It's cool that Jacobin just discovered the problem of "lifestyle politics" that Murray Bookchin and about half the contributors to radical publications in the late 90s and early 00s also made about the limitations of subcultural politics (though w/ more depth & nuance). Kudos.

Also worth noting that huge numbers of the people involved in those ostensibly meaningless, insular endeavors saw the limitations of punk politics (let's at least be clear where such ideas circulated) & dedicated their lives to doing social & political work well beyond it.

And always intellectually impressive, as well as politically savvy, to see dumpster diving & Occupy reduced to the same "trend." There's nothing quite as similar as myopic zines about squatting and a nationwide protest movement that experimented with radical democratic practices.

Here's what some of the ostensibly insular, dumpster-diving-as-revolution subculturalists have been up to this week. https://twitter.com/JulesBoykoff/status/1248820142739320832

Only the most naive, unreflexively white, anarcho-as-chaos morons argue for forms of political praxis and movement building that are limited to their own social circles & subcultures. But they don't represent all of anarchism. And those are the folks who become bankers anyway.

But even when it comes to mere "subcultural politics," who the fuck is gonna seriously argue that kids doing Food Not Bombs, or opening community bikeshare programs, or creating non-profit DIY spaces for art is some pointless endeavor in the face of soul-crushing neoliberalism.

It's just amazing to see current Leftists who are so profoundly unknowledgeable about subcultural politics that they don't even realize that half of their audience is there because of Crass, Fugazi and Los Crudos. But sure, eating garbage was hegemonic Left politics I guess.

If anyone wants to read a serious analysis of such issues, check out Andy Cornell's "Dear Punk Rock Activism" essay, or practically everything that Mimi Thi Nguyen and Joel Schalit ever wrote in Punk Planet (on http://Archive.org ).

I both appreciate and understand the need for substantive critiques of Left politics that don't help to build movements or actually get things done. But there's not a binary between the cultural & political spheres, and it's embarrassing that a leading Left mag doesn't get that.

Of the handful of folks who have liked this post most are ex-punks, including one of the top FOIA filers in the country & one of the smartest critiques of policing and institutional power who's put pen to paper. I'm down for any cultural "trends" that give us folks like that.

In all honesty, the next time one of you out there wants to casually dismiss some of the most significant political points-of-entry for activists in recent decades, you should at least come strapped with a decent answer to a 26-yr old punk question: What the fuck have you done?

P.S. Two of the brilliant people I mentioned earlier were @_rshapiro & @stschrader1. And like me, I imagine they'd also tell you that the smartest political minds in our scenes were women & queer folks. Go listen to *their* music and read *their* words if you want an education.

P.P.S. Here's a link to that Andy Cornell essay I mentioned too: https://psu.box.com/s/hacyoh4r3z0hdae2dc6tvszhaq0pz37a