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DIY OR DIE! Do-It-Yourself, Do-It-Together, & Punk Anarchism
The phrase ‘do-it-yourself’, often bandied about in discussions on cultural and political activism, is another of those key terms that has been borrowed (or stolen) from elsewhere. Just as ‘anarchist’ and ‘punk’ were appropriated (in the 1840s and 1970s, respectively), ‘DIY’ has likewise been recontextualised (first appearing in the context of home improvement in the 1910s, and applied to musical and political contexts from the 1950s onwards). But these terms are adopted for a reason, and their original meanings have continued significance – there is an ineluctable strand of radicality that runs through do-it-yourself, stemming from: its basis in action and doing; its emphasis on freedom of expression; its ties to material and cultural production; and its blurring of the supposedly distinct roles of producer and consumer. Taking the domestic roots of DIY as a stepping-off point, it is evident that this core of amateur ‘tinkering’ resonates through its evolving application in the contexts of anarchism and punk. But this radical kernel is always under pressure from consumerism and entrepreneurialism, and these same tensions persist in DIY-informed punk culture and anarchist activism.
This collection of essays from around the world is the second book of a series published by Active Distribution about various aspects of the punk/anarchism relationship.
This collection of essays from around the world is the second book of a series published by Active Distribution about various aspects of the punk/anarchism relationship.
596 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2024
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December 14, 2025
I really loved this book! It's the second in a trilogy of books exploring the relationship between anarchism and punk, and as I referenced in my review of the first book of the trilogy this is an intersection of ideas that is especially close to my heart. I often reflect on what came first - anarchism or punk? And when I think about it, it is through punk records that I was first exposed to anarchist ideas and whilst the punk now feels a little bit part of my past (I don't identify as a punk, or listen to punk much) I will forever be grateful for the ideas, people and ways of being that it exposed me to.
This book's theme explores the ideas between punk and anarchism in the context of DIY (or a term that is used and I much more prefer, 'Do It Together'). I remember how empowering in my teens the concept of DIY was - if I wanted to say something, I could just write it down, create a zine, or send it to someone else to see if they liked it. Instead of paying through the nose to see bands, or travel to different towns, I could put gigs on by myself or with friends and see bands I liked play. If I wanted to help raise money for something I cared about I could create a cassette label and make compilations and raise money. And what blew my mind a little thinking about it now, was how in my early 20s I could tour Europe with a band in the back of a van, all organised by a network of friends and relationships formed by letter writing. What DIY also gave me, was a confidence that actually I was in control of my life, and that I had agency and that if I wanted to do something, well, I could just do it. I have to be honest in later years I have lost some of that spirit so this book was a timely reminder that we can all create the life we want.
There are twenty-one essays in this big book, with most of them being very good to excellent, with only a couple spending a little too long in theory for my tastes or being of limited interest. Like the first book, the scope of the book is global, but I have to be honest most of my interest was directed to scenes, people, places I am somewhat familiar with. Every essay is referenced and I would suggest most of the essays are suitable for a general readership, though one or two feel more like academic works rather than getting stuck into some anarchist punk stuff. I find my interests are more to the polemical than theoretical!
Some highlights for me (and I will try and be brief).
Rich Cross's history of the Autonomy Centre in London - and it's failing was incredibly interesting. I've a copy of the Poison Girls / Crass single that raised money to get this started and I loved the perspective about how Crass were clear they were raising money but not 'running' the centre. It's great the squatted centre lasted as long as it did but there are some important messages in here about how anarchist principles intersect with keeping a place open ('pay what you want' is the right thing to do, but recognise that keeping lights on costs time and money). I could pick up the disillusionment of it becoming a place for the 'punks to get pissed and smash things up' which I recall from my futile efforts to squat places ended up being because of others. I did also discover Cross's brilliant website thehippiesnowwearblack.org.uk which is an ongoing blog about anarcho punk in the UK.
I loved Yannleon Chen's piece about heterotopia's in the German squatted scene, especially since much of the article is about the Zoro squat in Leipzig. I was so pleased to read about how in recent years they have fought for and now own the building they have squatted for decades. True story - I was meant to be playing a gig at Zoro and our van broke down on the way into Leipzig (an electrical fault meant no lights at night). We limped in the day after the gig and learnt that since we weren't there they just put on our tapes, had a party and had a collection for us as they heard we were outside of town. In the morning they gave us breakfast, someone who knew about vans looked at our fault and they assisted in 'acquiring' the part from a motor parts shop. In a capitalist exchange we failed to meet our part of the bargain - in an anarchist exchange a network of strangers became friends and helped others out. I am so pleased to see they are very much part of Leipzig's culture today.
Efa Thomas (and check out her band Killdren because they are awesome) has an incredibly challenging piece about punks and the squatting scene and ensuring they are safe and accessible. It's one of the best things I've read in a long time and my favourite essay in the book. The essay notes that the squatting scene, living independently from rents and so on, and the autonomous spaces can still be dangerous for people from marginalised groups. It's a much needed call out for the often young, able bodied white men who inhabit these scenes to take a good look at their selves and ask what they are doing and how they are keeping spaces safe. It also highlights that the people who inhabit these spaces generally think they are not prejudiced and probably believe they have an affinity and allyship to marginalised groups. It's not an easy read and does have quite sensitive and traumatic subject matter. I've been thinking a lot about this and how the squats I knocked around in could have people displaying incredibly abusive and predatory behaviour - now some of these weren't consciously 'autonomous anarchist spaces' but they were definitely punk ones. I also saw similar in the rave and free party scenes too.
What is shared here is an ask for those squatting places out to make them accessible (do you really need a mural when someone with a wheelchair can't access). It asks us to be aware of microagressions (I'm reminded of a night someone went up to my friend and said, 'I'm so glad you're here, we don't get many black people here' and he replied, 'I'm not fucking surprised). There is also a stark callout in respect of sexual violence and how men in the scene protect each other (especially if they are 'right on' with their politics). I've seen dodgy shit at times but also I suspect I have hand waved, or not known or noticed things which with a much older and wiser head on I would call out. A lot of this is because anarchist punk and direct action is often designed around the heroics and booze culture of the white able-bodied male. I mean, I've crashed in places which have a 'dog shit' room and whilst I now think that is fucking gross, I also think how that keeps out people who care about hygiene but also people with kids or illness. I find that squats often were designed to keep out many and Thomas's essay both touched a nerve and was much needed. Wish I had read this thirty years ago.
It was Spencer Beswick's piece which made me learn about this book's publication and it's a reflection on how the Love and Rage Collective in the United States addressed their relationship to race and their successes, learnings, and failings. If punk in the US is a white, middle class subculture it has always had a problematic, distanced relationship to black working class people. I often thought decades ago that American punks were predominantly middle class unlike in the UK where I still think it was rooted in working class identity (maybe that's changed?). So I can see how 'white kids from the suburbs' may have a difficult relationship with allyship which perhaps is different from working class punks in the UK who whilst overwhelmingly white may not quite be so alien to black and Asian people in the UK.
DaN McKee writes a love letter almost to how punk created the conditions for his anarchism and how they go hand in hand, that being a punk leads to DIY activity which in turn is anarchist even if one doesn't know or define it. I don't think it is that linear (and a lot of punks are doing nothing themselves) but he writes in a way that felt intuitively recognisable that opened up worlds for me.
David Kay's piece on anarchist radio inspired me, and I wish I pulled my finger out and listened to the show now and again, and also turned up to the bookfair he helped set up. I spent a lot of time thirty years ago in Manchester and the anarchist punk scene there and have a fondness for many people around there then.
Ashley Morgan's piece on running punks made me dust off my trainers and put some miles in. It's a reminder that the hyper measurement of running and going faster and longer can take the joy out of it and that sense of community.
There's lots more - from street art, to autonomous scenes which inspire in Greece, Colombia, Italy, Spain, Indonesia, China. There are also some punk adjacent essays relating to street theatre, DIY hip-hop, industrial music and skateboarding. The industrial piece could have been a little better if it had addressed industrial's flirtation with fascist imagery as I felt it was a little glaring miss in the context of the piece.
It's been a while since I read this so I probably haven't done this brilliant book justice but nevertheless it's a big recommendation from me.
This book's theme explores the ideas between punk and anarchism in the context of DIY (or a term that is used and I much more prefer, 'Do It Together'). I remember how empowering in my teens the concept of DIY was - if I wanted to say something, I could just write it down, create a zine, or send it to someone else to see if they liked it. Instead of paying through the nose to see bands, or travel to different towns, I could put gigs on by myself or with friends and see bands I liked play. If I wanted to help raise money for something I cared about I could create a cassette label and make compilations and raise money. And what blew my mind a little thinking about it now, was how in my early 20s I could tour Europe with a band in the back of a van, all organised by a network of friends and relationships formed by letter writing. What DIY also gave me, was a confidence that actually I was in control of my life, and that I had agency and that if I wanted to do something, well, I could just do it. I have to be honest in later years I have lost some of that spirit so this book was a timely reminder that we can all create the life we want.
There are twenty-one essays in this big book, with most of them being very good to excellent, with only a couple spending a little too long in theory for my tastes or being of limited interest. Like the first book, the scope of the book is global, but I have to be honest most of my interest was directed to scenes, people, places I am somewhat familiar with. Every essay is referenced and I would suggest most of the essays are suitable for a general readership, though one or two feel more like academic works rather than getting stuck into some anarchist punk stuff. I find my interests are more to the polemical than theoretical!
Some highlights for me (and I will try and be brief).
Rich Cross's history of the Autonomy Centre in London - and it's failing was incredibly interesting. I've a copy of the Poison Girls / Crass single that raised money to get this started and I loved the perspective about how Crass were clear they were raising money but not 'running' the centre. It's great the squatted centre lasted as long as it did but there are some important messages in here about how anarchist principles intersect with keeping a place open ('pay what you want' is the right thing to do, but recognise that keeping lights on costs time and money). I could pick up the disillusionment of it becoming a place for the 'punks to get pissed and smash things up' which I recall from my futile efforts to squat places ended up being because of others. I did also discover Cross's brilliant website thehippiesnowwearblack.org.uk which is an ongoing blog about anarcho punk in the UK.
I loved Yannleon Chen's piece about heterotopia's in the German squatted scene, especially since much of the article is about the Zoro squat in Leipzig. I was so pleased to read about how in recent years they have fought for and now own the building they have squatted for decades. True story - I was meant to be playing a gig at Zoro and our van broke down on the way into Leipzig (an electrical fault meant no lights at night). We limped in the day after the gig and learnt that since we weren't there they just put on our tapes, had a party and had a collection for us as they heard we were outside of town. In the morning they gave us breakfast, someone who knew about vans looked at our fault and they assisted in 'acquiring' the part from a motor parts shop. In a capitalist exchange we failed to meet our part of the bargain - in an anarchist exchange a network of strangers became friends and helped others out. I am so pleased to see they are very much part of Leipzig's culture today.
Efa Thomas (and check out her band Killdren because they are awesome) has an incredibly challenging piece about punks and the squatting scene and ensuring they are safe and accessible. It's one of the best things I've read in a long time and my favourite essay in the book. The essay notes that the squatting scene, living independently from rents and so on, and the autonomous spaces can still be dangerous for people from marginalised groups. It's a much needed call out for the often young, able bodied white men who inhabit these scenes to take a good look at their selves and ask what they are doing and how they are keeping spaces safe. It also highlights that the people who inhabit these spaces generally think they are not prejudiced and probably believe they have an affinity and allyship to marginalised groups. It's not an easy read and does have quite sensitive and traumatic subject matter. I've been thinking a lot about this and how the squats I knocked around in could have people displaying incredibly abusive and predatory behaviour - now some of these weren't consciously 'autonomous anarchist spaces' but they were definitely punk ones. I also saw similar in the rave and free party scenes too.
What is shared here is an ask for those squatting places out to make them accessible (do you really need a mural when someone with a wheelchair can't access). It asks us to be aware of microagressions (I'm reminded of a night someone went up to my friend and said, 'I'm so glad you're here, we don't get many black people here' and he replied, 'I'm not fucking surprised). There is also a stark callout in respect of sexual violence and how men in the scene protect each other (especially if they are 'right on' with their politics). I've seen dodgy shit at times but also I suspect I have hand waved, or not known or noticed things which with a much older and wiser head on I would call out. A lot of this is because anarchist punk and direct action is often designed around the heroics and booze culture of the white able-bodied male. I mean, I've crashed in places which have a 'dog shit' room and whilst I now think that is fucking gross, I also think how that keeps out people who care about hygiene but also people with kids or illness. I find that squats often were designed to keep out many and Thomas's essay both touched a nerve and was much needed. Wish I had read this thirty years ago.
It was Spencer Beswick's piece which made me learn about this book's publication and it's a reflection on how the Love and Rage Collective in the United States addressed their relationship to race and their successes, learnings, and failings. If punk in the US is a white, middle class subculture it has always had a problematic, distanced relationship to black working class people. I often thought decades ago that American punks were predominantly middle class unlike in the UK where I still think it was rooted in working class identity (maybe that's changed?). So I can see how 'white kids from the suburbs' may have a difficult relationship with allyship which perhaps is different from working class punks in the UK who whilst overwhelmingly white may not quite be so alien to black and Asian people in the UK.
DaN McKee writes a love letter almost to how punk created the conditions for his anarchism and how they go hand in hand, that being a punk leads to DIY activity which in turn is anarchist even if one doesn't know or define it. I don't think it is that linear (and a lot of punks are doing nothing themselves) but he writes in a way that felt intuitively recognisable that opened up worlds for me.
David Kay's piece on anarchist radio inspired me, and I wish I pulled my finger out and listened to the show now and again, and also turned up to the bookfair he helped set up. I spent a lot of time thirty years ago in Manchester and the anarchist punk scene there and have a fondness for many people around there then.
Ashley Morgan's piece on running punks made me dust off my trainers and put some miles in. It's a reminder that the hyper measurement of running and going faster and longer can take the joy out of it and that sense of community.
There's lots more - from street art, to autonomous scenes which inspire in Greece, Colombia, Italy, Spain, Indonesia, China. There are also some punk adjacent essays relating to street theatre, DIY hip-hop, industrial music and skateboarding. The industrial piece could have been a little better if it had addressed industrial's flirtation with fascist imagery as I felt it was a little glaring miss in the context of the piece.
It's been a while since I read this so I probably haven't done this brilliant book justice but nevertheless it's a big recommendation from me.
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