Laibach - What on Earth are they?

[Karabin]

I have read the threads on Laibach here on Revleft and on Stormfront to try and determine what their orientation is; whether they are on the left or on the right. So far I'm even more confused than when I started!

The content of their music is so strange, the imagery is definitely inspired by fascism but from what I gather they use this as a type of satire to demonstrate the similarities between fascism and socialist governments. Some of their lyrics are to me quite obviously White Power oriented (a translation of a line from the song Sympathy for the Devil is:decendents: stay true to each other so we didn't shed our blood in vain) while in other songs (Drzava) they have a quote from Josip Broz Tito about brotherhood and unity.

I am so confused :confused: Can somebody help me out?

[Sasha]

anti-authoriatrian artists, heavy influence from situationism, not fascist at all.

[Karabin]

So the way their videos are made and the content of their lyrics, its just a sort of satire/parody of totalitarian and authoritarian states, right?

Also, would it be appropriate to consider them as leftists?

[Ermo Kruus]

I don't think you should look to deeply into their political aesthetics. While their music is full of authoritarian and fascist imagery, I perceive their actual message as anti-authoritarian, whether it be authoritarianism on the left or the right. Using this approach in 1980s Yugoslavia was a genius move to gain attention and to show people the similarities between right-wing fascism and the kind of left-wing fascism Yugoslavs themselves were living in.

As one guy in the comment section of this video from an interview on Yugoslav state television said:

Its genius. While living in a totalitarian state+being interviewed by an arm of the state they trick the interviewer into promoting freedom and democracy while denouncing the system of which he is a part as "dangerous and worthy of destruction"xz_PhMpFR9U