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Photo by Daniel Hernandez
The Daily Swarm: Mexico’s Emo Witch Hunt: mob attacks in Mexico City and Guadalajara… Televisa VJ’s rants inspire violence… Emo kids fight back across the country…
Mexico has a fervent emo subculture:
“Emo” refers to a youth subculture which involves a punk-meets-geek approach to fashion, angst-driven “emotional” music, and a general depressive nature. It is often regarded as a watered down version of the punk movement, much to the emo kid’s dismay.
No Wrong Turns: Emos Attacked in Mexico and Chile by Kelsey Mulyk
Apparently emo kids are being targeted by other youth subculture groups like goths and punks. Negative sentiments and open hostility have given way to fighting, rioting and strategic targeting of emo groups (personally, I can’t even imagine real goths picking on anyone, nevermind attacking them). Daniel Hernandez is a reporter for the LA Weekly, living in Mexico City. He has a series on the attacks, his coverage is in depth and ongoing:
A bizarre wave of mob emo-bashings is sweeping across Mexico. The movement is being generated on message boards and social networking sites by non-emo youth who highly dislike like the emo look and attitude.
The spark came first in Queretaro on March 7. An estimated 800 young people poured into the city’s Centro Historico hunting for emos to beat the crap out of. They found some. The next weekend it spread to Mexico City, where emos faced off against punks and rockabillies at the Glorieta de Insurgents, the epicenter of emo social space in the capital. There’s also been reports of anti-emo violence in Durango, Colima, and elsewhere.
Hostility towards emos has been bubbling under the surface, but current attacks coincided with an expletive and vitriol-laced tirade on emos by on-air personality Kristoff, on a recent Televisa morning show. The video is shocking.
The nationwide assault campaign against emos in Mexico continues to surge forward, as word is spreading that emos will be hunted and beaten by anti-emo kids in Tijuana on Saturday. Word is emos will rumble with their adversaries at Plaza Rio, Tijuana’s central outdoor mall…
If you’re interested in this story you can follow Hernandez’s reporting and all-seeing YouTube has tons of clips on the riots and anti/pro-emo user videos.
