PUNK & PROTEST
Music and action
Sam Smith
DURING THE DEMONSTRATIONS
IN WASHINGTON IN APRIL 2002, SAM SMITH SPOKE AT A PUNK ROCK PERFORMANCE
AT THE KAFFA HOUSE ON U STREET IN DC. THESE ARE HIS REMARKS
ONE OF THE BANDS THAT
PLAYED AT KAFFA HOUSE DURING THE DEMONSTRATIONS - BLOWBACK
- ALSO SHOWED UP THE NEXT DAY ON THE STREETS OF DOWNTOWN
WASHINGTON [DC INDYMEDIA PHOTO]
What does punk have to do with this
weekend's protests? Among other things, this weekend's protests
- like those in Seattle and the ones that followed - began in
part in the garages and basements of America.
Once again music ran ahead of politics
- just as it did when Billie Holiday sang 'Strange Fruit' a decade
before the civil rights movement. Just as it did when we gathered
at the Mount Auburn 47 Club to hear a young singer named Joan
Baez well before something called the Sixties. Just as we listened
to Thelonius and Miles when there were hardly any verbal protests
at all.
In 1993, in a protest against censorship.
Rage Against the Machine stood naked on stage for 15 minutes
without singing or playing a note. In 1997, well before most
college students were paying any attention to the issue, Tom
Morello was arrested during a protest against sweatshop labor.
Rage Against the Machine sold more
than seven million records before much of the rest of the country
even got around to one little protest against the machine.
As a musician with more than 40
years of gigs behind me I know that among the many services of
music is to say things we can't find the words for - perhaps
not yet or perhaps ever. As a writer with over 40 years of gigs
behind me I am still often humbled by what a better job music
sometimes does of it.
I was a part of something they called
the beat generation. Many of you are part of a beat, busted,
bullied, and bamboozled generation.
With the sole important exception
of black Americans in the post-reconstruction era, no other generation
has been so deprived of its constitutional rights and civil liberties.
No other generation of young males has been sent to prison in
such numbers for such minor offenses. And few generations of
the young have been so consistently treated as a social problem
rather than as a cause of joy and hope. And again - except for
blacks in the post-reconstruction era - no other generation has
been so deliberately cheated of so much.
If you think I exaggerate, consider
these figures from the Department of Labor, figures you won't
see on the evening news, or read in the Washington Post. The
earnings of everyone under 25 - black, white, latino, male and
female - have actually declined over the past twenty years, about
5% for the most part. But get this: the earnings of black and
white males under 25 are down 17 to 21%. A typical white male
is earning $97 less a week in real dollars than 20 years ago.
And if you think I exaggerate consider
some of the losses of freedom that have occurred since many of
you were born and well before September 11:
Roadblocks as part of random searches
for drivers who have been drinking or using drugs.
The extensive use of the military
in civilian law enforcement, particularly in the war on drugs.
The use of handcuffs on persons
accused of minor offenses and moving violations.
Jump-out squads that leap from police
vehicles and search nearby citizens.
Much greater use of wiretaps and
other forms of electronic surveillance.
Punishment before trial such as
pre-trial detention and civil forfeiture of property.
Punishment of those not directly
involved in offenses, such as parents being held responsible
for the actions of their children and bartenders being made to
enforce drinking laws.
Warrantless searches of persons
and property before entering buildings, boarding planes, or using
various public facilities.
Closing of public buildings or parts
of buildings to the public on security grounds.
Increased restrictions on student
speech, behavior, and clothing.
Increased mandatory use of IDs
Increasing restrictions on attorney-client
privacy
Greatly increased government access
to personal financial records
Loss of a once widely presumed guarantee
of confidentiality in dealings with businesses, doctors, accountants,
and banks
The greatest incarceration rate
of any industrialized country in the world
Mandatory sentencing for minor offenses,
particularly marijuana possession
Increased surveillance of employees
in the workplace
Increased use of charges involving
offenses allegedly committed after a person has been halted by
a police officer, such as failure to obey a lawful order.
Widespread youth curfews.
Loss of control over how personal
information is used by business companies.
Use of stereotypical profiles (including
racial characteristics)
to justify police searches
Warrantless searches and questioning
of bus, train, and airline passengers.
Random searches of school lockers.
Random searches of cars in school
parking lots.
Lack of privacy in transactions
such as video rental or computer use
Video surveillance of sidewalks,
parks and other public spaces.
Involuntary drug testing increasingly
used as a prerequisite for routine activities such as earning
a livelihood or playing on a sports team.
Steady erosion by the courts of
protection against search and seizure.
And, finally, persons 18 to 21 are
routinely denied their constitutional rights by being banned
from buying alcohol. As late as 1975, virtually every state had
a drinking age of 18; now none does.
But then we all have moved in many
ways into a post-constitutional era. We all live in a culture
that offers us not liberty but demands subservience, that does
not foster the pursuit of happiness but rather relentlessly pursues
citizens seeking only a decent job and a little happiness.
Remember this weekend the words
of another musician - Woody Guthrie - who sang that this land
is your land and this land is my land. Don't let a bunch of cynical,
corrupt and cruel bullies do any more damage to it than they
already have. |