DISBAJA / U.B.T. / MOCK EXECUTION live @ Klaonica squat, Zagreb 28.09.2023. - video

casual thursday at Klaonica :) U.B.T. - stariiiii moj!..

- video source: youtube.com/@SubsiteTV

- photos from the gig: subsite.hr

ZASK - Zagreb Anarchist Bookfair 2023

After a long brake lasting a few years the Zagreb Anarchist Bookfair is coming back!
This time it is being held in the premises of Pogon Jedinstvo and night club Močvara.
Books from domestic and foreign publishers will be available on both days of the fair, and we are also preparing an accompanying program in the form of presentations of new publications, lectures and discussions.
The team from the collective Food, not Bombs Zagreb will be responsible for your bellies, while a concert in Močvara awaits you on Sunday evening.
Follow our page for the final program of the fair, as well as the schedule of lectures and concerts.
See Ya!

Timetable - Saturday 30/09/23
Bookfair: 10:00-20:00 (Large Hall Jedinstvo, downstairs)
Presentations and workshops (Small Hall Jedinstvo, upstairs)
10:00-10:45
Breakfast/Coffee and Volunteer Meeting
10:45-11:00
Opening word (CRO or ENG) ― ZAB Collective (Croatia)
11:00-13:00
Modern Anarchist Organisation and Radicalization (CRO or ENG) ― MAK (Croatia)
13:00-15:00
Lunch Break ― Food not Bombs (Zagreb)
15:00-17:00
Antipolitika #3 on nationalism, Yugoslav Anti-War Movement brochure and Balkan Network History brochure (SERB) ― Antipolitika (Balkan)
17:00-18:00
1. Update on CAS (CRO) ― Centre for Anarchist Studies (Croatia)
2. Translation and Discussion: Fighting for Ourselves – anarchosyndicalism and class struggle (CRO) ― MASA, Network of Anarcho-Syndicalists (Croatia)
18:00-20:00
Anarchists as Primitive Rebels? On Eric Hobwbawm's Bandits (CRO) ― Luka Pejić, researcher (Croatia)
20:00-23:00
1. Informal networking
2. Jovasapiens Rave ― House of Flamingo

Timetable - Sunday 01/10/23

Bookfair: 10:00-20:00 (Large Hall Jedinstvo, downstairs)
Presentations and Workshops (Močvara terrace)

09:30-10:00
Breakfast/Coffee and Volunteer Meeting

10:00-12:00
Bookbinding and Bookscanning Workshop (ENG) ― DIY Collective (Spain)

12:00-13:30
Whose is our sound?: Resistance Culture on Etnomusicological Studies (SERB) ― Branislav Stevanić, researcher (Serbia)

13:00-15:00
Lunch Break ― Food not Bombs (Zagreb)

15:00-17:00
Industrial Food Production – Veganism and Capitalism (CRO or ENG) ― Food not Bombs (Zagreb)

17:00-18:30
There are Worse Things than a Bad Framework (CRO) ― Martin Beroš, portal Slobodni Filozofski (Croatia)

18:30-19:00
Closing Word (CRO or ENG) ― ZAB Collective (Croatia)

21:00- …
Concert: Tačke (Kutina, Croatia), Nabod (Belgrade, Serbia), Loš Primjer (Croatia) ― Night Club Močvara (next to the Bookfair)

ZASK

upcoming gig in Ljubljana, Slovenia

when?...........................06.10.2023., Friday
where?..........................Gromka, Ljubljana
who?.............................TERMINAL FILTH crust, Ger
                                      FRACTURED d-beat hc punk, Can

                                      ABSURD crust core, Slo

entrance?......................?

XM24 SQUAT info

a little older article, from 2014, but still interested for reading and finding out about beginnings, history and struggle of this legendary squat in Bologna, Italy.. I was lucky enough and visited it once, back then in 2012 when witnessed one of the most incredible gigs in newer crust history..

I found this article here: https://roarmag.org/essays/xm24-social-center-bologna/

XM24: survival and inspiration against all odds

XM24 is a self-managed social center and public space in Bologna, Italy. It was first occupied in 2002, but its origins go back to the 1990s, to the social centers and the anti-globalization movement of that decade. It is heterogeneous and non-hegemonic, but it holds anti-fascism, anti-sexism and anti-racism to be the three common points that hold the space, its collectives and its individuals together in a revolutionary and pluralistic identification with the broader anti-capitalist movement.
The object of this article, written by two militants of the space, is to give a sense of our story and daily practice that, we hope, will be useful to comrades outside of the Italian context.

BIRTH OF A GLOBAL SPACE: 1999-2002
The story of the XM24 social space begins with the protest movement that exploded in 1999 after the Seattle riots. That movement took shape in Bologna the next year, with the creation of the Contropiani network. This network played a central role in the mobilization against the OECD summit. The summit, held in Bologna itself, represented yet another moment in which globalization and development were being discussed behind closed doors, with countless issues not even on the agenda, like worker’s rights, oppression of indigenous peoples and the devastation of the environment under neoliberalism.
The network needed a physical space to organize meetings and prepare the mobilization, so in July 2000 an abandoned warehouse on via Ranzani was occupied, filling an abandoned space with people and their desires. Starting from here many different paths began to intersect, creating a common space around concepts like the need for free circulation of people and of knowledge, a global minimum and living wage, the globalization of rights rather than that of capital.
All these points were at the center of building opposition to neoliberal globalization. The same words and slogans were yelled at the G8 summit in Genoa, in 2001. It was in everyone’s hearts that the cultural and generational multiplicity that made those massive demonstrations possible, the independent information media activism project represented by Indymedia, the Social Forums, legal aid volunteers, joy, determination and militant solidarity, be the only characteristics of that summit. Instead there was harsh repression from the state, culminating in the death of 23-year old Carlo Giuliani; the brutal beatings at the Diaz school; and the legalized torture of detained protesters at the Bolzaneto barracks.
In December 2001 the spaces of via Ranzani were evicted by the police. The city administration then assigned the spaces of the former city fruit and vegetable market, in via Fioravanti 24 to the various collectives which had been based in via Ranzani. The agreement was public, but informal, and as a consequence the initial entry into the 3.000 square meter space represented an occupation. The occupants were not a homogeneous collective with a common political line, but multiple intersecting subjectivities that since Ranzani had been carrying on various political projects.

The occupants were aware that they were giving a space back to the neighborhood – a working class area which was very important in the resistance to fascist occupation. The space had been abandoned for years and was falling apart, ugly, and had become a hotspot for drug dealers and addicts alike.
Now it was revived by people with different life stories and projects, but with a common objective: to short-circuit neoliberal mechanisms, producing social justice and horizontal social spaces. The weekly assembly took on a strong political weight in the self-management of the space in furtherance of these objectives, becoming the space in which to collectively discuss how to keep alive a project that was full of political and social potential.

REPRESSION, REFLECTION, INNOVATION: THE FIRST DECADE OF XM24
Brutal police violence, the assassination of Carlo Giuliani and the subsequent media cover up and legal repression did not succeed in neutralizing the social center movement in Italy that XM24 had emerged from, but the long-term effect was both weakening and traumatic. The end of the movement against the war in Iraq (2002-’04) can be taken as the beginning of the “fase di riflusso”, the ebb phase, when the accumulated strength of years of struggle subsided and the movement began to lose traction, street presence and social relevance.
The flip-side of this decrease in collective strength was a sharp increase in the legal repression of activists, and a country-wide attempt to make the occupation of social centers, and the occupation tactic in general, impossible. Historic social centers, including legalized ones, came under increasing pressure from city administrations which attempted to exploit the situation to wipe out decades of political work and struggle.
In Bologna this situation was particularly felt, due to the center-left mayor’s decision to launch a law and order campaign whose main target was the city’s social and housing occupations. Between 2004 and 2007 the police carried out numerous evictions, and activists received hundreds of citations, frequently finding themselves charged with subversion of the democratic order – a law of fascist origin – for actions as simple as the interruption of a city council meeting or the self-reduction of a meal at the university’s cafeteria (the most expensive in Italy).
This period also saw, on a national level, a sharp increase in neo-fascist violence against social centers, activists, migrants and members of the LGBTQ community. This period of relative isolation and repression, which coincided with the first years of XM24’s existence, contributed to the definition of the space’s political priorities, discourses and campaigns.
The political interventions practiced by the space and by the collectives and networks active in it in this period were largely, but not exclusively, along three broad lines: a collective attempt to re-imagine the theory and practice of anti-fascism; the collective and participatory theorizing of self-management; and the support of migrant activism against institutional and cultural racism and labor exploitation.
The desire to re-imagine anti-fascism was a direct result of the heterogeneous and non-hegemonic composition of the assembly of the space. A particular contribution to this debate came from the queer collectives active in the space, which encouraged an analysis of fascism and anti-fascism that took into consideration the patriarchal and hetero-sexist nature of fascist and neo-fascist discourse and culture.

THE URBAN LABORATORY
The increasing pressure that social spaces were coming under provoked an intense debate regarding the nature of occupation, self-organization and self-management in the context of broader political struggle. Within XM24 itself the debate centered on the relationship of the space to the city administration and more importantly to the Bolognina neighborhood in which it was situated and on whether it was possible to interact with local institutions while at the same time practicing politics in an autonomous way, that is, without falling into a trap and being “recovered” by the mechanisms of capital and its governance.
This approach was tested when the space decided to collectively participate in the Laboratorio di Urbanistica Partecipata (‘Laboratory of Urban Participation’), initiated by the local administration to involve different social realities of the Bolognina neighborhood in the process of deciding the course of a large construction project to be realized in the area. While the end results revealed the bad faith of both the administration and construction companies, the experience proved valuable in terms of relating to local situations outside of the radical left scene, which in the future would prove very valuable.
In order to defend itself, but more importantly to counter-attack the institutional attempt at removing the social center experience from the map, XM24 began the process of developing a collective discourse of self-management. This process centered on common points that permitted the development of a broad and pluralistic political debate: the inseparability of self-management from a political culture and praxis that is anti-fascist, anti-sexist, anti-racist and anti-authoritarian; the political incompatibility of self-management with the legalistic framework of institutional urban policy; and the central role of self-management of spaces and life in the broader anti-capitalist and social justice movement.
In 2008 the On the Move Project was born from the Migrants Coordination, a youth-oriented community organizing project that has become an important voice for working class migrant and Italian youth, many from the Bolognina neighborhood, which has campaigned for citizenship rights for migrant youth born or raised in Italy. XM24 has had a central role in these mobilizations and projects, both as host and more generally as an openly multi-ethnic and anti-racist space, which during a period of increasing institutional and cultural racism never stopped openly opposing racism and supporting (politically, humanly and economically) migrant and anti-racist struggles.

These struggles made Bologna a center for the migrant struggle in the Italian context. Some important examples of this were the first of Migrant Strikes and support for migrant workers of the logistics sector who have carried out dozens of strikes and pickets over the past few years.
Over the years many major events have contributed to the construction of XM24’s political identity and presence. For ten years XM24 was the home of the Anti-MTVday. The event celebrated independence from major labels, accessibility and diversification of underground music, and the self-management of the creation and distribution process. United by the slogan “Stop music business and television lobotomy”, thousands of people from all over Italy and other European countries would come to XM24 for the autumn festival, which in ten years hosted hundreds of bands and independent record labels.
The Bologna Festival Burn of 2013 supported, through concerts, art performances and street art, various other spaces in the city that produce culture from below and develop political, cultural and social alternatives to mainstream models. In 2005 the social center entered into the Critical Wine – Terra e Libertà network, a project that foments the creation of new global sensibilities relating to food and the environment, aiming at liberation from the consumerist model of production and alimentation.
This is the same objective behind CampiAperti, the self-managed cooperative network of farmers who belong to the social center and hold a farmers market of biological produce every Thursday, an event that draws dozens of people, young and old, to the space every week. The social center also has a collective garden, in the shadows of the massive construction works happening behind the space, a little bit of green in a sea of cement and speculation.

UNDER ATTACK: “THE BATTLE FOR XM24”
The city administration had promised during its participation in the Laboratory of Urban Participation the massive development project known as Trilogia Navile in the abandoned area behind XM24 would only remove a small part of the social center’s courtyard necessary to construct a roundabout. However, when the final project was made public it was revealed that the actual project called for the demolition of a significant portion of the structure itself; the kitchen, gym and one of two concert spaces.
It became clear that with the pretext of the roundabout the city administration was attempting to weaken, if not eventually evict XM24. The mobilization in defense of the space was a challenging moment in the history of the space, in that it required an enormous amount of discussion, research and organizing, attempting to maintain consensus, transparency and horizontalism in every moment of the campaign.
The parting shot of the campaign was the painting of an enormous mural on the wall intended for demolition, by world-famous street artist Blu, whose murals have adorned XM24’s walls since its birth. The mural depicts the city of Bologna as a Lord of the Rings-style clash between good and evil, center and periphery, social movements and city rulers. The mural drew massive attention to the campaign, on a political and artistic level, and became a symbol of the struggle to save the space.
The campaign organized several very successful events in which artists, writers and musicians performed in support of the campaign, drawing thousands of people to XM24 and reminding city administrators what would happen if the space were evicted.
The campaign culminated in the blocking of the first day of works to construct the roundabout, in which activists conducted a press conference and presented city administrators with an alternative set of plans, drawn up by comradely architects, for the construction of the roundabout. This proved to be a winning strategy. Within hours a new round table was called by the city and within a few weeks the project for the demolition of part of XM24 was abandoned, and a roundabout similar to that initially projected by the Urban Laboratory was built.

AUTOGESTIONE AND THE CITY: A COMMITTEE FOR SELF-MANAGEMENT
One of the main points in the discussions between XM24 and the city administration was the absence of any formal legal agreement between the space and the city. The city initially demanded that XM24 sign a traditional agreement, in which the space would constitute itself as a cultural association and sign a strict contract for the management of the space.
This proposal was rejected, on both political and practical grounds. In the face of this resolute rejection the City relented on its demands and an agreement was reached in which the space was “assigned” to a third party committee. This committee was established to permit the assignment process, without reducing the horizontal, non-hierarchical assembly of XM to a legally recognizable form.
The committee is a third party subject that vouches for the activities of XM24 without representing it. This agreement allowed the multifaceted experience of XM24 to go forward, reducing, but not eliminating, the gentrification-induced political pressure that the social center and its collectives face every day.

The creation of the committee in December 2013 coincided with the signing of an agreement with the city that for the moment legalizes the occupation of XM24. But it has a broader goal, which is the promotion and support of self-managed social experiences in Bologna with the objective of encouraging the spread of occupation tactics and self-management in the city.
These tactics are also seen as a fundamental part of the construction of radical direct democracy and social and political protagonism and participation from below to respond to the needs of communities. The political wager of the committee is that it will be a tool to defend self-managed spaces and practice social conflict. Various social centers and spaces from Bologna have decided to participate in it.

THE SITUATION TODAY
On a day-to day basis, XM24 is a center for the self-management of everyday life in the Bolognina neighborhood. The Ampioraggio People’s Bike Shop, organizers of Bologna Critical Mass, the annual Human Motor mobilization against the Bologna Motor Show, and convergence space for many neighborhood residents, young and less young, migrant and Italian. The People’s Kitchen, a vegetarian, cruelty-free space has been a vital resource for political and social groups to organize benefit dinners for projects, legal aid and political prisoners for many years now. The People’s Free Gym is an open space for neighborhood residents to do yoga, aerial circus and many other arts without spending money.
The only central decision-making space is the assembly, every Tuesday night, frequently beginning late, always ending after midnight. It is a space of collective responsibility, where decisions affecting the whole space are made and where new people can come to propose projects or events. It is public and usually made up of thirty to forty people.
As in many spaces, finding a consensus is not always easy or automatic, but through horizontal decision-making and free participation the space is still functioning, twelve years on. The space is completely volunteer-run and self-financed, and is continuously hosting new projects in which those proposing are welcomed, but expected to take responsibility of the fact that they too are now participating in the management of the space, and not merely using it.

-authors:

Giulia Zapata Foresti
Sean Patrick Casey

XM24 SQUAT

TERMINAL FILTH / FRACTURED euro tour October 2023

hey what a combo!.. Terminal Filth stench crust punks from Berlin, Germany and Fractured d-beat punks from Montreal, Canada will join forces and together with crew from Agipunk will hit the road across (mostly central) Europe for 16 days long tour.. don't miss them if you'll have a chance, I bet those will be some quality shows and real crust punk feasts..

and yes, just look at this beautiful work of art of a tour poster..

TERMINAL FILTH

FRACTURED

ATOMSKI RAT live @ SKCNS Fabrika, Novi Sad 24.07.2023. - video

not so long ago I posted video of their show from AKAB Okretnica in Belgrade and here is one more, the same awesome, this time from Novi Sad.. it looks as every gig of those thrash noise punks are equally awesome and insane.. enjoy!..

ATOMSKI RAT

- video source: youtube.com/@nocturnalgoatlord4325

LAST LEGION ALIVE live @ La Zone, Liege 08.04.2023. - video

well, this happen in April, who would guess!?.. reformed just for that one gig, actually a wedding party for their bassist.. one of the most brutal and mightiest band that I ever saw live.. and as it seems 10 years break didn't soften them at all..

     

- video source: youtube.com/@samenerv2995 (while you're there check also Extinction of Mankind and Đornata from the same gig and few other interesting videos, some Disaffect, Visions of War, Doom, Matrak Attakk, a lot of Hiatus, etc..)

LAST LEGION ALIVE

CRUTCHES - live @ Azyl Pivni Bar, Liberec 02.09.2023. - video

 
unfortunately just two songs here, from their gig which took place in Liberec, Czech R. few weeks ago during their mini tour.. but damn, they are so freaking good I had to post it here.. this is some pretty dangerous raw d-beat massacre, they should have firearm license for that, just saying..

- video source: youtube.com/@charles77fuckoff

CRUTCHES

upcoming gig in Zagreb, Croatia

when?.................28.09.2023., Thursday
where?................Klaonica squat, Zagreb
who?...................MOCK EXECUTION raw hc punk, USA
                            U.B.T. noise punk, Cro

                            DISBAJA raw punk grind, Cro

entrance?.............6 €

WARKRUSHER live @ Gromka, Ljubljana 16.09.2023. - video

full show from a gig in Ljubljana from last Saturday.. don't be a damn fool like me and catch them in Prague today or in Leipzig, Berlin or Hamburg in next few days if you can.. if not, enjoy the stench here!..

- video source: youtube.com/@RAFALcrew

WARKRUSHER

WASSERDICHT - new album teaser!!

I already mentioned somewhere that Wasserdicht are back with few live shows and are preparing new album, and now they offer us a little teaser, 4 songs for the full length "Prihajamo V Miru".. recorded in old line up from 1995 in studio Depth in Zagreb, during April this year.. for now, from this 4, my favorite song is "Sit Sem Vas", hope the rest will be more similar to this one.. can't wait for this to be out!.. until then, for warming up, check it out on bc or yt.

BANDCAMP

YOUTUBE

upcoming gig in Maribor, Slovenia

 

when?.............................22.09.2023., Friday
where?............................Gustaf Pekarna, Maribor

who?...............................WASSERDICHT crust, Slo

                                        CHIKPAWZA hc punk, Slo

                                        MAČEFIT punk, Slo

                                        KALPAS punk, Slo

entrance?....................... 5 €

some crust from Not Enough Records distro..

I was pretty busy last week or two with...you know, life, so there wasn't fresh posts here on regular basis but we will catch up with everything in next few days, or we won't, who the fck knows.. here's something little that I treated myself with few weeks ago, two crust gems in oldschool way, not just musically great but also beautiful records, right from far away Sweden and I must say, that was some extra fast (although damn expensive, bruh) shipping and delivery, kudos to Not Enough records on that!..

 

VISIONS OF WAR - The Lost Tapes "A Bottle Too Far" re-noised

TOLSHOCK - No Pasaran  "The Unavoidable Discography"

NOT ENOUGH

 

24/24 - Kr​í​zisb​ő​l Kr​í​zisbe - new album is out now!!!

hell yes!!.. new stuff from 24/24, raw punks from Hungary is out and available on bandcamp.. I was really looking forward for this one.. 11 under the minute raw d-beat punk attacks, again as expected with socially engaged and angry lyrics and message on Hungarian..

tapes will be out, probably next month on Sors Fintora records, same like their debut from last year.. until then turn the volume up and set your speakers to fire!..

BANDCAMP 

reminder on Warkrusher euro tour and gigs in surroundings..

just quick reminder that Warkrusher euro tour starts in just 5 days from now with gig in Modena, Italy and then stench will spread all over through Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany and Czech R.. here are gigs which will happen in my closest surroundings, Rijeka, Zagreb and Ljubljana..

when?...............16.09.2023., Saturday
where?..............club Gromka, Ljubljana

who?.................WARKRUSHER stench crust, Can

                          GRABLE hc punk, Slo

                          DEGRESS thrash metal, Slo

entrance?...........?

when?........................................17.09.2023., Sunday

where?.......................................Podrum, Rijeka

who?..........................................WARKRUSHER stench crust, Can

                                                   PxDxTx grindcore, Cro

entrance?....................................4 €

when?......................18.09.2023., Monday

where?.....................AKC Attack, Zagreb

who?........................WARKRUSHER stench crust, Can

                                 DISBAJA crust metal, Cro

                                 NETHER death metal, Cro

entrance?...................?

upcoming gig in Novi Sad, Serbia

 

what?.......................benefit gig for SAWA fest
when?......................15.09.2023., Friday

where?.....................CK 13, Novi Sad

who?........................SUKOB hc punk, Cro

                                 SMRT RAZUMA hc punk, Cro/Ser

                                 PESTARZT hc crust, Ser

entrance?.................700 din

NULLA OSTA live @ Trainstation squat, Kranj 24.05.2013. - video

 

so much crazy memories related to this band, hahah.. for instance, their gigs in Novi Marof, what hell on earth those were.. and afterparties as well.. maaaan..
Nulla Osta was 2 distorted bass hc crust monster from Pula, Croatia with everything but usual sound, specific was that they didn't have guitar, just two thunderous basses with which they were creating wall of noise and the vocalist was, well, story for itself.. I think no video recordings out there can't evoke or demonstrate their sound and power, live this was some different and indescribably mightier experience.. one of those bands you just had to experience and see live.. also, they are probably one of the better known Croatian hc punk/crust band abroad thanks to few interesting split releases (the 7" with C. Sterminii for example) and numerous tours all over Europe, even the one in Brazil back in 2008.. 

here is live video from 2013 of their gig that took place at Trainstation squat in Kranj, Slovenia..

- video is from here: youtube.com/@TotalAmater

SAWA fest: solidarity in action - unity, noise, power and sawacalypse

SAWA festival is one nice story here on domestic diy hc punk scene and even wider.. it's the whole Balkan gathering actually for quite some years already and this years edition was canceled just few hours before it's beginning because strong storm hit the place 2nd time in two days and cause irreparable damage to infrastructure and equipment, I already mentioned it before here when there was 1st small benefit gig organized in Požega and now already few different collectives, initiatives or individuals get involved in helping SAWA crew in recovery.. they themselves are very active as well, it seems all this isn't killing their spirit, obviously the whole thing just get them stronger so they prepared some merch, again supported by friends of the festival which you can buy and help on that symbolic way and show your solidarity with one of the best diy stories on Croatian hc punk scene..

so below is nice article about all that, extensive but very interesting and inspiring.. for the whole thing visit their web page where you can find both versions on Croatian and English, also see some phots and videos of storm and of course the most important to see which actions were already made, which are planned in the nearest future and to check merch and other ways to support them..

SOLIDARITY IN ACTION

SAWA Festival 2023 was forced to be canceled half an hour before the first band, due to a severe and dangerous storm that could have caused harm to the visitors. Nobody in our area remembers a (shit)storm of similar magnitude in recent history.
SAWA Festival means much more to us than just music, a weekend gathering, or a weekly DIY activity. We live and prepare it throughout the year. For two months a few of us dedicated ourselves entirely to it, leaving all obligations and jobs aside. For this edition of the festival, we went all in like never before. Unfortunately, mother earth has shown us her teeth for everything bad that we do to this planet every day. Let this be a wake-up call since we can expect more and more natural disasters every summer going forward.
We are truly sorry that everything fell apart just before the concert was supposed to start. We are also happy that everyone is fine and no one got hurt, which is the most important thing right now. We will fix the damage to our equipment and installations during the upcoming year and get back on our feet. This will be done with the help of many self-initiated punk solidarity actions organized in the region, our personal investments and merchandise that we prepared for all of you who want to support us. We don't whine, beg, or ask for anything. However, we are super grateful to the goodwill of bands, labels, organizers and individuals, for self-organizing and launching several solidarity actions, while we were cleaning up the festival area in shock of what happened. The same goes for all of you who donated through the website - thanks a ton! 

On Wednesday, July 19th, 2023, the day before the festival, a sudden wind of 180 km/h ravaged Županja and its surroundings, destroying most of the festival installations, tents, electricity poles, and hundreds of trees on the bank of the river Sava. This is just the recorded wind speed before the wind blew away and broke the device itself at the meteorological station, meaning that we don't know exactly how strong the storm really was.
Given that trees were torn down, concrete pillars cracked, tents weighing several tons were broken, and roofs flew around the city - all volunteers and members of the SAWA Crew suffered serious trauma. Trauma that is usually not discussed, and is difficult to recover from. They are our scenes heroes and we thank each one of the crew members for that.
Despite the city being without electricity, but still with a favorable weather forecast for the weekend, we decided to clean up everything. In 48 hours we (re)built a good enough infrastructure to hold a concert on Friday and Saturday - because Balkan punx deserve it. We also made a few last-minute changes to reduce the risk of anyone getting hurt (e.g. camping under the trees was forbidden). On Thursday, July 20th, 2023, Day Zero of the festival - visitors started arriving and the weather was sunny as if nothing had happened the day before. They swam in the river, sang and hung out preparing for the Friday concert night. Everything was promising that we would have an awesome party on the weekend.

On Friday afternoon, July 27th, 2023, new storm announcements started. We were prepared for heavy rain, but no one expected a similar chaos that could be dangerous for the lives of visitors and bands, as we experienced on Wednesday.
Immediately after the sound check and just before the concert was supposed to start, clouds began to gather. It was extremely hot and without the slightest breeze. The river Sava was unusually calm. Everything stopped completely, as if someone had frozen the scene around us and put it in slow motion. It was clear to those of us who experienced the chaos on Wednesday that something similar was about to happen. We took all the safety measures we could, based on the experience from a few days before and immediately started closing the big tents. The storm started and the wind threw the heavy aluminum 160m2 tent over 3 meters high in the air. The tent was sturdy and otherwise stable in any conditions that we prepared for. Inside were band distributions & SAWA merchandise, which later got soaked, wet and some of it even destroyed. As the tent flew around the festival area, it damaged a few cars and vans, causing total damage to a vehicle from one of our crew members.
Most visitors & SAWA crew volunteers rushed to the second 240m2 tent, where the stage & bar were. Our small punk community tried to defend whatever remained by closing the tent and holding it down for the next 30 minutes of heavy storm, clinging to every possible opening. We wanted to reduce the risk of it being lifted by the wind and doing serious harm to people on the festival grounds. Everyone who experienced this knows it was a fight for our lives, the festival, and our friends.
Despite everything that was happening at that moment, the atmosphere under the tent was amazing. THANK YOU to everyone who helped in saving each other and the remaining equipment. Calmness, collective effort and coordination left a huge mark and will stay forever remembered. Thankfully, all of the visitors are alive and well without any injuries, although we were facing serious danger from wind gusts that knocked down everything on their way.
As soon as the wind calmed down, all visitors were asked to leave the festival location and go to the city center to a dry location - CB OKAC, which offered us a safe haven until dawn. At that time it had already been announced that there would be another storm during the evening and rain all night. Unfortunately, the club "Multicultural Centre" we took care of for about 15 years and held hundreds of concerts, and which can accommodate up to 500 people, was lost and is not ours anymore. If that wasn't the case, we would have moved the concert there. We called and tried every option we knew for hours on Friday night, but the city was in total collapse and there was simply no alternative option. That being said, the weather still did not prevent people from gathering in the parking lot and in the rain until the early hours of the morning.
To every band that came despite the storm - hats off, and a big THANK YOU from the SAWA crew. The least we could do was cover the travel expenses and provide food and drinks while everything else fell apart. There will be opportunities for concerts another time in the future, and we greatly appreciate your understanding of the situation.
With human lives being the most important thing, luckily most of the rented equipment was not damaged, besides some pieces of our own equipment. However, we are still left with a lot of damage and financial loss. Everything rented has to be paid for, as well as all the food that we ordered, every t-shirt, pallet, cable, spray, poster and every detail we invested in and prepared several months before the festival. Now, a month after the sawacalypse, we are slowly being able to pay back our debts.
On the same day when cancellation was announced various solidarity actions were initiated by all of you throughout the region. Today we count over 20 actions that have been organized or are planned to be organized by the end of 2023. This is unbelievable and we are beyond words. The scene has not been this proactive in solidarity for a long time. We never could have imagined how much SAWA means to all of you. THANK YOU PUNK SCENE and big thank you to all the people who started the actions!
On the other hand, we are trying to make up for the losses by selling our festival merch (t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, bags, cookbook, etc.), first by presenting it at the Monte Paradiso festival, and now by putting it for sale online for all of you.
Lastly, we do not plan to give up! 15 years of effort were damaged and crippled, but not destroyed. We have a lot of work to do, to fix and create new installations, pay off our debts, and in the end, organize a party to remember in 2024!

SAWA FEST

upcoming gig in Zagreb, Croatia

when?....................11.09.2023., Monday
where?...................AKC Attack, Zagreb
who?......................SIRKKA raw hc punk, USA

                               LUGER raw d-beat punk, Cro

                               U.B.T. raw noise punk, Cro

entrance?................6 €