Johnny Rotten is an arsehole. He betrayed his punk roots long ago and is now nothing more than a sad old man flogging things and selling his soul for kudos from capitalism. He recently said:
I showed what I can do with butter, right? Eighty-five percent increase in sales. I’m very proud of them Country Life ads. They were funny and clever and classy like the Toblerone ads I grew up with. But no one’s come in for me with anything else. Like … Red Stripe lager! I drink lakes of this stuff. Why haven’t I been signed up for something like that? Or Marlboro fags? It amazes me that people don’t get the opportunity of me. I sell.
But he’s also revealed that he’s not just a capitalist fuckpig, he’s thick as a plank and racist at that.
Rotten was asked by Palestinian campaigngroups not to perform in Israel, as part of a cultural boycott – the campaigners say cultural collaboration boosts Israel’s image on the international stage, and that refusing to participate in cultural exchange, artists and cultural institutions globally can send a clear message to Israel that their occupation and discrimination against Palestinians is unacceptable.
Surely such a politicised and aware person as Johnny Rotten would, even if he disagreed with the boycott, respond to the requests on a political level?
Nah. He has “absolutely one rule, right? Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won’t understand how anyone can have a problem with how they’re treated.”
Woah woah woah woah woah…! So, Johnny is acknowledging that the Palestinian people are treated like shit, and he just doesn’t care? And since when did ordinary Palestinians become responsible for the actions of everyone in the world who shares their religion? This is like saying that everyone of German descent deserves to be put into concentration camps just because of the actions of the Third Reich.
And, when he says that Muslims aren’t capable of democracy, he’s implying that Israel is a democracy, yeah? Despite removing Arab members of parliament for being too representative of the views of their constituents?
What a dick.
When faced with people slightly more reasonable than Rotten, the Palestinian campaigners’ requests to musicians have had some degree of success in the past, with artists such as Gil Scott-Heron, the Pixies, Massive Attack and Elvis Costello pulling out of scheduled gigs in Israel in order to show their support for the Palestinian struggle.
Interestingly, if internet hilarity merchants hadn’t hijacked Justin Beiber and voted for him to send his world tour to North Korea, Israel would have won the wee boy singer for their own. Is Israel suffering an epidemic of Bieber Fever? Or was Israel’s campaign orchestrated by zionists in the same way North Korea’s was orchestrated by online pranksters? One thing’s clear – the cultural boycott is definitely shaking things up and getting people to take notice of Israel’s appalling human rights record.
Not really, but who needs to tell the truth when you can make funny videos!
Buju Banton is one of the biggest names in dancehall music. He’s been making records for over 20 years, some of his undeniably great music has made him one of the biggest stars in Jamaica, and regarded by many as a voice for the poor majority.
Unfortunately, he’s also a violent homophobe. LGBT rights groups around the world have picketed his shows and called on promoters not to book him because of his anti-gay tunes. The most significant is ‘Boom Bye Bye,’ which is basically about killing LGBT people. It advocates shooting, burning and pouring acid as methods.
Many of his defenders claim that he was still a teenager when he released this tune in 1992, and he’s since moved on and doesn’t perform it any more. The truth is that Banton knows that it’s controversial, and so he’s careful about when he performs it because it can potentially get him in trouble. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t do it though, with his mike being cut off at a 2007 show in New York when he began the song.
It would be one thing if his hatred of LGBT people was confined to records, but it’s not. Several witnesses have identified him as part of a mob that broke into a home in Kingston in 2004 shouting homophobic insults, and then beat two men severely, leaving one of them blind in one eye.
Banton denies the claims, and the police have yet to charge him in connection with the attack. But the Jamaican police are notorious for the lack of care for violence against LGBT people, as homosexuality remains completely illegal in Jamaica and punishable by prison with hard labour.
Also in 2004, the founder of the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays, (an organisation fighting for LGBT rights under very difficult circumstances and desperately in need of support), Brian Williamson, was murdered in his home by multiple stab wounds from a machete.
Buju Banton himself is currently in US prison after being charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine last year. But in the meantime, his homophobic lyrics continue to be a rallying cry for hate, which is why the Eclectic Method have put together this little video to set the record straight:
Now, America doesn’t do trade unions a whole lot. Despite a militant and often bloody labour tradition stretching back 200 years, trade union membership in the United States is now under 15% of the total workforce, and militancy in the workplace is rare. However, when it does do unions, it manages to get them SO FUCKING RIGHT.
Covering a Lady GaGa song perhaps isn’t the most original idea in the world. It’s been done by everyone from American GIs in Afghanistan to erm, some topless guy jumping about his room on chatroulette. But how about charging into the hotel you work in, THEN performing the song with rewritten lyrics that highlight the poor pay and conditions being served to you by your employer? SSY thinks the labour movement in the UK could learn much from our forward-thinking American friends. No doubt the BA dispute would have been solved months ago, if only Unite union leaders Derek Simpson and Len McLuskey had taken it upon themselves to star in a reworked version of Busted’s ‘Air Hostess’. And indeed, we’re sure that the posties would have their battle ages ago if CWU leader Billy Hayes had thought about doing a hilarious youtube spoof of the Postman Pat theme song. Until then, we’ll just have to make do with watching the awe-inspiring attempts of our comrades across the Atlantic. Workers’ rights are hot!
UPDATE: in the interests of balance, here’s a nice bit of union-busting from Wal-Mart:
Throughout the US it’s well known that migration cops use racial profiling to target people who have the most brown skin or look the most like they might have some Native American ancestry for questioning about their immigration status. This is a scandal throughout the country, but the difference about the new Arizona law, SB1070, is that it enshrines the right to do this with legal protection.
The law allows law enforcement to approach anyone they have “reasonable suspicion” of being an illegal immigrant, i.e. anyone who looks Latino, and demand they produce ID to confirm the citizenship status. Failure to do so will lead to their automatic arrest without a warrant. This effectively puts the law in Arizona on a par with the infamous “pass laws” in Apartheid South Africa, or indeed the way people were treated during the Nazi occupation of France.
The new law also makes it a major felony to give shelter to illegal immigrants, in a state where thousands of people die every year trying to cross the desert from Mexico in search of a better life. Across the whole US/Mexico border, the Mexican National Human Rights Commission estimates 3 migrants lost their lives every 2 days in 2007 and 2008.
Self-promoting wankstain Joe Arpaio on the cover of his book
The laws were heavily supported by notorious knobend Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who styles himself “America’s toughest sheriff.” Among his bright ideas in his own Maricopa County are the creation of a tent city gulag in the desert, where offenders are kept in conditions of extreme heat, with little shelter or access to basic services or even enough food. Many people have died in tent city, either as a result of the conditions, beatings and taserings from the guards, or violence from fellow inmates, which is deliberately fostered by the prison regime. He also makes criminals parade through the streets in nothing but pink underwear, and sells pink underwear merchandise as a personal money spinner. He has spent taxpayers money on purchasing for himself a penthouse apartment, a machine gun, an armoured personnel carrier and a full sized tank. The man loves publicity, and has become notorious across the US.
The issue of migration is at the heart of American politics now. As Leftfield has previously reported, the US is facing the consequence of its policies in Latin America, which have caused mass poverty for millions of people. Desperate to find a chance of economic survival, huge numbers of Latin Americans have moved to the US, where they are systematically discriminated against. The mass movement for immigrant rights has put hundreds of thousands of people on the street in recent years. However, it faces opposition from the right wing racists who fear they are losing control over the US.
What’s particularly ironic about the case of Arizona is it’s one of several state that were violently conquered by the US in the 19th century. In the Mexican-American war of the 1840s the US seized over half of Mexico’s territory by force, and later integrated the lands into the US. White Arizonans are effectively the descendants of the colonial settlers after this. Mexicans trying to cross the border are only trying to enter what was once Mexican territory.
This map shows Mexican territory lost to the US. The darkest shade is Mexico today, the lighter two what was once Mexican as well
The case of Latinos in the US is just one example of what is happening across the rich world, as people from the parts of the planet that have been devastated by the economic and ecological disasters of capitalism try to escape to the places on Earth where they face a chance of survival and a decent life. The situation is similar on the frontiers of the European Union. It may be the greatest human rights battle of the 21st century to defend these people from the racists who want to keep them out.
In the US, several prominent figures have called for a boycott of Arizona and its products in protest at the racist laws. To promote the campaign, Chuck D of hip hop group Public Enemy has released the song ‘Tear Down This Wall,’ and says in a statement:
“In 1991 I wrote a song criticizing Arizona officials (including John McCain and Fife Symington) for rejecting the federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The same politics I wrote about in “By the Time I Get to Arizona” are alive and well in Arizona today, but this time the target is Brown people.
These actions must stop. I am issuing a call to action, urging my fellow musicians, artists, athletes, performers, and production companies to refuse to work in Arizona until officials not only overturn this bill, but recognize the human rights of immigrants. This should include the NBA playoffs, revisiting the actions of the NFL in 1993, when they moved the Superbowl to Pasadena in protest against Arizona’s refusal to recognize Dr. King. We all need to speak up in defense of our brothers and sisters being victimized in Arizona, because things are only getting worse. What they’re doing to immigrants is appalling, but it will be even more damning if we remain silent.”
On February 25th a fatal car accident killed two well known gynecologists in Moscow. The crash was caused when their Citroen was smashed into by an armoured Mercedes that contained Anatoliy Barkov, Vice President of Lukoil, Russia’s largest oil company.
Very quickly the police attempted to cover up the accident in order to protect his reputation. They tried to lay the blame for the smash entirely on the two women, Olga Aleksandrina and Vera Sidelnikova, in the Citroen. But their version of events soon unravelled in the face of the facts.
The liberal opposition in Russia, who are so quick to protest the corruption of the government, were strangely silent on this issue. But a wave of indignation from ordinary people has been expressed on the internet, with big numbers of people supporting a demand to ‘Restore Justice,’ in the face of corporate executives who are above the law.
You can read more about this incident in this excellent article by Russian left-winger Boris Kagarlitsky. Also, below is the track ‘Mercedes S666′, distributed by Russian rapper Noize MC. This track gained massive popularity by talking about the incident. I haven’t been able to find a version with English subtitles in the video. However, the comments on youtube do have a translation-obviously it comes with a disclaimer that I’m in no position to check their accuracy, but I’ve copied them below the video.
“Let me introduce myself,
My name is Anatoly Barkov
I do not have any wings or any vampire eyeteeth.
In my position I do not need these stupid accessories
Let the hard rock musicians to have these silly, satanic things
You know, being a vice president of Lukoil is not only-only
I have to look solid without any rubbish
I do not look like evil at all
I am a person of a quite different level, a creature of a really high power
do not know problems, which could not be solved by corruption. I do not know of people, which lives are more important than my interests,
It does not touch me what the media will write about me.
If you are on the way for my Mercedes- does not matter- YOU will always have a blame in case of a traffic accident
Ref: MercedesS666, get out from my way, Plebeian, do not try to stay on it!
Silly Plebeian, shake! Patricians are on the road! Hurry! We are late on a way to a Hell…
In a Hell I will be boiled next to Evsukov (a policeman who shot and killed innocent people in a supermarket in Moscow in April 2009)
But now I am OK and wrapped up with everything
I am insured 100% from any troubles
By the way I am in touch with Vova (V.Putin)
I have an ability to change even TIME and SPACE
Suddenly all the video cameras are off
If they content some proofs of my crime
And just put meaning of people deep in your..
Ordinary people talking and talking, and so they will be quiet after all
Like a little dog yapping at an elephant
But he will always have a good reputation in any case.
I honestly admit that I do not really remember, Who are Vera Sidelnikova and Aleksadrina Olga
R: Mercedes S666, get out from my way, Plebeian, do not try to stay on it!
Silly Plebeian, shake! etc….. We are late on a way to a Hell, Keep away from our carriages!
Mercedes S666, get out from my way, Plebeian, do not try to stay on it!
Silly Plebeian, shake! Patricians are on the road!
Hurry! We are late on a way to a Hell,
Keep away from our carriages!”
Every now and then a musician or band comes along which redefines how we enjoy music, how it relates to our lives and how we interpret the world around us and the people who live in it with us. The Rubberbandits are not that band.
They are two guys from Limerick who wear plastic bags on their heads and sing songs about taking glue to enhance sexual activity and historical inaccuracies about Irish Republican history. They also do prank calls.
You’ll never feel the same once you find out the truth about how Eamon de Valera rode to London on the back of a harse to box the Queen into the jaw, as a symbol.
They’re really feckin funny and since Leftfield always likes to share the love, we suggest you czech them out, sham.
You might’ve heard. Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name Of is the Christmas number one. Yes! It’s finally happened: we got a bunch of politckul rap-rockin’ revolutionary Maoists from LA to the top o’ the pop charts. ‘We’ being the disgruntled social-networking masses, fed up of the contrived, tedious pish that is the X Factor and it’s commidified, profit-driven attitude to music. And Simon Cowell. Cunt.
So what did it prove? That a lot of people don’t like reality television karaoke contests, enjoyed the idea of participating in a mass social media led prank, and were prepared to spend 79p to prove it.
Much else? The two days since Rage were declared number one have seen various proclamations of this being ‘the birth of people power’, the beginning of a new mass movement, the beginning of the end for shit music. Probably, mostly, bollocks?
#ratm4xmas may not herald the revolution. But it undoubtedly has been an eye-opener for tens of thousands of people: that huge numbers of people, acting together on an issue, can bring about ‘change’, however superficial in this case it may be. As socialists, we should surely encourage this mindset!
A quick look at the facebook group confirms this, and indeed, bluntly displays that there’s vast numbers of, largely young, people desperate to rebel against something, anything, amid the chaos of capitalist crisis, mass unemployment and a corrupt ruling class. And in this state of utter confusion, the fightback against ‘the system’ has formulated itself in a battle against the monotony culture of commercialised, pre-packaged, throwaway pop music – in many ways, emblematic of the consumer capitalist society we inhabit.
This rage now needs to be channelled through more effective channels. Not by getting the Sex Pistols to number one for the Queen’s birthday, or NWA’s ‘Fuck The Police’ to Xmas No. 1 next year (awesome as that might be), but by translating anger against um, the ‘machine’ itself: capitalism. As Tom Morello of Rage himself stated: “whether it’s a small matter like who’s the top of the charts, or bigger matters like war and peace and economic inequality, when people band together and make their voices heard they can completely overturn the system as it is.”
Yeah we all know that, as every wanky broadsheet columnist has been gleely pointing out at any opportunity, that Sony Records were the ‘main beneficiaries’ and made lots of money out of it. But that’s really besides the point… it was fun! And it’s probs the first number one single for insurrectionary-workers-peasant-movement supporting lefties since the Manics in 2000! And it may, just may, have raised that first inkling of class consciousness among scores of young people – of the ability to fight, and win. Venceremos!
“What you need is what they’re selling, makes you feel like buying is rebelling”
‘No Shelter’, Rage Against The Machine
Johnny Rotten is an arsehole. He betrayed his punk roots long ago and is now nothing more than a sad old man flogging things and selling his soul for kudos from capitalism. He recently said:
Woah woah woah woah woah…! So, Johnny is acknowledging that the Palestinian people are treated like shit, and he just doesn’t care? And since when did ordinary Palestinians become responsible for the actions of everyone in the world who shares their religion? This is like saying that everyone of German descent deserves to be put into concentration camps just because of the actions of the Third Reich.
The US state of Arizona has just passed some of the 
On February 25th a fatal car accident killed two well known gynecologists in Moscow. The crash was caused when their Citroen was smashed into by an armoured Mercedes that contained Anatoliy Barkov, Vice President of 
Every now and then a musician or band comes along which redefines how we enjoy music, how it relates to our lives and how we interpret the world around us and the people who live in it with us. The Rubberbandits are not that band.
You might’ve heard. Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name Of is the Christmas number one. Yes! It’s finally happened: we got a bunch of politckul rap-rockin’ revolutionary Maoists from LA to the top o’ the pop charts. ‘We’ being the disgruntled social-networking masses, fed up of the contrived, tedious pish that is the X Factor and it’s commidified, profit-driven attitude to music. And Simon Cowell. Cunt.
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