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A featured article on Audiogalaxy, April 19, 2002:
In Defense of Le Tigre
Protesting the Protesters
Outside Austin's Emo's at a recent Le Tigre show, a group of girls was handing out flyers. This is not an unusual sight at a Le Tigre show - the band is known for their political views, and encourages activism. For those unfamiliar, one voice of the all-female trio is Kathleen Hanna, whose innovations in punk with Bikini Kill helped spawn the Riot-Grrrl movement in the early '90s, encouraging women to get involved in activism (particularly of gender and sexual politics) through Punk music. Today, Le Tigre focuses on these issues and many more, including race politics, New York City politics, self defense, etc, etc, etc. They spread the word about their causes through a unique brand of Electronic-influenced Punk and accompanying videos.
What was different about the group outside Emo's that night was not the fact that they were protesting, but what they were protesting. After happily taking a flyer from one of the girls, expecting to find interesting information about a Guerilla Girls art show or a feminist fundraiser, I was shocked to find instead a page addressed to "Ladies, women, girls, queers, and others," pointing out nit-picky anti-Le Tigre details to "keep in mind as you watch the show tonight."
The flyers included two main points, first that Le Tigre once played at a women's festival that did not allow transgendered women in. The next point was that one particular song, "Bang Bang!" a protest song dealing with police brutality against Amadou Diallo by the NYPD, might make people of color feel uncomfortable at the show, which included a predominately white audience. (The song includes a section where the band counts the number of times Diallo was shot - 42. They didn't play the song that night).
While these points are well and good, it seems to me a counterproductive waste of energy to spend so much effort on these small details. Le Tigre didn't make the policy of the women's festival, and pointing out only the anti-transwomen policy ignores the fact that festivals like it are invaluable for bringing women musicians and artists together in a safe environment for encouragement and entertainment. Also, the song "Bang Bang!" is a very provocative protest song that makes an in-your-face point about the evils of police brutality and the potentials of abuse-of-power. Any person of color who felt uncomfortable when listening to this song would simply be misinterpreting it.
To me, activism in Punk music is about community, about working together for change. When the attacks of this community turn inward, the effect is to undermine the efforts of all. Le Tigre does an immense amount of good, giving women a place to feel comfortable, and an outlet to learn about important issues. They are one of the few bands left today who are truly making intelligent political statements in their music. Pointing out these minor faults with a flyer was a waste of time, effort, and money that could have been much better spent protesting something worth protesting. And here in Republican-run Texas, there are plenty of issues worth taking on. Le Tigre just isn't one of them.
-Lacey Tauber |
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