DIY culture

DIY (or Do It Yourself) culture is a broad term that refers to a wide range of grassroots political activism.

History of DIY culture in UK

Having originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the form of the free festival movement, mutating through protest camps (thus incorporating elements of earlier radical tendencies such as the beat and peace movements) and into punk through bands such as Crass, DIY culture became something of a recognised movement in the 1990s in the UK, where the protest (the direct action) and party (the festival) converged. This development constituted a significant cross-pollination of pleasure and politics resembling the anti-disciplinary politics of the 1960s. During the 1990s, demonstrating the desire for an economy of mutual aid and co-operation, the commitment to the non-commodification of art, the appropriation of digital and communication technologies for free community purposes, and the commitment to alternative technologies such as biodiesel. From 1991–1997 the Conservative government cracked down on squatting, animal rights activists, greens, travellers, as well as the culture of raves, parties and dance culture.

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act

In 1994, the United Kingdom passed the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 which contained several sections designed to curtail the growing free party and anti-road protest movements (sometimes embodied by ravers and travellers). It empowered police to arrest citizens who appeared to be preparing to hold a rave, waiting for a rave to start, or attending a rave.

See also

• DIY ethic
• Affinity group
• Alternative society
• Critical Mass
• Justice?
• Fugazi
• M11 link road protest
• Lo-fi music
• Punk ideologies
• Reclaim the Streets
• Wobblies
• SchNEWS
• Squatting
• Hipster (contemporary subculture)
• D.I.Y. OR DIE: How To Survive as an Independent Artist
• Unschooling

References

• Elaine Brass and Sophie Poklewski Koziell with Denise Searle (editor), 1997. Gathering Force: DIY culture - radical action for those tired of waiting, London: Big Issue. ISBN 1-899419-01-2.
• McKay, George. Senseless acts of beauty: cultures of resistance since the Sixties, London: Verso, 1996. ISBN 1-85984-028-0.
• McKay, George. (ed) DiY culture: party & protest in Nineties Britain, London; New York: Verso, 1998. ISBN 1-85984-260-7.
• St John, Graham. (ed) FreeNRG: Notes From the Edge of the Dancefloor Altona: Commonground. ISBN 1-86335-084-5.
• Wall, Derek 'Earth First and the Anti-Roads Movement: Radical Environmentalism and Comparative Social Movements' London: Routledge, 1999. ISBN 0-415-19064-9

External links

• DIY culture, Justice? and Exodus
• Reclaim The Streets worldwide hub (based in London)
• DIY Culture by Alan Lodge (Tash)
• George McKay – DiY Culture, ‘Notes towards an intro’, section on direct action
• Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion by Andy Worthington - chapters on DiY Culture
• FreeNRG: Notes From the Edge of the Dancefloor - full 3mb download
• SchNEWS - Weekly direct action newsletter
• DIYSearch