The Punks are Alright

The movie "The Punks are Alright"got me thinking about punk music in terms of how it can influence society, not just as a music genre.  I was also surprised to see how active a role punk music plays in Brazil and Indonesia, mostly in the youth culture.  In Brazil, the punk/DIY community actively challenges society and the older generation while providing a creative outlet and community for the youth.  In the movie, Henrike shows how he, a punk rocker, helped form a school in Brazil to educate the youth and keep them off the streets.  I definitely did not expect to see punk music, and punk youth specifically, having such an active, positive role in society.  The documentary also changed my understanding of youth culture in Indonesia--prior to watching the movie I really did not know that much about Indonesian society.  It was interesting to see the struggle that young Indonesians go through, having to find an identity amidst a changing society.  Through globalization the country is becoming more westernized but the country still has a huge Muslim population, so the culture is kind of at a crossroads.  Also, Indonesia suffers from a capitalist society and many people live in poverty and work long, hard hours.  Punk music has helped the youth culture deal with living in that kind of society.
Because I live in America, I think it is easy to forget how globalized the world is and how interconnected our societies are.  We are always the ones outsourcing jobs/companies so we are never the ones that have to deal with the negative effects.  Seeing the people in the documentary definitely made me more aware of the consequences of my (and my country's) actions and of my global citizenship.  For example, Dolly works at a Nike factory in Indonesia and I have once bought Nike shoes.  It's easy to think of these actions as separate situations but in fact they are connected.  By buying products made in other countries, where there are no labor laws and bad working conditions, I am supporting a corrupt economic system.  However, if I (and many others) chose not to buy products from companies based in other countries, we would no longer be supporting that system but there would likely be high unemployment in those countries (at least at first).  So, I am connected to the Indonesian workers in the film in that my actions and consumption are unfortunately supporting the corrupt economic/political system that allow the horrible working conditions in their country.  While I can easily see that I am a member of my local community, I am also part of a larger global community and I need to remember that sometimes my actions have widespread consequences.