Andy

Andy was born in London in 1969. He is a local sculptor and has a useful knowledge on Punk and Anarchy. He worked at the 121 Railton Road Collective bookshop in the mid to late 90's, and put on monthly rave parties there.

Andy is best described as a part time Anarchist through his love for Punk music.

View Andy's interview here

Below is an abridged version of Andy's interview:

00:00 Andy talks about where he was born, his education and occupation.

00:42 Punk is a historical term that has been appropriated by the mass media to sell loads of rubbish records.

00:59 I am a part time, want-to-be Anarchist. The one idea that should link all people that claim to adhere to Anarchy's philosophy is a belief that power-hierarchy is detrimental to the human spirit. You need to organise in non-hierarchal fashions. It is very hard to do. But it's very rewarding if you can do it at least for a short amount of time.

01:35 I became an anarchist through punk rock music. I listened to the lyrics and was very impressed with their philosophical points.

01:50 I worked at 121 Railton Road for 2 yeas in the mid to late 90's in the bookshop collective. I was also part of a group that put on monthly underground rave parties there. I ddn't stay till the very end but about a year before it closed down I was still there. I left when it took a direction that I wasn't very happy with: It became known as a stopping off point for "international punk tourists", and it wasn't fulfilling a London community role.

02:55 121 provided a space for various groups to be based. For example there was a radical feminist newspaper based there. An organisation that helped prisoners, the Radical Bookshop, and various other groups. It was a focal point for various communities. It was not so much a focal point for the native black Brixton community. It was more young, teenage, white, anarchic, political types.

04:33 121 helped change a lot of people's way of seeing the world. On a person to person basis it changed society and community. There are still people who were involved living in Brixton, but ideas have been disseminated from that point of the 121.

05:07 The punk social grouping came out of an initially very vague reference to anarchism and it evolved. Compared to Goths, who are mostly a-political. They may be into ideas of society but they don't necessarily want to take it any further than themselves. I don't think Punk really exists as a genuine thing anymore. It has become co-opted.

06:20 What does Babylon mean to me? I grew up listening to music and reading cyber-punk fiction. It encapsulates the military industrial complex. It is one of the contributing factors to the way the world is. Unfortunately the major contributing factor, ie we are going down the plug hole.

07:14 There are lots of different things that have had quite major effects on my life. I don't think I can give you just one event that has impacted my life.

08:05 Anarchist ideas have affected my life a lot. A belief that you don't have to screw people over to get on in life. General left-wing causes.

08:45 Even though I am 38 I don't feel like an old person. I still feel quite young. Society is changing and the youth are the first people to feel it. After 10 years of the "Neo-Conservative New Labour Project" if I was a youth of 18 today I might think that there is almost no choice in life. Perhaps that is me just forgetting how I felt when i was 18. I probably felt exactly the same way as people do who find themselves aged 18 living in London today. It is easy to forget. If you want to go against the grain you are in a tiny minority. Good luck to the youth of today!

10:35 My message to the youth of today is that time passes incredibly quickly and there is a good chance you will feel the same 20 years down the line as you do now and you won't necessarily have any more answers. Just get on with stuff. If you see an opportunity, and its not exactly the opportunity you were looking for but it is close, take it because it is worth a try.