What to put on punk patches when you have no ideas!
"1312"
"Dead men don't rape"
"Trans rights"
"Nazi punks fuck off"
"Someone on tumblr told me to write this"
okay now that i've got your attention listen to me, what you're gonna do is you take your little phone, camera or notebook and you go outside and you look at the graffiti in your city and you look at all the stickers that are on lamp posts, and you're gonna photograph or write down the ones that evoke the most emotions - both positive and negative. You will then go home and look at the photos and either copy the local slogans you agree with or come up with counters to the things that made you uncomfortable or mad. You don't need five vauge anti-police patches when you can have some specific to your area and community. If you live in Poland you don't nees an "ACAB" patch, what you're looking for is "HWDP". It is instantly apparent to scene regulars if someone is an internet punk or an irl scene member just based on what wording if the same sentiment they have on them.
Look at photos of people at protests you stand for (or if you can and there's one happening soon - attend it). What's written on their banners? What slogans are short yet succinct and to the point? What's catchy? Can you make it shorter? Can you add a pictogram to visualise it? What's the sentiment? How would you carry the same meaning in your style of speaking?
Open spotify and set your location as the nearest decently sized city (or google, but google doesn't have your taste profile in mind when showing you results). See what alternative bands play there soon. Give them a listen, if you enjoy their music and can afford to, go to the concerts. While at the venue try to look for other event posters - it could just be a music spot that holds all kinds of events but it could be an actual alternative venue. Is it a bar? Maybe you can frequent it and make friends with other local scene members. Maybe you can learn what your local community issues are from them. If you can't afford to go or are underage, listen to the songs while following the lyrics. Is there a line that hits hard? A title that's a banger? An album that's super cool and just so happens to have a simple cover? Here are your next patch ideas.
If you would like to break out of the bubble of online punkism into the actual scene you gotta log off and go into the real world. Punk is about breaking from the heard and non-conformism, and by copying every cool patch you see on pinterest or tumblr you are accidentally outing yourself as someone who doesn't have their own voice. Try to find it, I bet it has some unique things to say and I wanna hear what! It should be at conversation with things happening in your immidiate community. If you live in Bosnia you won't do much to defund the LLPD, but you can make change in the enviroment you actually live in.
Punks not about repeating the same sentiments like a broken record, it's about embodying them. And I mean actually embodying not just in fantasies of heroically beating down rapists. It's calling out weird behaviour of your friend's partner or helping a survivour of abuse get safe shelter so she can report her brutal husband without fear. It's donating that 2.5,- that you saved buying soda on sale to a local lifeline. It's making life safer and better for the people in your community before you focus on oversees problems.
