I need some advice,
Our local punk scene is pretty small. I am part of that scene but not in the inner circle where everyone is close friends with everybody. The issue is that pretty deep in that scene is one person who was abusive in the past. That is why he is banned from some leftist spaces. I don’t know any details about the abuse but he wouldn’t be banned from some spaces if it wouldn’t have been bad.
So he crossed a red line, and not trying to get him out of the scene would lack solidarity towards the victim as well as increase the chance of it happening again.
Does anyone have advice on how to go about it?
Get them all together, tell them whats up with this person and ask what they are going to do about it.
Having experienced this in the past the correct response is for them to say ‘fuck off’ to the person then kick the fucking shit out of them if its anything but ‘ok fair enough bye!’
If they wont do that they arent punks worth hanging out with, find cooler punks.
This is the only answer, paradox of tolerance tells me the abusive person needs to get booted out yesterday
to try and give a useful answer this time:
the reality is that if you, a (relative) outsider, try and come between a group of people and the abuser they consider a good friend, you are very likely going to lose. you can try to force the issue but ime you are going to see them close ranks and possibly freeze you out entirely, depending on the level of control their group has over the scene. none of this is to say “don’t try,” just that you should prepare for things going poorly.
an anecdote: when i was a kid my friend group was the heart of the party scene in our town. two of them ended up being pedos. no social consequences.
i think it’s good of you to try, mind.
