Reminds me of a Baudrillard essay, "The Masses: The Implosion of the Social in the Media," I read a few years ago: "...Against a system that excludes or represses the individual, the natural demand is one of inclussion...this however is not the world we live in. In the capitalist Democracies people are bombarded with appeals to their representation and participation: "This Bud's for you," "Vote!" "Speak you mind" yet still we realize that our choice, vote or voice matters little. Against such a system, which justifies its existance by the consent (or consumer purchaces) of those it governs Baudrillard's solution is simple: withdraw your consent: cultivate disengagement, apathy, ironic detachment, and silence...celebrate slack."

So glad to see it's finally okay to discuss punk music academically. Since you compare them to the old 'blank generation' era, I wonder if the Israeli punks have the same fascination with Nazi symbols as our own early punkers did here?

If there is punk there is hope.

I think Shaun makes a damn fine point. The artificial inclusion of consumerism can turn off the thinking among us enough that we turn on, tune in and drop out. What was it the Walrus said? "Drop out, drop out, everybody drop out." Or was it, "Got one, got one, everybody's got one"? Or wait, was it, "Oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumpah"? Whatever, one thing's clear. Like those heroic bohos of yore, maybe we should consider turning off our minds, relaxing and floating downstream. Then again if consumerism is to blame, what are we to do with the slackers at the convenience store in "Slackers"? Oh right, they were busier in the bathroom than at the cash register. Well done, slackers. Well done, Shaun.

A good question. And one that reveals the divide between New York and Israeli punk -- not to mention between American and Israeli Jews. As far as I know, there are no Israeli bands actively embracing the swastika. And I don’t think there ever have been. In fact, the only punk from Israel I know to have come close to doing so is Amir Neubach of The Genders. While in New York during the 90s, Amir toured with a number of bands. Among these was The Sado Sluts On Smack, a group that was a little bit glam, a little bit punk. Consider their 1996 album cover of a band member draped in an Israeli flag and wearing a swastika armband and garter-belt-secured stockings. He’s not a woman. Also check out the track listing on that same album -- "Boy or Girl" and "Queen of the USA" share disc space with "Concentration Camp Rock" and "Miss Auschwitz '43." These are bad boys in the camp-it-up mode (not to mention the Concentration Camp mode). They like to play with the symbols of Nazi Germany to send them up. And yet, once back in Israel, Amir wouldn’t be caught dead taking part in their act. “Swastika’s are just a bit too much here,” he explained when I asked him why. Or to put it otherwise, in a land that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust, the symbol of that horror hits too close to home. Indeed, with other more imminent Holocausts looming potentially on the horizon, it’s not even as if the swastika is history. No surprise then that Amir decided to forgo the old act and go with one more focused on heavy metal and punk energy. At this point in time, the Children of Abraham aren’t ready to blitzkrieg bop.

Yes, punk lives!

Another fine and fascinating essay by Steve!

Having played in Tel Aviv, accompanying the silent film "The Golem" at the Next Festival in 1999 (an avant-garde music, theater, and film festival--sponsored by Haagen Dazs, go figure), I did meet some hardcore experimentalists working with the themes and issues Steve touched upon here. Not exactly punks, but on the avant cutting-edge...

Vis a vis my own Jewish punk sensibilities, I was able to play my Golem solo guitar score at the Noga Theater complete with a couple of quotations from Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" without being arrested (there was still an official ban on playing Wagner in Israel then)...the media powers that be there did however nix my appearance on early morning Israeli tv to plug my show, as I guess the material was deemed a bit too questionable/provocative (a charge I would deny vehemently, however-- as Rabbi Loew is undoubtedly the hero of the film, and ultimately triumphs over the malevolent goyim, heading off a thretened pogrom)...predictably, because of the media black-out, the Noga Theater was only a quarter filled for my show.

Contrast this with the reception I received with "The Golem" a couple years later at the Venice Biennale, where the theater was packed, as there had been a spate of media coverage of my event...including an unforgettable press conference the day before where I was baited with questions--in Italian, necessitating sequential translation into English, my answers in English getting sequentially translated back into Italian--like "Why should we listen to the music of you avant-garde Jews from New York, when we can listen to good old-fashioned klezmer music?"

My reply: "Well, I didn't realize I was part of any cabal...and if I am--then why aren't I working more?"

Gary

Fascinating essay and discussion. I know it's part of the point, but my activist shackles sure rise at the notion that we should all turn off our minds, relax, and float downstream. Sounds like Israeli punks are giving into despair, just like so many other progressive Israelis -- and Americans, for that matter. Which is easy to do, I know. The problems feel so intractable. But how about not participating in the consumer culture AND demanding something different -- a real culture in which we actually engage: talk to one another, through our music, our poetry, any way we can. That's the best way to say Fuck you, seems to me.

Sarah makes an extremely good point. Ideally, the thing to do is to withdraw from the empty bullshit and agitate against the dangerous bigger shit. I couldn't agree more, even if I do understand how that might be easier said than done in a situation that drags on decade after decade after decade. Still, kudos to Sarah for fighting the good fight. And kudos to those punks in Israel who still are doing that (such as "Cat"). Though, in closing, I am glad to see the squatter punks are at least make a statement of a sort.

Great story, Gary. I can't believe that Venice, with its lire-generating Disney-World-like Ghetto, still has citizens trying to box in Jews like happy minstrels. All those "danceable" klezmer tunes! What joy we create out of our suffering!! And now here we come with our avant-garde "decadence." It gives me a deja vu feeling that reminds me why Rabbi Loew made that Golem voodoo in the first place. Also reminds me of the Rabbi Loew/Golem dynamic between Tommy Ramone (a child of Holocaust survivors) and Johnny Ramone (a "kike"-baiting tough guy who Tommy recruited for his band).

Hey Steve,
Thanks a lot for writing this piece. Its extremely thought-provoking.  I am not sure, however, that I am clear on what you're concerned about losing. Are you more concerned with the possible disappearance of a genre, or what Israeli punk is supposed to ideologically represent?
There are numerous Israeli punk and otherwise politically-charged artists still poking around, irrespective of whether they can be considered stylistically punk or not. As dispiriting as the situation has been the last few years, the oppositional energy once captured by 90s Israeli HC has simply gone elsewhere, into other media, like film, or other musical genres. 
DAM's Dedication record, for example, which came out last winter, is easily the defining moment in Mid-East hip-hop. Same applause goes for Udi Aloni's recent film, Forgiveness, which is an equally memorable button-pusher. And the two Smartut Kahol Lavan records (featuring former Dir Yassin singer Federico Gomez) issued over the last three or so years, are amongst the best Israeli punk records ever recorded. 
I guess my point is that what matters is what 'punk', at its best, once fronted for, and whether that is indeed what's still alive for Israelis. If the kids are now squatting, or going to demos in Bi'lin instead of covering twenty-five year old Discharge songs like some of their American peers, and the adults are off making great films like Bubble, there's still an awful lot to look forward to. 
Best, Joel

Hey Joel,

Thanks for your comments as well as your very interesting update on the Israeli scene. While I realize that my original post may have sounded a bit ambivalent in the end, ultimately I think what is happening in Israeli punk is mostly a good thing. Regardless of what the music sounds like (you were right when you said that I was talking about what punk represented ideologically), the fact that Israeli punks are now making the political personal – and not only for themselves, but their fellow countrymen – is a sign of positive developments for sure. I think the squatters’ movement has something of genius about it. After all, what better way to protest an illegal occupation than to stage an alternative one yourself? Squatting on land within Israel’s borders, the kids make it clear that it’s not alright to do so elsewhere – at least not if there’s already someone squatting there in the first place. How do they do this? By making the powers that be take them to court. Whether they are consciously mocking their elders with this ultimate irony is not really important – what matters, in my opinion, is the result. Not only is the issue of land rights brought up in a different context, it is detracting energy from the right wingers who see the “biblical lands” of the West Bank as theirs for the taking. Admittedly, staging such practical-joke-type stunts has the possibility of backfiring and alienating a potentially sympathetic audience, but in another sense it focuses a light on the problems as they exist. I’ve always been one for poetic solutions over political ones. You’re never going to change people’s behaviors till you change their hearts and minds. Just look at Northern Ireland. What finally brought peace? Exhaustion, that’s what. The populace was sick to death of “the troubles” and so they pressured their leaders to do something about them. Once the followers will no longer trouble themselves to stir up more unrest, things have a way of settling down. That’s why I think the new punks decision to just squat in place is most likely a good one. If the issue is one of opposing the occupation, best just to occupy a seat on the sidelines.

Yours squattily,

Steve