Chasseurs De Skins (DVD) - Red Skin em França

Segundo informação que circula na Net este documentário, com cerca de 80 minutos, produzido pela Résistance Films, que retrata a recente história do movimento Red Skin em França, do seu início nos anos 80 entrando pelos 90, será editado em DVD no próximo mês de Abril. Parece que também terá transmissão televisiva. Para os interessados na cultura skinhead não aja dúvida que este filme terá bastante importância. Claro que estamos a falar de um documento histórico que aborda o movimento skinhead nas suas tendências mais esquerdistas. Os próprios intervenientes desta história apelidam-se de Red Skins e usavam nomes para os seus grupos como: 'Lenin Killers', 'Red Action Skinhead', 'Ducky Boys', 'Red Ants' e 'Marseilles Red Army'. Não estejam à espera de um filme, como maioritariamente têm sido realizados até aqui, que aborde a cultura skinhead tradicional ou a sua vertente de extrema-direita. Aqui vão encontrar o que se pode apelidar de puros Red Skins. Como ainda não vi o documentário não posso avançar mais informação. Assim coloco aqui um trailer que já circula na net e em seguida um texto, em inglês, que aborda o 'background' da realização deste filme.

The French redskin movement (skinheads of communist tendency) was born under unique conditions around the years 1984-86. On one hand, a very tough economic and political situation, characterized by massive unemployment, the beginning of neoliberal politics, and which saw the installation in France of a very large extreme-right movement represented by the National Front. On the other hand, the appearance of an alternative cultural movement (a mix of French punk rock, political protest, and multiculturalism). Around the Bérurier Noir (band of anarchist inclination) a new type of security group was created, which was put in charge of protecting shows and to stop the entrance of fascists.

Many "crews" were formed in France, more or less legendary, like the "Lenin Killers", "Red Action Skinhead", "Ducky Boys", "Red Ants", and in Marseilles, the "Marseilles Red Army".

But the first and more important crew of French redskins which stimulated all the others was the "Red Warriors" — without a doubt they were the detonator of a certain form of facing radical anti-fascism. These groups were known as "nazi-hunters", because they constantly pursued the nazis in the French streets and gave them a good beating. Moreover, as self-defense groups, they played a very big role in assemblies, trade unions, squatts and manifestations, maintaining the security against fascist actions.

In 1986, the French media discovered the existence of the redskins in Paris. They faced the police in student manifestations and appeared in the TV in violent actions against the fascists. This reportage of French origin discusses the violent conflicts between the redskins and the nazi-skins (known as "boneheads").

It is necessary to remind that the band that inspired the Red Warriors and the several groups of redskins was, obviously, the trotskyist power-soul band from England, "The Redskins" — the music of the reportage in the part that appears Julien and your comrades belongs to them, and calls herself "The Power is Yours", recorded in 1986 by Decca. The band was formed by Chris Dean (vocal and guitar), Martin Hewes (bass) and Paul Hookham (drums). Militants of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), they supported the miners' strike (the largest strike of the British history), dedicating songs, disks and making campaigns to raise funds for the workers' families. Certainly, they were the precursors of an entire generation of communist skinheads that had beginning in England and spread for other several countries. The French redskin movement was a reflex of this movement created in London, which took gigantic proportions.

At the end of the eighties, the boneheads didn't dare to walk on the streets of Paris, fearing to suffer the "nazi-bashing". Besides, your principal nationalist squatts had been all closed. In Simon's own words, member of the Red Warriors:"The advantage of the Red Warriors was that never stopped in the same place. We were less numerous than the nazis, for this our actions should be totally organized to avoid any surprise. We studied the terrain to avoid unforeseen of last hour. The meetings that happened before the actions were fast and discreet, and generally took place at our houses or in squatts. In the direct actions, we were capable to agglutinate approximately 60 people. All of us practiced some combat sport (Full-Contact, Thaï Boxing, Kung-Fu), but we also used weapons as baseball sticks. There were only four occasions which we used firearms. Politically, inside of our group each one had yours own ideas (all were anti-fascists and nothing else), there was not militancy problem. There was simply a visceral hate against the extreme-right and the fascist bastards. We struggled against the Division St. Georges, Juvisy, Bunker 84 and JNR. We caught them unawares, what demonstrated that the boneheads was not supermen. The intention was that the nazis were afraid of walking in the streets with all your paraphernalia (flags French, celtic, swastikas, etc.). Little by little other groups which also practiced the nazi hunt appeared. But your actions not always were intelligent... The fight anti-fascist is not a disorganized fight. In an of our actions, in Maraîchers, there was a squatt of nazis that wanted to impose your law on the okupas; we organized 50 people and we went to the place at the 7:00 of the morning. The result was 23 wounded nazis and the squatt was closed for the police for two days. These actions were frequent up to 1992'