A-Infos (en) Italy, Sicilia Libertaria #463 - Ignazia: CRASS. "There is no authority but yourself." (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

"You're paying for prisons. You're paying for war. You're paying for 
lobotomies. You're paying for the law. You're paying for their order. 
You're paying for their murders. You're paying for your ticket to 
witness the farce. Knowing you've contributed to the fucking solution to 
the system. To their political pollution. No chance of revolution. No 
chance of change. You have no autonomy. Don't just take it. Don't take 
their shit. Don't play their game. Don't take their blame. USE YOUR HEAD."

This is an excerpt from the lyrics "You Pay," a song by Crass, an 
anarchist punk band formed in Essex, England, in 1977 and active for 
seven years. They didn't just describe anarchy in their lyrics, they put 
its principles into practice. They lived together in Dial House, the 
country home of Penny Rimbaud, the group's drummer. Everyone could 
express their creativity, helping one another, united by respect for the 
environment (organic farming) and animals (vegetarian diet). "It was a 
dream of universality; the idea of having no locks on the door is 
expressed most profoundly by saying there are no locks on the heart." 
Rimbaud. This demonstrates that it is possible to create a place far 
removed from the logic of capital and state power. Their concerts took 
place in small venues, where posters with the anarchist symbol and the 
slogan "There is no authority but yourself" were hung: "You must learn 
to live with your conscience, your morality, your decisions, with 
yourself. Only you can do it. There is no authority but yourself" (from 
the song "Yes Sir, I Will"). The release of their first album, "The 
Feeding of the 5000," was a difficult one: Small Wonder Records, an 
independent label, censored the opening track "Asylum," and Crass 
replaced it with a two-minute silence, deliberately titled "The Sound of 
Free Speech." You're "free" to speak, only if you speak the way they 
want. Censorship and frequent police raids on Small Wonder's owner's 
record store prompted Crass to create their own record label: Crass 
Records. Only after their second album was the collective able to buy 
back the rights and release "The Feeding of the 5000" with the censored 
track. The proceeds from their album sales and concerts, which were much 
lower than those of other bands, were used to help comrades in need, 
such as publishing fanzines, purchasing equipment, and supporting 
imprisoned anarchists. With the funds raised from the release of "Bloody 
Revolutions" and "Persons Unknown" with the group Poison Girls, an 
anarchist center was opened. "This made us realize our power, not only 
to generate new ideas, but also to somehow manage to realize them. A lot 
of people were coming to our concerts, so the best way to exploit the 
situation was to decide that we would only play concerts in support of 
something," Rimbaud said. The third album, "Penis Envy," focused on 
feminism, featured the face of a blow-up doll on the cover: the song 
"Bata Motel" criticizes the power and exploitation of men over women, 
"Systematic Death" opposes the roles that the system imposes on society, 
and finally "Our Wedding" focuses on a criticism of marriage. Crass 
presented this last song to the offices of Loving, a pink magazine for 
teenagers, saying it was a love song. The editorial staff published it 
on a Flexi-Disc with their magazine, but realized the deception too 
late, when it was already on newsstands. "Those magazines promote an 
idea of romantic love that is impossible, unrealistic, unachievable, and 
ultimately even undesirable. The gesture, therefore, had a very strong 
political and feminist value, but it also made us laugh. They 
immediately fell for Loving." Rimbaud. Crass also participated in direct 
actions, such as squats, sabotage of vivisection laboratories, vandalism 
in butcher shops, and graffiti. The theme of antimilitarism was central 
to their songs, especially when the Falklands War broke out in 1982. 
Here too, Crass missed no opportunity to clash with the powerful. They 
anonymously sent a fake phone call to newspapers, created with excerpts 
from speeches by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan: Thatcher was 
responsible for the Sheffield bombing and Reagan for causing a nuclear 
conflict in Europe. The U.S. State Department claimed that the recording 
had been released by the KGB with the intent of attacking America. A 
British journalist from The Observer subsequently contacted Crass, who 
admitted to having made the recording on the condition that they publish 
confidential information about the war, obtained from a sailor they 
knew. In 1983, they released their final album, "Yes Sir, I Will." The 
title is taken from a conversation between Charles, Prince of Wales, and 
a badly burned soldier returning from the Falklands: the prince told 
him, "Get well soon," and the soldier replied, "Yes Sir, I Will." (When 
you're so enslaved to the state that you sacrifice your own life.) The 
album consists of just one track; the music is heavy and difficult to 
listen to, but the message is important: "Are we really so stupid, so 
cowered in submission that we are not only ready to eat shit, but also 
ready to say thank you for the privilege! Why accept this theft of 
life?... From birth we are threatened and subjugated by family, church, 
school, and the state. From then on, we are easy prey for the powerful. 
War can only exist through passive acceptance... The government 
strengthens its powers daily. Anyone who opposes it is ridiculed, 
discredited, or abused and punished. Raise your eyes and see. Raise your 
ears and listen. Raise your mind and think. Raise your life and act." 42 
years have passed, but unfortunately the content is still relevant 
today. The cruelty of the war of the powerful is also described in the 
song "How Does It Feel":

"How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand deaths? The boys now 
lie in rest, cold graves in the cold earth. How does it feel to be the 
mother of a thousand deaths?" The "mother" in question was Margaret 
Thatcher, but the question can be addressed to other "mothers" and 
"fathers."

When will we find the courage to put an end to all this and transform 
our indignation into anger and action?

(A)

https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
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