DiY Culture Party and Protest in Nineties' Britain

by MCKAY, GEORGE

• ISBN13: 9781859842607
• ISBN10: 1859842607
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-07-17
• Publisher: Verso

Summary

At raves and road protests, Britain's youth forge a new kind of politics. 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, author of Senseless Acts of Beauty, 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. This, then, is a book of both celebration and self-criticism, written by realists and idealists alike. 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.

Author Biography

George McKay is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Salford, UK, where he is Director of the Communication, Cultural & Media Studies Research Centre. He writes on alternative cultures and identities—‘cultural studies with a soundtrack’ is how his website puts it—and his books include DiY Culture, Senseless Acts of Beauty, Glastonbury: A Very English Fair, Community Music: A Handbook (co-edited with Pete Moser), Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain, Radical Gardening: Politics, Idealism & Rebellion in the Garden, and Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and Disability. He maintains his own website at georgemckay.org.