Sunday, March 20th 2011
News: Pearl Jam
A Protest Song In Unfortunate Tribute
This will arrive to many as inappropriately bloggy, particularly coming from someone so quick to break down the difference between music sites and blogs. But tonight is a special occasion, and I’m taking time away from Kanye blowing minds and a battle royal with cops at the Death From Above show at SXSW to share something dear to my heart.
In a time of extreme financial crisis at home, the United States has initiated military action against yet another country, this time in Libya. As Tomahawk cruise missiles kill civilians and those we deem evil in a new country, and the prospect of American kids dying for a new world police cause we can’t possibly afford is suddenly our living reality, I’m reminded of a song by legendary protest songwriter Bob Dylan that embodies a depth of dissent from the imperial war machine that few others do: Masters of War.
Perhaps the most poignantly powerful version of the track was performed by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready, with guitar legend G.E. Smith, for Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert in 1992. Watch below.
Please educate yourselves beyond your televisions and your newspapers. Dig deeper. Get involved.
Khadafi is a bastard slaughtering his own people. So what is it? Do we let them get slaughtered, and be inhumane, or do we go in and engage in an unwanted war. The United States is in a no win situation.
You’re right, he is slaughtering his own people. But it’s peanuts compared to the number of civilians the U.S. and its allies have slaughtered or chosen NOT to protect in the same time period in other regions of the world. The U.S. is very picky about who it decides is worth protecting, and that’s not good.
/agreed
I’d like to point out that both Russia Today and Al Jazeera have good English-language news sites. They tend to have a bit of anti-American bias, but they also offer up a lot of stories you’ll never get out of ABC/CBS/FOX/CNN/etc. The truth is probably somewhere in between.
If you have a Roku box, you can watch them using the MHZ Networks OnDemand channel, which is free.
Fact is, the U.S., U.K., and their close allies really are showing themselves to be hypocritical and excessively forceful in the eyes of the rest of the world, and the rest of the world is a very big place.
With this latest conflict, I tend to agree with the coalition. Canada is on board as well, though I don’t know if they have been involved in battle thus far.
I would hope that they are just going to take out the jets and tanks and then let the people figure it out on their own. But if past military ventures are any measuring sticks, then I’d say that isn’t very likely.
Also, the Western world didn’t just jump into this one overnight like in Iraq…it took weeks of violent one sided military conflict before the made the collective decision. The last thing any western Country needs right now is another conflict in an Arab nation. But the Arab league called for a no-fly zone.
Then again the whole thing could have been started by CIA contractors working in the interests of Halliburton and Lockheed Martin. We’re half a world away and even our best news sources are filtered. We can try to stay informed, but who really knows what’s going on?
I must say that it is funny that the 10 nations collectively decide to intervene in this conflict when so many other brutal genocides have occurred over the past decade. Must be due to it’s proximity to continental Europe I suppose. No intervention in Darfur, Somolia, Kenya, Liberia, Myanmar, Rawanda, Sudan, Tibet and many more. Likely no financial gain from intervention in those places.
Tomahawk missiles are one thing, sending in ground troops are another. And the latter won’t happen.
I admire you for posting this. One more reason to respect AQ.
The intervention in the arab region cannot be speculated upon without a minimal understanding of the past and the devastating impact western presence has had historically in the Middle East.
The lesson should have been learnt after the terrible mistake of invading Iraq and the disastrous aftermath. Of course I want to see the end of Gadhafi’s rule, but there has been enough unwanted intervention derived only from political interests in the resources of these countries. Enough.
hippie.
juuuuuust messing with you. might be appropriate to add wu-tang’s c.r.e.a.m. after the pj vid though.
PJ Harvey’s new vid for “This Glorious Land” would be fitting as well. Fucking love that record so much!
At least Obama waited to get a coalition together, instead of using the Bush line of, you’re either with us or against us, to alienating our allies.
You guys are giving me paranoia of Orwellian proportions