{"id":283,"date":"2005-09-13T13:57:00","date_gmt":"2005-09-13T13:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=283"},"modified":"2021-02-12T21:51:37","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T21:51:37","slug":"fight-the-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2005\/09\/13\/fight-the-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight the Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
Alan Graham examines how politics and music link up<\/h2>\n
Looking back on the Make Poverty History march and the events surrounding it, it is hard to ignore the effect music had on the event. But how did it compare to other political\/music events, and how political was the music? I will look at various bands and collaborations and the variety of ways they tried to spread their political message.<\/p>\n
A small disclaimer: this is not a definitive list of bands or events. There are hundreds of artists, from a vast range of genres who could have been included here, but I will just touch on a few artists that I am most familiar with. Neither is it an endorsement of the politics of each of these artists. As there is a percentage of people in society who consider themselves socialists, so there are artists who consider themselves socialists. Some of these may not make politicised music. This article will merely look at the ways of using music to spread a political message, or as will hopefully become more clear, political messages.<\/p>\n
System of a Down<\/h3>\n
System of a Down are a band made up of the descendants of refugees who fled from the Turkish genocide in Armenia. They put a couple of songs with strong political messages on each album as well as peppering political messages in songs as one-liners. An example of a political song would be P.L.U.C.K.<\/acronym><\/cite> about the genocide in Armenia. Other notable songs include Prison Song focusing on exposing the prison industrial complex and the role of the CIA<\/acronym> in the Iran Contra affair.<\/p>\n
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Drug money is used to rig elections,<\/li>\n
And train brutal corporate sponsored,<\/li>\n
Dictators around the world<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The other stand out track is Boom!<\/cite>, the video of which was directed by Michael Moore which tied together globalisation and the 4000 children who die every day from poverty in comparison with the billions spent on bombs to kill people\u2026 Creating death showers<\/q>.<\/p>\n
Their latest album, which came out after the start of the war in Iraq, begins by criticising the system which sends economic conscripts to die in wars \u2026 Why don\u2019t presidents fight the war? Why do we always send the poor? They always send the poor<\/q>.<\/p>\n
Rage Against the Machine<\/h3>\n
One of the biggest and most widely recognised political bands of the 1990\u2019s was without doubt Rage Against the Machine. Unlike System of A Down who spoke of politics in some songs, Rage discussed politics in almost every song they released.<\/p>\n
As the various band-members described themselves as anarchists, communists or simply left wing, they provided not only criticisms of the existing capitalist system but also were deeply involved in campaigns to change the system – from Anti Nazi League benefit gigs in London, supporting sweatshop workers, campaign to free Mumia-Abu-Jamal and support for the Zapatistas.<\/p>\n
They have taken part in everything from tokenistic protest, such as hanging the US<\/acronym> flag upside down, to direct action, such as filming a video outside the New York Stock Exchange. This caused mayhem as fans turned up to an illegal public performance<\/q>, resulting in the Stock Exchange being closed down for the rest of the day and the band members and Michael Moore, who directed, being arrested. You can see the arrest as part of the video.<\/p>\n
Needless to say their outspoken left-wing views and ability and willingness to link up differing campaigns whilst pointing out the capitalist system as the problem led to defamation and attacks by the right wing media. For example, they were dubbed anti-Semites and terrorist supporters<\/q> for supporting the struggle of the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
Peace Not War<\/h3>\n
The two volumes of the Peace Not War<\/cite> compilations were organised by the Stop the War coalition around the Iraq war.<\/p>\n
The first compilation, produced in the build up to the war, comprised of artists from throughout the world opposed to it. The songs were not just narrowly about the war, but linked various issues to it: imperialism, nuclear weaponry, US<\/acronym> support for Bin Laden and the plight of asylum seekers in Britain are all featured.<\/p>\n
The second compilation has a more angry feel than the first, probably due to artists outraged that the war had actually happened, even though millions had mobilised against it. Most of the artists here are from UK<\/acronym>, USA<\/acronym> and Australia, whether this was deliberate or whether artists in the countries whose leaders were the most supportive of the war were most moved to write anti-war songs is unexplained, but unimportant.<\/p>\n
Like Compilation 1, this album also links campaigns and struggles throughout the world, as well as sampling speeches by Tariq Ali and Bill Hicks and using songs from demonstrations.<\/p>\n
Some noteworthy examples are:<\/p>\n
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Faithless\u2019 excellent Mass Destruction<\/cite>\u2026 Racism is a Weapon of Mass Destruction, Greed is a Weapon of Mass Destruction<\/q>.<\/li>\n
Son of a Nuns Fight Back<\/cite>: We\u2019re on a mission to widen the schisms of capitalism and replace it with a system that\u2019s for the people, by the people, of the people, not the evil<\/q>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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