Doing it for Ourselves: Punk Political Praxis in Hackney (1988-90)

This chapter explores how punk interacted with squatting as a social movement, through research of squatted estates and the social centre, Lee House in the London Borough of Hackney (1988-1990). It analyses the extent to which these spaces facilitated lived anarchist praxis, as defined by Colin Ward. This chapter intervenes in predominantly male-centric analyses of subcultures, showing how communal squatted environments provided space for female emancipation that was not available in mainstream society, while acknowledging its limitations in challenging patriarchy.