“Anti-Deutsch”: Zanjeer Confront Zionist Extremism With Reagan Youth Cover

Zanjeer زنجیر is a Berlin-based all-immigrant band formed around 2020, bringing together members from different parts of the globe with a shared goal of channeling the anger and rage of global injustice through the power of punk and DIY ethics. Musically, they draw from fast, uncompromising hardcore punk, crust, and d-beat, with lyrics in Urdu, Punjabi, and Farsi, languages spoken in Pakistan, India, and Iran.

Their debut EP Parcham Buland Ast (پرچم بلند است), released in 2022, took a direct stance against religious extremism, violent post-colonial nationalism, environmental collapse, and economic destruction.

Singer Hassan Dozakhi, who previously played in punk, grindcore, and hip-hop projects in Lahore, Pakistan, describes coming to Germany as a search for something different, a place where DIY punk could offer a real alternative to the religious fundamentalism, patriarchal norms, and lack of vibrant scenes back home. And while he did find community within Zanjeer, he also encountered the presence of the antideutsch political culture within large parts of the German left and alternative music scene. This is a political culture that strongly supports Israel and aggressively frames any criticism of its policy as antisemitic, something that has become largely visible at street demos, football stadiums, and music venues across Germany after October 7.

Hassan points to how antideutsch circles interpret global conflicts through a rigid Holocaust-shame lens, where historical guilt is transposed into an unconditional alignment with Israel and the West. Within this framework, military interventions, from Afghanistan to Iraq and current attacks on Iran, are stripped of their critical examination, flattening complex political realities into a binary logic that privileges the genocidal zionist project and US imperialism. What struck him most was how quickly these ideas surfaced in everyday interactions. At early visits to rehearsals of local bands and shows, he was confronted with loaded political questions based purely on how he looked, and he felt pressured to answer in a certain way out of fear. As Hassan puts it, he found himself more afraid of these situations than of the realities he had left behind.

He adds that large parts of the German punk scene remain closely aligned with antideutsch positions, where bands have been excluded for expressing solidarity with Palestine, and symbols like the Palestinian flag or the kufiyah are banned in some venues. Hassan himself has been wearing the kufiyah for a long time, as many working-class people in Pakistan do, without thinking much about Palestine before October 7. But ever since coming to Germany in 2019, he has been called out for wearing what the antideutschers label a “terrorist cloth,” among other racist, derogatory labels. For Hassan, it is long overdue for German bands to call out the “Anti-Deutsch” for the pro-genocidal, racist, and Islamophobic bullshit it really is.

Zanjeer’s debut full-length Seher-e-Maqhoor (Dawn of the Oppressed) will be released on April 3, 2026 via Neon Nile Records on LP, CD, tape, and digital formats. Today, the band shares their second single, “Anti-Deutsch,” following “Fuck Berlin, Free Falasteen,” which premiered via Decibel Magazine in February.

“Anti-Deutsch” is a reinterpretation of the early ’80s Reagan Youth eponymous song with rewritten lyrics in Urdu that take direct aim at the hypocrisy and zionist extremist bigotry of the antideutsch movement. We are premiering it today, March 19, on what would have been Reagan Youth guitarist Paul Bakija’s birthday.

The track runs just 1:12, but it’s packed with rage and satire, exactly how it should be. And because we know they’ll appreciate it, we asked members of Reagan Youth, Oi Polloi, and Holocausts to give it a spin along with us.

I’m delighted to hear that you’re covering this Reagan Youth song. Paul would be happy that his song speaks to you. And I hope in the long run that people get this song’s satirical nature. And good luck with your band!
Peace, love & anarchy!

~ Madame St. Beatrice, Reagan Youth

Wow! No question about it—this is a blistering, no-holds-barred, full-frontal assault on the nauseous “antideutsch” ideology that has, for far too long, held sway among parts of the German punk and “antifascist” scene. It’s a well-deserved musical attack, and Hassan and co. are pulling no punches—rightly so. While it might be tempting to laugh at some of the utterly absurd antideutsch positions, make no mistake: the ideology is highly dangerous, has done a huge amount of damage in alternative circles in Germany, and there is nothing whatsoever amusing about its vile racism, which stands in absolute opposition to what one would expect in any truly progressive left space. The band’s rage is more than understandable, and we wholly share their sentiments after our own experiences touring in Germany, where our support for Palestinian human rights and advocacy for our indigenous, threatened minority Gaelic language led to boycott campaigns, concert bans, and even physical attacks. To hear something like this coming from Berlin, in the belly of the beast, is a breath of fresh air. More power to you, Zanjeer! We’ll be singing along with you: Anti-Deutsch khalas!!!

~ Oi Polloi

I am happy that this weird, dangerous movement finally has a song and lyrics written about it that are straight to the face. Anti-Deutsch, Nazis, Zionists, same thing with a different name. The antideutsch movement is just New-Age Nazis who support fascism, but at the same time feel so much blame for what grandpa did, and hate Islam so much, and Semites in general, but hating Jews is less convenient these days, that they end up supporting. Fucking. Israhell. The most militaristic, genocidal, and brainwashed society that exists today. They call themselves Anti-Deutsch, but they are actually ultra-fucking-deutsch, and they forget that for history not to repeat itself, you have to learn from it, not just memorize it. Love Zanjeer as a great political punk band, and as people who actually speak, stand, and resist actively, and experience and live the ideas their music represents.

~ Roy Elani, Holocausts