Sorry for any cross posting,
Magnificent Failures Collide
By Marc Garrett
This essay revisits a time when both Punk and Situationism flourished in the
UK. When a whole generation of radically different artists emerged as
outsiders, amateurs, and the lower classes found cultural empowerment as an
agent for social change. Their varied practices critiqued the societies they
lived in, questioning the authority and authenticity of established politics,
language, history, music, and film.
The phrase ‘anyone can do it’ was widely used within the punk underground and
decades since. This simple philosophy reached a mass of individuals and groups
who no longer accepted the given order of the day. They found solidarity and
established tools to claim cultural territory, creativity, and social context
on their terms.
It takes us back to the violent beginning as part of the Gordon Riots in 1780.
The emergence of King Mob and similarly motivated riots in the late 20th
century, linking them with the British faction of Situationists in the 60s and
70s and Malcolm McLaren and Punk.
It also asks what is a failure in terms of individuals and groups actively
struggling to build agency in a world ruled by the privileged, and what can we
learn from these passionate, dedicated, very creative people pathing the way
for us now to build our own independent and grounded intentions today?
https://marcgarrett.org/2021/04/27/magnificent-failures-collide/
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