The Straight Edge Movement
TheSite.Org (uk, 1999) - by dominic waghorn (london)

Clean living idealists or violent anti-drug gang members? The Straight Edge movement lends itself to confusion.

On Halloween night last year, 15 year old Bernado Repreza was stabbed to death during a street fight in downtown Salt Lake City. Bernado and his friends had found themselves in an argument with another bunch of kids and the argument soon escalated into a brawl.
As the press vultures swarmed it quickly became clear that most of the kids fighting against Bernardo and his friends belonged to a movement known as Straight Edge (sXe). Police in Utah describe Straight Edgers as a violent gang. The Straight Edgers refute this, claiming they are merely individuals who have all chosen a similar lifestyle.

And what is this lifestyle? It's one which shuns the use and abuse of drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex. It means no smoking. It often means no meat or animal products. It sometimes means using violence to promote this particular ethical strand.

The scene draws people from a variety of backgrounds. Some have arrived at the lifestyle from a religious, reactionary point of view and may also harbour homophobic and pro-life attitudes. Others come from a more liberal background and believe in trying to create a fairer, better world. One Straight Edger may have more in common with a neo-nazi, another with a peace protestor.

Also, Straight Edgers appear to be drawn to the movement for a number of different reasons. For some, it follows a desire to take control of their own bodies, for others it might be a reaction to alcohol/drug abuse in their families. Equally appealing is the idea of simply standing up for a cause - something which has been out of fashion over the last decade or so.

And although the Salt Lake City Straight Edgers may be the ones getting the press, all over the world others are quietly (or sometimes violently) living a similar way.

A means to an end.

The term Straight Edge originates from the song of the same name written in the late eighties by Minor Threat singer Ian Mackaye. The song promotes a lifestyle built on the principles of self-control and clear thinking. The sXe community is still heavily tied to an underground punk scene that includes bands such as Vegan Reich and Raid.

Mackaye has since distanced himself from the violent side of Straight Edge culture and other Straight Edgers claim that those who get into fights aren't really sXe, more 'Hate Edge'. However, there are those who believe violence can be justified as a means to an end.

Jez, a British Straight Edger who lives "somewhere between Oxford and London" points at direct action movements such as animal rights campaigns and road protests as instances when violence can be justified.

"On a personal level no-one should feel threatened but on a global level there are certainly things that can only be changed by direct action," he says.

"Government is about submissive accommodation and most people sleep-walk through life dreaming that they are expressing their wishes with a cross on a ballot paper."

However, these sorts of protests seem a far cry from the extreme tactics of some Straight Edgers. The mainstream press has reported a number of violent actions by members, most prominently the attack by a group of "chain wielding" Straight Edgers on two students in Salt Lake City who wouldn't put out their cigarettes.

Members of the more militant 'Hardline' sXe scene say they "support progress and liberation of all innocents by any means necessary". Says YBA, a hardliner from Cincinnati, "In some cases this would not necessitate violence at all. In others it has."

Wrong attitude, refute others. On a lively sXe bulletin board, one Straight Edger dispels the use of violence. "While I am extremely sympathetic to the animal liberation cause, your violence cannot be justified by any means. Your mind is not pure as long as you harbour hatred towards others. The Hardline is Fascist" claims XandrewX.

These sorts of discussions and arguments show how disparate the sXe community is. They're a hard bunch to pigeonhole and consequently, the sXe movement has been covered poorly by the media.

Jez isn't surprised by the media coverage. "I've never known the press to get any youth movement right; they're not in it, don't understand it and approach it with their angles already planned out."