Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who
emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last
seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the following quotation:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
The following is it updated by food writer Jack Monroe. I thought it deserved a wide audience.
Niemoller Updated - Jack Monroe
First they came for the socialists
But you did not speak out
Because you were definitely not a socialist
Those mad bastards campaigning for decent wages
and universal healthcare
Waving their hand painted placards through
Westminster
You were definitely not a socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists
And you did not speak out
Because Unions are awful
The Daily Mail said so
Those people representing ordinary workers
And fighting for decent pay
And human working conditions
And maternity and paternity leave
And adequate rest between shifts
And making sure people have a voice
They’re definitely terrible self-aggrandising egotists
And they get paid to represent people
And you had to get a bus to work once because of a
strike you didn’t bother to research beyond a
screaming scheming headline
So you are not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Muslims
and the refugees
And you did not speak out
Because they are not your people
Coming over here
Why can’t they integrate?
Religion causes all the problems, right?
All the wars
Leave them to it
Close the borders
We’re full up
Can’t take any more
Of this PC multicultural bullshit
Who do they think they are?
You spoke over
And you spat and you raged
in hatred and fear
But you did not speak out
Because you were not a Muslim
nor a refugee.
And then they came for the poor
and the unemployed
the single parents on benefits
the workless
And you did not speak out
Because you thought they were lazy
Loads of jobs out there innit?
Easy to eat cheaply on the dole, you claim
Having never had to make £71 last a week
with a broken refrigerator
or holes in the bottom of a pair of school shoes
Bet they’ve all got Sky TV and iPhones
and how did she pay for her tattoos?
And you saw someone smoking outside a food bank once
So you did not speak out.
Then they came for the disabled
Shame, you thought, but you did not speak out
Most of them could probably work, you thought
You saw that chronically depressed woman smiIe once
And the guy in the disabled parking space
looks young and healthy to you
We all get down sometimes, you shout
What’s wrong with you anyway?
Bunch of fucking scroungers, you thought
So you did not speak out.
Then they came for the teachers
And the doctors
And the nurses
And the fire-fighters
And the domestic abuse workers
And the rubbish collections
And the rape crisis centres
And the social workers
And the children’s centres
And the education funding
And by the time they come for you
By the time they fucking come for you
There will be nobody left to speak out for you
Nobody left at all.
-Jack Monroe
So please remember to defend and speak out with all your might.
Roger Waters, bassist and vocalist for
Pink Floyd, will reportedly perform his iconic song Wish You Were Here
in front of the British Home Office, in solidarity with Julian Assange. Award- winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger who is a
guiding light in the struggle for Human Rights Press Freedom and a
personal friend of Julian Assange. will also speak ' on solidarity with Britains political prisoner.'
Waters is a vocal supporter of Assange, and said he was “ashamed to be an Englishman”
after the UK arrested the whistleblower in April. He has used his
concerts to draw attention to Assange’s case, and recently took aim at
Twitter, calling it “Big Brother” after it suspended a prominent account supporting the WikiLeaks founder.
According to WikiLeaks on Twitter, the performance by
the famous musician, also known for his political activism, will be on
Monday at 18:00 local time, as part of a campaign for freedom of
expression, and against the eventual extradition of the founder of
Wikileaks to the United States.
Assange was arrested last April
11 at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, after the government of that
country withdrew the political asylum he was granted seven years ago.
Expeditiously tried by a British court, the Australian cyberactivist is
now serving a 50-week prison sentence in Belmarsh Maximum Security
Prison for violating bail granted in 2012 in connection with alleged
sexual offences committed in Sweden.
In addition to being
requested by the Swedish justice system, Assange is facing an
extradition order issued by the United States government, which seeks to
hold him accountable for the disclosure on Wikileaks of hundreds of
thousands of documents and secret files of US diplomacy and the US Army.
The 17 charges filed by the US Attorney's Office, including conspiracy
to commit espionage, carry a total sentence of 175 years in prison.
Last February, when Assange was still in the Ecuadorian diplomatic
mission, Waters was among those who urged the Australian government to
take action on the case.
Free Julian Assange, before it's too late. Sign to stop the USA Extradition http://chng.it/VTZJ7ZXmnS
(Post script 3/09/19 Roger Waters Sings Wish You Were Here In Support of Julian Assange )
Alistair Hulet was an acclaimed Scottish acoustic folk singer,
revolutionary socialist and committed political activist, who was committed to fighting for a better world, a world based on the
principles of justice, equality, love and respect for all of humanity. Born in Glasgow, in 1968 he and his family moved to New Zealand, where he
established a reputation on the folk circuit, with a large repertoire
of ballads and other songs. In 1971 he moved to Australia, and sang
in many festivals and folk clubs. In the early 1980s he founded the
folk punk group, Roaring Jack, which combined Celtic reels with radical and revolutionary lyrics, they opened for international acts
such as Billy Bragg and The Pogues and The Men They Couldn't Hang. In 1991, the Gulf War led
Hulett to join the International Socialist Organisation, and, in
1995, he co-founded the Australian Trotskyist organisation, Socialist
Alternative, often playing political benefits and rallies with
Roaring Jack. Hulett wrote songs in support of Indigenous
Australians, theBLF (Builders Labourers Federation), the Maritime
Union of Australia and former Labor Prime Minister, Bob Hawke. Hulett's first solo CD, Dance of the Underclass (1991), was completely
acoustic, with contributions from other members of Roaring
Jack, the album was instantly hailed as a folk classic and proved to be the
turning point in Alistair's return to the folk fold, establishing Hulett as a key contemporary songwriter and underlined his significance as a documenter of social issues. His position as one of the
most influential musicians on the Australian scene was now beyond dispute. In
the UK his song, "He
Fades Away", was picked up by Roy Bailey and by June Tabor and later by
Andy Irvine.
All three performers recorded uniquely different but thoroughly compelling interpretations
of the song. established Hulett as a key contemporary songwriter and underlined his significance as a documenter of social issues.
In 1995 he met the late great fiddle player Dave Swarbrick, who was living in Australia, and they
became a duo. Hulett and Swarbrick made two fine albums together,
Saturday Johnny and Jimmy the Rat (1996) and The Cold Grey Light of Dawn
(1998) after making another fine solo
album, In Sleepy Scotland, he worked with Swarbrick on perhaps his
crowning achievement, Red Clydeside. Hulett's song suite told the story
of the Glasgow workers' revolt and their attempts to form a republic in
response to conscription in 1914.
After returning to his native Glasgow in the late 1990s, Alistair
was an active member of the Socialist Workers
Party. Hulett became acutely ill on New Year’s Day 2010 and was hospitalised on 5 January with suspected food poisoning.Liver failure was later diagnosed and it was hoped that he could
receive a liver transplant, but further investigation revealed a very
aggressive metastatic cancer which had already spread to his lungs and
stomach. Hulett died on 28 January 2010 at the Southern General Hospital
in Glasgow.
Following his untimely death, two
memorial funds were established in his name; one in the UK and one in
Australia. Both funds were established with the aim of honouring and
upholding Alistair’s legacy of actively campaigning through his music
and his songwriting on behalf of the poor, the oppressed and the
disadvantaged.
The following song of his from Dance of the Underclass still holds much resonance today. as out of control dark forces undermine us with their'smash and grabs for power, it reminds us that for a long time now we been under the dictatorship of capital
Alistair Hulet - Dictatorship of Capital
You're trying to tell me capital has won at last
And anyone who's not convinced is just being shown the door
You're trying to tell me competition turns the wheels
Smart money never deals in welfare any more
Survival of the fittest keeps the species strong
Change is always painful but it doesn't last too long
Excuse me friend,
I think you could be wrong.
When some of us are free to rise and some are free to fall,
All of us are under the dictatorship of capital.
You're trying to tell me profit is the bottom line
Cancer is sometimes benign, it eats the cells that leave themselves defenceless
You're trying to tell me market forces must prevail
Some succeed while others fail
Failure has to face the consequences
Weeding out the weak is mother nature's song
Existence is a game like chess, Monopoly or Mahjong.
Excuse me friend,
I think you could be wrong.
And it did not take me by surprise when the revolution from above began to cave in.
Like a New Town built by an architect, a concrete wasteland no-one wants to live in.
When some of us are free to rise and some are free to fall,
All of us are under the dictatorship of capital.
You're trying to tell me I'm living in democracy, everyone is always free
To either live with ugliness or beauty
You're trying to tell me that undermining revolutions
When they threaten institutions is a major power's democratic duty
With Batista, Marcos, Pinochet you got along
But not with the Sandinistas and not with the Viet Kong
Excuse me friend,
I think you've got it wrong.
Because when some of us are free to rise and some are free to fall,
All of us are under the dictatorship of capital.
All of us are under the dictatorship of capital.
All of us are under the dictatorship of capital.
Like many I am currently completely dismayed by oafish Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue Parliament. The Queen having approved his request at such a critical time for the UK. has sparked outrage across Britain. It's really so hard to believe that the Government could even contemplate closing the door of Parliamentary democracy (which has for a long time not exactly been a shining example,and in serious need of reform, but that's another story) for a period of 5 weeks, in order to guarantee a No-Deal Brexit, with no time for alternative plans, debate or opposition, in what is just another example of their utter contempt for the people. We should not be held to ransom by Johnson with his attempt at a coup, that will only end with the continuing right wing onslaught on our lives, with the result that many are left in misery.
At end of the day Johnson and the Torys do not represent us, but just carry on with their own vested interests,to big business, and the capitalist elite, at a time that millions of people are being driven into poverty. Trump wannabe Johnson is now acting in such a brazen tyrannical manner, even though he does not even have a parliamentary majority. In fact he barely has a parliamentary mandate at all. He does not have a popular mandate either, and was not chosen in a general election, but was nominated, instead, by a mere 93,000 members of the Conservative Party. Without Parliament, without the public, without any real legitimacy, he nevertheless believes he has to make Brexit happen by the deadline, Oct 31, because that is what he promised during his leadership campaign , because otherwise his party might not survive to the end of this decade. To be frank he's playing a dangerous game and is simply taking the piss out of us all.
As a friend has made clear ' his decision will ensure millions are pushed further into poverty, leading to the loss of our NHS, social services and our human rights will be cut to shreds. As always, the most vulnerable within our society will suffer the most.' Johnson wants to distract us from other news, the growth of foodbanks, rising homelessness, the destruction of the NHS and the figures that emerged earlier this year from the Department of Work and Pensions, that showed more than 17,000 people had died waiting for Personal independence Payments after registering between 2013 and 2018.
And in May, the UN's rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights concluded a series of reports on the UK by repeating that the country is "failing to uphold human rights". It confirmed that disabled people had been hardest hit by austerity. These policies it concluded, "continue largely unabated, despite the tragic social consequences. At the time, the DWP denied the UN's findings, describing it report as a "barely recognisable" picture of the UK".but the evidence and the personal testimony have kept on mounting up. The reports findings are now irrefutable.
Brexit was meant to return 'sovereignty ' to the Brtish Parliament, instead it has made us a laughing stock all over the world. For those that can't remember the last time their was a constitutional crisis of this magnitude was in the 17th century when Britain had a bloody civil war. While they scheme and distract lets not forget their economic murder of the poor and vulnerable with their systematic conscious ideological cruelty in what amounts as a true testament to the last 10 years of this abhorrent government.
We should all be outraged and do everything that is possible to thwart the Tory's misrule,so that generations to come can be protected from their harm. Protests have been called across the country, in an effort to stop the Tories before they unleash any further damage, it is time to end the relentless suffering bought to millions by their vicious austerity driven policies, it is time for the government to fall. If Johnson really is so sure, that he is in line with the will of the people, there' is a very easy way for him to find out, and that is for him to call a general election, one that many commentators are saying he is not guaranteed to win, in the current unstable political climate that he has helped stir up.
Visionary, mystic , English socialist and radical philosopher poet and humanitarian, Edward
Carpenter was born on Sunday, 29th of August 1844 into a wealthy
household in Hove, Sussex, the son of a school governor who had made a
mint on the stock market. Educated at his father’s school, the
independent Brighton College.. Domestic pursuits included
learning the piano and taking long horse-rides out over the Downs. He went to university at Trinity College
Cambridge, where he realised both that he was gay and"felt a friendly attraction towards my own sex, and
this developed after the age of puberty into a passionate sense of
love". also realising that his family
wealth was built on the immiseration of working people. Initially he began a career with the
Church of England as a curate, before turning against it and instead
moving to first Leeds and later Sheffield to work as a lecturer. While
there he was heavily involved in pushing socialism forward in the city,
representing the Social Democratic Federation there in 1883 and later joining the Socialist League alongside William Morris https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/03/william-morris-2431854-3101896-no.html.Carpenter purchased a
property near Sheffield and began promoting a socialist lifestyle that
included market gardening. His political writings over
the years to come became the very basics of British Socialism. He supported trade unions and called for industries to be controlled by
workers. But he also argued that socialism must mean a total
transformation of society,,including changes to personal life and
relationships. An early champion of homosexuality, animal rights, ecology, women's suffrage, recycling, prison reform, and sexual freedom, opposing imperialism and war, striving for a simpler more sustainable way of living. A man so ahead of his time, who throughout his life campaigned and wrote on a whole range of issues, an early champion of homosexuality, animal rights, ecology,vegetarianism, womens'
suffrage, recycling, prison reform, naturism and sexual freedom, opposing
imperialism and war,while advocating for s simpler, more sustainable way of living. A man so
ahead of his time, who throughout his life campaigned and wrote on a
whole range of social concerns, he is a huge inspiration ( who
incidentally also happens to share a birthday with me). Influenced by the work of John Ruskin, Carpenter began to develop ideas
about a utopian future that took the form of a primitive communism, that
still resonates strongly today.He sought a personal liberation of
brotherhood and emancipation, a life of liberty and love,a world free of
class struggles,ways of life he embraced himself,ideals that we should
all be proud of. In Sheffield he found both
connections to working-class people and explored his sexuality through
encounters with “railway-men, porters, clerks, signalmen, ironworkers”.
Over time he patched together a political philosophy mixing spiritualism
and socialism in a Tolstoyan manner, which infuriated many especially
when he opened the doors of his co-operative farm Millthorpe to a
sexually liberated group of men. In the early 20th century, Carpenter was a celebrity. Hordes of men and
women – but mostly young men – had beaten a path to his rural retreat in
Millthorpe, near Sheffield, to sit at his vegetarian, be-sandalled
feet, or to take part in his morning sun-baths and sponge downs in his
back garden. .The spiritual side to his writing
were both influenced by Walt Whitman.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2017/05/happy-birthday-walt-whitman-legendary.html .Although Whitman was not a socialist, his writing had a profound effect on
Carpenter, who made the long trip to America primarily as a pilgrimage to
his literary and spiritual inspiration. He visited the poet for several
weeks in 1877 and again in 1884. In 1906 he published an account of his
visits to America, Days with Walt Whitman, writing a respectful, even
somewhat glorified, portrait of his ido . In his emulation of Whitman, Carpenter became one of the first of many
disciples, spreading Whitman's message into another country and another
century. Carpenter’s openness with his
homosexuality, spiritual inclinations, proto-beatnik lifestyle and
strident anti-imperialism led to repeated censure from elsewhere in the
movement, with George Orwell memorably excoriating him as “the sort of
eunuch type with a vegetarian smell, who go about spreading sweetness
and light.” His philosophical and political writings were nevertheless
among some of the most influential of his era, and Carpenter went on to
become one of the founding figures of the Independent Labour Party in
1893. In
1890
Carpenter met his long-term lover George Merrill, a young working
class man who surprised Carpenter's friends by his frankness about his
sexuality.They lived openly and remained partners for the rest of their lives, a remarkable achievement that defied Victorian sexual mores and the British class system at a time when hundreds of men were prosecuted for homosexuality.
Carpenter was pro-feminist and a close friend of the lesbian novelist
Edith Lees Ellis [wife of sexologist Havelock Ellis]. Carpenter and
his ideas became an inspiration to many. Artist CR Ashbee was
inspired to found the co-operative Guild of Handicrafts in London in
1888, and agreed with Carpenter on the glorious love of comrades.
Carpenter courageously published Homogenic Love (1895), Love’s Coming of Age (1896) at the time that Oscar Wilde's trial had recently scandalised the country, and wrote one of the early textbooks on homosexuality The
Intermediate Sex. It was published in 1908, and was so popular that it
went through 3 impressions in 4 years. By this point his writing was
positively celebrating the homosexual condition as "a forward force in
human evolution". Same-sex love was, according to Carpenter, ‘not only
natural, but needful and inevitable.’This book formed the basis with which people came to understand LGBTQ identity
over the next hundred years. He also called for a critique of the way
that gender roles oppressed women and wrote extensively on the harm of institutionalized marriage , an argument that persisted into the modern marriage equality movement, with many activists insisting that queer people can do better than just imitating heterosexual couples.
Edward Carpenter also engaged in spirited critiques of capitalist
exploitation of workers, calling for an end to social inequality, again
mirroring the modern-day observations that capitalism will always
victimize disadvantaged minorities.He was also a great ally to the
anarchists, and quite clear about his inclinations towards
anarchist-communism. He worked with Peter Kropotkin in his research
on small industry and defended anarchism in the courts.
The last years of Carpenter's life saw him admired throughout the left.
On his 80th birthday in 1924 he received greetings from the first Labour
Party cabinet, the TUC and dozens of other organisations.George Merrill and Edward Carpenter moved to Guildford after the First World War, and in 1928, after 30 years together, died within a year of each other. They are buried together at the Mont Cemetery in Guilford. .
Carpenter was a truly inspirational man, seriously
ahead of his time in terms of his ideas on nearly everything. A real pioneer who laid the groundwork for the freedoms and struggles we experience to this day.His eccentricities are easy to mock, but they are the least
important thing about him. Far more significant is his determination to
live according to his principles. One of my favourite books by him is called Towards Democracy which
has served me well over the years, acting as a kind of personal bible.
Nearly every word contained within its covers, glistens with beautiful
reasoning, a poetic and spiritual summons to human
improvement. I would urge anyone to seek out this vivid book, and carry on
hungrily building upon the seeds that are contained within. How come
though, we are still seeking?
Edward Carpenter - Love's Vision
At night in each other's arms, Content, overjoyed, resting deep deep down in the darkness, Lo! the heavens opened and He appeared- Whom no mortal eye may see, Whom no eye clouded with Care, Whom none who seeks after this or that, whom none who has not escaped from self.
There- in the region of Equality, in the world of Freedom no longer limited, Standing as a lofty peak in heaven above the clouds, From below hidden, yet to all who pass into that region most clearly visible- He the Eternal appeared.
Edward Carpenter - So Thin a Veil
So thin a veil divides Us from such joy, past words, Walking in daily life- the business of the hour, each detail seen to; Yet carried, rapt away, on what sweet floods of other Being: Swift streams of music flowing, light far back through all Creation shining, Loved faces looking- Ah! from the true, the mortal self So thin a veil divides!
Further Reading :
Edward Carpenter: A life of liberty and love, By Sheila Rowbotham (Verso)
As a music enthusiast, I'm always trying to find new music, and follow new bands, one such discovery recently is a Lebanese four piece indie band based in Beirut, by the name of Mashrou leila.Their songs provide an alternative soundtrack to the watered-down ‘habibi’ pop that
dominates the mainstream music industry in the Middle East and their
socially conscious lyrics have addressed the concerns of their
generation. They are, arguably,one of the most potent force in Arabic music today.
Described as ‘The voice of their generation’ and ‘The Arab world’s most influential independent band’ by CNN
and The Financial Times respectively, this year marks their 10th anniversary, and have recently released their fifth record ‘The Beirut School’- a compilation of their classic
tracks and new material.
The album brings together key songs from their first four albums,
and also features three new songs ‘Cavalry, which is about the cruelty and machismo of militarized oppression:,‘Salam’ and ‘Radio
Romance’ that were produced by Joe Goddard of Hot Chip from sessions in
the band’s studio in Beirut and at the legendary La Frette Studios in
Paris.
‘Salam’ features Roisin Murphy on vocals. The original version was
first released as part of ‘Block9’s Creative Retreat’, created at
Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel, Palestine.
Jessy Moussallem, the acclaimed Lebanese director, directed the video for lead single ‘Cavalry’. Her first collaboration with
Mashrou’ Leila since the video ‘Roman’ (2017) which won numerous awards
and international attention, including a Gold Award at the Cannes Lions.
Mashrou leila - Cavalry
“Best stop brandishing that sword of yours
Lest you fall right off of your throne
If I fail, if I die
I’ll come back every time
Till I’ve seen you through
Every head you cut turns into three
I burst into armies of me”
Their
rousing, sensual electro- pop anthems about political freedoms, LGBT rights, race, religion and modern Arabic identity have challenged the
status quo of the Middle-Eastern pop industry.Through their relevant and politically charged electro-pop anthems about LGBT rights, race, religion and modern Arabic identity,
addressing the need for self-expression and a judgment free culture. Mashrou’ Leila music has
resonated with fans all over the globe, gaining worldwide acclaim. They’ve undertaken four US tours to date and
played headline shows at London’s Barbican and Somerset House receiving
plaudits from the likes of the NY Times -“sexy, soulful definitely
joyful music’, The New Yorker, and 4 star reviews from The Guardian, while the. Financial Times called them "The Arab world’s most influential independent band, "
Their popularity across the Arab world has seen audiences grow from 400
capacity venues to audiences in excess of 35k in their ten years to
date.They were also the first Middle Eastern artists to grace the cover of Rolling Stone.
They brilliantly reimagine the vibrant sound of contemporary Beirut with guitars, drum machines, samples, razor-sharp violin and magnetic frontman Hamed Sinnos mercurial voice.Riding on the wave Arab Spring uprisings that swept the Middle East, the
band was embraced by Arab youth who see its music as part of a cultural
and social revolution.
Mashrou’ Leila began attracting the attention of Western media
outlets in 2009 and 2010, as their witty wordplay and rambunctious sound
began saturating the airwaves in Lebanon and neighboring countries.
Immediately, they were typecast as a politically renegade music group.
“Just because you’re brown means you can’t make indie pop,” says Sinno.
“It's ‘Arab indie pop.’ Which I think can be a really, really dangerous
discourse to entertain. A blues musician from Lebanon is just a blues
musician.”
Mashrou’ Leila initially emerged as the hobby project
of a group of architecture and graphic design students at the American
University in Beirut in 2008. There, academic instruction provided them
with progressive, leftist frames of reference for the world. These
ideological discourses saturate their music in both form and substance.
So it is true that Mashrou’ Leila’s music is, in fact,
political, sometimes provocatively so if not in intent, then in effect. Mashrou’ Leila's themes and satirical Lebanese lyrics reflect the many faces and flaws of Lebanese society
which are not addressed by mainstream Arabic music. The band is
critical of the problems associated with life in Beirut and they are
known for their liberal use of swear-words in some of their songs.
Their debut album's nine songs discussed subject matters such as lost
love, war, politics, security and political assassination, materialism,
immigration and homosexuality.
Their oft-cited hit song “Shim El Yasmine,” from their debut album,
narrates a queer relationship between two men, hinting at a
still-present taboo in Lebanese society. But it’s a love song too, and
one that is rhythmically engaging.
With the advent of the 2011 Arab upisings,
Mashrou Leila’s fans conceived new explications for the music. Songs that previously gestured at
discontent were reappropriated as calls to revolution. They were played
at political rallies in Cairo, Tunis, and Amman, where the band has
massive audiences. “Inni Mnih,” a song on their 2011 album El Hal Romancy—in which Sinno sings, “let’s burn this city down and build a more honorable one”—was misread
as an anthem for the Egyptian revolution.
Once, at a music festival in
Beirut where the group Gorillaz was also playing, the band sang an
Arabic rendition of Gorillaz’s “Clint Eastwood” as a tribute. The clip
found its way online, where it was reinterpreted as a rallying call for
protesters in Tunisia. Over the years, Mashrou’ Leila has
released music that has continued to deepen the affinity between the
band and its ever growing fan-base. They do so by
mixing the stylings of pop and electronic music, and what they call a
“punch of stadium rock.” They also sing in Arabic, in contrast to most
Lebanese rock, which is often sung in English, even though Sinno’s voice
does not resemble those of traditional Arab singers. Thick and not
without some dissonance, his exceptional voice challenges the sound of
traditional Arabic tarab by banking on the power of emotionality and the influence of the music. They also regularly use their voice as a tool for activism, all the while knowing
full well what dangers that can cause to their physical safety. In August 2010, during a concert at the Byblos Festival Sinno unfurled a rainbow flag
that was handed to him by a member of the audience. This was the first
public display of a gay pride flag by an artist in Lebanon. During that
same festival appearance, the band performed songs denouncing police
brutality and corrupt politicians while then prime minister Saad el-Din Harim was in attendance. Their unflinching, uncompromising attitude has seen them get into trouble from the Conservatve society they inhabit.Mashrou' Leila's satirical lyrics and controversial themes led to an unofficial ban on
performing in Jordan on April 26, 2016. The band announced on its Facebook page that their planned concert was denied approval by the Amman Governate.The ban was reverted by the relevant authorities two days later.
On June 13, 2016, the band again posted a message on their official Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mashrou3leila/ that claimed their upcoming concert in Amman had been cancelled by the Jordanian Minister of the Interior,
"The inconsistency of the Jordanian authorities in this respect
(inviting us, then banning, then cancelling the ban, then inviting us
again, then banning us again - all within the course of 14 months - has
culminated in a clear message, that the Jordanian authorities do not
intend to separate Jordan from the fanatical conservatism that has
contributed in making the region increasingly toxic over the last
decade."
In September 2017, while the band was playing in Egypt, members
of their audience were arrested for unfurling rainbow flags in support
of LGBT rights. One man was sentenced to six years in jail for
'practicing debauchery' on his way home from the concert; seven other
concert attendeed were arrestedThey were supposed to recently perform at the Byblos International Festival in Lebanon
on August 9.https://www.byblosfestival.org/ However, the concert was halted by the organizers “to prevent bloodshed and maintain security
and stability” after critics of the band on social media threatened to attack the concert, and following pressure from Christian groups, led by
the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Byblos accusing
the band’s songs of undermining religious and human values’ and
‘directly opposing the Christian faith’. The office of the town’s archbishop also published a statement that
said the group “undermine religious and human values and attack sacred
symbols of Christianity”, while the country’s Catholic Information
Centre called them a “danger to society”.
A social media storm ensued as internet users hurled insults and violent threats at the band, and .Lebanon joining the ranks of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan
in censoring a band that has put Lebanon on the global indie rock scene
.On July 30, the band released a statement
in response to the concert’s cancellation that described the series of
summer happenings as “shocking events” and attempted to counter some of
the lies and misrepresentations circulating around them. For example,
some falsely claimed that their name, Leila, refers to the “the night of
eternal oppression.” The band’s name, which for some brings to mind the
name of Qays’ lover in old Arabic poetry, is said to date back to the
night of the band’s first ever concert at the American University in
Beirut in 2008. On their website,
the band says they are born out of a nocturnal encounter. The band
chose to spell their name as ‘Leila’ instead of ‘Leilah,’ the latter
being the Arabic word for night, while the former, pronounced the same,
is a female name. The name Leila is perhaps more romantic, but also more
playful as it suggests different meanings. This playfulness will remain
with the band and its growing sound.
The recent
hostility specifically targeted two 2015 songs called ‘Asnam‘ and ‘Djin’
from their 2015 album ibn al-leil (son
of the night)which were removed in July from the band’s official
Youtube channel and a 2015 social media post by lead singer Hamed Sinno, who is openly
gay, portraying the pop star Madonna as the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ
as a ‘fanboy’. In a statement, the band felt obligated to provide an explanation for the meaning of the two songs.. While the band didn’t explicitly outline the meaning
lyrics to their 50-song catalogue, they noted the difference between
literal meanings of words and how they can be read in the context of
art.
Mashrou’ Leila - Asnam
Mashrou’ Leila - Djiin
“Suffice it to say, and remind
everyone, that works of art carry multiple meanings, especially when
taken out of context, and that the nature of metaphor is to divert from
words’ literal linguistic meanings. This is the reason for this uproar,”
the band said in the statement. The
seriousness of the accusations was shocking as were the
misinterpretation of our songs, the lies that were told, and the
doctored pictures. The orchestrated campaign culminated in direct death
threats,” the statement added. Concluding: “We are not on some sort of mission to arbitrarily blaspheme
and disrespect people’s religious symbols”.
In response to the cancellation, the band said that
their songs had been misinterpreted, and a number of falsehoods about
them had been spread online.
“We feel true and genuine regret towards anyone
who felt their creed and beliefs were targeted in our songs. We assure
them and everyone that these songs do not breach sacraments or faiths,
and that the offence was due mainly to smear campaigns, defamation, and
false accusations,” they said in a statement.
“Our respect for others’ beliefs is as firm as our respect for the right to be different,” they added.
In the aftermath of the concert cancellation, a number of human rights organizations voiced concern, condemning the decision, and the wider
campaign against the group.Human Rights Watch called the cancellation “the
latest in an escalating campaign of repression against peaceful speech
in Lebanon”. “This incident demonstrates how criminal
defamation, incitement, and insult laws in Lebanon are exploited by
powerful groups and how they fail to protect marginalised voices and
those who have divergent opinions,” said Lama Fakih, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Lebanon is joining the ranks of abusive
governments in the region that trample on free speech rights, pushing
out the talent and debate that has made this country what it is.”
And writing onHuman Rights Watch, Lebanon and Bahrain researcher Aya Majzoub urged the Lebanese government
to reform laws that criminalize protected speech: ‘Lebanon should
decide what kind of country it wants to be: one that controls and
dictates public discourse, or a beacon of tolerance and a centre for
art, music and culture.’
The rights group criticised the Lebanese
government for its reaction the campaign of violent threats against the
band. It said the Interior Ministry hauled two members of the band in
for an interrogation that lasted for six hours, after which security
officers forced them to pledge to censor content on their social media
accounts.
An earlier statement from Amnesty read: “It is unconscionable that
there continue to be such calls emanating from institutions that are
meant to serve as role models to their constituencies, and can and
should be upholding the right to freedom of expression and protection of
vulnerable groups, instead of enabling hate speech, including
homophobia.” In
parallel, activists from different walks of life quickly launched a solidarity
campaign in support of the band, and on August 4 2019,Dutch metal band Within Temptation
who was set to perform at Byblos on August 7 pulled out of the festival
in solidarity with Mashrou Leila and "in support of tolerance, freedom
of speech and expression".
The cancellation of the Mashrou Leila concert triggered protests and a
solidarity campaign on social media. Supporters described the
cancellation as a shameful and dangerous precedent. On the date of the concert, independent activists gathered to put on a
show in solidarity with the band and against censorship under the banner
“The Sound of Music Is Louder.” A hashtag
for the concert read al-qamea mesh mashrou’ (oppression
isn’t legitimate). Besides being part of the band’s name, mashrou’ is a
versatile Arabic word that can mean ‘legitimate’, as well as ‘project.’ The event gathered dozens of
sympathetic musicians, bands and comedians at 'The Palace' venue in
Beirut's Hamra district. Over a thousand people attended the show while
hundreds waited in droves at the venue's entrance in waiting. At 9pm,
pubs and restaurants across the city played Mashrou Leila songs in
solidarity with the band.
Mixing different musical styles and artistic expressions, the concert was also an opportunity to express
support for LGBTQI+ rights. Many attendees waved the rainbow flag, a
strong political gesture given the homophobic attacks on Mashrou’
Leila’s lead singer in the preceding weeks.
The cancelled concert also epitomizes three years of declining public freedoms.
In recent months, several films have been banned, books censored and
the Brazilian metal band Sepultura denied visas for being ‘devil
worshippers’.
On 12 August, the radio station Voice of Lebanon reported
that a satirical show due to be performed in the town of Bint Jbeil in
southern Lebanon had been cancelled. Although the exact details of the
cancellation remain unclear, it followed alleged political pressures
resulting from concerns over the women performers’ lack of modesty and
the nature of some of the jokes.
Coming just weeks after Mashrou’ Leila’s ban, this latest incident suggests that ‘the alarming crackdown on free speech in a country that officials have long boasted offers more freedom than the rest of the Arab world and was once proud to embrace diversity’ is far from over. In Greek mythology, Daedalus and his son
Icarus try to escape from Crete, where they have been exiled. The
father and son make wings made of feathers and wax so they can fly.
However, Deadalus warns his son against flying too high and getting
close to the sun, but Icarus objects, and flies higher anyway. Mashrou’
Leila sings for Icarus and his quest to fly high. This is their brand of
boundary-pushing politics.
As the whole world seems to be regressing into illiberalism, the fact remains is that Mashrou' Leila with their powerful rebellious attitude and the perpetual debate their wonderful passionate music generates,and the
stimulating questions they deliver gives them even more
value as a band, and makes them the success they have become today. Long may they continue fearlessly doing what they do, releasing their potent mix of sweet sounds and heady lyrics and people generally, keep making a stand against hatred, homophobia and discrimination, and to all those that haven't given up, Love is Resistance.
Mashrou leila - Radio Romance
I will end with this music video Mashrou’ Leila made in cooperation with Greenpeace, filed on a raft in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea during the bands residency aboard the Rainbow Warrior.
It's another day in a fractious world
The Amazon burning, earths lungs aflame,
Everything else adding fuel to the fire
Seeds of destruction, all is very dire,
As the earth is murdered, breath suffocated
Hunger growing, rising tides of hate,
Feel the heat, the enormous pain
As people driven to edge, grow insane,
Meanwhile a vacuous politician claims
We're 'back on the road to a brighter future,
Tell that to the citizens daily afflicted
By the flames of capitalism and greed,
In the uk one million using foodbanks
Rough sleeping doubled, children in poverty,
And in the drifting summer afternoon
Following the hot sultry day of life,
A man is squinting his bloodshot eyes
Sees no beauty, only the world's sorrows,
Watching the dreadful masquerade
Is left moribund, sucks his poison,
Relentlessly as despair keeps answering
Where prayers have failed, carries on drowning,
People lost, giving up without a fight
The walking wounded not a pretty sight,
Beyond the sorrow, I try to illuminate darkness
Unable to hide the facts, keep on questioning,
In these emergency hours, cannot shut my eyes
Dream of revolution, people awakening,
With cauldrons of belief, keep revealing
Beyond the stench of chaos, restoration,
Witnessing the tragedy of our lifetime
We no longer need to live like this,
Blindly accepting this terrible fate
Join the resistance, before it's far to late.
