Born of Struggle, Living in Hope: The Anarcho-Punk Lives of the Centro Iberico, 1971–1983
Please select all options before adding to cart.
From the Spanish Civil War to postpunk London—this is the untold story of a legendary community space where anarchy meant action. For the first time, the tangled twelve-year history of the Centro Iberico is unraveled and laid bare—a story that begins in the trenches of antifascist resistance and ends in a squatted school echoing with experimental noise and uncompromising politics.
At its heart is a Spanish anarchist who fought the Nazis, survived a death sentence under Franco, and spent his final years keeping the flame of resistance alive from exile in London. His survival and the inauguration of the Centro Iberico were thanks to London's anarchist underground, which maintained a foothold and kept the torches burning before finding new life amid punk’s co-optation of “anarchy” as a youth culture phenomenon. Around him gathered an intergenerational network of political anarchists, punks, squatters, and artists—keeping the Centro Iberia alive through state harassment, shifting countercultural tides, and one of the most absurd antiterror trials in British history.
A sanctuary for radical organizing and a crucible for underground sounds, the Centro Iberico was the UK’s only enduring anarchist center of the 1980s. It served as a vital hub that connected international political prisoner support efforts led by the Anarchist Black Cross to anarchist movements abroad, while sustaining its own activities in support of the cause.
This is its definitive story—a vivid, deeply researched account of a space where ideology, art, and defiance collided.
About the Author
Nick Soulsby is the author of Everything Keeps Dissolving: Conversations with Coil (2022), Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over (2019), Swans: Sacrifice and Transcendence (2018), Thurston Moore: We Sing a New Language (2017), Cobain on Cobain: Interviews & Encounters (2016), I Found My Friends: The Oral History of Nirvana (2015), and Dark Slivers: Seeing Nirvana in the Shards of Incesticide (2012).
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this product!
No questions yet. Be the first to ask a question about this product!
You May Also Like
About Anarchism
Originally written in 1969 and updated for the twenty-first century, About Anarchism is an uncluttered, precise, and urgently necessary expression of practical anarchism.
An Injury to One is An Injury to All magnet
Anarchist Seeds beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward
Moving seamlessly from Aldous Huxley and Colin Ward to the war in Iraq, this challenging volume will energize leftist movements throughout the world.
Anarchy in Action
This classic text is an attempt to bridge the gap between the present reality and anarchist aspirations, “between what is and what, according to the anarchists, might be.”
Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism
Navigating the broad "river of anarchy," from Taoism to Situationism, from anarcho-syndicalists to anarcha-feminists, this volume is an authoritative and lively study of a widely misunderstood subject.
Lessons of the Spanish Revolution: 1936-1939
Originally written as a series of weekly articles in the 1950s and expanded and republished over the years, this analysis remains essential reading for all those interested in revolutionary praxis.
One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock
This book argues that a significant political achievement of punk was to expose the operations of power in the British entertainment industry as they were thrown into confusion by the sound and the fury of musicians and fans.
Spanish Punk: Screaming for Democracy in a Postdictatorial State
Explores the political relevance of the punk phenomenon in Spain and its connections with contemporary movements and antiestablishment political identities.
The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980-1984
With a backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain, punk music became self-sufficient and considerably more aggressive, blending a DIY ethos with activism to create the perfectly bleak soundtrack to the zeitgeist of a discontented youth.
What Is Anarchism?: An Introduction, 2nd Ed.
This book is an introduction to the development of anarchist thought, useful not only to propagandists and proselytizers of anarchism but also to teachers and students, and to all who want to uncover the basic core of anarchism.
Recently Viewed
Sticking It to the Man: Revolution and Counterculture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1950 to 1980
This book tracks the changing politics and culture of the period and how it was reflected in pulp and popular fiction in the US, UK, and Australia from the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s.
Autonomy Is in Our Hearts: Zapatista Autonomous Government through the Lens of the Tsotsil Language
Simultaneously an exposition of Tsotsil philosophy and a detailed account of Zapatista governance structures, this book is an indispensable commentary on the Zapatista movement of today.
Shadows in the Struggle for Equality: The History of the Anarchist Red Cross
The firsthand account of an activist of the Anarchist Black Cross, during the Russian revolutionary movement and the subsequent Leninist/Stalinist repression.
Days of Dissent: Revolts, Strikes, and Rebel Histories
Days of Dissent brims with defiance in recounting the rebellious history that has reshaped the United States and the world.