There was a fairly substantial zine scene in late 1980s South Africa around the largely white (and Indian) punk and hardcore scene.  Some zines invoked “anarchism” or its symbols, but most were subcultural, devoted to music, tape swapping and “scene” reports and personalities. Almost none discussed anarchism in any real way, or tried to concretely link it to South Africa’s burning class and national questions. Political issues tended to dealt with at an abstract level — individual freedom, dislike of the universal military conscription applied to young white men, a nominal anti-racism — beyond environmental and animal rights issues.

Social Blunder, produced by two Indian brothers, HG and NG, in Lenasia township, south of Soweto,  was the great exception. It was overtly anarchist, class struggle and political, and wanted punk to be a source of genuine rebellion, issue #5 asking whether it was to be a trendy “safety pin routine” or a “real punk revolution” with “real anarchist bands” “speaking out against the never ending list of social problems and crimes against mankind and the environment?… Where today are the anarchist workshops? … militant youths with more than just a circled A on thier [sic.] backs?”  It is not surprising that HG would co-found the radical Azanian Anarchist Alliance / AAA in 1991, which probably the first organised anarchist group the country had seen in decades (more on AAA here).

Get the PDF of issue #5 of Social Blunder here (large file).