TAQWACORE WEBZINE

At last night’s open mic to support Los Angeles divest from Israel’s water issues, I finally met up with a Taqwacore punk – Nader, otherwise known as DarthNader on the twitterverse. I’d been following his tweets for some time, but even though we live in the same region and have attended the same rallies, we didn’t meet until last night. He was young, really intelligent, really politically on top of it and I kind of saw his as this next generation of Taqwacore.

It was through him that I actually found out about the Flotilla protest that I attended in front of the Israel consulate on Memorial Day. So it should be no surprise that I found the following video through him as well.

Ska-P is a band straight outta Madrid, Spain, formed in 1994. Dope lyrics, awesome sound. Both Nader and I were surprised we had never heard of them – apparently they are huge.

And for the people that will ask – Is Gaza, the attack on the flotilla, divestment of Israel really a Taqwacore issue? Yes. I think that all political issues where voices of the oppressed are getting crushed are punk issues, and when it’s our people who have voices getting crushed, it’s up to us to be that voice for the oppressed.

Turns out Nader used to be in band back when he was 15. It was called Benzene and was the first punk band out of Lebanon. They never got to recording because war broke out between Lebanon and Israel in the summer of 2006. That’s as punk as it gets.  The latest incarnation of the band was Detox straight out of Beirut. Punk as fuck, Nader wants to start up a Taqwacore band in the Bay area when he moves there in the fall for college. Spread the word to Bay area Taqx – let’s get this kid a band.

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Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed is an activist and writer living in Los Angeles. She is the Founder of South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), an aspiring novelist and a long-time blogger for the popular South Asian blog Sepia Mutiny.