V.A. – Failed States // Creative Resistances

I first came across the term “failed states” while discovering the writings of Noam Chomsky in my late adolescence. Although Chomsky didn’t coin the term, he adopted and critically reinterpreted it in the context of US imperialism.

This geopolitical term gained traction, especially after the Cold War, as several states either collapsed into civil wars or faced severe turmoil, leading Western policymakers and academics to view them as threats to global security. The term also gained a wider popularity within the punk rock scene in 2012 when the Canadian band Propagandhi used it as the title of their sixth full-length album, which is still one of their best to date.

Failed States // Creative Resistances is a triple vinyl punk compilation that digs into the punk scenes of Belfast, Banda Aceh and Kosovo, past and present.

Released in 2023 as part of an academic project by Dr. Jim Donaghey from the Punk Scholars Network, these compilations were launched under the umbrella of University of Ulster in Belfast. The project explores the daily lives and creative output of punk communities in four “punk hinterlands”: Belfast (Northern Ireland), Banda Aceh (Indonesia), Mitrovica (Kosovo), and Soweto (South Africa). Although South Africa wasn’t included in the music compilations, it’s part of the broader study.

The project opens space for these punk communities in diverse parts of the world to express a collective identity of their respective scenes and for you to hear it, feel it, and begin to understand it. It also brings these three places into dialogue with each other. We’re short-circuiting the centralised flows of neo-colonial culture. Things looks different from the margins, and by putting these peripheral punks in direct contact we are reshaping our understanding for ‘global punk’

Failed States // Creative Resistances looks at how these diverse punk communities adapt, survive and respond to life in “failed state” conditions, characterized by overall neglect, human rights violations and political repression. The focus is on DIY subculture and independent media production in these scenes, which resist the suffocating economic and industrial norms and restrictions imposed by state and corporate interests, thus shaping their own resistant identities.

The project challenges neo-colonial cultural flows by shifting the spotlight from the over-represented Anglo-American punk roots to these diverse global contexts and critiques the dominant entrepreneurial rationality often found in creative industry analyses. Historically, punk compilations have served as a “shared language” across the global punk network, and these three compilation records continue that very tradition by engaging with the lived experiences of punks in post-conflict or “failed state” regions.

Each of the three compilations, packaged together with a thick gatefold sleeve, offers something truly tangible. It’s worth noting that each has its own distinct artwork (and vinyl color) and was entirely curated by local collectives in Belfast, Banda Aceh, and Kosovo.

Northern Ireland went through intense times, known as “The Troubles,” from the late 1960s until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. This period was marked by violent sectarian conflict between Protestant loyalists, who wanted to stay in the United Kingdom, and Catholic republicans, who sought unification with the Republic of Ireland. Paramilitary groups like the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and loyalist militias played significant roles, challenging the state’s control over the means of violence.

In the early ’80s, Belfast saw the emergence of its own distinct peace punk/anarcho-punk movement, inspired by bands like Crass. Trouble Brews: A Belfast Punk Compilation features 14 songs recorded from 1978 to 2023. It includes some of Belfast’s most iconic anarcho-punk bands from the ’80s (and also my favorites), like FUAL and Toxic Waste, along with intense hardcore and crustcore tracks from the early ’90s by heavyweights like Pink Turds in Space and Jobbykrust. The B-side, covering mainly the period between 2015-2023, introduces newer bands that blend ska, reggae, and melodic punk, often with a strong feminist edge. The compilation was curated by Louanne Martin, LC Graham (who also did the artwork), Fionnuala Cullen, and Lesley Armstrong.

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Aceh region, located on the northern tip of the Sumatra island in Indonesia, also has a unique historical context and identity, distinct from the rest of the country. Aceh has a long history of resistance, from Dutch colonialism to the centralized government of Indonesia. The conflict mainly revolved around the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which sought independence from Indonesia due to the region’s historical grievances, economic exploitation, and cultural differences with the mainland. The government’s military response led to a prolonged conflict and significant human rights abuses.

In 2011, Banda Aceh made international headlines when more than 50 punks were arrested in the aftermath of a local DIY punk festival and their heads forcibly shaved by Aceh’s Sharia-compliant police units for “disturbing society’s morals.” The Aceh Punx compilation features 14 tracks from 1998 to 2022, arranged by style rather than chronology (e.g. the Belfast comp follows a chronological order). Aceh Punx comp starts with some primitive streetpunk and Oi! songs by bands like Alakazam Oi and Ban Dalam, then it moves into more metallic hardcore, d-beat, and even beatdown direction, before ending with some melodic punk rock edge. The songs are super crude in production quality, with notable bands like Citizen Useless (with their anthem “It’s Hard To Be a Punk in Aceh”), Dissbrain, and Milisi Kecoa. The cover artwork was created by Aripmatika, and the songs were curated by Teuku Fariza, XhilmanX, Fuad Muhammad Iseff, and GMBRTH.

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The Republic of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a period of intense conflict in the late ’90s. The Kosovo War (1998–1999) saw ethnic Albanians in Kosovo fighting for independence from Yugoslavia (Serbia), leading to an armed crackdown by Serbian forces and eventually NATO intervention and deployment of international peace-keeping contingent (KFOR). The conflict resulted in widespread displacement and atrocities. Despite Kosovo’s official statehood since 2008 (which many countries still don’t recognize), the region has a rich yet underexplored punk tradition dating back to the early ’80s punk scene in Yugoslavia.

The Punk KS compilation is an invaluable document of this, and the only one of the three compilations that consists entirely of bands I wasn’t familiar with before listening to the vinyl, with songs ranging from 1983 to the present. What stands out are the lyrics, mainly in Kosovar Albanian. Some of the earlier tracks have a distinct ’77 punk influence with raw production, while the later tracks tend to be more post-punk, synth and new wave influenced, drawing from the Yugoslavian “Novi Val” scene. It’s the least hardcore sounding, but probably the most interesting vinyl here. The compilation was curated by the local punks Labi, Tefvik, Shlem, and Somer, and though it only features bands from the Kosovo region, I find similarities in the style and attitude to the 2021 compilation tape DIY Conspiracy Vol.9, curated by Filip of the Bulgarian post-punk band Voyvoda, which featured some other lesser-known Eastern European bands from nearby regions.

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In hindsight of punk’s history and values, Jim Donaghey’s project has managed to capture the essence of what punk internationalists like Lük Haas achieved with Tian An Men 89 Records: “Our idea of punk is to accept that different places define it in different ways. Punk is universal and transcends cultures. It’s not a narrow style monopolized by Westerners, as some might think.” (Lük Haas, Discography of Eastern European Punk Music 1977-1999)

Yet, while some people may look at what people like Lük Haas did back in the pre-Internet days with a kind of sentimentality, Failed States // Creative Resistances isn’t a bit about nostalgia for the past—it shows that DIY punk is a global culture of creative resistance, and it’s only alive and kicking when it’s rooted in local struggles and remains relevant to current conditions. Whether building new realities where states have lost legitimacy, or finding opportunities within the cracks of Western capitalism, this 3xLP is for anyone who sees punk as an alternative that has survived military regimes, violent coups, war atrocities, and continues to be a voice for the voiceless in times of global despair.