions with the
arrival of Margaret Thatcher, nuclear armament, consumer society, the
authoritarianism, militarism, exploitation, machismo.
It is then, that towards the end of 1977 a group of around 14 people
(men and women) begins to channel their energies towards some causes, having
as the main method, the search for total autonomy from institutions:
governmental, policy, and music industry. They are established on a farm at the
outskirts of Essex, space that serves as their operations center and what would be the foundation
of a community organization of a horizontal and anti-authoritarian nature, based on the
principles of self-management and mutual support (of an anarchist nature). That is, they begin
to develop a platform for significant interactions and behaviors that materialize
in the formation of a microculture (of a countercultural nature) aimed at dismantling
hierarchical, authoritarian, macho, sexist, patriarchal social relations
mercantile, tacitly established in the rest of society and its own subjectivities.
This community called Crass expressed itself through music, rallies,
street demonstrations (intervention of spaces, distribution of flyers, performance,
etc.), publications (bulletins, fanzines, etc), audiovisual art, etc.
In the musical aspect208(that cannot be separated from Crass as a collective), the
the band starts operating in 1977, encouraged by Steve Ignorant and Penny Rimbau, as it

death to the hippie activist, writing a book that accounts for a theory about a conspiracy
governmental, to get rid of it.
208
It's a rustic, experimental rock'n'roll, with certain atmospheres of improvisation and play of artifacts.
electronic (sounds and effects produced through frequency distortion of a transistor radio, etc.)
in the midst of songs, and the use of piano and other instruments. From the perspective of the Crass, their music is
a tool, another means of spreading their political conception. For the members of Crass, Crass is not
a rock music band.
159
they would call themselves, in which the other members of the Crass collective participated, either

playing some musical instrument, composing song lyrics, proposals

graphs209, etc. Initially, attendance at Crass concerts was low due to their
belligerent attitude regarding the generality of British Punks; it was a time when
together with the band and friends from UK Subs and a few sparse people formed the landscape of their

first recitals.
From the beginning, the members of Crass dedicated themselves to denouncing attitudes
of the "new idols of Punk", embodied by the Sex Pistols and The Clash, among others. To
the Clash were shouted at as sellouts and traffickers of ideas (they received a 'lucrative' contract from the

then Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS - now Sony Music). In this regard, Crass
they considered the stance of the group The Clash contradictory to the principles of the
independence, the ethics of 'do it yourself and mainly with your own speeches (to
through the lyrics of the songs); The Clash talked about revolution, socialism, and criticism
open to capitalism, multinationals (including record labels) wore symbols of
the left and maintained ties with some sectors of it, but in practice they participate
from the dividends and the complacency of the music industry (magazines, record labels,
rock stars, manager, etc.210Thus they refer to in their biography -Crass- of Johnny Rotten
(vocalist of Sex Pistols) and Joe Strummer (vocalist of The Clash).

When, in 1976, punk emerged through the headlines of the

nation with the message 'do it yourself', we, who of various
we were just talking about that, we innocently believed that the
gentlemen, Rotten, Strummer, etc., were really serious.
By this time, we had already realized that our
punk companions, Sex Pistols, The Clash and the other dolls don't it
they were doing. They may like to think that they had scammed

209
In collaboration with the visual artist and member of Crass, Gee.
210
In a certain way, we find a contradictory similarity in contemporary bands - of the known and
identified within the environment - that have a leftist stance and an open criticism of the system
(capitalism, exploitation, multinationals, etc.): like the North Americans Rage Against The Machine, the
French - Spanish Mano Negra (later Manu Chao), the Argentinians Todos Tus Muertos, Fun
People, the Chileans: Los Prisioneros and Los Miserables, the English anarcho-punks Chumbawamba; the
Australians Midnight Oil. And mega stars like Sting (ex The Police) and Bono (U2). And former members of the
American band Dead Kennedys who retained the ownership rights of the band, etc.
160
 the big companies, but it was the public they had swindled.
They helped no one but themselves, they started another
superficial fashion brought a new way of life to Kings Road and
they claimed that they had started a revolution. Same old.
history. We were alone again.211

On the contrary, characters like Charlie Harper, vocalist of the UK Subs, inspired
the rebellious spirit of punk and the members of Crass during those years:

The enthusiasm of Charley Harper212was always an inspiration

when times were desolate, their absolute belief that the
punk was the music of the people and had more to do with than with the
McLaren revolution213and their harpies could have ever
dreamed. Through sheer tenacity we managed to expose the punks
charlatans for what they really were, a promotion of the business of
music.214

Similarly, in their first album (poorly released by Small

Wonder in 1977) from 1978 "The feeding of the 5000" by Crass Records, in the song
Punk is Dead, the reference to the commercialization of punk is clear:

That's right, punk is dead. It's just another cheap product for the
consumer mentality. Rock of chewing gum chewers who listen to music
in plastic transistors, student rebellion supported by the greats
promoters (of music). CBS promotes The Clash, but it is not because of the
revolution is only for money. Punk became a fashion just
how hippie culture used to be: it has nothing to do with you or me. The
movements are systems and systems destroy. Movements are
expressions of public desire. Punk became a movement
because we felt lost, but the leaders sold out and now everyone
we paid the cost. The narcissism of punk was a social napalm, Steve Jones
began to do the real damage; preaching revolution, anarchy
and the change while sucking from the system that gave him his name. Well,
I am tired of looking through a glass stained with shit, tired.

211
From the biography of the band Crass contained in the compilation album 'Best Before... 1984', released in
1986, Crass Records. UK.
212
Vocalist of the English punk band Uk Subs. Charlie Harper is an experienced blues music singer.
the rock 'n' roll of the 60s in England, which later became part of UK Subs to this day. In the
The news must be around 60 years old.
213
Malcolm McLaren manager of the Sex Pistols.
214
Ibid: from the biography of Crass included in the compilation album "Best Before... 1984".
161
 looking at the butt of the superstars: I have a butt and I poop, and I have a
name, I just hope for my 15 minutes of fame. Steve Jones, you are a napalm:
If you are so cute, why are you so flattering?; Patti Smith, you are napalm,
You write with your hand, but it is Rimbaud's arm. And me, if I, I want
set myself on fire?, Is there something I can learn?, Do I need a
entrepreneur to promote my perspective?, Will I be able to resist the
What do fame and fortune show me? I see their
velvet zippers on their sadomasochistic outfits, to the social elite
like earrings embedded in their ears, I observe them and understand that they do not
They mean nothing. Scorpions can attack, but the system stole from them.
Stinger. Punk is dead, punk is dead, punk is dead.215

In that tone, there was a rejection of the sense of punk publicized by bands like
Sex Pistols and the punk audiences that followed it. The meaning of punk for
Crass, which the lyrics of the song suggest to us -like our documents- is a counter-
sense - in this case - of the massified punk symbol around an aesthetic (outfit of
leather and bondage artifacts for 'sadomasochistic' use, music (digestible rock'n'roll and
multinational contracts) and behavior (self-destruction, chaos, "no future" attitude,
irreflexivity, narcissism: 'rock star', inconsistency and contradiction between the
speech and practice, elitism, conformism and complacency with the system, vulgarity
free, machismo, sexism, etc.) that was standardized by the media.
In the face of 'the punk that has died,' a contradiction arises (and a heterodoxy at the same time)

in the form of anti-punk that Crass symbolizes for those years 216A contradiction
punk that is filled through its practices and ideologies linked to anarchism. While
A large punk segment of the time entrenches itself behind the flag of "no future".
future), an 'anti-everything' critique and a nihilistic sentiment, Crass and other personalities
linked to political anarchist punk, make their critique of society
contemporary, the origin of a thread leading to a new type of society, which in

215
Punk is dead
1978 Crass Records. UK.
216
It's not just Crass, as there were also other bands and groups that were linked to punk from different angles.
angles (political, ideological, artistic, existential, etc.). The experience of Crass represents a
paradigm and milestone visible within the punk universe less visible, if we talk about the history of punk within
of rock, and of the aspect of rock, as a vehicle for generating political discourse, social commitment and
countercultural.
162
march - in the present - will attempt to build from specific experiences:
self-management, liberated spaces, networks of alternative information distribution, etc.

...while the charlatans strolled across the stage, to smell that

What else refreshes them, we became tougher due to isolation.
We decided to stop "messing around" with alcohol and start taking it seriously.
more seriously to ourselves. We adopted black clothing as a protest
against the trendy punks. We started to incorporate films and video into our
repertoire. We wanted to produce flyers to explain our ideas and a
newspaper, "International Anthem". We designated a flag that was hung
with us until the end, and we committed to carry it out until
almost the end of the legendary 1984.217

They were generally expelled from the clubs where the punk bands were. more
popular218they played at the time, like the famous Roxy club:

... Expelled from the Roxy... that's fine, anyway I never liked it much.
touch there, do they think that guitars and microphones are a bunch of f***s
Toys? Screw them, I have chosen to adopt my opinion against what I feel.
what is wrong with this land. They just sit there on their asses
overfed, feeding on the sweat of the lower classes
fortunate.219

With the phrase previously quoted a few paragraphs back: "Through sheer tenacity we achieved

expose the talkative punks for what they really were, a promotion of the business of
music" leads us to think about the desire to maintain the properties of punk related
with independence, protest, and anti-commercialism outside the field (in terms of Pierre
Bourdieu) of the action of the meaning of commercialized and systemic punk symbolized - by
example - in Sex Pistols, since although the intention (of Crass) is to denounce or expose

217
Ibid: from the biography of Crass contained in the compilation album 'Best Before... 1984'.
218
Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash, Chelsea, X Ray Spex, Buzzcocks, The Rezillos, The Slits, Siouxie
and the Banshees, etc.
219
Part of the lyrics of the song 'Banned from the Roxy' from the Crass album 'The Feeding of the'
5000", Crass Records 1978, UK. The song alludes to the punk atmosphere of the Roxy Club, adding
metaphorically elements of the social contingency between the rulers and the ruled, whose replica is
materializes in that Club whose punk atmosphere remains alienated from the issues of the time:
unemployment, British militarization in Belfast, Ireland, etc.
163
to the chattering punks within the general space of punk, the data about Crass us
suggests the attempt to create a separate field from the general punk field and its
capitalized properties by the music industry, fashion, and behaviors
stereotypical. While there is a certain claim of a return to the original sense of punk,
this is limited and preserved within the field of punk that Crass along with other bands and
personalities develop, and will soon come to life under the name Anarcopunk.
The Crass took 'Do it yourself' seriously and the idea of Punk.
as a means of protest and ideological discourse.
Regarding the commercialization of Punk (and beyond that), the Crass within a
the flyers they distributed referred to in the following way:

Punk has become something escapist and boring. We don't want the
photos of these new "heroes". We want life and do not support anything that
offer less than that. The future is ours and we are ready to
fight for him. Was Punk ever a protest? Was it something more than
An escape? Six years ago we were offered a contract, the one that was leading the
the company had the courage to tell us that the revolution was possible
market as another cheap product for the consumer mentality. He
transformed our anger into comfort: the package of protest!
We said to grow up and he replied: that we would never get anywhere. Would we get there?
What for? Is there life behind consumption, plastic, and products?
to find that life we must find within ourselves and, when
let's find the answer we must be prepared to fight and maintain
that light turned on. We were searching, looking within ourselves and
wondering: the what, where and why; that arose from
us220

By 1978, Crass (as a collective and band) began to take a more

defined, trying to expand to the specific themes that plagued Punk: its
domestication and institutionalization. The path they take is to seriously establish from
his daily actions, a coherence with his pacifist-oriented anarchist ideas.
Specifically, they believed that 'anarchism is the only form of thought
"a politician who does not seek to control the individual through force" (Crass interview,
fanzine flipside NC. 23, March 1981221and politically they pointed out that anarchy 'is the

220
Original article found on the 'Southern Records' website, where the page is hosted.
Crass Records official. Website:The provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable content.. (Consulted: 23/08/01).
221
O'Hara, Craig op. cit. p. 83
164
rejection of state control and represents an individual's demand to live a life of
personal choice and not a political manipulation" (Ibid.). And with this rejection of control
coercive and compulsive of the institutions, they express that it is necessary to develop a
amount of personal responsibility
So, it is from the years 1978-1979 that Crass begins to spread.
(through their speeches and practices) these ideas inspired by anarchism of a character
pacifist; more people start to gather around him and support other groups and causes.
By the way, the anarchist movement in England at that time was in a
both during recess and distanced from the young people and the streets. Crass partially activates this by organizing

anarchist centers and supporting the CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament)
movement that brought together activists, ecologists, green anarchists, pacifists, etc.
Partly certain relationships are established with traditional anarchist organizations (that
towards the late 1980s they will be deeper and more fruitful), but the level of discourse -
for the early years of classical anarchist militants, it is too academic and
focused on classic theoretical discussions, which alienates some of the early punks who
They approach some meetings and assemblies of British anarchist organizations.
Crass takes self-management as a banner of struggle and as a personal option and style.
of life, not to consume drugs and the practice of vegetarianism. They reject the products
made under human and animal exploitation, they manufacture their own clothing (such as the
recycling of unused clothes). The clothing worn by the members of Crass was
totally distanced from leather, and the punk aesthetic imposed by the Sex Pistols, Malcom
McLaren (together with 'The Bromley Contingent') and their store 'Sex', and other punks; for
In general, they wore black clothing of the genre, type overalls.
In 1977, they planned to release their first album on the punk label Small Wonder Record,

but due to problems of censorship, production, and distribution, and based on the practice
from self-management, they decide to found their own independent label called Crass Records,
record label that will release (in the first stage between 1978 and 1984) a series of bands
from the same punk, anarchist, and libertarian orientations, bands like: Zounds, MDC

165
(USA) Conflict, The Mob, Rudimentary Peni, Flux of the Pink Indians, Poison Girls,
Kulk222
Between 1978-1980, Crass suffers censorship and warnings from the media
communication officials, the cultural industry and political institutions (BBC, EMI,
House of Commons), the result of their public manifestations, and
song lyrics. Now that they have their own record label and a job
self-questionnaires enjoy a relative independence from the system, which allows for
they dedicate themselves to attacking the policy of the English government of the time, Margaret Thatcher, her

election and reelection, the conflict of the Falklands (Malvinas) and the emerging problem of
miners sector.
Crass participates in the activities and concerts of RAR (Rock Against Racism)
Rock Against Racism223), but then they become disappointed with this organization, since
Crass had the will to contribute without profiting from these causes and they realized that
there was profit on the part of some of the bands that participated and the organizers of
these events.
In 1981, they began recording their album called 'Christ-The Album' where
they warn of the possible conflict in the Falklands. It is worth noting that the records of Crass

(vinyl format) contained quite a few texts and anarchist dissemination material.
In 1982, a war began between England and Argentina, and Margaret Thatcher with
Hello ensures his continuation at the helm of the nation (Prime Minister). Embarking on a
war for distant territories, during election season, is a reason for the Crass
they launch their anti-war propaganda; Crass releases a single
rebuking Margaret Thatcher, with the following title: "How should the mother of
1000 dead? That was an explicit questioning of Margaret's war policy.
Thatcher.
This is how I appreciated the era of Thatcher and Crass, a protagonist of the moment.

called Dick Lucas, vocalist of the Punk band Sub Humans (1980 - to present):

222
One of the first bands that included the Icelandic singer and musician known as Björk.
223
Within that nomenclature, these festivals will also be called "Rock Against The Rich".
The Rich
166
 ... there were many people outside of this music who felt the same rage...
Thatcher was taking us to war, ruining the mining industry,
increasing police power, cutting social services, creating
mass unemployment, inventing the damn "poll tax" (the protest in its
the counter was so great that she was forced to resign... A wave of joy
filled the country! When she dies, we will celebrate!)...meanwhile, Reagan was putting
its "Cruise" missiles in England and invaded Grenada, Honduras,
Nicaragua... McDonald's starting to be seen everywhere, and even
that the Berlin Wall fell along with communism / Russian power, the destruction
nuclear was the biggest threat (more than global domination of the
Corporations!... the 80s were times of fear, resentment, protest,
uprisings, and activism... cause and effect: the more a state oppresses its
the population more people become aware and rebel against all forms of
control... this atmosphere was made for anarcho-punk, or was it to
"backward?"224

Between 1980 and 1984, Crass began to be more known for its political stance than
for their musical career (within the wave of Punk music). Crass is increasingly being
boycotted by the multinational labels, the BBC, etc., in the dissemination of their material
record label.
Crass, by meddling in state affairs (the war), is subject to scrutiny.
by government agents and through official media are
labeled as anti-patriots (for being against the British military intervention). At the same time
Crass is disappointed with the British peace and anti-war movement, as the reactions
against the war became insufficient and began to silence themselves due to the sanctions
applied against those considered anti-patriots. Margaret Thatcher referred to
publicly calling the lyrics of the band Crass 'offensive and anti-patriotic.'
In 1983, election time, for Crass it is necessary to strike a blow to the possible
reelection of Margaret Thatcher, for which from the release of her next album
called "Yes sir, I will", which contains a large amount of text talking about the

224
Interview with the British Dick Lucas, vocalist of the bands Sub Humans/Citizen Fish, conducted by the
radio program "Radial Therapy" (2001-2002) from Radio Universidad de Chile, 01/25/02. The interview was
distributed between the months of March and May of 2002 through the program's email:
[email protected]. The citation for the transcription of the interview corresponds to page no. 2 of
document translated from English to Spanish. Subsequently, the realization and some clarifications about the
interviews were confirmed to the thesis student -via email- by Dick Lucas: [email protected]
December 8, 2003
167
specific situation of England and its war conflict, authoritarianism and anarchism, launch
a campaign based on the idea expressed through the slogan 'Thatchergate' (allusive
the Watergate case that 'ousted' the American President Richard Nixon from the
presidency).
From that moment on, Crass became the focus of both local and national press attention.
foreign (against and in favor), and monitoring by Scotland Yard. Since within
from that anti-re-election campaign called -under the slogan- 'Thatchergate', they made
publish a recording of a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher and Ronald Reagan (then President of the United States), mounted by
fragments of other interviews. This conversation revealed the reasons for the wars of
the Falklands and incriminated Margaret Thatcher225for the sinking of the warship
Argentine, General Belgrano (around 323 crew members died), which was located outside
from the exclusion zone226. The effect caused by the disclosure of this tape, which not only
it reached the media as well as British intelligence and the Pentagon, it brought
problems with the foreign policies of the British government. The confusion was such that
blamed the Crass for being agents of the KGB and that in all this matter they
they found the hands of the Kremlin.
For its part, both the press in general and the press close to the opposition
politics, they mocked the stir caused by only 'a handful of punks', both in
England as in the United States. From that moment on, the members of Crass received
support and they were given many interviews for radio programs (both media
institutional as independent from the world: Japan, Canada, United States, France,
Italy, Netherlands, Germany, etc.

225
In the year 2000, the European Court of Human Rights agreed to consider a compensation case.
Great Britain for war crimes against former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for the sinking of
cruiser General Belgrano, in 1982.
News published on the website: http://www.terra.com.ar/canales/politica/2/2161.html (Buenos Aires, 17 of
July 2000 - 3:20 PM). (Consulted: 12/23/02).
226
The exclusion zone covered 320 kilometers and was established by Great Britain around the
Falklands, after the Argentine Armed Forces attempted to regain control of the islands in 1982.
168
 Letters of support arrived from Yugoslavia, Italy, France, South Africa, the Netherlands,
Ireland, United States; on behalf of libertarian, anarchist organizations, supporters
individuals, and people who changed their pro-war positions with the lyrics of Crass, etc.
The work of Crass227it was not limited to the narrow field of punk linked to the
activism and anarchism. Since 1980, they have started visiting places in the Greater
Britain and sharing their viewpoints (Mutual support, self-management, anti-authoritarianism,
vegetarianism, etc.) with different people and groups: Boy Scouts, Christian Groups,
ecologists, humanists, peasants, miners, etc.
On the other hand, in addition to being monitored by the British authorities, they had to
facing the continuous attacks from right-wing skinhead groups adjacent to the British
National Front. This type of violence caused some members of Crass to question
from the anarchist and pacifist punk of their non-violent stances.
In 1984, Crass dissolves as a band and organization, as they had planned.
since its birth. In its beginnings, the members of Crass established that the year of
1984 would be the end of Crass, in allusion to the literary work of George Orwell '1984'.
In this way, they created a strange numbering on each of their records as a sort of
countdown that coincided exactly with the "Orwellian year" of 1984, where the character
Winston Smith succumbs to the purification of the 'Big Brother.'
Before the year 1984, Crass was unclear about what would happen over time.
until the "fateful date". In the dissolution of Crass, the constant public exposure added up,
echo of authority and something they had not anticipated: the payment of taxes for the
operation of its Crass Records label; this situation temporarily harms the
future record projects, since the British tax authority investigated their
financial transactions and their non-payment of the 'VAT' (English tax).
From 1984 to the present, the members of Crass continued to participate.
actively in various musical projects228, artistic, political. Nowadays they return to

227 They maintained quite a bit of communication through correspondence with people from different countries and gave

interviews for radio, traditional press, and fanzines.

228
Members of Crass have played and currently play in bands such as: Judas II, Schwartzeneggar, Stratford Mercenaries.
Incidentally, the Chilean punk band Fiskales Ad-Hok, during their European tour in the year 2000 had the
An opportunity to share with members of Crass and experience this aspect of British punk live.
169
coming together around Crass Collective and participating from there in different
causes and projects. One of their latest appearances as a collective has been in the
campaigns against the "war in Iraq" of U.S. President George W. Bush.
Crass, through its constant activism and musical label, enhanced
significantly the emergence and guideline of a punk ethic based on the precepts
Basics of anarchism: anti-authoritarianism, self-management, and mutual support. Their theoretical connection.

and the practice of these precepts in their lifestyle unintentionally transformed them into a symbol
relevant to the international activist punk community.
The so-called 'do-it-yourself' ethic of original punk was developed
deeply -within its limitations- in the experience of Crass. For Crass, moreover
to propose a different meaning to the nihilistic punk of that time, created a
materialized alternative229in diffusion structures and collective work, which was
replicated from the 1980s to today. A situation that, over time, influenced
in the development of the political attitude within punk, anarcho-punk, and punk activism.
In this regard, Dick Lukas from the punk band Sub Humans points out some
details of his experience in the emergence of British punk and anarcho-punk:

The Sub Humans were inspired by the first explosion of punk.

like in the anarcho-punk ideology, we were 17 years old when we listened
for the first time with the Sex Pistols and we were playing in punk bands
"disorderly" before Subhumans... the anarcho-punks were
influenced by Crass and their serious stance regarding 'anarchy in the
UK gave us the inspiration to feel part of something more than a
trend or fashion. The inclusion of politics within punk was perfect
mix of rage and music, concentrating the general feeling of
frustration in specific attacks towards the reasons for this frustration, is
to say, government policies, police tactics, the laws, the
social indoctrination through the media, the power of the
television, the corruption of leaders... some bands sang about
from Thatcher, others sang about general human behavior, and
Hey! Some sang only about getting drunk! But the scene
anarchopunk was open to anyone interested in the ethics of 'Do it yourself'
same" [DIY], whose main motivation is to avoid dealing with the big ones.
companies and create our own alternatives (cheaper, accessible and
honesty). The only thing that was not accepted was sexism, racism, fanaticism.
and the greedy egos. There were no rules written in an anarchist manual.
"oficial", y tampoco habían líderes - ¡obviamente!- así que, dado el espacio

229
It should be noted that it is not exclusively due to Crass, as we mentioned earlier.
170
 to be artistically and emotionally free (from any tradition,
stereotype and the rules of the music industry), punk developed a
wide variety of record labels and DIY ('Do it yourself') magazines
which appeared on their own (and also disappeared on their own
account!) but in such a quantity that a solid scene developed. The
political and social awareness / knowledge in a group aged between 14-24
it was the tallest I have ever seen, especially considering that it was
mainly oriented in music230.

Alongside Crass, other activist and anarchist punk bands emerged, such as
fanzines and collectives. Groups like The Apostles and anarcho-punk fanzines like 'Pigs'
for "The Slaughter" by its author, would radicalize anarchist and pacifist positions towards
confrontational positions of direct action231through the use of violence.
These are the years of the miners' strikes. In 1983, the collective and press emerge.
Class War. Organization originating from a British mining town that is
initially supported by a local organization, populist and of social agitation of
ultra-left called 'Alarm'.
Class War is mainly composed of punk people with an anarchist orientation.
and far-left. In the first issues of their publication, they address local topics such as
sharp criticisms of the anarchist and pacifist movement. He proposed through his
analyze the idea that 'violence is necessary', and identified the enemy not only as 'the
system" or "the State", but expressed in the ruling class and in specific individuals
within that class. Crass rather spoke of 'destroying power and not people, destroying
the thirst for power
In 1984, the permanent closures of some mines and sources of work begin.
British mining sector, prompted by M. Thatcher's policies. Strikes begin.
Class War reacts quickly by calling on the anarchist, punk, and
to the CND for direct support of the miners. The Class War wants people to unleash
a social explosion in England, hoping that the unleashed force against the conflict

230
Interview with Dick Lukas on the radio program 'Radio Therapy': Ob. Cit. p. 1
231
Direct action does not necessarily and essentially imply the use of violence within the
anarchist guidelines (as we pointed out at the beginning of this thesis chapter, within the point of
Anarchism regarding "direct action".
171
in the Falklands, I exploded this time. But Class War, in a solitary way.232supports the action
direct from the strikers233Situation that increases the readership of Class publication
War (expanding not only within the mining population), those who were waiting
subsequently his proclamations at the great demonstration in Masfield in the year 1984. In that
Year, Class War had a sufficient number of readers to increase its print run.
publication.
In 1985, the Class War collective wants to make a strong impact, and participates in the big
march of the striking miners from Nothing Hill to Kensington. Like in another one in 1986.
from Camden Hampstead, a residential area where the affluent sectors live and the
businessmen, this march was stopped halfway.
In 1988 they organized a tour national under the slogan 'Rock against the
Ricos” (Rock Against the Rich), with the participation -among others- of the former lead singer of the

band The Clash, Joe Strummer, in order to proclaim the political ideas of Class War
(of anarchist, libertarian and syndicalist style).
In 1990, Class War gained notoriety for the protest called by various
sectors - against the voting of taxes. The vendors arrived from different parts of
England to Trafalgar Square, where they inevitably confronted the police, which
did not provide enough for the thousands of protesters. Some spokespeople of the organizers
they pointed out that the Class War "were the heroes of the working class," on radio stations and
by national television. Then the publications of Class War were analyzed in the
House of Commons and Lords.
The organization Class War, from that moment on, transforms into a political force.
of anarchist-punk and anarchist-syndicalist orientation, which over the years of the 80s
gives rise to the formation of a national federation, and from the '90s to today, of a
international federation extended to the rest of Europe and the United States.
Another organization and space where English punk anarchists participated.
It was and is 1 in 12 Club. 1 in 12 Club is a self-managed space supported by a
organization of anarchist and cooperative orientation. 1 in 12 Club was founded in 1981

232
Depending on the universe where they move.
233
The miners are also supported by the leftist skinhead band, 'Redskins', whose members
they are militants in the Socialist Workers Party.
172
for members of a 'Claimants Union' (Association of young unemployed workers)
as a creative response to the problems of unemployment and the ongoing struggle of living immersed
in an industrial city (Bradford). The purposes of this club were to create a space
accessible to the economy of people with low wages or unemployed, with the
objectives of implementing the values of self-management and mutual support, within a
anti-authoritarian organizational structure. In 1 in 12 Club, all members participate in their
operation and management.
The members of this organization buy a premises and make it operate as
in accordance with the legal regulations within the scope of 'private club'. Inside, its
The structure is horizontal, divided into groups according to their interests: Mounting
concerts, albums, publications, café, bar, restaurant, library, farm, sports, games
maintenance of the premises. With future plans to form housing cooperatives. The idea
It is to maintain collaboration among the different groups, and so it is that the farm group
and the farmer supplies the bar, café, and restaurant with his vegetarian products, which are
accessible at a low cost for the community near the club.
At first, the ideas and politics of British anarchopunks
they emerge as a combination -as noted by the British sociologist Richard Cross- between:
no-violence, counterculture, communalism and experimentation, cooperativism, anti-
Spartan character consumerism and exploration of personal freedom on the one hand, and the
support without wavering against the forces of capital, the war against the state, for the other.234
The character of this combination implied and signified the ambition of the anarchopunk.
as a way to value people 'to live their own lives', perhaps 'by a code
independent morality, and free from state interference as much as possible or to mobilize its
forces to prepare the defeat of capital and the state in the world forever?235.
Returning to the case of Crass, sociologist Richard Cross and his research on
they specify that in Crass's original vocabulary, 'anarchism and pacifism were considered

234
Cross, Richard: "Yes, that's right/ Punk is dead: Crass and the anarcho-punk critique, 1977-1984". Paper
given at the No Future conference on punk and punk rock, hosted by the University of Wolverhampton
September 2001, UK. page 8
235
Ibid., p. 8
173
as synonyms and symbiotic, when materialized in the belief of a philosophy that
"He maintained the need for mutual support among human beings."236
The British anarchopunk 'was sometimes successfully linked and sometimes not with
feminist, atheist, anti-capitalist, and ecologist organizations. Particularly through
by bands like Conflict and Flux of the Pink Indians237There was also a strong presence.
of political positions regarding animal rights and animal liberation,
vegetarianism, veganism, and particularly guided, in those years towards antimilitarism
and nuclear disarmament; and others, towards trade unionism like Class War.

The American Case: From Punk to Hardcore Punk in the Reagan Era.

In the United States of the mid-1970s, the emerging punk movement

focuses especially on New York, in whose first declared punk bands
find at: The Dead Boys, The Dictators, Criminals, The Pirates, The Avengers
Liar, Richard Hell and other bands that emerged simultaneously in other places in the States.
United: Detox, The Weidors, Zeros, Crime, Alley Cats, Nums, Go-Go's, The Dickies
Negative Trend, F-Word, X, Dills, The Mad, Dead Beats, Accident, Vains, The Midle
Class, Fear, Germs; in addition to a series of unclassifiable experimental sounds that
they come from the early '70s and are attached to the nascent movement: Pere Ubu,
The Residents, Devo, Suicide, Half Japanese, etc.
The first fanzines dedicated exclusively to the emerging scene appear.
underground related to punk, publications concerned about what is happening in the U.S.
as in the rest of the world. Through interviews with bands and protagonists of the time,
like scene reports, musical comments (recitals, etc), thoughts, lists of
email and advertising of the products in that context begin to materialize a certain
historicity of punk and to create a means of dissemination and connection between different places of
world. One of those publications that appeared between 1976 and 1979 is 'Search & Destroy'
and the classic "Punk Magazine". Around 1980, punk music radio programs emerge.

236
Ibid.
237
Ibid., p. 9
174
as Maximum Rock 'n' Roll that will lead to a fanzine publication that lasts until
these days, other magazines and at the same time labels will be FlipSide (originated in the late '70s)
Damaged (fanzine), Hardcore California (fanzine), Slash (fanzine), among others. These
the last will inaugurate the arrival of the '80s with reports on the new materialization of punk
that will be named Hardcore Punk.
At the same time, towards the end of the 1970s, there was a movement within American punk.
a visibility of different scenes that are beginning to emerge in other cities of the
USA, especially in the southeast of California in suburban areas, Washington
DC., etc. This paves the way for new concert circuits and spaces for expression, always
monitored by official censorship by organizations that safeguard morality
Americanism brought about by the rising 'Reaganism' (in the '80s).
In 1979, the visible and massive punk movement, for some of the different groups
the individualities of the punk era begin to wear off; its continuous
marketing, elitism, and stereotyped sounds and ideas, along with the crisis of the dream
American within an enveloping consumer society and expectations of life
limited within those margins (within youth culture, through the programs
from TV, being 'popular' is encouraged as a way to be accepted and socially integrated), and
the arrival of Ronald Reagan to the presidency (and his assault on the free spots
expression, its military incursions and support for Latin American dictatorships: El Salvador,
Nicaragua, etc.), constitute the formation of a reaction from some punk youth of
radical way.

"Ronald Reagan another product of Southeast California, won the"

presidency in 1980. It was the great force that emerged and transformed into
enemies of Hardcore, the arts, minorities, women, gays, the
liberals, the homeless, the workers, etc. All of them agreed on
to repudiate it.238

The graphic artist specialized in the technique of photomontage, Wiston Smith (who
he designed covers and posters for Dead Kennedys and the record label Alternative
Tentacles), shares the following opinion about the Reagan era and Hardcore Punk:

238
Blush, Steven: 'American Hardcore. A tribal history'. Feral House, distributed by Publishers Group. Los
Angeles Ca., USA., 2001. Page 20
175
 "Ronald Reagan was the catapult for the hardcore scene, the music and
art will change radically from 1981 to 1986, when Reagan was
at its peak. The people who seemed to have been asleep until then were seen
with eyes wide open. The attitude of those years was to keep fighting despite
lose, but with the stance: let's not let him get away with his ways.239

Steven Blush tells us that 'around 1982 - regarding the hardcore era -
dominated by Reagan, America was experiencing a recession, the steel and industry of
Cars were causing an impact every day, higher prices, and housing speculation.
But nothing could stop the musical scene that progressed alongside repression and the
recession240
At that moment, punk music becomes more aggressive and faster with messages
precise about the state of things. This period begins in 1979 and will have its
best years until 1982. This new expression of punk will be known as 'Hardcore.'
That also brings different styles of dancing and spending energy in the recitals; according
with fast and aggressive sounds appear: the "slamdance" and the "stagediving".
The term hardcore (translation: hard center, hard core, hard heart, vul.
hard shell) is used to refer to "hard" pornographic movies with explicit sex,
as well as to the most passionate fans of an American football team. But the meaning of
the term Hardcore in the context of American punk is necessary to trace it back to the sound of
punk bands from the late 70s like the Germs (from Los Angeles, CA), The Midle Class,
Fear, Bad Brains241, among others; that for its fast and violent playing style, muntil the
sum of sounds and effects quite distorted, and the short duration of the songs

239
Blush, Steven. Op. cit. p. 20
240
Ibid., p. 20
241
This band formed in the late 1970s is an interesting example of the blend of spirit
American hardcore punk (of a constructive cut) with Rastafarian culture, since the African American members
Bad Brains profess this belief and in their musical style interpret sounds that range from hardcore.
punk, ranging from jazz to original reggae melodies. While in England there was a fusion between
punk musicians and rastas, the original thing about this is that here we can talk about a sense of punk from the
Rastafarianism 'rastapunk'. Another band of African Americans that will be influenced by this trend will be the
Fishbone will perform a fusion of different sounds and include the rhythm of Ska (in the mid-
And white people will do their own thing in the ska, punk, and hardcore band Operation Ivy from the mid-'80s.
176
(between 35 seconds and 1:45 minutes), they will be configuring a new musical style, to which
they will associate certain ideas and characteristics.
One of the main disseminators of this terminology will be the editors of the
fanzines, which when making comments about the bands, will appeal to their description in the
"hardcore" sound that suggests a certain musical set (whether in their performances
live as in the recordings). But those who will materialize the term within a
Punk production will be the Canadian band.242D.O.A. on their album called "Hardcore 81";
In this regard, Joy Shit Head, vocalist of the Canadian band DOA, clarifies:

The first time we saw the term hardcore was in the fanzine from San
Francisco Ca. "Damaged". This fanzine talked about hardcore music.
what was the American band Black Flag producing in late 1980. When
we started recording the album, our manager said: here I have a title for you
from their album 'Hardcore 81'. Many people referred to us as the
parents of hardcore.243

The American hardcore punk researcher, Steven Blush, in his book 'American
Hardcore a tribal history"(2001) points out that hardcore is an American phenomenon, not just
product of the aforementioned contextual factors (the socio-economic strategy of the
Reagan era), but of the musical and lyrical influence of English bands that played in the
United States or what their material was broadcast, bands such as: UK Subs, Sham 69,

242
It is worth mentioning that the Canadian punk and hardcore scene is quite prolific (both on the Anglo side
as a French speaker), regarding bands, fanzines, spaces, and activism. A member of the band The Sub
Humans (1978-present) from Canada, Gerry Hannan became famous in 1983, but not as a musician.
He was always involved in political issues - including environmentalism - one of his nicknames was 'Nature'
"Punk." He joined a direct action activist group (known as "The Squamish Five"), a group of
urban guerrilla that blew up a hydroelectric substation in the Vancouver Islands and detonated a plant
in Linton near Toronto, which manufactured parts for cruise missiles, a first blow to
nuclear armament.
freedom. (Excerpt from the biography of The Sub Humans from Canada contained in the compilation CD: "Pissed
off...", edited by Essential Noise, Canada, 1996. Website of the label Essential Noise:
http://www.essential_noise.com/
243
Blush, Steven. Op. cit., Page 16
177
 It is worth noting before continuing that in unison with what was happening in Great Britain and

In the United States between the years 77-79, it was replicated within its specificities in
other countries: Holland, Germany (Federal and Democratic), Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark,
Bélgica, Yugoslavia, Checoslovaquia, Grecia, Italia, Francia, Portugal, España, Hungría,
Soviet Union, Japan, Malaysia, Canada, Iceland and Latin America (Mexico, Venezuela,
Brazil, Peru, Argentina.

In West Berlin, youth movements of English origin reach

in all its splendor. The ideology that accompanies those movements is embraced
by the young Berliners as a profession of faith. Punks in their purest form
they provoke, gesticulate, and drink beer in the center of a labyrinth of tribes
Urban (...) On the other side of the wall, there are also punks, skinheads, or rockers.
They appeared in East Berlin in 1981, and nobody has been able to get rid of them. The
assaults by the East police on places where they gather to listen
groups, as happened in March 1981 with a hundred rockers, has not
could have dominated what someone exaggeratedly called the <<rebellion of the
youth of the east202

By 1978, punk bands had signed with major record companies, and the
punk outfits (and the instrumentalization of the concept) were appropriated by the world of
fashion (designers, specialized magazines, producers, promoters, models, etc.) and the
youth consumption industry. Punk became a business, and bands like Sex Pistols,
The Clash, The Damned, Buzzcocks, Generation X203, they became rock stars.
Regarding the above, while mass acceptance may be tempting and still
profitable for some, points out the punk scholar Craig O'Hara, we find in the
words of Dick Lucas, vocalist of the English bands Sub Humans, Culture Shock and
Citizen Fish, a shared feeling - as affirmed by Craig O'Hara in his research - by

202
Report: "Youth Divided in Two. On Both Sides of the Wall, Rock is Present"
from February 9 to 15, 1987. Santiago de Chile. Page 52
203
From this band came Billy Idol, a singer who had his moment of fame in the mid-1980s. On the other hand,
on one side, the recurring way of classifying (politicians, academics, journalists, media,
advertising) to the young generation of the early '90s, has -in part- its terminological derivation in the
name of this punk band (both Generation X and The X from Los Angeles, United States. The use of
the "X" as a way to materialize - in part - a generational feeling of those years: a generation
unknown, strange, etc.): the so-called Generation X.
155
hardcore is marked by a rise of youth gangs identified as criminal or
on the brink of crime by American law enforcement institutions. Therefore, it is not news.
that within gangs or within hardcore similar outfits are used, or
that hardcore protagonists participate from a 'gang-like' sense. It is also lived.
a climate of strong street violence, and the abuse of alcohol and drugs makes others...
In this way, the band Minor Threat ironizes in the song 'Bottled Violence',
the typical behavior at a concert in the climate of those years:

Get your courage from a six-pack / Get your courage from a half bottle,
Drink your whiskey, drink your beer / Cheers! and don't feel the pain / Go out and fight, fight,
bottled violence./ Lose control of your body, hit someone until you make them
Shit/half-closed eyes, you don't know who you're hitting...
"Bottled Violence", Minor Threat, 1981.

Greg Graffin, vocalist of the popular band Bad Religion and owner of the label Epitaph
Records (also Biologist), shares with us his impression of those years:

... there was such hostility that all those who wished to participate were afraid
to what this could finally reach.249

In the same way, Iam Mckaye from the band The Teen Idles and -later-
vocalist of Minor Threat:

... it was completely violent to the point that wherever you were, they could grab you.
y to strike. There was a gang in Georgetown called 'The
Punkbeaters (the punk beaters), who exclusively
"they were dedicated to beating up punk rock youth."250

That is to say, the hardcore and punk scene of the early 1980s is formed by
an amalgamation of individuals and situations of a violent and self-destructive nature, which when
Over the years, it will level out with the emergence of scenes, bands, fanzines, spaces.
and groups that will outline some different senses and meanings from those acted upon within
the margins of certain nihilism and destructive behaviors.

249
Ibid., p. 24
250
Ibid., p. 24
179
 Certain traits of the environment of those years can be appreciated in the film.
North American directed by Penelope Spheeris (also from the documentary film 'The Decline')
of Western Civilization”), about a group of young (14) punks from Los Angeles who
they live in the suburbs. The peculiarity of this film titled 'Suburbia'251it's that these
young punks are not actors, they are real punks who live on the margins and wander
through the streets. The movie was filmed in 1983 at the real locations where they participate
these young people. By the way, one of these punk young men is the popular -at that time
no-famous - Flea, bassist of the North American band Red Hot Chili Peppers (and also
musician of the band Janes Addictions.
Musical bands that appeared between 1979 and 1986 (that are oriented from the style
hardcore and punk ideas, like towards other variants): Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Black
Flag, Circle Jerks, Poison Idea, Gang Green, Reagan Youth, Husker Du, Fear, Adolescents,
TSOL (True Sound Of Liberty), SOA (State Of Alert), Stains (Texas), MDC, D.I., Stains
(L.A.), Zero Boys, Big Boys, Faith, The Vandals, The Misfits, The Undead, Germs, The
Replacements, Youth Brigade (L.A), Scream, The Offenders, Wasted Youth, JFA (Jody's
Foster Army), Angry Samoans, Void, 7 Seconds, Crucifix, Violent Children, Iconoclast,
Conservatives, The Effigies, Gay Cowboys in Bondage, Verbal Assault, Embrace, Black
Market Baby, Rites Of Spring, Skulls, Dag Nasty, Flag of Democracy, Jerry's Kids
Heartattack, The Meatmen, White Flag, Iron Cross, Los Olvidados, Saccharine Trust,
Adolescents, Goverment Issue, Underdog, Batallion of Saints, Social Unrest, The Fu´s,
Chumps, Surf Punks, Artificial Peace, Rikk Agnew, Tesco Vee, Bad Religion, Doggy
Style, Psycho, Fliper, Pig Children, Youth Brigade (Washington DC), Bedlam Hour,
Adrenalin O.D, F#, The Freeze. The Dead Milkmen, The Mob, Beastie Boys, Scrath Acid,
Descendents, Mentors, Meat Puppets, Social Distortion, C.I.A, Final Conflict, The
Crucifucks, Blast!, Pig Children, Marginal Man, Minutemen, SOC (State of Confusion),
Artistic Decline, etc.

251
This movie inspires some Chilean punks in the second half of the 1980s. The movie was possible
to find it in video clubs and it was announced in Spanish as 'Suburbia, the rebellion of the punks'. There is
other movies (made outside the punk context) from the era that use punks or punk music but with
actors, and from a stereotypical perspective towards a side that rescues the crude and criminal.
180
 Some record labels, connected and under the ethics of 'Do It Yourself':
BYO Records, Phila BYO, Plan 9, SST Records, Dischord Records, Alternative Tentacles
Records, Rabid Cat Records, Taang ¡ Records, Buy Our Records, Gasatanka Records, Touch
and Go, Positive Force Records(L.A.), FlipSide, RatCage, among others.

... SST, Alternative Tentacles, Dischord, BYO and Touch & Go. The
the first stamps were centralized around one or two bands.
It took time for them to establish themselves; they started from scratch, without
invested capital, without market structures, without sales apparatus and
radio broadcast. Even so, they persevered. They made bass recordings.
cost, initially 4 or 8 cassettes, recordings made in the best studios
economic. Most of the recordings sounded bad due to the
poor executions and second-hand productions.252

Espacios donde realizan recitales: ABC No Rio (Nueva York), Slipped Disk
(Dallas), The Core, among many others.
Before continuing, we consider it necessary to mention the space "ABC No"
"Rio" of New York, as it represents a paradigm in the utilization of spaces for
community fines. ABC No Rio is a kind of uninhabited building that, around the year
1980 was appropriated by marginalized artists, political activists, and Latino punks such as
American anarchist and leftist trend individuals, to develop artistic activities.
such as photography exhibitions, painting, punk concerts, etc. Starting from that year, it
organizes as a collective and grows its organizational capacity over time like the
human and technical resources. They connect with the nearby community and homeless people
to provide benefits, such as work with adolescents with drug problems and
abandonment. Currently, this space groups together different communities and causes, which
they make their operation centers, this place: feminist groups, anarcho-punks,
antimilitarism, the gay cause, artistic collectives; it also has libraries (where
a large number of fanzines from around the world is archived), computer room
the Internet, radio programs, printing workshop, event space.
In ABC No Rio many of the underground punk bands have paraded.
international, and have used the space, organizations such as: Food Not Bombs from New

252
Blush, Steve op. cit. p. 281
181
York, Eviction Watch, The New York Committee for Democracy in Mexico, The
Coalition for the Freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Act Up, Rainforest Network, etc.
During periods when authorities have attempted to evict them, they have shown tenacity.
resistance also counting on the help of the community.
Resuming, at the same time there is a crossover of styles.253(sounds, aesthetics, etc) and ideas
(between 1984-1987) with the Thrash Metal or Speed Metal scene. Bands and audience will emerge.
called crossover254, and so many hardcore punk bands from the beginning, speed bands
Metal and new bands will adopt it. Bands like: D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles),
C.O.C.(Corrosion of Conformity), Verbal Abuse, Sacred Denial, Attitude, The Accused,
Condemned Attitude, Attitude Adjustment, Ludichrist, Cryptic Slaughter, Dr. Know, Life
Sentence, Acid Reign, Crumsuckers, Citizens Arrest, Suicidal Tendencies, No Mercy
Straight Ahead, Mucky Pup, Fracticide, Lethal Aggression, Excel, Gang Green, PTL Club,
etc. And projects from metal bands like S.O.D. (people from the metal band)
Anthrax), M.O.D., etc. Also other mergers like the band Faith No More (1985).
A separate case is the bands that will emerge (1983-1988) from hardcore punk, and
they will link the hardcore style fused with metal sounds to the precepts of Straight Edge and
the skinhead attitude, especially in New York. Bands like: False Prophet,
Nihilistics, Agnostic Front, Cro- Mags, Gorrilla Biscuits, Intensity, Mass Corruption,
Negative FX, Negative Approach, Insted, Cause For Alarm, Slapshot, Youth Of Today,
Murphy´s Law, Bold, Warzone, Token Entry, Uniform Choice, Sick of It All, Corrupted
Morals, etc.

253
Also with styles like: Rap, Funk, etc.
254
From there (between the years 1983 and 1987), a series of styles and ideas associated with punk will emerge.
Thrash, Hardcore, which will give rise to styles such as: Deathcore, Grindcore, Extremecore, Thrashcore, Noise
core. Bands that will promote these sounds like grindcore will be: SOB (Japan), Extreme Noise Terror
(UK), Heresy (UK), Napalm Death(UK), Larm(Holanda), Electro Hippies, Siege, Cocrete Sox, Satanic
Malfunction, Agathocles, Carcass, Rigtheus Pigs, Ripcord, etc. The term Crossover within the punk scene,
Metal and hardcore will be popularized by the band DRI and their 1987 album 'Crossover'.
It is also worth noting that before and during the specified period, punk begins to merge.
with rockabilly, psychedelia, Dark, Techno, Industrial, Ska, Reggae, electronic, etc. Each with its own
respective scenes and ideas around the world.
182
 Both the political elements255leftists, anarchists and activists are
presents, but dispersed and will have greater intellectual and practical development towards the
the second half of the 1980s. Anarcho-punk will be one option among a range of
possibilities; and this facet of punk (under the nomenclature anarchopunk) from the States
United, it will achieve visibility towards the end of the '80s. Some anarcho-punk organizations and
anarchists between 1980 and 1990: Anarchy Youth Federation (Minnesota, Tennessee,
California and Maryland), Twin Cities Anarchist Federation, Cabbage Collective, Tools
Collective and Positive Force (Washington DC).
The ethics of 'do it yourself', self-management, and mutual support make sense in
the practice of some groups and individuals within the American hardcore and punk scene
(the minority). But also, within a personal search for resolution of
existential problems, in order to contribute to a change from a personal transformation
in the collective and social.
A focal point of proactive and practical renewal, within the 'do-it-yourself ethics'.
same,” was part of the people in the Washington DC scene - in the late 70s and in the
´80 (until today)-, which gathered around bands like The Teen Idles, Youth Brigade
(DC), Minor Threat (1980-1983), Bad Brains and characters (young people between 14 and 25 years old)

like Iam McKaye, Jeff Nelson, Dr. Know (from Bad Brains), Nathan Strejcek and the
environment captured by photographer and graphic artist, Cynthia Connolly, among others
people. Also from the independent label headed by Iam McKaye, called
Dischord Records.
Special mention is necessary for the band Minor Threat and their vocalist Ian.
Mckaye256, due to the lyrics of theirs canactions as their attitudes called for taking

255
Also elements from the right that can be found in skinhead bands that adhere to that.
nomenclature, the Ku Klux Klan, The Aryan Nation, etc. Or hardcore bands from the second half of the eighties
linked to the New York scene and right-wing Straight Edge factions.
256
That being said, the young Chilean Rodrigo Rojas Denegri was murdered by military violence in Chile on
year 1986; at a time when he lived in exile with his family in Washington D.C he was a classmate
a High School) and friend of Iam McKaye and the other characters from the Washington scene. After
his death, in 1987, the label Dischord Records releases a compilation album titled 'State of the
Union" (from different bands in the area) and dedicate to Rodrigo Rojas Denegri and other victims of violence
politics, this record.
183
in practice the respect among concert attendees and to stop violence. Of the same
they impart a positive sense about fighting for life and not letting oneself be defeated by the
adversity, stimulate camaraderie and have a good time without falling into behaviors

self-destructive.

We are not the first, I hope we are not the last, because I know
that all of us are heading towards that adult collision/ The
time is so little, time belongs to us / Why does everything the
Why does the world have such a damn rush?/ Make do with what you have, take it
Whatever you can achieve, don't pay us any attention / Only
we are a minor threat/ We are just a minor threat/
Too early to finish, I arrived late to start / It could be a
adult, but I am a minor (in age) at heart / Go to school, be a
Man, what the fuck is the problem? It's not about how many years.
I have, but how many years do I feel I have? Take your time, no.
try to forget, we will never do it / We are just one
minor threat/ We are just a minor threat
(“Minor Threat”, Minor Threat, Dischords Records,
Washington Dc, USA, 1981

It was a perspective and lifestyle shared by this described environment.

(the people around the scene in Washington DC), which starts to be radiated - without
wanting - towards other places. If at that time the general rule was violence, the abuse of
drugs and alcohol; for this group of people, the rules were different and they were not going to deny being them

they give us to understand our data. Their message was simply a glance
personal and the desire to do things well, in line with their beliefs.
In this climate of violence and rules of the game, etc., Iam Mackaye opined
ironically: 'we thought that being correct meant being marginal within' this
community257.
One of the lyrics of the songs by the band Minor Threat that influenced that
time was "Straight Edge":

I am a person just like you, but I have better things than

to make me sit around and <<screw up>> my head, instead of going out
with the living dead, that pull white shit, that
fainting at concerts / I don't even think about speed,
It's something I simply don't need / I have the Straight Edge / I
I am a person just like you, but I have better things to
To do, just sit around and smoke joints, because I know I can
I manage to get by/ I laugh at the thought of consuming acids/ I laugh at

257
Blush, Steve. Op. cit., p. 26
184
 thinking about sniffing glue / I will always remain aware,
I never want to use a 'crutch'/ I have the Straight Edge.
(Minor Threat, "Straight Edge",
Minor Threat EP, Dischord Records, USA. 1981

The Barrel from the band SS Decontrol, one of the promoters of the Straight Edge movement.
Edge points out the following regarding the influence of Minor Threat:

"The song 'Straight Edge' by Minor Threat I followed... I watched everyone"

These young people from DC were all right. Who knows who they were.
who were correct and who were not.
These boys seemed to be having a good time without drinking.
It truly shocked me. I was still drinking, but I was giving up the habit.
Since that time, I wondered why I was still participating.
I received the message, every song I wrote was about Straight Edge...
I knew that Minor Threat were sick of talking about it. I understood the
concept -perhaps overloaded-, I felt that it was an important message for me:
It was to enjoy life without wasting it.258

The lyrics of this song later inspired what would become the movement.
Straight Edge and its different facets. But in those years many young people and punk bands...
they felt identified with the band's message in general and the attitude of the people of
the scene of Washington DC. A constructive attitude emerged (not exclusively inspired
in Minor Threat and its scene), and a desire to develop certain organizational structures and
stable circuits, in the form of an alternative space to the dominant culture and the environment
immediate (lifestyles close to).
To this new environment (bands, labels, individuals, and spaces), which was emerging
they began to be classified as 'Positive Punk', and bands from other cities joined in
this spirit: 7 Seconds (Nevada), SSD and DYS (Boston), Necros (Michigan), Verbal
Assault. What would directly result in the emergence of Straight Edge.
those years, Bad Brains sang 'I have the P.M.A. (Positive Mental Attitude/Attitude'
Positive Mental). From there, certain precepts of Positive Punk were established that were
assumed as an individual option: to distance oneself from drugs, alcohol, and violence,
promote a sense of respect and friendship with others, maintain a constructive attitude
regarding life and its problems.

258
Ibid., p. 27
185
 At the same time, a collective and organization of punk youth called
Positive Force D.C. (in the mid-80s), an activist group that works for change
social fundamentals and youth empowerment. They organize benefits and concerts
free, demonstrations and workshops, also develop direct work with people
needed. They connect with other international organizations and groups such as the
Food Not Bombs259.
From Los Angeles, Ca., the Stern brothers (of leftist skinhead orientation)
originating from Canada, in late 1979 they create their collective and at the same time label called Better.

Youth Organization (BYO), and its band Youth Brigade (and project The Brigade).
Participating in the alternative networks established with people from Washington DC, such as
other sites, develop activist work and production of related bands. The
the Stern brothers, Shawn and Mark, believed the following in those years:

(...) we observe the nihilism of Los Angeles and police brutality on the
around the corner. Looking to make a positive balance we formed BYO to
late '79, a quasi collective and label, with goals to expand ideals
humanists.260

And in this way, their story within the American scene begins to be inscribed as
the following way as one of its biographies indicates:

259
Food not Bombs was founded on May 24, 1980, in New Hampshire. At times
in which a takeover was carried out. Since that year, they have spread throughout the United States with participation in

Europe, especially in mobilizations against the meetings of the World Bank, IMF, G8, etc. In this
organization participates punk anarchists and other activists. Their objective and message is as follows: "No one
should lack food in a world so richly endowed with land, sun, and human ingenuity. None
monetary consideration, no requirement for benefits should intervene between us and any child
hungry or malnourished, or to any adult in need. This slogan does not require a complicated analysis.
Those three words say it all. They indicate the double challenge: to immediately feed the people who lack it.
proper food, and replace a system whose priorities are power and profit, with another that is.
satisfy the needs of all human beings." Thus, since that date they recycle, produce, receive and
They seek food (especially vegetarian) to provide it to those in need or at low cost. They carry out
public demonstrations to promote their ideas, especially in places in the cities where they
they find the financial and arms manufacturing sectors. They cooperate with the movement
antiglobalization today.

186
 The Stern brothers originally from Toronto Canada - having emigrated
when they were children, they formed their band Youth Brigade, as one of the
maximum, unique and independent sets in North America. The philosophy
the leader of the band considered that 'Youth' is an attitude, not a
age and that each generation has the responsibility to change what they
They feel that something is wrong in the world, but it seems that many people either don't...
forget or grow without this responsibility while they get older with the
years and therefore they think it is really important that a
new generation realizes this responsibility and acts on it
consequence. It is with those ideals in their hearts that the band
It began and the older brothers Shawn and Mark formed the Better Youth.
Organization in the year 1979.261

Close to them is the group 7 Seconds, who develop the

positive perspective within the hardcore punk scene. In their songs, they call for the
unity and respect among people, criticize macho attitudes in the scene
hardcore. As we can appreciate in the song 'Not just boy's fun' (7 Seconds, album
The Crew, 1984, USA.

Man, you have a problem, who the hell made you the boss? / A pig
male chauvinist with nothing in his head, there are no girls around you / Your place
it's not in the performances, they don't want them in the dance because they are weak, the
a woman's place is in the kitchen... it's time to change that attitude and
fast/ By demonstrating your phobias you express being scared to see them
to think, you prefer to see them dressed in nice lace all pretty, color
pink / You feel so fucking threatened when they stand up
In front of you / A stupid and passive piece of meat is what you really are.
you want, but: It's not just fun for men, there are women doing
fanzines and others organize gigs/ They are still not allowed to join the dance,
some make music, well, you have to accept it, shit, maybe you can
get tits and asses, stupid shit your brains dried up the only
a woman's ambition in life is not just to fornicate!

And like in other songs of theirs called 'Walk together, Rock together', which
they call for the cessation of divisions and labeling among the people in that scene
years:
It is not what we appear to be, it is not our stance, nor our style, nor
our hair. Forget those stupid barriers. Take down that 'flag'

260
Blush, Steve., op. cit. p. 82
261
From the biography included in the CD reissue of their LP 'Sound & Fury' from 1983 and EP 'What Price'
1984, under the title 'Sink with Kalifornia', released by BYO Records, Los Angeles California, USA. 1993.
187
 what are you wearing. We are just people surviving, with different
hearts and different mindsets. If we live in the same world, why
Why can't we be on the same line? We can walk.
together, why can't we touch together?
No, I don't care if you're in different bands. No, because of so much hate,
I am simply a different man. Take off the cover, I do too.
I will do and we will learn to understand. With music deep inside,
we make the world our unity project.
If we can walk together, why can't we touch together?
A label is a label, a definition, nothing more. And because of
the labels we have positioned ourselves, we live in constant war. Destroy.
everyone molds and lives before dying. Let's play together, from here on
forward,..." ("Wall together...", 7 Seconds, "Walk Together, Rock
together”, BYO Records, USA, 1985)

Another band and at the same time a collective are the MDC from Texas, led by Dave.

Dictor; they have a visible punk anarchist stance.

But the band that primarily revolutionizes the American scene and gives it a certain
general guidelines and national and international recognition are the Dead Kennedys, and their
charismatic vocalist Jello Biafra262.
The band originates from San Francisco, California and was formed around the year 1979.
At the same time, Jello Biafra is running for the position of mayor of the city of San
Francisco, promoting his candidacy through a satirical campaign. He also creates the
independent label 'Alternative Tentacles', which will not only release American bands
but also from other countries like the Dutch anarcho-punks BGK.
Jello Biafra with the Dead Kennedys, between the years 1979-1986263will be characterized
also for their public manifestations, fanzines264, written - for their direct letters,

262
In 1977, he was in England and had the opportunity to experience the punk explosion of that time.
During those years, Jello Biafra declared the following: "No psychiatric care could have done for me what
that made me want to attend a The Ramones concert in a shabby bar in Denver. A powerful chord of
Johnny's guitar and I knew that the audience was there to be tortured, that at every moment it became
more and more exciting, and the most important thing of all was that he could tell me quietly: just a moment, I
I can also do it.
263
In 1986, Dead Kennedys disbanded, and each member went their own way. Jello Biafra continued to lead.
from the label Alternatives Tentacles, from campaigns, from collaborations with other bands such as: DOA (Canada),
Nomeasno, with people from the band Ministry. He is dedicated to promoting their views and records their speeches.
(speech) in cassette, CD, vinyl format, features linguist and free thinker Noam Chomsky, who
he spreads through his label. Noam Chomsky has an open collaboration with punk anarchist sectors, the
188
ironic and forceful towards all types of authoritarian institutions and power: Church,
Multinationals, Governments, the North American Congress, Ronald Reagan, the Pentagon, the
Conservative Party, the television network MTV, the Ku Klux Klan, the PMRC, the CIA,
cultural industry and Hollywood, to the Governor of California, etc.
Under such circumstances, they will continuously have problems with the justice system and more than

a detention, bail payments and fines, and appeals. They will be pursued by censorship, the
police repression and the conservative and protective sectors of 'American morality'
traditional; they will be boycotted at their concerts, and attacked by extremist groups
right, police, fascists related to skinheads, and punks from other positions. A
from this, Jello Biafra and Dead Kennedys will promote an organization against censorship
artistic piece called 'No More Censorship Defense Found'.
Jello Biafra is committed to strengthening the scene in the early 80s.
American punk and hardcore. He is also a staunch critic of many expressions that
and within punk (violent attitudes, conformism, standardization of punk attitudes,
etc), the world of music, etc. As the lyrics of the song 'Chickenshit' point out
Conformist

Punk is not dead but deserves to die / when we see it

becoming another stale caricature / a social club of closed minds
and egolatry/ where it is not ideas that matter but who you know/ if
music has become boring / the blame is on the guys who want it to be
they all sound the same / those who drive lucid people away from our calling
movement / until all that remains is a nonsensical trend / The
fixed formulas of hardcore are dog shit / what is real is change and the
to worry about what is happening/ One should ask oneself is this a
mental attitude / or just another label? / What was joy and
hope in an alternative/ has transformed into its own cliché/ A
hairstyle is not a lifestyle/ Imagine Sid Vicious at 35 years old!/

which include their speeches in their recordings (for example, the British Chumbawamba). And the publisher and
anarchist and punk collective (American English) AK Press (one of the members of the publishing house participates in the

English band Political Asylum has been publishing various texts by Noam Chomsky related to themes.
policies.
264
Like one that came on one of their albums called 'Fuck Facts', which was made using the technique of
collage. Anecdotally, more than one follower of the Dead Kennedys upon obtaining the album on vinyl,
called "Plastic Surgery and Disaster" from 1982, found the photo of Augusto Pinochet (the one where he is sitting)
and wearing dark glasses with the Military Junta), as part of the collage and meaning of that creation.
189
 Who needs movement if we fear to love and feel?/Judging it
Everything with the rod to be strong/ "Who played last night?" "I don't know, I"
I forgot, but jumping off the stage was so much fun"/ So eager to
satisfying the rules imposed by your peers by committing the same ones
old mistakes over and over again/ Damn conformist hen, just like
your old ones!/ What has destroyed us even more than drugs/ are the
thieves and the damned liars/ who steal from people what they
assuming they shared/ And when someone falls into disgrace, is there still
any friend? / I am more hardcore than you, for a year or two/
After it's time to get a good job/ Others stay at home,
it's not fun to go out when the concerts are filled with bands and
bullies/ When bullies form gangs/ pay attention to whom they hire the
recorders/ The metal labels of New York rummaging through the trash/
they hire the most racist and prejudiced bands they can find/ to
make dollars by inciting the kids to war/ Walk big,
act small/ Just be as tough as your band allows you/ The
unity goes to hell when it is produced/ under someone's boot/
Where is the common cause? / There are too many factions, all
making a face of annoyance / from the protection of their shells / "Put on your
we agree with us on everything, we won't give a hand/ that type of
attitude is what widens the gap/ Guess who will laugh when the
the world is exploding/ seeing that we are all whiny babies who only know
let's learn from each other / So eager to satisfy the rules that you
You impose your peers by making the same old mistakes over and over again.
Shitty conformist hen, just like your parents!/ That one has returned.
flatulent attitude towards Rock "we have to compete, dude, we have to
make it big" / Who needs friends when the money is good? /
That's right: the 70s have returned/ The phallic metal rock is like a bad thing
laxative/ and it doesn't impress me, you know?/ The music is OK! when there's
more ideas than alone/ Do we really need all that pose?
Always changing skin too quickly / as a fan that makes me
disappointed/ The same stupid macho-chauvinist lyrics/ Talk about
Is Satan the only thing they can think of?/ "Fusion" is just another way to
to say 'absence of ideas'/ perhaps what we need is to sing again
under the bridge/ will the metalheads learn anything?/ Will the punks deny
of their education?/ No one can evolve when they begin to believe their
own verse/ "Maturing" does not mean recreating the mistakes of the past/
The bigger the changes, the more things stay the same / We cannot
grow if we do not engage in self-criticism / The 60s were not a total failure /
It was the 70s that stank / As time goes by, we continue
digging in the same hole/ The music scene is not real life/ No
They are going to ban the bomb/ Nor are they going to eliminate the rapes/ Nor are they going to throw
Down with the banks/ Any kind of real change will take longer and
more work/ than changing channels on a TV device/ So why
why are we so eager to satisfy the dictates with which we
Do our peers pressure us? / To commit the same old mistakes again
errors again and again? / Damn conformist chicken, just like your
old ones! ("Chickenshit Conformist", Dead Kennedys, "Bed Time for
democracy, Alternative Tentacles, USA, 1986

As Steve Blush points out in his study about American hardcore from the years
80, regarding the Dead Kennedys, the label Alternative Tentacles and Jello Biafra: "They
they were the most responsible for making hardcore a well-known movement everywhere
190
nation(...) rediscovered artists and helped many unknown people and bands. In
their fervor to establish a united scene, Dead Kennedys, established certain
guidelines for hardcore (ideas, attitudes, politics), from the primday.265
Regarding the figure of Jello Biafra and his prominence, Steve Blush states: 'The
singer Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys was a powerful presence whose politics
insurgent made him a figure and symbol of the bourgeois subculture. He had a very strong
inspired. Jello could be a real sting. From inside and outside the scene, Biafra
he was criticized. After all, Jello Biafra was a visionary, an 'incendiary...'.266
Jello Biafra alongside Dead Kennedys in the USA of the 1980s, from a
leftist politicization, but from a more free thinker criterion, spread
massively the political attitude within American punk (and also to other parts of the
world), in addition to other bands and characters from the '80s. Dead Kennedys had greater
Recognition that the British band Crass, regarding their activism, at least in Chile
from the 80s.

The Straight Edge or the Era of Righteousness.

As we mentioned from the beginning, the emergence of this derivation of

American hardcore punk, called Straight Edge, has its origin in terms of
and the basic precepts, in the lyrics of the song by the Washington DC band, Minor
Threat, called 'Straight Edge' (1981) and another one called 'Out of Step', and in the
confluence of an ethos in building a positive character in the face of a violent context and
self-destructive. This new ethos is being shaped by individual practices and
group activities not to engage in activities deemed as 'not very constructive' for them
years: Street fights, alcohol, and drugs, leading to irresponsible behaviors regarding
to one and to the others.

The concept of Straight Edge - as we mentioned - was inspired (in part) by the
personal inquietude of some protagonists of Hardcore Punk of those years, especially

265
Blush, Steve op. cit., p. 87
266
Ibid., p. 87
191
in the attitude of the band Minor Threat. For their part, the members of the already dissolved
Minor Threat has pointed out that they never intended to found a movement with the lyrics of their

song titled 'Straight Edge'; the intention was only to express a positive message and
personal. His message was directed against the type of practices that were common in those years
within youth and street culture: practices such as peer pressure to say or do
a certain issue, such as drinking, fighting, getting high, or the climate of intolerance
daily life and street violence, etc.
Some young people who identified with these situations through the
allusions from the lyrics of the songs or the speeches at the recitals suggested to them
certain personal reflections regarding their own actions.

What can I say?

Why should I try it?
I tried to love what I knew I hated.
I took a lie and made it true.
I justified what I should have denied.
I never raised a doubt.
I blindly followed part of a group of people.
I never raised a doubt.
I blindly followed a group of people.
I never contributed.
I never raised a doubt.
I blindly followed part of a group.
How can I say that I am truly free?
How can I say that I am really me?
What can I say?
("Can I Say", Dag Nasty, recorded on Halloween)
1985 at Inner Ear Studios. Washington DC. USA

This reflective and positive message arrived and was also enhanced by others.
individualities, scenes, and bands from the country, which coincided in creating a context
constructive within the violent climate, and therefore, adverse to the emerging hardcore scene
from those years.

In the Washington DC scene, the 'X' began to be used - used by the

Straight Edge - in the hands, due to a specific situation that was occurring in allowing the
entry of minors into clubs where concerts were held and alcohol was sold.
Well, to allow the entry of minors and identify them as such in order not to
selling them liquor or beer, they were marked on one hand with an 'X'. From that moment on,

192
people from DC, who participated in the non-consumption of drugs and alcohol, played and adopted this

symbol to identify oneself.

The behaviors and practices, the interviews in fanzines, the song lyrics of
bands like Minor Threat were observed and redefined by other young people to the
which had caught their attention the band's message. This re-signification resulted in
to configure an idea of being Straight Edge, which was understood in the sense of embracing the
life from a positive and constructive attitude, which was impossible to achieve when getting involved
within the context of drinking alcohol and using drugs and assuming aggressive behavior
with others.
At first, Straight Edge was understood in the idea of change and
personal development in the face of specific individual issues (self-esteem, conflicts)
existential, economic, social), and adverse situations of the context: violence
street life, drug and alcohol abuse, indifference and individualism, irresponsibility in
behavior towards the 'other', unemployment.
Bands like 7 Seconds, Necros, Teen Idles, Youth Brigade (Los Angeles), Verbal
Assault, Dag Nasty, among others, fostered a positive ethos in line with the environment of
DC and the band Minor Threat. But specifically bands like: DYS, SSD, SS Decontrol,
Uniform Choice, Insted, Youth Of Today were the ones who started Straight Edge.
as a movement in the American hardcore scene between the years 1982 and 1988.
Within American hardcore, certain years and periods are often identified
development of the scene (bands, sounds, people, etc) under the terms 'Old School' and 'New'
School (The Old School and the New School)267.
The period that includes the 'Old School' is from 1980 to 1987.
approximately, and the period of the 'New School' begins to take shape from 1988
up to the present.
Within the "Old School", the Straight Edge movement is a minority. People
it starts to govern by some principles such as: not consuming drugs, alcohol and not carrying a
promiscuous or irresponsible sexual life. One chooses to engage in sports and eat
healthy way. Some adopt vegetarianism. All of this accompanied by an attitude

267
The use of this term has become commonplace for almost all scenes in the countries; in Chile, it is common.
193
positive mindset towards life. Camaraderie and mutual respect are developed.
Musically, the sounds vary from classic hardcore punk to fusion with
metal sounds. The hairstyle is adopted with a nearly zero shave, tennis shoes, and clothing.
sports. Some of them use skateboards268.
During this period – the Straight Edge – it is a personal choice regarding certain
precepts, own creations and meanings. The institutionalization of
certain practices; for the moment, the subjects are not 'constrained' to adopt
this rigid way of orientations and precepts.
But it is, starting from the 'New School', and from bands like Youth of Today, that the
Straight Edge becomes institutionalized, and certain parameters and principles begin to crystallize.
Rigid. Hardcore music will merge with riffs and drum beats closer to metal.
Style that they will share with hardcore bands from the "New School," especially emerging in
New York, and the promotion carried out by the record label Relativity Records (1988) and
then Victory Records (in the '90s).
The vocalist of Youth of Today, Ray Cappo in his life journal 'Selected Tales'
1985 - 1988, from October 9, 1985, presents its vision of the hardcore environment and
punk rock, and the meaning of 'SXE'269for those years:

You come drunk to the show, looking for a fight, if you get in my way
I'm also going to fight. I'm not a punk rocker, I'm not into punk. I'm in the
hardcore music with a positive message. That's all. The punk message
destruction, fight, negativity, "live the moment, forget the future, it's a
"a bunch of stupidity," that is suitable for jokers. I am not in the
neither in death rock nor in metal. Everything is corrupting our minds.
Straight Edge is the only thing that makes sense and it doesn't matter if the scene
the punk is so closed-minded that they cannot understand it. There are many who
feel this way at this moment. If nobody wants to change, and we
we let ourselves be invaded by stupidity, then how can we create a

268
It is important to highlight the use and practice of skateboarding in some cities in the United States.
early '80s. People from the hardcore scene initially embraced the practice of
skate. By those years, its use on the streets was - besides being adrenaline-inducing as entertainment and practice
sports - a way to rebel against authority and society. The young people who participated in that,
They were severely sanctioned during those years, in addition to being treated as criminals and antisocials.
269
Abbreviation to write Straight Edge in that context (we will use this abbreviation going forward, to
refer to Straight Edge.
194
 scene without scene? Why drink? Why smoke? What is the
.? For me hardcore means change. All those things that they
They are old. Everyone drinks and smokes at school. I do too.
I hate those kids at my school, and also those boring parties.
school, but the punk scene is no different from that. We have to
make the change and I personally dedicate myself to doing that
change.270

His story reflects and suggests a desire for rupture and to make a difference with what
he considers a negative sense of the punk rock environment. To do so, it requires
to dimension his posture in symbols that contrast with the elements of punk that he
associate as intrinsic to punk practices and identity: drugs, violence,
irresponsibility, lack of perspective. For their disruptive stance to develop and to
dimension, it needs certain visible and symbolic marks that distinguish it (from
there is a type of music, song lyrics, aesthetics, etc):

Porcel and I shaved our heads today. Hair is stupid, it's

simply vanity. People spend hours in front of the mirror trying to
It looks good..., but it's clear that I'm not into the skinhead stuff.
I am in the hardcore style... The world is too full of poser people.
those who have weak minds, but I tell you the following: if you do not do what
You know it's correct, so you will submit to people who only want
manipulate you. For example, a certain type of skinhead convinces you to use
those stupid skinhead tattoos and you get them because you are too weak to say
no. Or like those poser guys who coax you into drinking and how you are
so weak, you can’t say no. Instead of saying 'stop it, man, I don’t want to'
"drink." Weak people are always manipulated. You have to have a mind
strong, introspective, bold in speaking, or you will be dominated by this world.
I can't hear your voice in the middle of the crowd. Stand in front so that
shout loudly "take your position" now.271

At first, bands like Youth of Today participate in Straight Edge.

in the sense of the 'Old School', then their vocalist Ray Cappo, starting from a reflection
personal reaches the conclusion that Straight Edge lacks a certain spirituality and
transcendence, in addition to being a philosophical option limited by its own precepts. Ray

270
War Against Illusion (fanzine): “Ray Cappo in his life log “Selected Stories 1985 – 1988, from 9
October 1985," publication by Rasikesa Dasa and Oscar Luco, Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center,
José Miguel Carrera 330, Santiago, 1997. p. 4
271
Ibid.
195
Cappo is one of the first272that connects hardcore and Straight Edge with awareness
Krishna. Ray Cappo becomes a devotee273the practice and values of it become popular
vegetarianism and veganism, respect for all species, etc. In these same years, the
the SXE movement will trend towards different tendencies: those related to the cult of the
philosophy of Krishna, the apolitical, the anarchists, the right-wing, the left-wing, the
gays274. And since 1989, to other countries. The different guidelines that emerged from the SXE
there will be certain antagonisms and criticisms among themselves. There will be sectors closer to the

left that will share and support the causes of the anarchopunks. They will appear
anarchopunks who will take elements from SXE (and vice versa).
At first, the music and the message move the subjects to
certain positions, then, the people who delve deeper and reflect on it, take on their
ideological stance without the characteristics of a certain position (music,
aesthetics, attitudes, etc. limit it from approaching other positions.
In the late 1980s, the most politicized and progressive sectors of SXE
they will mean in punk from its basic elements: not using drugs, alcohol, respect
for animals, through eating practices like vegetarianism and veganism,
they will support the cause and fight against animal and human exploitation; and approaches to a
ecological and environmental awareness, antimilitarism, antisexism, antihomophobia and
anti-globalization. In these sectors, we find adherence to socialist positions,
communists, anarchists; which are especially found in Europe.

272
There was a certain approach from the vocalist of the band Cro-Mags.
273
Later, he will form the band Shelter, clearly linked to the Krishnas, and other bands like
108. Currently, it is possible to find among the devotees of Krishna, people who consider themselves Straight Edge and
listens to Western music like hardcore but performed by 'Krishnacores' (Union between Consciousness
Krishna and Hardcore.
274
It is necessary to note that throughout the entire history of international punk, the homosexual presence
it has always existed; also deriving in the development of its own circuits and nomenclatures, such
such as: 'Queer Punk', 'HomoCore' (which is also a specialized fanzine), Gay Punk, GayCore, etc.
196
 One of its main causes275it will be animal liberation, and collectives will be created
organizations regarding this, which will participate in campaigns, rallies, demonstrations,
information dissemination etc.
In the same way, "Hardlines" or "hard lines" appear within SXE, which
They are becoming the most extreme activists. Some of them have planted bombs in
laboratories where experiments are conducted on animals, others enter the laboratories and release them

Animals, others have also carried out attacks against food restaurants.
fast like McDonald's276this company is your favorite and represents a symbol of the
animal exploitation and economic imperialism.
SXE closer to the right and to neo-nazi skinhead groups will fight against the
abortion (pro-life), even reaching explosive attacks on clinics where it is practiced.
Other SXE will declare themselves pro-abortion (pro-choice) as the woman's personal choice.
Within some of the more critical sectors of SXE, such as activist punk, it is common to
criticize SXE in general277, for demonstrating excessively rigid and fanatical positions
regarding other human groups (some present racist elements and are linked to the
skinhead neo-Nazis, like in the United States), and towards people who do not participate in their
principles. A critical opinion on this matter is that of the editor of the punk fanzine.
North American "Heartattack", Felix Havoc; we reproduce it in full because we
Describe a little the context of SXE during the 'New School' period. Also, its
information illustrates some criteria that are managed in the punk environment, SXE in
Santiago de Chile.

The summer of '88 was the starting line for the SXE... Every suburb of
Every major city seemed to have its SXE Hardcore scene in the late '80s.
Youth of Today, Chain of Strength, Bold, Gorilla Biscuits, etc... Just
when Dischord Records turned its back on hardcore, Revelation
275
It is worth remembering that we are referring in general. Since the characteristics and meanings
they can vary. Although expressions like these present more differentiated aspects and more rigid patterns.
276
On October 16, it is the international day of protest against the multinational 'junk food'.
McDonald's, most of the SXEs in the world linked to animal liberation (market economy,
(capitalist globalization), march in protest alongside other organizations (Green Peace, ALF).
277
Although certain characteristics –such as those described above– allow for more precise identification.
that within the sxe, there are several trends and fusions with other thoughts and organizations among punks.
197
 Records emerged to guide the new 'youth crew'.278. But the era 88 was a
so different from the SXE generation of the '80s. The kids were losing
definitely the contact with the punk roots of the scene. Some of the
the worst macho and conformist attitudes of society were inserted into the
Underground and thus was born the 'jock core' ('jock' is a slang term)
American to refer to muscle heads, generally the
athletes in general)... the multinational labels mixed with the
hardcore.
The generation of '88 produced some excellent and inspiring records but
it served to dilute the Underground with a bunch of somewhat distant ideas
to the punk 'Do It Yourself' attitude. The idea of thinking for oneself
it seemed to go overboard. The new school seemed to be more based
around a 'jock' dress code and a rigid adherence to a
list of rules (which we know is not SXE). The weak-willed
they turned into blind followers of any doctrine to which the
charismatic vocalist might come up with a promotional idea...
(...) But looking back at the Straight Edge movement of the '90s I have
what to question and some of these have even heard of Faith or
even from Minor Threat. With a few exceptions, none of the
Today's SXE bands don't even come close to the mid-level bands.
the quality of the early '80s or even the mediocre ones of the late '80s
decade. The music is slow and almost entirely dominated by metal.
The guys dress like a bunch of 'ravers' (club-goers, nightclubbers) and
the politicalness is so hollow and temporary that it makes me wonder why anyone
continue. While it is good to know that animal rights have entered
In the scene, some boys have gone too far in ridiculousness.
"pro-life" attitudes and militant veganism. The worst of all is the issue
Krishna...
Hardcore is like a car driving with its four wheels.
deflated, without speed or direction and making a lot of noise. Wherever
I see it is remotely removed from its punk roots.279

The previous quote shows us a critical and wary view of the evolution of
SXE, in addition to a personal feeling that connects with an intention to preserve the
punk heritage and more independent and original memory; highlighting conservation and
distinction of punk cultural capital "do it yourself" to new generations as a sign
to consider.
Finally, the hardcore280American is nourished by a range of variants from
the '90s to today.

278
Group of people influenced and gathered around the band of the mentioned Ray Cappo from Youth of Today.
279
Excerpted from a column written by Felix Havov, published in fanzine Heartattack #8, 1995,
Minneapolis, USA.
198
Latin punk in the USA.

Since early on, American hardcore punk281has counted on people of origin

Latino (Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, Santo Domingo, Panama, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru)
Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, etc.), which have participated as protagonists in some
scenes, fanzines, and bands; especially in the 1980s, the core of punk people
linked to the space and collective ABC in the New York River.
But it is toward the late '80s and in the '90s when they gain notoriety.
Latin scenes from Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York (among others), through bands,
record labels and fanzines. Among these, we find the label Discos San Juancito,
Armada Records and bands like Huasipungo (some of its members participate)
in ABC No Rio), and Los Crudos. The bands - for the most part - sing in Spanish, and translate
into English the lyrics of the songs to publish them on their albums. Also some bands
they take the effort to add a brief explanation of the meaning (contextualization) of
a specific song lyric. For example, the group Huasipungo announces in one of
his records towards a "legitimate other and absent":

Hello and welcome to the world of Huasipungo. These are our letters and their
translations into English, they won't be great pieces of poetry but it's what
we feel and try to express it as best as possible. If you find something with
if you do not agree, please talk to us or write to us.
These are just songs and should be taken as such since they can be
simpler than the thoughts behind them.282
280
We must point out that certain interests of groups and identities begin to fragment into different ones.
groups according to their requirements: the gay community within punk and hardcore is usually classified -
as we have mentioned - homocore, those associated with Krishna consciousness, krishnacore, etc. And so on.
so many derivative subgroups, like in the late '70s when cyberpunks emerged, among others.
281
A source that has not been possible to consult that provides historical information on the Latin punk scene in
the United States, it is the documentary directed by Martin Sorrondeguy (vocalist of Los Crudos), called
Beyond The Screams: A U.S. Latino/ Chicano Hardcore Punk Documentary
282
Note published on the 7-inch of the group Huasipungo "Times of misery and struggle". Edited by
Discos San Juancito, NY. USA. 1994.
199
 They also indicate and warn the future recipient of their desire to remain
independent from the cultural industry and the music business promoters, that's why
they develop their own ways of production, promotion, and distribution of their products,
to 'protect' the message and its positions based on self-management, independence
creative and the anti-systemic struggle of countercultural orientation, when found by choice
ideological and by social position (class orientation) within an asymmetrical relationship
regarding the dominant culture and its cultural hegemony.

This album must be distributed and sold by distributors and vendors.

independents. If you see this record sold in a way that is questionable
(very expensive, by people of dubious reputation such as for example a
corporation) please write to us and let us know.283

On the other hand, the band Huasipungo clarifies its position regarding punk.
next way:

Huasipungo can be classified as a hardcore punk band.

Our goals as a band are to remain independent from anything
corporation as much as possible. Our productions are made in
our own record label. Our tours are organized by us
same. The distribution made by us with the help of a small
army of people who believe in remaining independent and creating a
a real alternative to the current way of doing things. In the band we have
also assumed certain political positions that are obvious in the lyrics and
others that accompany the music. We believe in the need to organize,
join together to fight for the greatest freedom for all. We adhere to
the belief that as long as there is even one oppressed person in the
In this world none of us will be free.284

Following the ethics of 'do it yourself' and the methodology of self-management, the
Huasipungo group, like other entities in the Latin activist scene, represent a
updated sense of political punk, and in whose precepts described -in the quote
at the front are the general strongholds of political punk, which in the

283
Ibid.
284
Presentation of the Huasipungo set accompanying the 7-inch vinyl shared with the band,
Los Crudos: “Nothing ever changes... ... Unless we make it change.” Edited by Discos San Juancito
(NY)/ Armed Language Records(Chicago), 1996.
200
new scenes from the world related to punk and anarcho-punk activism -
especially in Latin America and Spain - will be expressed through their speeches and
practices.
Their themes will focus on migration, indigenous peoples, self-management,
solidarity, Latin America, economic exploitation, sexism, etc., from positions
anarchists and leftists.

Illegal foreigners / the working slave class/

the lowest of all/ blacks and Latinos/ they receive the worst/
but you don't have the card/ don't you dare wait/
more than $2 an hour/ for your work./ Slaves for the jobs
Dirty/ Slaves for what the citizens will not do/ Slaves
for chemical plants / Slaves for factories from 6 to 6/
They don't speak English/ "they should" you say/ for
"serve us" better./ Not, it's not racism can't you see?/ Just a choice
practice/ then we return them...
Slaves in an Imperial Country, Huasipungo
Songs for a lost cause, 7 inches edited by
Discos Sanjuancito, NY, 1990

These Latin scenes present a marked political component, both in their

speeches like in their activist practices. And they are linked to the rest of the scene
American related to anarchopunk and activism; in the same way, they maintain a
network of contacts around the world, especially in Latin America (Mexico, Peru,
Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, etc.), and with
organizations linked to antimilitarism and conscientious objection, indigenism,
ecologism, rights of children and women, rights of immigrants
Latin Americans (arrived from different areas to the United States), among others
entities.

The other scene: Punk in Spain.

The years of the Franco dictatorship come to an end, and in the midst of the 'movida'.
Spanish - In the late '70s and early '80s, the first elements of punk emerged.
Spanish, a product of the proximity to countries like France, England, and the dissemination

201
individual "from mouth to mouth", of information and music. This is complemented by the tours of groups.

"stars" of punk: The Clash and the canceled concerts of Sex Pistols.
Within the musical groups that were precursors to Spanish punk in the late years
In the '70s and the first two years of the '80s, we found: La Banda Trapera del Río, Kaka de Luxe,

Los Nikis, Permanent Paralysis, Vulpess, the singer Alaska, Fabio MacNamara and
Almodóvar (el cineasta), Decibelios, Siniestro Total, La Polla Records, Basura, Cadáveres
Aterciopelados, Parasites, among others - in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, and Zaragoza.
But it is in Euskadi, in the 'Basque Country', where it develops with the greatest force and

expressiveness, punk and its derivatives, which will be collectively identified as 'Rock'
Radical Vasco,” to which scenes and bands from other areas will join and be influenced.
“Rock Radical Vasco” will group together different musical styles such as punk rock, ska, Reggae,
dub, fusions with local folklore, metal, hardcore, melodic hardcore, rock'n'roll, grindcore
deathcore, rockabilly, experimentation and various fusions.
Ideologically, the positions will be oriented towards Marxist socialism.
anarchism, nihilism, pacifism, environmentalism, left nationalism, free
thinking, etc. As others will make their own resignifications according to their
searches and interests, people will participate in movements and microcultures such as: Punk,
Hardcore, Skinhead, SHARP, Redskins, Straight Edge, etc.
The bands from the 'Basque Country' sing in Spanish and others in Basque. Other bands do it
they do in English.
The musical groups that emerge under the umbrella of 'Basque Radical Rock' (not only in
Basque Country) and from there, between 1979 and 1992 are the following: La Polla Records,
Eskorbuto, Hertzaniak, Kortatu, Cicatriz, RIP, MCD, Barricada, Damba, Tijuana In Blue,
Último Gobierno, Basura, Anestesia, T.D.K., Escombro, Thorcaid Deceit, Ruido de Rabia,
Soziedad Alcohólica, H.H.H (Harina de Huesos Humanos), Falsa Ilusión, La Perrera,
Radical H.C, Chupachups, L´odi Social, Subterranean Kids, Extramaución, Corn Flakes,
Purgatori, Tarzan y su Puta Madre, 37 Ostias, Mata Curas, Enjambre, Sin Dios, Andanada
7, Intolerance, Escándalo Público, Rastreros, Juerga General, Human Wasted, Nocivo,
Choco Crispis, , Drogas Guais, Asko, Inadaptados, Ira Et Deccessus, Barrakos, 24 Ideas,
Piperrak, Maniatica, Ke' Putada, Desterrados, etc. Collectives like: Fobia, Sabotaje,
Potential Hardcore and fanzines like Cooperation, among the well-known. In addition to
202
radio programs, communication networks established with the rest of the world and circuits
on tours to organize recitals in various countries.
Some bands that have made a milestone in the local and international arena since
1979 to today: La Polla Records, Kortatu, Eskorbuto, and Sin Dios.
La Polla Records, this renowned Spanish group was born in 1979 in a small
a town near Euskadi. At the head of the band is Evaristo, their vocalist,
along with the other members.
Between desires to rant and have fun, they have been throwing themselves against since that year until today.

every institution of power and situations of daily life: monarchy, capitalism,

communism, the United States, the former USSR, Opus Dei, 'patronized' unionism,
multinationals, xenophobia, Christian Democracy, Francoism, armamentism,
the bankers, NATO, the Vatican, the UN, consumerism, the food industry
packaged, the punks of 'postal', unemployment, envy, depression, indifference, etc.
They were controversially associated at one time with having links to ETA.
Below are some song lyrics that we consider relevant for the
case of Chilean punk, due to the language and the content of the lyrics; since the latter
acquires considerable importance for some of our interviewees in the case study and
for other protagonists we contacted. The lyrics of these songs gave them
responses stimulated social criticism and a deeper look at things, in the face of
the questions that were not answered in school, the church, the family, friends, etc.

-Without Country-
I see houses, I see stones,
I see trees, I see police,
In the end, I see the landscape.
but no matter how much I look
I don't see countries grow
nowhere.
A country is an invention,
a country is a scam,
a country is something, for
what no one has asked me
my opinion.
A country is nothing.
nothing justifies them,
your dead motherfuckers,
neither your fucking battles.
I owe nothing
to God and the government
203
 for having been born for the
motherfucker.
("No Country". La Polla Records,
Revolution, edited by the
Oihuka stamps from Spain in 1985
and reissued in Chile by Label
Alerce in 1995, Santiago.

The Congress of Mice

Gentlemen deputies, the situation is extremely serious.
We must reach a consensus to put it within a framework,
What a cutie!
As the first item on the agenda, we will update our salaries.
As a second point, we will lower that of the others.
How happy they are making a fool of themselves, always in the name of reason;
and their freedom watched over by the capital cannons.
You are all scared of the army and sold out to all the bankers,
camouflaging this fascism in democracy, because here they always rule
the same.
You could form a congress of mice.
You don't represent anyone. What do you think you are? Who do you want to fool?
I want personal sovereignty, my representation is only me
and nothing can force me with your constitution.

("The Congress of Mice". La Polla Records, "Revolution", )

edited by the Oihuka label from Spain in 1985 and reissued in
Chile by Alerce Label in 1995, Santiago de Chile

-Your Curse-
You get the kids used to obeying you, you manipulate their education.
To ensure this dementia continues and you leave them prepared.
so that they continue to have our same mistakes.
That is your curse,
violence, curse.
That is your misery.

"Your Curse". La Polla Records,

"Revolution", published by the label
Oihuka from Spain in 1985 and reissued
in Chile by Sello Alerce in 1995, Santiago de Chile

Kortatu (1983-1988), band formed by the Muguruza brothers (Fermín and Iñigo),
more Treku, the drummer. They have been oriented since 1983 within a nationalist political stance
on the left (they self-define as skinheads), directly linked with the
Basque Separatist Movement (in general), Herri Batasuna and the cause of ETA. The lyrics
of their songs will talk about the Basque independence cause, about daily life, the
American imperialism in the world, exploitation, Spanish oppression and calls
of attention to "rebel", go out to the "streets to fight", etc.
204
 They generally sing in Basque and Spanish. Their musical style ranges from the style
musical Oi, Street Punk, Ska, Reggae, Dub and some sounds of local folklore. Their
Musical influences are inspired by English bands such as: Red Skins, The Bussiness,
Angelic Upstars, The Selecter (Ska), The Specials (ska, reggae, rock steady), and The Clash.
At the same time, the Muguruza brothers form their own label called Esan Osenki.
Records285.
Fermín Muguruza between 1989 and 1995 (approximately), along with other musicians,
they will form the group Negu Gorriak, where they will continue to promote activism, through
the Negu Gorriak Brigades in support of the separatist movement. On the other hand, it will participate in

certain causes of support, such as the uprising in Chiapas, led by the

indigenous communities, zapatismo and Subcomandante Marcos.
Eskorbuto, punk band formed in 1980 by friends Jualma, Iosu, and Paco: since
the principle, his stance is related to a negative view of life, embodied in the
lyrics of their songs, in an ironic, melancholic, and angry way; sometimes they bet towards
a leftist political position, but rather they exalt a disappointment at the order of
things: 'every struggle is lost' they will express. 'There are no more balls Eskorbuto to the
"elections" they will chant sardonically in front of the democracy of parties, and the successive

socialist governments of Spain in the 1980s.

Sheltered in the 'vital space' of drugs and alcohol, the band will give its
best last spasms of life, since heroin addiction will blind the life of two of
its founders (Iosu and Jualma).
Eskorbuto ceased to exist in 1990, only to be reborn and perform again a few years ago.
years ago, with some of the members who once passed through the band.
The Eskorbuto286– in those years – they offered a version and meaning of punk
related to the bet of disenchantment and 'no future'. A porous link of authentic
street nihilist sense, an immanent decadence in his lifestyle 'with which it

285
Part of the musical material from the Esan Osenki Records label is distributed by the Chilean music label.
Alerce.
286
For more information, refer to Diego Cerdán's book "Eskorbuto: Sad History", Ediciones
Martians, edited by Zona de Obras/SGAE. Madrid, Spain, 2001.
205
accept and exalt the crisis287Norberto Bobbio will tell us, in the face of a mass culture and
social expectations considered obsolete and indifferent to human suffering.
But this disenchantment does not stagnate by slowing down and closing the doors of the
houses. He breaks down the doors and steps out to confront the cold city with anger and reflected sarcasm.

in the face and cries of destruction and self-destruction. Because in this sense, Eskorbuto us
it suggests the vivid reflection of the pessimistic and nihilistic punk condition symbolized in the aesthetic

of their way of life. In the purest style of 'Alex and his Drugs' from the film by Stanley
Kubrick, "A Clockwork Orange".
Without God, from early on, punk sectors alternated with activism and the
anarchism, through fanzines, collectives, independent distributors, labels
diskers, conscientious objection and antimilitarism movement, squatter movement; and
with historical organizations of the Spanish anarchist movement such as the CNT. That is
the case of the Sin Dios ensemble.
The band 'Sin Dios' was formed in 1988. They define themselves as 'a hardcore trio'
punk of the anarchist ideology.

"The band's goal since its early days has been commitment and
the diffusion of Libertarian ideas. The first concerts are already in houses
occupied to support different struggles in the autonomous area (antifascism,
insubordination, occupation, etc...).288

"Without God" develops its own information distribution networks around the world.
and circuits of concerts and meetings with people related to the anarcho-punk scene, both
In Europe as in Latin American countries that they have visited, such as Mexico. They maintain

close contact with groups and autonomous organizations linked to anarchism and the
anarcopunk. They take out shared records with bands from other latitudes, such as Apatía No, from
Venezuela.

287
Bobbio, Norberto. “Existentialism”, 2nd edition in Spanish, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico
1951. page 33
288
Biography excerpt of Sin Dios, published on their website:
Unable to access or translate content from the provided URL.(Consulted: 09/08/02).
206
 In each of their albums, a "little book" about the history of comes included.
anarchism in Spain, the Spanish Civil War, explanations of song lyrics
and personal reflections. The prices of their material are low cost. From the beginning
they had the independent label, collective, and store for musical and anarchist material
Hardcore Potential in Spain.
The themes of their lyrics address the current situation of globalization.
neoliberal economy, the hegemony of multinationals and about anarchism and
self-management.
Also in their songs, they reflect the specific problems of emigrants that
they arrive in Spain (mainly from Africa) to enter Europe: in response to this, they respond
solidarily, organizing benefit concerts and record releases to contribute
with these and other causes. In this regard, recalling with Noam Chomsky:

Spain was admitted to the European Community under certain conditions, one of
they, to serve as a barrier to the hordes of North African people because it was feared
that invaded Europe.
Many people try to cross by boat the short distance between North Africa and
Spain - a case similar to that of Haitians and Dominicans. If they manage to arrive, the
Spanish police and navy return them immediately; a deplorable situation.
Of course, there are reasons for people wanting to leave Africa for Europe, and not to
the inverse. There are five hundred years of reasons and now Europe refuses to accept them:
wants to preserve its wealth and keep the poor out of its
borders" (1994, 1997: 84).

They take on a commitment and the mission of spreading anarchist ideas, for that they create
a sort of dissemination collective called 'The Idea':

Libertarian Diffusion The Idea is a project that arises from the HC band
Punk Without God. The goal, as the name itself states, is the extension of the
libertarian or anarchist values and ideas, through culture and all media
that technology puts within our reach.
Any means is good to counteract the 'truths' of thought.
capitalist: Books. Records, Videos, Comics, and as a common denominator something that
we refuse to be silenced: the word.
There are several activities that we carry out, the most visible being maintenance.
of a public place, in the center of Madrid, that operates as a bookstore
anarchist, noise shop (punk, HC, Crust, extreme, Power Violence...) and period
meeting for people interested in these topics.
As a record label, we have released works from Hardcore punk bands.
of anarchist ideology or who understand music from independence and the
207
 "do it yourself", as a parallel form of continuation to the work carried out in the
breast of Without God. That is to say, even music and criticism under certain principles
truly alternative and away from capitalist parameters.
Another activity we carry out is the publication of a newspaper, "ILEGAL".
With an initial run of 5,000 copies, Ilegal aims to be the meeting forum of
the people who work within the punk hc scene in what has come to be known as
DIY (Do It Yourself, Do it yourself, Self-management).289

They are currently continuing to materialize projects, generating networks and disseminating -

as in Spain it is usually referred to anarchism - 'the idea'.

Punk in Latin America.

We do not intend in this section to be exhaustive or to delve into a subject that

it can become arid due to the many nuances we can find, since each punk scene
of each country -within a historical process- presents its particularities deserving of
a specific study. Therefore, we will mention in broad strokes some elements
general, to situate the punk of Chile in a temporal and spatial development,
similar to their Latin American counterparts.
As soon as punk emerges in England, Europe, Spain, and North America, to
in a short time, between 1977 and 1978, some expressions emerge within
Latin America, especially in countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Then among
1978 and 1983 in countries like Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, etc.
Countries where punk will be generated within their own dynamics and derivations of meaning
of the original punk.
Generally, punk comes through sources such as: the publication of some
newspaper article, foreign magazines, travels of 'someone' to the epicenters of punk
(England, United States, etc), individual dissemination of 'word of mouth', etc.

To mention some cases of Latin American countries:

289
Ibid.The provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable content..
208
 In Mexico290Punk appeared in the rock scene in the late 1970s.
general, but it is more of an expression oriented towards the image of punk within
the margins of the stage. These are people of high social and economic status, and the
bands that appear -some- sing in English and appear on television shows. At the same time
a minority (the previous ones are more publicly visible) underground scene
composed of the middle and lower classes begins to emerge slowly and establish itself among
the years 1980 and 1984.
In those aforementioned years (1980-1984), a group of young punks
they begin to gather in an area located near the University Museum of Chopo and the
Train Station, not far from the Historical center of Mexico City.
The place begins to be called the 'Chopo Fair' (Chopo Market), and to the
In the mid-80s, it began to gather a large group of punk people who
gather to exchange material and information and have a good time; simultaneously they begin
to bring in members of other urban expressions such as metalheads and rockers. The space
a general rise so that, toward the second half of the '80s, 'el chopo' is made up of
"different waves and trends" that gather there to sell, exchange musical material,
fanzines, books, clothes, etc. Makeshift stalls appear. Such attention
charge the number of people who attend on Saturday mornings, that the
municipality (delegation in Mexico) decides to expel them since they do not have permission to
there meet and less to market material. This makes the different trends
join and obtain a legal permit to operate. Currently - in addition to place of
meeting and exchange - it is a tourist site for foreigners looking to get to know the
underground waves. They hold live concerts, featuring rockers over 60 years old.
drinking cold beer in a bucket at the venues (they are called clubs there) set up nearby.
Currently, it is beginning to be referred to as 'the Cultural Tianguis of Chopo'.
Within the Mexican scene, different trends oriented towards political punk and
anarchists detached themselves291between 1984 and 1988, with the emergence of bands like

290
We will refer specifically to the case of Mexico City.
291
We can also find the gang-like gregarious form within the punk diversity, which is pointed out to them.
to the individuals who participate as 'guys/girls from the gang'.
209
Hysteria, Underground Chaos, Massacre 68 (in commemoration of the murder of the young
Mexican university students), Kaaos, Mortal Solution, Social Dissolution and some fanzines.
Currently, Mexico has many scenes within the country and networks among
them, especially within the anarcho-punk.
A peculiarity of the Mexican punk scene and anarcho-punk (possible to find
some similes in other Latin American countries), it is the vindication and influence - in
some groups - from the vast cultural tradition of the different ethnicities and 'indigenous' peoples
who are found in Mexico. It is easy to find a young punk wearing outfits from the
indigenous villages mixed with punk aesthetics, or completely in the style of their own
ethnic kinship. Also within the punk anarchist component, we find the vein
libertarian of the Magonista tradition, or others, sympathizing and participating with the EZLN.
They have a lot of information and areas of work related to self-management along with others.
anarchist groups. There are also organizations that support the issues of the
Mexican citizens who cross the Mexican border to go to the United States in
search for better alternatives (the so-called 'wetbacks').
There are collectives and federations of collectives scattered throughout Mexico, and
Anarchopunk national and international congresses are regularly held.
Venezuela began to experience an anarcopunk development in the late 1980s,
through collectives like El Grupo Editor Correo A, Colectivo Rajatabla, El Grupo de
Alternative Editors (publish works such as El Caleidoscopio, Vía Subterránea), the
FELA group (Ecological Front for Animal Liberation), bands like Victims of the
Democracy.
For its part, Brazil is one of the main scenes of Latin America that
developed an anarcho-punk movement since the mid-1980s.
Punk appears early on, with bands like Restos de Nada (Sao Paulo, 1978),
he has a political consciousness reflected in the lyrics of his songs.
Other bands (not necessarily anarcho punk), in the style of punk rock, hardcore and
grindcore that appeared in the 80s: Os Replicantes, Acao Directa, Colera, Olho Seco,
Psychic Possessor, Rats from the Underworld. Also - also in Mexico and in other countries.

Latin Americans - the hardcore and sxe scenes appear towards the late 1980s.
increasing manner.
210
 Regarding the anarchopunks, they group together in the MAP (Anarcho Movement)
Punk), which includes a series of collectives and networks. They work on various topics:
antiglobalization, environmentalism, solidarity with the landless movement, homosexuals,
the blacks etc.
In Peru, the issue is not different; back in 1980 they begin to appear the
first punk nuclei (for example in Lima), and they group with other trends (Dark,
New Waves, Metalheads) under the general term of 'undergrounds' or 'subways'.
The first bands that approached punk are Narcosis, Leuzemia, Escuela
Closed, R.I.P. Carreño, Urban Guerrilla (then Front Attack), Autopsy, and its
musical precursor from 1964 "Los Saicos" (garage rock and surf).
In the mid-80s, hardcores, Crossovers, positive punks inspired appeared.
in American bands like Minor Threat, 7 Seconds, DRI; bands like GX3, Curriculum
Mortis, among others. And hardcore punk bands inspired by Discharge, Chaos UK, UK Subs,
Last Government, RIP, Crass Dead Kennedys, La Polla Records, etc., like Kaos,
Excomulgados, Eructo Maldonado, Eutanasia, Caos General, Ataque Frontal, Psicosis(Ska
Punk), etc.
During that time, there were some disputes between the middle and lower sectors that later
they try to fix them through 'conversations' (meeting and assembly spaces of the
Peruvian punk and underground scene.
These are years of much activism and creativity, some members join a
collective that carries out its demonstrations in a tent that is being set up in the
different neighborhoods of Lima.

In the years of President Alan García and the systematic attacks by Sendero
Bright, some punks fall into the hands of the Peruvian intelligence services, since
sections of Shining Path begin to penetrate the underground and punk scene
Peruvian.
In the '90s and currently, bands like Autonomía (1990-1997) continue the
anarchopunk route, alongside a hundred people, spaces, and networks.

211
The devil's cauldron before the arrival of punk in Santiago de Chile.

It was the 70s, a time when the rhythm was already starting to be set with the music of the
Huasos Quincheros, the song of "freedom" by Bigote Arrocet and the military marches
performed by the bands of the Armed Forces and Order. They are the early years of the regime
military and associated civilian sectors, after the events of the 11th
September 1973.

From here on out, the Military Government Junta has a task

apparently unattainable: to rebuild the shattered economy, to restore the country
his work habit, regain trust in public service, prevail
again the moral values that had been characteristic of the nationality
Chilean292
Two stages shape today's action: on one hand, that of unveiling what happened.
during the Marxist regime and to cleanse the country of extremist elements - and, about
everything, from foreign agitators and activists - who had turned Chile into a
field of experimentation of your political domination project. On the other hand,
to get the whole town walking after achieving that goal of
reconstruction293

That is the tone with which the new authorities assume State power and the
leadership of the country starting from 1973.

Bandos and new regulations emerge from the cultural ethos of life in the barracks and
regiments of Chile, towards a citizenship fluctuating between fear, distrust, the
dispersion, perplexity, coldness, pain, anguish, acceptance, expectation,
indifference and the observation of the sequence of events. Another part of the
The citizenship is showing more calm and satisfied with the new authority. That is to say, a series
of reactions and feelings towards a new state of affairs in Chile, that will never be able to
explore and describe in a narrative, but do identify, in a general way, as a state of
conflicting and contrasting feelings, debating in the hearts of many
Chileans.

292
Anatomy of a Failure
Santiago de Chile. Page 159
293
Ibid. Page 159
212
 These are years in which people linked - initially - to the deposed
The U.P. government is in a constant state of stalking by the
authorities of the dictatorial regime and the organizations created to neutralize them,
mainly the DINA and later the CNI. While some "untouchables" and hierarchs
are assisted by their counterparts from Eastern Europe. Years also, in which Chile
it will undergo a radical transformation in the economic, political, and cultural sphere.

Punks294, the unrecognized children of the military dictatorship, from the civilian sectors
related to it and the general context of Chile at that time.

It is complicated to pinpoint a date for the arrival of Punk in Santiago and in Chile. Because
there are no records or documents that indicate, for example: 'on such a day, it landed the'
punk movement in Chile. It is more of a chain of events that
they were developing so that Punk could arise in these lands. Among these events,
we have global aspects such as the dependence and cultural influence of countries from
first world, especially the United States. That is to say, we can now talk about a
early globalization that is intertwined with the neoliberal market economy, in
definitive installation process in Latin American economies and Chile towards the end
from the 1970s, as throughout the 1980s.
We can point to the influence of cultural aspects of style as an example.
American life, which has been gradually introduced for several decades through the
Hollywood filmography, music, and later television series in the years
the '70s and '80s, within the consumption habits of the Chilean population of the time. Towards the
In the 80s, we see how the programming of music in English begins to be favored in the
FM Radios. Capital.
In the same way, towards the end of the '70s with a certain opening of the economy
Chilean law that allows the importation of consumer goods, the new ones begin to arrive.
fashions and styles of dress or regarding goods such as cars, televisions,
video recorders, musical equipment, etc. That is to say, Chile's openness to influences
cultural, etc. from other countries is not something exclusive to the establishment of the economy.

294
We will specifically refer to the case of Punk in Santiago de Chile.
213
neoliberal and of globalization, while cultural influence intensifies and becomes
a condition per se of the globalized economy. What Chile is today and since its
origins, implies a set of cultural elements both external and internal within a
constant process of construction and reconstruction of identity and general culture of the
Chilean nation, based on the idea of the sociologist and researcher of Identity.
Latin American and Chilean, Jorge Larraín, when mentioning his analysis of national identity.
in the face of globalization, in his text 'Chilean Identity' (2001), he considers it as a
historical process and not static in permanent construction and reconstruction. Within
phenomena of deterritorialization and hybridization of cultural elements, which are expressed,
As García Canclini points out, in the configuration of interculturality situations due to
the unequal ways in which groups appropriate elements from various societies,
they combine and transform” (Canclini, García; 1995:125), when circulation “each
more free and frequent movement of people, capital, and messages connects us on a daily basis
with many cultures, our identity can no longer be defined by exclusive belonging to
a national community” (Ibid.:125).
In the case of the first Chilean punks, it would not be a cultural element.
massively introduced in Chile, by the so-called cultural industry, which withdrew
subsequently certain elements of it (Punk) to commercialize it in other spaces (the
style: youth clothing), but from our research, we can establish that the
mass dissemination of aspects of punk by the cultural industry (media of
communication, multinational record labels, clothing stores, etc.), is late and focuses
more in the 90s onwards. Although, by the mid-80s, in Santiago
the first stores that bring punk music among other things start to appear, the group
people who participate in punk access the elements of punk (music, magazines,
information, etc.) within the same context of origin and around networks and friendships that
they exchange material (both in Chile and abroad), like some programs
radials that since 1985 start to spread Punk music, as we will see further
go ahead.

214
The first Punks?

From our documentary research, we establish that starting from the year 1979,
the first Punks begin to appear in Santiago de Chile; a situation that we can
graph with the testimony of historian Oscar Ortiz295, at the times when I was participating in the
Human Rights and Trade Union Committee (CODEH) presided by Mr. Clotario Blest
towards the end of the '70s.

Between 1978 and 1981, Clotario Blest along with other entities that worked for the
human and labor rights, they begin to organize public demonstrations through
tributes and commemorations to figures who represent stances such as 'the no
active violence” and “pacifism”: M. Gandhi, Martin Luther King and later John
Lennon. On the occasion of a ceremony commemorating the thirtieth anniversary
from the death of M. Gandhi (1978), there is a small group among the young people who attended
a group of people who displayed Punk signs. It was an aesthetic proposal.
different from the usual young 'wool or artisan' types; they were characters imbued with
"punk" and the "New Wave" that was mainly happening in Europe.
Assumed as Punks, they wore black, boots, and shirts painted by themselves.
same musical tastes as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Police, among others, like
Oscar Ortiz tells us296Some of these young people - as the historian points out - were
children of exiles who were returning from countries like France, England and
United States.
From that year until 1981, they attend the events presided over by the Clotario group.
Blessed like May 1st, Labor Day. It also indicates to us that some of them
they frequent Don Clotario's house to get information about the activities and take some with them
bulletins. They had certain sympathies towards pacifism and figures like Martin
Luther King, Gandhi, but also Che Guevara, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers
(United States of the '60s). After 1981, their political positions are oriented

295
Historian and current teacher at UTEM and USACH, at that time personal secretary of Clotario Blest.
296
The following data is part of the interview conducted on 12/14/00 at the National Library of Santiago.
from Chile
215
towards more radical actions. It is worth noting that between 1980 and 1983 they begin to appear
new supporters of Punk.
In the printed press of 1981, between February and April, reference is made to the acts.
summoned by Don Clotario's group "together with his Hippies and Punkies". Regarding this, the
Historian Oscar Ortiz points out that Clotario Blest had radicalized his stance towards
the dictatorship and sought the integration of individuals and groups from different positions
that did not fit in the traditional political positions against the dictatorship; that would be the
start of an alternative social movement with bases close to ecologism, assemblyism,
pacifism and active non-violence. As the historian and personal assistant tells us
Clotario Blest, Oscar Ortiz: the idea of this alternative movement was to foresee a scenario
different from the "yes and no" plebiscite of 1988297.
Continuing with the first Punks, it is necessary to point out that it should not
exclusively to the young exiles the origin of Punk in Chile; it is only a source that
It was visible to the historian Oscar Ortíz and his testimony.
Related to the previous case, we have the young exiled Mariano Maturana, who
in his article: 'The Trojan Horse, being punk in Holland'298from 1983, describes the
vicissitudes of being young in exile and living in a first world society.
continuation, we will reproduce part of your text (the text is in quotes), since
we consider it clarifying of the context that was experienced at that time and its connection to
Punk outside of Chile and in Chile299The Trojan Horse is a club financed by the State.
where there is free distribution of soft drugs and cheap food, where some Punks attend and
other identities. The young man refers to punk as 'The philosophy of the 'No' shouted by the
oppressed youth. "The philosophy of the kick and the spit. The philosophy that sends to the

297
Part of this alternative movement would give some space for the economist and Prize to later...
Alternative Nobel, Manfred Maxneef, was raised as a 'anti-candidate' presidential through a
"anti-campaign" with a view to the 1990 elections.
298
Maturana, Mariano: "The Trojan Horse, being punk in Holland", magazine La Bicicleta no. 30, January and
February 1983, Santiago de Chile.
299
It is worth remembering again that the Chilean experimental musician Alvaro Peña, living in his exile in
England in 1975 - in part - is one of the founders of the British punk movement, in addition to having formed
together with the musician Joe Strummer (formerly of The Clash), a punk band called 101ers.

216
shit to herself. The exhausted culture in a suicide attempt. In the face of a social context
What makes one feel the desire to 'die, hate, kick, hang an anti-symbol? 300of the neck.
Insult anyone who dares to look you in the eyes. Renounce human gestures. Do not cry.
At the same time in Chile, some Punks express a similar feeling, a displeasure.
above all, an anti-everything feeling, as our living and written sources indicate. An anti-
everything that implied – as we will see in the following paragraphs – a "not being there" both with
the left, the right, and the military, politicians in general, the church, and television:
Local punk was born looking at the Pistols and the Clash, but it was a Chilean punk, with wine.
in box, rehearsals in cities and shooting against the military, Giant Saturdays or the Song
New,” as suggested by a retrospective report on Chilean punk, carried out by the
Wikend supplement of the newspaper El Mercurio301.
Continuing, another case and source of the arrival of Punk in Chile is what happened to
some of the members of what until now has been the first Chilean Punk band 'Orgasmo'302. In the
year 1980, Miguel Serrano and David Bitner (some of the original members of Orgasmo)
they studied at the exclusive Nido de Águilas school, they had a classmate who was a
Japanese named Takashí Kawano, who due to his continuous travels abroad and closeness
with the dissemination of punk elements, share music and information with them and others
comrades. In this way, they meet English punk bands from the United States.
and from Japan. As David Bitner and Miguel Serrano recall:

The despised Takashí Kawano brings a large collection of records. Me and Gure
we were already somewhat <<converted>> by the end of that year... in '81 we moved to
completely convince us (The first Chilean Punks?)303.
300
The idea of resignifying symbols of the dominant culture and giving them a different meaning (in this case of
protest). An argument we can observe in the work of British semiologist Dick Hebdige 'Subculture
the meaning of style (1979), in his analysis of the style of English youth subcultures.
301
El Mercurio: Weekend Supplement, report What Happened to Chilean Punk?, December 30, 1994, Santiago
from Chile.
302
One of the sources of information for the Chilean punk group Orgasmo was provided by Javier Elizalde.
member of the band Orgasmo (later Censurado), Journalist, and current Manager of the Room
Audiovisual of the Bolivarian University. Interview conducted on 12/19/02.
303
Interview with Miguel Serrano Spaltman and David Bitner published in the Chilean Webzine 'Konsciencia'
Death No. 2 year, July 24, 2001. Website:The provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable content..
217
 For his part, Ángel Aedo304, between 1980 and 1983 (at that time concluding the
high school), starts to participate in the first Punk groups in Pudahuel. This
group of young people from Pudahuel who adhere to the emerging Santiago Punk, exchange and
they are looking for punk musical material (scarce in those times, Ángel tells us), they dress

attire similar to Punks, but oriented from their own creativity. They carry out
graffiti on the walls of the boundaries of their commune and in downtown Santiago, representing the
political events of those years, their view of punk and their response to the vicissitudes of the
Chilean society; that, based on colorful writings and drawings305It also tells us
that is going to join another punk nucleus called 'the tribe', concentrated in the surroundings
from the República and Estación Central neighborhood. From that nucleus, the group will later emerge
Dadá, Fiskales Ad-Hok, Pinochet Boys. Consider at that moment that punk is a
way of life
It points out that the punks of those years exhibit signs of self-destruction, some of them.

they participate in university protests, like on the occasion when they defended the
Eugenio Pereira Salas library, since it was going to be sold. At the same time, Ángel participates in a

graffiti collective called '525'.

Other Punk nuclei that emerged in the early '80s are 'Los Manolos', a group
of young people from wealthy sectors who gather in Providencia (a district of Santiago) and

(Consulted: 23/09/02). This interview conducted by the aforementioned Webzine "Konsciencia Muerta" was
confirmed by Orgasmo member David Bitner (currently residing in the United States), through
email. David Bitner:[email protected](Confirmation: 18 / 07/03)
304
He is currently 37 years old, holds a degree in Arts from the University of Chile, and works as a teacher in
some educational institutions in Santiago. He is one of the first Punks of the '80s.
Later in the second half of 1980, he joined the Punk band 'Life and Death'. Interview
carried out on 06/08/01.
305
The interviewee refers to the style of his graffiti being somewhat similar to animated propaganda that
It was broadcast on television about the fantasy drink 'Free' (from the second half of the '80s). For example, drawing of
young people with styled hair and colorful clothes. Since the aesthetic of the first Punk in Santiago
they combined New Wave, Dark, Industrial, Punk, and their own creativity. Some of these aesthetics are
it is possible to appreciate in the documentary film by Chilean filmmaker Gonzalo Justiniano 'The Warriors'

Pacifists” (1984). As well as in the press reports of those years (1981-1985), daily Las
latest News, Analysis magazine, Cauce magazine, The Bicycle magazine, etc.
218
they assume a punk aesthetic, and another group of young people from the middle and lower sectors emerges at the same time

they are the so-called 'Black Jackets', located in General Velásquez.

Similarly, one of the founding members of the punk band Fiskales Ad-
Hok306Roly307(as he is called), tells us that between 1980 and 1983 there were few people, and
Generally, one would get to know other people who frequented the first spaces.
generated by the Punks (concerts developed from 1984 onwards), since if
punks existed -it suggests to us-, they moved within their neighborhoods. Also, the
chance of walking down the street allowed meeting another young punk, because of his
eye-catching clothing. In addition, Roly points out that he, like other Punk friends –with the
passage of time - they tried not to go out during the day, as they were victims of jokes from the

passersby, in addition to police repression. Similarly, it tells us that the

Punk, for him, was the possibility of breaking, freeing oneself, and facing not only the contingencies.

politics, which they rejected: both the world close to the military and the opposition
and the traditional left political positions, but also conformity and
the prevailing homogeneity in the citizenship of the country. As Roly tells us, aesthetics implied
to shock people and symbolize their protest against dictatorship and social conservatism, they
I was looking to be 'myself', and to visibly mark this 'being myself' through the
break caused - at that time - with punk style as a symbol, and with the way of
project a difference before the homogenized 'other' and considered trapped within
rigid structures of being and seeming.
Around 1984, he tells us that he and other punk friends began to frequent the
Art School of the University of Chile, a space where they meet painters and young people
related to avant-garde expressions, the New Wave and punk. This space as
others, empower a nascent circuit of underground proposals within the city of
Santiago.
On his part, Iván Conejeros, one of the founders of the band Pinochet Boys.
(mid-80s), recounts the context of punk in this way:

306
The band Fiskales Ad-Hok is currently on hiatus.
307 In addition to participating as a member of the Fiskales Ad-Hok, he is one of those responsible for the label.

independent CFA (Autonomous Phonographic Corporation). Information based on interview conducted:

18/07/02
219
 In '83, I had just left university and was reconsidering studying.
something, when I entered a pre-university program at Campus Oriente of the
Catholic University to give the P.A. again. There I met a guy who was dressed in
he used to play the guitar in the gardens of the Faculty, he liked rock and
I wanted to study literature or something like that, his name was Daniel Puente.
At that time, I was loaded with new music, a whole range of New groups.
Wave and Punk that very few people were listening to back then, and I was carrying a
Years of listening to her and I already felt that the process was about going for more.
They were complicated times. We were in the midst of a military dictatorship, with curfew
of decline and a rabid censorship that attacked anything that could fall out
from the uniform scheme to which we were subjected, with cases of detainees
disappeared every now and then and with non-existent justice. There were no groups of
music, was prohibited308.

Up to this point, we can add that there are many cases to cite and give account of the
beginnings of Punk in Santiago de Chile, although it is difficult to establish connecting threads

precise309rather, it is about certain guidelines that are relevant to our research

they represented relevant situations, as they are based on the coherence between the
interviews with historical protagonists as well as written documentation.
At this moment, from our research we can assert that the origin and
access of Punk in Chile and in the case of Santiago between the years 1979 and 1984, is due to -
a large part - to the individual dissemination of elements of punk through music, magazines
foreigners, news or articles in newspapers, national magazines, oral stories about the
punks, through protagonists such as: some children of exiles310and young exiles,

308
Excerpt from the interview with Miguel Conejeros (exPinochet Boys) from "Fiat 6000", conducted by Suburbia
(Independent Magazine), April 2001, Santiago.Invalid input format. Unable to translate the provided URL.
(Consulted: 03/16/2001).
309
The complexity referred to in identifying a definitive common thread is based on the fact that the events,
characters that come with the early years of punk in Santiago resemble that 'network' of meanings that
graph the anthropologist Clifford Geertz. But each of these senses and meanings has a relevance of
According to the individual protagonists who experienced the situation, for that reason such events will take on
greater importance depending on the perspective. For this reason, we have established, rather...
chronological events that we consider relevant (from living sources like written ones, etc.), to go
linking them.
310
In this regard, we can point out the case of the Vásquez brothers: Luis Emilio (29), Cacho (26) and
Rodrigo (24). They encountered Punk in 1978 when they found themselves exiled with their parents in Paris.
France. In that year, together with a Frenchman, they formed a punk band called 'Rebel Heart'. Where
220
returnees from European countries or the United States; young people from middle and upper sectors
that due to trips of their parents, relatives, friends, or themselves accessed elements of the
punk; university students from the field of arts or theater who were in contact with
these trends, whether through travel or circuits of their own information; foreign students
of exchange residing in Chile or children of diplomats or foreigners residing
recently in the country (as in the case of the young Japanese mentioned earlier). Based on
From the above, we can estimate that between the years 1979 and 1984, the first young people who
participants of punk - mostly - come from middle-high and high sectors, but with the
running from those same years is spreading towards more popular and working-class sectors
media, as indicated by the living and written sources.
So, the first manifestations and signs of people who identify with the
punk, they are due to the spread through individually established links
within face-to-face interactions or limited to small circles of friends
(1979-1983). It is important to remember that in Chile, a period of censorship is being experienced.

repression of unofficial expressions for the dictatorial regime (in addition to the current one
curfew and the start of the first massive protests against the dictatorship). The
Alternative information channels are being pursued. Punk may perhaps have passed.
"camouflaged" for a moment, because the most information available was in
English. Likewise, there is no state support for cultural expressions of this nature.
and spaces to express them. And moreover, since the coup d'état of 1973, "the production
artistic will be placed under surveillance, and the circuits of publication, distribution, and dissemination

they will be subject to censorship or dismantled311In this way, people, within punk,
represented a kind of 'elite', as it handled information and new codes that did not
they were accessible to anyone. For example: such is the case - as the
historian Oscar Ortíz - that some "punks who arrived where Clotario, had quite a bit
information about the anti-nuclear movements and campaigns in Europe, very much in vogue

they combined Latin rhythms with punk rock. They were not very accepted for their aesthetics and music in the gatherings

solidarity organized by exiles in France. (report in Apsi magazine, from July 14 to 27, 1986)
311
Escárate, Tito: “Fruits of the Country, History of Chilean Rock”, FONDART, Ministry of Education
Chile. 1994. Page 62
221
product of the still reigning Cold War and the growing arms race of the powers
worldwide.
On the other hand, the Youth Secretariat of the Military and Civil Government, only
identify the young man framed within the ideals: God, Fatherland, and Family; and in spaces of
expression like the sports context in charge of DIGEDER.
Youth in general becomes invisible and transforms into a threat or a problem,
and this last option is more prevalent, especially when it comes to young people from popular urban sectors:

"The idea of the youth problem has been notably emphasized in the media."
mass communication, and it especially affects the popular sectors. It highlights the
negative situations in which some young people participate, in a sensationalist way: the
news reports on young criminals, young terrorists, young people of the
hooligans, the drug-addicted youth y alcoholics, the young rockers
tumultuous" (P.I.I.E., 1990: 16). To conceive of youth – especially from the sectors
popular - as a problem or threat will be a trend that will noticeably grow
in the 90s.
This conception of the problem and threat of youth will become quite evident in
the 1980s (between 1983 and 1984), as these years will bring with them, for a certain sector of the
youth that directly or indirectly experiences the repression of the military regime and of the
associated civil sectors: a space of protagonism, as "protests flourish"
massive and social discontent. And all the accumulated rebellious energy culminates in a
strong spiral of social mobilizations; the most affected areas by the official regime
it is overwhelmed by the unprecedented scale of the street demonstrations until then
isolated and less massive instances. The authority is forced to yield, providing a
relative openness as a catalyst agent," as well described by Tito Escárate (1994).
Certain sectors of young people are becoming visible to public opinion due to their energetic and
decided participation in street protests.
In parentheses, the punk band Los KK from the second half of the '80s, recalls in
the lyrics of a song, their life - as young people - under the dictates of the Military Regime:

The government pisses me off,

The government punishes me.
He/She forces me to stay at home.
222
 and I can't go out there.

Curfew in the streets

Curfew in the cities
Curfew in my neighborhood
Curfew everywhere

I want to go out there

With my friends to hang out,
To hit a cop and make him shit himself...

"Touch of Fall", The KK in "KK Urban"

Self-released cassette, 1988, Santiago de Chile.

The 'relative opening' of the regime causes the energies and contrary forces
to the government and the social system established since 1973, emerge from spaces
unsuspected, not only from the classic opposing political stances within the circuit
from the parties, but rather from innovative political senses that originate in everyday life,
in common sense, on the street, on the corners of the neighborhoods, in the squares or 'drinking'
a box of wine somewhere deep in there." Especially within a sector of young people who do not
they have, obviously (given the context), greater backgrounds of official participation in the
party political leadership, and rather, from intellectual circles, they are generalized as
"politically ignorant"; and particularly, to the young people who do not belong to any political party
or political youth. In this regard, we rather suspect that for some young people at that
moment, a survival sensitivity emerges more in front of a systemic artifact
oppressive (referring to the application of coercive policies towards the citizenry by the
military and civilian government associated), which not only represses specific opponents, but also
it affects the social atmosphere and human behavior by restricting individual freedoms in
his existential displacement312, a favorable condition for social alienation or explosion
social.

312
From the perspective of the Danish philosopher (19th century), Sorën Kierkegaard, regarding personal choice.
and subjective, through the individual action of the subject in achieving their own goals and truths: not of a
"objective" truth that imposes itself as the sole morality; as is the case with the "truth" of the military regime
and its reasons of State (to impose an economic model, a new fundamental charter, and to neutralize the
dissidents). We mention Kierkegaard because the logic of his analyses is illustrative for our
description.
223
 This is about a political expression that has arisen from everyday discontent that is
spilled through art, music, clothing, spontaneous street actions or
agreed upon, the stripes on walls; a type of symbolic positioning about the
spaces monitored by the institutional order agents, as can be observed within
of the Underground movement, theater, rock, etc. throughout the 1980s. While it was,
it can allude to a relative 'permissiveness'313of the regime before certain expressions, that
they acted as "walls of containment" against the prevailing social discontent, the issue is that
the expressiveness was achieved and little by little it wore down the effective social control of the
repressive organisms (occupied in neutralizing opponents and massively sowing their
legitimizing discourse of authority), since the spaces opposed to the official have been
multiplying; it was no longer just about the classic political opposition, the movement of
DD.HH, the alternative movement, the subversive movements, but not nuclei
traditional forms of expression that opened spaces and became transversally linked to
the spaces of the general opposition to the dictatorial regime.
Well then, we can talk about a type of informal political expressiveness, based on
in elements that converge from the daily experience of individuals, for example: being

313
This permissiveness is well reflected in the emergence of the movement called Latin Rock in the middle of
from the '80s, as a way to contain the boiling youthful energies. Momentary idols spread and
ephemeral musical groups without a coherent message related to what was happening, except for a few exceptions. The
Singing in Spanish is not exclusive to this movement; there were already bands from the underground or from a segment.

from the new song like the band Sol y Medianoche developing that. The soft drink brand
"Free" partially appropriates the promotion of this movement just as the record labels do.
they seek 'new talents' and the media promote this movement, which at the same time allows
to know some exponents of the underground. The new idols also come from Argentina: Soda Stereo,
GIT, Virus, Fito Páez, etc. On the other hand, there is also the case of TV programs from that time like 'El'
Festival of La Una,” “Success” and “Giant Saturdays” that invite metal, punk, and rock music bands.
like Dorso, Chronos, Masacre, Necrosis, Censored, Panzer. A separate case is the program from Canal 13:
"Success" hosted by "El Pollo" Fuentes, who between 1986 and 1987 created a segment and contest called
Current generation where metal, punk, and fusion rock bands play, in addition to releasing a compilation cassette.
about them. Youth programs like 'Extra Jóvenes' hosted by Katerine Salosny (the girl with the 'smile'
"Pepsoden" and once the face of "Yes"), conduct reports on Thrash Metal concerts and biennials.
Underground and Punk, in some segments promote certain underground talents such as videos of
alternative music by one of the DJs from the alternative nightclub 'Neo'.
224
interrogated by some authority when wishing to freely express themselves; the inability to find spaces,

motivations and expectations for personal development in an environment that promotes it

committed.
This informal political expressiveness that we mentioned can be situated with
a certain closeness to the concept of 'political intentionality' worked on in the P.I.I.E text 'Neither
"adapted or maladjusted, just young people" (1990) that the P.I.I.E refers to the construction of
citizenship and democratic strengthening within youth social organizations
inhabitants. For our idea of informal political expressiveness, the political intent
It has to do with 'an intentionality of changing the living conditions, because it
"aims to improve its quality" (Ibid 1990:24), based on an informal political sense that
in the everyday flow (Ibid:24) within the context of daily social relations and
a specific historical juncture (becoming commonplace within the margins of the
dictatorship.
In relation to the previous paragraph, we consider that this informal political form and
political intentionality comes from the need for expression, and therefore: action
within the social sphere it will be to express oneself, attend demonstrations, throw stones, play in a

rock band, create comics or fanzines, build playful spaces where they do not exist,
etc.
This informal political expressiveness within the Underground context (of which
included the young punks), involved what the following analysis of a protagonist
it illustrates us below:

It was not about playing the marginal ones, the cursed anarchists or the
possession of a sect truth; what was important was that in those moments there was
things to say and were said, happily, funnily, energetically, like
it corresponded to a stance characterized by its lack of seriousness and
boxing. The most beautiful thing was that at certain moments it overwhelmed us
a feeling of celebration, of birth, a new psychosomatic mood, in addition to
that for the first time we were set sail in the same direction, owners of
a very heterogeneous diversity capable of assimilating new discourses from
dignity and creation.314

314
Fripp, Tobalaba: "The End of the Underground", CAUCE magazine no. 198 from March 20 to 26, 1989, pp. 42 -
43.
225
 Proceeding, towards the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s within the landscape
musical and its sociocultural environment, we find the reminiscences of the so-called Song
New315(which will extend until 1985). On the more progressive side, and of musicians and groups
associated with this movement we find Los Jaivas, Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, Hugo
Moraga, Congress, Eduardo Gatti. Within this side, a cultural context is manifested.
young opponents of the military regime, who are beginning to be called and identified as
"wool" or "artisans", who typically participate in spaces called
"peñas" (from there they will move to spaces like the mythical Café del Cerro), showing solidarity with

the human rights and the current political opposition options. The opinion of
León Giecco, Silvio Rodríguez, Pablo Milanés, Sui Generis, Víctor Jara, Violeta Parra.
Within the adult political opposition framework, this youth will become more visible and
will become relevant: for example, many of those young university leaders who
in the past they dressed in 'artesa' or 'wool', today they hold important positions in the orbit of the

governments of the concertation or serve as prosperous advisors and shareholders of

private companies.
At the same time, starting from the 1980s, a series of ...
non-traditional expressions within a sector of young Chileans living under dictatorship;
they are identified as 'waves', stylistic, musical expressions, etc. whose characteristic
it resides in expressing a specific and fleeting type of fashion316Within these 'waves'

315
There will be diverse manifestations, which will be partially capitalized by the official media. It is a
movement with reminiscences, as it will not have an ideological consistency as in the past, due to the
variety of interpreters and unclear political positions.
316
It is worth noting that the categorization of 'fashion' was used in the media of the time.
generally, to identify some kind of youthful expression that was present at the time. By
example, the case of the movies that had a lot of box office and popularity in those years: The Wars of the
Galaxies, Rambo, Rocky, etc. The reference to fashion was due to the imitative factor or a certain fanaticism of the
people regarding the clothing or styles of the characters (the classics from other years can be James
Dean, John Travolta in 'Saturday Night Fever', Marlon Brando). That is to say, within this tone, we
it referred to the "fashion" within youth expressions. In the case of the wave, this term would imply
two meanings: for punk youth (whom we cannot generalize) to subscribe in a certain way within
a specific aesthetic sense and lifestyle; and for the media, a wave of some kind
of specific fashion.
226
we managed to identify alongside the punk scholar documentarian, Carlos Kretschmer317and his
lecture 'Punk and Self-management: Fighting Against the Current' 318, that the waves more
representative between the years 1980 and 1984319Breakdance, Punk, Heavy Metal or Rock
Heavy, etc. We mention that both Breakdance and Heavy Metal require their
particular study320.

317
Carlos Kretschmer Navarro, Librarian and Documentalist (UTEM), currently works in the Section
Library of the Catholic University Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez. It has developed several works and
exhibitions about the punk movement. He also belonged to the Santiago punk band from the second half
from the '80s, "Los KK" and is currently a member of the band "BBS Paranoicos", a group of quite
trajectory and recognition within the Chilean and foreign punk and hardcore scene.
318
Presentation given in the context of the "V Meeting on the Sociocultural Phenomenon of Rock"
about the topic of the 'Punk Movement in Chile', organized by the Raúl Silva Henríquez University on the days
October 21 and 22, 2002, Santiago. Opportunity in which the thesis student of the Social Anthropology degree
from the Bolivarian University, Christian Castro Bekios also collaborated and participated as a speaker alongside
Carlos Kretschmer and Álvaro España (member of the group Fiskales - Ad-Hok)
319
As a precursor, during those years, the band The Police visited the Viña del Mar Festival (1982)
linked to the 'new wave' or 'British post-punk' (on its pop side), and later, two bands
related to heavy rock, the veterans Nazareth and the young Krokus. For their part, reaching the middle
In the '80s, the host Rodolfo Roth airs his video program through National Television of Chile.
musicals 'Musical Magnetoscope', where it presents groups of these trends. In the same way, the
Radial conductor, Sergio Pirincho Cárcamo, does his thing on FM stations.
320
For example, regarding breakdance (expression and manifestation of Hip-Hop culture), it arrives in Chile.
almost at the beginning of the 80s and it develops strongly in popular urban sectors. A situation that is
testified by some media or documentaries from the mid-'80s, when they show young people who
they come from their town to the center of Santiago, to dance breakdance alongside their boomboxes. In
Part of the spread of breakdancing was due to the American movie (starring 'breakers')
originals) premiered in the early '80s called "BreakDance" (where they showcase this dance born in the
streets) and another less popular one called "Beatstreet" (here, apart from music and dance, they showcase the art of
graffiti, based on the story of the graffiti artist, the Chicano Raúl Valdez). Hip-Hop and its
expressions (Breakdance, Rap, etc.) have their beginnings in the late 1960s in cities like New
York and in neighborhoods like the Bronx. Among its first protagonists, we mainly find
young people of color and to a lesser extent young Latino Americans and cultural groups such as the Chicanos
(people of Mexican descent residing in the United States).
227
 Within the world of rock music321, a nascent scene begins to emerge
metalhead since the 1980s322whose notoriety became visible in 1983 with the
presentation of the criolla band Feedback at the Teatro Cariola. In unison, members of
that band, like the well-known Juan Álvarez, will form the group Panzer and will stimulate the

Heavy Metal movement323, along with bands such as: Necromancer, Zoltan, Brain
Damage, Amapola, Sepulkro, Turbo, Spectro, Rust among others (some protagonists of
those bands will stimulate the emerging Thrash movement). In the beginning, many of those
bands sang in English.
Rock in Spanish in the '80s gained notoriety around 1985, with Los Prisioneros and
the boom of imported Latin rock from Argentina and Spain.
By the way, within the context of opposition, these manifestations such as the
Punk and metal are not well regarded and are rather doctrinally criticized, as is the
case of young communist militants, who were generally branded as 'bugs'
"rare", "bourgeois", or "products of North American imperialism", as they mention to us.
Roly, Ángel Aedo, Cesar, Roberto, Javier Elizalde and other interviewed - living sources -
precursors of criollo punk.
In that mentioned climate, the first one appears at the beginning of 1983
Chilean punk band called Orgasmo324This punk band is made up of friends and

321
In the '70s (after the coup d'état), concerning the rock movement, as the scholar points out
from rock, Tito Escárate in his text 'Fruits of the Country, History of Chilean Rock': rock is almost ignored, only
There are still some bands that come from before like Los Trapos, Panal, and Tumulto, along with new bands.
like Movediza Arena, Influjo, Millatún, Teykers, among others.
322
A deviation from a more classic rock developed earlier (symphonic rock and fusion) is produced.
towards styles such as: Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, among others. Styles that from 1985 onwards will present a
large number of practitioners.
323
The Crow: Does Chilean Metal Need a Label? Article published on the following website:
Invalid request. The provided text is a URL and cannot be translated.(Consulted: 23/06/03)
324
The band Orgasmo was formed by Gustavo 'Gureh' Gurrieri, Miguel 'Mikeh' Serrano, Víctor Trabucco, and
Sean Bratt in 1983 at the school (Eagle's Nest) in Santiago, Chile. At that moment, Sean Bratt leaves and enters
David Bitner always has other guest musicians like Javier Elizalde. When David Bitner travels to
the United States to pursue his university studies, Javier Elizalde joins as a permanent member.
Just like English or North American punks, nicknames are commonly used for identification. Use that will be
habitual within the Chilean punk scene to this day.
228
students of High School (last year of High School) from Nido school
Eagles. Partially influenced - in addition to their personal concerns - by the companion
from school, the Japanese student Takashí Kawano, who supplies them with music and material
punk, and by punk music from Argentine bands like 'Los Violadores'325, brought by one
of them on their trips to Argentina.
With its first chords, Orgasmo begins to play Punk Rock.
themes of their favorite bands326and then composing one's own.
Forming the band, for them, implies channeling the situation of dictatorship into energies.
creative, in addition to having a good time playing. Their first gigs are held within their
school and later in some places in the high sector of Santiago like La Sua Pizza
in Las Condes, also at the San Agustín School, at a Social Headquarters in Peñaflor and in the
Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Chile (1985); David Bitner and Miguel Serrano
original members of Orgasmo comment in the following way about the meaning of their
live incursions back then:

We openly and directly insulted the regime, the military and

Pinochet personally: they wouldn't let us play, they cut our electricity in the middle.
from the concert, we had to get away from the police with the equipment on our backs several times.
sometimes, when not between guanacos and tear gas, we even got to know several
You retain inside (let Moya know because in the end, we are free from wrongs anyway.
...greater...). It was heroic times, for those who had the guts...327

In the same way, Iván Rozas, guest vocalist of Orgasmo, recounts his
experience at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Chile (1985):

In June, Victor was unable to attend a commitment at the Faculty of Philosophy.

the U. of Chile, so in a couple of days I learned the repertoire of Orgasmo
at Mikeh's house.
On the big day, I remember it was a Friday when we arrived at the club and the most
moved that until that moment had been heard among a completely

325
The Argentine punk band 'Los Violadores' was previously called 'Los Testículos', which is one of the
first punk bands emerged before the Falklands War of 1982.
326
Sex Pistols, The Clash, Uk Subs, The Dark, Los Violadores, etc.
327
Ibid, from the interview with the members of Orgasmo: Miguel Serrano Spaltman and David Bitner published in
the Chilean webzine 'Konsciencia Muerta n°2 year, July 24, 2001
229
 the wool and trough had been Silvio Rodríguez. (ha, ha, ha.) When we arrived.
We started to install equipment, battery, and guitars. You could smell the odor of horror.
of the audience before the punk avalanche that was coming their way...
... Since I loved the group and knew everyone, it was an amazing replacement.
I remember that in the second song I was screaming like crazy with my eyes closed,
next to Mikeh, when I realize that the microphone cable was
disconnected for a while and I turned red, I looked at the audience and them
roosters were wide-eyed. I looked for someone who was like
happy with the group and nothing. I think that afternoon we were a musical shock.
to laugh one's head off. We had a good time and I remember that we sounded better. It was a
Flash presentation.

In these live performances, they sang one of their first songs called
"Complexed Chilean," which suggests an open criticism of the feeling of "feeling
less
social issues in Chile, especially within the middle classes during the so-called "boom"
economic of the late '70s, which despite the economic crisis of the '80s, was already left
installed the consumer appetite for gadgets (televisions, cars, etc). Lyrics of the song
which we reproduce in full below:

There is a race
totally insecure.
we are a hole in the world
and we think we are the center.
Whether or not he has money,
well or poorly dressed,
national or imported,
Chilean with insecurities.
Let's stop categorizing
small house on the beach
frequency modulation.
We don't care about anything anymore. No!
Whether or not he has money,
well or badly dressed
national or imported,
Insecure Chilean.
(Punk band Orgasmo, Santiago de Chile, 1983)

Within that framework, punk means the following for the members of Orgasmo:

Punk is nothing more than the spontaneous way of being, without embellishments, without
deforming socializations, radically opposed to the anti-values that the
society takes for virtues. It is the value of the person above appearances,
especially those that money can buy. It is the ethics of gallant knights and

230
 templars, expressed by the modern man who has been brutalized by the
disinformation (other than 'evolved'), this means that people are valued for their
actions, not by their ideas or affiliations, much less by their possessions. It is the
rebellion against that which all abhor, but accept meekly as
sheep, preferring to be sacrificed with a good face. It's punk rock... without everyone.
the toys and paraphernalia of the glamorous rocker... pure rebellion with a cause and
pure rock... rock has no cause, the punk328it does not have 'uni-form' (Ibid.).

It's now 1984 and a punk outbreak emerges as a widespread trend within
some sectors of young people. From there on, punk begins to break into others
social spaces. For example, the case of the year 1984 is precise: on one hand
The first punks and the first punk nuclei begin to appear in some neighborhoods.
His presence is already notable in that year, at which point the Chilean filmmaker, Gonzalo
Justiniano, during his time in Chile, films a documentary titled 'The Peaceful Warriors'329,
where they interview some young people who dress as punks and attend the parties they organize
in some nightclubs in Santiago. As can be seen and heard in the
filmed interviews, some young people take punk as a "vibe" or a "trend" and
as part or stage of being a lolo,” others refer to “that it is just beginning to form a
Chilean punk movement
the current youth should not be blamed for the mistakes of the past" (it refers to the
two world wars among other war situations), in the same way, it is done
reference that punk in Chile, "first it starts as a wave and then it will establish itself as
movement”. Some of those young people from the “punk wave” (who appear in the footage of
Gonzalo Justianiano and others go to Paseo Ahumada in Santiago to gather and listen.
music and dancing in the street.
In the documentary, we can see that the punk outfits worn by some
young people are of their own creation. Likewise, some young people (just beginning to

328
The members of Orgasmo refer to the 'Punga' as a way to possess the originated Punk.
outside of Chile, within a term similar to that of English punk (delinquent, layabout, worthless), for culture
Chilean.
329
If the background I have is accurate, the documentary film 'The Peaceful Warriors' or another
A report on punks in Santiago was presented on the program 'Temas', hosted by Mercedes.
Ducci, from that time.
231
appear women) only dress punk on weekends, and others, every day of the
some are punks and work or study.
It is noted that what Justiniano's documentary shows is not
representative of all the people who could have existed in those years, as well
it is pointed out by a chronicle made by the magazine La Bicicleta in 1986 regarding the punks:
There they are, shaved heads, hippie t-shirts, shiny earrings, dyed hair. They are punk.
but they are neither, nor the other. In any case, they bear little resemblance to the punks of the end of

week of Justinian and less to the motorcyclists of Lafourcade. If they are anything, they are...
full time...330Since, as we mentioned, the existing punk universe - perhaps
small - it was also varied; and by 1985 various things started to manifest.
nuclei in Santiago331.
Also, in that same year, a well-known ice cream brand releases for sale a
product called "Punkracio" that features a character with "spiky hair" in a "punk" style.
Also in street trade, wristbands with tips and gloves are sold.
black with spikes (fingerless gloves), partly due to the reference of the outfits
typical punks and also from Breakdance. In some hair salons, the haircut is imposed.
from this punk wave, which consists of shortening the hair on the sides of the head and styling it
with gel or hairspray the hair is styled upwards, some hair dyes are also used for
hair
Regarding the 'punk wave': this designation by some young punks
it will last until the end of 1985, since afterwards the term will start to be referenced
of punk movement332.

330
The Bicycle: “Punks, the children of Pinochet”, year VII, n°70, April 22, 1986, Santiago.
331
It is necessary to establish that expressions such as Punk and Thrash appear almost at the same time in other
regions of Chile, finding that as early as 1987 there is a large informal network of contacts through
correspondence (mail) and travel (from Arica to Punta Arenas). In the case of Santiago, both: Valparaíso,
Rancagua, Villa Alemana, Viña del Mar, Quillota, Concepción, and La Serena will be some of the places of
movement of the Santiago bands and vice versa. Both within Punk and Thrash Metal.
332
It is worth emphasizing that Chilean punk as a movement, identified in that way by the youth of
those years, it began to be used, as such, towards the end of 1985. Therefore, we point out that it is presented
an empirical difficulty in establishing a homogeneous criterion to define the Chilean punk movement, as
it is a general allusion of the punk youth to identify the situation in which they participate
232
 For its part, the use of the punk wave, by both established and informal commerce,
it was a momentary situation and did not last more than a few months. Likewise, around 1985, it
some establishments open333they bring in material related to punk and metal
(T-shirts, pins, music), both in downtown Santiago and in the sector of
Providence334.
During those same years (1984 - 1985, and until 1989), the development of a
underground and alternative movement335that begins to group artists such as:
sculptors, photographers, painters, poets, videographers, musicians, actors, around expressions
rupturists and dissenters. Similarly, the first comics, fanzines and
independent publications; some of them are: “It’s of no use” (magazine that gave rise to
the poetic newspaper Noreste), "The Comic Sario", "La Joda", "Sudacas Masturbio", "Abuses
Dishonest"; and after 1985, "Black Kiss", "Neoprene", "Matucana", among others.
other publications. The themes they covered ranged from rock and its expressions
more unknown, sex, eroticism, cinema, politics, anarchism, and environmentalism (the case of the
publication of Dishonest Abuses), satire, social and cultural criticism, etc. Portrayed context,
later, in a report by the newspaper La Tercera from 1991 of the following
It was like this that, in the early 80s, the criollo Underground began to take shape.
force among a sector - quite numerous - of the youth. In their eagerness to break with the

moment. For this reason, it is impossible to establish a standardization of the term "punk movement", as
the meaning of that will depend on the entirety of the punk protagonists. Rather, we can do
references to certain general orientations, as we will indicate in due time in the development of this thesis.
333
Mostly music and accessory stores owned by people not related to the environment or
underground scene (punk, thrash, etc), and others whose owners do relate or participate.
334
Between 1985 and 1986, the Circus store (Santiago Centro) opened, followed by Rock Shop (Providencia) and Fusión.
(Providence), among the well-known. It is worth noting that the traditional record store "Feria del Disco" until 1988
Little consideration is given to the sale of these music styles (for example, Punk, Metal). The musical material is scarce.

punk or metal, how scarce are the bands that come out within the punk or metal ensembles known as: Iron
Maiden, Metallica, The Clash, etc.
335
For more information, see the article by Tobalaba Fripp "The End of the Underground," Cauce magazine no.
198, from March 20 to 26, Santiago de Chile, 1989.
233
established, the 'punks' appeared, the 'new waves' and, in general, 'the people
different>>, with brashness and personality to <<not catch anything or anyone"336.
As mentioned in the quote from the newspaper La Tercera: "the punkies appeared and the
new waves", since from 1983, punk goes hand in hand with new wave, this
the last expression has quite a following among art university students (University
from Chile, Catholic University as well as art academies and institutes). Both punk and
the new wave intersects and relates in these early years. The outfit of a punk had
quite in the New Wave style, for example, not all punks wore the recognized boot
military, they also wore pointed black shoes and styled hair to the
new wave337Sebastián Levine (one of the members of the Pinochet Boys group) did so
corroborates in the report 'And what happened to Chilean Punk', published by the newspaper El
Mercury in the Wiken supplement: "Punks weren't walking around with safety pins in their noses,
like now. There were a lot of university students, a lot of crazy people, everything that was called the New here.

Wave338 .
On the other hand, some punks take aesthetic elements from Stanley's film.
Kubrick, “A Clockwork Orange” or “Blade Runner”, among other movies.
In those same years 1984 and 1985, young punks from other places began to appear.
social sectors (middle and lower), as well as new punk music groups. Such is
the case of the Pinochet Boys group339, a name that graphically expressed the
generation that lived under dictatorship, and therefore only knew those narrow and repressive
margins of existence. Their music was more related to sounds of industrial bands and

336
The Third. Report: "Underground Art: Counterculture of Oppressed Artists", Friday, March 15.
1991, Santiago.
337
At that time, the English band associated with the new wave, The Cure, was just starting to become known.
those who present a dressing style based on black suits, made-up faces, painted lips, and hair
more stylized than the punks (at that time), although one of the bands that becomes more popular within
this style of the English is Duran-Duran (more pop version). The new wave is also associated with another
trend: the Dark, and there is no doubt that these first Chilean exponents of the New Wave or the Dark,
They knew bands like Bauhaus, The Dark, Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, Echo & The Bunnymen, UK-DK,
The Fall, among others.
338
Ibid., El Mercurio, Weekend Supplement, report What happened to Chilean Punk?
339
Formed by Daniel Puente, Iván Conejeros, Miguel Conejeros, and Sebastián Levine in 1985.
234
Dark340with classic punk rock like Sex Pistols or Buzzcocks. By the way,
many of the punk bands from those years would adopt sounds – so to speak –
more experimental. Pinochet Boys defined their music as "electro Punk" because of their use of
instruments such as electric drums and synthesizer. At that time, they were made
known with the following lyrics of a song:

This is, this is, Pinochet Boy, musical dictatorship,

nobody can stop dancing to the general's music.
Nothing in the refrigerator, nothing in the brain.
"Nobody can stop dancing to the general's music."

Similarly, towards the end of 1984 and early 1986, other bands appeared.
linked to punk and that Underground environment that starts to weave in the cold
sheds and spaces rented or lent by unions (taxi drivers union and the
union of former workers of the defunct Santiago tram). Bands of those times:
Zapatilla Rota, Índice de Desempleo, Niños Mutantes, Corruption, Pinochet Boys,
Lightning rod, Dadá, Orgasm (later renamed Censored), The
Hunchbacks, among others. Also in part, The Vinchucas (The Green Vinchucas),
formed by the members of Los Prisioneros before they became known with their album
start of 1984 "The Voice of the '80s". It should be noted that the members of Los Prisioneros,
especially Jorge González and Claudio Narea participated in the Underground circuits and
punks that start to emerge; moreover, Claudio Narea had a rich collection of
rock and punk music that I shared in circles of friends.
The styles of these early punk bands are varied, but always inclined
towards rock currents of dark, industrial, rockabilly, punk rock, and free atmospheres
experimentation.
So far, Chilean punk is influenced -in a way- for their
punk counterparts: English, Spanish (more towards 1986), and to a lesser extent the
North Americans (a situation that will change by 1986). By the year 1985, it appears within

340
In the tone of the German band Einstürzende Neubauten on the industrial side and Joy Division for the
Dark part. To give an approximation of their sound, we could mention the music developed by the ensemble.
Chilean appliances in the second half of the 1980s.
235
a frequency modulation station, a program that will popularize the punk sounds of the
time and will make them accessible to many other people. It is a radio program,
led by a young man named Rolando Ramos341together with Karin Yanine342and Pogo343this
lastly, a character within the criollo punk scene who had just arrived in Chile from
Spain344The program will be called 'Underground Melodies' and will be broadcast - in a
principle - every Friday around 10 or 11 at night. As Ángel points out
Aedo from 'the tribe' and Roly from Fiskales Ad-Hok: that day and at that hour all the friends
punks were at home listening to and recording the 1-hour program to later
go out into the street to "carretear". The 1-hour program had a theatrical style to it.
present the groups, songs, and information, they revealed the different trends of
Punk and hardcore punk, especially English and North American, as well as other styles like
the Dark, metal, crossover, etc. Besides the bands from the mentioned countries, they play
German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Chilean groups.
In parentheses, it is necessary to emphasize that the spread of punk music both of
Spanish, English, and other bands from around the world - during the 1980s - is due to the
maintenance of social relationships and social networks within the punk context (in general)
where the practice of reciprocity through the exchange of material is common

341
Currently a professor at UNIACC, and a recognized host of music programs both on television
like radio. After a brief stint at the Military School of Chile, he fully committed himself to what was his
passion "that rare and unknown music for the masses". He lived abroad for a time and was able to access the
underground circuits and international punk. Back in Chile, he finds a rich collection of music
punk among others, and contacts abroad.
342
Currently a professor at UNIACC. A well-known host of music programs from the mid.
'80s as "Estudio Club" on channel 11 (now Chilevisión).
343
In the 90s, he formed the punk and rock and roll band 'Los Peores de Chile'.
344
In the second half of the '80s, a compilation tape or cassette of Spanish bands became known.
called 'Anti-Military Rock', which promotes the values of Conscientious Objection to Military Service
Mandatory and Militarism in Spain. This tape features bands such as: Último Gobierno, Basura, Damba,
Parasites, RIP, Tijuana in Blue, Polla Records, among others. Bands that range from the classic punk rock sound.
to more extreme punk sounds (speed and aggression) like Hardcore.
236
musical, through the technique of pirating material acquired by mail345or in
some store, etc.
Punk in Spanish and bands from Spain come in strong (not exclusively
by the radio program), and groups like La Polla Records, Kortatu, Escorbuto, Siniestro
Total, Basura, Los Ilegales, TDK, Decibelios, gain relevance in the new batch
punk that will appear starting in 1986. On the other hand, in the radio program, it is broadcasted.

some local sounds, such as the group Dadá (with its singing and visceral shout
"I hate politicians") and the first exponents of Chilean Death Metal Pentagram346
(formed in 1985), among others. Although - in the program - it did not directly refer to
Military Government was indeed conveyed through the lyrics of songs by bands in Spanish;
The lyrics of the song "La Tortura" by the band had special notoriety and controversy.
Spanish punk band La Polla Records, which we reproduce in full below:

They have caught you at night defenseless,

they have taken you away without anyone knowing,
here your journey will begin.
You are going to discover a deep world,

345
For example: Subject 'A' from Valparaíso writes with a punk band from Montreal in Canada, this sends
his music and subsequently distributes it (sells, lends, exchanges) to a subject 'B' from Santiago and this
Subject 'B' is written with 'C' from La Serena, which is also written with 'D' from Arica and with 'E' from Lima Peru.
who writes with 'C' and sends other material to 'C' from La Serena who distributes it to his friends from the
Serena and among which is the subject 'F' that is written with 'G' from Antofagasta. The music
recorded or the information travels through different 'hands' exponentially. This same situation also
it occurs, but much more developed in the Thrash Movement of the '80s, as they specialized in
creation of fanzines with special attention to accessing exclusive musical material, in addition to others
possible qualities to state within a particular research that is now not relevant.
A young Thrash or Punk from the '80s from middle-class sectors with limited English language skills (among others),
With dedication, I could achieve contacts abroad in a year: Germany, France, Finland, Netherlands.
Japón, Australia, Grecia, Bélgica, Canadá, Inglaterra, Polonia, Suiza, Suecia, Dinamarca, Portugal, Brasil etc.
In addition to Latin American and Spanish-speaking countries such as: Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela,
Argentina, Panama, Spain, etc. And this becomes more systematic and intensive in the second half of the '80s.
This situation of exchange and access to information - in part - causes information to become disorganized.
The silent rule is 'Do it yourself'.
346
One of the few metal bands of the '80s that recorded material in vinyl format (7') in the
foreigner.
237
 Well, your humiliation will never hit bottom.
You will know a pain you could never have imagined,
You will learn what it is to scream.

Then you will have to wait the necessary time

So that the marks disappear.
If anything remains, you have done it yourself.
You know that torture does not exist, it's your madness.
Have you imagined the bathtub and electrodes,
the host, the bag on the head,
if you are a woman, the rape.
To end the story well if you report it,
You will be reported for defamation.
("The Torture", La Polla Records, Spain, 1981)

Song lyrics like the one mentioned, and the style of the program as with the music347,
brought some waves of complaints and censorship to the program 'Subterranean Melodies', which
managed to survive for some time. Another program that will appear in the second half of the '80s
(at Radio Universidad De Chile), it will be 'Marginal Music', hosted by Guillermo
Escudero. A radio space dedicated to presenting music more linked to post-punk, and
within that, styles such as Dark, New Wave, Industrial, Techno, etc.
The circuits that began to open (between 1985 and 1989) correspond to spaces
like the International Garage of Matucana (Matucana19), El Trolley (Santiago Center),
Sichel Theater, among others348Also the Mapocho Cultural Center, the Art Gallery
Bucci, the Sol Workshop and the Contitución House (in the Bellavista neighborhood); in this last space,
punk protagonists, Dark, New Wave, among others came to watch and listen to videos of
foreign bands of those styles (among other things)349.
In June 1986, the First Punk Festival was held at the Sindicato venue.
Taxi drivers, located on El Aguilucho street in Ñuñoa. As is customary, the

347
Unknown and not very appealing to the audience of the time that listened to radio programming.
348
Subsequently (around 1986), the metal circuit linked to Thrash Metal begins to make its
presentations at the Manuel Plaza gym in Ñuñoa and the Lautaro Hall on Gran Avenida, among the most
emblematic.
349
Also in Thrash movement circuits such as: the Manuel Plaza Gym (Ñuñoa), Lautaro Hall
(Gran Avenida) and Nataniel Gym (Santiago Centro), when punk bands participate in concerts.
Thrash.
238
the call is 'from mouth to mouth'350although it has only recently started to be advertised
through posters that are pasted on the streets351This concert was called by one of
the members of the group Pinochet Boys and a producer named Rodrigo Novoa,
Bands such as: Dadá, Índice de Desempleo, Zapatilla Rota, among others, attended.
opportunity, about 100 people arrived at the venue.
A report on this festival is captured by the external observer: Alvaro
Godoy, in the magazine La Bicicleta from 1986:

On the outskirts of the Ñuñoa Taxi Union, on a June Friday night, there
they started to gather little groups of weirdos - as people would call them - teasing the
compass of a bottle of pisco. Without chains or bracelets, each one in its pint
own, less colorful and more polished than the new wave kids. Many already
they arrived packaged and as I learned, some with neoprene, like a pair of
monicacos over there that with a stick they started hitting the drum (with
certain rhythm, one must recognize). No one tried to stop them. Let it be so that you
let me see, it seems to be the new morality.352

350
Although it has only recently begun to be advertised through posters (at that time they call them flyers),
designed by themselves and are pasted on the streets. It is important to highlight that communication
"from mouth to mouth" implied in times of dictatorship, a survival strategy for expressions
contestatarias; and on the other hand, this situation encouraged face-to-face interaction and the establishment
informal associative during a period when social ties were being dismantled.
systematically. Remember that after the coup d'état (in the first years), through the factions
the military prohibited people from gathering in groups of more than 3 people.
351
Flyer is an English term that means leaflet. Within the underground, this form of notice became popular.
to advertise concerts, shows, rallies, etc. In Chile, these flyers generally announced the
concert of the bands that are performing. These flyers were crafted in an artisanal way using a
imagery alluding to the experience under dictatorship, among other things. The term flyer is widely used within
from the jargon of the young people who participate in the Chilean Thrash movement.

In the mid-90s, this term used almost specifically within the Chilean underground is
transferred and appropriated by other social groups and environments such as nightclubs, pubs, and bars, which are called

flyer for the advertising they distribute to promote their shows, promotions, etc.
352
Alvaro Godoy: 'Punk Kings Festival in Their Jungle'
Santiago de Chile.
239
 In the same way, the reporter from La Bicicleta describes what the idea consisted of.
from the event organizers: Sebastián Levin (member of the Pinochet Boys) and
Rodrigo Novoa, upon witnessing the festival:

...projectors throwing neon images onto the groups and the audience,
amazing effects that drove the already plugged-in even crazier. Sometimes the
darkness was total, then the music was up loud, plus the screams, formed
a thick and hellish paste, as if from the end of the world. More or less like the
punks feel on this planet, led by the true killer punks,
drug addicts and mentally ill, heads of the mafias that dominate governments,
they control atomic bombs and finance the sinister repressive armies.353

Regarding the above, the member of the band Unemployment Rate, Cristián
Millas characterizes the punk and underground atmosphere in the following way during the years.
1985 and 1986:

More than the sound, we had the look of punk, the rebellious ideas, and the taste.
for the rock and roll of the '50s and '60s... People were much more aware of
to belong to something, there were musicians, painters, actors in the public. They were also running.
bottle throws, but I think it was a more cultured audience.354

During that time, another character from the local punk scene, Tv. Star, gains notoriety.

vocalist of the band Dadá355First, the group came from the boundaries between the neighborhoods.
Republic and Central Station; it was proposed to make anti-music or Dada music, as some
close ones identified their musical and stylistic aspirations.
TV. Star356he was a young man of around 19 years old who, in addition to playing in Dadá,
I painted, wrote, and created spaces for "creative" and "interesting" conversation like
they mention some people who shared with him; such is the case of the member of
Ad-Hoc Prosecutors: Roly, who tells us that he could spend hours discussing art,
Politics with Tv Star. He was a talented person. The name of the group Fiskales is due to him.

353
Ibid.
354
Ibid, El Mercurio, Weekend Supplement, report: And what happened to Chilean Punk?
355
The Dadá were composed of: Tv Star, Lalo Aller, Rodrigo Hidalgo, and Alberto Roa.
356
TV Star (as he wanted to be called), on September 11, 1987, passed away as a result of an accident.
moment of having an epileptic seizure.
240
Ad-Hok, as mentioned in many of their interviews by the members of Fiskales.
By the way, the house where TV Star lived was a meeting place for these early ones.
Chilean Punks.
The magazine 'Página Abierta' from 1992, in its report 'The Punk Spit', describes
In the following manner, the staging of Tv. Star: “Tv Star declared, about its
performances, where <<we got up drunk on stage, just messing with the fools
who will see us believing we are the rock star>>. Their performances used to be
literally guttural vomits, sonic attacks that splattered the, at that time scarce
concurrency, of visceral hatred, a disdain for any established musical convention.
They were times to learn to play while performing...357A TV star was stinking up.
they said he was punk. He felt more Chilean than anyone, and if he liked that music, it was because
the way of life that the system had assigned to him. <<The disenchantment is evident at first glance>>,

used to say.358
Starting in late 1985 and into the late 1980s, the spaces began to
to multiply359, in places like the Garage of Matucana 19360it begins to incorporate a
set of personalities from different areas of avant-garde art, including Vicente
Ruiz, Ramón Griffero, Pedro Lemebel, Pancho Casas, Andrés Pérez, Gonzalo Ravanal
Patricio Rueda, Jorgiño Cerezo, the collective of painters called Las Peludas, members
361
from the CADA group like Raúl Zurita, among others. Personalities that form collectives
to foster art actions and interventions within public spaces, such as

357
Open Page, report: 'The Punk Spit', no. 79, from November 9 to 22, 1992, Santiago
Chile.
358
Same place.
359
Some punks and new waves (students) connected to art attend the Goethe Institute and the Institute.
Chilean-French of Culture.
360
As our living sources and documents relate, the space of the Matucana Garage was unused and
The people who participated (artists, bands, etc.) took care of its maintenance and operation as a place.
of meetings and development of underground expressions. Jordí Lloret was one of the regular organizers.
361
Collective Actions of Art (CADA), composed of Chileans Diamela Eltit, Raúl Zurita, Lotty
Rosenfeld and Fernando Balcells, who between 1978 and 1981, developed interdisciplinary artistic proposals.
Several of her performances, created in the context of the dictatorship, became famous.
241
example: from 'The Mares of the Apocalypse' by Pedro Lemebel and the collective 'Angels'
"Negros" by Gonzalo Ravanal, Kaco, among other people.
We can cite the case of 'the Mares of the Apocalypse' and their public actions related to
art and response: "Their art actions are memorable, like when they undressed and
They passed mounted on a horse in front of the School of Architecture of the University of
Chile. Or when they filled San Camilo street with stars. Or like when they danced a
cueca on a map of Latin America, with bloody feet.362This last action
the art mentioned in the quote was carried out on the outskirts of the Museum of Fine Arts
(Forest Park), and specifically consisted of what we depict below in detail
of details through the testimony of an observer and protagonist of that situation,
Gorlak363:

In front of the Fine Arts Museum, a ceremony was prepared in the morning without prior notice.
permission that left more than one passerby shocked. The story is as follows:
The mares of the Apocalypse had odiously concocted a plan.
instantaneous, which would be executed hastily. The two came barefoot and brought
I manage crushed glass that was trampled on until exhaustion, it was an act of body art,
replica of New York or European stocks that did not have a presence in Chile
and less was known that it was ART (today it is almost a joke, a replica exists
tireless and copyist). The horses of the Apocalypse wore as attire some
ponchos and clothing of huasos from the waist up and of course it was
a clear reference to the homeland, to our supposed roots (that of Neofolklore
it is a whole topic to address).
The wounded Homeland with the ignoble glass was a horrendous thing, even more so in front.
from the public standard of what we know as good art and not this art of a child
from the neighbor. The act was completed and the mares had to go to the post.
Here is a valid anecdote; Pedro and Pancho had completed a
sculpture of poop and was part of this huasa cueca, a work that by that time
carried its stench everywhere, permeating the intellectual environment of the
forest park, a rarefied smell of fart.

362
Cento, Claudia. Report "Underground Art: Counterculture of Oppressed Artists", La Tercera newspaper,
Friday, March 15, 1991, p. 32
363
Gorlak (Miguel Soto Vidal) is currently an Audiovisual Communicator and participates as a commentator in
a segment of the program Vía Directa from the cable channel Vía X. Gorlak is a character from the underground and
from the punk of the 80s, in the 90s he participated in a musical group called 'Alambique Veloz'.
242
 Over time, this type of artistic action shifted from the artistic-aesthetic to the
political-militant. Neither the one nor the other detracts from the attribute and emphasis on the artistic, it is
more, they can coexist in this dichotomy that is being Chilean, with all its flaws364.

Situations like the described one were part of the punk context and at the same time nourished it - to the

less within some groups- between the years 1985 - 1989. That is, elements
significant within the punk and underground context, which contributed to the
conceptualization of punk expressiveness.
Continuing with the new spaces that began to emerge from 1986:
With the death of TV Star, in 1987 - partly as a farewell to Tv. Star - (organized by
his friend, the artist Vicente Ruiz), the first of a series of Punk Biennials is organized
Underground that will be developed until 1989. This first Biennial takes place in the space
from the Trolley, where the first ones start to debut –among the already old punk bands– the first ones

punk bands from the second half of the '80s, such as "Fiskales Ad-Hok."
The Fiskales Ad-Hok are described as follows by Enrico Bucci (from the
."...they are
four young people from a rock music band. Boots, made of black leather, pants
adjusted, with punk-style shaved hair, chains around the neck, hoops and crosses in the ears.365

At that time, Pogo (30 years old) plays in the band Fiskales Ad-Hok, and within that
same report, it shares its punk feeling from those years:

The boots are an irony towards the military. The boot is the symbol of strength.
Arrogant. The color black represents our reality of sadness about things
what happens at the political level... Our hardcore punk movement belongs to the
young person who hardens their heart against existential reality. They are seen acting with
hardness because it receives a hard treatment. It acts by reaction, but within the skin of
In every <<hardship>> there is much love for freedom, a desire for a better society.
We are extreme individualists. We fall in love, we have friends and
we love our parents even if there is an abyss of misunderstanding between us
generational clash...
In our songs we use a frank, direct language, with words of
the popular jargon. We aim at the middle and lower social strata. The

364
Gorlak, 'Characters of the Chilean Underground III: The Mares of the Apocalypse or the Break with Art of
the 80s". Quote from the article published on the website:The provided text is a URL and cannot be translated.
(Consulted: 05/06/03). Subsequently, the information was confirmed by Gorlak (03/11/03).
365
Fiskal Rock
41
243
 swearing, the scribble, the curse - as the Spaniards call it - is derived from
popular language. Otherwise, it would be a conventional language like that of the
television and radio.
We are Underground, clandestine. Because of our subversive lyrics we are
rejected. They do not accept us anywhere.366

And as we see, it is their appreciation of punk, there is a conceptualization of each

element used. Where meanings lie that, in part, can be shared by
other punk youths of their generation, due to their correspondence with the facts of the
social and political events in Chile.
That feeling is likely to resonate with many of the punk youth of that era.
years, as expressed in the following lyrics by the punk band Los KK:
They are strange beings living without reason,
in a cold, empty, and worthless world.

Underground minds
Decadent minds,
They do not want to be seen,
They hide from people.

They are the rejected, they are the humiliated,

they were repressed and discriminated against.

Underground minds, different ideas,

I no longer know what is happening now with my mind.

(“Subterranean Minds”, The KK, “Urban KK”

self-production cassette, Santiago de Chile 1988

In 1986 and 1987, the punk scene diversifies and territorial groups emerge.
punks of young people from Recoleta, Puente Alto, Independencia, Conchalí, La Pintana,
Peñalolén, etc. Some segments of punk people adopt group signs like 'gang',
other protagonists organize recitals within their sectors or create ties with
population organizations against the dictatorship (to participate in solidarity events),
especially in solidarity activities in the La Victoria population.
Others remain on the sidelines of any group and only coexist within the
same spaces (recitals, etc.), as well as, unnamed groups or neighborhood friends.
The group dynamic is something vital and even subversive and illegal for the time; these are some of the

characteristics and sensations of some protagonists of those years.

366
Ibid.: p. 41
244
 Walking in groups in the '80s was something vital, a matter of life and death. (...) it was a
need of the time. (...) It was a dark time, everything forbidden, illegal.

(Pablo, protagonist of the era, currently

she is 28 years old and is a vocalist
from the band Terminally Ill

Some of these territorial groups contain gang-like social signs and

characteristics of urban tribe (from an external perspective and etic conceptualization), are the
punk youth (men and women between 14 and 25 years old), who appropriated around 1987 the
underground of tower 14. Tower 14 is located between Diagonal Paraguay and Lira streets.
This group of punk youths367is recognized, from there, as 'the ones from the Tower'.
Mostly, they are adolescents and young people from middle and middle-low social segments.
low-income individuals from other neighborhoods who have left their homes to live or spend some time
within that space. In this regard, Gorlak, a protagonist of that place, informs us about the
situation, in an interview conducted by Jimena Ramírez368for Creation Magazine No. 1
of the Sociology students at the University of Chile:

...people would arrive who had nothing else to do, nothing else to be
themselves, they arrived looking for opportunities, they arrived asking for a piece of
they came asking for friends, they came escaping from their home...369 .

For Gorlak, this space meant the following:

... the Tower generated a critical vision regarding what was happening
politically and socially, here in this country I couldn't say that it had a
adherent political commitment regarding some party, but was indeed in
disagreement primarily with the idea that there would be a minority that was in charge of the
country and second with which there would be 'unclassed' people who had neither
participation nor vote, nor anything; third, that the youth with no commitment

367
In the second half of the 1980s, the term 'Pelados' began to be used - in some spaces - to
referring to the usual Punks in the sector of Las Torres, Santa Lucía, Paradero 25 of Gran Avenida and others
places in Santiago.
368
At that time, a 4th year Sociology student at the University of Chile (1997).
369
Ramírez, Jimena "Some ideas regarding the qualitative research project related to the topic of
marginality and stereotype: Transcript of the first interview (conducted with Gorlak, on 11-16-93). Magazine
Creation No. 1, year 1997, Students of the Sociology program at the University of Chile. Page 23.
245
 repressed outside, room where you had no right to express yourself freely
What could you say no to something that seemed wrong to you....370.

... some people slept in the Tower, lived in the Tower, made love in the Tower, did
violin in the Tower, people got their necks wrung in the tower... became a symbol... all that
social scourge that did not fit anywhere else fit there...371.

The Tower was one of the symbolic territories for the people who inhabited or frequented it.
this space or participated in the punk of the second half of the '80s.
The young people from 'the Tower' experienced police violence and attacks from
people linked to the far-right movement "Patria y Libertad"
Furthermore, conflicts also arose with other groups of punk people from
similar characteristics, as is the case of individuals linked to the Punks from Gran
Avenue with Américo Vespucio, better known as 'the ones from 25 or the ones from R 25' (between
other denominations). They would meet in a location behind the supermarket
called 'El Cosmo', which is located between Gran Avenida and Américo Vespucio. They are
young people from the El Bosque, San Bernardo, and La Cisterna sectors; young people from
lower middle and low sectors.
Fights occurred between these two groups, no longer just within their vicinity,
but the fights moved to the concerts372, where a heterogeneous range of
punks, who were at that moment caught between two factions. He gets involved in the fights.
use of chains, gloves, and pocket knives or knives.
Other groups that emerged around 1989 are the youth who frequented and
they remained at Cerro Santa Lucía, referred to as the Punks of Santa Lucía (The
peelings from Santa Lucía). In addition to other groups from Departamental, Grecia,
Macul, Ñuñoa, Renca, Recoleta, Maipú, San Bernardo, etc. That is to say, there was a trend.
by some punk youths to group around these gregarious types

370
Ibid.: Page 21
371
Ibid.: p. 23
372
In 1989 and 1990, punk people from these gang-like groups began to associate punk bands with their
membership group. For example, Fiskales Ad-Hok and Vandalik were associated with the young punks of the
Torres and later to the Miserables with 'those of the 25'. In any case, The Miserables demonstrated a
sense of belonging with the people of '25' through songs like 'Anarchy 25'.
246
gangs. And other young people who did not participate in these specific groups, remained
relationships with them: they would 'hang out'; since during those times of political and police violence,
delinquent, it was a survival strategy "to walk in groups or in a gang", useful for
facing any problem. These were years when it became essential, for some, to walk
"stacked" or with a "sleeve," as Pablo (the vocalist of the current punk band) reiterates to us,
Terminally Ill), the protagonist of those years.
Returning to the case of the Tower, around 1989, the initial spirit -of a certain social critique
and protest, as Gorlak suggests to us-, began to fade away373:

...people arrived taking on marijuana, taking on the drink like

a real view of what was happening, but I would tell you that perhaps the point of
the discussion in the end was no longer the underlying social issue that was affecting us
to live for everyone, for all those of us who were in that time and in that action, and living it
You see, it was the music, the greatest Mohican, the painted Mohican, the
punching machine, the guy who earned respect with curses, spit, and the
say not even there, the most anarchist...374.

It is worth noting that these mentioned groups become more visible to the
public opinion (due to its presence in the public space), which will generally indicate
"those are the Punks", and for the punk context of the second half of the '80s it will be made
reference to: 'those from the Tower', 'those from 25 or those from R 25', 'those from Puente Alto', etc.

During these events, climate, and years, new bands and sounds emerge.
aesthetics; partly influenced and composed by people from the Thrash scene375, like of

373
While there have always been practices - by some individuals and groups - such as drug consumption,
alcohol and robbery.
374
Ibid.: p. 23
375
A special mention must be made of the Thrash movement - in this case in Santiago - since within its
practices have greatly increased the exchange and buying and selling of musical material within spaces
suitable urban spaces like the Las Palmas promenade in Providencia, a place where they began to gather around 1986
to share, exchange musical material. Also, within their practices and products, they develop
extensively the fanzine, writing with bands, record labels, and people from the 'scene', both from
Chile as well as abroad. These publications are responsible for promoting not only the Thrash style but also
also punk, hardcore punk, grindcore and other manifestations; facilitating access to information of
People not only from the Thrash scene. Punk fanzines are scarce in the mid-'80s.
247
young punks who maintain social relationships within the Thrash circuit376. The
trends that emerge, starting from 1986, are Hardcore Punk and others, embedded in what is
understand within the context of Thrash and Punk as Crossover.
Some punk bands participate in concerts of the Thrash movement. On the other hand,
Some of the new punk bands and offshoots arise – in part – from protagonists
punk linked to the Thrash environment, bands like: Caos, Anarquía377, Squad, F.U.C.K
(United Fornicators Against the Kuicos), DTH (Death To Humanity), etc.
Within the Punk scene between 1986 and 1989, bands such as KK Urbana emerged.
(before The KK), The KK, Dead Politicians, The UOH, Corrupt Pigs, Soup of
Chicken, Sub-D, The Asocials (female band), Unemployment, 4- GM, Chaotic Huasos, In The
Center, Josefina Rock, My Little Pony, Social Rejection, Life and Death, The Everyday
Lacra Social, Los Lecheros, Toque de Queda, Vandalik,Vida o Muerte, Los Insurgentes,
among others. Regarding those years, the band Políticos Muertos describes its beginnings as follows:

In the midst of the thrash and hardcore boom, back in early '87, when the
most of the bands, if not all, made an effort to do covers of their
idols and pronounce English well to make a good entry, we train ourselves
eager to say things clearly, without formulas or clichés. While they sang to
the necrophiliac stupidity, we accused corrupt bureaucrats and
odiocracy.378

The concerts begin to take place in the outskirts of Santiago in venues

known as "the Galpones of Peñalolén" or in La Pintana.
In the center of Santiago, the venue (of a union) on Serrano street is becoming popular.
444, "the 444 or Serrano 444," as they call it.
The diversification of Santiago punk in terms of people, musical styles,
aesthetics, thoughts, practices, territories, brings with it a complex range of

376
Like in one of the popular and already mentioned meeting places and material exchange of
information about the Thrashers from the '80s: the Paseo Las Palmas in Providencia (Saturdays at 9:45)
from the morning until around 5 in the afternoon.
377
Its vocalist Alan Lenz along with other people edit a fanzine called 'Anarcheology'. Another fanzine of
the era is Sex, Anarchy Brigade.
378
Interview with Francisco Mallea from the band 'Dead Politicians', published in the fanzine: 'Disdain'
"Social" No. 1, 1992, Coquimbo.
248
fragments of punk, which makes it almost impossible to gather within an analysis, the entirety of
characteristics of this great range of subjects and social bonds. We can certainly point out that the
diversification in terms of spaces (sectorization within Santiago) and groups of
people, resulted in more and more punk youth groups tending to
link with punks, and organize concerts among punk protagonists (around 1990). No
they lose the spaces with heterogeneous entities of the Underground, but punk (in
general) develops its own spaces379.
We can say that by the year 1990, the 'Thrash movement' in Santiago was growing.
around 3000 people. And in the 'punk movement', we estimate between 1500 and 2000.
people. The references of these data are based on our living and documentary sources
What do these figures indicate based on attendance at recitals or biennials.
In these years, Carlos Kretschtner, a member of the band Los KK380refers to the
punk in this way for the CAUCE Magazine of 1989:

I only create ideas and transform them into music, but it is completely in the sense of
rejection, punk only considers denial.
I think that punk is a gathering of attitudes, of people who know that
they don't like all this, that it's bad, that it's not in their favor and we have to rebel...
... all of that through people's awareness, so that they realize that if
this is crap I tried to change it, let it not be mass...381.

379
It is necessary to mention that places like Barrio Bellavista and Plaza Italia are common for the
the journey of some young Punks and other expressions. It is a moment when showcasing oneself as punk before
the others acquires a meaning that comes from political, social, and existential contingency, and becomes synonymous with
"box office" and as part of a broader expression of forms of youth reel (emerging in the public in those
years, in the late '80s), of a framework to highlight our 'self' in the search for recognition of a
Another, to seduce others. The reel (as it is understood today) has always been part of the general punk phenomenon and
public. The rite - a space for sharing adventures, going out on the town through the neighborhoods and streets of Santiago,

constitute one of the areas of interaction and diffusion of these underground expressions.
380
The KK were formed around 1988 (they were previously called KK Urbana) and released a self-produced cassette called

"KK Urbana". The KK are influenced - in part - by the American hardcore punk of the first
mid-eighties (7 Seconds, Youth Brigade, Descendents, etc.), from a more constructive standpoint.
381
Stuardo, Viviana: “The world stinks”, CAUCE Magazine no. 211, from June 19 to 25, 1989, Santiago.
Page 27
249
 In a similar manner, 'El Barata', in an interview granted for the
issue no. 1 of the fanzine: “Social Disdain” (Coquimbo, 1992), reports on
meaning of the lyrics of the songs, for their ensemble Trato Bestial (Valparaíso)
also contributing their vision of Chilean society of those years:

(...) The lyrics of the songs from our first demo speak of the need
to rebel against authority and social prejudices to achieve
freedom; but not the supposed freedom of democracy, the supposed freedom of
the communists, neither the supposed freedom of 'Thank you President', nor less the
self-destructive libertinism of the party-goers; but the rebellion of the thinker and
he does what he believes he should do or say, not what the group does or says
official media or the church says what you should do or say.
Rebel against all the institutions that hinder the
changes that are so necessary:
1) The Aristocrats: who wish to keep things as they are because that's how it is
how they rotted in silver and steal the way they do.
The Church: which seeks to maintain things as they are because that is how they have been able to
crawl for 2 thousand years. They also know that an old house collapses with the
minor shock to its foundations.
3) The Military: who must keep things as they are because... well, they
They have no idea why, they must do it but we are not going to ask them to.
think, or not? (...)

Around 1989, within the punk scene in general, a marked pessimism emerges.
destructiveness382The environment -as we pointed out earlier- becomes quite violent
(as our sources indicate), drug and alcohol consumption is already part of being
"homogenized punk"; there are punk people who die as a result of street fights, some
they are detained without reason or for drunkenness and vagrancy, etc. The return to democracy is in
the other corner and apparently brings uncertainty to the population...
In 1989, the III Punk and Underground Biennial takes place, in which participates the
new layer of punk bands from Santiago: Huasos Caóticos, Políticos Muertos, Fiskales
Ad-Hok, Josefina Rock, Asociales, Vandalik, Arteknia (oriented towards a Dark sound and
Tecno), as well as guest bands from Valparaíso like Los Ocho Bolas. Also performances,

382
Some punk youths may have firmly adopted the slogan 'no future' popularized by Sex.
Pistols and 'We Are Nothing' from the chorus of a song by La Polla Records referring to the grandchildren of the workers
who fought in the Civil War; as seen in some legends of their outfits. That is to say, there is a climate of
self-destruction and destruction, partly of the people who identified as punks in those years.
250
the call is 'from mouth to mouth'350although it has only recently started to be advertised
through posters that are pasted on the streets351This concert was called by one of
the members of the group Pinochet Boys and a producer named Rodrigo Novoa,
Bands such as: Dadá, Índice de Desempleo, Zapatilla Rota, among others, attended.
opportunity, about 100 people arrived at the venue.
A report on this festival is captured by the external observer: Alvaro
Godoy, in the magazine La Bicicleta from 1986:

On the outskirts of the Ñuñoa Taxi Union, on a June Friday night, there
they started to gather little groups of weirdos - as people would call them - teasing the
compass of a bottle of pisco. Without chains or bracelets, each one in its pint
own, less colorful and more polished than the new wave kids. Many already
they arrived packaged and as I learned, some with neoprene, like a pair of
monicacos over there that with a stick they started hitting the drum (with
certain rhythm, one must recognize). No one tried to stop them. Let it be so that you
let me see, it seems to be the new morality.352

350
Although it has only recently begun to be advertised through posters (at that time they call them flyers),
designed by themselves and are pasted on the streets. It is important to highlight that communication
"from mouth to mouth" implied in times of dictatorship, a survival strategy for expressions
contestatarias; and on the other hand, this situation encouraged face-to-face interaction and the establishment
informal associative during a period when social ties were being dismantled.
systematically. Remember that after the coup d'état (in the first years), through the factions
the military prohibited people from gathering in groups of more than 3 people.
351
Flyer is an English term that means leaflet. Within the underground, this form of notice became popular.
to advertise concerts, shows, rallies, etc. In Chile, these flyers generally announced the
concert of the bands that are performing. These flyers were crafted in an artisanal way using a
imagery alluding to the experience under dictatorship, among other things. The term flyer is widely used within
from the jargon of the young people who participate in the Chilean Thrash movement.

In the mid-90s, this term used almost specifically within the Chilean underground is
transferred and appropriated by other social groups and environments such as nightclubs, pubs, and bars, which are called

flyer for the advertising they distribute to promote their shows, promotions, etc.
352
Alvaro Godoy: 'Punk Kings Festival in Their Jungle'
Santiago de Chile.
239
 Punk during these years only considers 'denial' (within the punk media),
that is a repeated allusion. We suspect that within the punk scene in general in Santiago
from Chile, a reflective space was not provided, which would allow for the analysis of the
potentials of certain organizations that were emerging in the punk environment, as the vision
pessimism was a sign of the times, of the general context and of everyday life of each
young. The identification with punk from a positive point of view is often a perspective
minority at that time.
The punk pessimism of the late '80s will be repeatedly reflected in
consider punk as a prism through which existence is viewed negatively. This
pessimism, and at the same time uncertainty not only resides in the effects of the situation
socio-political change that is coming and the nebulous fruits of the dictatorship for the
Chilean society (within the cultural, political, economic, psychological fields, etc.), but rather
that within the general punk environment of Santiago a climate prevails - like
we indicate - of violence and self-destruction. As Pablo expresses to us again,
protagonist of punk in the second half of the '80s: "those years are part of the Middle Ages"
of punk, years of darkness and shady things, violence, some deaths, gigs where it runs
the blood for any reason, if you look at another's mine, a push in the dance, a
aggressive look.
Although within this heterogeneity of the Underground and punk, there has always been
Present the conflict, around 1989, a different sensitivity emerges, as we can
observe in previous quotes. It arises a series of antagonisms between the different ones
individualities and groups that the punk encompasses (generally speaking). Prejudices arise.
of class and the stereotyping regarding an 'other'. If in the first half of the '80s they could
to relatively coexist with people from middle-high, middle, and low sectors (in the
Underground spaces), now the appropriation of punk - for the most part - corresponds to the
middle and lower sectors.
It was common within the 'tocata' space - around the year 1988 - that the subject presenting
stereotypical signs of coming from the upper neighborhood (light skin, light hair, new clothes,
exclusive band t-shirts and way of speaking), be discriminated against, if they have not earned the
respect from these 'gang-like' groups, or having no acquaintances at all
that serves as a contextual reference (that is 'located' or 'known' by another protagonist of
252
a given situation). By this date, the enemy - for a sector of punk in general - is no longer
it is not only the dictatorial regime expressed in carabiners, but also the subjects of the
privileged classes, "the cuicos", also the thrashers and groups of punk people with whom
they maintain disputes for justified or confusing reasons.
Over the years, the people who organize gigs find themselves countered and
overcome by some elements of punk who attend the concerts to unleash their
violence. The 'tocata' space, whether it takes place in a warehouse, gym, community center, etc., is
turns into a symbolic territory in which -what could be called- one manifests
from the main punk rituals of that moment: the ritual practice of the 'tocata'. Punk bands
and punk audience, all the heterogeneity in the same cathartic action that encompasses the
pogo and slam dance, drink "Ron Silver", chat, shout, meet with the
"colleagues" or "baldies", "to hook up" with a "girl" or vice versa. The rite has its moment.
"high" when dance and music become one. But for this time that goes from 1987,
another protagonist emerges that – in part – deconstructs the rite: the fight, the repeated violence.
An event that has always occurred, but which was not as systematic before. Now there are groups.
they confront and make the ritual space "tocata", part of their own individual whirlwind
bursting into the ritual of the general audience.
The above, viewed from the perspective of the Scottish anthropologist Victor Turner.
(1920-1983), about the ritual phase that unfolds within the "communitas"
(Bohannam, P.; Glaze, M., 1994: 517-543). Space that implies a situation of
relief
daily (students, children, workers, etc., within a context of dictatorship), already
This structure presents contradictions that are impossible to resolve. The
"communitas", for Victor Turner represents an "anti-structural" moment in which the
the rules of the game of social structure disappear (status, norms, hierarchies), "the people
needs, and needing is not a bad word, to take off the masks, the layers, the
clothing and status insignia from time to time, even if it's just to put them on
liberating masks of the liminal masquerade. But they do this freely.387.

387
Bohannan, Paul; Glazer, Mark. “Anthropology. Readings: Victor Turner, Steps, Margins, and Poverty:
religious symbols of the communitas.” 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, Mexico City, 1994, p. 525.
253
 Well, observed the ritual space of the punk 'tocata' from this perspective,
based on our documentary, testimonial, and observational research of those
years, by the thesis student: First we find that the majority of individuals participating
of punk, they do not do it only within the "tocata" space, but the temporality of punk
it extends and coexists within the dominant social structure, since we find
protagonists of punk - according to their sense of punk - being 'punks' 24 hours a day:
some wander the streets, others study at the University, high schools, others work,
currently visible situation. Or at least, liminality extends spatially and
temporarily as transversally (this topic lends itself to future research).
second, punk from its origin here in Chile was developing its own structures,
observed in an etic manner by Victor Turner as 'anti-structures'.
These anti-structures of Victor Turner regarding what we can call structure
social dominance - for our analysis - would be more related to ritual spaces such as
the 'tocatas'. Likewise, as Victor Turner rightly considers, custom entails that
these “anti-structural” spaces become structures that we could call
emic or arising from punk practices themselves. On the other hand, unlike Victor Turner,
within the punk and 'anti-structural' space of the 'tocata' rite, the hierarchies and status of
Individuals also come to the fore, and other symbolic capitals are added.
(in terms of Pierre Bourdieu within the 'punk cultural field'), to shape new
hierarchies and status like prestige within the group, playing in a band, aesthetics, being
known, etc.
Regarding the waves of violence in the form of group fights that break out of
in a certain way the punk rite of the gig, these later become part of the
rituals when they become habitual and become "normal" and part of the "performance"; going to "performances",

besides seeing and listening to the groups, it is to witness the fights or go to fight. That is why, as
It is mentioned in many testimonies from attendees of punk 'tocatas' of the time that they were
"very chaotic" and "there were always fights" says a protagonist from those spaces. To go
a punk gig from the late '80s often involved encounters with episodes of violence
in the form of individual and group fights. Similarly, the structures of punk

254
which are being raised by some punk protagonists388(concert circuits, of
they shake and close due to the action of groups and individuals that
they spoil these spaces with their behaviors. 'Going to gigs in the '80s was an adventure, and to
"Sometimes one didn't know if they would return home alive," assures us again another witness of the
era.
Between 1989 and the early '90s, fanzines like Mentes Subterráneas appeared,
Social Intoxication, Union Pavilion, NecroAnarchy (with punk and metal tendencies), among others
others (excluding those from regions), that address themes of anarchism. Also
Radio programs like 'Sudakas Heroes', hosted by Claudio Gutiérrez, burst onto the scene.
Claudio Aballay, Talía del Pozo, and Roberto Caba. Each chapter that was able to go on air -
due to censorship, it contained ironic messages referring to political changes and
cultural events presented in the late '80s and early '90s, and the dissemination of a great
number of punk, hardcore, metal, etc. bands in Spanish from Latin American countries
like from Spain, and from information about other scenes.
With this radio program ended, almost the entire team appears with a new
radio program called "Project R"389(in 1992 and 1993) and broadcast by the
radio station of USACH (on Sundays at around 8:30 PM), announcing:
"Chile stops being the happy copy of the Eden" at the beginning, and at the end: "The broadcasters that
"They integrated the national chain, now they can go back to their boring programs." They are censored.

and taken off the air after a while. They used to invite the auditors to gather one day
determined on the outskirts of the University of Santiago to exchange material. The
program participants had a good amount of information about others
scenes, fanzines, and politically libertarian and anarchist material.

388
Typically, the organizers of the 'tocatas' are young people belonging to the musical bands.
in the same way, it should be specified that the spaces to develop this activity are always scarce, and
In addition, there are no musical equipment (amplification, instruments), the custom is to lend them.
instruments with each other, as well as to cooperate with everyone to organize the performance. On the other hand, in the
The performance is taking place, some people are responsible for setting up the stage and the musical equipment, while others are concerned.

from the entrance and monitor the entrance door to the premises.
389
Later, Roberto Caba, along with other people, tries to refound a similar project around 1995, called:
"Radio Chaos".
255
 Running through the first months of the year 1990, there is a retraction and fragmentation.

within the diverse range of individuals and groups associated with punk, due to -
general - regarding the previously mentioned emergence of territorial groups type
gangs and scenes in neighborhoods, plus the wear caused by the continuous fights in the
recitals. Partly, new energies in punk are starting to develop underground.
in a marginal way and on the outskirts of Santiago around 1993, the Tours are developed
Marginal390formed by individuals and dispersed leftist groups (under the protection of
a leftist organization with a Marxist slant and people related to punk, called
Guachuneit391who are, in turn, close to the punk band, 'Los Miserables') that
they do not sympathize with the course that 'the return to democracy in Chile' is taking.
joy is coming
cultural events in the popular and peripheral neighborhoods of Santiago, where they also merge
some punk bands and a few sparse punks associated with anarchism.
This punk context from the late 80s and early 90s implies a great
a range of individualities and groups of protagonists who do not know each other or that
they might be 'sharing' a space like the 'tocata'. In the same way,
nor are their approaches regarding punk and society known (except for within
of small groups and circuits). The typical punks are those who publicly present
the image of the young man or young woman wearing punk outfits such as: military boots, pants
adjusted, Mohican, belts with studs, chains, etc.
The issue is that public appearances are reduced and dissipate (recitals or places of
(meeting). It is not known for certain - within punk - how many punk people there are in
Santiago in the early '90s. Guillermo, from the Peruvian band Kaoz, contributes with his
general and external observation of the Chilean punk scene from the late '80s, in a
interview published by the fanzine of the city of Coquimbo, "Social Disdain"
(1992):

390
Currently, many of those who organized Tour Marginal no longer participate, and another organization
adopted Tour Marginal to develop work with young people through rock and hip-hop, supporting them
with workshops and objectives similar to Rock Schools, in a more institutional and not independent way
as it was Tour Marginal from the early 90s to around 1996.
391
The Guachuneit had a war cry that said the following: 'Without God, no law advances Guachuneit.'
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 Social Disdain: Well, do you know anything about Chile and the Chilean scene?
Guillermo: (...) I used to wonder how a large scene like that of
you, living under the oppression of a dictatorship, do not take on a role more
protagonist in the political life more of protest and criticism as happens in Brazil,
Mexico or slightly here in Peru, then they answered a question for me, the
the system is much more oppressive in Chile from all levels: education,
media, repression, religion, etc. Furthermore, the dictatorship curtailed
all the vanguard ideologies in their country, but still they can break everything
that shit, being aware of the entire reality and acting upon it.

On his part, Pogo (then a member of the band Fiskales Ah-Hok), from
a glimpse at their punk experience, examines and delivers a message (letting us know)
also, its philosophy of punk and construction of individual identity), for the future
from the Chilean punk scene of the late 1980s:

Man, there are many factors that will influence the path that everything will take.
this. Social, economic, political factors, etc. The rebellion, the irony, the
contempt and above all the desire to create an alternative world to this trash that
it forces us to live, it encourages me to continue being who I am. And I am 33 years old super
and full of all kinds of experiences. Any Chilean my age would already be
married, chubby, working like a slave, full of children and addicted to TV, it gives me
It's horrifying to think that I've been wrong for over 18 years, haha! If we're not clear...
Well, what do we do now, it is logical that it will shake our own
credibility. I started to go crazy at 13 as a trend of the time,
I was dreaming with the music of that moment, the styles that were worn... I went to
Europe and instead of slowing down a bit, I really accelerated and discovered my
own identity discovering new values, but fully immersed in this world
from the response and the subversion against the established. That's why I believe it depends
much of ourselves and not throw in the towel just like that. We must believe in what
what we do, in our appearances, in our philosophy of life, and not to be scared
when daddy wants us to take care of our hair or tells us that
study. Do not be scared when we find ourselves in the police station and are treated with kicks.
Let us look at them with disdain, they have the lost cause from the outset and they are the
authentic decadents. We must remain united and monolithic to our
ideals and continue fighting to live an alternative life, that we will achieve it more
sooner or later.392

Within the previously cited source (fanzine "Menosprecio Social"), "The

"Barata," by the band Porteña, "Trato Bestial," brings us the following message.
to the punk scene of those years:

392
Excerpt from the interview conducted with Pogo, by the fanzine "Menosprecio Social" No. 1, 1992, Coquimbo,
Chile.
257
 (...) Be Free Thinkers and do what you want, say what you want
Say and think what you want to think. We had enough repression to
let's create it ourselves. Rebellion is the first! (Read Nietzsche, to
Kropotkin, Marcuse... be nihilists and shove all prejudices up your ass,
traditions, values, symbols, and uniforms. Just... stay cool!)

Two significant events will change and mark the punk revival of the nineties, one
more important in the political-social aspect than the other.
First, the recital393September 1992 offered by the legendary group
North American The Ramones, supported by the local band Fiskales Ad-Hok. To this
The concert is attended by around 3,000 people with punk signs. Second, in that year 1992...
they commemorate the 500 years of the "discovery of America," an occasion when a number
a considerable number of punk people (with their canvases), in addition to other organizations, gather.

for a massive march in rejection of this celebration; simultaneously they are being held
punk music concerts against this celebration of the 500 years since the discovery of
America. Since that year, punk people will visibly participate every October 12th in
protest marches.
Also, along with some punks, they will be seen participating in demonstrations for
human rights.
In the late '80s and early '90s, bands emerged.394like Paranoid BBS,
The Miserables, The Bourgeois, Missing Money, Supersordo, The Mortons, The Worst of
Chile (with Pogo at the helm), Represalia, Los Insurgentes and continuing bands from the '80s
like the Ad-Hok Prosecutors, Dead Politicians, Life or Death, Wine and Death, Unemployment,
etc.

The politics in Santiago punk.

393
Later, the German punk band Die Toten Kossen will do it (1996).
394
A scene of nationalist Skin-Head bands, supporters of National Socialism, is also spreading.
Some musical groups from this particular scene: División Ganada, Rockanoi, Golpe Frontal
(Valparaíso). Especially, the nationalist and neo-Nazi skinhead scene has quite a development in
the city of Valparaíso.
258
 As we mentioned, there has always been a political intent within sectors.
punk of the 80s, especially between the years 1980 and 1987. Many participated in
marches, protests, performances, punk bands, poetry, graffiti, etc.

They say not to catch politicians, but they still went to the last rally.
opponent in O'Higgins Park. They brought a large banner that said 'Wave
Punk Present, a little for adherence and a little for fun.395

Some punk youths became involved in the mass movement of the MIR, and from there
what young punks of the eighties - partly due to that - would use (and will adopt) the "R"396
inside a circle, other young people participate as 'helpers' in the FPMR and in their
demonstrations, others will join the Lautaro Movement.
By the '90s, it will be politically correct to be against the dictatorship and the
democratic governments that are approaching, as Carlos Kretschtner points out in his
397
presentation 'Punk and Self-Management. Fighting Against the Current.' On the other hand,

we observe the rise of themes such as: the Indigenous issue related to the people
Mapuche, Ecologismo, Detenidos Desaparecidos, Derechos Humanos, Antimilitarismo,
Anarchism, Democracy, etc.

Anarchism in Santiago's punk of the 1980s.

Based on our data, we found two sources that provided punk with the
anarchist ideas: First, during the 1980s, young non-punks who
they participated or had contacts with anarchist groups of the time, reached punk and

395
Punks. The Sons of Pinochet
Santiago de Chile.
396
Another meaning of the use of the letter 'R' inside a circle is the reference to the consumption of rum (drink
alcoholic).
397
Kretschtner, Carlos: "Punk and Self-Management. Fighting Against the Current." Presentation given within the
framework of the 'V Meeting on the Sociocultural Phenomenon of Rock' on the topic of 'Punk Movement'
in Chile
Santiago
259
there they developed a penetration in some more open punk sectors curious to know
what was hidden behind the letter "A" enclosed in a circle, as expressed by a protagonist. In
In second place, we have punk people from the '80s who explored the topic and sought
information about anarchism and spread it in fanzines to the punk community more
receptive to those ideas, she sought out and encountered groups and people from anarchism or set up her own.

own community.
In both cases, they are minority groups in the '80s. The punk scene tended to
to associate anarchism with chaos and destruction rather than with a philosophical and social doctrine, and

less with the anarchist organizations and the Chilean labor movement of the beginning
from the 20th century, as our living sources and documents warn us.
In the early years of the '90s, in addition to the two sources mentioned, there was also
add that within the punk environment, fanzine editors - primarily - received
quite a lot of material disseminating the anarchist ideas from fanzines and anarchist press
anarchist punk from Spain (fanzine "Cooperation"), Venezuela (El Libertario), Mexico
(magazine "Land and Freedom", "Love and Rage"), etc. Some visits and meetings
sporadic encounters with punks, anarchists, and Spanish squatters who passed through Santiago like

other nationalities, are other sources.

Anarchism in the punk scene of Santiago de Chile develops within a slow process,
in which isolated elements are gradually being found in some spaces and
developing others. We can mention the group of punk youths that gathered at the
Santa Lucía Hill. On the part of some of them, there was an interest in developing the ideas.
anarchists - between 1989 and 1993 - through the dissemination of some scarce readings that by
At that time they could be found. People from this sector began to use a composite symbol.
by the "sickle" and instead of the hammer an "A" in its center, defining itself as anarcho-
communists.
Based on what is described in the section about Chilean punk, two can be distinguished
periods in the 1980s (externally set, from the researcher's analysis):

A first period that runs from 1979 to 1985, which is about accessing information,
disclose, meet others, emergence of the first bands, constitution of certain
scenes and some circuits for holding concerts, development of spaces where it exists
a more implicit politics in its protagonists, and a coexistence and approach to
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 other expressions of the capital's Underground. It mostly involves sectors
means, high means, and some with access to university studies and information from
foreign. Transversely and in unison, more sectors begin to integrate.
popular.

The second period runs from 1986 to 1990, which implies a certain massification of
punk, the emergence of territorial punk groups (in terms of visibility), new
recital circuits and participation spaces, new bands playing punk rock
and hardcore and other musical and aesthetic styles (Hardcore, the first Straight Edge).
A more concealed politicalness or political sense in general, and direct in small
groups, as in others of a null nature. The formation of properly punk spaces
differentiated from the general Underground space. An exhaustion and fragmentation towards
late 80s and early 90s. Increase within punk of middle sectors
and lower. Greater public visibility and media exposure through reports of
television, magazines, and newspapers. The first focal points of the subsequent emergence of the trend
anarchist within punk.

It is worth noting that, in general, the political nature - direct or subtle - within punk
from the '80s - if it exists - is closer to ultra-left positions of tradition
Marxist than that of anarchism. The active anarchist position within punk is minuscule,
and largely referring to the symbols used in outfits, flyers, fanzines, lyrics of
songs, interviews with fanzines and graffiti on the walls with spray; as well, bad
conceptually understood (associated with chaos, destruction, etc).

XIII. SPECIFIC AND RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS OF

PUNK HISTORICITY, TO UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT
GENERAL OF THE CASE STUDY.

The following section of this chapter aims to identify some

specific characteristics that we consider relevant to our case study. These
Characteristics create a sort of particular "conceptual framework" of punk, supported
in the data obtained from the documentary research, developed in the presentation
previous. The characterization will be developed to establish certain definitions
operational aspects of punk that serve to support the material addressed, within the analysis of the
case study data, in our second chapter.

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Punk and heterodoxies.

Punk as an existential expression of rebellion and self-affirmation of a type of

individual identity is connected with the idea of heterodoxy; its root is present in that
desire to search for and build a world produced from one's own will.
In this way, punk as an individual expression takes on a romantic meaning and
rupturist regarding the prevailing order, tradition, and the current orthodoxy. Since being
human as a social, cultural being constituted within a symbolic universe
determined, presents a unique ability compared to other living beings; the ability
to transcend: 'Man is a temporal, unique being, aware of his personal biography'
to embrace the past and face the future. As a possessor of freedom, he is capable of
transcend the forces of nature to open up to the world and, in some way
master it.398As Greg Graffin (Punk and Biologist) corroborates for us in his essay 'A Punk
Manifesto: Punk is the personal expression of the uniqueness that comes from the
experiences of growing in touch with our human ability to reason and pose questions
questions399
In this way, the heterodox individual breaks with the dominant morality, which
we understand when making an analogy and extrapolating the analysis of the Danish philosopher, Soren

Kierkegaard400, about the existence of an absolute duty towards God, in his essay "Fear and
Earthquake
For our case, morality is understood with Kierkegaard as part of the general.
This implies that the identified subjects are inherently linked to what is understood.
as the moral order, and being within a phenomenon of collective existence; which for
Kierkegaard is materialized in morality and the general applicable to all as part of the
divine, explains to us that every moral duty is a duty towards God. And therefore 'every the
humanity's life then rounds off and takes the shape of a perfect sphere where the

398
Bouché, Peris and others: op. cit. pp. 146-147
399
A Punk Manifesto
Unable to access the content of the provided URL.(Consulted: 07/10/02) Page 3
400
We refer to and cite this passage from the work of Soren Kierkegaard because his logical procedure is useful.
to illustrate our particular case.
262
morality is, at the same time, the limit and the content.401From this perspective, anyone who dares mto manifest your
own individuality and express its heterodox break with the general, will be understood as
amoral and in a state of 'sin' in relation to the divine order established by morality
collective. In the words of Kierkegaard: "From the moment the individual claims
his individuality in front of the general sins; and can only reconcile with the general
recognizing it402Consequently, "Every time the individual, once inside of the
in general, he feels inclined to claim his individuality, enters into a crisis from which he
liberated only by repentance and surrendering as an individual to the general.
Thus, punk as a heterodox expression brings about a rupture, wanting
abandon the general, turning away from regret, in order to delve into their own
responses and foundational materializations in a new type of expressiveness of morality for oneself.
In this heterodox sense of punk, we find two facets: the first is the facet
nihilist, critical, and distanced from the orthodox moral order, whose break construction
it is expressed in negation, skepticism, decadentism, and self-marginalization. The second
facet, is composed of criticism and the founding 'constructivity' of an alternative ethos.

Punk as avant-garde.

In punk and the avant-garde, more than the specificity of techniques or similarities with
concrete avant-gardes, we establish a correlation with the founding sense of the vanguard:
the idea of the avant-garde and the desire to clash with the institutionality of art or of any
institutional element imperant of previous or contemporary forms, styles, and meanings.
Punk as shock and given expressiveness, at first (before its spread
massive), and subsequently in the individualizing resignifications (the elements
subsequent creatives, arising from the individual and collective creativity of actors
concretes), is equivalent to the visible head of a rupturist movement in an action of
itinerant character regarding the multiforms that can be developed as time goes on
from the own creativity and action of the individual or collective actor.

401
Fear and Trembling
page 76
402
Kierkegaard, Soren: op. cit. p. 60
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Punk and rock.

Punk, as we have suggested, is not just a 'musical movement'. It is

they couple aesthetic, ethical, ideological, philosophical, cultural, existential aspects
politicians, as well as the commercial and merchandise aspect due to appropriation and
creation of some elements by the cultural industry and the diverse audiences
consumers of the punk product produced by the music industry.
Punk, within the world of rock, takes on the quality of a stylistic phenomenon,
specific within the range of musical style expressions.
Regarding music, we must point out that the effect and the meaning of sound
The musical for the subjects is not clearly established, but we know, as the sociologist
British and rock expert, Simon Frith (1983) said that 'most rock records do
its impact more musical than lyrical" (1983:14), at least relatively, from
our thesis. The words, the lyric, for Simon Frith: "if they are fully noticed they are
absorbed later when the music has made its mark (on the individual). The
crucial variables are sound and rhythms” (Ibid.:14). The cultural significance of rock for
Frith is 'a form of music, while the ideology of rock is articulated in terms
musicals" (Ibid:14.). This paradox leads us to maintain with Simon Frith that rock
acquires a character of being a musical medium and not an end, since 'rock is made in
order to achieve emotional, social, physical, commercial results; it is not a made music
<<for your own benefit>> (Ibid.).
For the case of punk403(in general), music constitutes a condition of
sensitive and physical exaltation, since rock, in a basic sense, is a form of
instinctive understanding of how sounds and rhythms - linguistic deviations - have their
emotional and physical effects on the person. "The effects of sounds are those produced
in everyday life" (Ibid.), because the effects of rock music depend on the effects

403
It is necessary to clarify that for punk, rock music is its main vehicle of dissemination and expression.
from its origin: in the use of sounds and musical rhythms originated in the style of rock'n'roll, and its
subsequent derivations, fusions, and musical experiments.

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socials of the voice, etc., like when one responds to the sound of car horns in
a taco or the cry of a baby, there is a physical effect. And so to speak - regarding rock - 'the
Pleasure is both a cultural and physical matter, and the meaning of music therefore
it is not fixed."(Ibid.: 14-15). In light of this, it is necessary to observe the true effect it produces

punk music in individuals, in terms of stimulating sensations, emotions, the

which connect with certain experiences and ideas of individuals and their life experience.
We agree with Frith that music is a vehicle for propagating effects - in the case of the
punk-, affecting relatively, in each individual, in subsequent identifications with
certain expressions and materializations of meanings.

Punk and Counterculture.

Punk 'in general' or as a 'movement' and/or totality, is not in itself a

counterculture, rather it aspires to be counterculture. Punk is made up of individuals
and these individuals are part of circuits and networks corresponding to subgroups, subgroups
like any human group, they are based on culture and present various forms of
being and understanding the world.

When individuals and punk find themselves inserted in a historical, social context,
cultural, economic, political of a dominant and hegemonic nature, its presence and relationship
with the dominant society and culture, it attributes a subcultural character, regularly
oriented towards opposing ideas and practices, resistance or alternatives to culture
official (as it did towards other cultural forms and expressions of being punk, etc). This
the latest situation opens the way for countercultural development. Understanding by
counterculture, the attempt to establish a cultural movement opposed to the system
established and with the dominant social values in that world; in a word, with the
norm understood as unquestionable or unmovable and from there, the emergence of the
will of optimistic marginalization, the possible search for happiness here and now - in
the earth -; the permanent desire to be (also in the intimate) fraternal and freeNot Found:

404
As we pointed out in the section on counterculture included in this chapter.

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 1. The counterculture in relation to hegemonic culture is constituted from
subcultures and social subgroups.

2. The counterculture is the possibility of establishing a type of alternative culture, by means of

institutions born from the community itself.

Specifically, punk tends to establish itself as a counterculture, and during the

the historicity of international punk, in certain spaces and segments of punk –such as
we describe in our review - it has established itself as a counterculture (example: Crass,
anarchopunk, squatters, squads, etc.
At the same time, it is expressed as a social movement in the idea of "shock" that we
Manuel Castells provides a clash 'between those who talk about them and those who talk about'
who give the orders. Between those who wish to change their life and those who wish to restore
the deaf sound of a regular circulation to the everyday rhythm of things that pass without
to pass (Castells, M.; 1974, 1997: 1)
The idea of change is fundamental and mobilizing within these expressions such as the
punk and counterculture (among others). Change in the individual and collective sphere, oriented
towards the subjective and objective transformation of reality, through other codes (or
reassess certain values that have been somewhat sidelined as a general trend in society
actual, for example: honesty, mutual respect, etc.) and cultural significations
examples: revaluation of solidarity, friendship, rescue of reflection and the
individuality, valuing an austere attitude towards consumer society) and
materialization of practices, spaces, and concrete projects (example: Self-management,
independent distributors, etc).
The counterculture -from our concept- is integrated into the punk character.
activist, politician or founder of alternative structures, networks and organizations within a
permanent process. For the counterculture takes on a dynamic and not static meaning for
Our thesis is a process of constant construction and 'revision' of its elements.
basic constitutive elements - which at the same time make up our concept of cultural identity -
ideologies, practices, and territories oriented towards an alternative cultural ethos. That we return
to reiterate they are independent - although relevant to integrate them into the analysis - of the

266
classist components, how the classical perspective of the British School identifies and the
CCCS.
For the countercultural identification of punk subgroups, a
specific study, without intending to legitimize it as such, from the institution
academic and of our observation as a cultural phenomenon of our times.
We make the clarification that our perspective -in this section and in general- is only a
attempt and exercise of conceptual understanding based on experience and closeness with
empirical data.

Punk and Underground.

The Underground serves as the "ecological context" for the gestation of expressions like the
punk. It is the vital space of the sense of punk in a state hidden from its massification and
marketing. Ecological niche that allows nourishing oneself with other expressions and

resignifications, due to the exponential and historical development of symbolic circuits

alternatives (Art Vanguard, Beat Generation, the Provos in Holland, the Occupiers, the
Psychedelia, New Age, etc.) As long as punk remains close to the Underground,
its specific codes will remain hidden and only the margins of meaning will be revealed
of their rupture and dissenting manifestations towards the dominant society and culture.

Punk as a punk movement.

Did punk originate as a movement? The original punk emerged within a

process, and manifestations as a movement of a social, cultural, aesthetic type, etc.
they were adjacent to certain spaces, individualities, and groups that brought life to
specific objectives, means, and dynamics that shaped a particular movement,
for example Crass and the pacifist anarchopunk movement, Malcom McLaren and the Sex
Pistols, as a mass aesthetic-cultural movement, supported by the media
communication in an indirect and direct way. We can, in particular, talk about a
series of configuring elements of punk (social context, individuals, interactions,
267
ideas, practices, dissemination, etc.), in constant motion within a larger process, and
within it: specific differentiated movements (anarchists, ecologists,
nihilists, etc.).
We argue, from our thesis research, as a hypothesis, that punk
As a movement, it does not have a constant empirical absolute throughout its origin and
historicity, that is to say that punk as a movement emerges in a fragmented way and not
cohesive as an encompassing whole and directed towards – for example – a
social movement, although from a theoretical and ethical point of view, we can talk about
punk movement in general, whose encompassing angle crosses boundaries of time and
spaces in an almost "infinite" way, from the '70s in England to today in Chile, with its
respective "revivals", but... who determines the quality of the movement?
Will the critics and music specialists, the publicists of record labels, the or
the VJ of MTV or Vía X (Chilean cable channel), the young punk who stands on the street
State with Alameda in the city of Santiago de Chile to ask for "coins" ("machetear")
either sell a paper flower for 100 pesos, or the Okupa punk from the center
Cultural 'La Marraqueta' located at stop number 5 of the metro line in direction
towards the La Florida commune, or the young anarcho-punk who hands out pamphlets in some place
march against the IDB held in Valparaíso, some academic or social scientist, the
records of associativity and social capital in Chile carried out by the UNDP, the INJUV,
etc.? Difficult mission, but for reasons of theoretical and practical exercise, our definition of
movement is linked to the idea of social movement that we accuse in the following way:
Social movement is a collective agent that intervenes in the process of
transformation promoting changes, or opposing them. Social movement located
within what is understood today as the so-called 'New Social Movements,'
composed of the following attributes (Riechmann, Jorge; Fernández Buey, Francisco,
1995: 47-49):

1. The social movement is a mobilizing collective agent that pursues the objective of
provoke, prevent or annul a fundamental social change, acting for that purpose with some
continuity, a high level of symbolic integration, and a low level of specification of
roles, and using varying forms of action and organization.

268
 2. This mobilizing agent does not acquire a unitary character, they tend to be characterized by a
high degree of pluralism and internal differentiation, due to a multiplicity of currents,
trends and forms of action.

3. Within a social movement, there can exist groups with interests, expectations and
notably different worldviews; their social composition can be quite
heterogeneous.

4. It is important to observe that the organization does not define the movement but rather it is
always more than the various organizations it encompasses.

5. When talking about provoking, preventing, or annulling a fundamental social change, the objectives of
a social movement does not have to be "revolutionary" in the sense of implying a
total subversion of the social system, but we do demand that proposals be made to transform (or
prevent transforming relevant social structures.

6. The strengthening that a social movement presents is in the identification and

construction of an 'other' as an opponent that must be faced.

7. A high level of symbolic integration, manifested by a pronounced feeling of

belonging to a group ("feeling of us", of collective identity) on the part of the
members of the movement. Those who are "in favor" come to be distinguished from those who
they are <<against>> for their clothing, personal treatment styles, political symbols, traits
linguistic.

8. Specification of low-character roles. The forms of participation in the

Social movements are multiple and changing, and there is no such thing as militancy.
The specification of roles increases with the level of organization of the movement.

In this way, the stated attributes may or may not be fulfilled within the
Punk, as we said, is complex to establish an exact definition of the punk movement.
without a thorough study of its historicity, a study that is not part of the objectives
from this thesis. But we do value our attempt to define the punk movement as a
way of establishing our object and subject of study within a certain greater totality
that makes a general reference academically understandable to which to state and
contextualize later analyses.
Our initial definition of punk movement: 'That movement, musical,
aesthetic, social, and cultural that emerged in England in the mid-1970s, the result of the
confluence of countercultural traditions with working-class subcultures and product of various
economic, political, historical circumstances, etc., whose origin is due to
actors, to young people of the British lower and working class. It is a movement that
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moment to break into British society, it expanded to other countries until today in
day”, we update it for the purpose of maintaining continuity in our object and subject of study
within a guiding theoretical corpus for this thesis, referring to our first
definition and considering our documentary research and the attributes mentioned above
of social movements. This definition takes on a partial and limited scope as
to encompass a complex phenomenon.
So, by punk movement, from a general perspective, we will understand, a
socio-cultural phenomenon originated in the twentieth century in Western society in its phase
post-industrial neoliberal capitalist and the development of an integrated global capitalism,
specifically in first world societies like England and the United States, whose
main development and dissemination originated in England in the mid-1970s within
from a sector of British youth from the lower and middle social segments. Movement
that has a background in expressions of rebellion and break from social tradition and the
dominant institutions, gathered within a historical trend of manifestations
heterodox, and specifically, in the confluence of subcultural traditions and
youth countercultures in postwar England (World War II), a product of
contextual variables of a political, economic, social, cultural nature, etc.
Movement that, at the moment of breaking into British and North American society
it spreads to the rest of the world (the West and the East, developed countries, developing countries and

underdeveloped, enveloped in processes of deterritorialization and hybridization

cultural) due to the contact and cultural diffusion developed from its own circuit, and to the
diffusion -direct and indirect- caused by the commercialization of some of its
(musical, aesthetic) elements, through mass media and the
cultural and entertainment industry.
Specifically, it is a movement that contains certain shared attributes.
(especially the musical, aesthetic aspects and the attitude of rebellion), but that within
different stylistic, ideological, etc. expressions coexist within him, which for different
causes have been oriented from their inception towards leftist political and philosophical positions,
anarchists, nihilists, as well as neo-Nazis, etc., who mainly have their
anchor in terms of gestation and concretion, in everyday life and not in a development
inherent intellectual or product of a conscious current of thought or expression
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artistic. This is generally an aspect of deepening that occurs simultaneously.
or later (individuals and groups that contributed certain orientations).
That is, punk and its early proposals were made "on the street" (and it usually is).
so to speak, it is a philosophy built on daily experience and within the margins
of common sense. One of its main and traditional individual disseminators
it is the relationship that the subject establishes with music.

Within the movement, it is possible to find different currents of thought.

that are channeled towards countercultural expressions and specific social movements: for
example, pacifist anarchopunks from the time of Crass in England, or the approach to
sindicalism of the Class War group, the European leftist Straight Edge and the cause for
animal liberation, etc.
In summary, the punk movement as a whole, groups together a series of
individualities and collectivities with their respective similarities and differences through the
time and space crossing countries, languages, gender, ethnicities, social classes, etc.
There is a constant trend towards evolution within it, preserving the precept.
reference of rebellion against what is established, according to each participant's perspective.
In other words, in general, punk is defined according to the precepts and
requirements of the social actor within a determined socio-cultural context and networks
of social relationships and established circuits locally and externally.

The meaning of punk:405within our concept of punk in motion.

The concept of punk in motion implies the appropriation and use that it is given by the
people from their experience and historicity. Both experience and historicity
they are inextricably linked to the social, economic, political, cultural, and
general history of society. Likewise, they radically join the conditions
specific social factors very close to the determinants of subjects, such as: gender,

405
It should be noted that we abstract and delineate the idea of punk -based on empirical data- oriented towards
a punk character materialized in individuals involved under the basic precept of punk that
We will state in this presentation, and that are linked around activism, politics, or to configurations of
marginality or self-margining, existential or nihilistic, and of individual or collective searches
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generation, class, education, etc. and also to the institutions intervened by culture
dominant: Family, School, etc.
The previous elements are articulated within the processes of transmission and
cultural acquisition (socialization, education, enculturation), in which the scope of the
subjects socially unfold and internalize, signify, resignify, disseminate, they
they approach, use, assume, question, build, the different ways of being and understanding the
world. That is to say, a dynamic positioning mechanism of expressiveness, experience and
evidence of individual and collective identity (relatively shared).
In this way, with Pierre Bourdieu (1996), we understand the meaning of punk
it will depend on the attributes and redefinitions established by the agents within
determined cultural field (example: anarchopunk or punk in general, punk
underground against the idea of punk, fostered by the cultural industry), since in the
in the social arena, punk transforms into a symbolic capital whose properties
the meanings will depend on the agents endowed with a particular habitus, and on certain
structural dispositions (cultural capital, economic, etc.) as strategies of
conservation and differentiation from other agents, the result of which will be visible and objective in the

type of appropriation and use of a sense of punk through ideologies, practices and
territories, as well as the differential distance that occurs between the different agents
regarding objective relationships that are irreducible to the interactions they manifest.
In the words of Pierre Bourdieu, the aforementioned is understood in that
those objective relations are the relations between the positions occupied in the
resource distributions that are occupied or can become active, efficient, like
triumphs in play, in the competition for the appropriation of rare goods whose place is in
this social universe. Those fundamental social powers are, according to my research
empirical, economic capital, and cultural capital, as well as symbolic capital, forms
what the different species of capital take on when they are perceived and recognized as
legitimate. Thus, the agents are distributed in the global social space, in the first
dimension according to the global volume of capital they hold under different species, and, in the
second dimension, according to the structure of its capital, that is to say according to the relative weight of the

different species of capital, economic and cultural, in the total volume of their
capital."(Ibid.,1996: 131)
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 This shows that the theme of punk (in this case) must be appreciated from
a complex and non-linear perspective, where it is decidedly considered - in addition to the
elements indicated - to the subject from their experience and testimony.
In light of this, it is possible to express the following theoretical-methodological assumption:

The configuration and meaning of punk, as a significant cultural production (individual

and collective), has no meaning beyond what individual protagonists say and us
they present this. Therefore, the meaning of punk changes and transforms temporarily and
territorially, as if to impose a unitary and static meaning on it.
It should be added that it is possible to find general traits within the punk universe, such as

similarly shared aspects within more structured spaces and circuits and that
they guide through their ideologies, practices, and territories towards the formation of micro
cultural identities that assume subcultural and countercultural characteristics in relation to
with the dominant culture.
At the same time, we also ventured to establish a certain 'essential sense' of punk -
in our judgment and based on experience, and the data obtained in the research-, that
it would fit into what Fernando Savater develops in his social philosophical reflection and
historical about the idea of heterodoxy:
Human movement throughout history, which implies the intimate need for
asserting one's own individual difference, the vocation to create one's own world with our
peculiar will; that is, to break the unanimity and the conditions that restrict
search for human freedom within social, cultural, economic determinants
dominants," added based on a critical attitude and a permanent quest for
responses to life and the situations that arise, accepted as such by the
society regularly.
As it is well suggested, punk presents a markedly competitive aspect.
individual who refers to the subject or the 'existing' and their subjectivity, although we must
remember that the sense of punk is stimulated within social relations and
intersubjective experiences located in a specific space, time, and context, but the experience
radical in its sense, derives from an individual perspective. And in the social aspect and
punk mobilizer, the individual related alongside others, brings life to a certain
particular and general sense of punk, through its appropriation and use.
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 In the same way, punk as a social, political, or oriented movement
nihilism, anarchism, leftism, fascism, etc., is the product of circumstances
specific to the unfolding of their own historicity within a chain and spiral of
events that involve individuals and collectives.
Punk from an idealistic perspective based on our experience data and
analysis, responds to an anthropological configuration of a type of human that is
involves and expresses 'disagreement' (tendentially and relatively) from dimensions:
ethical, political, philosophical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, festive playful (dance,
music, etc), etc. In a type of society focused on production and consumption, within a
economic and cultural model in accordance with expanded, efficient reproduction and
maintainer of capitalist standards, based on the maximization of efficiency,
lowering production costs and extending the rigors of the model globally
(for example, integrating and instrumentalizing cultural differences), coding their
efficiency and oversight in the aggregation of capitalist sense operations that
they are constantly interweaving in the subjectivity of individuals; that which is within
a cultural model that supports it, and at the same time internalizes and reinforces through the

socialization (1st and 2nd), enculturation and education of generations in order to

reproduction of the said cultural model and socio-economic system.

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 SECOND PART

The case study:

youths, punks and cultural identity,
its appropriation and use through
ideologies, practices and territories, within the
current urban landscape of Chile.

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Introduction:

In this chapter we will develop the central theme of the thesis research: the
construction of emerging urban cultural micro-identity through appropriation and use
who presents a selected group of 10 young people from Santiago (men and women), from
middle social segments, concerning their connection with activist punk. The
The chapter will develop according to the following points:

Biographical background of the young people in the case study sample.

The construction of emerging urban micro cultural identity through the
appropriation and use presented by a selected group of 10 young people from Santiago
(men and women), regarding their connection to activist punk.
through the axis: ideologies, practices, and territories. This point will be developed in each
theme in a narrative manner, presenting the following structure: Description of data
relevant and interpretative analysis.
The current urban landscape of Chile: The young people in the sample and their emerging ideas
from the examination of the concepts of Democracy, Freedom, Common Good and
Social Participation.

In the presentation of our data and analysis, we will proceed as we have revealed in
the section on methodology, to the use of a qualitative data presentation scheme406,
in which we account for the voices of the subjects and at the same time main texts in which
we base our interpretive analysis, without neglecting the reference to the same data
in citation format (both the material presented in the matrix and elements that compose

406
In the case of this thesis and this section, we will use a presentation scheme that we will call:
Significant Narrative Fragments, which are parts of the subject's discourse arranged by themes
relevant, identified by the researcher for use in the qualitative analysis of an interpretive nature.
The presentation of these fragments will be materialized both as a narrative outline and tables of
presentation of narrative fragments.
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the complete text and speech of our protagonists from the case study), when the
narration of our description and analysis requires. In the same way,
we will enrich our presentation by quoting some texts from the gathered material
(fanzines, newsletters, pamphlets, magazines, interviews with other protagonists of the context
related to the case study), during the participant observation.

XIV. RELEVANT BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND OF THE

YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE SAMPLE: THEIR BIOGRAPHICAL MARKS
SIGNIFICANT FOR THE CASE STUDY407.

Pamela

Daughter of exiled Chilean parents, she was born in Peru and at a few years old she moved from her

hometown living in Santiago de Chile. His family and the separation of his parents marked him.
towards certain sensitivities:

"Since I was little, I was a super, super sensitive person... my parents separated"
When I was 6 years old, it affected me a lot. I was always the one who suffered for others.
poor. Since I was little, I was forged into a very social thing, because
say it in some way.
I believe that my family has been very important in this, although they have a vision
different, there are common general points.

Between the ages of 6 and 12, he/she experienced several changes of residence within the commune.

from Florida. From the age of 13 to 19, he had an important experience living in a neighborhood
which marked a certain sense of community for her:

407
We must reiterate that the interviews with the young people who make up our case study
were made between the months of December 2001 and July 2002. The biographical portrait of
each of the protagonists will develop according to the importance they assigned to certain data
when encouraged to describe themselves in an autobiographical manner during the 'interview at
"depth". In the narrative we will try to rely exclusively on quoting the texts of his speeches.

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 ... from 13 to 19 years old, I lived in a neighborhood within La Florida that was
important, because it was like a cooperative that had been bought; it was all just
teachers and people like leftists. They always did social things. Like
there was a lot of talk with the community; now that I live among just buildings,
that has been lost.

During that time, he/she starts attending a private education-oriented school.

personal development (Criteria, creativity, etc.), Latin American values and certain
presence of strongholds of leftist social sensitivity called 'Francisco Miranda':

I went to a leftist 'alternative' school, at the 'Francisco

Miranda”, donde ahí era como evidente que toda la gente tenía como una
left-wing trend.

But as time went on, Pamela, who joined in from an early age
in student organizations, begin to reflect on their situation as a student within
this private school of its peer group critically:

Before punk, I participated in several groups, as well as being a student... I started

in a matter that was called << Secondary Students Association of
Left>>(ASI), prior to the ACES. Then I realized that it was difficult.
to go to a private school and consider oneself the same as the others, because evidently
there were differences... like many others, they started to bother me about the environment
from school; it’s still like a bubble, it can be a super nice school but
you have to pay and that makes it an elite.

2. Víctor, 22 años:

He has dual nationality, Chilean-Cuban, son of a Cuban father and a Chilean mother.
socialist activist and supporter of the Popular Unity (exiled in Cuba).
He comes from a family with a working-class and leftist tradition; his grandfather was of origin

Mapuche. Within his family, lie the main milestones that marked him.
later in life and her approach to punk:

My family is a family of workers, of very poor people and of much sacrifice,

but for me they have been very aware... (...) my grandfather, a person with little
education, he was a baker, a job of hyper exploitation. My grandfather - for the
Things they tell me, since I knew him very little - he was a super person.
aware, he realized many things that I think people do not now
Yes, I had a very active social awareness, I had a politically formed opinion.
Talking, he took the shit out to educate his family.
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 (...) My mom was also a very active person, since she was young... my mom was
exiled, she was imprisoned; all that. For me that was also important, that also you
create a social awareness. There are things that I agree with her and there are things
No. I was not a leftist person, perhaps in the way others see it.
people, it is the radicalization of the left...

3. Pablo, 22 años:

He was born in 1979, between the ages of 6 and 7 he lived in different cities in Chile before

to settle permanently in Santiago. Comes from a family with a military tradition, from
right-wing and Catholic, her father belongs to the officer corps of the Chilean Army. She was educated in a

Catholic private school.

I was born and raised in a regiment in northern Chile..., I know perfectly

everything that is the military system, I know perfectly what it is like to live in a
regiment. I grew up in a military environment all my life.
(...) Now I realize how the military world is and now I understand many
things about what happened during the dictatorship... and how my parents instilled many in me
things about what happened during the dictatorship that can be the other point of view, the
military point of view. It's not that I have any militarized influence or anything.

4. Francisco, 22 años:

He was born in Santiago in 1979, lives in Puente Alto. He studied from kindergarten to
fourth year of high school at the Salesians College of Macul, a place where he met people and
they expanded, established their first networks and brands in their history. Similarly,
his family is sympathetic to the right and the military. From the beginning, he did not feel
motivated to participate in his neighborhood like any other child.

My family is extremely far-right... to say the least, we started off on the wrong foot...
I grew up in a working-class neighborhood that has now been progressing... because
It used to be dirt streets, a typical neighborhood, with people in their homes, I never interacted.
with nobody... they always got together to play ball... something I never did.
"I was in the priests' school since I was a child, I think that's where one starts to
to realize... it's like I started trying to look for other points of view, because
I did not agree with the nonsense that was happening. In fact, since I was a child, the
Typical things you didn't understand: Why the hell were helicopters passing by, shining light?
for the houses?... in the '80s.

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 In fact, those topics were never discussed in my house, not even until now.
when they touch it becomes a mess... because, well, now we all understand
What stop we are each at within the house. And well, the same school...
entirely fascist and clumsy, from those super rigid schools, the typical response that you
daban era: <<if you don't like it, leave>>. I never left, because in reality
when you're in elementary school, you're just dependent on your parents, you can't
do almost nothing, if you go, what do you do?
Already in the middle... I started to connect with other people, with a different perspective.
The dad of a friend... -that I got into the scouts, but that they were actually
some scouts who had no form, because they didn't even wear a uniform-, and the dad of
Some friends, that I made there, who lived near the house... later I came to know
that the dad had been part of the MIR and had photos of all that bullshit. If you entered the
The house was all artisan, with photos of Che, of Silvio, etc. I believe that in that house...
I met more people with whom I started to relate and to catch more ideas. That
they were much more well-founded ideas than elsewhere, because all the ideas
how on the right, it’s like in reality... they are just for saving themselves, I
what I have realized is that there are no tangible things... like they always tell you:
no, we saved the economy, which was in bankruptcy... I don't know how it is that
they are more fooled than it has actually been, as if everything regarding the issue of
death is overlooked.
I started going to marches with my friend..., at home they had no idea, I started to
to inform me more, already with the typical pamphlets they always hand out. After that, I'll...
I started to get books, they were actually like documents.
How I realized everything: why these things were happening, why they were happening
Giant Saturdays on Saturdays. I realized that even the same people, even your
The same parents always deceived you, since you were little they covered everything for you..., they wouldn't let you.
opine. Now I don't know if it was because they were pressured or if they would have
I agreed with what was happening, but I think that’s when I already felt like
a helplessness.

5. Claudia, 27 años:

He was born in Rancagua, studied until eighth grade at a convent school and
later completed his secondary education at a private school. At 17 years old, he went to
studying Chemical Engineering in Valparaíso. It has been related to the punk scene of
Santiago since 1997 and currently doing his professional internship in Santiago.

His impressions regarding his time at school and his life in Rancagua:

There was a lot of repression regarding sexuality and '0' cultural movement.
Rancagua is a city where there is not much culture and it exists more than anything.
as a consumer society and a bit of a box office hit.
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 Regarding your family:

My family has no political thoughts, and that's why I believe it was also
my lack of knowing this when I was a child. Moreover, I practically lived the
dictatorship, I was born in '74 and there was a lot of fear and I remember the states of
site..., unable to go out at night. I didn't know why my family was talking about
that between them and not with us the daughters, then I had a misunderstanding because of
part of that. Well, then in the year 87, 88 and 89 I understood everything.

Your experience at university and living alone in Valparaíso:

When I arrived at university, luckily I met people who were interested in

culture, I also have to say that I read a lot since I was a child, since
I learned to read, I always read things, but I read novels, it was somewhat fatalistic, even.
I wrote things that were quite individualistic..., I could say it was a bit like
melancholic, maybe I felt alone, I don't know. After that I was at university and I succeeded
to create a group of friends..., having a group of friends
together... I learned what anarchism is, what anarchism really is, not it
what the dictionary or the news says it is. I participated in what they were.
Paros participated in the assemblies without having political knowledge.

6. Amy, 19 años:

He was born in the United States but grew up in London until he was 10 years old.
Daughter of exiles, her father was a communist, but not an activist, there was always a concern and
social awareness in her family and personally was alert to the injustice that existed in the
world

Since I was little, I was attentive to all that... a little bit "Mafaldista".

Relevant aspects of their transition to adolescence:

In puberty, it was as if many new doors opened for me and

I saw that I could be much more myself here in Chile than in England... at 14 years old, there.
I couldn't stand << the depression >> and I went on vacation and ended up living with my
brother, who is much older than me. At 14 and 15 years old, I entered Rubén Darío,
a progressive school that is now a money-making machine, in
reality...; that's when I started to see a bit of Punk. The first thing I saw,

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 It was something like punk was committed, because the first punk people
the ones I knew were through the Conscientious Objectors.

His first encounter with punk when he lived in London:

In England... yes, but it was just normal, I liked it because it was different.
I used to listen to Madonna. I visited a neighborhood in London called Campell where
there were alternative fairs, punks, rastafarians.

7. Alejandro, 24 años:

He was born in Santiago.

Some impressions of their experience in adolescence (school, family and

approach to a musical wave

"At school... my classmates, their main concern was to hit on a"

me, staying in bed all weekend and nothing (92-94). "... at 15-16 years old, one seeks
Identifying with something... you are in school with a bunch of idiots, they only talk nonsense.
bullshit and you don't want any of that, so... suddenly they pass you a
cassette and.... suddenly a cassette, a song told you more than a lot of
bullshit... I would identify you, the music wasn't much, but there were phrases that did.
marcaban (refers to the Spanish band La Polla Records).
Just like me, I love metal a lot... I used to listen to music with them (metalheads),
but that vibe that the devil... what?! There are more important things to talk about
from Satan. There were no punk kids in school.
... The story of each one is what builds, I have such a simple thing, my
the elders are separated and my whole life I lived with my mother and my sister, so
it's like I never had that macho vision of seeing women as mere objects
sexual..., it was typical of my classmates. There are few people with whom I managed a type
of real friendship, 5-6 people with whom I had a real friendship contact.

8. Esteban, 27 years old:

He was born in Santiago and has always lived in the area of Avenida Matta and Diez.
Julio. He studied at the Lastarria High School.

His childhood:

I was born in a neighborhood, in an alley on July 10... how should I say it... that's not
very upper class, not quite middle class, but I never went hungry or suffered either...
I have always lived here in the center... Avenida Matta, in that area.
Frankly, I live in a very commercial neighborhood, not many people live around there.
We were 5 or 6 friends, we all know each other, but there was never any...

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 like a group of people, older individuals who could influence us to act
anything else.
Certainly at the beginning... I also felt... I felt happy being what
I was always happy knowing that I was going to go out to play ball on the corner,
I used to put two sweet potatoes and play ball there, that was my life, that marked me.
I always shout and fight for that.
I know there are people in worse conditions... for me, poverty and those issues
they are not such foreign things because my friends from around there are like this... they are people who
They live in one room, it's a person who lives there with his mom. The neighborhood marks you.
Now my family, my dad, my mom have a better life, you know, but what
It marked me at that time, it has nothing to do with who they are now.

The beginning of their search:

In the third and fourth year of high school, the story starts to change, that's when it seems like already
I am starting to get to know more through friends or people who influenced me, but I didn't have a vision.
of 'punk', just a musical vision, not a political vision either..., in that
"That is where my search begins."

Leonardo

He was born in Santiago and has always lived in the Providencia commune. He has studied
Art at the Catholic University and Architecture, currently studying Journalism at the
University of Chile. At about 13 years of age, a cartoon was published about him in the
Topaze magazine.

Your presentation (school, family, concerns, etc):

I was in basic education at a pretentious private school and I

I consider myself outraged(...). From school, I generally do not have any good memories.
I remember, perhaps even some resentment that may have forged my sense.
critic of things..., particularly when I was about 12 years old, I was a jerk
who was gradually rejected by his peers and stigmatized
harassed, etc., both by the physical factor and the social factor, as it was
of a rather introverted type did not match the feelings of others and that made me
to shelter myself as much as I do by drawing and music.
In adolescence, I gradually began to form friendships elsewhere, people who
I was getting to know through music and I was generating a whole feeling.
linked to that and as a sense of belonging. Generally, one, in that
era, it is attributed to music..., above all music is a point of reference
quite strong when one is that age, let's talk 15 years... around metal.
I had relatively long hair, at least as much as the school allowed me..... and a
a certain sense of criticism of the system in which we live, a questioning of
social impositions in their various forms.

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 I studied art for a year at the Catholic University and withdrew indignantly, also
Architecture. I belong to the affluent upper middle class, but I consider myself from
middle class in a spiritual sense.

10. Javier, 29 years old:

This young man was born in Santiago and has always lived in Estación Central.
Since the age of 14, he has worked in various jobs and has been compensated for it. In 1996
enrolls to study Veterinary Medicine at the University of Chile, and later withdraws.
He is currently working and studying a technical career related to computer science.

... at 14 years old, while attending 1st year of high school, due to my curiosity about everything
things that would come out of the ordinary (music, magazines, clothes, etc.), of what
the rest of the high school classmates considered as 'box office' and the
teachers were already finding the behavior of these as "normal"
teenagers..., I started to earn the reputation of being a weirdo because of my way of dressing and
due to the statements he made to the other classmates and the teachers when
there was an occasion... I mean when I was disgusted by the mass behavior of
the guys..., one of the reasons that led to my journey through different
educational institutions such as through successive calls to guardians and visits
the guide..., rather disorienting.
My family, especially my father, encourages me to have a critical spirit towards the
things that were happening, always trying to figure out the reason behind all the nonsense that
They showed me..., since I was little, to complain about anything that I...
would bother.
These conflicts that I developed during adolescence were also due to my father
he is a political exonerated, he was from the left... and he couldn't find work in the '80s...
everything cost double because of that stigma. Well, that made me be
half bitter and that I wouldn't care about any little problems and the
silliness from my classmates. Besides, I always had to earn some.
pesos to help the house.
When I encountered the punk movement..., I felt that all my scattered energies could
to embody them in punk, whether through clothing, forming a band or
I was simply participating in the punk gigs. I was about 16 years old already.
I knew that life is hard due to the scarcity of coins, this move distracted me.
from the boredom I felt until that moment in high school with my classmates,
teachers, I would never identify with the vibe of the idiots in the class, just a bunch of
sheep believing the story that their 15 minutes of fame would last forever
life. I was laughing my ass off watching them repeat the same adult behavior
arrogant and authoritarian. Around that time, my parents separated, well in good
wave..., but I understood them; that had a big influence on my desire to become independent and
living alone.
When I arrived in senior year, my behavior calmed down and my pace became more
I was in love with the last place I was at, and I also started dating...
which resulted in a young kid.

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 Upon leaving my room, I started working, and in '96 I entered university..., after a while
I retired and now I am finishing a technical career. I live alone, when I'm not.
I am with my son.

Regarding the young people in the sample and their biographical marks: Questions and
meaningful identity searches.

The young people who were part of the sample of our case study, us
they warn regarding significant individual and shared references in relation to
the description of their biographical traces, some similar signs regarding searches and
ideas, identifications, and actions that were relevant to them, and so to speak, took them out of
certain routines and "repetitive behaviors" observed in their immediate peers: friends
from the neighborhood, classmates, as well as with the adult behavior observed
in parents, teachers, etc.
In the behavior of their immediate peer group, they are pointed out by the
interviewed as a benchmark in their identity searches from childhood to
adolescence: school, neighborhood; with it, certain patterns related to topics become visible
such as: machismo, sexism, intolerance towards differences, intimidation attitudes
part of the peer group, no questioning of things. For their part, based on the
adults: authoritarianism, conformism, hierarchization of relationships, etc.
We can see some signs of that questioning in Paul's reference,
regarding the Catholic educational context and military family background he experienced since his childhood

until adolescence:

I continued with that questioning regarding everything related to the Government.

Militar and with religious things, I was always thinking and
questioning all that crap, I have always had those worries about what
it happened during the dictatorship and that's why I was always reading and looking for others
informative alternatives.
...In my house... they saw it as the typical rebelliousness of a kid: oh, if he's going to...
pass!. But they were restless, because I started to realize many
things that happened regarding the country, the military, and I questioned why
the things that happened happened and maybe that’s why many of my dad's friends are
involved in cases of the disappeared detainees, perhaps not direct friends.

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 Situations that bring together and/or resemble our protagonists in going towards the
finding and concretizing "a possible self," that initially legitimizes its own
existential meanings in front of life and standing, to guide oneself towards one's own
definition of values and feeling of authenticity regarding social conventions of
class, gender, religion, etc. At the same time, within this process, the responses of our
interviewees express a sensitivity oriented towards a sort of Sartrean "anguish"
when experiencing a feeling of loneliness in the face of the world, based on having to
to guide oneself to decide on one's own norms, regarding their subjective experience and their relationship with the

society, prior breakdown and questioning of the norm, the general morality, the
behavior of others, etc., as stated from their retrospective look in their
biographies. Such is the case of Pamela when she was in seventh grade (12 years old), when participating

of the student organizations:

I found the assemblies fantastic (...) there was a vote and everyone -
coursemates - they chose me. That year was crucial because that’s when I caught on.
that deep down it was all shit, I felt really bad having to try
do something and no one is there

It is also common among the interviewees, the desire to challenge the different
symbolic universes that underlie the adult world and that of their peers, as well as the
system in its entirety.
Mainly in this period of searching between childhood and adolescence,
we identify questions focused on the why of the different behaviors of peers and of
adults regarding certain regulations and social conventions understood as
situations per se: dressing in a certain way, having specific gender roles,
certain behavior (machismo, sexism) towards women in the case of men, in
finally, accept conventional situations built upon established cultural patterns
as a human contingency of a natural character. Other elements of challenge
prevail in the field of social injustices, inequality, and poverty as the
immobility of their peers and adults, as we observe in the impressions of the majority of
the young people interviewed, especially the children of adhering and militant parents of
left.

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 From the above, we can also add two sensitivities associated with two groups.
among the interviewees: the first, related to experiences of intimidation and
deprivations (emotional, material, etc.), and the second, of sensitivity influenced by their parents and
environment in the face of the injustices of everyday life. From which a common path was identified
among these young people, in the idea of going out to meet a questioning and desiring a type of
personal rupture in a differential manner (depending on the degree of rejection towards certain
practices and conventions) with certain regulations or lifestyles, starting first by
the family space and its regulations, the school space and the context of relationships
socializing with their peers. Young people express their rejection and break with certain topics.
punctual, but not in inaction in the face of bad experiences or disappointments, when connecting or
go through such spaces. These young people reclaim their experiences as learning for
evolving as people, intertwining from their discourses and subjectivities an opening to
understand your lived situation and, in itself, seek or be open to another human
the immaterial: texts, music, etc., that stimulate them towards other possibilities.
From our interpretative analysis, we generally extract from these young people a
certain disposition towards personal growth, not exclusively referring to the
intervention in traditional spaces such as the school, the family, or associations of
traditional youth participation (Boy Scouts and Guides, Sports Clubs, groups of
Church, political youth, etc.). This disposition of young people is receptive and eager to
other symbolic universes of a non-traditional nature or towards the construction of new ones
symbolic universes alongside other people with similar sensitivities, that as
latent feelings that denote their autobiographical narratives.
Revisiting that breakup and search mentioned and that we interpret from
the existential biographical marks -individual and shared- we believe present
a convergence within the margins of everyday life and specifically, of the
circumstances they have had to experience, but causing these circumstances to
individuals become such when they are directed in their action to make something more out of them
what circumstances, a notion that we can illustrate in the following logic that we witness in
his feeling: 'The self and the world are born together constantly, within the free
the transcendence of the situation of the first to form the self-in-relation-to-its-world,
a transcendence always already in process, but always not fully realized. Therefore, it is not
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contradiction in the human being of being determined and being free, because freedom
it would make no sense if there were not these particular facts to face or of the
what to flee, what to employ or what to discard - particular facts that make me who I am,
but with those I make the world that they are, thanks to the transcendence I give them in
such direction, and not in such another.408Then it is evident in the young people, the urgency of

reflect and critique the historical circumstances experienced and given meaning, based on life
daily life of the cultural environment of immediate development (family, neighborhood, school), and
the search to understand one's existential situation, as is the case with Pablo and his surroundings
military and Catholic socialization at the age of 13; when he becomes involved in reading
punk song lyrics are revealing

(...) He knew how to read English and when he read a couple of lines - from the Dead Kennedys - that
"In God We Trust" was like wow!... the whole lyrics of that album. It was like
a change, as if everything I believed was turned around, everything I
I believed... that's where I started to evolve little by little, maybe not directly, because here
In Chile there wasn't much of a punk movement to my liking... it was like
small lights. I was never Catholic, but I studied in a school where it was instilled
Catholicism... and when you hear something that is really strong and something like that
it changes the patterns, you also want to change the patterns... so you
change the way you see things, then you start to think. You say:
What the hell! What am I involved in? I'm stuck in a shitty school, because
You think: you are young and you are a teenager and you think about it and you think about it more beyond. Beyond
from a youth or adolescent rebellion that wants to have long hair just because.
... has to do with the dictatorship... you ask yourself what was happening, I mean when you were
in a family where they always told you everything, that now you started to question the
things and you start to see everything that happened in the military dictatorship from another point of view
view, in another way, analyzing yourself because you no longer know anyone, for me
It was quite a strong change.

The youth inform us of a confrontation with certain vicissitudes in their

process of growth as human beings, with a situational 'other' referred to their
particular symbolic universe of reference: 'classmates', 'teachers'
"school environment", "the neighborhood", "the family", etc., within which the generation of
dilemmas and concerns, criticisms and questioning directed towards themselves and towards
others. A permanent search for answers and alternatives to position oneself as

408
The Tragic Feeling of Existence (Existentialism and Existentialists)
in Spanish, Aguilar, S. A. Publishing, Madrid, Spain, 1955. Page 81
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existing in front of the reality they have had to live as children, adolescents and
later young people; to set a bit aside their role as student, child, companion of
course, and develop a role attributed from the self, which over time will become more
visible and understandable through personal reflection on their specific practices and
construction of identity.
These sensitivities are oriented towards certain breaks with experiences within their
average, they adapt in the transition from childhood to adolescence, a stage accompanied by
psychological and biological transformations influential in the process of growth and
human maturation, which do not necessarily imply a determination of behavior
an absolute and static manner, but rather they warn us - as does the feeling of these
young people - which in humans implies a sense of "being in formation", such as
"unfinished circumstance", in continuous self-construction.
In the actions outlined from the orality of these young people, it becomes possible to glimpse
a space in which gravitates - as we noted earlier - a 'going out' to meet
conducting a sense of subjective freedom in relation to the surrounding world (family,
school, friends, the street), in the idea of "being for oneself" as a continuous project of asserting oneself

as individual and personal identity in relation to oneself and the environment. The responses of the

young people, based on their biographies, suggest an approach to a certain potential of

self-awareness and self-teaching, despite not having access to critical symbolic universes
within their daily world, except for some of the interviewed young people who had
within their daily lives, the stimulus of critical sources in their immediate environment (family)
as Pamela, Amy, Victor, and Javier express to us.
In this initial moment of the interpretive analysis of certain biographical marks
revealed in the interviews, we extract a feeling from these young people, inclined towards
autodidactism and the search for information and spaces that provide existential comfort
in response to their concerns. We can extract, from their biographical experience, an instance
transversal information and reflection provided in the wide margins of life
daily. With this we identify clearly some inclinations that account for a
luck of spatiality in construction, not necessarily built within the
institutional interstices, that is, between the educational school and family institution. This
spatiality can be illustrated in the following idea: “culture, whether outside or inside the
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school, can become education, which is not synonymous with knowledge or instruction,
Well, culture maintains such synonymy with education when culture is culture.
personal, more from being than from knowing.409Well, regarding that, the young people
interviewees speak from their innermost being, accounting for, without glimpsing during the
in-depth interview, of a particular knowledge that they are constituting in a way
reflexive in this mentioned spatiality, which is inhabited by its searches,
questioning, reflections, which will later be adapted to a space for participation
social with another and its respective spatiality.
As we observe in this brief biography -of each of the protagonists-,
we interpret that the identified existential marks were guiding towards a
search experience, which we understand broadly, from a cultural sense of the
education, aimed at an intention of cultural change from the person and towards the
general knowledge, moving towards the idea of 'knowing more to be better' within a
process in which what is received is 'criticized', 'reformed', and 'recreated'.

On the other hand, the expectations that their immediate environment offers them repress them like

some cases and/or like others, limits them in their actions regarding the spaces of
participation, such as in the case of Pamela and the participation environment
student identified as 'traditional' and of 'competitiveness' by power and the
hegemony.
From these young people, there exists an explicit willingness to innovative situations and
to encounter spaces not controlled by already structured significants
formal, established as fields of participation, managed by an already existing group
organized, for example youth from parliamentary and extra parliamentary political parties
parliamentarians.
In the same way, the sensitive and emotional experience of music – in this case
related to punk style, it is a trigger for initial concerns, and a reference of
construction of relatively autonomous meanings, where cultural fields and
participation is relatively open to interpretation and guidance of a
significant action from the individual and the collective, according to the possibility of

409
Enrique Gervilla Castillo in Bouché Peris, Henri and others: op. cit. p. 190-191
290
contribute a new meaning and content, where the final control is assigned to the subject and the
group negotiations established within rather flexible regulations. This last
We will see the situation in more detail later in the analysis of the ideas, practices and.
territories.
In this first moment of building individuality and seeking, it is
important the notion we unravel from our data about the elaboration of a
certain spatiality that transcends the traditional institutional spaces of meaning (school,
family), including the patterns behind the cultural industry expressed in fashion, advertising,
etc. This spatiality of a subjective nature at first, and intersubjective
Subsequently, we observe it in the interviewed youth and their imagery of universes.
different symbolic experiences from those lived.

This spatiality identified in the discourse of the interviewed young people, from
we understand our thesis as a space that will later constitute a context
referential of meaning, which we evoke as a space and time of concretization of feeling
individual and collective identity, whose increase and survival will depend on a practice
specific daily activities carried out by young people.

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XV. WHAT VISION DID YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE OF PUNK?
SHOW BEFORE GETTING INVOLVED IN IT?

Emic qualitative description of the prior visualization of punk.

YOUNG PEOPLE
Significant individual referents
SAMPLE
"At first, I saw punk as something super violent... I think it was because of the image..."
In fact, in my house in Florida, there was like a group of punks that gathered at
Pamela
the corner gave me a sense of fear, but also interest... because still it
found it somewhat strange.
The punk around here... they were just idiots doing nothing but mess around in the streets... it was
a caricatured thing of the bad punk from a comic”/ “... a little bigger in the
Victor
The school had a classmate <<ultrarepeater>>. He was a bully... he was just like the
animated monkeys: he had two idiots following him, for them punk was that.
Pablo ...from the rock perspective... like rock... dance and let loose and not
it doesn't matter... that attitude of nothing matters, like the rebellious child who leaves the
schemes and that's it.
Francisco "I saw it as something interesting, not at all as something ideological! I saw it as
something superficial"/...you feel rejection with the way they acted... of how they
they expressed.
Claudia How I envisioned punk before getting involved in the movement... I never had
many prejudices about it. I used to think it was just music...
Amy (ex-boyfriend British punk)..the typical kid who rebels against the world by taking
drugs and listening to loud and noisy music." / "it was like normal (punk in
England), I liked it because it was different.
Alejandro Punk was about some dudes with a broom on their heads that you would see.
television... and suddenly an ice cream appeared (1984, ice cream "Punkracio") / "in the '80s
You would see a punk on the street and everyone would just stare.
Esteban ...I didn't know what it meant or what it was, I only had a look of
What, these crazy guys think they are English"/"... in the past punk was super
underground, and it really was like that

Leonardo "the first reference (10 -11 years), linked to comics... Bandido magazine or "}
Trauko... I remember Anarko and all that... like all that image of the guy
antisocial that destroys, and how that in particular. Like a guy who criticizes the
society but that is based on a destructive nihilism./ "When very
the boy saw him more as a comic book character than real... a little further on,
with people on the street: ... like a guy who was trying to provoke society
through its aesthetics, perhaps with very well-crafted content.
Javier (...) from the beginning it caught my attention... back in '86(...), I already knew about the
punk for the people I saw in the streets with that kind of clothing..., I didn't know about
none, but I have always been curious about the people who wore outfits
extravagant, which were presented in a shocking manner before the public, and even more in the
years of the dictatorship. I saw it as something shocking and a protest(...) I still didn't get it.
what were these guys I saw on the street like as people (...)
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What vision did the youth in the sample have of punk before getting involved in it?
Delving into the realm of identity expressiveness. Punk as
unconventional reference circumstance.

These young people, from their individual significance of the punk territory identified in
The first visuals indicate a shift in a striking focus to appreciate.
What is happening?, why is that? (questions raised, from their particular experience of
observation of punk), towards a certain desire to inquire about the displayed sign
significantly by external references, that 'act' - in this case - a punk feeling,
from independent symbolic universes to the pre-notions of the young people in the sample.

Pablo:
...from the rock perspective... like rock... dancing and letting loose, and it doesn't matter
nothing... that attitude of not caring about anything, like the rebellious child who breaks free from the norms and
there it goes.

Francisco:

I still saw it as something interesting, definitely not as something ideological!, I saw it as something
"superficial" / ...you felt rejection with the way they acted... of how they expressed themselves.

Despite some rejection of interpreted aspects of the punk symbol by some of the
young people, we interpret a feeling related to the expression of a degree of unease and
curiosity about this manifestation.
On the other hand, some conjectures about expressiveness and phenomenon are projected.
punk, a situation that is unfolding from a musical or visual perspective
protest and without a greater ideological background, even an adverse feeling, due to the practices of
some proponents of punk, observed from the contact of young people with some
cultivators of punk and their visible practices.
That is, the immediate references and the preconceptions about punk point towards
a desire to maintain attention to what is presented to them within the frameworks of life
everyday, which at the same time states, with these events, a sort of break from what is already

293
given and considered as part of the usual framework of possible representations of
social identification (for example: representations related to the provisions of
gender roles and occupations within society in relation to the adult world and the
job opportunities or identity images projected from the cultural industry), but
at the same time, not stopping at the social images and practices observed by some
punk enthusiasts, but leaving open the possibility to experiment with that, of
endow it with a certain personal meaning in some later space-time.
A reading we undertake shows us that the first approach to the punk universe
it assumes from them a desire to 'inquire', to delve into the understanding of this
universe that is foreign to them and at the same time not enough of what has been captured. That is why some

argue, perhaps, an ideological search that supports it or the "erroneous" and "criticizable" nature of the

punk practice of some observed punks, as if it were a willing evolution

for the mediation of their interests and searches for identity expressiveness.

Pamela:

At first, I saw punk as something super violent... I think that's because of the
image... in fact in my house in Florida there was like a group of punks that
They gathered at the corner and it kind of scared me, but it also intrigued me... because
I still found it something strange.

Victor:

The punk around here... they were just a bunch of idiots making a mess in the
streets... it was a caricature of the bad punk from a comic”/ “...a little more
In school, I had an extremely repeat student as a classmate... he was a bully... he was
just like the animated little monkeys, he had two idiots following him, for them the
that was punk

As I envisioned punk before inserting myself into the movement... never

I had many prejudices about it. I used to think it was just music...

In this first approach to the punk universe and what it might be about, there is no
observe an understanding that encompasses all the substance that can be obtained from it. In
As a consequence, the responses obtained from the youth speeches show us a certain
hope and expectation of a subsequent activity that forges identity regarding

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to climb, to some degree of permanence, within the unknown punk universe, a
vertebrated connection that will be mobilized as "the sense of things" evolves
expanding, and the everyday reference context (family, friends, punk references)
close ones) adjusts to their possible searches and identity expectations
individual and shared.
This first approach to the punk phenomenon is the identification of an otherness,
another not punk, a not close one, of whom has not entered the initiation rite that the universe
punk can have, within a postmodern tribal vortex as an 'urban tribe'; more
we visualize well, an emotional and rational tension of finding answers, forces
drivers, innovative social images that move these young people, as well as the
shock as a rejection or affinity that some external punk reference has placed on
the individual pre-notions, whose effect did not leave them indifferent.
The external punk references we draw from the voices of these
protagonists refer to and suggest a type of expressiveness that identifies the construction
from another punk, as alterity linked to expressions such as: "rebellion
adolescente", "algo sin mayor sustento teórico", "protesta espontánea", " sólo un estilo y
estética juvenil importado", "conductas caricaturescas y matonescas", "autodestrucción",
"más destrucción que construcción", "formas de expresar un descontento y protesta frente a
the society". But in the same way, hooks arise for representing something "curious".
"interesante", "rupturista".

Leonardo:

The first reference (10-11 years), linked to comics... Bandido magazine

Oh Trauko... I remember Anarko and all that... like that whole image of the guy.
antisocial that destroys, and how that in particular. Like a guy who criticizes the
society but that is based on a destructive nihilism./ 'When
I saw him more as a comic book character than real... a little more
go ahead, with seeing people in the street:... like a guy who was looking to provoke the
society through its aesthetics without perhaps a very worked content.

Esteban:

...I didn't know what it meant or what it was, I mostly had it as a

look of what, these crazy people think they are English”/”... in the past punk
it was super underground and it really was like that

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 In the period of entering adolescence, as some of our interviewees
it can be found that there is some relevance to other universes of possible meanings, that
they tend to be outside the norms of parental culture or provided by the institution
educational and even from the market, whose angle of influence generates a development of
possibilities for the individual to experience an encounter with joints
of meanings, not pre-designed in advance by the educational institution, adult, etc.
The first approach of these young people to punk constituted a certain connection with
something that within the everyday (language) deconstructed its meaningful arrangement
regarding the nearby and typical alterities and identities based on roles and status,
attributed to the social and productive gear expressed and suggestively oriented from the
primary and secondary socialization. But the latter is key in providing tools to
become in order to broaden the spectrum of identity references or of
different identity expressions that are discordant with what "should be" for the
reproduction of the system and hegemonic culture. In the voices of these young people, there is
meaning to an abstract dialogue with a concrete and visible other, which enables something different from
the appreciation within the identity orientation provided by education and culture
paternal or the market.

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XVI. THE ARRIVAL OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE SHOW TO
PUNK CONTEXT.

Among the interviewees and the observations, two criteria could be confirmed.
empathy with punk

1.- The taste for punk style (music, aesthetics, etc.) and feeling represented in the lyrics of the
songs by some bands like in the actions taken by some punks from
more political character and committed to social struggles. The environment generated in some
groups of punk youths.

2.- To observe in the activist practice of some punks, an 'interesting' form of protest,
struggle and expression. Likewise, to discern a type of social relationship based on commitment
volunteer.

The first point indicates what traditionally happens with 22-year-olds.

years upwards (in general). The trend is that "they saw something out there" (texts,
photos, videos, documentaries, etc.), related to punk. They also borrowed
some music tape of punk music (in Spanish or English), whose musical style caught his
attention, in the same way, the lyrics of their songs and their themes (social criticism to the
traditional institutions, against the hegemony of the powerful, against technology and the
bureaucratic and technocratic systems, corruption, intolerance, economic exploitation
and sexual, discrimination, loneliness, isolation, depression, suicide, the
desperation, the desires for struggle and agitation, for revolt and revolution, the fun, the
leisure, etc.). The lyrics of the songs made them question or confirmed their
appreciations. They met people and started hanging out with punk people or lived
individually that. The attitude of many who were visibly punk caused that the
Interviewees will question the behaviors these young people had regarding being punk.
behaviors categorized by the interviewees as: self-destructive, conformist. They
they were looking for something more than 'to criticize and do nothing.' All they saw was a party,

clothing, violent attitudes in the behaviors of the media that made up the massive punk.

297
That is to say, the meaning they interpreted from punk as 'not being punk', and as
lately they are being stated 'Punk destroy'.410
The above led them to a stage of questioning that added to their own.
questioning developed against the models instilled from family, religion, the
high school, the peer group, etc. as expressed by Esteban (young person from the sample) and Mauricio (25
years), a young person often involved in "jams" and activities organized by people from the punk context.

activist

Esteban:

There are bands that mark you in that sense, for me La Polla marked me a lot.
Records (...) they didn't tell you that this was anarchism, this is politics, this was
Marxism, but it marked a critical view of the shit that one never...
I had... they didn't show it to you in the house. That's how I made an incursion into these things,
when the response from family, society, and the religious response no longer fulfills me
they were acceptable I had to go out to find the answer elsewhere and the only ones
The people who gave me answers that I found reasonable were those.
bands, that's why I started with that story, then it seemed like they started to come out
other types of bands.

Mauricio:

I was living a period of searching and confronting what had been instilled in you and the
punk ignited it through the lyrics of the songs...
But the way the punks were, the crazy ones who dressed like that: it was
Disappointing! I wanted something else.

In the search for "something else," other people appeared, like the desire for
personal mobilization to develop their own participation instances. For example,
expressing oneself through the fanzine, the musical band, etc., trying to give it another meaning to the

punk, a sense of its own; which was acquired through the actor's experience, through the
historicity of punk with examples of the activist nature of bands and collectives such as
English CRASS, among others.

410
Based on the conception of traditional English punk (from the 1970s), which adopted a 'No future' attitude.
and nihilist, drawing inspiration from violent, destructive, irresponsible behaviors. This term is adopted here to
referring to the punks who make it an expression of instinctive violence.
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 The second point is a more current situation, as it has to do with the meaning.
of maturation that the general context of this punk identity experienced over the years,
protagonism in action411To people between 16 and 22 years old (like the young people of the
current generation, in general), who mainly participated (or participate) in
secondary student organizations, from political orientations linked to the
left, they are attracted to the type of practice developed by the young people involved
in the anarchist punk identity. Elements of this practice such as: the tendency towards
the horizontality of relationships, assembly as a form of participation and
decision, etc. Elements that were not very present in the organic structure in which they
they participated. In this way, they arrived at punk through what they saw closely.
Primarily, what resembles these two groups is the questioning of what is given.
as a fact: in the family, the high school, the peer group, the government, the programs of
television, advertising, authoritarian relations, the economic system, the service
mandatory military service, animal exploitation and human animal, democratic institutions
representative, the electoral system, the privatization of life, violence, alienation, the
conformity, inertia, the questioning of one's own existence and the <<search>> for
do something
For other people, "doing something" can be channeled, for example in some
extra-parliamentary group or party, religious, individualist intellectual positions,
participate as a citizen of the representative and binomial democratic system, etc. But what
What the symbolic space "Punk" produces is the idea of a "we", of an "I".
involved, which is not alienated from him, and in the hands of "other superiors," punk practice.
It is the conception of building alongside others, something inspired 'on the street itself.'
(everyday life), in life itself, as fundamental theorization, without commitments to the
Institutionality. Another thing is that the cultural industry and other groups have appropriated

411
The protagonism in the action implies for the analyzed case the possibility of being visualized by others.
subjects, of an already established punk practice (maturation and current visibility of punk activism, observable
within actions of participation in secondary organizations, conscientious objection, libraries
popular, marches, popular pre-university students, defense of animal rights, anti-globalization
political prisoners, etc.), as a daily reference for observation, analysis and alternative youth participation
(in this case), whose action can be accessed and participated in, as another protagonist and "other".
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 of punk and have produced another meaning (of that appropriation). Access is free, the
the fabric of this punk identity is a complex texture of layers of trust,
questioning, conflicts, joys, individual and collective work, dedication
certificates of the desire to “be” and “be present” with some “others” in a general context that
affects and moves them to do 'something'. The translation of that 'doing something' was born from the

punk, receiving names such as: 'Libertarians', 'Anarchists', 'Anarchopunks',

“Companions” or simply the non-identification with any name. But that for sure, not
disconnected from the context of punk identity production, which they themselves do or
became part (spaces, ideas, actions, friends, acquaintances, musical tastes, 'with
who is shared with

XVII. SIGNIFICANT NARRATION FROM THE ACTORS AND THEIR

CASES: SIGNALS FROM YOUR PUNK EXPERIENCE LIKE
CONSTRUCTION OF A CONTEXTUAL REFERENCE OF
SENSE.

PAMELA:

Punk activism and participation spaces: identity practices within

the hegemonic temporality.

I have a super disorganized mess, it's just that organization...

it doesn't suit me as much, when I was younger it did, but now I feel like a lot of people
They rest in the organization, as if they feel important with the name.
Just as "an individual" in spontaneous groups of people, like friends... with Victor,
with Javiera, Amy, with Paula we were always doing something: we're going out to hit.
a question, some posters against the elections... already at night!... we didn't have a name,
because the name was... we are friends, we have similar ideas! And good!. I still think that
we did a lot of things. On the other hand, the organization in which I did stay was
Objectors, because I was 3 years in objectors! Now... I feel for them, as if I
I abandoned the struggle and I don't see it that way... it's not that I resent it, it was very important to me.
to be in the Objectors. At least for me, I couldn't go on any longer.
(...) I, at least, have not been in any organization for a year. Where I most feel
I was focused in my high school. I was at 'Francisco Miranda', in the second year of secondary education I
I changed with a friend. It was the most drastic change of my life. The Ñuñoa High School was different.
100%. I had never worn a uniform, I really wanted to wear a jumper.
By the time I was in my senior year, I got involved and we did a bunch of things, like... the 'war' with
the director, it was something that did not stop, in fact it was a super overwhelming year. In my high school, it remained the
mess, the police arrived and entered the school, they started taking people away... because the
the female students wanted to have a water fight, my class had nothing to do with it. We

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We had been putting up some posters outside the high school, so everything started to happen.
to mix. They were posters criticizing education: it was incredible!.. it was the best of my
life..., no one has an idea like an anarchist.
I switched to high school because I thought I couldn't, I wasn't really up to par.
Being in a school like this, as well as wanting to do things, other things. I
I changed with the idea of doing this and this and I started to catch on... now the student council... it doesn't happen.
nothing with the student council because it is a structure that only serves the Director...
Let's start to see what else we were doing. When was the conflict of the students?
(ACES vs. the increase in school fares 2001) it's as if we were going there. We were at the
ACES and then it didn't quite fit us either. The ACES was super assembly-based,
people who were like anarchists, but in the end those people were also imposing themselves on the rest:
because in fact the vast majority of that assembly did not want things to be that way, they wanted that
there would have been a leader. I would have liked it to be an assembly and all, but... the crowd didn't want that. I
It produced a strange thing to impose the libertarian question, it's kind of odd.
In high school, we started looking, with Paula... That year in senior year,
An art teacher arrived, new, he was young, he was interesting... and alright!... he said: what do you want
study?; before, with another teacher we were studying the artistic avant-gardes, so
we said: we are studying Dadaism and the crazy as well as that he hallucinated, so
she passed us the half-books. We read a lot because with my partner, like, for...
All things are for reading and analyzing. We are going to read this and then we will see.
What do we do, because he wanted us to make it like an installation. It was hard for us, it was hard for us.
think about it a lot..., 2 years of being in high school and nothing made me feel interested, that
I would learn nothing. In school (Francisco Miranda), the educational level is higher,
so you have more options, in high school you don't.
With Paula, we did a presentation for the class and it was really great, the class kind of
they were all silent listening..., so then we did another job that was
An exhibition that was like a string of things, we put it next to the men's restroom.
They were some photos of my classmate as well as of 'sexy schoolgirl', it wasn't scandalous, but
People thought so. We wanted to relate punk to Dada...
suddenly we were thinking about how things aesthetically, but we felt that it was only pointing
like the 'a', the thing was to point in the background at what happens in high school: like they separate
your personal life from high school, then deep down you stop being everything that you were
when you enter high school; when you leave, you can be it again, but not inside. It's a pain in the ass
uniform, that was like the roll. And the other was like crashing, just that... obviously..
Once we put a book with complaints: whore, bitch, etc. They wrote. My friend
I wasn't even there. That's cool, that caused a stir in the school. It was still kind of wild because we put
like some jars that had inside a brain, a simulation... it said like
"generation 2001", was like our class. We explained that the issue was not against
they..., it was a criticism of education. Finally, everything kind of mixed together, like
that everyone took it as a flag of struggle..., in fact, afterwards they didn't want to let us go
to graduate. I felt, in the end, that I accomplished a bit of what I wanted. What I wanted was that
my classmates seem to realize that they are not well..., that high school was super
arribista like Ñuñoa, that education was not good. Being in that high school they did not have
no opportunity, very few people will be able to... for example, colleagues who don't
they knew how to add and that they were not..., that they were going to take the test... impossible, because with that preparation
it's impossible... we were the punks (for them).
In a march against the IDB..., I appeared in the newspaper like in a supplement like
the cops were taking me..., yes, they took me.

Personal options, within the anarchist and anarchopunk context:

What bothers me now about anarchopunk is the moralistic aspect; I feel that there is a lot of
People who say you have to be a vegetarian, well, I agree, I am a vegetarian.
by option... by option because I think it is right, I do not agree with the slaughter of
animals or anything like that, none of those things..., but it doesn't seem to me that it has to be
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a rule that everyone must be vegetarian in order to then be anarchists;
No, I don't think that's the case. I believe everyone will be considering the options they take, you know?
I believe there are common ideas, but I don't rely on them: If you want to be an anarchist, you have to be this,
this, this and if not, people criticize you... they say: You weren't an anarchist because you... I don't know... you
I bought a skirt..., I'm talking about a stupid thing, better each one their own, trying to
build things... just like community, but let's not fall into the same (as society).

A constant search: 'It is necessary to rethink everything' to build

spaces that facilitate the ability to choose freely.

It is a moment of searching again... in our own lives perhaps more

that like something that could affect many other people. That's how it starts, since I saw
build an option different from the imposed one. For example, what I really appreciate about
punk: suddenly not having to do what one is supposed to do, it's like those
minimum moments of freedom and how to choose other things and to believe in those things...
yes, it's fine... I wish all people could - I don't know - choose their destiny, have
options. That's what I saw was built the most, I saw how relationships were formed,
perhaps more before than now, but relationships are much more supportive, like more
Human: I care about what happens to you, more affectionately. I don't think I feel that way anymore.
But I think at one point I did feel it.. Seeing other people and doing other things.
...another thing that I highlight a lot for example: now here there is (summer 2002) like
some Argentine friends..., I have remembered all the things I have felt because I feel
that they have a not so structured vision of the thing. I was discussing that with one of them.
Suddenly here, it seems like all the anarchists, like... that the union should be stronger,
and anarchy arrives... I mean please... They told me that they wouldn't even consider seeing how
that way because since they are in Argentina, they have been able to somewhat imagine it as well
many things because it's like chaos, he told me it was impossible for a worker, for
for example, if we were not in a capitalist society that a worker would want to follow
working on the same thing as before but now for the community, most likely not...
I think there are many things to imagine, like rethinking everything. Like the formulas
not ancient, I don't believe that something will happen in the future, I think we need to rethink everything,
many times.

Society conceived: building while seeking a north

I think that before it was yes. I think it used to be more idealistic... like what
I am criticizing now. I don't think that with anarchism we will solve everything.
I have some notions of what I would like, obviously a classless society, that is.
a primordial something, where there are no exploited or exploiters, neither poor nor rich.

Anarchism, social change and individuality: Close ideologies and practices

not shared completely.

Neither so evolutionary nor so violent, if we go on with the weapons. I don't believe it either.
that things are going to change because people are going to understand and because those in power
They're going to say: "Oh yes, that's fine!"
The revolution, just like in the '70s, does not exist..., (the revolution) complicates me.
Indeed, there are a number of things that complicate me, because I am also questioning myself.
Many things. Right now, my ideas are not going to change, there are things that are super firm...
A little is summarized about anarchism. Perhaps what I don't like is the way it is being
practicing or want to carry it out.
A classless society, but also one that has individual freedoms,
doing things self-managed; I find that super important, or the whole thing about

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punk 'do it yourself' seems essential to me, I believe it is one of the few ways to
maintain your independence..

The meaning of self-management and these ideas for society in general: "Little
a little.

...there I see it more difficult (society in general and the rich), I don't know if it will take any
meaning for those people. Now likewise, I also don't believe in that stuff so much as
class discrimination: Ah! So you're rich and you'll never know, no, I don't believe in that.
But I think little by little... I don't know how, if I knew how, we would be on the other side, it would be
super easy.

Individuality and change: Again the question, while examining the

internal enemy

...that's where I am, because I haven't figured it out, but that's where I am,
because for me that is terribly important, your individuality, now and in a society
the future is central, I believe we cannot be engendering another society that is like this
"anarchist"..., that's what I see in "n" people who believe in anarchism and it seems that
I see that they go to that point many times without realizing it..., it is necessary to catch that the
the enemy is inside (oneself).

The meaning of a punk musical ensemble: A means of personal expression and

social connection.

It has two sides, first I feel like I do it because I like it, I like it.
a lot, I have a terrible good time, it's like a way to vent. And second,
we will discuss that in the group: will it have any social repercussions?... hopefully, we
What we want is precisely not to touch..., I mean to touch in places that don't reach.
a lot is like 'punk scene', because it is wrapped in the same circle, so the idea
it is played in other places. For example, Hip-Hop is also accepted, it is understood the
lyrics, it's more laid back. But if you play Hip-Hop with terrible combative lyrics,
an older person might understand it and say: oh that's good

VICTOR:

Experiences that make sense. Searching and finding a space

significant to express concerns (to connect and act).

(From my experience in Spain at 14 and 15 years old) I was excited, it was like
motivating... that one could organize with more people to do things not necessarily
that were - for me - within the system, there were squatted houses... I mean I was 15
Years..., there had been 20 thousand bullshit organized: I found it awesome! And that's when I said this is shit.
Punk, this shit is definitely punk, not the other crap that I knew. (Then I wondered): why
what not to do there (in Chile).
Later, between 96-97 in Chile, I started making a fanzine with other people:
"Long live Rebelde." I, like in '94 - '95, had met a punk girl, she was very punk,
it was quite scandalous. After that, I continued alone, kept studying, tried to write to
people from outside to send me magazines, fanzines, to catch music, other groups that
they would express some other nonsense that was more in line with what I was thinking.
... I used to write to people from Spain, with guys I contacted during the time I was there.
in Spain.
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 Between '93 - '94 I moved to the center of Santiago, I went to the Taller el Sol, I
I remember when there were activities, band gigs, there were people selling fanzines...
punk tocatas and other activities around 1995 and 1996. I came to see the Revoltosos, BBS
Paranoid. Later, during that time when Disturbio was going on, I started to catch on to Julio who was bringing
Lots of fanzines to sell. I found out here that things were different (95-97).
When I entered college, I was 17 years old, I met a friend who urged me to
participate in a fanzine and collective, we published some issues, we went out to graffiti walls in
special dates, I remember the day of the police officer was approaching and we started to doodle in
against the cops, we would go out to mess around at the Teletón. The purpose of that was to raise awareness of a
little to the people, that they realized, that they analyzed a little the thing they were in
participating. For example, I saw that my little cousins... and my family was not there either.
Agreement, but for the day of the Carabinero they still had to dress them in a cop hat or
September 18... the National Holidays, the National Holidays, what for?
There were many reflections that we had (from Aguante Rebelde),
we talked while we were writing, we participated in the demonstrations and
marches. I found it important to go to demonstrations, I've been going since I was a kid.

Punk identity, the importance of manifesting in this society without

tutors: Creating spaces from my ideas.

One way to show disagreement, one way to demand that there was
things they had and that were going to change by methods of others or of us. Now for
for me, punk is my way of living, my way of being, of eating, of breathing..., it's the way of
to face, of how to stand before life. It is my way of being, of expressing my
disagreement with the things that seem wrong to me. My way of creating and expressing my culture, the
that entails my culture and that of many people around me. My culture, whether it is
musical, aesthetic; not only of clothes but aesthetic... plastic aesthetic of what it entails,
from a magazine, a book to architecture, the design of things to the way of
express myself towards others, the way of living together..., living in a horizontal manner without
an authority, not having intermediaries, nor loudspeakers, nor spokespeople that go like
representing or saying: yes or no, that 'you do it'..., acting in the first person
always, together.
Being able to express all that energy or all that initiative or motivation that one has.
it provokes social discontent. And it is not a social discontent focused on the sense that I
I want to help like the 'poor' or I want to help the people who are struggling, but I
I want to be a participant, I am a participant in a society even though I don't want it as it is...
I am also part of this thing. I am, perhaps inside, I don't know if I am inside the system; I
I think so... and being able to act consistently until perhaps bringing it down or creating
instances so that later it can be changed..., inform the people, since the information
It is well manipulated. To be able to 'raise awareness' and inform people, to perhaps exemplify,
with concrete facts so that people realize that no intermediary is needed to
do many of the things that perhaps would do them good or perhaps are lacking.
... the anarcopunk movement is the radicalization of punk in order to generate a
response to society or the system. You have examples of this in Occupation, self-management of
people who are self-sufficient in order to generate what they wanted, like in
England, in Europe. And here in Latin America it was later..., in Brazil the community
anarchopunk is super big and super active. There are solidarity groups with prisoners
anarchists and solidarity groups, there are street action groups, shock groups
against fascist groups, there are many more now, now in Brazil, especially that
there are the 'karecas' who are like 'skinheads'..., they are so ultra-nationalist that not even
they call themselves skinheads, because it is a foreign word.

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 Punk and participation

... I don't find them to be exclusively punk, but I found it super important that
the fact of being able to "occupy" spaces, free the space and give it back to the citizens.
People from there, call it neighborhood, commune, call it whatever. To occupy a house and generate a
open space for all the people of the community, a cultural, political space; a
generator of people who are not within..., people who might be self-marginalized
simply.
... I work in an anti-militarist group; well, I was making the magazine (Aguante Rebelde),
I participated for a while in a radio program and I am always trying to do things that
I can..., I try to spread music, I try to spread fanzines, I try to spread things that the
people can perhaps impregnate themselves with them to become aware. From a self-adhesive
even a patch made with screen printing, even being able to organize a meeting of Objection to
Consciousness.

Punk: A medium and lifestyle

Punk is not like a goal: there is punk! And I have to do blah, blah,
blah, blah about things to get to punk. For me... maybe I am punk or maybe I don't know. For me,
my way of living is punk and I do the things that I think are right or that
they are not well.

His experience in an Occupy (1998) called "Cultural Center La Kasita"

Santa Rosa with Tarapacá, located in the central sector of Santiago:

... I remember the first night we stayed, there were about 10 of us, we ...
we were freezing, the house was a mess. After we cleaned that week, we started
to inform a lot of people that we caught, people from Disturbio Menor... we informed people
from here, from there, to everyone we could call: that on Saturday, the first Saturday there is a
assembly to free up the space, to organize something inside that house and that Saturday
A lot of people arrive and that's where we start. There are people who stayed and people who left, like in everything.
The main objective, I believe we didn't even have it clear at that time.
We went in and we wanted to do things and we wanted to move the house forward. It wasn't
that we had so many objectives, but we entered the Kasa and with this we do something... and
we created a Popular Library of Anarchists, workshops were attempted to be held for the
Neighborhood people, activities were organized for the children of the neighborhood. They were set up like
cultural spaces, poetic recitals..., we didn't have electricity in the house, so everything that
what we did was rustic.
... we were with Aguante Rebelde with Nico, Francoise..., then people who
it wasn't the group's, but rather people who participated, there were people from Ja!, Pedagogical, the
crazy the Grito!, some crazies from ARCIS, there were the Objectors and there were people repeating that
it was from there and from here.
There was everything, from motivation to demotivation, there were fights, there were people who
Perhaps what intentions did he really have?..., from there we parted ways and the Kasa died.

Social projection of the Okupa experience in which he/she participated.

I saw it as an example that it was not necessary to have as help from

the Municipality or help from the Government or waiting for someone, anyone from outside
that would come to tell us what we can and cannot do, live or how we should live.
For me, it was an experience... I with all the people I participated with, an experience of
achieve other things, other occupations and improve them, many people from the neighborhood understood, we
he/she met and knew that we were not "that bad", nor that crazy, nor that foolish as we are shown

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on the TV. The house was important because not only punk people participated in the house,
a diverse group of people participated... one of the best things

PABLO:
The sense of punk that I share does not go that way, it goes this way: Identity and
context of meaning.

... Later I got involved little by little. I didn't have friends who
they will participate directly in what was a punk scene here, what it was like around '95 or
'94; I don't know how it was before, I wasn't there.
In the typical punk performances of Fiskales Ad-Hok and Los Miserables from the beginning of the
90: search for spaces to enhance individual questioning in the collective.
I was attracted to it because I wanted to know more and I questioned the
issues; I went, I bought fanzines (I don't remember the name of the fanzines)... but I
that attitude of 'who gives a damn about everything' (of punks in general) and that...
maybe the aesthetics... it bothered me, I don't know why and I remember that it bothered my friends
it also bothered him and it bothered us too because we came from La Reina
and we were like 'posh' for them: not me! You would go over there and they would call you posh and you would say
no, not at all.
Maybe I never talked to people from there, but I saw them and they looked at you and how you were.
dude and you didn't know anyone, they told you things... I remember that I had a shirt of the
Dead Kennedys and they would also say to you: 'Ah, he has a Dead Kennedys shirt like
original, dude and the thing!
I remember that one day I didn't go anymore for some reason. But I always continued with that.
questioning, a super strange evolution, as always I continued with that questioning
of everything that had to do with the Military Government and religious matters, although not
I was directly participating in punk, but I was always like with those
concerns.
Later, like in '95 (First Hardcore Meeting at Quinta Ecuador),
when the first hardcore gigs started happening, that's when I began to meet more
People... everything changed for me there! I swear I went there and for me it was... after having been
a long time without being connected to anything.
Since I was skating and always listening to punk, I remember once,
of a friend who lives near my house, the day he told me: 'let's go to a concert like with'
pure bands like S.O.I.A. and things like that.” I didn't know anything about those people, I only knew my
friends and a few more people and bye. I remember that I went to that concert, I entered and.... I
Everything changed! Seeing how all that cooperation among people... it was like
different, it was like a different environment. The interaction of the people showed that it was more
united and... I remember that I arrived.. a boy who was at the door handed me a flyer
from Straight Edge and I started talking to him and it was like... I'm talking to someone
from here and they are all good people. I began to understand all the interaction, that everyone was sharing
leaflets, as everyone was sharing things, everyone was talking to everyone and they were all friends.
On the other hand, the people from Fiskales were more like popular people. I saw them as
much more resentful people..., they were right. People who had no expectations of what the hell
do with their lives and the guys were like that, it was like poor people and I wasn't poor, so
that's why I saw it differently (it was a more homogeneous environment). Perhaps also the way of
being among them, how dense, how they looked at you, made me get to the hardcore gigs and it was
totally different..., there were different types of people of various social classes, more
diversity, in fact there were guys from Las Condes, guys from Huechuraba, there were the
guys from Salto, there were people from all walks of life, it was more heterogeneous and I saw the people and they were all
Friends, that thing messed me up, there was friendship, respect and everyone talked to each other and everyone gave their all.
leaflets and you would talk to them and they would explain to you. They gave me a liberation leaflet
animal! And those things happen, dude!
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 When you've seen other issues, suddenly it feels like you're cursed by that.
the issue (the punk scene) is such that suddenly you saw punk in a different way. Maybe I
I saw the guys from Fiskales differently, but I got there like: wow!
I bought the Heart of Pork.412and it was like wow!... because you don't read those things, you don't
I was reading those issues. Issues that they analyzed, issues that they criticized, but they criticized
based on the fact that it wasn't just: 'oh, damn politicians!' and nothing more, it went further..., that
The issue was strong.

The beginning of the construction of an 'other punk' from this new scene:
Identity/ Otherness.

Only... purely out of protest, as a matter of survival. I mean, the guy said
what I saw, perhaps did not question things, did not take the time, they were so
dedicated or so obsessed with rejecting, rejecting, rejecting, rejecting; perhaps they did not see
what was the application that could be given, perhaps as the good application that could be given
the punk house, the one we see and the one they might also see.
(This space I'm talking about where I got involved), for me it is the application that is given to it.
It should have embraced punk. Perhaps it is the fault of the media and the lack of
information. At that time, there was no Internet, it was like survival punk (until 1993).
The dudes (the punks) live in neighborhoods or maybe not, they sang about the
repression by the police, they sang about alcohol, escaping from what they are living in that
Wait a moment... it was like that, for me it was survival and then it wasn't like that anymore, then things
They changed, then people from the upper neighborhood started getting involved, with other concerns.
another vision of punk, more reflective but also more snobbish. They got involved as
many snob parameters in the matter, everything that was clothing, what it was to walk in
skate... it was also a matter of vibe, there were also university people. I think
there were all kinds of people and that was the good thing; you saw punks, you saw hardcore dudes, you saw
guys who were skating.

So... the Fifth Ecuador Hardcore Meeting of 1995, one of the

founding milestones of this new punk scene. Seeking meanings and ideas, in
this space and group experience (of Punk Straight Edge): First, to think
regarding myself, and then, think about others.
...it is the people who fell because they had to fall, it is the people who didn't fit in other places and
it fell there, dude. It's the same thing that happens with musical trends, for example: suddenly everyone
indie-rock bands or the indie-rock scene, which is like alternative, are people who have
they were in punk or they were in hip-hop, and the guys didn't fit in and fall there. And in
this issue also happened the same; that is, you saw dudes, a lot of dudes who didn't
they participated in punk, the guys listened to melodic413and the guys were on skateboards and
They knew punk bands through skateboarding. I mean, they weren't people who went to concerts and knew a lot.
From punk. People from all over fell in and all that came together and many ideas came together.
A gathering of ideas from many people took place. And they began to question things.
among ourselves there we are, talking among ourselves, bringing out the concerns: What
What happens?, What is this?, getting to know more bands.

412
A fanzine from the punk political era.
413
Melodic refers to the musical bands that cultivate a melodic punk or hardcore sound and more.
pop and therefore more digestible for different audiences, it is also the way to identify the
cultivators who participate in this expressive context. It should be noted that, from 1995 to the present,
begins to establish a particular scene of melodic punk and hardcore.
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 I remember that at that moment I was no longer drinking, although I did drink and smoked marijuana... but
I arrived there and I started to reflect, because they provide you with tools or you
they deliver for example: leaflets and fanzines, which you are not used to reading and that were going
beyond simple protests, they were about a more personal issue, like personal change.
At that time, everyone knew each other, it was like a family, and they all helped each other.
they were all friends and they were all discovering the things that everyone wanted to discover, all
the issue of 'do it yourself' and all that stuff. For you to think within yourself, for you to
then you can think for others. That there is a personal change so that others
they can also change. And that, I believe, was the difference in the Fifth Ecuador and in everything.
that emerged during that time.
The idea that I saw existed in that place, there they did not speak against the cops, that you
the cops were beating up the kids from the corner; it was your going beyond, a spiritual thing: what
each one change so that later we can change things!

From the stimulation of this new context of punk connection to the option of
Straight Edge: Ideologies and options, within an experience and context
significant.

I started to question things even more because I found meaning in the

issue. Do you understand that when you go to a place where you see all that cooperation, like
all that unity among the people, you start to question, what the hell is going on here dude:
they also say they are punks! And they also do things, they have bands, maybe they sound
different, but they do more nonsense than the others and have a different perspective on issues,
they have a different perspective, you know.
And I started to go beyond what the Military Government was..., I read books, I never...
I was into fanzines...; at that time, reading a fanzine that talked about smart things was
good. Everything changed for me, more than what changed was the capacity for unity and how to
self-management of the people who were there, you could see that people lent each other things (the equipment
musicals), and I didn't see that in the other performances and that really touched me. I started to go as
more to the jam sessions, to get more involved with the people, to meet people like you
group of friends, that's where I learned about Straight Edge, I took it as an option, because of all that
questioning that I had seen and that bothered me. I saw the punks like this healed in the
streets and it bothered me, I didn't like it. Then I made the decision to be SXE (Straight Edge),
I became a vegetarian (between '95 and '96)... many of those who are now my friends, seem like that
we became SXE at the same time, we met around the same time and talked a
a lot of issues and it was like a really nice thing.
We were like 10 kids who became friends and we are still friends.
now. I remember we started having meetings at Jero's house, talking for hours and
hours and days and nights over a pile of issues, about the vision we had
of Straight Edge, what it is, how we can apply it, how it relates to punk,
how it related to the world. There was a super radical change.
Nobody knew what it was. When you went to a concert and saw a guy with a
"X" tells you: "I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I reject all kinds of drugs..." What happens?
Straight Edge was that, at least here, in the scene here it was that, it was like telling the
people: "Think for yourselves, think inward so that later you can
do things for outside.” And that was my change, the change I had: I thought about what I was
doing and why I was doing things. Maybe I see it this way and someone else sees it differently,
There can be different viewpoints.

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 Punk Straight Edge: From the experiences, ideas, and styles that emerge
part).

For me, it has always been linked and it will always be linked as well. There, I separated the
hardcore punk, in the sense, perhaps something more musical. Hardcore is a broader definition.
musical of what punk is, it's like that. Hardcore is a rejection of the 'tupa-tupa' 414 ,
all punk bands sounded the same. Hardcore sounded louder. But, for me the
Straight Edge has always been linked to punk, because it was born from punk. Bands like Disturbio.
Younger ones, for me, made a difference in all of that.

The context of the Straight Edge ideas and the evolution of this hardcore scene
emergent and diverse. From the experiential emotional to the rationally
emotional415Discerning 'who is who'.

When you are starting something, there are always like concerns and always
I grab things I probably shouldn't grab, for example everything that has to do with the
Krishna's approaches416who was also involved in the scene, many who were
At the jam sessions they became devotees, (the Krishnas) wanted to take advantage.
I believe there was like a difference, there were people who made a difference.
between punk and hardcore. People who thought that punk was not the same as hardcore or
that hardcore was more of a box office issue... like... a 'hardcore' attitude, like
way of talking and addressing certain themes. For example, within hardcore, it is no longer
he talked about the cops, no longer talking about the kids from the corner that they took away
pacos for taking. They talked, perhaps about that, but from another point of view. They saw him (the
hardcores) as a matter of brotherhood, not of protest... (example) "they took my
brother", the family. The whole thing about the "family", about the "unity", "everyone started to happen.
"we are the same"...; in truth maybe not, because there were some idiots within that same scene
that they did not think alike. But they were all together because it was a matter that they had to
being all together, because things were done this way... and they were all getting to know each other and not
They gave time to say: no, not you; you yes, you no, like it is now... or I don't touch with you

414
The young interviewee references the basic beat of the drums in a punk rock band.
415
For emotional experiential (related to festive situations, situations akin to whirlwinds, lived intensely, that
due to their novelty and environmental stimulation, they decrease the ability to filter information), we understand, the

new situations that are experienced individually and collectively, without reflexivity and rationalization
total absence, rather less rationalization) regarding the components of that action (intentions,
means, ends, etc). The rationally emotional suggests that every human being emotionally feels what goes
experimenting and rationalizing; in this case, the new situation is reflected upon and rationalized
(components, means, ends, intentions, etc.), whether in the present or later.
416
The interviewee refers to the participation of members of the Krishna Consciousness within this.
general scene of punk and specifically of Straight Edge, a situation that had a visible occurrence among
1996 and early 1998. It is worth highlighting their participation alongside political punks, Straight Edge, etc. in the
first anti-McDonald's marches developed since 1996 in Santiago and then in other parts of Chile
together with other political and ecological groups that have been joining each year. That said,
this march arises from the international day against this multinational fast food company, an instance that is
called by various organizations and groups that are currently intertwined in the fight against
neoliberal globalization, as it is called.
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 Why do you think that way, you don't get it. At that time, everyone knew each other and no one took the time.
to analyze the other. Everyone was worried about uncovering some issues, but not
to analyze the other. No one told those from R.E.O417, that is why they sang to the fools
that were in prison and the Final Justice, why they were talking about nationalism. No one
I criticized that..., maybe the people from Disturbio, but I never saw the people from Silencio and the people.
from Alternocidio, to the people from other bands. It was the hardcore scene and in hardcore everyone...
they can express and say whatever they want. The Krishnas were also there, it was like: we are
Everyone here; any dude could come in. They were more concerned about talking about hardcore.
why the kid Krishna goes to hand out leaflets or sing nonsense or to mess with us
in the head, that thing about the commandments. It's like receiving information and not thinking about it,
how to be receiving and say: 'and so on, of course, of course it's fine.' As if they tell you: if having
"Sex with a girl you don't want is bad, oh, yes it's bad." And why is it bad? Because it's not
straight, because that's hardcore... and since everything was so fast, there were gigs and people were showing up
Every time, then you didn't have time, they didn't have time to be thinking, more arrived
new people were coming and people were leaving. It was a very stupid thing and now many people can't
it was like 'live and let live'.
Then, the issue started to separate when the guys realized it.
time to analyze the situation and analyze what was happening at that moment. There were people
that he didn't like it and left, or there were people who said no, that's not how it is, I have another vision. And
There, for me, everything that is political punk started or was born, which for me was born with Disturbio.
It started to include everything related to Crass, with Conflict: which is like
the other half of punk, not the perspective that everyone saw at that moment or maybe yes, but no
we knew.

The sense of punk that begins to operate from there: maturation of the
experiential context.

I see it more as an analysis with much more diversity and more analytical.
Although at first it wasn't like that, later it was. Like, people would say: 'not with you, no', or
he used to say in the jam sessions: 'hey, why did you say this?', and that thing was huge: 'why are you talking about
this dude, why do you talk about..., why are you in favor of abortion or why do you believe that this
Dude did this or why are you in the political prisoners thing and why not and why yes.
Much more analysis and diversity were allowed, a lot of styles, a lot of types of people,
it was not homogeneous but super heterogeneous.

417
R.E.O. (Resistance to Oblivion), a musical group linked to the hardcore and 'Machocore' scene of Santiago.
His musical style is rooted in the sound of the early bands from the American hardcore scene.
called 'new school'. Around them, the concept of 'Machocore' begins to be established as
Distinctive of that hardcore scene, the band comes from the Gran Avenida sector and was formed around 1995.
Regarding the term 'Machocore' and its subsequent establishment as a sign of identity and
identification of some groups within hardcore arises from the behavior of some of them regarding
machismo and the enhancement of stereotypical masculine manifestations of toughness, violence, etc. as well as
lyrics of their songs, which were the subject of criticism from sectors - among others - of political punk and
anarchist, through comments in fanzines, recitals, song lyrics, and conversations: of which
translated that these sectors of hardcore embraced this pejorative classification, constituted from the
critical discourse of other sectors, as a sign of their identity and self-awareness as a group that projects a
identity and cultural form of manifesting and understanding oneself.

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 (Currently) it has branched out to shit, I think all the people who in
At that moment he went to his side and they threw to the side that they believed was better.
and for what they thought punk is.
...(for example) now it's called hardcore not punk, it's a way of referring to the
guys who don't have mohawks and wear baggy pants, skateboard shoes, have
short hair, it's style, fashion. It's called hardcore and the guys who are punks are idiots.
they dress in tight clothes and listen to other things.
The anarchopunks are people who matured all of that... and found the reason, the
the foundation of what punk was and they are applying it, after all that, after years,
the guys found their space; they are doing what they believe is the
correct and what they believe is punk... (they distinguish) more political... artistic...
they involve more theoretical and conceptual things in punk, in the performances
it is also like that. In the themes of the lyrics, they talk about other things, more theoretical things,
they analyze more. Also in the way of speaking, in the way of relating.
For me, there can be a punk dude who is a socialist as there can be.
A punk anarchist dude perfectly. I don't see that he was born 100% linked to anarchism.
because it was a protest thing and the guys gave it that meaning, it was a matter of
rejection.
I can't imagine a UDI guy claiming to be punk like there are guys who do.
They say punk A friend has a college mate who is from the UDI Youth and
the guy is a secretary... and listens to Fiskales and goes to the Fiskales' gigs and is friends with
the Fiskales. It is obvious that punk is about a matter of freedom, it is about a matter of
self-management, of liberation from everything that the system confines us with; everything that
it has to do with capitalism, with the issue of individualism, of making people
a business, to make everything a business; as a rejection of all that.

His unique sense of punk.

A way to find freedom within yourself and for others. A means

to find freedom for you, for others, for me that is what it is based on.
Everything that has to do with social inequalities, that I come from a
family has no money, but I live well, and there are people, friends who do not live well. All that
they are the forms of social control. Learning to say no. Straight Edge is a super thing.
personal that everyone gives their own meaning to. For me, it is a matter of being free in mind,
It may sound a little ambiguous, like saying: well, a guy who drinks can also be
Free your mind, just because you drink a beer doesn't mean you will become close-minded or not.
to be able to think; and that is where I differ from many guys who say that if you start to
You can't think about it, you can't act like 'the revolution'; maybe it's not quite like that...
one way to be alert as with all your senses and a symbolic way is not to do drugs,
don't drink and nothing. For me, it's a choice that I make and now I feel good you know.
I assume it as punk, as a punk attitude, an attitude of saying: no way, dude.
I am Straight Edge for me, because I feel it and I wear shirts that say
I walk with an X and spread the issue because it's more about dissemination; I would like
that many more people had my option.

The importance of 'do it yourself.'

... not depending on other companies, not being carried away by what is like the
machine of the system that wants to sell you, for me that is it. Like all the capacity of
self-management of saying: 'we can do things and I don't have to depend on
other entities, from other people to address the issues." For me it was revolutionary,
for many people who were there, it was too.
Self-management goes beyond, perhaps, not being signed to a label or being on a label.
it's great to make fanzines by oneself. While it used to be applied, perhaps it wasn't known, not

311
 it was known as self-management, it was not known as do it yourself, just like that.
The needs were different.

His time at Indymedia: Experiences, networks, and knowledge.

I studied journalism for 2 years..., I have always had that concern or that criticism.
in front of the analysis that the media were making of what was happening, of what you
You saw on TV, like the gaze of the media and the way the media contributes.
to build a perspective on people, to construct as realities.
That ’s where I started getting involved in alternative press, especially when I went to Brazil.
I was always involved in making fanzines, writing for fanzines, but I didn’t do that
I could call it alternative press, but generally I never collaborated with the issues around here.
When I went to Brazil last year (2001), I was with a girl who was involved in
an independent media outlet called Indymedia, which was born in Seattle in
1999 as a way to give greater dissemination to all that were the protests against
from the IMF, BM and created an Independent Media Center to cover all the news
that they had, to lend a hand to all the protest actions that were taking place
Having in that moment. He started reporting people who perhaps were not journalists but who
participated in the same activities. They created more centers through the Internet to
support anticapitalist and anti-globalization activities.
Many people who participate are punk and many people who participate are not punk.

FRANCISCO:

Marcel Duchamp: Punk or not punk?

It is like a fighting music viewed from one perspective, but I don't think so.
Let it be a weapon like that enough. If you play punk you will reach the punks, that is, you are not going to reach.
beyond that, but... now you ask me: so why do you play punk?, I don't know, I think it's
a thing almost for pleasure. At least Marcel, the lyrics are almost personal, they are self-critical and
criticisms of the same friends. The people one is surrounded by..., in the groups that
Before, it was talked about like a revolution..., in reality, they were getting nowhere, I mean no
You can talk about those things, those things need to be acted upon, they need to be done little by little. No
sacai nothing with saying: yes! We are going to be free. So we formed a group that could be more
real... through self-criticism, personal experiences, that can suddenly be compared and
you can end up being with people... and that's when we start to meet more people, many more
people who are like the circuit.
We already knew what Dadaism was before Marcel Duchamp; in fact, the
the group we had before was super weird and we were also scratching the potato with Marcel Duchamp,
with Dadaism. We made a sort of fanzine... photocopies..., aside
418
we were reading the Kiltraza, little cove too... and there we had caught what Dadaism was.
Now that there is a relationship with punk..., there may be a relationship, but that the
we sought... it just happened.
(Ser punk)...I do believe so, I do believe so, because of the way we work. Get ready
you, the way to do self-managed nonsense, because at least punk is like that for me,
And so it left. One should be like this! Punk should be like this; regardless of the music
what you should do, it should be like 'Homage to Catalonia' and like Fugazi themselves do
independent nonsense, not necessarily touching punk.
For me, personally, I think that punk doesn't necessarily mean having the hair
It's strange, to not have weird clothes, but also if you have a group it has to be of a certain sound.

418
Kiltraza, an underground publication in the style of a fanzine produced by a sort of collective of the same name.
way, and generally it is oriented and rescues the expressiveness of Dada.
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typical punk... I mean I believe that, that punk can be anyone who is like... in
against something..., a person as active in what they are doing. I don't feel the same either.
as an active person... because I believe I could do more things.

My generation

Lost, dude! Lost. I think most people are like super

individualist, as they think about themselves; just like the same nonsense of having taken the PAA,
they think about making money..., like the same crap that sometimes they ask you: 'hey, do you still have'
a group, hey! and have they made money? ... that kind of nonsense ... "hey they are going to make a video" ...
I mean, I don't explain it to you.
It's as if people aren't aiming for anything, they don't even pretend to make a change.
personal. How do people think that everything is fine and that they are fine; they believe that the
things are wrong, but not because of them, like people trying to be alien to everything, it is
like alienated. Like they don't know anything, they don't care or like: what the hell do I know!,
how two towers fall (on the American September 11) and barely anything happens to them
It matters... how they just happen to know that there was a dictatorship!... they live in the air, they live it.
What is happening at the moment is just that. They are like the press, a bomb drops and that's it! The next one...
In the morning, you forget the thing..., I think that's wrong.

Activism.
... that if you want to achieve something, you have to start with yourself, you know, start with your ...
house and things like that,... it's also good to go out and 'attack' the streets with your ideas... but first...
Every person, every individual from all the groups must be convinced. Give your
ideas, put yourself in your house, your friends..., I think that's the only way to at least
to start, so that later the groups and all the other people become more known.
Punk is like a struggle, do you understand that it's a struggle? It's like achieving something...
Achieving something is really difficult. Of course, you have to start on your own, for yourself and for those around you..., but
if we are going to start getting together every weekend or we are always going to see each other or we
We know everything, damn it!: Then let's do something crazy! We ’re not getting anywhere with...
let's get together this weekend: hey dude, how are you!
(In the case of the band) the gig should be the place to work with the people.

The bad side of the activist punk scene.

What bothers me about punk is that everything revolves around the music,
that annoys me a lot. I mean, people get together when there are gigs..., they have rarely done so
trade fairs, only to distribute material, very rarely. Or if they are going to hold a
a play or something for children, they have to include a group at the end! I'm not saying that
it is wrong, but as if it were the strong point of the thing. As I was saying, I believe punk goes
Beyond pure music, anyone can have some idea of what punk is.

Punks destroy.

(For example)... at a jam session in Valparaíso... the money was to pay him the
passages to the Violent Migrants..., there are a lot of dudes outside the concert and they're not letting them in
enter. They wanted to get in for free and were drunk, they had spent all the money on the
liquor store on the other corner..., they were like this - as we saw them - drinking: "hey let us in,
"let us in"; and the crazy guy managed to stop the cars: we let them in. I mean, those guys.
they are wrong and the guys are already old, they are big.

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 CLAUDIA:

The evolution within Buenos Aires punk and 'political, activist punk and
construction (Ideas and trends of an open-use concept).

The idea I had of punk when I just started: I found it very

"destroy", and now, I think it's not so destroy. For example in Valparaíso - at least -
someone always ended up bleeding from the gigs; and it's true, it's not a lie, there was always
someone injured or stabbed or hit in the head with a bottle.
Besides the three of us, there was a group of friends who supported us, not
there were more people (in that).
(The old punk people of Valpo), those people were much earlier than us,
those people had within the lyrics of their songs from their bands: political, social lyrics,
but in reality, I don't know if they created collectives and if they did anything else, I don't have that
information.
As they were before me..., at least when we started with the
the issue was there was nobody else (that we knew), but then, shortly after, already
it began to be created in Quillota, in Villa Alemana..., people who started to move and everything.
The first people I talked to about Villa Alemana weren't that activist, but for the
Less was not the punk destroyer that fights in the street and that is his vision of punk, no.
There are still punks who to us who are in university and all that, they
They try to say that we are not really punk. They believe that just because they live on the street and
Machetean are really punks, because they adopted that destructive view of "Sid"
"Vicious", that's why I believe that within punk there are different forms, as each person sees it.
From your point of view, what is punk? I also can't go to that guy who is...
chopping up the dead of cure to tell him that you are not punk, I am no one to tell him
you are not punk. But I do believe that, within punk, there are different trends; and I,
Obviously, I lean towards a much more activist political trend, of construction.

Punk aesthetics, ideas, and family in punk everyday life: The context that
It makes sense.

I liked punk aesthetics for myself, although I believe that in reality punk does not
it's about the clothing, it has nothing to do with it. But I still like the punk aesthetic because I think that
It is also a way... to open people's minds a little, so that people can dress
Regardless, although sometimes punk also becomes uniform.
I find that daring aesthetics... help to remove prejudice from the
People, but I don't think clothes define punk either.
What I think and believe does not depend on the clothes I wear, I will continue being
punk even if I wear any clothes, I will continue to be an anarchist.
My family..., they don't ask me about my ideas, they don't ask me
nothing, they just want me not to dress like this..., more than anything they annoy me and they tell me
I don't use those belts, metal ornaments. I, for starters, haven't even made myself
tattoos, that's a personal choice, I really don't like to get tattoos or anything,
once I put some rings in the middle of my nose..., I don't dress very strangely either. My
Dad... it seems like the ideology doesn't matter to them, they're more focused on aesthetics. I
I believe that not only my parents, but many people see it this way, as they think that in
The moment you take off that clothes is going to change... and I believe that's not the way to go.
Unfortunately, I think that many people sort of self-discriminate from the movement.
at the moment they have to work; it makes me a bit sad because I think that inside
from the same punk movement there are many people who discriminate based on clothing, whether for not dressing
as 'punk'..., it makes me a bit sad because I think the anarcho-punk movement doesn't
It's a youthful thing, you know? I think it's an issue that goes beyond how you can dress.
like with the colored hair and all that...

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 I have friends who are not punks and who aren't even anarchists...
They respect me because they love me as I am, even within the university; like me, in
At first, I felt like they viewed me as the crazy one, like they had a
image at the university (where there is a lot of competitiveness)..., so it's like I
I envisioned that they saw me as the irresponsible one, but at the moment they realized
that I was also capable, so intelligent that I got good grades, as if they have
unprejudiced about that, but I think it will always exist.
One of the things I like the most within the punk movement is that I find
what is truly horizontal and where real solidarity exists, you know.
... and the anarcopunk label:
I don't go around saying that I'm anarcopunk. In reality, I kind of never do.
we have talked well: you are this, you are this other, because we don't like to put ourselves
labels. But I think that yes, if I had to define myself with something, I would.
At least, I feel detached from the guys who are partying and
tied up, I feel that I have nothing to do with them, that they are different kinds of punks.
But the issue of the label is mostly for... because suddenly within the
the same movement, there are many people who perhaps unintentionally, due to the same education,
because they are influenced by capitalism, by the dictatorship, they act like 'priests',
they are a bit dogmatic, so when you put a label on yourself..., like people who
It is said to be libertarian, a bit of a priest for its things, for example, I am vegetarian.
so I have come across people who are libertarian and tell me: I am vegetarian and
leather jacket, leather shoe. I am against that, I am against that.
someone is measuring how consistent you are with a stick. Everyone has their own way.
to be consistent, there are arguments for everyone..., I can tell you: I use leather, but I
I bought this jacket at a thrift store and, at least, I don't use plastic that pollutes more.
There is an argument for everything. So it bothers me a little sometimes to 'be more
"Papist than the Pope", I criticized that.
Be consistent with what you set out to be consistent, not with what is
It is assumed that it should be. Of course, deep down we are still police within the same.
movement, which implies existing to be freer, then it cannot be that they continue
existing "cops" or "priests" and dogmas. The Anarcho-punk movement or however one wants to call it
calling, it must be broad and interpreted in different ways, but always
respecting others.
All people have different ideas about what it is, but I believe more than anything...
anarchism is a way of life, an idea, a practice; but I see anarchopunk as
beyond, as a cultural thing, that is tied to what art is..., I see it more real, like
one way to put it into practice, anarchism is like..., it can be seen even as a
ideology, although I don't like to call it that, because even thinkers
anarchists have differences among themselves, so I see something quite flexible and that is
what I also like. But I see Anarcopunk as a real way to carry it to the
At least there are other people who see it in the unions, I see it in anarchopunk.

His political work from punk.

The first moment for me was working inside the university, because of the struggles.
what we had inside her: credit and all that kind of stuff; fighting against the Rector who
he had ideas that we did not like. He was outsourcing the services (privatizing the
university), all that kind of things; against that we went on strikes and all that. In the university
Where I study, it's hard to stir up people, because they are not very active, because I
I study a degree related to engineering and it seems that people are not interested.
a lot in the cultural area. About 5 years ago (we are in 2002) we managed to raise a
more or less strong movement. After that, we made a fanzine within the
university, which initially was not anarcho-punk, involved different people.
At first, we created the fanzine purely out of necessity, necessity within
the university, to inform our colleagues about what was
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happening and the possible solutions that we were providing. We wanted
to inform, that was it!
In fact, at that time, we formed a collective... there were only 3 of us and
In fact, to this day... I know people who still remember those from the
"R", as the collective was called. After the contingent event that was to strike and
this fanzine, we continue making the fanzine, but no longer only within the university,
but we also tried to distribute it outside. And, within the university, we started to
organize movies; we made videos, for example about Jodorowsky, movies that were not shown
within the university and also, we wrote things and glued them in the folders;
even though we were only 3 people: we made a lot of noise. There were a lot of people
around us that also collaborated with us. Not only punk..., but it could be
to say more than anything punk.
At that time, I started attending the jam sessions that were held at the Port
(Valparaíso), which at that time was much more 'destroy' than it is now. I believe that
In these 5 years, at least what... the gigs and all that has improved quite a bit..., five years ago.
Years ago we used to go to some jam sessions in a place called 'El Hoyo' and it was pure destruction, we
we were sharing information, we wanted a movement to start forming within what
it was punk, but... I even remember a time when we were dancing at a gig and it
All the information came in, a bunch of fanzines, and it seems like no one went to pick them up, so...
It impressed us a lot, because here in Santiago, at the same time, if
if you dropped something, immediately everyone would crouch down and pick up your things, and over there in Valparaíso, no one would.
Well, it was like there wasn't much awareness that punk was also associated with a
consequence and something more serious, if it can be said.
In 1998 we wanted to organize the 'First Libertarian Meeting', so
we named it. Those with 'R' were and we were the first group we had, and
we started organizing the First Libertarian Meeting; I was in charge of
get me a room within the university, but my university is somewhat fascist;
Then the director of student affairs said to me: "Come on, if there are no problems!"...
We had made the poster and there was a week left until the meeting and Mrs.
E. (director)..., I told a friend to go ask you why I was the only one who had...
pulled aside by the detour. She said: no, I'm not even considering lending the room. Not at that university.
they don't care about anything cultural or the Mapuche; nothing that goes beyond the
academic canons.
So..., a friend knew about 'Radio Placeres' and requested the radio space.
Pleasures and they lent it to her. That was on September 5, 1998, the day we made the
Libertarian Encounter. We liked how the radio scene was, and we started to participate.
but not making programs, but about the assemblies, about the unique dishes, as in form.
external, but actively participating. And already in December of that year, we started to do
a program called "Libertarian Waves," which is still ongoing (2002). I am the only one
what the program of those who were doing it since then still does. After that, it seems like
the group expanded, we adopted another name and the program 'Ondas Libertarias' continues, and
Now there is another program called 'Noisy Ideas', an anarchopunk program 'Waves'
Libertarias is a libertarian program that spreads the anarchist idea and social criticism.
another program is musical; suddenly they share their idea, they play libertarian music and
self-managed. In the Libertarian Waves, topics are discussed in greater depth.
In December 1998 and January 1999, we began to do the program and to
actively participate in the radio and we also started to hold fairs. Like in the year 1999
we did the fair, but it went super bad for us, as if no one was interested. In the early 2000s
we started again and it was really good, because we started with J... to do them and
afterward, distributors just started to arrive. Now, although we don't have a name or anything,
We are like a Collective of the Libertarian Cultural Fair, in which there are different
distributors and we gather with friends, we are the same ones who organize
tocatas. Although we don't have a name, we are a collective that moves ultimately.
every Sunday.

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 A lot of punk people come to talk, they stay there with us and everything.
Well, we do it in the center, there are many adults who have nothing to do with it and
who has been very interested and takes magazines and music too; and that is what we
we want, because we are not interested in this moving in a circle, but rather opening up towards
other people..., in fact, like the greatest achievement we liked last time, is that they called us (to
(radio program) a boy to win a fanzine, but you know that the boy listens
Cumbias..., not into punk, but she likes what we talk about and everything, still goes to the fair.
and all that. So that is super important for us.
(The Libertarian fair) we arrived and we just placed ourselves there, no
We have mostly had problems with the police, they have only thrown us out twice and
We are not even concerned about asking for permission either.

His experience with the activist punk scene in Santiago and the anarchopunk in
general.

The first connection I had with Santiago was when I came to a 'Fair of
"Fanzines" that was made in a squat of that time called "La Kasita" (1998) - at least
I was the first connection I had with Santiago at that time. We were making a fanzine.
what was called 'Gatillo', we drew 5 numbers and then we discontinued it, and from there that
We are still in contact until now. But here (Valpo) the action is much earlier.
...we arrived here in Santiago and we saw so many people involved in the issue, just like
we were amazed..., now that I remember, before the "little house", once we came to
a matter of October 12 at Cerro Huelén. That was the first time I had a
exchange of fanzines and all that, but I didn't meet anyone specific there. I came here as
in the anarcho-punk movement.
In Santiago, I find that there is more disunity, for the same reason that it is more
the movement is great, I find it to be a bit more disunited, but it also exists
solidarity. I like that, I find that there is solidarity and also the other important thing that
I find that there is no discrimination between men and women, although in some places.
it still exists, but I find that within the anarchopunk movement is where
less sexism exists.

Anarchopunk hospitality and international relations.

In reality, the contacts have mostly been from people who come to these.
places and we provide hospitality. Almost everyone who comes stays at my house.
from other countries: Venezuela, Peru, Sweden, Germany, Argentina, now in fact there are some
Guys from Argentina here..., from Mexico the Coprophilia also stayed and I
they have forgotten the other places..., also a boy from the United States, it's a kind of
solidarity, I love to welcome people, get to know them and understand how the movement is.
over there.
For example, I went to Peru because of a contact with a guy, via email, and
They welcomed us there and everything was fine.

The famous "punk destroy".

In Valparaíso, there are still many people, including... us

we organize several shows and we have many problems with the people at the door, that
they want to enter for 100 pesos, that they come dead cured, that they enter for 100 pesos and
then he goes out to buy beer..., we don't agree with that!, we don't agree,
they even treat us as capitalists; and we have never asked for anyone's sponsorship, yet
We have a bit of a problem with the punk destroy.

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 AMY:

From Madonna to the 'A' inside a circle.

(In England entering adolescence)... in England it was like music a

a little, I even had my first punk boyfriend and it was like they respected me in school, they didn't
he liked that it happened..., he was like the typical child who rebels against the world
taking drugs and listening to loud and noisy music.
At that time, I was listening to Madonna..., she was also breaking the molds of girls.
pretty ones who sang before. Years later I liked something that had already been said (Madonna):
there were girls who wrote to her and told her they wanted to be just like her, it made her feel
she was annoyed because she said that the best thing was to be able to be oneself, it bothered her that others
They would like to be like her. Madonna was like my role model for breaking up.
I lived across from a public library in London and I would run to the
library for little kids; what caught my attention was that I read what my brother
I was reading a while ago. Asterix was the one that attracted the most attention, but also stories in
Spanish, because there was a section of stories in Spanish and they were educational stories, like
that there is a lot of hand-shaking, I always remember being surrounded by books and things
educational.
The "A" of anarchy... was a sign I had seen scratched on the streets of
England, but I didn't understand much
I saw people believing the story here (in Chile) and I think for the first time I got it.
anarchy, it's like I started to know anarchy... here I saw the truth of the breaded meat, a
a little within punk, a true part of punk, not just an entirely aesthetic thing and
musical or rather commercial music, but it was true punk.

The Little House

The Kasita is what marked me the most..., we lived as a community. There was a
time we went every day and cooked and brought food made at my house and then
I used to cook there when we had a kitchen. There was a really beautiful community among everyone.
space where one could do things and at the same time share with other people.

The Occupier of 5 Vicuña, 'La Marraqueta': A learning circuit

practical.

I worked in the beginnings at Marraqueta, we opened the place, we started to

clean and then it started to get messed up, there were a lot of punk destroy. When I saw that I didn't have
return (I tried anyway), I went and came back about 3 times and there was no case.

The punk community, and its power issues.

And I have noticed that there are people who make and write fanzines, but that in
reality does not have a sense of community with the rest of the people... and that they do not
I buy those people, because they can be super smart and catch on to everything, but
if they don't live it.
I make a distinction between the people who live a little in the community.
punk and those who talk about punk and those who can be considered punk, but without
to share. In an occupied house, in a conversation, I find them elitist, they look at
less to others..., a bit because of egos, family, so many things..., even envy. For example,
the bands stick with the same organizers, it feels like they're just going through the motions
prestige in being with them and that the bands are not sharing with him
rest, like something of importance, of distinction.

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 Yes, I noticed that in the Kasita, even like I at the beginning of the Kasita, I didn't
I felt completely part of it and I wanted to go during the week, but it was like I
I limited going only on weekends because I thought it might be a nuisance... I don't know,
I didn't understand. And then I started to ignore that and participate fully.
(About the breakdown in the Occupied Kasita) I think it was also like a dispute
of being heavy, I saw a lot of the influence of... (it's a shared vision too). The dude
he was trying to do things his way and is super skilled. There were people who did not
they endured that, they were the people who had arrived from the beginning.

Production of identity and non-responses: Evolving from a sense

"another" to a space of its own.

Over a period of time, I realized that most of it

For an identity thing, I mean I've noticed that the more hardcore punks are the most
insecure, just like the goths could be too... due to a lack of identity, because of what they have
spending time with family, mostly having problems with the family. So..., finding something
that makes you feel strong or different.
I believe that comes with time, as one starts from the bottom to
up, it's like first you see what the shell delivers and the image of the punk and then
how you realize that it goes much further and that it is a matter of reading and
communications and doing it yourself.
I also think about friends who came closer because there was a
unease regarding problems that were not addressed by political groups or the school where
and that suddenly they found it in spaces like punk... which also attracts because of
his music and the aesthetics. From there, one develops their own idea. What I like the most is
that people have their own idea and do not go around peddling the ointment of anarchism.

Regarding considering oneself punk.

It sounds like a cliché or pretentious, I feel like myself..., I don't like labels.
For nothing, like to say 'hey I am punk.' Punk is a..., and I try to live it daily and
be consistent with my ideas.

The options: In the measure of a 'doing'.

One of them... veganism, I don't eat any animal products because I don't
I like, I don't like animal exploitation and because I also break the mold a bit of the
manipulation of the information regarding food alternatives. People are
It's a mess because there are no options for feeding, due to the Yankee invasion or imperialism.
it has its restaurants.

"Punk and anarchist in the Chilean way" was ironized by Coco Legrand in the '80s, and then
everyone is left with that idea: Does it matter how I understand it and who I am
consistent with that?

I have recently heard a lot of comments from people who do not have
a lot to do with punk or with anarchy, but they have been through it and get it
anarchists and they talk about the dissidents and those who demand a lot, they find nothing good in
life; and it can be.
I see punk as very linked to anarchism, because that's how I have experienced it with the
Objectors, other groups, with the people I know within the punk movement or
punk community, anarchy is always like the greatest symbol. I have noticed that
being punk is being anarchist, even if you have no idea what anarchism is, but you have to

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to be anarchist.
A lot of discussion and little practice... in all the groups I have been in... and
that doesn't reach the people. I have worked in various groups and 'pajeo' always happens.
"intellectual" of discussing a topic for an hour and then not arriving at anything, and
always with an 'outsider' perspective on what is happening, not feeling affected by the
things that one likes, always thinking: we have to work for the population..., I'm tired of it.
that.
I see it more as a daily struggle, to inform oneself, to inform others, and to be.
consistent, and to be a little tolerant with everyone. Which I have not been able to find in others
collectives, only by being alone have I been able to do more things.
I am currently making a vegan cookbook and I don't want it to be
like a fanzine, like any that is distributed during a gig or at fairs
libertarians... no more..., I want to reach other places, and for that I need a language much
more open.

Women and men, punk context: It depends on cultural practices.

There are few, there are always more men than women. In the jam sessions, there are many.
girls and boys also go to look for boyfriends/girlfriends..., it's purely a social thing. No
I trust the opinion of a child who refers to girls within the movement.
There are many people who feel that women can be resentful and feel
outsiders and discriminated. I haven't felt it, perhaps, because I haven't felt discriminated.
neither. Although suddenly, due to the same culture in which we were raised and raised by the
Dads take on roles, and one does them unconsciously because they have seen them and they...
copy..., for example, in the Okupas I noticed that it was more the girls who
they would grab a broom and sweep the floor and do the typical housework. But then that would
It was canceling a bit, because the kids were also participating.
As I mentioned, the number of children is much larger than that of women.
within this, perhaps that makes us feel less heard and with our
needs that are not valued as much. But that there is such a strong instance of machismo
within my group of friends, no. There are groups where the issue is pure partying and that to the
women are treated like bait to be caught and raped, in some groups (more
punk destroy), activists no!. Although there may be cases that yes: Santa Lucía and several others that
They have passed by the squatter at 5 Vicuña.

ALEJANDRO:

Building an idea of punk: 'Do something.'

At 18 years old (1995), I didn't consider myself punk..., I identified with the lyrics.
They claimed that this world is wrong and as Polla Records themselves said: 'No one is going to do'
nothing to change it". No one is doing it at this moment; for me it was like a call:
You do something!, finally I don’t know, find out what is happening in this world; if you don’t inform yourself
They manipulate you the same way. For me, it worked a lot and on the other hand, I was dealing with something.
existential, like what the Paranoid BBS do, with lyrics like super
personal: "I am jumping between the ruins", they are saying something that you live. It was
how to identify with that. Suddenly there were bands that even contributed ideas to you.
I didn't consider myself punk, when I started going to gigs and after a while I said:
yes, this thing is mine, this matters, I'm also interested in fanzines, I even made a fanzine in
at the time, I liked the music too..., punk was that.

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 The first gigs: Emotion and identification.

I felt that I was with people who were in the same situation; I, at the first gigs that
I was different, I was just because I didn't know any punk people..., suddenly I was hanging out with metalhead friends.
200 dudes in the same situation, according to you, it was like cool: I'm not the only dude who
think that everything is worthless!

Identification of a generalized "another punk": The current punk average.

Punk, now, for the masses, is an aesthetic thing, entertaining, with spaces for
expression. The guys say: This is worthless, because as a punk band they have to say
It's not that the guys really feel it..., that they suddenly really feel it; I
I think there are very few, very few.

Some punks want to do something different from the 'mainstream punk.'

People who are in the same situation despite everything..., different people who mean a lot
for me and that, in the end, you still feel like you're not the only dude who thinks that there should be
do something.
An option that has allowed me to meet worthy people and that has made me
I feel like I'm not the only one who thinks that this thing is wrong and that something needs to be done.
The basic thing is the rejection of the stuff, I don't like this stuff, let's change it.
but you don't know how, nor why, nor for what..., but you have to do it..., whether by scratching a
wall, writing some pamphlet, making a fanzine or throwing a stone. You want to do it,
but you don't know how... and everyone seeks their own way.
I believe that there are people who throw a stone for a reason, like this.
I believe there are people who are doing it out of pure stupidity.

The musical band against you: Senses of a means of expression, in the face of
pre-established.

I feel good playing and I feel, for example, that the lyrics that R... makes are really-
they identify me a lot; there may be details that I don't share, but for me it is
it's really cool to be able to..., stand in front of a bunch of guys and try to tell them:
Hey dude!, think a little!, our view of things is this. If you like it: awesome!; if not
they like: say no!, you know that I disagree with you, which the guys do not
They do it because they have the concept: star - public; those guys have that stupid.
concept: you paid for this ticket to be watching a show, there is no concept of
community, there is no concept of dialogue: because they are not interested!, for what? The idiots
they prefer to be passive entities and believe that the only way to be active is to be playing in their
pre-established group, there is ultimately no point in questioning.

The Fanzine: How to do it to express-feel?

I say that I also made my fanzine. The first time I saw a fanzine was
Intoxication..., crazy, it came out like a political thing, a story, a couple of comments
about bands, an interview with an incoherent band that no one knew about back then
moments... when no one noticed Super Deaf.
I also think that fanzines are something that is being greatly wasted.
Although there are people doing, unfortunately we are in a moment in which you
you read a fanzine and you read two thirds of the fanzines..., at this moment you have the 'Sal De Tus
"Trenches"...; those who make fanzines believe they have something to say, they are raising questions.
Union Pavilion, Malla wrote a very heavy article in which he said something
like: 'Punk is not dead...' (it said the following): 'They gave me fanzines and I was reading them'

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reading and I got really bored, it said the same thing I've read in the last 10 years, interviews with bands
from the outside that I don't know..., that skinheads are not Nazis..., the same shit I've read
always. In the end, this thing has become super snobby..., a snobbery..., because they don't write about
the reality that one lives every day..., these guys are not talking about unemployment, the pasta
dude, the shit I see every day on the street, why do these dudes get so excited?
to write about such a band, about such an album, they are not living in the real world. In everything
"This is the only thing I want to say: punk is not dead, from what I see, it was never born."
it's like the final stance of the dude.
Me, in the time when I did Subnormal, a time when there were no fanzines... there was
like 5 fanzines, there weren't many. I thought that maybe I had something to say and that a
the way to put it was like this. I wrote a little poetry.
...a form of expression, punk as a form of expression..., the people
You should just do that: you don't know how to play! Very well, you start making songs and you think that
you have something to say, you gather with your friends and create songs, you play them poorly, but you
You feel good. The fanzine is the same thing, you have something to say, you don't know how to do it, from
I suddenly wrote some things in your notebooks when you were bored in class..., suddenly the
together, you pass them through the machine, cut them out, make a collage, stick them, photocopy them and give them
I delivered to a friend and sold about 3 or 4.

Expression spaces of punk activism, a means to...

10 years ago you would go to a march, you didn't see punks and if you saw 1, 2 or 3 and how
Nothing and now it will be the same. Go to a political march with some content and you'll see punks,
guys in strange outfits, with anarchy flag, that also shows that there is
an intention, perhaps there is not a real clarity at the bottom, there is an idea of something beyond...
it is still something valid; I don't know if it really serves a purpose, but at least it's something. I think still
there are people who found this useful to channel certain energies. I think there are people who
makes fanzines and needs to express his things in a certain way.

Historicization of close punk practice. Examining the background of a

punk sense of weight: Identity and difference.

There is like a whole ideology behind it (self-managed label Masapunk), even

more important than the music recording itself is that the guys have something to
to say, a thing that is more 'hippie', one could say, also more idealistic. The type of
monetary exchange, the ways to distribute.
I believe that before there was no questioning of self-management, it did not exist.
mostly. I believe it is the year 1997 when this thing comes to light and from there everything arises.
the punk roll that is more political and more consistent with its political stance.
But I think there was a moment afterwards when..., in '98-'99 there was a
information saturation, as if in the end all the information turned into a slogan and
simply say something like: 'self-management is the solution', it doesn't matter what self-management is,
nobody knows, but it is the solution, why say 'occupy and resist' which is a song by Sin
God. Now the idiots think that going and breaking into a house, looting is 'occupying', and
occupy and resist, and occupy and resist: and that is the slogan...; the guys write "occupy and resist"
but there is no real intention and if there is, they are unable to manifest it and insert themselves
socially in something more than the punk group.
The few squatters I have seen have been like the experiment of the "Kasita" that
It was a mistake in the background. The same crap as the 5 of Vicuña, a bunch of punks who only
what they want is to be with the punks partying; although they say they have a more social vibe,
I don't know?. They don't organize those activities, it's done by people from outside who ask for the
space, the guys have to lend the space, act as if they are the owners of
the thing and they propose the non-private property!... but they present themselves as the owners of
space. There is no questioning.

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 I haven't seen them moving mostly and I don't see them going to others either.
Things. And to begin with, people that I have seen moving have left there because they realize that the
what does not flow.
Like the whole squatter thing, it's like they saw a report on TV that came out.
talking about how to occupy was to go and get into a house and we are all good vibes. And that is the
"Occupy and Resist": a slogan! There is no questioning, there is no background, they do not want
having it, what for? it's easier to repeat the phrases we've been told, to keep going
repeating, repeating just like they did in school with the multiplication tables. Now
we repeat simple slogans, simple poems: 'anarchy is the most beautiful thing I've seen', 'the
From the sun of anarchy, we will emerge and be freed from this night of capitalism." Cheap poetry and that
in the end it harms more than it contributes, and on top of that it's punk for the punks, there is no
a drag: let's change the world for everyone, otherwise the dudes swear that by drinking beer,
listening to a lot of music we are going to do something. The average punk swears that thing is punk:
Fuck, the punks resist! And what? What’s up!... the dude who is being exploited over there.
In the corner, the guys who are at the factory couldn't care less that you're there.
listening to a Sin Dios album or you're listening to Britney Spears, it doesn't matter a thing,
That dude is still being exploited... and no one is going to do anything because no one cares.
really..., doing something beyond implies what we all know: ending up in jail or
end up dead... and everyone wants to have a good time! Listening to music and drinking beer is
entertaining, punk, that's why it's entertaining; that's why there are people who are punk, because they take
a beer, they listen to music and that's it; there is no questioning beyond that and from there no one
he doesn't want to do it either, it's that simple unfortunately.

ESTEBAN:

The Punk School: From the punk rock gigs of the late '80s, the Dead
Kennedys, la Polla Records and Crass to the 90s scene with Disturbio
Minor, political punk and punk anarchism: Identification of a
context of meaning.

When I went to the gigs, I started to question many things..., I did too.
I was a kid, I have always had a super vision..., I went to shows, watched a lot, listened
I was tired, I had no friends, I would go and come back, but I came back, hey, I questioned something else..., always.
I used to go to gigs and the first thing I did was buy fanzines. For example, at punk gigs.
rock never made that kind of fanzine, but rather went more to hardcore gigs (towards the
´90), where I could get interested in a type of fanzine, another type of political ideas. For me, the
"Black Duende," I find that it was a good contribution... anarchist, it's just that I always understood
punk as an anarchist's egg. For me, anarchy starts to take shape with the Dead
Kennedys, La Polla Records give me a vision that punk is anarchy, punk is struggle
social, punk has to do with a radical change in you and in people and in the world, and there I
I'm going on a search..., to look for it in books, to start getting informed; well, what is this
a question that is talked about so much, that everyone says and no one knows..., that’s where I started to get involved in the
story, to read, to look for books, and I will tell you it is quite difficult, it is not that easy: "Hey well,
Give me 2 or 3 books on anarchy, it's not like that either, it's not that easy.
I was bouncing around for a long time without knowing it, without having basic concepts,
only from songs, for me it's super little..., you can't just stick with what they say the
Songs..., with the themes of the songs, you have to look for something beyond, if you believe in something.
you have to deepen it, you have to believe..., to lay the foundations. That's why it seemed ridiculous to me,
sometimes, many people talked about a lot of issues, but they just stayed there like that
they never took a step further, to me it was like a pinch on the ear..., it was a little bug that
helped to look for things: what was this issue of atheism?, I already started to read, what is this
question of anarchy?, I started to read, about environmentalism, about vegetarianism. I started to

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re-educate myself, for me it was a re-education. After this process ends: am I an atheist,
I am not an atheist; I am anti-theist, vegetarian, with a much clearer view of anarchy.
This change is positive..., it's not such a serious thing, at first it feels like you
stays at home. It also has to do with a change of clothes, sometimes one becomes introspective.
with a deeper issue and does not want to belong to society and seeks another degree of
belonging and you change, you throw away your old clothes, and well, you "disguise" yourself as something else. And it has
what to see also with what I ate and the whole story.
But I will tell you that the information about that is related to the information of some
fanzines, with the bands; for example: for me, Disturbio marks a stage within punk
Here, it is important to me, and everything related to the kids in that story,
Although I am not very friendly with them, I know them. (Before) I felt much more
represented by Polla Records; the bands of the '80s (in Santiago) were just as punk
more destructive. I always had that confusion of distinguishing between the stories, as always
I started to mix punk with a more political issue; I saw that there were people who combined it.
with a more destructive issue and more music.
One realizes when the first fanzines start to come out and the
first songs, political lyrics..., although I never experienced political work, the
collectives.
That political term is so used within punk that I don't know what definition
for me, it has more to do with a matter of social coherence, of a coherence
with you with the environment, with the story of developing another type of economic, social culture
and cultural compared to the traditional (in quotes), to the capitalist, is like looking for another
type of horizon to so many questions, the same as starting to re-edit you (music), the disbelief
In multinationals..., to say: you know what, there is another way to do things, and it is possible,
You know, and for me, that's the political, and that's where all the Crass story comes in. It's funny.
because I take something from each band, like Polla Records opens my eyes and makes me
He delivers thousands of eggs. I know English, but at that time (when I started) I still understood.
but it was with a dictionary: what does the issue say?, the Dead Kennedys; for me, La Polla
Records opened my eyes and the whole story, starts handing me thousands of nonsense, but
that I didn't know how to understand them all, but it made me look for them and get into it, but already
after Dead Kennedys and Crass, there is a sense that this can be done and
You see that the crazy ones are extreme, they reach a point where the crazy ones are so consistent with the
Things one says: "Well, you know that this frankly is no longer... stops being a critical issue."
but besides criticizing it, it also gives you a way to do it..., it's not the 'whiny' criticism of
pointing with your finger, and you go with the same finger that points, you catch a hammer and build
something.
There you realize the coherence and conviction of this, that you sometimes do it.
you want to search in another type of movement, or in another type of counterculture and you don't find it,
you won't find it; and to me that seemed Crass, although I am not .., there are few songs of
Crass, which I like..., but I would say, the coherence in their lyrics and in their work, I...
it seems spectacular, I would say, and it's been such a long time already, like more than 20 years, you realize that
the guys had the movie so clear, and it was such a degree of coherence that you could imagine it
that one can do things and it's like the first ear tugs come in,
start creating eggs after going through a process of self-informing and of
to grow as a person, until you have everything clear and start asking people
what do you get together in the jam sessions: "hey, we could do something", "hey, what do you think about this..., I
the same... me too.
These are the first jolts of doing something, after going through all that little
self-learning school within punk.

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 The old Hardcore Punk School of Minor Threat, 7 Seconds and the arrival
from Straight Edge

From there, I jumped to get to know another type of school, which has more to do with the
hardcore: Minor Threat, 7 Seconds and all the derivation of English punk. Here it is cultivated more.
Spanish punk plus some things from '77 English, but not very political. From there, you open up to something else.
story and then all that thing you say, like that’s where Straight Edge is just born...; I
I remember that before I knew all the Straight Edge people, because there were 30 or 20.
dudes in Santiago and I knew them all, because once we even formed a collective that
it was called Straight Edge collective..., it must have been '98, we used to meet there at the
center..., besides we were going to have lunch with the Krishnas..., but that was a reprimand for
me too, you know why: I hang out with all these people who I saw had a way of thinking
positive; we arrived and I said: 'let's do something', I wanted to 'do things' because for
me, this always had to be linked with a more political story, that’s why I told you that I
I have a school that is more 'punk rock, more political'. The other kids come from other places.
and they have never had this vision of punk so much..., and then we got together, but the kids
they always came to like: 'well, let's take out brochures about vegetarianism'..., but
No, I wanted anarchy! I wanted more. What I mean by that... trying to impose the
anarchist roll to the gigs, you know, see that story, inform the people, carry out
activities, having a collective, where information is provided, to address that issue.
For me, the diet419it's fine, but there is much more.
When I told you I was bouncing around, I had a political vision of the story;
a lot of people in the hardcore scene never had it and they never will and they don't care,
besides a diet, that only goes so far, besides having vegan shoes.

Vegetarianism.

I think there are people who take it just for a matter of style.
Life, for me, has a lot to do with organization and an economic way, of respect,
as a small contribution that you can make if you want to do it; there are people who do not
even if it seems that way, I find it interesting if you can have a slightly different diet
healthier regarding yourself and having a way of living that relates a bit to your
environment..., also has to do with a whole economic issue, where you know what
You have to see how much land for livestock is used.

The Anti McDonald's march.

The first one (1996), the second one (1997) there was no one, it was like 50 dudes, and
Now you go and there are 500.
In the first march, you saw all the people you know; I knew everyone.
the ones who were there, because it was the same people who participated in the hardcore gigs.

The Hardcore Straight Edge scene and my own sense of punk.

In addition, I started making fanzines and I always participated in the fanzines that they make.
my friends: like 'The Inhumane', 'New Era'...
Most of the people involved in the hardcore scene or the vast majority do not.
he has had a very political vision of things. They strongly defend freedom
419
The young person refers to the 'diet' when mentioning the general stereotype that underlies the discourse of
some people who participate in Straight Edge reduce it merely to the non-consumption of certain
foods and products (for example, in the idea of: Straight Edge, against animal exploitation = vegetarianism
/ veganism).
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animal, but that's where the story ends. A story about being drug-free and that youth
vegetarian and they give a whole story about what the diet is, but they never care about what happens to them
worker or what happens to the buddy from the corner or the economic shit. That's why, for me it was
like a shock when you realize that all the people who are there, up to here no more
You would see the same people and then you would go to a labor march or a
issue of human rights and those people are not there.

... In the air, looking for a place, uniting interests and wills: the
collective, the anarcho punk activism.

(In the group I participated in, "Straight Edge"), when I joined, no one had
that thought, nobody, nobody. There I was left alone, there I was left going in circles and there it is
when it was left in the air..., when a friend just appears and tells me: "I know a friend
what is Venezuelan and he has a thing for anarchy and wants to get to some issue like
a bus; I am also alone and you also work alone... so why don't we get together?...
"Alright then!" The three of us got together and later, more people joined us until by the
A group of 60 to 80 people have passed, there was a moment when there were 30 working, 30.
people!. In the end, we were the same, 10, 12 as always who stayed doing the
work. But you realize that it was a school for many people, many people who now
they have a political job. It was all punk, all punk, except for one person who arrived halfway.
on the way. But there are many known people who have done work now, of
importance, which have participated in 'Libertarian Force'.
All the people I know who work in the anarchist stuff, most of them.
it was, is or has something to do with punk and it's funny because it's people I know...
Do you realize that all that 'anarchist school' here in Santiago has a lot to do with
people who are related to punk, do you realize it or not?, maybe because of the Marxist background, no.
Marxist people don’t have such a punk school, just a few individuals.
Many played in punk bands... I believe that the people involved with the
anarchism, which is related to anarchism, I would say that about 80% has to do with
punk..., is a counterculture that houses so many people who changed, that the crazies of doing
schools converge into a greater thing.
We were anarchists..., we were punks in that sense. Until this day, I am
seeing that there are people who now renounce, say: 'no, that punk, no'; I say: 'when
wish for that, I tell you to wish for your own past, because without this, you would be anything. And I
I mean, I might be at any nightclub drinking Coca-Cola without knowing..., and that I don't
It matters what happens to me, nor to the side where my neighbor is, because that is what makes you be.
living in this sense (system): "I’m a dude, you feel that everyone is your enemy and that
You have to screw over all the dudes, the least supportive dude.
not all the people who go to the nightclub are like that, but for me, it's like the guy who is
just to have a good time, since the girl is pretty and we should enjoy ourselves and that
Dude, the 'rock and roll', what rock and roll!, but what music of today!... a music that today
is here today and not here tomorrow.

Learning as a collective.

There we began to show a type of organization through the

first words like federalism, first words of horizontality, we start to
talking like this, the first jobs with people...; I remember that at that time the started the
"Peñalolén takeover", we went to work with the people of Peñalolén and built a library,
we walked the streets asking for books, we helped people who sometimes did not
they had to eat; we did a job with the little kids over there. Not a thing of
to influence the crazy ones because we were just kids to them, the most
What we had were 22 and 23 years old, and others were as young as 15 years. It's not a cutting-edge thing.
that neither I nor I was their boss, but it was a degree that we all participated in

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and we were all 'equal', what was so preached in the gatherings..., it was a space where
we could do it and an open space.
Many people who had nowhere to go, to do things, come to Libertarian Force.

The first marches as a collective: The united people march without a party!

I remember that the first march we went to as Force

Libertaria..., it's funny because we started going to protests and it was us who...
the only anarchists and other crazy people were alone, but we were like a group
organized. Marches that there were, marches that the same 15 fools were walking.
always, young punks with pamphlets.
We were, for example, involved in the march of September 11 and we
we said: "well, the Marxists sang their slogans, all the different versions of
Marxism... and us: "The united people march without parties!... those idiots are us.
they kept looking ugly. Some colleagues from Spain came and we had our first.
red and black flag -they were already old-, they were a couple and they were with their son. They arrived
to meet with their Chilean peers and they only found young kids, still
for them it was exciting to see just a bunch of kids who had managed to lift everything up and
they were doing all those things. The next day there was a march and I remember that
They were singing: "Cops and soldiers, social parasites!"
We wanted to reach more people, we wanted to reach what was happening.
really.

The marches now.

It became a trendy thing, where you have to go just because you have to go, not even
they don't even know the background of why they have to go. For some, it's just a trend...
to call oneself a revolutionary.

The politics of punk aesthetics: What does it mean? 'Rebellion, I don't want to be'
as I am you, but as I am me.

The hair..., if I dyed it and styled it when I was younger, now I don't.
it can be because he/she is working.
Rebellion, I do not want to be like you, but to be myself. All of this is rotten,
but I am something different, I dressed differently, I ate differently, I spoke differently, I listened to music
different. You don't want a world like that..., we have to fight for a cause..., that all the
people can speak, where there is real freedom, where there is space for everyone.
Here in this society there is no space for everyone, those who are homosexual are pointed out with
the finger, the one who is also punk, they laugh at those who do not have the same social status, the one who is
poor; in short, such discrimination that...; that's what punk is about: tear down the barriers!

Epilogue: Punk and the First Words.

The first words of feminism, the first words of non-discrimination,

the first words of equality, the first words of coherence, of conviction, the
I found in punk. Sometimes a person doesn't have a path to follow, (punk) to
it has often served to create paths and experiences for people and for me, it served. That's why
There are many people now, it hurts my soul: not the punks!
They think they will reach an age knowing everything, they believe they have arrived at that.
(anarchism) without going through anything.

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 LEONARDO:

Delving into the so-called and burgeoning 'Hardcore Movement' from

Mid-90s: From listening, to approaching and visualizing
ideas.

When I started hanging out with people who listened to metal and punk, with greater
strength at 15 years old..., in the sense of having a sense of belonging..., people I knew at
step, in everything that involved sharing the reel, hanging out with them, listening to the music
etc. Conversing and delving deeper into the ideas. They were people who listened to the groups.
better known: Dead Kennedys, La Polla Records. People with a social critique, perhaps a
somewhat basic, but critical overall, a questioning that for the one who handles it can be
simple, but for the common person these are simply assumed matters without
to complain. And having them embryonically present and being with people who share the
the idea and moreover the musical taste, are justified as a belonging group that was
quite important for that age of 15 years (1994)..., I listened to almost purely metal. It's just that
Musically, I liked metal more, but I got along better with the punks, who were not
punks like this with mohawks and let's paint ourselves; but they were older people than me and listened to more punk
The new wave, they were more at an ideological level, they had their bands, but more like that.
neighborhood...; well, in fact they fell to the liter..., if at that time they were down, most are
perpetuated in that.
As I got into punk and hardcore in 1995,
the first gigs, but already in 1996 more continuous..., regularly attending concerts
punk and feeling more connected to punk and not so much to metal (in which I was involved). And to
from that, perceive more the meaning and the context where the meaning was generated.
music; particularly it was the time when what was called the 'Movement' was emerging
"Hardcore" around here, which initially sought to differentiate itself from punk. It was looking for
to differentiate itself from the traditional punk scene considered very decadent, very stagnant, that
has always been adrift.
Since I participated as an audience member, I didn't have any group; I had my friends there.
Little by little, I got to know more people and confirmed the postulates of independence.
doing it yourself
fanzine publications..., which were the metalheads (before) who managed..., but
within punk culture, precisely during that time with hardcore, it was a time
of resurgence, and more than resurgence... as it is known, the culture linked to Thrash
was much more active, especially regarding the publication of fanzines.
All of that was demonstrating that it was something more than just simple music, because
there were publications that not only featured, for example, interviews with bands, but also
They brought ideas in themselves, and I was mainly a participant in that because of friendship with the
involved and along with that I got to know more people and from how this scene
original split off from different gossip: "that the Straight Edge bands, of
that the politicized bands, etc. Some bands adopted more critical stances and
more politically active.
The basic tenets of punk had already been well absorbed by me, I had already
more background, I could handle, understood more, the people themselves too.
Many people who had been in a rather poor scene for a long time, that
suddenly limited to music and drunkenness were also receptive and he left
expanding on all this; in fact now, there are a lot of people making fanzines everywhere...
A few years ago, it was something that did not exist.

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 Making visible the nooks and crannies of punkness.

To begin with, I really like punk music and I've liked it for a long time and
I think I'm going to keep liking it..., and regarding understanding punk as more than just the
music, of course, as a stance and critique regarding society and beyond that,
as a way to adopt a constructive stance regarding that criticism one
In that sense, I consider myself punk. And in different shades, suddenly in life.
everyday or attitudes that can be considered punk, (for example) the fact of dissenting
when everyone agrees, to criticize, to be a voice that does not conform to the norm..., that
in the general field.
For me, primarily part of that attitude, and that attitude can explain a lot
other things that one does that are not really punk, although over time
associated with it: causes of social activism, in different forms, called participation of
political groups, education, dissemination of ideas, advocacy for minorities, etc.

The punk movement that makes sense to me.

Punk movement as a critical and even revolutionary movement... is postulated.

as a movement that gathers strength to achieve some kind of social change.
Within this, all these groups that seek, through some type of
activism, to come to constitute some change that is not simply a way of
to excuse oneself or to try to channel their rebellion in an easy way or to apologize to them
the same or to calm their consciences.

It's just music...

Around certain music and a certain aesthetic, ideals of change are formed.
social.

Evolution of nihilist punk to 'homopunk politicus': Other perspectives

guides for the current punk audience.

Persistent rather traditional conceptions of a nihilist punk that within

everything remains, but has been absorbed by these new perceptions a little more
constructive: Straight Edge and Anarchopunks (musical differences/ positive proposals in
common) vs/ punk nihilists.
In the '80s, the representation of punk was inspired by living in the moment more than
a real construction, because there was a disillusionment and subsequently after the plebiscite
From the yes and the no, that disillusionment was confirmed.
The phenomenon of politicization is a truly new phenomenon and within this
The current construction of punk, I think, has presented a constructive and positive evolution.
There are people moving, there are people who work around ideas and people who, based on the
music has begun to work much more on what has to do with activism than the
music in itself..., example: support for unemployed strikes.

My generational activism.

In 1998, I registered as a conscientious objector to Military Service.

Mandatory and I have collaborated in one or another fanzine, but my specific participation with the
Activism has not been very deep. I have participated in various demonstrations.
It reflects the discontent of the youth always stigmatized as apathetic; to
purpose of not registering for the electoral rolls, not just an 'apathy' but a

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luck of rejection of conventional methods of doing politics. I relate it like this, I
I participated in that because I got involved, met people, and ended up participating in it.
because it reflected me..., I am anti-militarist.

Antimilitarism.

I do not share, particularly when it comes to the Chilean military system linked to the
dictatorship still present..., the imposition of that thought and the inability to choose. That
is framed within what relates to a questioning of that supposed apathy of the
youth: "there are groups that are willing to organize and criticize the environment that they
surrounds the social system.

JAVIER:

Waiting for the punk fuse to be lit.

The day I said that I am not going to any more punk gigs, because the issue was already
More than being a joke, I thought I would never see all these guys who showed up again.
since '87 like mushrooms. It was the '90s and looking back at my past
linked to the punk scene it seemed like a nightmare with Pinochet's dictatorship included. I went
witness to what for me was the decline of the Santiago punk scene..., which in the end
turned into pure sleeves, fighting to show who was the most punk. I was one of the
who attended every performance that was presented, organized laboriously by some old men.
friends naively thinking that at some point a cooler story would be put together and
Seriously from the usual punk sleeve. I always wrote one song or another, I made
collage, some flyers that I stuck around.
But see the punk chaos, which was heading straight to form a kind of regulation.
to be punk, which ordered: being punk is being violent, wrecked, disordered and
ignorant, something that is very similar today.
... 1992 and had already spent a couple of years not attending any related space
With punk, I watched in surprise those years, that something new was happening in punk, but still
I didn't really understand it well, my contacts with punk were some good friends who were also punk, that
They were partly in the same situation as me. One of them called me on the phone and told me that on the 12th.
of October I had to participate in the march and that I would not believe what I would see. Once arrived at the
12, I witnessed something that seemed sensational: a group of punk freaks marching against the
celebration of the 500 years since the so-called discovery. I, a few months ago, had written
a thing for a fanzine.
I have always wanted to connect with other people who were in the same..., that...
They will create spaces to build interesting and creative things against this system of life
Tax. The thing is that later I found out about some radio programs like 'Sudakas Proceres'
done, I think, by people from the fanzine Intoxicación, and I said: "something is going to happen". I continued
writing to people from Valpo, from Quillota and from outside Chile to put together my project
of the fanzine.
Likewise, I really wanted to create a story and delve into the ideas.
anarchists who had caught my attention, after reading some zines that arrived to my
hands.
Well, at that time..., it was already 1996 and I started to get involved with a
the more anarchist history of punk..., I noticed that it was evolving in some sectors
small ones, something I came to verify over time.

The aspect of punk that I was looking for: Need for something ideological.

I had some information about the leftist political movement, but from the line
Marxist above all, my old man kind of knew about the anarchists, but he looked at them with
330
disdain. I did not share his very narrow view of the matter. When I had the
opportunity to approach the reading of some anarchist thinkers, especially
Malatesta and some reviews of other anarchists, I realized that they were things I thought.
for a long time and I considered extremely relevant to my vision of things that
They happen in Chilean society..., all that struggle for power or total control of the country by
part of the business elites that have military and political relatives. I realized that the
power is perpetuated and that the same socialists, like my father or the DC, now do not have
a big difference..., that now I am an idealist for the generation of friends
socialists, from my old man. But for me, all those people who lose their jobs for being
part of the Concertación, are they naive or are they sly?... the issue is that the ideas
anarchists deeply filled my punk ideological voids, for me punk had the
same recipe, the lyrics of the songs and the rage projected by the music proposed to me
search, criticize, inquire. Punk put into practice as most understood it
the punk cakes that I had to see and be hit or defend myself once I don't know
They did not differ in any way from any ignorant and incorrigible fool that inhabits this damn country.
smashed to pieces by the old c...
Punk dude..., punk brother..., the first time I heard about it, it didn't inspire me.
to never stray from my personal searches. I had nothing to do with the young people.
socialists, or any typical political bullshit, not even with the punk fashion of those guys who still don't
they haven't learned anything. I am 28 years old, when I started to see young people like others who
They came from the punk scene of the '80s, in a pause to create a powerful story, it was incredible.
Despite any criticism I may have, this space of more thoughtful punk (if I may call it that),
Something is going against the tendency of the fools to conform to go where it goes.
brutish mass. The machete punks that I see every day are the children and
little brothers of the punk gangsters of the '80s, at least now they have an example or
some alternative to watch, stuff that didn't exist in the '80s; the punk bands of those years
(I don't say all), they also had responsibility in the irrationality of their punk audience.
Many people were sleep-deprived, a lot of booze and drugs..., the ideological chatter was
poor and mixed with those things led to nothing, and much less if it transformed into
a flashy thing, for personal display and ego enhancement or in some cases,
destruction of the person.

Daily activism.
I have participated in one or another collective and collaborated with some squatters, among other things.
other things. But I think something very important is to conquer spaces every day, in
work, at the university, institute. For me, that's what it's about; the revolution they promote
some leftist university students may last until they find the first job, or
they have to work. The crazy ones are very closed, I see that in all areas. Many
they stutter anarchist or Marxist revolution and have the short circuit in their own
lives. For radical changes, you have to be patient, it's like planting a little tree or
taking care of a plant. Day by day. Whether you are punk, anarcho-vegan, pro-Cuba Marxist, from Silo, or whatever
outside.

Punk or anarchist?

This country, like many others, is a bastard thing that seeks its father to
that they recognize them..., just like you have the intellectuals of the left exalted in the '80s, as now,
indigenous roots or to the Mapuche brothers, calling themselves a nation...; perhaps these
the last ones have or had a clear sense of their identity. What are we Chileans: a bastard thing, a
mixture of one and the other. Liberal ideas came with Bilbao and other crazies that
they came from Europe, the soldiers learned from the Prussian Nazis, the chicha and the empanada
It is not exclusive to here; English has been taught in high schools for a long time, Latin was taught 300 years ago.
years. It is the product of a blender called Chile, but the result of that mixture
It matters depending on the guy who has control... you understand!
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 So punk is a bastard thing that rejects the father, for me it is the imposition.
of a way of life that I do not share and that I do not like, even though I have to live and work
exploited, but to the extent that it can broaden a space of autonomy, the question of
radical change will become more palpable. I'm not interested in working with people or groups that
they impose their hierarchy or lead some process with their organization; at the time that the
communists had the possibility of accessing power in a situation that
they would impose their arrogance and anti-neoliberal hierarchy on us as well and not to the
TLC.
For me, the story goes the other way..., anarchism complements my visions.
theoretical and practical and punk channels all that, creatively rejecting mindsets
the blind faith in unlikely glorious pasts or prosperous futures that only existed in
dogmatic minds and insecure personalities that raise their heads among the anonymous mass
which is not exploited every day.

Ethnographic Glossary420Expressions and uses within the universe related to the sample.

Roll: Expression used to refer to an important situation or ideas.

Caleta de cosas: Expression that refers to a quantity.

Cool: Something good, great.

do it yourself: Expression used to refer to manifestations, people, or situations that are

carried out under the logic of 'do it yourself'.

Expression used to refer to a number of things, people, etc.

Terrible lyrics of combativeness: (expression) Song lyrics with political and social accent of atmosphere
incendiary.

Tocatas: A concert circuit organized in coordination with the context itself (audiences and bands)
musicals, collectives, independent labels, distributors of libertarian material, etc.

Cuico: Expression used to refer to people who are opportunistic and alienated in their own wealth from the upper class.
material.

Pendejo: Expression used in two senses, first to refer to children, and second, to account for
in a pejorative manner regarding the behavior of an individual, in analogy to the expected conduct of a minor
age.

Pale peak: Out of stock, tired, deteriorated, etc.

Los Revoltosos, Paranoid BBS: Musical bands from Santiago, the first more oriented towards rock 'n roll and
punk rock; and the second, to melodic hardcore.

The punk scene: a term used to refer to both the general scene of any offshoot of punk as well as to the
space where participation occurs. The scene is composed of individuals, groups, networks, territories, historicity
shared, etc. The scenes within the punk universe can refer to both components of punk
activist, like audiences that enjoy a certain musical or aesthetic style.

420
Made in order of appearance (Significant Narrative).
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SXE: Abbreviation for Straight Edge.

"Family": Concept extracted from the English term "The Crew", used by people participating in the "old"
"school" and "new school" of American hardcore, which tries to account for the fraternal ties that it
establish within a particular scene (groups of friends, musical ensembles, ethnic background), a
luck of 'new localism.' 'Family' or 'the crew' is used by the machocore, hardcore scene and
straight edge from Santiago, it is even used by people related to Hip-Hop.

"Unity": Concept used in that scene, also derived from the American hardcore scene that
it tries to enable the encounter and the aggregation of subjects against the forces that separate them.

Because it is not Straight: A form used to discriminate against people, behaviors, musical styles, etc.
that are not considered within the universe of Straight Edge.

In a mess: Exhausted, destroyed, damaged.

I walk with an X: The use of an 'x' written on the hand is the traditional symbol used by Straight.
Edge.

Marcel Duchamp: Musical band from Santiago that is inspired by this character from the Dada Movement.

We were scraping the potato: (To get stuck) expression used to account for the obsession with a theme or
determined situation.

Independents: A concept that includes both musical styles, scenes, musical bands, record labels,
ideas, positions, etc., that present a certain distance and autonomy from the circuit of production, distribution of
the mass music industry and the dominant and institutional cultural universe.

Punks Destroy: Image of the punk, derived from a sector of the British punks and originals of the late
'70, whose practices and discourses mark a 'negative', 'destructive', 'self-destructive', and nihilistic view of
things. Its birth is baptized from the use of the slogan 'No Future', used by
musical groups like Sex Pistols.
Punk Destroy, at the same time, was shaping an identity group within punk, which
delved into nihilistic and ironic themes and visions of life (for example, the Spanish group
Eskorbuto.
Young people related to the universe of the sample (in general) use it as an expression.
pejorative and generalization derived from the stereotyping of behaviors considered negative of
some punks (irresponsible behaviors, "criticizing and doing nothing", street fights, dedicating themselves to drinking and
to get high, to interrupt with their behavior, the activities organized by other punks). To the punks destroy,
they are associated with a certain aesthetic, which resembles that used by the British or Spanish punk scene (in general)
from the period between '77 and '84: boots, leather jacket with studs (or studded), hair dyed with
colors, Mohicans, chains, hook pins, tight pants, etc.

Machete Punks: Categorization of the image of some punks derived from the activity of begging
money in the streets. They are located within the signs of Punk Destroy. From the universe of the studio of
they tend to be negatively viewed as a negative image of punk and a group of people who do not
contributes to nothing.

Violent Migration: Argentine an anarcho-punk band

Destroy: Abbreviation for referring to the Punk Destroy.

To ask for money.

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That destructive vision of 'Sid Vicious': Image of the negative vision of punk, associated with the model of
reference, based on Sid Vicious.

...is libertarian: Expression used to classify manifestations, musical groups, etc. that participate
of non-authoritarian ideologies.

"Pacos" or "priests": Images that metaphorically account for people within the universe
punk activism, concerned about adhering to what is considered - in their understanding - 'politically correct'
within anarchopunk, anarchism, etc.

Coprofilia: Mexican band related to anarcho-punk that visited Chile (2000)

Vegan food: Reference to the option and diet based on not consuming any derived products.
of animals. Practice of not contributing to animal and human exploitation. This action and ideology that
it means putting into practice, through example, a cultural and economic alternative of relating to the
environment (including vegetarianism).

Libertarian fairs: Significant space for participation, buying-selling, and distribution of libertarian materials.
anarchopunk, anarchist.

(...)a thing that is more <<hippie>>": Expression used to refer to ideas, practices that are more
idealists.

"Black Duende": Anarchist publication from the early '90s (Santiago de Chile).

Vegetarianism: An option and diet based on not consuming animal-derived foods, but it is allowed to
consume derivatives from them (eggs, milk, etc.). Practice of not contributing to animal and human exploitation.

The Inhuman

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XVIII. PRODUCTION DE MICRO IDENTITY CULTURAL:
IDEAS, PRACTICES AND TERRITORIES.

1) Ideologies:

Questioning as a preamble to later searches and de-identifications

with the present socio-cultural model.

The permanence of a set of ideas that we identify within the discourse of

The young people in the sample regarding punk start to take shape from its origin.
his first concerns, stirred by questioning his own situation
lived up to the identification of 'social evils' caused by the social system and
imperative economic.
The fact of questioning opens a path of search - at least in this case - of
other alternatives, of an original and own sense of life, of an argument that arose
from oneself" that is expelled through oratory, aesthetics (clothing,
" "
citizen"), in order to later re-signify and deconstruct the dominant and antagonistic discourse against their

searches and wishes.

The dominant discourse is already known, in part within its visualization and
post-reflection on the function of the institution of the family, the school, etc., for the
reproduction of the logics of hegemonic culture; that is, their narratives account for
important moments to define the incorporation of the dominant social program,
spearheaded from the first and second socializing phases, within their horizons and
expectations: individual, collective, and generational. The intention we interpret is the
to say, first of all, 'no' and then 'why', and later delve deeper into those
expressions.
This deepening is giving rise to the formation of certain ideas around the
punk activist space, which is understood by keeping in mind the historicity and biography of the
subject around its journeys and existential marks, based on a certain understanding of

335
practical positions and orientations to follow, which makes certain things significant
ideology.
The search for answers and background to the 'rules of the game' that are presented
based on the expected roles, from family, school, and peer institutions,
they increase a certain questioning (not seen so explicitly by the young people of the
sample) of what we understand by the context of socializing content (1st and
second socialization) of the dominant culture and dominant discourse.
The questioned references by the subjects arise from social images,
captured in everyday existence: relationships between generational peers (for example, the
consideration of others as apathetic and manipulable), opinions of the family,
sociopolitical junctures (the dictatorship in Chile), the economic system considered disastrous
based on the inequality observed and experienced, in some degree, personally or
close (family, friendships). With this, we find a search process to channel the
concerns that arise from questioning, sensitive concerns, governed by a feeling
tending towards mobility and not towards inaction: whether it be a nebulous destination of
identify.
This search is in tune with the specific orientations of the
subjects that are signifying from this context that we call referential of meaning - in
this case - activist punk and anarcopunk. The encounter of unsuspected sources and
The guideline to follow depends on the subject's own visualization and the contribution of the environment.

to manage your search, reflection, and argumentation of contents, ideologies. If you want,
the cultural and symbolic capital of each subject comes to light when implementing a certain
vision and discursivity. The first is the discovery of 'what is there' and 'what else' can
to be given in this symbolic activist punk universe, which begins to arise as to share
a daily sensory experience:

Amy:
I believe that comes with time, as you start from the bottom.
upwards, as if you first see what the shell delivers and the image of the
punk and then you kind of realize that it goes much further and that it is a
things about reading and communications and doing it yourself.
I also think about friends who approached because there was
a concern about problems that were not satisfying political groups or the
school they used to go to and that, suddenly, they found in these spaces like the
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 punk... which also attracts for its music and aesthetics. From there, one becomes.
their own idea. What I like the most is that people have their own idea and
do not go around selling the ointment of anarchism.

What is presented implicitly is the certainty of being inserted into a 'doing' and not
to remain in pure criticism,
punk activist for the subject and their individual as well as collective quests:

Pamela:

It is a moment of searching again... in our own lives, perhaps

more than as something that could affect a lot of other people. That's how it begins,
since I saw building a different adoption than the one imposed. For example, what is it that
I rescue a lot from punk: suddenly not having to do what you are supposed to.
you have to do, it's like those minimal moments of freedom and how to be able to choose
for other things and to believe in those things..., yes, well that's fine...; I hope all the
people could - I don't know - choose their destiny, have options. That's what I saw that
More was being built, I saw how relationships were being formed, perhaps even before that.
now, but the relationships as much more supportive, as more human: me
What happens to you matters, more affectionate. I think I don't feel that way so much now, but
I think at one point, yes I felt it. Seeing other people and doing different things.

In this 'doing', the essence of punk becomes visible and defines a certain load of ideologies.
which are expressed in their existential orientations.
The horizons of rejection and radical change in society seek
clarity among the rubble and ruins of a past of collective hopes, perhaps not
significant and shared by all of these young people, but yes, in their capacity as
renewal and social transformation.
The north of their ideologies, which can be summarized in a certain way while preserving their

own contributions, in anarchist doctrine in general, point to the construction

relatively shared of a significant ethos of values and propositions, in order to
respect for life and different species, the non-exploitation of 'man by man or
animal and human
from the family, relationships and gender roles, to the educational institution
(school, university, high school, kindergarten), friendships, even institutions like the
State, the representative democratic system, the neoliberal economic system, the Church,
institutionalized religion, cultural industry, etc.), identified in mechanisms of
repression, containment and everyday deterrence such as: weak access for people to the
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satisfaction and provision of basic needs along with the differentiation of care
according to the socioeconomic sector, the overwhelming culture of consumption framed in the

saturating advertising and television programs, which is pointed out as a figure

tamer of the human person due to framing itself as a type of 'non-entity'
traditional mass education
individuals without a transformative direction for their unassumed oppression.

Claudia:

Anarchism is a way of life, an idea, a practice; but the

anarcopunk, I see it as beyond, as a cultural thing, that is linked to what
it's art..., I see it more real, like a way to put it into practice; the
anarchism is like... it can even be seen as an ideology, although I don't
I like to call it that, because even anarchist thinkers have
differences between them, so I see something quite flexible and that's what
I also like it. But I see anarchopunk as a real way to take it to the
practice; at least there are other people who see it in the unions, I see it in the
anarchopunk.

Pamela:

I have some ideas about what I would like, obviously a society

without classes, that is something fundamental, where there are no exploited nor exploiters, nor
neither poor nor rich.

The ideological meanings are constructed in the mutual relationship of the subjects.
within the activist punk space or 'anarchopunk' (universe inclined towards ideologies
anarchists); each individual composes and propagates, around their statements,
actions, discussions, a type of activist punk discursivity that pours into a system
of moving signs, through the conjunction of ideologies, practices, and territories
significant. That is to say, when stating - for example - the desire to transform relationships
among people in a more supportive and affectionate way, efforts are made to carry them out,
starting first with a review of one's own behavior towards others; from there,
generate in the close space (space of the collective, family, friendships, daily life), a
types of practices related to this: for example, implementing demonstrations of
affection, socially denied to men, such as greeting with a kiss on the cheek or
showing affection towards other men, addressing problems directly with the person

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affected and not falling into the use of 'going with things behind' as they express, to consider that

all the voices of the participants in a given space, in theory, must be heard.
to practice 'listening to the other', not to overshadow in the decisions of a certain action
to those dissenters, rather a direct democratic system is sought that supports
both the execution of collective and individual actions, assumed by a component
significantly of will, which expresses from this space, an ideation that enhances the
individual responsibility despite elements, within the activist punk space that makes of
"police" of political correctness within "anarchopunk and punk activism".
The ideology is shaped based on an individual identification of closeness.
with some specific goal or idea. It is assumed by one's own will, by 'choice' (like
the young people realize.
In this regard, we found in our research a compelling feeling to build a
authentic identity, but how is that understood, if we observe from the outside, certain
signs of a punk rhetoric expressed in some outfits, spaces (gigs)? Punk
it acts as a gear, as a platform for building possibilities and discursivities
individuals, in the face of a desire for existential companionship and a transcendental "doing"
that involves a social totality (understood as diverse), from a position
relatively shared collective in its particularities (methods to achieve an end), and
of a certain unanimity in the way of 'revolutionizing' the order of things, of making it fall
capitalist system, to see the emergence of a type of society without centers of power and structures
hierarchical, where production has a social purpose and not economic surplus value.

The incorporation of punk from a reactive sense.

Punk is incorporated from a liberating, creative, mobilizing significance.

personal and collective, of construction in opposition to the system and other forms of being punk,
observed in other acting subjects (the so-called 'Punk Destroy'). The meaning
the punk reactant meaning for the young people in the sample is inscribed in the reaction against
to the order of things that displease them and in front of the punk universe of another punk, opposite to

sense of the practiced punk.

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Punk as a reactor of meanings.

The approach to the punk sign by young people (whether it be music and lyrics of
songs, observed activist punk practices, etc.), at some point in their experience
vital created a type of trigger mechanism for contained energies, of potentialities
evoked by the word, by the "energy" that emanates from the "punk word" before the
emotional reaction of the subject, the positioning of scattered 'and somewhat crazy' ideas that do not

they fit into the regular mechanisms of expression, understood as youthful etc.
(sports, political youth, christian groups, youth parliament or demonstrations
traditional and considered harmful issues such as juvenile delinquency, gang activity, etc.). This
the mechanism was striking and meaningful, due to a multidimensional situation that it
congregate: on one hand the social relationships and friendships that make up some enclave
punk, the diversity of punk musical expressions, the aesthetics, the way of presenting oneself
the others, as a concomitant effect of the inclusion of these and other elements.
Punk as a reactor of meanings is composed of the ideas, discourses that are going
gestating from the subject's identification with the significant punk referent
(specifically related to punk activism and anarchopunk). The meanings depend on the
individual motivations and expectations and those of the transcendent group journeys
adjusted to the exchange of vital experiences.

The importance of the word: the punk scream.

Not all the young people in the sample reached the punk context through the same.
channels, but yes, we can read that the word "punk", at some point, became transparent
her own voice, eager to equip herself with this reactor of senses, in order to express her feelings
life experience computer.

Victor:

One way to show that one does not agree, a way to demand that
there were things they had and that were going to change by the methods of others or of
us. Now for me, punk is my way of living, my way of being, of eating,
to breathe..., it's the way to face, how to stand before life. It is my
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 way of being, of expressing my disagreement with the things that I think are wrong. My
way to create and express my culture, what my culture involves and that of many people
what is around me. My culture, whether musical, aesthetic; not just clothing
but rather aesthetics... plastic aesthetics of what it entails, from a magazine, a
book, up to architecture, the design of things up to the way I express myself
towards other people, the way of coexisting..., living in a horizontal manner without a
authority, not having intermediaries, nor loudspeakers, nor spokespeople who go like
representing or saying: yes or no, that you do it..., acting in first person
person always, together.
Being able to express all that energy or all that initiative or motivation that to
one causes social discontent. And it is not social discontent, focused on the
the sense that I want to help like the 'poor' or I want to help people
what is wrong is that I want to be a participant, I am a participant in a society
Even if I don't want it the way it is..., I'm still in this mess. I am,
maybe inside, I don't know if I'm inside the system; I think I am... and being able to be
acting consistently until perhaps bringing it down or creating instances to
that later it may change..., inform people, since the information is
as well manipulated. To make people aware and inform them, to exemplify
perhaps, with concrete facts so that people realize that it is not needed
intermediary to do many of the things that might do them good or maybe
they are missing.

The punk sign is then transformed into a tool of meaning, in a

platform for the expression of individual and shared senses, which together goes
building the architecture of a contextual reference of punk sense, with its own
ordering and expectations.
For this reason, we believe it is first necessary to distinguish "the desire for a cry", the emotional gesture.

to be reborn before fate 'as a battle cry', which we interpret from the punk sense
meaning from the discourse of these young people. That implies an 'artifact' that intersperses
sensations, emotions, ideas, desires, etc. within vital and meaningful moments,
as against the wear of social expectations projected by society in its
set and by the words announced by the dominant culture, advertising, education,
commercialized human relationships, that is, through the abuse of words, through the wear and tear of
liberating words like "freedom" (for example: the propaganda of
"Smartcom" which refers to its prepaid mobile phone service with
the advertising idea 'the pre-payment of freedom'.
This is not about 'instinctivism', rather it is about a complementarity that brings
the human being, as an animal and biological being, that lives in the 'nature' of the
symbol, of culture or as analyzed and stated by Ernst Cassirer: "instead of defining the
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man as a rational animal will be defined as a symbolic animal" (Cassirer,
1976: 49). It is the call of human symbolic nature to express itself before the
domestication of the liberating word instrumentalized by the hegemonic culture.

The ideas that arise.

These ideas are generated individually and collectively (as we envision with
previousness), but they are enhanced through interaction with another signifier
(so close: friends, friends from the group or distant, the network of people connected in other ways)
points of the country or abroad). First, we identify the signals that the letters of
punk songs (not all obviously), fanzine articles and certain practices go
nurturing some significant ideological orientations.
For its part, the subject's experience, from its knowledge, overlaps with this.
"tool" and reactor of meanings that punk represents. As one of our
interviewees: "it's not about reaching punk," and similarly, one of the young women
Women participating in the study expressed: "anarchopunk is another form of anarchism."
That is to say, ideas are heading through this reactor of meaning that punk
it assumes for this group of young people.

Ideas are shared, judged, questioned, and learned within reflection.

individual and the experience of sharing with a significant other.

2) Practices:

Be active.

The practice corresponds to both individual and shared actions as

external and internal to the reference context of the young people in the sample. How can we
observe, there is a series of manifestations that are practiced within this space,
for example, the traditional 'tocata', organized by the members of the bands or by some
collective, has passed over time to the coordination of activities
planned, protests or local, national and international meetings, since the
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networks and communicative circuits extend in that way. The punk practice,
anarchopunk, as a visible criterion, both in discourse and in action (in a way
general), transcends the referential context of meaning, which serves as a matrix of patterns and signs to
consider, which are attached in the daily rhetoric of the participants, for that reason it is
It is common to hear and read in their publications the signifier 'active', which makes
to connote the desire to carry out this ideal guideline and condition of being anarchopunk, punk
political or punk activist as we categorically identify this universe of
people related to punk.
Being active depends on the individual characteristics of the acting subject. The media understands by

active: participating in a collective, as a core builder of significant episodes

in individual and collective history. Likewise, traditionally integrated spaces
focused on active participation: forming a musical band, creating a fanzine, organizing
tocatas, etc.
Collective activism has currently gained greater visibility.
It should be noted that throughout this chapter we will provide more details about the group.
but that is not the only way to manifest oneself 'actively'; what is part of being
active is that questioning that we pointed out in the previous section, and to move from that questioning to

a "do".

The day-to-day life of an active punk individual: the implicit politics.

The meaning of activism, from the subjects, is intertwined as a taking of

political position, as the voluntary commitment to oneself and collectively diminishes
increasing. The contractual situation of participating in a traditional political context does not
it has greater support when it comes to measuring with the same standard the degree of implicit politicization

among the participants. Here we are talking about a policy of will and from the
individual responsible for their decision-making. For this to happen, as indicated by the
Young people, it is necessary to 'start with oneself.'

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 Francisco:

...that if you want to achieve something, you have to start with yourself, you know, start with your
house and things like that,... it's still good to go out and 'attack' the streets with your ideas..., but
First... each person, each individual from all groups must be convinced.
What's up. Share your ideas, put yourself in your home, your friends..., I think that's the
the only way to at least start, so that later, the groups and all the others
people be more well-known.

We visualize through interviews and our observations, a reference

to politics as making positions for the attempt of a social transformation; this
reference to politics is expressed in his writings, participation in assemblies, collectives,
street activism (marches, coordination of protests, occupations). It follows a
political objective of social transformation that tends to be visible within the cultural field,
through the organized activities: cultural gatherings, library organization
popular, participation in popular pre-university programs, workshops for the community, etc.

Victor:

(...) I don't find them to be exclusively punk, but I found them super
important the fact of being able to occupy spaces, free the space and return it
to the citizens, to the people there, whether it is called a neighborhood, community, or whatever it may be.
To occupy a house and create an open space for everyone in the community,
a cultural, political space; a generator of people who are not within..., people
that perhaps she is simply self-marginated.

...I saw it as an exemplification that it was not necessary to have as

help from the Municipality or help from the Government or waiting for someone,
Any outsider who came to tell us what we can and cannot do.
to do, to live, or how we should live.
For me it was an experience... with all the people I participated with, an experience of
achieve other things, other occupations and improve them. Many people from the neighborhood
he understood, he got to know us and knew that we weren't "that bad", nor that crazy, nor that
crazy like we see on TV. The 'kasa' was important because in the
"kasa" was not only attended by punk people, various types of people participated... one of
the best things.

This policy is based on the will of the subject, which takes into account their subjectivity.

It has a place in the current concept of doing politics that is challenged by intellectuals.
governmental or the professional political class perpetuated in it. This is a policy -
keeping the proportions and opening the topic for future research - of the
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community, from the construction of a broken community; in the case of young people from the
sample, from a 'dreamed' community, from a future community from the present, that in
certain spaces have been attempted to be captured (for example, the Okupas). This policy of the

community and from the will and subjectivity is quite well linked to the position
anarchist, which, in its foundation, considers and leaves "free-handed" the possibility of
construction of the subject itself in the face of taking positions, that is, a proposition of a
subject free from coercion. Then, this community policy implements the action
from the individual subject to the collective: actions carried out from behavior
of the individual in relation to their close ones (friends, family, colleagues, groups,
etc.) up to the coordination and execution of certain activist activities. It is a
politicization of daily construction, from the subject with themselves and with society. To the
sometimes, it is a learning process, since most do not have training
politics; rather, it is a knowledge that has been incorporated into practice and in the
deepening of the political notions of anarchism and other strands through the
conversations, readings of fanzines, books, the realization of workshops, courses, meetings,
conferences, etc.
It is important to highlight the existence of a component of will and desire.
personnel to coordinate with another to carry out the sum of individualities and
interests, to common goals. As we can see from Esteban's journey in his
participation in the collective "Liberty Force" and attendance at marches like corpus
coordinated

Esteban:

I remember the first march we went to as Force.

Libertaria..., it's funny because we started going to marches and we were
we the only anarchists and other madmen walked alone, but we were
like an organized group. Marches that there were, marches that we were participating in
same 15 guys as always, young punks with pamphlets.
We were, for example, involved in the march on September 11 and
we said: "well, the Marxists sang their slogans, all the
different versions of Marxism... and us: "The united people march without
matches!... the guys were looking at us funny. Some comrades came from
Spain and we made our first red and black flag - they were already old -
they were a couple and they were with their son. They met with their
Chilean friends and they found only little kids, it was the same for them.

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 Exciting to see only kids who had lifted the whole thing and them
They were doing all those things. The next day there was a march and I remember
they sang: "Cops and military, social parasites!"
We wanted to reach more people, we wanted to reach what was happening.
really.

We also find certain self-imposed objectives of 'doing

"something", to put into practice intuitions and criticisms regarding the topics that motivate them to this.

"do something" and break the silence. Activist practice is increasingly oriented towards the spaces
close to where the subject, in this case the young punk activist, moves.

Pamela:

In my last year of high school, I got involved and we did a lot of things, like...
"war" with the director was something that didn ’t stop, in fact, it was a super year
it was a mess. At my high school, things went wrong, the police arrived and entered the school.
they started bringing people... because the students wanted to have a water fight,
my course had nothing to do with it. We had been putting up some posters
outside the high school, then everything started to mix. They were some posters
criticizing education: it was incredible!.., it was the best of my life...., no one like
anarchist has an idea.

The work, within the space close to the subject, exemplifies a way of
political coherence of integration of the different areas where the subject operates and their
practices, in the form of participation and activism.

Claudia

The first moment for me was working within the university, because of the
struggles we had inside her: credit and all that kind of stuff; to fight
against the Rector who had ideas that we do not like. It was
outsourcing services (privatizing the university), all that kind of stuff;
against that we held strikes and all that. At the university where I study it costs
a lot to stir up people, because they are not very active, because I am studying a degree
which has to do with engineering and how people don't seem to be very interested in it
cultural area. About 5 years ago (we are in 2002), we managed to establish a
movement more or less strong. After that, we made a fanzine inside the
university, which at first was not anarcho-punk, participated differently
people.

Punk practice intertwines personal choices like quitting

consume certain products made under conditions of human exploitation or
animal (becoming vegetarian, vegan, frugitarian), not participating in spaces
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controlled or managed by government and market institutions
(Hegemonic institutionalism). It is an action of struggle, both in the subjective realm
individual as a subjective and objective collective, towards the power of institutions. Within
From this, the action of not consuming drugs and alcohol is also added as a motto.
personal and lifestyle, in view of the visualization of a social medium (both young people as well as

adults), willing to these practices generally considered as "destructive",

"numbing," and the profit that lies behind it. This adoption is encouraged by the version
of the punk called 'Straight Edge', which initially stimulated and provided certain
guidelines on punk activism and anarchism, certain dissemination of practical elements and ideologies

(although it is not exclusive to it, it spread - in part - from its influence):

vegetarianism, the fight against animal exploitation, etc.

Pablo:
I remember that at that moment I was no longer drinking, I had taken and smoked marijuana...
but I arrived there and started to reflect, because they give you like
tools or they give you for example: pamphlets and fanzines, which you are not
used to reading and that went beyond simple protests, they were going to a matter
more personal, like a personal change.

By the way, the term option is recurrent in the discourse of our

interviewed, both from the sample and during the participant observation work. The
option refers to what implies an individual logic of subject construction in
first instance, but in the second instance, to a certain societal atmosphere, and within the
youth segment, in the case of drug and alcohol consumption, of "subtle pressure". What
What does subtle pressure mean? It implies that youth consumption practices of
drugs, for example, within the different youth spaces (either by class, etc), in the
current events are part of a common cultural guideline and 'that is there', 'to be
taken or not; the current trend, possibly observable within some spaces
juveniles, it is that the social sanction of yesteryear of a young person towards another young person for consuming

marijuana (for example), is hardly present anymore (if it no longer exists). The impressions
juveniles in this regard, report a feeling "that everyone does it" and that it is there

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present the topic of consumption, which is already part of the daily experience of children,
young people and adults.

In the same way, personal options regarding the consumption of certain

products, considered as exploitation and cruelty, are taking political destinations
global, from this individual political will that is signified as a contribution of
subject to society and to himself. Esteban, in this case, reflects on his personal option and
from the environment he knew within the Straight Edge regarding the practices of the
vegetarianism in relation to animal exploitation:

Esteban:

I think there are people who take it only for a matter of

way of life; for me it has a lot to do with an organization and a way
economic, of respect, like a small contribution that you "can" make if you do it
you want to do; there are people who don't see it that way...

Now, returning to activist punk practices, young people feel that they are doing something,
perhaps not enough, but the fact is to stay active, that means that
we are facing an open and ongoing process that tends to be seen as a
adoption for life. That is, to incorporate into this political expressiveness of practice
punk activist, a change in the personal sphere, considering that 'the small is
beautiful
construction of the subject, but as we see, the desire for the addition of another, the sum of
a healthy social fabric, the practice of "social regeneration" as the anarchists expressed
of old stamp.
From there, the actions are allocated both individually and collectively towards
the achievement of certain effective political objectives, both in the concrete and in the symbolic.
for example, we have the case of some of the young people in the sample who presented themselves to the

SMO as conscientious objectors:

Leonardo:

I, in the year 1998, presented myself as a conscientious objector to Military Service.

Mandatory and I have collaborated in one or another fanzine, but my participation

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 The activism has not been very deep. I have participated in
various manifestations.

This young man was part of the organization of the Objectors – in the early days -
Awareness "Neither Helmet Nor Uniform", in whose space - for some years now - they have
Several young people linked to anarchopunk and punk activism have participated and are participating.

In parentheses, already on several occasions, this group of conscientious objection

It has made news in the media, one of them when they participated in the Diego Building.
Portals within the framework of the "National Forum on Mandatory Military Service" (May-July,
2000) convened by the Government of Chile.
The significant practice from the youth adjusts to the components
individualists that anarchism brings with it as a goal of constructing a subject
free from coercion; and the collective part is understood as the facilitator for that
freedom should be permanently practiced by being alongside other subjects free from coercion.
On its part, the referential context of meaning of punk activism is integrating
certain practices that later become stable components of the significant universe of
anarcho-punk activism; this tends to be shaped by the actions of the
active members of this space and the subsequent adoption of it by others. It is
It is likely to find a kind of teaching and learning system in 'doing something' in the
"unease", in the departure from the stillness of the participants in this space. The observation
The other close and participating one provides an effect of teaching a specific practice, already
be of street activism, political, as well as certain proposals about lifestyle:
food for example, etc. That at its core, for these young people, brings with it a
political connotation of the transcendent change of the human person in a comprehensive manner.
Learning occurs through the arrival of a close other who acts as
occasional master
they signify the designs of the different individualities and their leading roles
within practices, activism, ideologies. The ideological budgets are going
arranging in the daily interaction with those close to whom one participates and
They establish connections, as not everyone knows each other in advance.

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 Victor:

Later, between 96-97 in Chile, I started making a fanzine with other people:
Long live Rebelde.
When I entered university, I was 17 years old, and I met a friend who urged me to
to participate in a fanzine and collective, we released a few issues, we went out to tag
walls on special dates, I remember the day of the carabinero was approaching and we
we went to mess with the cops, we used to go to the Teletón to have fun. The meaning
it was about raising awareness a bit among people, so they would realize that
they will analyze a little the crap they were participating in. For example, I saw that
my little cousins... and my family also did not agree, but for the day
They had to dress the carabinero with a cop hat or for the 18th of
September... the National Holidays, the National Holidays, what for?
Many were the reflections we had (from Aguante Rebelde),
we were talking while we were writing, we participated in the
demonstrations and marches. I found it important to go to the demonstrations,
Since I was a child.

The focal point of attraction may have been some element of interest such as:
to express discontent, to find a space for the realization of a project,
simply being participants and protagonists of processes, which led them and
presenting among the different individualities that can be found within this
space. In the course of "doing things", vital experiences are acquired and one goes
focusing on the interests of manifesting with the intention of "moving" the citizen,
considered lethargic regarding certain situations assumed without further questioning.

Victor:

... I work in an antimilitarist group, well I used to make the magazine (Aguante Rebelde),
I participated for a while in a radio program and I am always trying to do
things that I can... I try to spread music, I try to spread fanzines, I try to
to spread, something that people can soak in to perhaps
to raise awareness. From a self-adhesive to a patch made with silk screening to
to be able to organize a meeting on Conscientious Objection.

Punk practice is also manifested within the areas that make up this
space, such as the traditional space of a 'tocata', due to the fact that these
spaces are frequented by people who are not only punk activists, anarchopunks or anarchists
and libertarian. There are also criticisms from the same people regarding the no
questioning certain things. How is it possible to observe within the story of Alejandro
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which reveals his feelings about his practice as a member of the band 'In Your'
Kontra, based on the context of a gig and the significant punk atmosphere of it
moment

I feel good playing and I feel, for example, that the lyrics that R... makes
They are re-heavy and identify me a lot, there may be details that I do not share.
but for me it's a great thing to be able to..., stand in front of a bunch of
dudes and try to tell them: "dude!, think a little!, our vision of the
things is this, if you like it: awesome!, if you don't like it: say no!, you know I'm in
disagreement with you,
star - audience; those fools have that stupid concept: you paid this
entry to watch a show; there is no concept of community, no
there is a concept of dialogue: because they aren't interested!, what for?. The idiots
they prefer to be passive beings and believe that the only way to be active is to be
playing in their pre-established group, there is finally no bullshit about
to question.

The practices are grouped in the field of relevant meanings of being active and
to assume a role of managing their own lives and coordinating with others to 'do
something, in the face of the order of things of the oppressive and enveloping capitalist system (like

also in front of the punk circuit).

3) TERRITORIES:

In the absence of spaces: The punk tradition.

The reference to the lack of spaces is common nowadays among some young people.
spaces that are significant and felt as one's own, where no external authority
to them manage the entry or non-entry to the place, as well as impose the due
behavior, according to external regulations for them.
As we have been able to observe within the punk movement, through its history and
its various manifestations worldwide, there has always been a constant - at least
regarding the constitution of scenes - which deals with the self-organization of their
elements, the construction and constitution of their own networks and concert circuits,
information, product distribution etc., whether before or after marketing and
massification of certain elements (reterritorialization by the cultural industry and
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consumers). As we pointed out, the trend has always been self-organization of
spaces and networks, due, we believe, to the emergence of those spaces, in a manner
primigenia was made possible thanks to the actions of its own cultivators, that is, the punks
(some), who ultimately -in certain underground spaces and circuits
they have had and have control over their products.
After the constant, we observe that there has always existed and exists, in parallel, a
underground movement (Underground) that is renewing or maintaining those elements
disposition of the 'new and initiated' of punk (without differentiating the different dispositions
individual and collective, musical, ideological, etc.
So, we find ourselves in front of a 'traditional' reference of the punk movement,
a kind of practical ideological argument, that is to say, a traditional cultural guideline that
is inscribed within the historical punk tradition by countries, whose argument is strained by
ideological and tacit way, as carried out by the new practitioners of punk, who
to enter it, through a connection with practitioners within the underground, is becoming
adopted in a somewhat tacit manner. This argument of an ideological and tacit nature that
we state in the form of a constant, it is known as 'Do It Yourself' (DIY)
Same), punk practice par excellence that has been absorbed by different generations of
punks (worldwide) since their inception, back in 1976.

The notion of territory and its double dimension.

In the case of the young people in the sample and the study context, also from a
from the beginning have been participants in this constant, which is starting to be tacitly gestated
within reduced spaces, whether from the discourse or from a concrete practice (music,
manufacturing of outfits, patches with slogans and band names, painting t-shirts, etc.
the issue is that the constant and at the same time notion is inscribed in the 'traditional knowledge'
punk.
Now, the notion of territory concerning the production of cultural identity, the
we dimension from a broad sense that includes the realm of the symbolic, from the
substantive appropriation and incorporation of relevant spaces for punk youth
anarchists.
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 Both physical and symbolic spaces identified by young people account for
from the identification of punk activist rhetoric, whose construction of shared meanings
spaces are constantly moving like the type of mobility that each one has
subject and collective within the city.
When we refer to space in the form of significant territory for the group of
young people of the sample and the study context, we refer to spatial correspondence
of a type of cultural identity, which from our thesis, we propose expressed from the
group and context in question. The space has a double meaning and allegory: on one hand
we can talk about a specific physical space, significantly relevant to the subjects
and on the other hand, from a situation or aggregation of elements that make a
space that is formed temporarily or trans-temporally. The latter implies by
example, that public or private space or a certain "non-place" comes to constitute a
symbolically appropriate place, from a sort of marked territorial demarcation
by the feelings of the subjects involved in a certain practice.

The territories that make sense from the activist punk identity.

The non-physical territories that have emerged and been made visible in a certain way are
collective, the distributors of musical and informational material (called 'Distros'), bands
musicals, networks, and coordinating entities; that is, the structures within punk
activists who have developed a certain permanence over time, and in the use of
determined physical space: public or private, they have expressed a unique sense of
territorialidad (temporal o transtemporal): "donde nos juntamos", "ahí en las escalinatas",
"en el patio de la universidad", "en el Forestal", "en el Persa Bío-Bío" o "en los Galpones",
In short, an abundant number of spaces that are used and utilized for the
punk activist practice. This practice and at the same time space is being recognized in the discourse
of the young people, from the evaluative and emotional feeling in communion with a reference
recurrent towards 'us': 'we gather there', 'that is the place where us
"we come together". This spatial identification is expressed individually and collectively.

353
 Pamela:

Just as it individualizes in spontaneous groups of people, like friends... with

Victor, with Javiera, Amy, with Paula we were always doing something: let's go
to go out and put up some posters against the elections... already at the
nights!..., we didn't have a name, because the name was... we are friends, we have
related ideas! And well! I think we did quite a few things. Also on the other hand,
the organization I did stay in was Objetores, because I was there for 3 years
in objectors!.

This is complemented by the practices of propaganda and dissemination of ideas, generated through

from the use of graffiti, wall scratching, distribution of pamphlets, making of fanzines. By
example, in the case of the fanzine, we witness from an expressive need, a use and
spatial sense configuration, to say 'something', connect 'people' and proceed
legitimately, regarding a conception of themselves as self-generators of pieces
fundamentals (in front of a "close other", within the circuit of anarcho-punk links, punks
activists or "someone" who wants to participate). The fanzine or the publications
made by the young people related to the study context, in many cases
observed and analyzed, suggests to us the creation of a significant spatiality, that
grant a platform to the claim of self-management against the domains
objectives and subjective aspects that geographically the market society, the cultural industry,
private property and government bureaucracy: installs. That disorients,
restricting, curtailing, invading their sense of freedom, of not being watched and of not
having to respond to the particular interest of a sponsor, their creation objectives
of social relationships and libertarian messages. The space as territory, at a moment,
it can take the form of a "sheet of paper" (as an enabling artifact of a practice
and ideologies), which does not limit the future event of managing other territories, physical (that
they are constituted or resignified symbolically in their content and symbolic (around)
practices).

There is no editor, much less a writer, only voices, still sharp with a lot of desire to
to say what they think and listen to the thoughts of others. (...) There is so much desire
what about creating and so few spaces for this, that we decided to create ourselves
our paper space, to put everything that interests us, worries us, us
depresses us, makes us happy... gives us life. As long as we live, we will continue fighting to
that these spaces grow, perhaps today it's a paper, tomorrow a jam session, a
march, a work, etc...... the desire is there, let's support these new ideas
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 self-managed, attends forums, supports marches, goes to gigs, reads
funzines...!! Create!! It's not hard to be free, create your option of freedom, don't let yourself
pass by, draw your conclusions and form your point of view on things.
This little magazine is non-profit, we have no interest whatsoever in making money.
with this, on the contrary, we blindly believe in self-management, we want to give a VOICE TO
THE MUTE ONES, VIEW TO THE BLIND.421

A similar manifestation is the use of graffiti and the scratching of walls with
propaganda; this is part of a symbolism of occupation of public and private space
of capitalism
raised towards a radical transformation of society. At the same time, from this, we make.
readings of screams and insults, boredom, sadness, questions and ironies of the
daily wage dynamics, of the oversaturated city besieged under the advertising regime
from piecework consumption.
Another declaration of space and territoriality is where activist practice is exercised.
daily (work, high school, college, university, secondary student organization or
university students, etc), or as part of a specific "job": be it marches, stickers,
workshops with the community, information dissemination, information panels, programs
radials in community or university radios, etc. Each of these activities has been and
it's being marked by the path of the individuals enrolled within these spaces, as of
the biographies of the particular participation that was exercised "there".

Pamela:

Where I focused the most was in my high school. I was at the 'Francisco
"Miranda", in second year of high school I changed with a friend. It was the biggest change.
drastic of my life. The Liceo de Ñuñoa was 100% different.

Concrete and meaningful physical spaces are generally the ones that tend to be
to denote with the word 'liberated', the 'liberated spaces' are the product and result,
from the meaningful practice of occupying public and private spaces, whether temporarily,
or as a medium and long-term project.

421
Excerpt from the 'editorial' of the 'funzine' (fanzine): 'Voice to the Mute, Vision to the Blind' No. 1, 2001
Santiago de Chile.
355
 ... Plaza Brasil, Territory... Free from domination... Creating free spaces of
usury, theft, deception. Let's say No to the mass society and to
Consumerism! Libertarian Anticapitalist Day December 23. - Start: March
at 16:00 hrs. From Plaza de Armas to Plaza Brazil.- Plaza Brazil:
Countercultural Encounter at 5:30 PM: dance, poetry, theater, swap meet,
music (batucada, bands, troubadours). - Calls: Coordinator of
422
Libertarian Organizations.

One of the emblematic spaces for participation in anarcopunk activism (not

exclusively of them) have been the so-called "squatters", the occupation of properties
private or public ones that were abandoned and whose owner is unknown; since 1998 the
Attempts and achievements of liberated spaces in the form of 'occupation' are varied, some
the current 'squatter' houses can have between 2 and 3 years of existence in the face of danger,
for them, if they are evicted. The squatter as a liberated physical space creates a sort of
space for rehearsal and practice of anarchist sociability, of gestation, within a
microspace, of associative and organizational links oriented towards self-management of
own space, trying to stay away from the established systemic patterns
governmental and capitalist entities visualized in municipal and private intervention. Since
the Occupy house generates a harmony with the community as a way to put into practice the
insertion of a community work "from below", where the Occupy serves as a latent example
that without the intervention of third parties, collective objectives can be achieved. That is the attempt and

the gestation that is implied by a large part of the young people in the sample and of the
interviewed individuals, within the field work they were part of at some point
as an Okupa or still are. Internally, there are also criticisms of the way of doing
or to put into practice the occupation, by one of the many groups of young people that
participants in these spaces. It is worth noting that there are differences in each Okupa; each one

represents a specific micro culture of putting into practice the materialization of a

space, now, significant physical. Retrospectively, Víctor informs us of his
impressions on what would be the inauguration of a series of Okupas; this is the experience
from the Occupy "La Kasita" in 1998:

... I remember the first night we stayed, there were about 10 of us,
422
Pamphlet from the 'Coordinator of Libertarian Organizations', inviting to the 'Anticapitalist Day and
"Countercultural Encounter", December 23, 2003, Santiago de Chile.
356
 we were freezing, the house was a mess. After we cleaned that
week, we started to notify a lot of people that we caught, people from Disturbio
Younger..., we informed people here, there, everyone we could call:
that on Saturday, the first Saturday there is a meeting to free the space, to
organize something inside that house and that Saturday a lot of people arrive and there
We start. There are people who stayed and people who left, like in everything.
The main objective, I believe that even we were not clear about it at that time.
We entered and wanted to do things and we wanted to throw the house away to
go ahead. It wasn't that we had so many objectives, but that we entered the Kasa and
with this we do something... and we create a Popular Library of Anarchists; we
They tried to hold workshops for the neighborhood people, activities were organized for the
children of the neighborhood. They organized as cultural spaces, poetic recitals...; no
We had light in the house, so everything we did was rustic.
... we were with Aguante Rebelde, with Nico, Francoise..., then people
that it wasn't from the group, but rather people who participated, there were people from Ja!.
Educational, the crazy ones the Grito!, some crazy ones from ARCIS, there were the Objectors and
There were people who kept saying that they were from here and there.
There was everything, from motivation to demotivation, there were fights, there were people who
Perhaps what intentions did he really have?... that's where we parted and the house
he/she died.

For its part, the phenomenon of "squatting" has spread to other regions and
cities of the country. Among them, there is a relative coordination, as with squatters from others
regions outside the country.
Other spaces are the fairs for distributing libertarian material, which have been taking place
organizing within public spaces, such as the case of the stalls at the "fair"
alternative", next to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which takes place on the days
Sundays or in the city of Valparaíso, "The Libertarian Fair". On the other hand, it also
they add stable positions within commercial venues or markets. These spaces are more open
the general public, they give a different meaning to everyday transit and account for the
anarchist ideological rhetoric that exists behind the backdrop of practice and space
busy, as we see in Claudia's experience in Valparaíso:

A lot of punk people attend, they come to talk, and they stay there with us and everything.
The good thing is that we do it in the center, there are many adults who do not have
nothing to do and has gotten really interested and takes magazines and music even;
that's what we want, because we are not interested in this moving in a
circle, but that it opens up to other people...; in fact, as the greatest achievement that
We liked it last time, it's that a guy called us (to the radio program) to
to win a fanzine, but you know that the guy listens to cumbias... not interested in punk,
but he likes what we talk about and everything, he still goes to the fair and all that. So
that, for us, is super important.
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 (The Libertarian fair) we arrived and just placed ourselves right there.
we have mostly had problems with the police, only twice have we
We are not worried about asking for permission either.

One of the spaces that has excelled in gathering is the "tocata", the place where
punk concerts are held and in which space, the people related to anarcho-punk have gone
incorporating another type of practices: such as the distribution of informational material, selling
vegetarian and vegan food; in addition to being a space for social interaction and
coordination among the subjects. Regarding the space 'tocata', it is not about just any of the
usual places that existed or existed (around the mid-90s and end of the century:
Serrano 444, La Picá de 'On Chito, Taller Sol, La Paila Marina, El Cimarrón, etc), but more
Well, where these activities are usually generated and coordinated, organized by the
bands or collectives in which the 'anarcho-punk community' and related to it are
gesture, it is linked.
The space of the 'toccata', in part, has become not only a space where
brings people together, but rather where information is disseminated and put into practice.

self-management serves as a management tool for resources for various objectives,

it depends on each community, group or individuals that organize it.
For example, we can observe that this transtemporal space of the 'toccata'
organized (the case of the 1st Hardcore Meeting at Quinta Ecuador in 1995) and
referring to a specific environment of people and interactions, it creates an emotional bond
emotional with the young people who attend and signified, from it, a practical sense of
belonging to a certain space and environment of ideas and initial positions:

At that time, everyone knew each other, it was like a family and everyone helped each other.
and they were all friends and they were all discovering the things that everyone wanted
discover, the whole issue of 'do it yourself' and all that topic. So that you think
within you, so that later you can think for others. May there be a change
personal so that others can change too. And that, I think, was the
difference in the Fifth Ecuador and everything that was developed at that time.
The idea that I saw existed in that place, there was no talk against the cops.
that the cops would beat you and that the guys from the corner; it was your going further, a
spiritual thing: may each one change so that later we can change the
things!

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 The continuity in attendance at spaces like these 'tocatas' related to
anarchist punk and activist environment, like interaction, generates in the subject the
appropriation and significant reference of the elements that are integrating this space. Already
how soon, the subject connects, becomes part of this shared territory and spatiality
what composes the gestation of a type of emerging urban cultural identity. The
Francisco's experience in the formation of his musical group Marcel Duchamp, and his
Insertion within this space and environment corroborates a kind of identification.
identity that is being shaped through continuous interaction with the members
of space and territorial environment meaning as the 'circuit', through networks
graphed within "meet more people":

Francisco:

So we formed a group that could be more real... because of self-criticism,

personal experiences, that can suddenly be compared and you can become
with the people... and that's where we started to meet more people, many more people that is
like the circuit.

4) Some relevant elements for Punk Cultural Identity

Activist.

The musical connection.

The meaning that music has for most of the young people in the sample is
quite relevant, for this reason it is important to emphasize the need to develop
research regarding that variable concerning the bio-psychological implications and
socio-cultural factors that trigger on an individual and collective scale.

The meaning of punk music423, for the generality of the young people in the study of
In the case of the general study context, it is presented in two dimensions:

423
Generally, punk music is associated with its manifestation known as 'punk rock', but it happens that
Behind the idea of 'punk music', one can notice a great variety of styles, substyles, and derivations.
fusions and sounds far removed from any musical concept around the sound of 'punk rock'. The concept of 'music
punk" is a concept open to the creativity of the producer and their work. Partially, musical bands and
359
 The first dimension is signified by 'energetic' stimulation,
emotional
highlight that there is a variety of sets and sub-styles within it, depending on the
subject - punk music relationship. This demarcation of punk sound towards the subject
Awakens feelings, emotions that are aimed at stimulating states of 'relief',
rage
that afflict them
graphically represented in certain emotional states, which in turn are inspiring of ideas, actions, etc.
The second dimension involves the lyrical reception of the different proposals.
punk lyrics in the form of song lyrics (in the analyzed case, they range from criticism
social until proposals of anarchist organization), which create a kind of
school of first ideas
life, society or specific topics.
As we stated in the section on 'Ideologies': in both dimensions, the
punk music (texts and sounds) is part of this reactor of senses that, at the same time, combines
individual senses regarding certain ideas and practices.
The references of some of the young people in the sample to certain 'schools'
within punk, it means what was expressed earlier, as is well the case in this entry to
21st century and as described by Jesús Martín Barbero, Néstor García Canclini, among others:
the new generations have shifted from a written, textual grammar to a visual one,
virtual.
The "Schools" within punk mean both a period in the history of punk.
(bands, ideas, facts, etc.) up to a certain lyrical proposal of a specific band.
The formula is the stimulation and dissemination of ideas, visions, sensations in the relationship.

subject - punk set, a bond always present in the reader-text relationship; here the
the listener (receiver) will make a 'reading' of the musical ensemble, according to their requirements
and provisions, which can be directed towards one of the dimensions previously mentioned
described or towards two as a unit of meaning.

audiences, and to a large extent, the music industry and the media, have popularized the concept of punk music,
within certain stylistic standards (including the aesthetic expressiveness of costumes and certain
expected behaviors and attitudes of a 'punk'.
360
 These 'schools' are part of the ideological approach towards certain positions, which
in this case, they move toward anarchism, leftist orientations, socialism, etc.
musical ensembles with those connotations as will be remembered when reading the first
chapter of this thesis (in the section on punk).

Esteban:

It's funny because I take something from each band, like Polla Records
He opens my eyes and delivers thousands of nonsense to me. I know English, but at that time
(when I started) I understood the same, but it was with a dictionary: what does it say?
question?, the Dead Kennedys; for me, La Polla Records opened my eyes and everything
the story begins to deliver thousands of nonsense to me, but I didn't know them
understand everything, but it made me look for them and get the bug in, but only after
Dead Kennedys and Crass make a sense, like that this can be done and
you see that the crazy people are extreme, they reach a point where the crazy ones are so
consistent with the things one says: "Come on, you know that this frankly no longer...,
stop being a thing of criticism, but in addition to criticizing it, it gives you a way to
do it..., it’s not the 'nerdy' criticism of pointing fingers, and you go with the same finger
"what points, you fish a hammer and build something."

Among the young people in the sample, we mostly found those who had connection.
with the two described dimensions and others, rather with the lyrical proposals and from there with
the musical. These last individuals had a certain ideological approach and participation
politics in secondary organizations and they joined punk towards the late years
ninety, on the other hand, the first ones came from a historical journey of the late '80s and
the beginnings of the '90s, where it was not visibly present, within the punk environment in general,

a more activist and somewhat politicized contextual reference of punk.

Anarchism.

It should be noted that not everyone involved in punk activism identifies as punk.
Everyone adheres to anarchism, rather the ideas and anarchist ideology serve as a point of
meeting, a significant instance called by the punk activist discourse
or related to him. This meeting point in the Anarchist sign (by the diverse
individualities and perspectives that make up this space related to punk activism,
it evokes the materialization of a personal and different 'voice' that is signified.
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as "traditional", "rotten", "systemic", "authoritarian" that persists in the social world,
cultural and political of current Chilean society.
Anarchism as a whole, without differentiating its various strands and
thinkers, makes for a 'credible and necessary' political reference through which activism and the
sense of punk - in this case-, is argued towards a more organized stance and position
concrete and weighty, according to some of our interviewees. That is to say, it is legitimizing a
approach of these young people to a more developed political sensitivity, and in line with their
personal searches - especially for the group of young people in the case study - due to
the original references highlighted by the young people in their encounter with punk, of which
they made a producer of social action space, uncontrolled and defined by forces and
hierarchical, elitist, authoritarian, little encouraging of participation
individual and of the individual voice" as "of the establishment of human relationships
horizontal." Where there is also an open rejection of the effective control they exercise.
adults in the traditional spaces of political participation (for example: Parties
Politicians), since adult culture tends to "permeate" the spaces that young people desire
to use, and in the same way the adult culture expressed in the occupation of positions of
privilege and decision within certain organizations takes on the role of agent
legitimizer of the actions of others - in this case, the young ones -; for its part, the
anarchism and its resurgence in the 90s carried with it the proliferation of a 'sap
new" of teenagers and young people in front of a minority of adults behind the bastions of
Creole anarchism. Partly, many of the young people who today make anarchism their
flag of struggle and sign of political identity, were those who spread and initiated this
resurrecting anarchistic ideas. Many of them were or are punks, others came from some kind of
of militancy more linked to Marxism and others definitely grew under the shelter of
anarchism. This fact has brought about the visibility of anarchism as an alternative
emerging politics, for some young people of present-day Chile. This constitutes a reference
ideological that tends to be adopted voluntarily and without coercion in contrast to the
requirements expressed within the current democratic system and political participation.
In the following quote, we can observe how young people from a group called 'Magno'
"Espinoza" makes their public statement on why they are anarchists:

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 (...) In each one of us, concerns arose that were born as
consequence of the reality we live or observe. As time goes by,
we approach various ideologies, however, the one that arrived like a bright star in the
darkness, was the anarchist doctrine. It seemed to us a rational belief,
humanist, which was also based on scientific propositions. Its high content
human, who has made us dream more than once, seemed beautiful to us. Besides
It would be fair to say that it has its errors, like any ideology proposed by human beings.
humans, however, this motivates us to question it and make her abandon that
sad podium of forgetfulness and distortion on which she is enthroned.

(...) they have made us believe that this stage - capitalist globalization - is the last
station on this beautiful journey called life. INFAMOUS!. They also haven't
failed those who have dared to declare "the end of history"... not knowing
that when you question what surrounds you, you begin to build the story
of the future. That future which is based on the human being, no longer as a commodity,
that is based on the integrity of being, on its reason for existing, being an end in itself
same.424

In the same way, we find this type of adherence to anarchism within the
Bulletin No. 1 of the collective "Link" (distributed on the day of the protest march against the 12)
October, Santiago de Chile, 2000:

Cheers!
C.A.P (AnarchoPunk Collective) Eslabón we are libertarian youth who
we have come together to create something, to show that we are people with
class consciousness. We are the children of workers who identify with it
anarchism. We are anarchopunks. We are part of the resistance and we define ourselves
as creators, as children of the people.

Something similar, expresses the bulletin (2002, Santiago de Chile) of the group
musical "Revolution", titled: "Anarkia: Chaos and Disorder?", when summing some
precepts of anarchism (distinguishing anarchist doctrine from the idea of chaos and
disorder) to the interpretation and meaning of punk (regarding individuality,
collectivism and self-management)

(...) Anarchism is a social system where the State does not exist. Everyone
they work together in equality, while respecting individuality. There is a spirit of
growth over competition, life in communities. That's why to the
The first punks were called 'anarchists' because their attitudes touched on
many aspects and they were very similar to those of this system (not all), such as the

424
Excerpt from the flyer titled 'Why We Are Anarchists', distributed by the Magno Espinoza Collective in
the day of the march on May 1st 'Labor Day' (now Labor Day), Santiago de Chile, 2002.
363
 Occupations where everyone pulls in the same direction, or that spirit of growing together.
without competing for monetary interests, being independent and doing things
ourselves (do it yourself, based on our philosophy of life) and the respect of
the freedoms of each person (sexual, musical, etc.), for me that is the
Anarcopunk and not chaos and disorder, not those loose words, in the air they have no.
sense.

The meaning of anarchism for the young people in the case study and for the context
From the researched punk activism, it informs us of the meeting of possibilities of being from the
own act of the announcing subject, through discourse and activist practices; in turn
it draws us a type of subject in coordination with others, oriented towards the sentence of not having
mediators of their desires and possibilities in potential. That reveals to us a sense of
responsibility and commitment to the subject's own enunciation, by signifying its rejection
to the delegation in some entity or institution, the resolution of problems or projects. It is
to say, through anarchism, as a relevant sign for these young people, it is updated the
intention to have and be able to exercise a subjective and effective power in reality, since the
the appropriation and use of anarchism tends to be, from the subjects, a type of identity and
social identification of your role as an activist, as a punk activist, 'anarchopunk'
"anarchist". This role that we identify in our analysis gives us the following reading:
both the ideologies, practices, and territories combine a disposition - from the youth - to not
to integrate into the channels of political participation promoted by the State and the system
democratic; for example: not registering for the unregistered or nullifying the vote or not going to
voting for the registered is partly understood as a political weapon and a reference of
political disagreement with power and its legitimization. Then, social participation or
The exercise of citizenship is not assumed as such, but expressed as a sign.
different or a negative of it, which is not visible to the hegemonic gaze and its discourse
on how participation and the exercise of citizenship should be.
In this case, as we can see, there is a certain 'locus' of intentionality of
political transformation of society, but that gravitates within rather rhetorical
micro social characters, which are updated within the boundaries of daily life
of each of the young people linked to punk activism.
In this daily life, anarchism serves as a channel for expectations of going
meaning, 'little by little', a symbolic universe conceived in relation to the spaces that are
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they are conquering, from 'the court's marking' that takes place on one's own individuality
regarding their behavior, up to their conduct and the way they relate to others, and
from there, to spaces and territories of participation "liberated" from significants in tune
with "the law of supply and demand," as they point out.
Each of these young people in the sample and the concerns revealed within the
study context, they inform us that it is known and reflected upon, that each one is left with
years ahead, in which they will take on greater responsibilities related to the
family, survival - as some have done or are starting to do-, but
that does not subtract, as we are made to understand, this intentionality of social transformation,
that brings with it guidelines for standardization to other spaces and times in each person's life

subject in this society. That is implied in the form of "a lifestyle", "of
"to form oneself", and to "generate strategies" to survive transversally in society.
capitalist
of autonomy and distancing from the logics of society that consider 'exploitation'
human and animal." This is carried out through the self-management of spaces up to the non
collaboration and abstaining from consuming animal products or exploitation
humana. In response to this, we find the desire to gradually create alternative spaces that are...
interconnecting and generating in the same way, local as well as national networks and

international, which in the future will be reflected in forms of economic exchange and
productive freed from relationships considered "capitalist."
Anarchism is part of a path to walk and adjust its ideas towards
a situation of radical transformation of a society seen as one of exploitation. This
the path and transit through which young people express their feelings is made up of
different discourses of anarchism, in terms of practices, ideologies, and territories, were
identified as relevant and that have the value 'not exploiting others'.
This intention of transformation, of radical "revolution" may take time -
as they make us understand -, and for it to be sustainable, they consider it imperative to go
accompanying a job, from its own consequence and individual responsibility within
of a sense of self-education of the subject in pursuit of the liberation from logics
capitalists

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Associativity: An underground community.

Qualitatively, we appreciate that there is an attempt for a turn, a return to a type of

community from which they were uprooted, whether it be family, neighborhood, or daydreaming
of it; the community signified from the opening of an associative bond towards another
unknown and ignored for a moment and then transforms into something close within the
studied punk space. Subsequently, certain roles and certain functions emerge that are going
designing and signifying through voluntary actions and the intersections of interests,
as they identify each other in passing, as a whole aimed at coordination.
This community, in the first instance, exists through the bonds and networks that have
I am developing in practice and in mutual understanding. There may be moments that arise.
concrete and observable physical spaces, but the meaning we extract from the data gives
it accounts that this idea of returning to the community is being experienced as the
the associative link becomes more continuous, as well as enhancing networks and
participation and expression structures.

366
XIX. ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES: THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE STUDY
CASE WITHIN PUNK ACTIVIST HISTORICITY.

It was possible to verify through interviews, articles from fanzines425, observation

participant, etc; that the context where the actors are significantly involved
social, it is what can be externally categorized (Etic) as "activist Punk"
(Feixa, 1999: 82, 83 and 153). Although it is an external category, it is rather an approximation.
flag and not definitive. The significant and own category of the context where they are mobilized
the young people in the sample is that of Anarcho-punk. Nomenclature that takes on nuances
international, since the identification with that term can be read in the fanzines
made in various Latin American countries, North America, Europe, Oceania and
Asia.
Within the broad range of what is identified as punk, Anarcho-punk (by
countries and cities) is a minority; as is the sense of it for its protagonists,
it can imply variable meanings. Not so a certain essence, which is expressed in the
development of a practice and discourse of criticism of the system and a relative participation in
various social struggles or causes (Antiracism, neoliberal globalization, exploitation)
animal, human rights, rights of minorities, of children, women, the elderly
freedom of expression, against the monopoly of information, etc.), adopted in a
conscious and reflective as well as superficially. In this there are individual concerns
which are important when participating, and that ultimately, due to different
reasons drive individuals to carry them out. Aesthetically, the styles vary.
clothing, music, etc. In this regard, the group of young people from the exhibition and the environment for

Where they move, the clothing depends on personal tastes, they declare. But the pattern goes
for the use of used clothing (American clothing, etc.), sportswear (sneakers), in black colors,
green, brown, white, colorful checkered pants, short or "spiked" hair, something of
"dreadlocks" (used by the rastas). Quite the opposite of traditional punk, with leather, hair.
parados, studded jacket; their average does not cultivate that style.

425
Generally handmade publication based on photocopies, which is not exclusive to punk and has a
origin in the Underground movement of the late 1950s in the United States.
367
 The number of people related to 'anarchopunk' (activist punks, political punks,
Punk Straight Edge, squatters and not subject to classification), visible in Santiago, does not add up.

more than 800 people (among men and women), within a heterogeneous punk universe
around 10 thousand people426between 13 and 38 years old.
In the continuous observations in 'tocatas', marches, and some meetings, the role
the leading roles are distributed almost equally between men and women. In the case of the "tocata,"
for being open to other people, the women who do not actively participate in
collectives427they assume a passive role, but just like some men. According to the
interviews, it was something that initially happened like this, as the prominence of participation was
male and the woman felt forced to showcase her abilities to be visible, as
also carry out a project on their own. In this case, one of the elements and
trigger of the female role was participation in activism through organizations
punk collective calls or organizational instances of coordinated participation (set up
a fanzine fair, distributors of libertarian material, squatters, fanzines, marches,
stickers, etc.).
The collective is a space for participation and, at the same time, a symbolic territory.
where social relationships and common purposes and interests develop, within the logic
from the crossing of interests.

The logic of intersecting interests involves reflective development regarding a topic.

individual manner and the resolution to coordinate with others who share that interest,
to work on it together. This parameter has importance over this type of
organic, as it involves taking on responsibilities that arise from individual desire,
distancing itself - for example - from the idea of old-fashioned militancy reduced to th
reports of the organic, within a more contractual logic
relates to modernity). There is a greater search for the role of the individual and for freedom.
commitment of his will.

426
Approximate figures (related to the punk universe and derivatives), based on attendance at marches, concerts
massive punks and gigs.
427
Punk organization made up of no more than 25 people, they operate under the idea of an active minority.
establishing horizontal relationships and roles that vary according to each one's capabilities.
368
 Transversely, the collective implies the development of a type of interaction.
face to face428that enhances assertiveness and interaction with others, whether woman or
man, from relatively different social conditions. It also involves learning.
and development of skills not recognized by institutions such as school and family or
the peer group from high school, the neighborhood, the university, the work, etc.

Once again, Esteban from the sample tells us:

We were born headless, in that sense, because we as young people

we had no one to reach, we were just kids, young people; with nobody to
older said: "Crazy, that's the way!" Or that he would help us and that we
would give a boost.
Thus, we never had a teacher, nor a guide, nor someone to tell us: Dude,
we are older! Wow! It would be interesting if this... We, in that
We were born, as it was said: fatherless.
We learned ourselves, we learned from what we knew
from punk. We learned all our work, all our issue.

This young man refers to the group he formed with other young people, reflecting the
relevance that certain learnings and achievements assumed, in the context of a
participatory coordination experience.
General knowledge about the punk sign encompasses two areas for young people who are related to it.

anarchopunk circuit and activist punk

1) What is not Punk for them, for example: the punk youth who have behaviors
destructive and remain motionless in the face of the problems presented by the current
system of life, social, economic, cultural, and political; which is sponsored by
government institutions, the market, political parties, etc. (spaces for participation,
consumption, voice, etc.

2) What a punk is, related to activism, anarchism as a philosophy of

life and practice. The desire and logic to act and be consistent with one's conceptions of
self-management, horizontality in relationships, and anti-authoritarianism. Examples based on the

428
In the sense of Alfred Shultz's analysis
369
 context of meaning where they are situated (which includes: ideas, practices, territories, circuits,
networks, locally, nationally, and internationally.

This situation articulates and subsequently develops a mechanism of 'control'

cultural429what is the decision-making capacity of cultural identity regarding its own
cultural elements. In this way, it is monitored that its components and actions do not
they deviate from the general pattern that binds them. It is an internalized capability
individually, but which is exercised collectively, since it is judged on the basis that
Culture is a social phenomenon and this decision-making capacity defines cultural control.
it is also a social capacity; implying that although individuals take the
decisions, the social group has forms of control over them. This control is
exerts within the context and in the presence of external elements to it.

This allows us to observe that at the level of the 'discourse of culture', as pointed out
Clifford Geertz underlies as a foundational element of identity, the differentiation with a
"another" homogenized punk430. While the punk "we" is enhanced by the
shared discourse both internationally and locally. Likewise, it is controlled what is or
not correct regarding the coherence of individuals based on the postulates
essentials, such as the independence of the institutions of power and the
coherence between speech and action. Or for example, regarding vegetarian people who
they fight for the 'animal and human liberation' or 'animal activists', the non-use is controlled

articles and food that involve animal exploitation or products manufactured in

conditions of human exploitation. This has been referred to, depending on the

429
For Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, "cultural control" is a notion that helps to better understand processes.
cultural events that occur when two groups with different cultures and contrasting identities are linked to
asymmetrical relationships. Thus, Cultural Control is understood as the capacity that implies a
culture in terms of decisions about its own cultural elements. Bonfil Batalla places his analysis of
cultural control within the indigenous and ethnic world in relation to the dominant culture. Notion of Control
Guillermo Bonfil Batalla's culture in 'The Own and the Foreign. An Approach to the Problem of Control
cultural”. Article published in “La cultura popular” by Adolfo Colombres (Compiler). 1st edition 1983,
2nd edition 1991. The Jonah Network and Premia Editora. Mexico.
430
In David Mugglenton's (2000) idea about the postmodern sensitivities of subcultures
current juveniles of Great Britain.
370
people who care to let it be known, such as "mental pol"431. That is
exercises through social sanction via "gossip", mockery, joke or the
direct or indirect questioning through fanzines or newsletters.

Javier, young man from the sample:

I don't like being boxed into punk, because that is to marry

people who, in my understanding, give a bad image.

Mauricio, a young participant in punk activist activities:

There are some crazy people who have taken it upon themselves to criticize and walk around
watching if you are politically correct or not, if you are vegan and eat or not
meat or if you use it or not use such a product, if you are systemic or not. I call them
mental pol.

Claudia, young woman from the sample:

(...) Be consistent with what you set out to be consistent with, not with what
It is supposed to be that way. Of course, deep down we are still police within the
same movement, which means to exist in order to be freer, then it cannot be
that "pacos" or "priests" and dogmas continue to exist. The Anarchopunk movement
or whatever it wants to be called, it has to be broad and interpreted in different ways
ways, but always respecting the other.

Returning to the topic of the punk collective. The emergence of this type of organization, which
it is not the only one, it implies a maturity in this area of punk. In light of this, a bit of history:

The activist and anarchist punk starts to take shape in the early
1990, but its definitive takeoff can be set in 1996 with the concurrence of
people coming from punk and new generations. An important milestone that brought this together
diversity of concerns that did not fit into any punk space (both people who came
from punk experiences of the '80s like new generations), was 'The First Meeting
Hardcore," held at the now-defunct "Quinta Ecuador" in 1995. Since that event, the
diversity of expressions and searches sheltered under the idea of "Hardcore Movement"
a sort of new punk school, which translated into more cordial attitudes, sounds
new, different aesthetics, propositive discourses. As mentioned by one of the young people of

431
Police mentality that cares about monitoring the thoughts and actions of others.
371
the sample, the "hardcore space" is open for everyone. New music bands,
fanzines, ideas, emerged or became visible within that whirlwind that would last until
1997 (approximately), as then each individuality and 'groupality' would settle into the
development of personal interests, processes, plus some conflicting circumstances internally
from this new situation. They will become visible, will appear, will participate, and will integrate into that

moment (within spaces) that lasted the co-existence, identities such as: the Straight
Edge, Hardcores, Hardcores New York, Hardcores "OldSchool", Skater, Punks, Punks
Politicians, Anarchopunks, Straight Edge devotees (Krishna consciousness), SHARP (skinheads)
anti-racist), Machocores, Ska Punk and others without denominations. Musical ensembles (of
different musical styles, old and new, that were part of or just shared
the space) such as: Octopus, Minor Disturbance, SND, Absolute Silence, Displacement, Sick
Terminales, Justicia Final, REO, Vadka, Subradical, Alternocidio, En Tu Kontra, Mal
Government
Insurgentes, BBs Paranoicos, Supersordo, Políticos Muertos, Fiskales Ad-Hok, Santiago
Rebel, Sandino Rockers, Holy Neighborhood, Red Alive, Radio Insufficiency, etc. Fanzines
(desde los nuevos a los antiguos): Corazón de Chancho, Subnormal, Polikarpo, Sekuela,
Sangre en el Ojo, Nuevo Extremo, Mono con Navaja, ReSkate, Paredón Sindikal, Anorexia
Mental
among others. Music labels and collectives: Masapunk, Deifer, CFA (Corporation
Autonomous Phonographic.
The 'tocata' was the place that brought together, not all attendees interacted with
the activist and anarchist character punk was something that began to take shape in the relationship
mutuality of many elements (personal experiences, friendship, contacts, access to readings,
experiences in organization, etc.), which have explanations in access to information and
in the networks that already existed and began to expand from one person to another like a
group to another. There were people who knew each other, others who were placed, either because
they studied in the same place, were neighbors, etc. But the average did not know each other and in that

space developed the ties.

372
 Marcela (23 years old), member of a collective:
I didn't know anyone, but my love for music and my ideas guided me.
from other friends, from whom I learned new things just like I did from others.
bothering me.

The 'tocata', before being the space of the punk collective, served as a unifier of networks.
of information, of configuration of certain guidelines to follow. Generally, in the
"tocatas" were attended by no more than 100 people, they were held in different venues432from Santiago
Center, as a meeting point and arrival place for people from different neighborhoods of Santiago.
While in socioeconomic terms, the middle and upward middle classes prevailed and
lower middle class, components from the upper classes also began to be incorporated, which in other
times were discriminated against by "cuicos" and represented what was rejected, "the rich" (as it was

mentioned, in the first part, of the development of our thesis); although the problem of
class is present, now it is exercised subtly in the symbolic sphere (mechanisms that
they operate around 'distinction' and 'hierarchization', in the sense of Pierre Bourdieu, in the
access to information, in raising and operating certain discourses, etc.
At the 'tocatas', as we mentioned, people who identified with the Straight were present.
Edge, Hardcore, Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP), political punks,
Krishna Hardcore among others.
Fanzine fairs began to be held.433and exhibition and sale of materials
alternative, like spreading the word about some march or activity outside of the 'jamming'.
The 'tocata' was organized by the same people from the musical bands or from the
fanzines. This was and is done independently, gathering wills and interests.
This activity represents a social practice of producing spaces for participation,
meeting and recreation, which is not incorporated in what the market offers or
some institution symbolizes for these young people (as found in the research and in
the analysis), a sense of "the own" as a sign of "the ability to do something" without depending on
external instances and based on minimal resources and coordination with others. This
Activity becomes consciously recognized as a significant reference of identity when in the

432
The norm was to rent a space from someone known or a close acquaintance to hold the concert.
433
Let us remember: Institution within the studied punk context that involves the setup of a classic fair,
but with material produced by the people themselves, whether it be music, fanzines, clothing, food, etc.
373
The usual discourse incorporates the term 'self-management,' which lays its foundations in the
speech of fanzines and some musical bands of the time, like Disturbio Menor.
An important milestone regarding the concept of self-management (within political punk and
anarcopunk), it now becomes visible and starts to operate in discourse and in practice.
An example of this, and therefore visible, is the establishment of an independent seal,
arisen among some people in the environment. This label is called Masapunk and means its
ideologies around a 'do-it-yourself ethics', adhering to ideological strongholds of
libertarian character

Masapunk Records aims to create a self-managed space for

the countercultural creation. Our tendency is openly Anarcho-punk and
inspired by the ethics of 'do it yourself', so we will not edit
material with discriminatory, racist, homophobic, sexist, militaristic content,
xenophobic or patriotic.434

There is ideological permanence and a redefinition of its ideological action in the discourse that

we can rescue, since currently this anarchopunk seat is not just a music label
what advocates for self-management, if not a collective and organic call for articulation.
towards other activist work fronts, a situation we can observe in their presentation
about foundational and ideational lines of work, objectives, and ethics of action:

Masapunk is an independent self-managed label-collective, oriented towards

the dissemination of musical projects linked to critical thinking and ideas
libertarian
Masapunk is a support tool for countercultural expressions that
they seek to establish a self-managed job, free from censorship and limitations
contractual or profit purposes.
Our collective does not limit itself to those expressions that are commonly
designed as punk. Our trend is openly anarcho-punk as
we promote the 'do it yourself' ethic and feel close to the thought
anarchist, which does not imply maintaining a univocal view regarding the type of music
that we disseminate. Among the works that we have edited, there are very different styles
in the musical and creative aspect, what we encourage as a way to convey our
message to the greatest number of people possible.
The limits we have set for the editing or distribution of material are
are only related to attitudes or ways of thinking that we consider

434
Text published on the cassette of the bands from Santiago: Minor Disturbance / Terminally Ill. Released
by Masapunk Records. Santiago 1997
374
 contradictory to our ideas. Therefore, we do not edit material with content
sexist, fascist, racist, nationalist, homophobic, jingoistic, or militaristic. From
In fact, we consider as enemies those who spread and endorse this type of
attitudes.
Masapunk is a media outlet, beyond just the simple release of records.
That is why Masapunk is not, and will never be, a production company.
capitalist. All profits are reinvested in the productions of the label and the
bands (recording costs, tour, catalogs, etc.).
In Masapunk, there is no hierarchical order, no employees, nor salaries.
Masapunk is more of a collective than a 'record label' in the traditional sense.
from the word, because all decisions are agreed upon considering the
various opinions of its members; the projects promoted by the collective do not
they are just musicals and their purposes are not related to the 'industry of the
culture", but rather with the rickety machine of social change.
Masapunk does not want your money, although it helps the label to survive.
We want the productions to contribute something to you and for you to share that contribution.
with us.435

And a retrospective look at the anarchopunk circuit and its works says the
Next, in an interview with the editor of a fanzine called 'Get Out of Your Trenches' that
He also plays in a band. This interview was published in the newsletter 'I think and
learning" No. 12 of year 2 (2001).

How do you see the punk and/or anarchopunk movement here in Chile?
The punk movement works. Gigs are organized, kcts are released, records, etc.
ANARCOpunk (not to be confused) tries to assert itself with its own means: Distributors
independents, fanzines, low-priced music, etc. This is the one that interests me the most.
And I believe there is a lot of work to be done, because there are few committed individuals.
really, but the great effort that those few make is what drives me
look forward with optimism, and continue on this path.”(Page no. 3).

That inspired the conscious emergence of self-production

music (among other things), for political orientation purposes related to the proposal
anarchist.
Although in the 80s and early 90s, independent production and
the artisanal has always existed (in the case of musical bands and fanzines), as
possibility of developing something, the significant fact for the production context of
studied punk identity involved the conscious realization of a principle of
independence from the market-based cultural production system, instance

435
Text published on:www.masapunk.org(Consulted: 20/01/04).
375
questioned by the youth. It also became a value, principle, and symbol.
of identification of the activist and anarchist punks. The pattern stimulated by the label
Masapunk Records and other experiences build a path that allowed to guide the
searches for legitimization of its discourse in the action of carrying out self-management in
different projects.
At that moment, the concept of self-management transforms into a principle.
organizer of behavior, that seeks to take steps and amplify towards other activities
(artistic manifestations, libraries, popular pre-universities, etc.). It is emphasized that not
it was not only the Masapunk label that initiated that, but a set of experiences that
they configured reference points in a network of meanings that were palpable in the
speech and action.
In 1997, this sense of punk takes off as ruptures are also generated in the
people; since they are not exempt from power relations and external elements that
they cause entropy. Some people take different paths and new people appear. The
divisions or subdivisions due to tastes, grievances, ideas, and identifications, go
reducing the apparent unity observed in the performances. For example, as noted by a
article published in the fanzine 'Corazón de Chancho' no. 5 of 1998, Santiago de Chile,
called 'Reflections, Complaints and other sentimental shit', written by Julio C.

These days I look back and cannot see the need for it to exist
SXE movement as a separate entity from punk and HC. All of us
together we are very few, we want to change the world, but instead of reaching out to
more people lock themselves away and look for new ways to
separating us further and further. The world scene is becoming a complex
closed-minded sub-sect system that takes any criticism as
a frontal attack against him. The differences are increasingly far-fetched. The
those who drink and those who do not, carnivores and vegetarians, the promiscuous and
the chaste, the vegans and non-vegans... Is that the idea? I'm sure that the
the only ones favored by this growing segregation are those who in theory
we try to fight back, and they have less work in suppressing us since we are not
capable of taking advantage of the basic consensus to act Now” (page no. 2)

The prominence of young people begins to move away from the 'tocatas' (as
we described earlier) and is socially inserted through collectives, marches,
distribution of newsletters on the street, in secondary student organizations, in the

376
Conscientious Objectors, in the Squatter houses, and in the timid contact with another,
citizen. Little by little, the different individuals and collectives are generating
certain social visibility: both of the community where their work is concentrated, and of
other groups and political collectivities of 'ultra-leftist' and Marxist signs
extra-parliamentary, to public opinion and the general public, as it was possible
to appreciate in the marches against the IDB meeting in the year 2001 (both in the written press
like in the news), where these individualities and collectivities were arranged - in
many cases - associated with our context under study. For example, in the magazine
Rocinante No. 7 from August 2001 (within the report by Ignacio Iñiguez: 'The
Rebellion of the Youth), a product of the turmoil of anti-globalization protests,
developed within the framework of the BID meeting held in Chile that same year,
they are described in this way as the young participants of these hosts who reject the
capitalist globalization, a space in which, as we pointed out, are involved the
young people from the sample and the activist punk and anarcho-punk universe of reference:

They are young and libertarians, but on television they are called anarchists, they have
between 21 and 27 and although none are registered in the electoral rolls, their life
Politics is quite a bit more intense than that of a senator. They were never in school.
of patterns, but their organizational ability put them on the front page of the
journals in March of this year for the meeting of the Governors of the IDB,
inaugurating in Chile the new era of an anti-globalization social movement that
it is already worldwide

Within the discourse, many people distance themselves from punk and identify as 'libertarian',

"anarchist" or "anarcho-punk". Anarchist collectives are made up of people

punk what was punk. Others identify as punk within a space of trust.

(...) Let's remember that music it helps us a lot to spread our

thought, but it is not the most important characteristic. The music zines
What's up, these are made by people a lot about this topic; I am not an expert, for
I don't just dedicate myself to listening to noise. This zine is anarcho-punk, but
Before being punk, we must be anarchists (that is, anyone who wants to be); I have included
more politics, because I am more interested in this than in the purely musical.436

436
Excerpt from the editorial of the anarchopunk fanzine, 'Rekiem', Ediciones Humanidad Libre, Santiago-Chile,
2002.
377
 Javier, young man from the sample:

I have my own idea of punk, which may be shared or not, that has me
without care. I see it more as an attitude of seeking freedom and doing.
something for it, for what I believe.

Esteban, young man of the sample:

... I up to today... seeing that there are people who had that past, there is
people who now deny it, say no: That punk, no. I say: when you deny that,
erase your own past, I tell you, because without this you would be, you know: anyone
what.(...)And I say it, I might be in maybe what nightclub drinking Coca-Cola
And you know, without knowing. It's not like I'm interested in what happens even next to me.
neighbor.

Amy, young woman from the sample:

(...) It sounds like a cliché or pretentious, I feel just myself..., I don't like the
patches for nothing, just to say 'hey I'm punk'. Punk is a..., and I deal with it
to live daily and be consistent with my ideas (...)

Francisco, young man from the sample:

(Being punk)...I think so, I think so, because of the way we work.
You put yourself, the way to do self-managed nonsense, because at least the
punk for me is like this, and that's how it started. It's that one should be like this! punk should be
like this; no matter the music you make (...).

Networks multiply and contact expands to other cities in Chile,

mainly: Valparaíso, Chillán, Concepción, and Temuco. Also internationally,
Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico. Some people attend meetings.
anarcho-punk internationals, like the one celebrated in Uruguay in 1998, where attendees were present

spokespeople and representatives of Anarcho-Punk organizations in Latin America. Instance in

where topics such as the current contingency, the experiences of young people were discussed
regions, about punk, etc.
In this referential context of meaning, it begins to weave, around practices,
ideologies and territories, a binding ethos, whose integrating principle reaffirms

378
subjectively the sensitivity of feeling "that one is not alone", as emphasized by the
interviews, reading fanzines, participant observation.

Alejandro, young man from the sample:

"I felt that I was with people who were in the same situation; I, at the beginning"
I used to go alone to the shows because I didn't know any punk people... suddenly I was going with
metalheads friends.
200 guys in the same situation, according to you, it was cool: I'm not the only guy.
What do you think, everything is worthless!
(...) People who are in the same situation despite everything..., different people who matter.
a little bit for me and that, after all, you still feel like you're not the only dude who
I believe we need to do something.
An option that has allowed me to meet worthwhile people and has
made me feel that I am not the only one who thinks that this thing is wrong and that there needs to be
do something.
The basic thing is the rejection of the thing, I don't like this thing,
let's change it, but you don't know how, or why, or for what..., but you have to
do it..., whether it's scratching a wall, writing some pamphlet, making a
fanzine or throwing a stone. You want to do it, but you don't know how... and each one
seeks its own form.

In addition to the symbolic space and territory of the collective, another articulating element and

shared and at the same time spatiality (as we analyzed earlier) and perceived practice
for the young people, it is the making of the fanzine. An internal communication tool and
external of anarchist punk. Independent of the content, the practice of its making,
executes a mechanism that enhances the 'self', as a maker of 'something', the ideology of
contribute and break free from the inertia and passivity currently perceived by young people.

Javier, young case study:

In the zine I express my anger, my ideas, and feelings... It is I who decides

what to publish. I don't care if it's read by just one person, because it
It is important that that person reads it because the person matters, the communication,
understanding and all those things silenced by this world c.......

The contents of the fanzines include, from personal views of their editors,
anarchist theory, vegetarianism, antimilitarism, even articles about care for the
health, sexuality, and art. With the fanzine, a 'doing' of punk identity is materialized in
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function to a disaggregating whole, which hegemonizes the industrial production of information. A
everything disaggregating
appropriate and monopolized by institutions legitimized (by the laws) to do so: Press
traditional, TV channels, AM and FM radios, etc. Information that is captured by those who
define what to show and how to do it, setting aside criteria of free expression.
journalists who gather information.
In the making of the fanzine, the take control of its
production and circulation, which is observable in the process of production and interaction
social among the youth in the research context.
The flow of information tends to be horizontal. Obviously, there are
differences regarding cultural and economic capital to access it. But the desire and
the young people's attempt is to transcend these borders.
The language of the fanzine appeals to an 'absent other' as if it were present.437,
as can be seen in the fanzine 'A'438For Them, spring/summer of the year 2002:

My humble intention with this zine is to try to enrich and discuss things
that we live in this world, with anarcopunk being one of the means I chose to
question it, but still it is not the only thing that exists, and there will be opinions
various and that's what it's about: here you will not find dogmas or absolute assertions,
What you will see on these pages is just the opinion of a boy just like you.
number 3)

As pointed out by the interviewees, depending on the role of the fanzine, there is to their
It poses a questioning of it, since on one hand it serves as an internal connection of the context.
anarchopunk and as a practice of self-management and independence, supported by resources
typical of those who craft it as well as in the contribution made by their peers. And on the other hand

side, its extension does not go much beyond the borders of physical territories like
symbolic of the group (whether in Chile or abroad). Because of that and other
elements, from them the idea arises to expand towards other groups of people and seek a
better way to communicate messages.

437
In the idea of the codes involved in the deterritorialization and the processes of reterritorialization of the
information.
438
"A" of the symbol of anarchism, the letter "A" inside a circle.
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 This denotes the logic of modernity as a character of rationality.
instrumental applied to a practical situation, a product of the group's reflexivity
regarding their short and medium-term objectives.
Another medium that propels communication is the use of the Internet. Space and territory
where young people have created their websites to share their messages and support with a
platform, the connection with other people and coordination. This is also part of the
discussion about: whether or not to use this means provided by the system. It never reaches
a consensus, but the purposes drive the practical adaptation to the artifacts of the
modernity. "What matters is the message and the goal you want to achieve," some say.
A significant ideology that enhances that objective is to adopt a discourse and a
questioning language of the established order and seeker and creator of alternatives before
Hello.
The internal coherence of the structure of punk identity is translated and is
stimulated in the organization of the delivery of the speech through the practice of 'doing'
something" and this "doing something" is materialized in participating in a collective, making a
fanzine, march in some demonstration, spread ideas (society based on relationships
non-authoritarian and egalitarian social systems, based on non-economic exploitation, in a
non-state and hierarchical organization system, a type of direct participatory democracy,
etc.), participation in the occupation of housing (symbolic territory understood as
supposed articulator of anarchist discourse with regard to self-management practice
for some who are part of these housing projects), to engage in self-management projects either
popular pre-university schools, independent labels, distributors of alternative material,
to participate individually in a 'doing'. A 'doing' that is possible to observe after the
"ideological discourse", present in its "material culture", for example, in the space of the fanzine:

Libertarian Greetings, this is the first issue of a small and self-managed

Fun Zine that arises from the great need to raise awareness among young people to fight
for a world where harmony and freedom truly exist.
That's why it is very necessary to put self-managed ideas into practice,
antifascists, anticapitalists, in short everything bad that destroys us more and more every day
more. And for that reason more than ever!! Union, Action, and Self-Management.439

439
Excerpt from the editorial of the fanzine 'LibreEscencia', no. 1, May-April 2002, Santiago de Chile.
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 These concerns ('to do') intertwine as a significant horizon for the
symbol of anarchism as a proposal for the realization of social transformation: the
anarchist society based on the self-management of human social life, opposed to the
authoritarian, hierarchical society, visualized in a yesterday and today. A type of society where
impose the "mutual support" (slogan widely used and taken from the reading of P. Kropotkin or
from the repetition of others' discourses) and respect for difference. Signs acquired by
through readings of fanzines, books, or conversations about it. The sign of anarchism
it is another of the evocative elements of the realization of a desire for a different one
sociability among human beings.
This 'different form of sociability' (considered from the protagonists' perspective) is
one of the practices they are willing to engage in among themselves, their close ones. There is a
personal questioning regarding the language used to designate the world, to
to refer to people, animals or situations (as we mentioned earlier). It
It presents another struggle, the struggle with oneself, with subjectivity, with subjectivity.
socialized in authoritarianism, discrimination, and social control. The caló domination
deep in the human, the questioning is personal in inner and public solitude
from the perspective of peers.
The practice of punk identity, from this analysis, also implies a whole.
expressed in the discourse of assuming oneself as punk, anarchist, libertarian, regarding a
"we," manifested as a binder of one's identification. That is to say, this whole entails
a type of unit that structures significant objects to articulate them into signs and
significant, established, and shared references.
The significant activity is understood as an articulating mechanism of referents.
significant individuals and collectives that enable the construction of a context of
identification that fulfills the function of building cultural identity, based on the
individual and collective experience, as a historical producer of symbols and
meanings. And that the actors give their particular articulation in the development of their
own speeches.

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How is punk identity socially assumed?

Some of them do not wish to associate with the term punk and prefer to adopt the term of
anarchists or libertarians. In a space of trust, they refer to 'a personal idea of the
punk." Others openly declare themselves as punks or anarchopunks. And this identification of
a "we" is linked to personal identity in the idea of "attitude towards the
life," which they try to carry out with their discourse, symbols (in aesthetics), practices that are
they guide the idea of transforming society, starting with oneself, within the
environment where it unfolds (home, neighborhood, school, high school, work, university,
couple relationships, the collective, etc.

Marcela, a young participant in punk activist activities:

"Punk for me is not an eternal party, having fun is great, but doing that
The goal of your life is not my ideal.
(...) Being punk anywhere regardless of appearance, sex, social class,
your studies, the money. It has more to do with attitude, you know. Wherever you go
I'm throwing out the idea.

It should be noted that the young people interviewed, in some activities that were part
from the field work of participant observation, they often refer to the 'idea' of what is said
relationship with anarchist postulates in general, in the manner of Spanish anarchists.
In the same way that collectives and other groups arise, within the
punk activist universe and anarcho-punk, as coordinated forms of activism; in a way
Similarly, activism has been coordinated with other organizations and local networks.
towards new and symbolic formats to express disagreement and protest, as we can
observe in the chronicle of the 'Anti Parade', appeared in the bulletin of the collective and fanzine of
anarchopunk and anarchist trend "Aguante Rebelde" No. 7 of October 1999, Santiago:

September 19, day of the glories of the hangmen of the people and not only of
this one, who lives on a piece of land that the powerful, when dividing the world,
they named it Chile, but rather of all humanity (Who loses with wars is the
humanity, let's not forget the bombs, blind obedience... and the military and
stupid that human beings can be.

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 On that same day, the group of Conscientious Objectors "Neither Helmet Nor Uniform"
Anarchist Collective Aguante Rebelde, Libertarian Force, Kolina Resists and the
Unified Movement of Sexual Minorities held a Counter Parade at the
O'Higgins Park, with the aim of raising awareness that peace is not maintained
with oppressive and castrating armies

By the way, the specific meaning that we find in the manifestation

anti-militarist of the young punk activist, in the face of national activities of
commemoration of the National Holidays and on the day of the Army of Chile and the Armed Forces and of

Order (entities redefined as armed institutions of governmental power and

the economic elites of the country), implies constituting -from the participating subjects- a
luck of a provocative intentionality of a different rhetoric in the public sphere, about the idea
What do these institutions represent for Chilean tradition, Chileanness, and history?
country. This intentionality, while coordinated, is aimed at 'dismantling' beliefs
traditions regarding the 'independence' of the military world in relation to the struggles for
power of the elites, and their sense of 'homeland' grounded in school texts and the
glorification of machista and patriarchal culture. In its wake, they make us aware of the disastrous
what it means for society and for a cultural form based on lasting peace,
existence of the military universe as well as of the use of institutionalized violence.
As we mentioned at some point in this chapter, the coordination of
punk activist entities exit this circuit and tend to generate certain interrelationships
with other activist groups, not necessarily anarchists. There is then, a
coordination in the realm of certain collectives of the anarchopunk world and anarchists,
like with external coordination entities.

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XX. THE CURRENT CITIZEN LANDSCAPE OF CHILE: THE
YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE SAMPLE AND THEIR EMERGING IDEAS
STARTING FROM THE EXAMINATION OF THE NOTIONS OF
DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM GOOD COMMON Y
SOCIAL PARTICIPATION.

Common Good:

Javier, young man from the sample:

"What is common good for some,
it is misfortune for others

The conception of the common good is not internalized as part of their discourse.
diary, is foreign to them. But they understand it as an arbitrary sign and an instrument of
government speech to legitimize its actions in front of society.

Francisco, young man of the sample:

I believe that society in general is silenced by that..., for
For example: they put up a little tree, people go quiet. That serves as a smokescreen.
like for when something happens. In reality, all those jobs are for good
common occur during election time.

The common good is seen as a concept imposed from power to justify its
existence. In practical terms, to call people when "they are given positions"
small trees, lights or they are made to participate in the 'shared expense'. They see this as something

temporary and that does not solve the underlying issues: economic inequality. They believe
that appealing to the common good can imply situations of authoritarianism.
In a context close to everyday life and understanding the common good in a sense
away from power, they indicate that society in general does not respect the other who has the
On the side, 'if they can screw you over, they will,' says one of them. To re-signify more in the idea of
social responsibility based on personal responsibility regarding conduct
daily, they visualize it in the context of human coexistence that should exist and does not exist

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because certain cultural practices of relating prevail, where underlying elements exist
environmental mistrust, utilitarianism, etc.

2. DEMOCRACY:

They feel that it does not operate even within the existing democratic system. They prioritize...

this, the idea of a social transformation 'from below', from the street, the neighborhood, the couple, the
family. Building ties, trusts, wills, desires, dreams, amazements, hopes
and networks that are articulated in a different culture of relating and organizing. That being said,
they consider the concept of culture important in the sense of 'ways of understanding and
to make in the world,” and that it is not static but rather transformable. In addition to the
economic issues, the transformation of conditions is of vital importance
imperative cultural.

Claudia, young woman from the sample:

... you have to work within what you have, for example if you are in a
university there you are, if you work in a pharmacy: talk to the girls and the
boys who are in the pharmacy. Wherever one is, one has to build, but
not necessarily participating in the organizations, which in my view already
they are like rotten; not politicizing, relating to people in action.
Just be in a place where there is a lady, and she's somewhat angry, and you.
Go and give him a hug: How is the person going to react? They won't hit you.
nothing..., maybe she is going to feel uncomfortable, but she is going to feel good and is going to
maybe start to relate in a different way. I think that's where it's headed.

The measure of things is what they can do alongside "another" that is

considered a 'close one', a close one either 'companion' of adventures or a person from the
community. The daily relationships that they try to activate start from an idea of
"direct democracy", which ranges from the everyday relationship in a "cordial" manner with another,

up to the coordination and participation of projects and spaces of activism. These are
sentences in the form of maxims that they develop and wish to develop with their actions.
They state that it is necessary to build the cultural conditions to develop a
true democratic participation that involves everyone in the resolution of their
vital issues, both collective and individual. They see that kind of fulfillment in the

386
the idea of direct and participatory democracy that anarchism advocates, a concept that, in
definitively, it considers democracy as the inclusion and social responsibility of the
life in society by all components of society, without mediators and architectures
hierarchical and vertical440Since it makes them feel involved and valued as
individuals, not passive objects of history, actors who construct meanings of a certain
social power, which can be found in the construction of the sign 'anarchist', 'libertarian',
“activista punk”, “punk político”.
They characterize the current democratic system as the enemy, as a deception, and
they refrain from participating in the vote or in any other instance. For them, it is necessary
that there be true democratic instances, real and direct with the people, and therefore
distancing itself from the reach of hegemonic institutional power and its logics.

That is why some of the young people, in their individual participation or in

bus spaces, organize information campaigns through brochures, marches,
rayados, about what they consider, as a system that deceives people with an illusion
democratic, not with a democracy of true community participation. They
they wish to expose in their campaigns, the ruling class and its deceits, they call for not voting or to
null vote for those who are registered and for those who are not registered to abstain from doing so. Within

of these measures, they try to account to the citizens that the responsibility in the
social transformations depend on themselves and that voting does nothing because

440
In a certain alignment with René Loureau's idea of generating the circulation of power horizontally
(Loureau in Ferrer 1999: 111 – 125), through the development of extensive self-management of life and in a
counter-institutional movement.
To be in favor of self-management, like being in favor of various forms of hetero-management, is to be
a bet on the future. More precisely, it is to imagine certain lines of force in the future and reflect on them.
based on them, on the conditions of possibility of such or such social form.
The imaginary greatly influences the most "scientific" social conceptions, just as it does on the
more <<utopian>>. We are determined by the image we create of the future. The commands of
the future curves our most intimate thoughts, our most abstract theories: The same as at the level
individually, biologically, and psychologically we would not live if our future were not programmed in a
one way or another; on a collective level, a society survives only by endlessly swallowing intense doses of
dreams, of more or less irrational projects that concern the immediate or distant future"(Ibid.: 112 and
113).
387
it's just a game to maintain the order of things, and that the 'representatives of the people'
they represent a small fraction of the population.

Esteban, young man from the sample:

For example; you are talking about 2 or 3 people who vote for 2 or 3 parties.
politicians, who don't even represent 5% of the population.., but like 7
millions have to vote for 3 dudes who were taken from the copulation of the
political parties, where the leadership of the political parties how many are there?.., neither
They don't even have to do with people's participation, not even with a real.
the support of the people towards those individuals. That's when you realize that the guys are
those who sell you the ointment, that is: 'you all have to choose this, and these are, they'
Do you like it, yes or no? If not, you go to jail, if not, you get detained or pay a fine. These are the
You have to go vote! Yes or no, do you like it or not.

3. FREEDOM:

Freedom is understood as conditioned to the social, cultural, and economic reality where
they live.

Esteban, young man of the sample:

You cannot live freedom if the guy on the corner can't. It doesn't exist.
half freedom, nor the freedom of certain people, nor the freedom of
certain groups..., freedom does not exist for me, but there are degrees of freedom,
that you can do greater things or that you can aim for greater things,
but the freedom they speak of from power is a lie, because you start from a
level of organizational..., you come from an organization that blames you; that is:
Free from what? If you start thinking, doing, moving within a system that already
it is defined, defined by certain people.

They believe it is a concept manipulated by the dominant culture that is constituted

as an advertising fetish or spaces of fun constituted by the market.

Pamela, young woman from the sample:

The freedom they present to you is the freedom of consumption: 'you can choose all
our products... I believe that advertising has so much to do with
this. So, that is the freedom they present to you, to be able to consume certain things or to

388
 acquire certain habits that are always linked to consumption. It's like:
Be more rebellious and wear some sneakers.

They say it will be a long time before there is an existential orientation in Chile.
towards freedom. We must start with 'the very idea of freedom', with 'responsibility'
that our actions have.” They do not see freedom in manifestations related to the
consumption. They say that people in general believe that this is freedom. They become drowsy.
people in consumption, they comment. They do not dismiss the fact that there is more access to the

information and other things, but that does not imply freedom.
By the way, the conception of freedom among young people could not be defined so
easily in response to the question: What is freedom to you?, but in relation to
the phenomena that arise.
Freedom is inevitably seen as corresponding to equality of conditions.
They understand this as two radically dependent concepts on one another. And the system
does not contribute to it, they sentence. The power relations, cultural and economic factors
they prevent it.

One way to access freedom is located in access to information and

understanding of her, "catch more," says someone. The more one knows and the more maturely one
take this knowledge, the freer one feels. It has to do with individual qualities of the
subjectivity and external circumstances of reality. Economic dependency and the
dependence on others within capitalist working conditions causes them anxiety. The
self-management idea and the development of experiences along that path, leads them to find a
path to freedom.
They value individual freedom greatly, always based on responsibility and
built on the growth and maturation of the person.
In the activities that take place in the symbolic space of punk or signifieds.
From this identity, they feel that they are doing something for their own freedom and for the freedom of others.

They do not claim the role of 'changing the world', but rather the 'daily contribution' to
hello: for example, the fact of not eating meat, not doing military service, not enrolling
to vote, be relatively friendly with an 'other', resolve problems with third parties 'of
"front", develop self-managed participation activities (relatively autonomous)

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of governmental and mercantile bureaucratic instances), to deploy coordinately
new senses of private and public space (recover and create spaces), make visible
problems (privatization of life), makes us consider (from them) growth and
impulse of a different ethos through its meaningful practices. Independent of the
quantity, they value quality.

4. SOCIAL PARTICIPATION:

This concept practically and directly brings together Democracy and Good.
Common and indirectly related to freedom. The latter has to do with preserving the
independence and autonomy of its action.
Social participation is seen in opposition to power, to participation within the
hegemonic institutions and their areas of action. Non-participation and non-
collaboration and two significant references that are structured in punk identity
analyzed. Do not participate in power instances: compulsory military service, voting,
resources for projects, not participating in the consumption of unnecessary products and what it has
a source in some transnational corporation or an exploitative nature of the person
human or animal, it enlivens their sensitivity.
In this aspect there are two trends: one that denies anything that comes from the
instances of institutional power (Market, State, etc.), but which in practical terms do not
radically operates. And another, which discerns according to real possibilities of not-
linking.
As self-managed experiences develop, there will be more of a sense of
the system's autonomy is present. The possibilities are many, but the resources and the
maturity to do it is just beginning to be developed, they point out.
See that most people escape through participation in consumption, which
which does not mean participation. For there to be participation, there has to be a
involvement and reflexivity in between. The participation they believe in is a
autonomous context of the instances of power that arises from the social life itself of the
community. And they see this participation as something that must have support from

390
responsibility, which is developed in the mutual relationship and in a climate of trust
and transparency.
What happens with social participation, for them it has to do with the idea of a
recess, a space of permission to participate; something artificial and not lasting that is
controlled by the entire system and its institutions (Market, State, etc.).
The general significant reference of this conception is gathered in the precepts.
basics of anarchism and self-management, which they made their own.

5. How do they see the current Chilean society?

From the ideas of democracy, common good, freedom, and social participation that
directly involve the subject of sociability, social interaction, the relationship with the
another and the establishment of societal links were raised at all times,
questioners of the order that rules "from above".
The current society is seen as a society based on profit and the
consumption, as a temporary incentive in the face of economic exploitation and its crises

expressed in unemployment.
The ethnographic material and the information obtained from the interviews with the young people

the case study allowed us to develop three trends441within the people related to
activist punk, regarding their way of observing social events:

A group of people who take on the speeches of others, from the readings of fanzines,
without delving deeper into the topics. These people represent a
a little less than average.

2) Another group that reaches the average, developing their own criteria through analysis.
detailed account of the things that happen and the topics related to anarchism, among
others. Trying to find new information.

3) The other smaller group, which represents a small portion of group number 2, has
developed a discipline in the search for information and the methodical study of the

441
The trends and designated elements represent only an approximation and generalization based on
the data. This suggests to us in the future, to consider other variables and more specialized analyses.
391
 topics related to anarchism, politics, history of Chile, information about others
places in the world etc.

The young people in the sample were placed in group number 3. Focusing attention on the
groups No. 2 and No. 3, the people of this trend have university degrees, they have
educated in prestigious private schools of academic excellence or traditional public high schools
academic excellence or have a level of preparation and environmental stimulation (family,
friends, the group of friends that relates to the punk group where it moves or the networks
What manages) for the inquiry of the topics. At first glance, it can be associated with the
components of the middle and upper middle classes, but there is also interest from people from the
lower middle and lower classes (in general). There is a lot of self-taught learning and the
general environment of the anarcho-punk context (tends to reduce the distance in access to the
information), enables the learning of knowledge and concepts.
In this case, groups number 2 and number 3 have a greater participation in instances such as
the collectives, the creation of fanzines and the work of networks, distribution of information and
alternative material, displacement to other geographical locations like meetings, etc.
From the above, two orientations emerge for appreciating current society:

Where the discourse prevails without greater depth and arguments as a way of
"slogans" as in advertising (for example, the previously mentioned key idea of a campaign)
advertising: "Freedom is yours, ok."). This orientation represents group number 1, but not
In its entirety. There is not much reflection on things and ideas.

Where analysis, curiosity, deepening, and reflection prevail442Groups no. 2 and

no.3

To begin with, none of the young people in the sample are registered in the records.
electoral. Disappointment does not exist among the youngest, for not having bet on the project.

442
As a question to be developed in other studies: will it be related to the educational stimulus variable?
cognitive regarding Bloom's categories expressed in the educational curriculum and the difference between
tax and private education?

392
democratizer initiated in the 1990s (by the governments of the Concertación). The most
adults saw relief (also, skepticism and disappointment in the democratic process
started) with the end of the military government expressed in a dictatorial system and
repressive. Some remember with horror, and others somewhat indifferently, the period
dictatorship; but the institutional break of 1973 is not something directly significant, for
their current struggles, but rather a sequence of resulting events that involve
spaces of struggles or support, such as human rights, political prisoners,
denounce the evils of capitalism and develop spaces for discussion and action on the matter.
They feel that the military regime is expressed in the direct influence on the
decisions of the political institutions of the current system, as well as in a type of
repressive culture, expressed in a society identified as authoritarian and at the same time
"makeup artist" of that authoritarianism under the discourses of democracy and integration of the
diversity.

Claudia, young woman from the sample:

What impresses me the most is that I realized that the whole way of being of the
people - all of that - has to do with the dictatorship; the repressed way of being of the
people, not just the fear of the police or the fear of the military, but more
there, I realized that I was born into a militarized culture. In which the schools and
all institutions are related to that style of education, because in the
they educate you like this, militarily.
(...) regarding the people who suffered torture, when I learned what the tortures were,
I was really impressed, I find it..., I still can't understand how the
people can be so sadistic and do these kinds of things... that impresses me, but
Above all, I find that the legacy of the dictatorship is much worse because it left
a style of culture completely repressed and militarized.

On the other hand, they believe that the dictatorship is over and everything that could be done in

the matter of justice and human rights has turned into mere speeches and political arrangements
among the authorities. They consider it an "atrocity" that the Government of Chile and the Justice
Chilean women have to be dealing with individuals who have killed other people for
think and fight against the imposition of an authoritarian system and a new order
institutional.
Regarding the ideas of Common Good, freedom, Democracy, Social Participation:
All these ideas were discussed and questioned. They consider that if they come from order
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current institutional (Government) or market, etc.; it is something that cannot be trusted and
responds to political, strategic interests of the business and political elites
religious. This sense of opposition enhances and verifies the adoption in the discourse of the
guidelines and ideologies related to anarchism and especially to ethical positions such as the
autonomy and self-management, consequences of the coherent action of the punk social actor
activist. The point is not to adhere to and get infected with symbols of the system; their practice of
sense is directed towards the creation of their own spaces or spaces of relative autonomy
to the ruling system.

Claudia, young woman from the sample:

I know a lot of people who get involved in institutions where the

social participation is already done; you try to get involved in the unions or
in neighborhood meetings or in NGOs..., I actually find it valid as well,
but we prefer to create our own spaces, because we believe that
those spaces are already rotten.

They have an imprint: to re-establish society in the contact of everyday life and in
what is at hand to do. Building spaces and taking others. Generating
awareness among the population about consumer society, the dictates of the Bank
World or the International Monetary Fund or the problems brought by globalization
of neoliberal cut.
A scope, for example in group number 1, of the tendency to repeat discourses without
Greater analysis, the denial of these ideas is based on stereotypes that have been established.
within the environment regarding power and institutions. The other two groups, although
they deny the instances coming from power, starting from a reflection based on a
non-static view of events, ideas, etc. But in both cases, the discourse is
accompanied by a sensitivity committed to what is being expressed. This discourse,
As we were able to observe in our fieldwork, it becomes practical to participate in the
different instances of social manifestation that generate meanings for their activism,
mainly for the media, it will be about the marches, in order to express a presence
personal, as a visible body before others as peers and others as an audience. The idea
what we find in the subjects participating in these actions calls for a symbolism

394
ritualistic, which passed from the ritual space of the “tocata” to “march” (in the sense of “a
to make" integral), for some current and significant reasons.

395
THIRD PART:

CONCLUSIONS

396
XXI. CONCLUSIONS BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE
OBJECTIVES OF THE THESIS.

Our intention, from the beginning, was to open the discussion and enter the study of
what we call emerging urban identities within the context of the
hegemonic institutions, with the theme of punk; that is, a first entry and look at
interior of this complex circuit that involves anarchist-oriented punk activism
(in this case), and which involves the construction of individual and shared identities in
function of parameters and signs not visualized from the family, school institution,
new forms of cultural and identity aggregation, which we suspect have not been
scant at other times in the history of societies, although under different processes,
mechanisms and significations.
In light of the results of our research, we found the following regarding
to our specific objectives stated:

1. Identify the main characteristics of the Punk Movement,

since its origin and arrival in Santiago de Chile in the 1980s
last century.

The meaning of punk can be found in the sense

from the ideologies, practices, and territories of their promoters

We managed to identify, from our analysis, based on the sources obtained

about the punk movement (as well as in our case study), that the gestation of
A sense and meaning of punk will depend on the various elements considered within.
from the particular historicity of the subject and the reference group (life experience). From this,
it is clear that the meaning of punk comes from a combination of multiple
components and driving structures of that feeling and meaning: let's call it personal biography,

397
determined socio-historical context, gender, generation, class, etc.
In light of this, punk, as we explained in Chapter I of our thesis, in its
essence implies – we believe – a type of expressive rupture in the face of certain determinants
human situational: socio-cultural, historical, generational, economic, of
gender, class, etc. From that perspective, punk represents a type of expressiveness
guided towards an idea of existential rebellion, in response to various factors that
they generate certain discomforts in individuals (inserted within social systems and
economic systems such as capitalism and totalitarian systemic expressions). This idea underlies
regularly after the construction of personal and collective identity of the analyzed cases
and its reference context.
Subsequently or simultaneously, the punk sign - for the case study and the
related context - constitutes an entry space into other expressions of rebellion
human before what oppresses it, restless, etc., which tend to decant into structures and networks
ideological with their own spaces and logic of expression; finding behind it - within
the analyzed cases - a facilitator of individual identity and social learning
cultural. That is to say, individual action spaces are formed within collective settings,
whether in the form of an anarchopunk collective, a conglomerate of organizations
anarchopunks or various organizations of an anarchist or leftist tendency extra
parliamentary and party-based, as well as associative and individual expressions without
precise external classification; in which emergence, the idea of an open subject is observed
towards a more flexible identity construction, from individual reflexivity in
dialogue with an "other," conceived as "close" (in the face of the complexity of references and
current forms of identity, which we believe combine, the imprecision, the rigidity and the
dispersion)443feeding on its way, from the collection of cultural capital (as
vital experiences and access to information and participation spaces) and symbolic capital
(legitimacy, identity, distinction within the field and social space of action).

443
Inaccuracy, due to the ever-changing current cultural identity references (Market). Rigidity, due to
the subsistence of an essentialist rationality in the construction of cultural identity (Nation). And dispersion,
as a cross-cutting and constant effect, resulting from the break with traditional forms of construction
cultural identity (Paradigm).
398
➞PunkMovemen
oh
trceoncep
P
oftunn
kM
i oitn?

On the other hand, we distrust the existence of a 'punk movement' as

cohesive totality; for this purpose, we present a partial proposal regarding the concept of
punk movement, that would take a turn towards a complex observation of it. This
the concept of Punk Movement (by the way partial, we reiterate) began to materialize, to
As the research and data analysis confirmed our questions
and suspicions regarding the general allusion, from academic and non-academic fields, in
function to punk as 'punk movement'. We assume that the classic reference to
the punk movement is established, by the way, in the media explosion of the time, when part
the expressiveness of punk sparked the interest of mass media and record companies and
cultural industry.
As we outlined in Chapter I (after the analysis of our data and
experience) in the section on the emergence of punk in England and the United States, as
Due to certain particularities (Anarcho-punk), it is complex to establish a unified sense of punk
and more, if observed as a whole. We estimate that referring to a unitary concept of
Punk movement requires a review and investigation of its concrete manifestations.
This review must consider spatio-temporal and socio-cultural and historical variables.
of such expressions.
In order to instrumentally appreciate the variations of meanings of punk,
we developed the idea of 'Punk Concept in Motion'; simply put, it stipulates that
the meaning of punk should shift our attention to the various expressions that the
cultivators of them act and situate. This idea leads us to conceive (in this case) the concept of
Punk as a symbol, which already carries a certain load of meaning, due to its
appropriation and historical use by various actors and references of meaning (punk individuals
from their concrete space-time experience, media and industry
cultural); but at the same time, it is updated and dosed according to the requirements of each
individual and group based on a specific appropriation and use.
From the logic of Pierre Bourdieu – as we pointed out in that chapter – punk
acquire a disposition of symbolic good for certain subjects (“agents”, in terms of
399
Pierre Bourdieu), who, immersed in their fields or in specific fields, establish
certain operational senses of punk according to its ideologies, practices, and identifiable territories
in their "habitus"), which in turn will depend - as distinguished in Pierre's strategy
Bourdieu - of the different capitals (economic, cultural, etc.) that individuals or
acting agents possess; hence the hierarchization and distinction of certain senses of
punk that operate within a specific circuit and field (for example, within the
anarchopunk universe or within those classified as 'punk destroy' or 'punk macheteros') or
in general (the different manifestations within the punk universe as external agents to
him: Cultural industry and other groups and individuals).
So, the Punk Concept in Motion means for us, to reduce the
mutability and complexity of it, for its analysis close to the concrete experience of the
subjects.

Anarchist-Oriented Punk Activist

Within the general historicity of punk, we perceive that certain components

ideologies, such as anarchism, have been annexed as a differentiated portion of a
to become historically determined, and therefore were not incorporated into it.
Punk - in the Chilean case - like other 'imported' cultural expressions,
they are part of phenomena of diffusion of cultural elements, both as a product of
interest of some cultivators, such as in the globalization of markets, but also
that responds to complex processes of transmission and cultural diffusion that involve a
specialized and detailed study. In Chile, as in other regions of the planet, punk has
has had its particular development and characteristics. Anarchism, as in other places,
has also been incorporated into Creole punk.
The anarchist specificity within Chilean punk developed in a way that
emerging in the late 80s and visibly and effectively from the mid
90s. This position within punk in general represents a minority.

400
 In a way, the activist punk of anarchist nature444has spread and
reupdated in recent years, the presence of anarchism in Chile, maintaining the
difference with the space-time in which Chilean anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism are
he gestured and influenced the labor and trade union movement of the early 20th century; and of the same

It is emphasized that the current emergency (in some sectors) of the doctrine
Anarchism is also naturally due to the impulse of individualities and
collectivities of their particular gestation universe (anarchist world), a fact that deserves
A research focused on that universe.
The activist punk with anarchist orientation, for the historicity of the 'movement'
punk in Santiago and in Chile represents, along with other identity expressions embedded in
he, a kind of referential context of new meanings that become other alternatives
to be taken by other punk enthusiasts and their meanings, that is, a reference of
senses and knowledge, possible to be learned through the observation of practices,
speeches of the proponents of punk anarchism.
Although since the mid-80s (in Santiago de Chile) and from the beginning, punk
As a generality, from practices and ideas, it tended towards a certain discursivity 'more
"destructive" and politically passive (at least in the punk scene), currently
and toward the beginning of the 1990s, a more "constructive" facet becomes visible and
propositional. Furthermore, this current punk discursivity (in general) has been shaping certain
structures over time (networks, circuits, people, organization, knowledge, etc.) that give
they have been given a certain permanence. This transformation, of the general discursiveness of punk

the second half of the 90s to today, is nourished by the punk anarchist focus,
anarchists, Straight Edge, themes and specific activism carried out by various
individualities and collectivities in areas such as: conscientious objection, antimilitarism,
Mapuche cause, political prisoners, ecologism, popular artistic-cultural production and
independent, minorities, etc. A situation that we illustrated in this way by adding some
features:

444
It is noteworthy that its dissemination and reactivation is not solely due to the anarchist universe.
punk, except for the different individuals linked to punk in Santiago de Chile (in this case) who came together to
These ideas appropriated and used their symbols.
401
 • Associativity in the face of threats
Predominance of references objectives (dictatorial repression and
of pessimistic senses/ before other groups (gangs, etc).
General punk environment Destructiveness ("No Future") Need to associate for
from the 80s in in the punk media. counteract threats (certain
Santiago tendency to coercion)

• Emergence of the trend towards

snobbery and stereotyping of the
- References of pro-senses forms of punk, it is always
positives within the average constant, but more evident towards
Historical context: punk: invisibles, marginalized late 80s. Search,
Dictatorship, repression, objective violence. and minorities. experimentation of shapes and
Repression and neutralization of the
contents related to punk is
cultural expressions considered
more transversal and constant and
as dangerous and subversive for him
visible in the first half of the
military regime and civil sectors
the '80s and the first half of the '90s.
associated with her. Associativity pro-
act against the common and visible enemy
on behalf of the individuals.

• Diversification of meanings of
visible punks in practice and
specific territories (for example:
toccatas, marches, collectives.

• Elements of significance in the

emergence of textualities
related to punk such as Straight
Edge, Anarchopunk and themes
as animal defense,
antimilitarism, anti-globalization
neoliberal, commodification of the
life, consumerism, social apathy,
etc.
Punk environment + Visibility and tendency to
actual general in the predominance of
• More significant references
Santiago significant pro-referents
various punk for the media
positives for the average
punk and identity production
punk. individual and collective.

Historical context of transition and • More fragmented associativity and

representative democratic improvement flexible, trend towards the
explosion and instrumentalization of the commitment to link in a way
cultural and artistic expressions in the hands of more voluntary.
State, private (cultural industry). Withdrawal
associative and individualization process. Idea • Tension between the trend towards the
of an invisible enemy. Distrust between snobbery and stereotyping of
citizens before another considered as discursive forms related to
threat or competitor. punk and experimentation of forms
and content production

402
 Analyze the meanings that the Young People of the Sample construct
of Punk.

Reactor of senses and referential context

of meanings: The activist punk orientation
anarchist and the production of Cultural Identity

We distinguish within the meanings of punk, for the young people in the sample, the
presence of certain differences in the individual sphere (around their self-
identifications) that are not severe when examining a shared sense of their
meanings that are oriented towards the management of an identity, social, cultural expressiveness
and a different and somewhat 'comfortable' policy, in the face of the spaces that society and the
traditional hegemonic institutionalism allows.
This identity and punk anarchist discursivity, individual and shared through
ideologies, practices, and territories are developing - as we analyzed - based on
personal searches and concerns, which make punk a means, a reactor of
senses that at the same time produce, orient, and order their discursivity (ideologies,
practices and territories) around a referential context of activist punk meaning, in which
It is possible to identify the different discourses that shape this micro.
anarcho-punk cultural identity.
This discursivity is generating a referential context of meanings through the
permanence of the elements that make up the production of cultural identity. The
Referential context of meanings constitutes the basis and certain structure of a meaning.
shared meanings that accustoms new subjects to the senses of this
micro cultural identity of anarchist punk, as it updates the cohesion of a
we, from their identification regarding networks and participation coordinates (territories,
speeches, images, etc.
403
What does the meaning of Punk represent?
oriented towards Anarchist ideologies?

Her sense of punk represents a type of identity and expressiveness in

confrontation with the society of current capitalism, Chilean society and various
specific themes (human and animal exploitation, gender, anti-militarism, minorities,
human relations, institutional manipulation, consumerism, spaces of expression,
culture, education, art, etc); so the sense of punk that is appropriated and used is situated
in line with the emergence of punk expressions and textualities linked to political activism;
These two elements illustrate a contrast in the way politics is done.
which is traditionally accepted by democracy and the current system. In the same way, the
anarchist foundation, based on the precepts of direct democracy, horizontality and
self-management defines a type of activist action that marks certain differences with the
movements or political groups of the so-called 'ultra left' that have been characteristic
and visible for the last 30 years.
From the perspective of individuality and identity construction, it conjugates
synergistically, the materialization of personal concerns into a 'powerful' symbol
and "public" that constitutes anarchism or punk anarchism for its practitioners.

Cultural Identity from micro spaces:

the individual and the collective as a facet of
identification and symbolic production before
the emergence of socializing references
traditional.

This type of cultural identity that young people develop through appropriation and
the use of punk is constituting itself in the personal and collective sphere. But, radically, it
and enhanced by the effect of sharing it: whether within 'face-to-face' interactions or to the
distance with another significant one. That is why it is worth reiterating the strength of the concept of

cultural identity in symbolic terms, as it allows us to visualize phenomena more

404
subtlety of identity construction and cultural repertoires, due to the emergence
current and emergence of the traditional receptacles of socialization and reproduction of
cultural patterns (school, family, etc.).
This cultural identity arises from the very elements that young people adopt,
from their individual and shared experience (micro socio-cultural experience). From this
way, they compose a sense of the world that constitutes a non-static structure of
being punk - at least within the orbit of the young participants - settled in a
reflexivity more than a stereotype of some superficial (observable) elements
also, within the context of study, as well as other punk contexts and expressions: by
For example, being 'anarcopunk' implies being 'vegetarian', not consuming certain products,
participating in certain spaces and being against some institutions), since it is
incorporated into political, valuative, economic, etc. conceptions that arose in
synchrony with a personal questioning and learning. These elements are going
coupling in their actions, in relation to the different spaces they need to navigate (family,
university, work, etc.). That is to say, it is not only about aesthetic signs as referenced
the lego or the simple observer, but rather of the rationalization and adoption of ideas that
they are mobilized as individuals within a society. A situation that we identify, begins to
to develop in secondary socialization and in questioning socializing elements
of the society and culture experienced (for example: concepts such as homeland, freedom,
democracy and social practices within the world of daily human relationships). These
ideas are enhanced in the interaction with other peers that constitute their context of
reference. For example, the development of activist activities.445, and
cementing the punk identity that they signify and vice versa.

445
Example: marching in protest against the IDB summit, spreading information in workplaces and
studies, daily behavior related to certain values and attitudes to make visible: solidarity, honesty,
questioning, teaching by example.
405
The idea of "us" as an articulator of the components
cultural identities that underlie expressiveness
anarchist-oriented punk activist

The recognition of cultural identity from them does not arise explicitly.
(emic), but it is read and translated into the idea of a referential and meaningful 'us',
argued after the activities that are carried out together, as in relationships and
networks they manage. And above all, in the practice they carry out as a whole, within
significant spaces and territorialities.

A 'we' after the search for a community

opposite to the hierarchical nature of institutions.

These young people have the conception of the world as the search for autonomy in the face of

the institutions, to achieve from the idea of 'below', 'from oneself', 'from us',
that is to say, from a certain communitarian feeling, the social transformations of relationships
human, economic: building a different culture "of doing things." And this has to
See, by not becoming part of the hegemonic institutional power apparatus.
expressed in the consumer society, liberal representative democracy and its
institutions, etc. That is to say, the claim and review of the entire hierarchy established in the
society from 'micro to macro' (family, friendships, work, etc.).
We observed in the results of our data analysis a permanent
contradiction of the instances of hierarchization and dependence of the institutions of
power that they manifest in the State, the Businessmen, the Church, Education, and the various
expressions of the current capitalist society (lifestyles, values, human relationships,
etc). That does not negate the existence of contradictions or possible hierarchical logics of
analyze in the context of study.

406
Production of Cultural Identities
underground and transversal

We conjecture, regarding our analyses, that there exist and have existed - as
we have repeatedly mentioned throughout the thesis - in the development of the
modern societies, parallel processes of cultural production and collective identity
that have intertwined invisibly with social institutions
traditional (Education, family, State, etc.). For the analyzed case and therefore current,
this phenomenon accentuates as an emerging trend in the face of socio-cultural disaggregation of
societies like the Chilean one, resulting – among other things – from the autonomization of the field

economic (global market) over other fields, such as cultural.

It is a type of cultural identity of an underground nature as it interweaves within
from a circuit of information and codes that are opposite and invisible to the hegemonic culture
(like the daily activist work desired by young people), which transversally goes
extending, by occupying other spaces of the daily life of the young people in the sample: it is
to say, it is becoming part of their identity, this ideological, practical and territorial adherence, not only in

the contextual reference of meaning, but within the home, work, university, institute,
etc. Its ideology is not split by being outside the anarchopunk space, rather it
they are considering certain strategies for adapting to daily life situations (as we suggested
in the next section), identifiable in the reflection of their own ways of being
consistent (in contrast to guidelines based on stereotypes).

Transculturality of this cultural identity

While it is true that the events that constitute this cultural identity have to
to see in the first instance, with the referential context of activist punk sense
anarchist orientation (coming together, forming a collective, going to a gig, meetings, marches,
activist work, 'to carry', as parallel events in the everyday flow of
young people; their identity gradually adapts to the temporality of social progression

407
hegemonic that implies activities and roles present in spaces such as work,
education, etc. On one hand, it is absent simultaneously from this temporality constituting
other timeframes related to their visible activist participation for the
referential context of meaning (marches, activist work); and on the other hand, this
temporality established around the reference identity context, crosses the
hegemonic time, that is to say, the analyzed identity possibility is expanding through
what we consider strategies of visibility and invisibility that converge in a feeling of
the young people in the sample, under the idea of producing transformations ('making the revolution')
from the spaces where each one is or transits.
In that sense, if we simply establish that hegemonic time
it involves the transition of individuals between institutional spaces of education, work
and leisure (legitimized by law and the market) based on the process through which the subjects
are incorporating into the socially expected roles and functions: the transition from being young
student to working adult446(for example), this type of identity expressiveness and
Cultural analysis (from the subject) suggests that we navigate through the limitations of this.
hegemonic time. Since this Transtemporality we refer to resides
in the sense that it shapes the production of cultural identity by young people of the
case study (through its ideologies and at the same time worldview: anarchist doctrine
and political vision), which, through its activist action, keeps pace with the times.
hegemonic, through their subjectivity, based on their individual and collective daily actions.

446
And all of them aimed at becoming citizens within the current political and economic system.
408
 3. Analyze the conceptions that the young people in the sample elaborate.
of current Chilean society.

The current Chilean Society and

the acceptance of 'what is'.

Emerges from the vision of these young people, an image of current Chile that articulates a
tendency towards inertia on the part of society in general; manifested in the idea of accepting,
tacitly or from silence and ignorance or under the expression 'it is what it is', the
destiny of society. Come to the society, fragmented, imprisoned and alienated in the
daily activities of procuring the necessary economic resources for the
satisfaction, both of basic needs and of obtaining and accessing services
and products offered by what is considered today's consumer society. They do not see a change in
condition in citizenship and in society without action; and not any kind of action, but
an action that reveals a critique and an alternative different from those expressed in the world
capitalist.

What is the policy for the political class in the world?

of representative democracy? : Processes
transversal lines of political expressiveness
non-institutional.

Politics concerns them, but not from the spaces and from the understanding of power
political and current democratic system. They observe the existing democracy operating in a
limited sense, because they analyze it and signify it as a type of democracy under the logic
neoliberal and capitalist. They refer to a political expressiveness from their own
individual and collective identity, from a form of development that is their own and not
tax, like almost everything they point out, comes from the figure of the state, society
capitalist, the churches and institutionalized religions.

409
Ccaitrnildeh
tcreaiselrvu
taeitde

Critical reservation, in the face of a context of public opinion, visualized as limited and

focused more on daily events (media facts) than on the background of the logics of
functioning of capitalism (privatization of the country, of life, of basic services
in the hands of national or foreign private corporations, speculation). Ethical reserve,
the construction of a community and a cultural form that enhances values such as
solidarity, fraternity, and respect for human dignity equating freedom with
equality for the realization of a "true social justice." Their attitude of ethical reserve is
appreciable in the following logic that we extract from our study: not legitimizing with your
participation, the social spaces considered systemic, whether constituting enclaves
autonomous or strategically circumventing them. Waving a public flag that exalts
to say: 'No', we do not want the current way of life, we want and desire to do something else,
for this we need to gradually position ourselves as freely as possible (starting from
other senses and resignifications, to build subjective, intersubjective and
participation and development objectives), of the existing certainties, after the mechanisms
of participation in today's society: representative democracy, consumerism,
commodification of life.
We suspect that these expressions, like others, whether in a primary state or
finished, they suggest: that at the level of everyday life and common sense, they are being engendered.

non-traditional focuses (for example, intellectual elite, political parties or organizations in

disagreement: some Ecologists, Communists, among others), as spaces of
discussion, social criticism and practices, concerning the care of certain values and principles
(highlighting attitudes) that challenge the "doing" of current Chilean and global society.

410
 4. Project the scope of this Cultural Identity for what is
it is called Damaged Social Fabric, in today's Chile.

New associative forms within the youth world

that converge in non-traditional aggregation spaces.

In the case of the study context and at the same time punk micro cultural identity
anarchist, we find the production of a space of social differentiation and identification
through practices, ideologies, and territories that are interwoven within the city and the
current society, in the form of appropriated and re-signified territorialities through
practices opposed to sectorization and hegemonic institutional cartography that
administers the spaces for participation and social legitimation, primarily from the
market and the State.

What does this identity form propose to us?

This cultural identity form, born from the activist punk 'we'
"anarchopunk," suggests to us and vociferates: not to forget that each subject can go
getting involved in the construction of their own historicity ("our own life",
as the young people from the sample make us understand) and at the same time specifically, how
part of a shared historicity, generally invisible and made invisible by the
hegemonic institutions; a situation that we identify, is not part of its
requirements regarding participation, but rather to make visible their rejection and search for
a different alternative to capitalist society and its institutional expression and legitimization
daily.

411
A subterranean community: Knowledge and cultural production

The importance of this "handful of young people" regarding a certain prominence in the
society of damaged social fabric, part of the unsuspected development of ideas and practices, to
starting from individual searches (and then shared ones, of spaces for expression and
transformation) that originates - for example - from listening to a
determined punk song; and how from there, a 'new situation' is being built
for the subject, which adjusts to the situations of other subjects as well, until
to conform a context of referential meanings, where certain practices and ideologies underlie
and territories, circumscribed around the expressiveness of a shared identity.
A relevant characteristic that we extract for this section, within the
conclusions, is that the majority of the members of this punk space, (of this micro
implicit cultural identity in the networks, circuits, and structures that arose from them
they generally did not know each other, as well as many of them - from their feelings - did not
they knew how to organize and coordinate with others to carry out an activity
determined.
We are realizing a flow of manifestations that occur in relation to this.
space, that does not undergo a social learning that is made visible and formally delivered by the
educational institutions, family, rather, has development and expression in relationships
daily linkages, in the game: based on the adequacy of certain actions from the logic
of the essay - error. Logics within the field of common sense, that are transforming
in specific learnings and expert knowledge (organizational, coordination, management,
etc.), but later, an addition of information feasible to be used and repositioned by others
individuals and groups, around their activities. This is strengthened even more by
the component of anarchist ideologies, a political affiliation that is enriching the enclave of
punk sense both individual and shared towards a concrete feeling of production of an ethos
"active" and "constructive", while also differentiating from other punk or political identities.

412
Between associativity, participation
and the rejection of institutionalism.

As already mentioned, it is possible to observe from our research that in

the practices of this activist Punk urban cultural identity create links, they
develops associativity, and more than that, it signifies a relational orientation that considers
not only to the components of this activist punk spatiality, but also to society, to
society as a community, as a neighborhood; not to institutionalism
within the dominant system and culture. The expected social effect from them goes
channeling their energies towards a social stream of construction and adaptation of a form
horizontal cultural of being, where power circulates within the different components.
social, around the development of self-organization and self-management of their processes;
constituting from there, the relational sum of different interconnected experiences
mutually, based on the objectives of a change in the delegation's culture and
hierarchization of power447A desire for shared power and in a circular manner is upheld.
where the values of mutual support and solidarity stand out above differences.
The type of associativity that is generated from this space is infused towards the
punk political community, the anarchist community (local, regional, and international) and others
political forms of opposition to the current system, as well as towards society and the present
referred to as a citizen in general. Many of the activities and projects have arisen
from some groups and from people in this space, they have been the linking and the
formation of networks between individuals and external groups. Associative networks that are going

summing up and awaiting a specific receptacle for activating your participation and action.
For example, in the case of the 'Okupas', the ideal intention and certain achievements are to establish
associative and summative links within the community and neighborhood where it is located
geographically the 'occupied' housing.
This associative character assumes for our thesis a form of "participation".
"inverted", with respect to the type of citizen participation expected and legitimized by the
political and governmental institutions: Elections, political parties, center of

447
It includes the commodification of life, the theatricalization and representation of human existence, through forms
of the use of instrumental reason technologies, at the service of hegemonic power.
413
students, neighborhood associations, and a range of formal and
informal that tend to be subscribed within the current legality (legal personality,
etc). This inverted participation represents the direction that, from punk activism, is
wants to give to its action: a policy of participation, which starts from 'us
same
pyramidal character and contaminated by capitalism (as we interpret from its
speech). It is a kind of attempt to dilute the structuring and organization of form
pyramidal and hierarchical structure of society. In light of this, we see the announcement of a

intentionality of constructing a cultural, social, and political form with the least
possible incumbency of institutional power; for this reason, an explicit rejection is presented to the
participation within the spaces mapped by hegemonic power and its forms
organizational structures tend to be flexible (both, due to the rejection of the hierarchical sense, as well as

due to the incubation state of an unknown organizational experience, and a

relative openness, towards individual reflection on the willingness to join in a 'doing')

Contrapositions: individualism or collectivism?

From the speech of the young people in the exhibition and its related reference context,
an explicit and implicit desire to safeguard individuality without detriment is perceived
of the collective.
There are trends448within this universe, which express a communitarianism or
collectivism, where it takes precedence entirely. But the preference we see in its
questionings and reflections account for an openness towards meanings close to a
communitarianism of a non-hierarchical but vitalizing and essential nature for the
development of the social individual (a community context that expresses a welcome for the
subjects).

448
We were able to observe these trends in the research, correlated with
theoretical guidelines and positions classics of anarchist doctrine: individualism, collectivism
communism, etc.
414
Rejection of the city-states in the global world
neoliberal: "I do not want to be a subject of the kingdom."

We draw an analogy to City-States, based on the separation of the

hegemonic institutional framework of the community that we define in this thesis. The Cities-
The State represents, for today's society, the different Hegemonic Institutions.
(Religious institutions, the Market, the State) that struggle or unite for control of the
society (markets, consumers, citizens, parishioners). They constitute the
Calling city-states for our analysis system mentioned in this thesis. Already
it is not just the State as a representation of political and class power, but of the
the exchange of political power, instrumentalized by the market.
This leads us to presume the power of the community and the concept of culture
as inherent elements to individuals and human groups, is being made visible and
felt in some way, probably noticeable through their speeches, practices and
significant territorialities.
This also leads us to reflect on the ever-relevant proposition and
discussion of Pierre Clastres449regarding your analysis of tribal societies and the

449
In a divided society, according to the vertical axis of power, between the dominant and the dominated, the relationships

what unites men cannot develop frankly, in freedom. Prince, despot or tyrant, the one who
he exercises power desires only the unanimous obedience of his subjects. They respond to his desire, they do
possible their desire for power, not because of the terror it could inspire in them, but because, by obeying, they fulfill their

own desire for submission. Denaturalization excludes the memory of freedom and, consequently, the
I wish to win her back. Any divided society is therefore destined to endure.
denaturalization is expressed at the same time in the contempt that the one who commands feels naturally for those who
they obey and in the love of the subjects for the prince, through the worship that the people render to the person of
tyrant. Now, this current of love that flows incessantly from bottom to top, this love of the subjects for the
love also de-naturalizes the relationships between subjects. By being an exclusive gift of freedom, these
relationships establish another law to form society: to love the tyrant. Not loving him, or loving him little, implies
To transgress this law. Each one watches over the respect for the law. The love of the law - the fear of freedom -
turn each of the subjects into accomplices of the prince: obedience to the tyrant excludes friendship
among the subjects.
What will happen, then, to primitive societies? By allowing their being to develop for freedom, they cannot
to survive if not in the free exercise of honest relationships among equals. Any relationship otherwise
415
the disregard for the institution of the State and the desire for power, that is, the division
hierarchical nature of society between command and obedience as an explanation and natural cause of
the evolution of societies.
Who are the subjects of the new global neoliberal kingdom, perhaps unwittingly?
or not realizing it?. The interpretations of our data have led us to
consider the following questions without answering: in the relationship of the subjects in front of the

State or Hegemonic Institutionalities: the social order depends on these instances

definitely or are foreign when it comes to evaluating the close social ties that are
Can they achieve this within any human group that produces culture? Does the human being exist?
social and cultural outside of the power institutions and their perspective?
This reiterates the sense of living in a divided and unnatural society,
regarding a primordial state conceived based on ethnographic studies of the
tribal societies, where "equality" is a condition <<sine qua non>> for the non-
disintegration of the elements that constitute it, as we infer that on the contrary, the
society of States and City-States (our analogy) within the logics
current capitalists, it is a society that tends towards the disintegration of its elements,
Well, the cultural system that is generated generally omits the essential: distribution.
equal and natural balance of its diverse elements, without coercion and objectives above
they. In this regard, we deduce a sense of culture from our case study, which is
translated and equated by our analysis to the concept of culture developed by Rudolf
Rocker450from an anarchist analysis of culture. Rocker proposes a cultural system
libertarian, which implies a "natural" disposition of society, of the subjects to
gestate that one, disregarding the hierarchizing power, and therefore, indicates that the lesser
influence of political power, greater cultural flourishing can be engendered, due to the
(...) culture is nothing more than a continuous overcoming of processes

Nature is inherently impossible, as it is fatal for society. Equality requires nothing more than the
friendship, and one does not feel friendship more than in equality" Pierre Clastres "Freedom, misfortune, unnameable"
The Libertarian Language
Argentina, 1999, Page 44
450
German historian and anarcho-syndicalist. The work that will be mentioned, "Nationalism and Culture," was
originally published in 1949.
416
primitive naturals, of the political aspirations for dominance within society, that
they constrain the vital process of man and subject his creative activity to coercion
external forms are rigid, therefore, according to their internal essence, it is the same everywhere, at
despite the increasing number and the infinite diversity of its special forms of
expression. (...) the commonality that serves as the foundation for all culture is infinitely greater than

the diversity of its external forms (...)451Therefore, the political sphere would annul a
luck of balance and fluidity of the cultural development fostered in society since its
individuals, since for Rocker: 'Every cultural process develops all the more spontaneously
and peacefully, the political motives of dominance appear in the front line as little as possible,
Well, politics and culture are contradictions that cannot be overcome at the deepest level.
never, as they aspire to divergent goals that are always equally distant,
well, they are linked to other worlds452Based on our case study,
we find a conception of society that must develop a cultural sense where
integrate the subjects into fraternal and mutually respectful ties, a cultural form that
creatively empower individuals, generating in them the ability to see themselves
same ones to move towards elevated expressions in accordance with an ethic of freedom
among equals, whose purpose is to exalt this very thing. The contrast, for this conception
interpreted, lies in the containment of the creative social forces that the type provokes
of the society in which we find ourselves, whether for better or worse...

Anti-capital social: A "no social capital"

for the current system.

From the young people's own senses in the sample, the belief opens around
to the practice of 'freeing spaces' from the logics of hegemonic and capitalist culture,
whose social scope lies in the practical and semantic fact of deconstruction and production
of opposite senses to the commanding order, textual and intertextual operations of
symbolic significance of life, of the individual, of the collective, of a type of spatiality

451
Nationalism and Culture
452
Rocker, Rudolf, Op. Cit., Page 321
417
that adheres to its own socially binding requirements, channeled "to the
daily uprising against the society of the institutionalism of current capitalism, meanings and
own logics that can exemplify the rest of society; the apprehension of a
cultural, social, and economic model different from the current one, but whose horizon of
realization depends on the management of the individuals themselves, articulated in a general way
in cultural logics that recover self-management, solidarity, reflexivity.
The current social scope has to do with the potentials achieved around
the management of their own forms of linking and social aggregation, both internal and
external to the anarcho-punk universe (networks, circuits, etc.). That is to say, the formation of a "
no social capital" for "the future bet" of the current institutionality but "for and by
the community, whether punk, anarchist, from the neighborhood, from the block, the family, the

workers, 'minorities', marginalized, etc. A 'lack of social capital' that transforms

symbolically in an otherness of the idea of 'social capital', promulgated by rhetoric
institutional and of the system that transfers its meaning towards a notion of an 'other capital'
as an intertwined potentiality 'for' and 'in' the community, which is latent
adding: knowledge, technologies, individuals, networks, etc. A support of theoretical knowledge and
practices that do not wish to be appropriated and instrumentalized by the logics of the current system
as a segment of its institutional cartography. And due to its confrontation with the system,
regarding the direction and sense taken by ideologies, practices, and territories,
meanings by the young people in the sample and their context, takes on a connotation of "anti-"
social capital

Trans-oppositions in the face of immanence of

sense of opposition to the system.

A question arises when we focus on the sense of rejection of the current system, which

underlies the analysis of the data of the young people in the sample: what is the location of
What sentiment of opposition to the system do they express?

To answer this question, we enroll the term and concept of Trans-

opposition, as it somehow represents - as a guideline to follow - this expression
studied. The Trans-opposition implies the sense of ubiquity of expressions of opposition

418
and dissent that are in constant transit and temporally defining their position and
identity in relation to the objectification of hegemonic institutionalism. It is a term for
differentiate this type of expressions from the various entities that make up some degree
of the opposition integrated into the system (opposition within the democratic political system
representative, extraparlamentary political parties, groups, intellectuals e
individualities that participate incorporated within the system). Since the current system,
under their productive logics, control technologies, and hegemony, they are integrating and
instrumentalizing the diverse social sectors (individual and collective) that arise
as a dissent against the current order in its universality and particularity (political system,
economic system, etc).
We refer to 'immanence of the sense of opposition to the system,' from the
guidance underlying Herbert Marcuse's analysis of "societies"
technological453regarding the integration of the political, cultural, etc. opposition into the system
current (integration promoted by the same productive process and modernization of the
capitalist society in its neoliberal phase, in our case.

Epilogue: In search of anti-institutional alternatives

hegemonic to be

During the course and development of our research and data analysis
contributed by the young people in the case study, we found a trend and reference from them.
that seeks to enable its being, its individuality, outside of the felt constraints from part
of capitalist society (mass media, cultural industry, social participation according to the
predominant democratic model, etc). The top-down imposed models or
for an unconscious community do not come to fruition in their desires for self-determination. The

The symbols used by them are constantly being repositioned and analyzed in the eyes of the
instrumentalization of spaces of freedom, scrutinized by the system
dominant. The different individualities manifest in this space aim not to

453
Cf. Herbert Marcuse: "Freedom and Aggression in Technological Society" (pp. 50-86) in Fromm, Erich:
The Contemporary Industrial Society
419
to feel subordinate to any person or institution. The subject, upon having the feeling of
to feel trapped by various and particular determinations (life history and experience
social) tries to rise and observe its captivity, so as to reflect and create the means to
to embark on the arduous task of 'feeling free', by becoming oneself as a historical being and
socially connected, a situation that can be conceived by relying on what has been stated by
Enrique Gervilla quoting X. Zubiri454based on human growth: 'man, to
to exist, is faced with the task of <<having to become>>, a task as fundamental as
inevitable. We do not choose to become or not, to develop or not, but the sense of our
development and growth. Birth gives us being, but we have to build ourselves.
new way of being, for we are born human, but not humanized; people, but not
customized; social, but not socialized. This process of humanization,
personalization and socialization are not possible without culture and education455The theme that
surge is the split of the hegemonic forms of 'feeling' and being socialized
endoculturated; there is an emerging diaspora that interferes during socialization of
some subjects in their process of reproducing the integration scheme into the cultural model
hegemonic or feeling definitely frustrated and excluded; this diaspora is related to
with the questioning of his situation and as a subject of socialization, expressed in the
expected behaviors by society, family, peer group, school, high school, market
state (For example: social integration through the study of a university degree).
This questioning is amplified when considering the micro socio-cultural analysis.
human beings not as mere reproducers of a culture but as its creators,
as agents of culture production and a system of signs and symbols that stimulates
a search and transformation of the subject's self-perception in their thinking and acting
diary.
This feeling, viewed from the young people of the sample and from the universe
related to them, necessarily places us to seek other conceptualizations456what

454
Zubiri, Xavier (1898-1983), Spanish philosopher
455
Bouché Peris, Henri and others: Anthropology of Education. 1st Edition, Dykinson Publishing, Spain
1998. Page 187
456
For now, we can suggest Hak im Bey (1999), and his practical conceptual development on 'The
Temporarily Autonomous Zones (TAZ, the English abbreviation for 'Temporally Autonomous Zone'). In broad terms
420
be aware of the symbolic and spatial circuits that are being formed to counteract and
develop territorialities and alternative practices (felt that way by the subject)
to the current system, which crosses socialization and more broadly the processes of
transmission and cultural acquisition.. We leave the discussion open to explore in a
subsequent study, certain facets that these alternative and constructive expressions acquire
from a different sense of building society, of power and cultural ways of being after
the appearance.

way, the Temporarily Autonomous Zones represent 'a revolt that does not hook up with the State, a
guerrilla operation that frees an area - of land, of time, of imagination - and then self-dissolves to
reconstruct itself anywhere else or time, before the State can crush it" (Hak im Bey, 1999: 4-5).
421
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Chilean webzine 'Konsciencia Muerta n°2 year, July 24, 2001. Website:

461
Subsequently, the conduct of the interview and some clarifications were confirmed with the thesis student, via
[email protected]
462
This interview conducted by the mentioned Webzine 'Konsciencia Muerta' was confirmed by the
member of Orgasmo David Bitner (currently resides in the United States), via email.
David Bitner: [email protected](Confirmation: 18 / 07/03).
429
 Unable to access the provided URL..
(Consulted: 09/23/02).

Estuardo, Viviana: “The World Stinks”

Chile.

133. Estuardo, Viviana: "Among punks, hardcores, thrashers...", CAUCE Magazine No. 212, from June 26 to July 2
July 1989, Santiago de Chile.

134. The Raven (Internet Publication): "Does Chilean Metal Need a Label?"
Invalid input. Please provide text for translation.(Consulted: 23/06/03).

135. Fripp, Tobalaba (Fabio Salas). "The End of the Underground," CAUCE magazine no. 198 from March 20 to 26.
1989.

Punks. The Sons of Pinochet

Santiago de Chile.

Punk Festival Kings in their Jungle

Santiago de Chile.

138. Gorlak (Miguel Soto Vidal): "Characters of the Chilean Underground III. The Apocalypse Mares or the
Break with the Art of the 80s”. Article published on the website of the Discoteca
BlondieThe provided text is a URL and cannot be translated.
(Consulted: 06/05/03). Subsequently, the information was confirmed by Gorlak.
Iñiguez, Ignacio: "The Rebellion of the Youth". Rocinante magazine report number 7 from August 2001
Santiago de Chile.

139. Hernández, Vicente: "Thirty Years of Vomiting Punk". Student project for a Journalism degree,
Academy of Christian Humanism University, Santiago- Chile. 2002.

140. La Tercera: "Underground Art: Counterculture of Oppressed Artists." Report, Friday, March 15.
1991, Santiago.

141. Maturana, Mariano: "The Trojan Horse, being punk in Holland". La Bicicleta magazine no. 30, January and
February 1983, Santiago de Chile.

142. Open Page (Magazine), report: “The Punk Spit,” no. 79, from November 9 to 22, 1992,
Santiago de Chile.

143. Extravaganza magazine No. 29, November, Santiago de Chile, 1996.

144.Hoy Magazine No. 499 from February 9 to 15, Report: "Youth divided in two. On both sides of the wall"
rock is present. Santiago de Chile, 1997.

Revista Hoy No. 999 from September 16 to 22, article: “(Punk Is Not Dead). The Hair Standing Up.”
Santiago de Chile, 1996.

146. Rock De Luxe (Magazine), no. 193 from February 2002, Spain.

Neither God Nor Law

from 1998, Santiago de Chile.

430
Sanhueza, Ana María: 'Forever Punk'.
Santiago de Chile.

149. Salas, Fabio: “(Young people) And yet we exist.” Article in the magazine Cauce no. 146, from February 18 to 24.
from 1988, Santiago de Chile.

150. Salas, Fabio: "The Mares of the Apocalypse". Report and interview, Cauce magazine no. 2002 from 1 to 7
May 1989, Santiago de Chile.

151. Suburbia (Independent Magazine): Interview with Miguel Conejeros (former Pinochet Boys) from 'Fiat 600',
April 2001, Santiago.
Website:Invalid input: URL provided does not contain translatable text.
(Consulted: 03/16/2001)

152. Wikend (daily supplement of El Mercurio): 'And what happened to Chilean Punk?'. Report, December 30
1994, Santiago de Chile.

Living Sources.

153. Aedo, Ángel. Art Professor, protagonist of punk in the 80s): Interview from 06/08/01, Santiago
from Chile.

154. Castro Bekios, Juan, Bachelor of Legal Science from the University of Antofagasta in Chile:
July consultation of the year 2002.

155. Claudio. Protagonist of the punk of the 80s: Interview conducted October 2002, Santiago de Chile.

156. Darker, Pablo. Protagonist of the punk of the '80s, he is currently a member of the band Enfermos.
Terminals: Interview from June 2002, Santiago de Chile.

157. Elizalde, Javier. Journalist, protagonist of the punk circuit of the '80s and member of the punk band.
Orgasm and Censored: Interviewed 12/19/02, Santiago de Chile.

158. Gonzáles; Bosco. Sociology student, protagonist of punk in the second half of the 1990s,
he participated in the beginnings of the group 'Neither Helmet, Nor Uniform' of Conscientious Objection and Anti-
Militarism: Interview conducted in December 2001, Santiago de Chile.

159. Kretschmer, Carlos. Librarian and Documentalist, protagonist of the punk scene of the 80s as
member of the group 'Los KK', currently a member of the group BBS Paranoicos: Interview of
October 2002, Santiago de Chile.

160. Luis. Protagonist of the punk and underground scene of the '80s, original member of the band KK
Urbana, which would later be called 'Los KK': Interview conducted in June 2003, Santiago de Chile.

161. Marcela. Current Anarchopunk Protagonist: Interview conducted at the March on October 12 'Day of
discovery of America, 2002, Santiago de Chile.

162. Mauricio (current anarcho-punk), interview in the context of a gig in July 2002, Santiago of
Chile.

431
163. Ortiz, Oscar. Historian, member of CODEHS in the 1980s and observer of the expressions
Underground and punk of the '80s: Interview conducted on 12/14/00 at the National Library, Santiago
Chile.

164.Ricardo. Participant in the origins of "Tour Marginal" from the early `90s and current member
from the publisher 'Libertarian Spirit': Interview conducted in December 2001, Santiago de Chile.

165.Roly. Punk protagonist of the '80s, member of the band Fiskales Ad-Hok, currently one of the
responsible for the "Autonomous Phonographic Corporation" CFA: Interview at the headquarters of the CFA,
18/07/02

166. Roberto. Industrial Designer, punk protagonist of the '80s: Interview from 08/17/02, Santiago de Chile.

167. Valente, Juan Carlos. Protagonist and connoisseur of the Peruvian and Chilean punk scene, owner of the store
musical "Voz Propia" (Portal Lyon, Providencia, Santiago), member of the group Dentro de Nada and
correspondent of the Peruvian underground magazine, 'Cuero Negro': Interview conducted on 31/07/01, Santiago
from Chile.

Fanzines, publications, and printed material on phonograms (related to the punk context).

168. 'Aguante Rebelde' no. 7 (newsletter of the Collective), October 1999, Santiago de Chile.

169. 'Something Different' no. 2 (Fanzine), April, 1999, San Luis- Argentina.

170. 'For Them' No.1 (Anarchopunk Fanzine), summer 2002, Santiago de Chile.

171. 'Azko Social' No. 4 (subterranean anarchopunk newsletter), May 2002, Lima, Peru

172. 'Captain Artichoke' no. 4 (Fanzine), year 1, 2001, Santiago de Chile.

173. Collective 'Link', bulletin no. 1 distributed on the day of the protest march against October 12,
Santiago de Chile, 2000

Punk Community n10 / Desde Abajo year 4 no. 12 (Shared edition fanzines), July – October
1998, Mexico City.

175. 'Heart of the Pig' No. 5 (Fanzine), 1997/1998, Santiago de Chile.

Crass: “Christ- The Album”

The feeding of the 5000

178. Crass: Biography of the collective and group contained in the album 'Best Before... 1984', released in 1986.
Crass Records. UK.

Dead Kennedys: “Bed Time for Democracy”

USA, 1986

180.Minor Disturbance / Terminally Ill (...We're doing well.. Tomorrow will be better..) Edited Cassette by
Masapunk Records. Santiago 1997

“Germen” No. 4 (Fanzine), 1998, Mexico City.

432
182. "War Against Illusion" (fanzine): "Ray Cappo in his life log 'Selected Stories 1985 - 1988,'
October 9, 1985”, publication by Rasikesa dasa and Oscar Luco, Cultural Center
Bhaktivedanta, José Miguel Carrera 330, Santiago, 1997

183. Graffin, Gregg: “A Punk Manifesto”, written in 1999 Ithaca, NY. USA.
Unable to provide a translation as the text is a URL and not translatable content.
(Consulted: 07/10/02)

Huasipungo (Latin punk band from the United States): “Songs for a Lost Cause”. Album 7
inches, edited by Discos Sanjuancito, NY, 1990

185. Huasipungo: "Times of misery and struggle". 7 inches, published by Discos San Juancito, NY. USA.
1994.

186.Huasipungo /Los Crudos (Latin punk bands from the United States): 'Nothing ever changes... Unless
that we make them change." Split record (shared) 7 inches, Published by San Records
Juancito (NY) / Lengua Armada Records (Chicago), 1996.

187. "Illegal" No. 2 (Fanzine), January 2002, Madrid, Spain.

188. La Polla Records (Spanish punk band): 'Revolution'. Album released by the Oihuka label from Spain
in 1985 and re-edited in Chile by Sello Alerce in 1995, Santiago.

189. "Libre Escencia" No. 1 (Fanzine), May-April 2002, Santiago de Chile.

190.The KK: "KK Urbana". Self-published cassette, 1988, Santiago de Chile

191. "Thoughts and Feelings" no. 4 (Anarcho-punk fanzine), 1997, Mexico City.

Pensares y Sentires

193. “Thoughts and Feelings” no. 12 (Fanzine), 1999, Mexico City.

194. Penny Rimbaud (Crass)463The Last of the Hippies. A Hysterical Romance. Edited and distributed by
JAR (Revolutionary Anti-Authoritarian Youth), Mexico.

195. "Why we are anarchists", flyer distributed by the Magno Espinoza Collective on the day of the march
May 1st "Labor Day", 2002, Santiago de Chile.

Re/ Evolution (Fanzine)

Requiem No. 4 (anarcho-punk fanzine)

198. "Get Out of Your Trenches" no. 5 (fanzine), May-June 2001, Santiago de Chile.

"Search & Destroy" No. 1-6 (1976-1979), archival volumes, V/ Search Publications, San Francisco, CA
94133, USA.

463
Reissue of the original text written by Penny Rimbaud (member of Crass) in January and March 1982,
London, England.
433
200. The Sub Humans (Canadian punk band): Biography contained in the compilation CD 'Pissed'
off...", edited by Essential Noise, Canada, 1996. Website of the Essential Noise label:
http://www.essential_noise.com

201. "Vegania..." No. 5 (Fanzine), August 2002, Santiago de Chile.

202. "United Against the Force" (Libertarian Publication), December 2002/January 2003, Santiago de Chile.

"I think and learn" no. 12 (Libertarian Bulletin), 2001, Santiago de Chile

204. "I Think and Learn" No. 15 (Libertarian Bulletin), 2001, Santiago de Chile.

205. Youth Brigade (Canadian/American punk band): biography included in the CD reissue
from their LP 'Sound & Fury' from 1983 and EP 'What Price' from 1984, under the title 'Sink with Kalifornia',
edited by BYO Records, Los Angeles California, USA. 1993.

Voice to the Mute Sight to the Blind

207.7 Seconds
Angeles, USA, 1984.

208.7 Seconds
Los Angeles, USA, 1985.

Filmography: documentaries, movies, audiovisual archives.

209. "Matucana Biennial 1989" (video recording of the biennial, featuring musical groups such as: Vandalik,
Dead Politicians, Josefina Rock, Asocials, Ad-Hoc Fiscal, Urban KK, etc.). Unknown source,
Santiago de Chile, 1989.

210. "Pacifist Warriors" (Documentary "Punk Wave" in Santiago). Director: Gonzalo Justiniano, Santiago
from Chile, Chile Films, 1984.

211. 'History of Rock 'n' Roll: Punk; volume 9' (includes interviews with Malcolm McLaren, manager of
Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols and PIL, Joe Strummer of The Clash, Exe Cervenka of
"The X", Brian Eno and Iggy Pop), directed and produced by Ted Haimes, Time-Life & Warner Bros.
USA- UK, 1995, 60 min.

The Filth and The Fury

United States, 2000, duration: 105 min.

Suburbia: The Rebellion of the Punks/ The Wild Side

United

10 years of Self-Management

434