Tuesday, February 22nd 2011
News: Rock For Your Rights
Tom Morello, Rise Against Singer Lead ‘Rock For Your Rights’ In Wisconsin
After nearly a week of peaceful protest by what’s climbed to nearly a hundred thousand strong in defiance of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s attempts to strip workers’ unions of their collective bargaining rights, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello (aka The Nightwatchman) arrived with a few friends in tow to provide some valuable musical solidarity.
After speaking to the masses on the steps of the Capitol, Morello led five thousand people into the Monona Terrace exhibition hall nearby for a performance that included Wayne Kramer of MC5, Mike McColgan of Dropkick Murphys, Tim McIlrath of Rise Against and Ike Reilly. Tommy Gabel of Against Me! had reportedly agreed to show (and RT’d our own Twitter announcement), but didn’t make it to the event.
The acoustic show was overwhelmingly peaceful and upbeat, with Morello and friends focusing on encouraging continued resistance to the budget bill that would effectively gut unions’ core strengths. Union representatives began the event by speaking about the cause, setting the stage for a fired-up Morello to bring the passion home.
“This has been the most inspiring 24 hours of my life!” the RATM guitarist said, to deafening cheers. “You have your hand on the wheel of history! When I was at the airport someone asked me, ‘Why are you going to Madison?’” Morello reiterated. “I said, ‘Because they’re making history in Madison, that’s why I’m going there!’”
After a set from Reilly (who’d given Morello a ride to the airport), Boston’s Street Dogs (featuring Mike McColgan of Dropkick Murphys) arrived to lead the crowd in rousing political sing-alongs like Up the Union and Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath played just outside the Capitol, offering an impassioned performance of Neil Young’s Ohio, as well as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Who Will Stop The Rain? Watch below:
MC5′s Kramer, with the words “Stay Free” painted on his guitar, drove defiant literalism into his song, leaving no room for misinterpretation: “I’m sick and tired of payin’ these dues,” he sang. “Finally getting’ hip to these Republican blues!”
Finally, Morello took to the stage with his own brand of musical vigilantism, delivering electrifying labor songs and showcasing a sophisticated grasp of the issues with inspiring words of revolution based on economic justice. The Rage rocker brought the audience onstage for his closer, the new track Worldwide Rebel Song. The song isn’t going to knock Masters of War out off its perch as the most incredible protest song ever written, but the heart behind the track resonated clearly among Wisconsinites, who needed little help in carrying the refrain (thanks to RockoftheArts for the vid):
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Morello said previously, “I really think that the future of the rights of working people in this country is not going to be decided in the courts. It’s not going to be decided in Congress or radio talk shows. The future of rights of working people in this country will be the fight on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin.”
Morello belongs to the Professional Musicians Local 47 in Los Angeles and grew up in Illinois with a mother who worked for 30 years in the public schools. He joins the MC5’s Wayne Kramer who is no stranger to standing up for what you believe in. The Detroit rocker survived the infamous riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Monday was an important day for protest music, though you’d hardly know it by the artist turnout. The showing was nothing to scoff at, but the scarcity of high-profile names lending their physical support to the cause is disheartening. Why are these handful of musicians the only visible presence from the music industry? Where’s Jello Biafra when you need him? How many times have we heard Eddie Vedder singing People Have The Power? A little showing of Cheesehead support would go a long way towards proving the theme of that tune.
It would seem that meaningful protest has been dulled and disconnected in our generation’s absence of counterculture icons. Punk is far more a fashion trend than a political movement, and has been for roughly three decades. Morello’s strength of conviction is oddly singular in this instance, with clicktivism taking place of physical presence in today’s social media overload (as we saw with last Summer’s musical boycotts of Arizona over their proposed immigration laws).
Morello is right in saying that the future of worker’s rights is being fought in Madison, Wisconsin. What happens there will reverberate throughout the nation’s political and socioeconomic channels. Tom didn’t wait for Zack De La Rocha to write another Rage song about the situation, he showed up and rocked his heart out alongside the people who are making their voices heard in the most peaceful, fundamentally effective way possible.
A little solidarity from our heroes would go a long way right about now.
Any thoughts, Jack?
Photo: Eric Seals
Did you not get the memo? Now that we have protests in Libya, a huge quake in New Zealand and four dead Christians at the hands of Pirates…well this is yesterday’s news. Let’s pretend this is not happening. Forget about it. Here is a commerical for that website that claims Ashley Madison is bad.
Please place your head back in the sand now :)
fuck unions, but music is cool.
Spoken like a true Republican. Unions are responsible for minimum wage, child labor laws, overtime pay, the 40 hour work week, maternity leave, fair pay, sick leave, school class size limitations and more. Granted, there’s a great deal of disputable power among the union leaders, and a lot of work needs to be done to weed out the corruption therein, but at their core they serve a fundamentally important purpose, especially as we see more and more power granted to corporate forces as the right continues to promote big business over the staggering number of unemployed Americans.
spoken like a true liberal. unions don’t work in the best interests of the people anymore. in many cases, getting rid of them would actually increase wages and wage fairness. and you don’t need unions to have child labor laws. and don’t go into school faculty unions, who push for raises for teachers every year with the threat of strike, even when it means cutting classes for students, under a majority of elected officials put into office with union money. they’re not necessary anymore, and corruption and abuses of power have become the exception rather than the norm. flame on. haha.
Spoken like a true… whatever the fuck you are. Where’s the evidence that getting rid of unions will raise wages and fairness, with corporate efficiency maximization at the ultimate forefront of business priority? I despise that we’re the only people taking part in this discussion. Hate to say it, but Justin’s right. There’s just no attention retention for any of this these days. Blah blah Egypt blah Ground Zero Mosque blah Support our blah Fight The blah.
i don’t fit into any of the generally recognized categories anymore. socially i’m liberal. let the gays fuck in the street. fiscally, i’m conservative, generally, though i don’t trust corporations to self-regulate to say the absolute least. but on the other hand, i don’t think our government can afford to step in where they otherwise should in its current state. we’re cutting everything but war spending, which frustrates me. we spent all our money on bullets and bombs to kill a bunch of people just for the sake of keeping our bullets and bombs industries alive… i voted for mccain because i didn’t think obama could ever deliver any of what he was promising, and i feel like i’m proven right more days than wrong. now challenging the unions, that’s finally something that actually feels like a change. to address stu’s comment below, yeah, fixing it would be great… but i have a feeling that what’s going down in wisconsin represents a last resort by people who have been struggling to do what is far easier to say. it’s also probably a fake revolution funded by the koch brothers or some shit. so hey, those libyans are really something huh.
Far too often unions work for their own benefit rather than the benefit of the people the supposedly represent. Is there one social benefit shows that Tom Morello will not play already? I wish he’d stick with one or even two issues and go hard at them continuously instead of brining a guitar to every rabble rousing event in the Country…but good on him for standing up for what he cares about anyways.
Johnny as David Cassidy would say..”I think I love you”
It’s very likely you don’t need unions for those laws, but the point is that without them the impetus to put those into effect never would have been there. Even if eliminating unions did result in a wage increase in the short term, without any force to stand behind teachers, etc. there’s nothing stopping the wages being cut in half 10 years down the line when the govt decides it’s cash-strapped again. If the body that’s supposed to be representing you is corrupt and inefficient you dont throw yourself down to the mercy of corporate and governmental power, you fucking fix it, and if the protesters do win this fight the big question will be if they bother to change anything.
I think Tom Morello rocks for taking this stand. This is a great story. Im very grateful for being in my Union. Its a shame that more people dont appreciate what we as union workers have fought for our whole lives, a better life. We are what built America. If you had a union job you would thank your lucky stars…I know I do. Those who degrade unions have no idea what they are missing. its just straight out ignorance.So Ill keep fighting for workers rights even tho assholes like some of the previous posters also get to reap the rewards..
i think it’s a little ignorant to peg anyone that criticizes unions as ignorant, no? there’s a lot more to unions than what they do for the people in them. union corruption has affected a great number of people outside of your cafeteria. to go back to the example i brought up earlier, a teacher in a faculty union is going to be thrilled to be in a union when he or she gets that raise despite a much smaller school budget in a down economy. but what about the students who had 300 classes cut to pay for it, held ransom by a treasury board elected with union money, and the threat of a strike? that’s just one example i’ve seen personally in my own backyard, one of many in which the local unions selfishly screwed its community’s people. as usual, there are plenty of perspectives, most of them perfectly valid. unions have done a lot of good. but they also abuse a great deal of power. and i don’t know about wisconsin, but i know we’d all be better off without them in my town.
You are right to say that some unions have corrupt practices and will exploit boards and committees backed by union money while the community around them suffers. But the majority of unions that exist are absolutely necessary to protect workers whose wages would undoubtedly be cut by their employer. Think about some of the major industries protected by unions, such as manufacturing, construction, the service industry (namely restaurant employees), etc. There are tons of lawsuits every year involving restaurants exploiting their employees with improper wages and overtime pay. Construction workers are constantly having to take pay cuts due to a contractor’s ability to hire illegal immigrants who are willing to work for next to nothing (not to mention the fact that many times the immigrant workers won’t even be paid for their work and will be threatened with calls to INS if they question their employer). Many times, these unions are the only safeguards in place protecting small communities from absolute failure due to poverty of its members. Like you said, there are plenty of valid perspectives, but I can’t agree with your comment that unions don’t work in the best interests of the people. Don’t forget that the workers are the people as well. I do believe that the example you gave in regards to your community is inexcusable, and that union heads should back down if their demands will affect the community and its children negatively, but don’t let that bias your opinion on all unions.
I stand with Morello and the workers of America.
Obviously, it’s hard to get any organization together that isn’t gonna have its fair share of problems. The thing to do is to try to fix those problems rather than get rid of it entirely.
Shut up commies!
We, proud conservatives won’t give up the good fight!
Wisconsin is ours!
Really? I’m tired of this politik. Unions are about workers rights? Please, there hasn’t been an honest workers union since their inception. They’ve been a breeding ground for socialists (which is softcore porn for communists) and a source for rackets to be run for ever.
Forget politics and play me some music, guy.