ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the function of dissent in the Sixties is illustrated through the underground press’ critique of the dominant political discourse. To resist racism, the rise of Cold War logic, and social injustice, the underground press not only critiqued the discourse of political institutions but endeavored to rupture that dominant discourse, revealing its fundamental irrationality. These papers did this by changing the language, calling police “pigs” and referring to the “culture of death” that informed the emergence of the “wargasm.” The underground press also resisted the political ideology or hegemony through the appropriation of space, using “sit-ins,” street protests, and graffiti to change how lived space was coded. This effort to reform political institutions was not always successful, but even in moments of rage or idiocy, the function of dissent as a means of engaging in change was illustrated.
