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Outlaw Bikers Between Identity Politics and Civil Rights

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Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and Street Gangs

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society ((PSRCS))

Abstract

Today, club logos and important insignia of international outlaw motorcycle clubs are trademarked, following the early example of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club that first patented their ‘death head’ logo in 1972. Club logos, worn exclusively by full-patched members, are considered sacred and protected as such, both legally and extra-legally. The symbolically central, albeit economically marginal, legal actions against infringers point us toward the uncanny overlaps between a ‘counterculture’ and a ‘brand,’ a phenomenon common in Western culture at large. Departing from this overlap between the ‘sacred culture’ and the ‘brand’ and moving toward the outlaw bikers’ fight for civil rights, the chapter analyzes these attempts at scheming legality and resisting criminalization, reading them through the lens of the tension between identity politics and politics of universalism, showing that even the outlaw bikers shoot themselves in the foot if they try to capitalize on the currently popular rhetoric of identity and recognition.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This chapter is grounded equally in ethnography among outlaw motorcycle clubs, support clubs, and regular bikers mingling with the outlaws, in central Europe (Austria, Czech Republic , Germany ), between 2015 and 2017, and netnography. In order to protect the identity of the informants, all quotes are anonymized.

  2. 2.

    https://dejure.org/gesetze/VereinsG/9.html (accessed October 10, 2017).

  3. 3.

    For the whole debate in German, see https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2017/kw03-de-vereinsgesetz/487070 (accessed November 10, 2017).

  4. 4.

    https://www.facebook.com/RegierungGegenRockerNichtMitUns/photos/a.528734607163647.1073741826.528730670497374/1463787140325051/?type=3&theater (accessed November 10, 2017).

  5. 5.

    https://www.facebook.com/RegierungGegenRockerNichtMitUns/photos/a.528734607163647.1073741826.528730670497374/1443959112307854/?type=3&theater (accessed November 10, 2017).

  6. 6.

    See, for instance, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOpXBbidjJI (accessed November 10, 2017).

  7. 7.

    Transcript, translated From German by author, excerpt from video recording of the event: https://www.hellsangelsmedia.com/videoclips/HTML5/NR72-Demo_09092017-1_x264.mp4 (accessed November 10, 2017).

  8. 8.

    http://www.bikersnews.de/blog/hells+angels+mc+pressemitteilung+zur+demo+in+berlin_17920.html (accessed November 10, 2017, translated by the author).

  9. 9.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zZuVXFwppI (accessed November 10, 2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway

    Tereza Kuldova

  2. University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Tereza Kuldova

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  1. University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway

    Tereza Kuldova

  2. University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Martín Sánchez-Jankowski

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Kuldova, T. (2018). Outlaw Bikers Between Identity Politics and Civil Rights. In: Kuldova, T., Sánchez-Jankowski, M. (eds) Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and Street Gangs. Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76120-6_8

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