Culture » April 9, 2004

Punk the Vote

By Don Thrasher

President Bush had better watch his back. A growing number of punk rockers are gunning for him and there’s nothing the Secret Service, the CIA or any other government entity can do to protect him because it’s all

legit. Members of about 200 American punk bands such as NOFX, Anti-Flag and Pennywise have joined forces with record labels including Fat Wreck Chords, Alternative Tentacles and Epitaph to combat Dubya through the most powerful tool at their disposal: the ballot box. NOFX bassist and singer Fat Mike was growing increasingly discouraged by Bush’s view of a civilized, modern America and in late 2003 mobilized friends, acquaintances and like-minded strangers to launch www.punkvoter.com.

Only 29 percent of the 8.4 million U.S. voters age 18 to 24 cast a ballot for president in the 2000 election. Fat Mike and the other members of the grassroots voter education coalition such as former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer hope to register half a million young voters in an attempt to unseat Bush.

The Punk Voter campaign has its Web site set on dethroning the president, but the members don’t suffer from such tunnel vision that they are blind to other issues. The organization recently took on Urban Outfitters and its T-shirt emblazoned with the message “Voting is for Old People.” Now, Punk Voter is focusing on Rod Paige, Bush’s anti-teacher Secretary of Education who labeled the National Education Association and its 2.7 million members “a bunch of terrorists.” Fat Mike also has invited liberal groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America to set up booths outside NOFX concerts and to deliver messages from the stage.

In addition to the Web site, Punk Voter members have taken their message to the people with a string of voter registration concerts on the West Coast and by spreading its messages through e-mails, the Internet, and articles in punk ’zines and the mainstream press. NOFX—whose latest album, War on Errorism, lambasted the president’s policies—hosted an anti-Bush rally at the annual South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas in March. The event featured outspoken comedian and actor David Cross, punk rockers Dillinger Four, former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra and others.

Of course, not just left-leaning punks are getting politically active. Bush has vocal support from many 18-to-24-year olds, including members of pro-Republican organizations Conservative Punks and Protest Warriors. With opinion of Bush so divided, the United States could see a rise in voting among younger people for the first time since 1972 when participation was at 43 percent.

“I’m down with Punkvoter.com because I think it’s important that more people register to vote, get involved and show up on Election Day,” Jello Biafra wrote in a recent Punk Voter commentary. The head of Alternative Tentacles Records and a longtime political activist, Biafra has released a series of spoken word albums over the past two decades verbally skewering the conservative agenda, special-interest groups and crooked politicians.

“Being patriotic doesn’t mean blindly following a criminal president into illegal and dangerous wars,” Biafra added. “It means doing our part to take our country back from the corrupt corporate puppets who get into office because we sit on our ass and let them.”

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• Reader Comments

  Excellent piece. I’d never head of “conservative punks” before reading this. Kinda oxymoronic, don’t ya think?

  Posted by John Wenzel on Apr 9, 2004 at 5:22 PM

  Nice to see a man “guided by voices” writing for In These Times.  Good job, Don. 

  Posted by Geoff Burkman on Apr 9, 2004 at 10:00 PM

  P.S. Why does the “Conservative Punks” link take me to www.plannedchildhood.org? Am I just too dense to understand?

  Posted by Geoff Burkman on Apr 9, 2004 at 10:23 PM

  Folks,
  Get to the real source in Los Angeles of the punk voter effort:

  http://www.diypolitics.org/home.html

  regards,
  rr

  Posted by Richi Ray on Apr 10, 2004 at 10:21 AM

  I have to say that groups like Punk Voter and Rock the Vote can make it more difficult for local activist groups to do outreach.  I don’t know if most of the punk music fans reading this will remember this, but I’m sure others will remember Earth Days from the early 1990s, or the radio festivals held back then with many local groups participating in those events?  I’m in Indianapolis, a pretty conservative city, and I worked with the local Green Vote group, but even when the elder Bush was in office I got permission directly from local promoters and radio stations to have a table at some pretty big concerts at the time.  We were trained by the election board to register voters, and had our literature and buttons and stickers and even t-shirts out when the bands didn’t complain, and they usually didn’t complain.

  Today, when my kids try to do the same thing with their human rights club they are told they can’t do it because the station has a deal with Rock the Vote and they’re only group that can register voters with them.  Now I’m sure that Rock the Vote would say that they don’t have an exclusive contract with Clear Channel or whoever is next down the line, and they’re right, it’s just as much the stations or venues’ choice preferentially deal with business-friendly activist groups.

  Regardless of politics, it seems harder for activist groups to work with the scene today because there are national groups which venues and promoters have preferred relations with.  It’s nice that Fat Mike has invited PETA and NARAL to table outside of NOFX concerts, but NOFX hardly tours, and how the does any other group get ahold of ANYONE at his label and let them know we’d like to table with the bands on his label when come to town?  We’ve been told we need permission and the name of a tour manager to do their shows, and that’s reasonable.  But we’ve tried to do that with his “Fat Wreck Chords” label now for over a year since the “Punk Voter” website went up, and after several people tried several ways to reach them we gave up on that label.  Not the scene, as difficult as it is to work with today, but on that label anyway.

  Posted by Marylin Carter on Apr 11, 2004 at 7:16 AM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

  Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 7 posts.

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