Hi, this is Against Everyone with Connor Abeeb.

Friends, I'm going to talk all about anarchism with Scott Branson on this episode.

Just to tell you a little bit of my own history, very briefly, like plenty of people, I came to anarchism through punk rock.

But I think when people say this, it can come across as something about the direct political content of loud music.

And for some, that is no doubt true. When people encounter punk, it can infuse them with that sense of anarchism.

And in fact, anarchy, of course, isn't a lot of song titles and lyrics in the punk world.

But that, I think, can reinforce the idea of anarchy as something atonal, chaotic, arms swinging around, bumping into stuff.

That can also be true. But for me, and I think for a lot of people who came to anarchism through punk,

it wasn't so much that I listened to directly anarchist punk, but it was the punk culture itself in my youth that really matter.

DIY culture, where people set up shows, started bands, made zines, created record labels, started their

own tours, and more. I became deeply involved in all this when I was younger because so many

of my friends were in bands. So I started setting up shows. And I set up tons of shows at this little Syrian hall in the town

I grew up in. And I also started a disastrously managed record label when I was 17.

That time of setting up the shows, going to shows, listening to my friend's bands, that gave me a deep

education in pushing the boundaries of culture and what was available to me. It was like, I saw

everybody just doing creative stuff, and there was no reason why we couldn't all do it. Not to become famous,

although I'm sure some of that was in there and not to make money. That definitely wasn't in there

because it wasn't happening, but because it felt so important to us. It's something that sticks

with me and you can hear me talk about it more directly

on episodes of this show with people like Ian Mackay, Afagasy, or Ted Leo. One of the things that

would happen as a result of being involved in that punk world was that you'd be pointed in so many

new and exciting directions. So you'd listen to

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