Hardline (subculture)

Hardline is a subculture that has its roots in the vegan straight edge hardcore punk scene. It is commonly seen as a more extreme version of straight edge, with influences from deep ecology philosophy. From its outset, hardline adherents put out statements and literature pushing a biocentric view of the world, which advocated for veganism, animal rights, pro-life, anti-homosexuality, and a much more militant version of the straight edge philosophy, which advocates for a no alcohol, no drugs, no tobacco lifestyle. The hardline worldview has been accused by critics as ecoauthoritarian. Hardline co-founder Sean Muttaqi adamantly rejected racism and fascism.

A handful of hardline bands existed, the most well known of which were Vegan Reich and Raid. Earth Crisis was loosely aligned with the subculture, but were not necessarily classified as a hardline band.

The heyday of hardline was in the early to mid-1990s when hardline chapters existed in a number of cities across the United States as well in the United Kingdom and Germany. However, by end of the 1990s, the subculture had mostly faded out of existence.