DIY Culture: Party and Protest in Nineties' Britain

Book Overview

Collective youth up trees or down tunnels, protest camps and all-night raves across the land--these are the spectacular features of the politics and culture of nineties youth in Britain. DiY Culture lays to rest the myth of "Thatcher's children," for the flags are flying again--green, red and black. Editor George McKay claims that popular protest today is characterized by a culture of immediacy and direct action. Gathered together here for the first time is a collection of in-depth and reflective pieces by activists and other key figures in DiY culture, telling their own stories and histories. From the environmentalist to the video activist, the raver to the road protester, the neo-pagan to the anarcho-capitalist, the authors demonstrate how the counterculture of the nineties offers a vibrant, provocative and positive alternative to institutionalized unemployment and the restricted freedoms and legislated pleasures of UK plc.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1859842607
• ISBN13: 9781859842607
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Verso
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Mostly interesting examination of new protest cultures

The face of protest is changing rapidly. What North Americans tasted in Seattle (Nov 1999) has been going on in Britain for a solid decade. The new protest movement is a fusion of environmentalism and anarchist theory, with a dose of art and drugs in the mix. These forces have come together in the aftermath of the Cold War, as Thatherite and Reaganite politics are eaten by the maggots of history. Now that we can dispense with the Red Scare crap, a new left movement is targetting greedy corporations, gluttonous consumerism, and ecocidal social practices. This book gives a good introduction to those protests in Britain, even as they are spilling into North America. Recommended for academics, punks, anarchists, and politically engaged people of all stripes and spots.