Category: Punk

Punk, I feel like it’s a more binary place, more for men. And I mean, it’s been a little difficult to take space in spaces that normally belong to men, right? I can tell you the truth is that they’re not willing to let go. So, obviously, if you as a dissident go out and challenge that and do whatever the f*ck you want, there will always be people who won’t agree. It’s a super stupid cultural thing. But that’s why we’re punk, because there are things to protest about and punk’s about speaking your mind.

Tenemos una cancion que se llama Narcoestado, que habla de la violencia de crecer en Sinaloa. Yo soy Sinaloense y Sonorense, mi familia está distribuida por esos dos lugares de aquí de México, que son en el norte del país. Y ya sabrás todo el mundo que son lugares violento de donde era El Chapo. Cuando era chica crecí muchos años en el sexenio de Calderón, que fue súper violento, güey. Lo vi muchos cuerpos colgados, cabezas cercenadas, brazos, patas, así en el día a día.

In Arabic, we call the word resistance intifada. Punk is the essence of the word intifada. This is what the Arabs need – we need punk.

From our performances, I hope people take away that it’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to be sad. I hope people can think and rethink the things we need to do to make the world a better place for all of us

According to Europe, I’m a “person of color,” “Pakistani,” “Muslim,” “brown male” and various other identities that mean nothing to me. Meanwhile in Pakistan, I had other identities to contend with regarding the linguistic backgrounds in my family, the province I lived in, religious sects… But really, I could care less about these things. I’ve always identified as an outsider and an outcast. Thus every sort of identity feels like a burden on me. There are more fluid and interesting ways to understand the diversity of human cultures and groups that exist… Let’s deconstruct this sh*t.