Tag Archives: Politics
Indonesian Punks
December 19, 2011 — by
Police in Aceh, Indonesia’s most conservative province, arrested 65 punk rock teenagers on the grounds that they posed a threat to Islamic values. Having committed no actual crimes, teenagers were arrested by Shariah police while holding a charity concert in Taman Budaya Park last Saturday. The punks were corralled and taken to a police camp outside Areh where they were stripped of their piercings and dog collars, thrown into a pool of water for “spiritual cleansing” and shaved of their mohawks.
New York Times OpDoc: The Role of Youth
December 5, 2011 — by
Jon Savage and I were asked by the New York Times to contribute to a new video Opinion section called OpDocs. For our film Teenage, the focus is on youth culture and youth movements between WWI up until the end of WWII, when the term “teen-ager” was finally coined.
But as Occupy Wall Street and student protest movements have exploded around the world, we’ve wanted to reflect on how history repeats itself, and how these youth-centric movements can not be ignored.
Check out the Op-Docs video and our director’s statement here.
Edelweiss Pirates
November 16, 2011 — by
A man named Jean Jülich died on October 19th, age 82, in his hometown of Cologne. He was a guitar player and father to two children, and one of the last surviving members of the Edelweiss Pirates.
Just prior to World War II, the youth group Hitler had been cultivating turned from an activities and exercise-based program to a formal combat training ground. An estimated ninety per cent of Germany’s teenage population were members of Hitler Youth at its peak. Children, who had been recruited in many cases under threat to their parents, now found themselves with nowhere else to turn: university and even schooling options were nonexistent for defectors, and association with any other youth group was deemed both subversive and illegal.
The #Occupy Movement
November 15, 2011 — by
We brought you a teenage take on the London riots, now we bring the same thing on the #Occupy movement. Reporting first hand from NYC, along with gathering images and quotes from teenagers protesting across the country.
‘We’re here because we think the government are lying and cheating. We’re here because protesting is all we can do, we’re just kids you know.’ Ailie (right) at #OccupyWallStreet
The Stepney School Strike of 1971
September 8, 2011 — by
Chris Searle, a beloved student-teacher, was fired from his teaching job after publishing a book of poems entitled ‘Stepney Words’ written by his pupils. Over 800 young students decided to take a stand, going on strike until they got their teacher back. The strike was spotlighted on national news and the kids gained support from parents, the Inner London Education Authority, the National Union of Teachers, and even Margaret Thatcher. More than two years later Searle was reinstated at Stepney School and the students were vindicated.
Read the full story here via Spitalfields Life, thanks Charlie Phillips for the tip!
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