On Jul 20, 2006, at 12:31 AM, B. wrote:
> [Posted this on my blog, caused a shitstorm. Old
> interview, but still timely, apparently. -B.]
>
>
> F = Federico, J= Johnny, both members.
>
>
> http://www.angelfire.com/il/deiryassin/peinter.htm
>
>
> Q: Why did you choose the name Dir Yassin? Maybe you
> can explain the meaning behind it.
>
> F: The idea was to bring up the subject of Zionist
> history and to raise the question of the legitimacy of
> Zionism itself and also the indoctrination which is
> being perpetuated in this country. Deir Yassin was the
> place of a massacre in 1948 in which around 150
> Palestinians were killed by right wing Zionist troops
> during the so-called War of Independence. This was a
> really traumatic event in our eyes, but here it’s
> regarded as an isolated event, an unfortunate mistake
> by an extreme group which doesn’t represent Zionist
> ideas.
>
> J: In a sense, it doesn’t even exist officially
> because nobody takes responsibility for it.
>
> F: You have to keep in mind that people who later
> became central in Israeli politics were involved or
> knew about this. Just by using this name, we wanted to
> bring the subject into the public realm, to say that
> things aren’t the way they taught us. Just for a kid
> to ask us about the meaning of the name is already
> raising the issue again. I see the importance in that.
> Picking the name was not just for the purpose of
> shocking or provocation, it was meant to raise
> interest in this event.
>
> J: I think the provocation aspect also shouldn’t be
> underestimated. We didn’t want to be a typical punk
> band with an obnoxious name like some bands in Israel
> called Breast Cancer or Obnoxious Rectum [actually,
> their name is ‘The shocking Rectum’ - ed]. That’s just
> being stupid and cliched. We want to have some sort of
> positive provocation to inspire interest.
>
> F: There are things going on beneath the surface of
> this country. The way the Arabs were treated in this
> country, the Palestinians in the territories are being
> treated even now, is an issue the people here have to
> deal with. So this is our small effort to bring it up.
> Maybe some people who are into the music and don’t
> know much about politics can find a good starting
> point just by knowing the Deir Yassin happened.
>
> J: Especially here in Israel, although there’s so much
> politics in everyday life, even in the punk scene
> there’s often a real disinterest in politics or things
> going on around you, so we try to force people to have
> an awareness of what’s going on. You can’t escape it
> and it won’t do much good if you pretend that it
> doesn’t exist. Most punk bands sing about things like
> getting drunk which is fair enough, you have that in
> every country but I think here the situation is so
> politicized, it’s shocking that punk here is so
> unpolitical. In theory it should be a real fertile
> ground for punk bands but most bands don’t want to
> dwell too much on the political events taking place
> here. All of our songs are very politically conscious,
> dealing with where we stand. We want to force those
> punks that don’t care about politics to at least deal
> with reality.
>
> [...]
>
> Q: You’ve been talking about propagating not going
> into the army, maybe you can explain how you managed
> to stay out of it even though it’s mandatory.
>
> J: Being a male in Israeli society, the only way not
> to join the army is basically mental reasons. You
> don’t have a conscientious objector status here, you
> can’t do civil service or something like that. You
> have to pretend to be crazy or otherwise go to prison.
> F: Well, I don’t think those are the only options. The
> way I see it is that they already have too many people
> in the army. A lot of people who join have to work in
> the bureaucracy. Only a part of the people do armed
> service, a lot of people are just part of the military
> mechanism. they don’t want people in there that will
> cause trouble. you need to find a way for them to have
> a reason to let you go, they need to stick to some
> sort of army procedure where they see that you will
> not fit into the army. It doesn’t have to be mental
> reasons, or even ideological. Sometimes it might not
> work. But I think most of the time, if you’re going to
> be honest that you have anarchist or anti-militaristic
> beliefs and if you really know what you’re talking
> about, I don’t think they will draft you.
>
> Q: You were already saying how Israeli society is
> dominated by Zionist and religious ideas. How do you
> think punk fits into this society? Did looking like a
> punk have a serious shock value?
>
> J: In the beginning it was. But now, with all this
> techno trance culture you have a lot of people
> pierced, having dyed hair, etc. It’s all become
> meaningless.
>
> F: I think society can eventually absorb every
> different dress style but it’s much harder to absorb
> ideas. You can commodify all the superficial aspects
> of the culture, but they can never commodify the
> ideas.
>
> J: Well, I guess they can. People buy punk records
> because they think they are getting the ideas for the
> price of an LP. Just because you know Crass lyrics by
> heart doesn’t mean that you understood them! There
> used to be all these people back in the day, they
> could sing “Bloody Revolutions” by Crass by heart and
> they were singing it with their uniforms on and their
> guns around their shoulders. It’s really weird, maybe
> they didn’t know English.
>
> Q: I’m sure Crass would be proud to know of such
> devoted fans! HaHa!
>
> F: Coming back to what I was saying, of course even
> Crass can be commodified to a certain extent. in this
> society, even social uprisings can be commodified into
> social democratic garbage. You can have Che Guevara on
> T-shirts but it doesn’t mean anything anymore. But in
> Israel, they can’t deal with different ideologies
> because of the authoritarian manner of society.
>
> J: Anything that is not in tune with the militaristic
> culture is basically considered anti-Zionist. So, I
> think punk has more relevance here than almost
> anywhere else in the world. I think there’s more work
> to do for the punk scene than almost anywhere else.
> It’s funny for Swedish bands to be singing about war
> and religion. We actually live this nightmare, it’s
> not just a cliche'. I guess it’s relevant everywhere
> in the world because there’s injustice everywhere but
> for most punks it’s a really abstract thing. Anywhere
> else you can make a zine against the army and it
> probably won’t have much effect. Here you’ll have
> mainstream politicians talking about wanting to lynch
> us, that we should be interrogated by the police, that
> we should be put on trial, that we should be put away
> because we’re a menace to society. In a sense it’s
> crazy that we can be so few but have such a big effect
> in delivering our message.
>
> [...]
>
> Rest at:
> http://www.angelfire.com/il/deiryassin/peinter.htm
>
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