Saturday, December 25, 2010

Sublime Christmas Lights with The Band in Austin

Native Austinites, students and cheerful families gathered around 37th street and Guadalupe street in Austin, TX to celebrate the holidays with sublime Christmas lights and live music! The live band played two songs: What I Got by Sublime and The Weight by The Band.

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Robert Jensen Interviews Chris Hedges in Austin on 11.8.09

Chris Hedges, whose column is published on Truthdig every Monday, spent two decades as a foreign reporter covering wars in Latin America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. He served for eight years as the Middle East bureau chief of The New York Times, where he shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, for coverage of terrorism. Hedges also received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.In 2009 the Los Angeles Press Club honored the original columns that Hedges writes for Truthdig by naming the author the Online Journalist of the Year and granting him the Best Online Column award for his Truthdig essay Party to Murder, about the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli assault on Gaza.Hedges is a senior fellow at the Nation Institute and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University. He has written nine books, including Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009), I Dont Believe in Atheists (2008) and the best-selling American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (2008). His book War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2003) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.Hedges, who holds a B.A. in English literature from Colgate University and a master of divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School, is fluent in Arabic and also speaks French, Spanish, Greek and Latin.

Friday, December 24, 2010

US empire could collapse at any time

America's military and economic empire could collapse at any time, but predicting the precise day, week or month of its potential demise is unattainable, according to a former ;New York Times war correspondent who spoke with Raw Story. "The when and how is very dangerous to predict because there's always some factor that blindsides you that you didn't expect," Pulitzer-winning journalist Chris Hedges said in an exclusive interview. "It doesn't look good. But exactly how it plays out and when it plays out, having covered disintegrating societies, it's impossible to tell."He explained that he learned this lesson as events unfolded around him in the fall of 1989. Then, members of the opposition to the Soviet Empire told him that they predicted travel across the Berlin Wall separating East from West Germany would open within the year."Within a few hours, the wall didn't exist," he said.Hedges was one of the 131 activists were arrested in an act of civil disobedience outside the White House yesterday, even as Obama was unveiling a new report citing progress in the Afghanistan war.Speaking to Raw Story on Wednesday night, he said the signs of US collapse are plain to see and compared the country's course through Afghanistan to Soviet Russia's."We're losing [the war in Afghanistan] in the same way the Red Army lost it," he said. "It's exactly the same configuration where we sort of control the urban centers where 20 percent of the population lives. The rest of the country where 80 percent of the Afghans live is either in the hands of the Taliban or disputed.""Foreigners will not walk the streets of Kabul because of kidnapping, and journalists regularly meet Taliban officials in Kabul because the whole apparatus is so porous and corrupt," he said.One day after this interview was conducted, reports hit the global media noting the CIA's warning to President Obama, that the Pakistan-supported Taliban could still regain control of the country.Hedges predicted that President Obama's war report released Thursday would "contradict not only [US] intelligence reports but everything else that is coming out of Afghanistan."His prediction came startlingly true: the CIA's own assessment was said to stand in striking contrast with President Obama's report. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, however, insisted that the US controlled more territory in Afghanistan than it did a year ago.'A corporate coup d'état in slow motion'Hedges said he attended the protest and planned to get arrested because he is against the corporate powers that have enveloped the nation."We've undergone a corporate coup d'état

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Workers Defense Project Protest Gov. Rick Perry for Racists Remarks & Bad Politics

Gov. Rick Perry and employees within the state insurance building did not meet the typical sound of 5 p.m. traffic Wednesday.

Instead, some encountered signs adorned with criticism of Perrys policies, drums keeping protestors in rhythm and the voices of construction workers along with members of Austins Workers Defense Project and Californias Laborers International Union of North America chanting, Workers rights are under attack! What do we do? Stand up, fight back!

Project Director Cristina Tzintzún said the defense group organized the event in response to a television interview Perry had at a Construction Expo in late June, in which he stated that [Texas] has enough oversight to keep our citizens safe.

Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the governors office, said the issues scope is wider than Texas alone.

This issue falls under federal jurisdiction and Governor Perry expects the federal government will fulfill its role to keep Texas construction workers safe without burdening Texas employers with duplicative regulations, Frazier said.

According to a recent report by the project titled Building Austin, Building Injustice, 142 construction workers died in Texas in 2007, which is more than any other state in the country. The report also states that 50 percent of workers do not receive overtime pay and that 41 percent go without a rest break.

Tzintzún said that only 77 Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators cover the 10 million workers in Texas. The project states that the International Labor Organization recommended 1,023 investigators be responsible for Texas workers.

Elizabeth Todd, OSHA acting regional director, said the administration will be increasing the number of inspectors in Texas.

We want to raise awareness and reduce the number of construction-related fatalities in the state because we do have a high number of construction-related fatalities, Todd said. If there are unsafe working conditions, we are going to try and go out there and find out.

Tzintzún said the problem lies in construction oversight.

We believe there is a larger problem in Texas of contractors not being held accountable for safe working conditions on the job site, Tzintzún said. Its important that [the Legislature] steps up to the plate by ensuring people dont die needlessly on the job.

The protest also focused on the West Campus construction accident in June at the 21 Rio apartment complex where three construction workers fell to their deaths as a result of a scaffold failure.

Austin Police Department Lt. Mark Spangler said APD obtained a search warrant to investigate the incident.

The areas we are looking at are, Did this accident have a genesis? Spangler said. What caused that equipment to fail? Was it mechanical? Was it human error? Was it an oversight? Thats the full spectrum of what we are looking at.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation and APD will conduct interviews as well as an examination of all equipment used in the scaffolding. The warrant stated negligent homicide as a possibility.

Randy Harris, a member of a laborers union from Illinois, said he was protesting to make the construction worker case a national issue.

Nobody deserves to be hurt or killed at work, Harris said. We want people to be able to go to work, feed their families and go home.

During the protest, a project coordinator handed out a letter to the governors office detailing the projects report. This is the second letter sent to the governor after Tzintzún's July 8 letter. She hopes the community, Perry and the Legislature are listening.

Construction worker Eric Jimenez attended the protest and said many of his fellow workers have been injured as a result of poor safety regulations.

Many of my co-workers have had many accidents in construction because there is no system of security or training to prevent the victims of accidents, Jimenez said. We want a day where rules will help in the insecurities in organization of construction.

Produced by Jeffry Zavala and Directed by Jason Cato.
This is a Z Graphix Production.
http://zgraphix.org


Cinematography by Jeffry Zavala
Photography by Charlie Lockwood & Jeffry Zavala


To learn more go to,
http://workersdefense.org
http://buildaustin.org

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Palestine Online Store - Your source for all things Palestinian

Palestine Online Store is an activist project striving to make Palestine-related materials more easily available to Palestine's supporters worldwide. This not-for-profit endeavor started as a school project in 2003 with the initial aim of promoting Palestinian films to raise awareness about the Palestinian plight, but then expanded to include a complete assortment of Palestine-related items. Our work supports farmers, artisans, and their families in Palestine, as well as filmmakers, authors, activists, and anyone who supplies us with an item that helps promote the Palestinian cause.

Support Palestine by shopping at Palestine Online Store! In doing so, you not only support the producers and suppliers of these fine products, but you help facilitate greater awareness about Palestine and you enable us to keep providing this service.

Visit our website today, at http://www.PalestineOnlineStore.com and spread the word!

Join our Facebook group at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Palestine-Online-Store/165302270174901

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Monday, December 13, 2010

Atlas Maior - Hijjaz at the New Inida Cuisine

Atlas Maior Performs Hijjaz at the New Inida Cuisine (http://www.newindia.us/) in Austin, TX on 11/21/10.

Atlas Maior is a new Global Jazz-Fusion group from Austin comprised of Ethan Vlah, Joshua Thomson & Charlie Lockwood.

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Friday, December 10, 2010

Israeli activist Gal Lugassi - Occupation, Resistance & the Struggle Against Apartheid

Israeli activist Gal Lugassi spoke at Monkeywrench Books (110 E North Loop Blvd).

Gal Lugassi is an Israeli conscientious objector, a member of the Shiministim, an activist with the Anarchist Against the Wall action group, and the Boycott! from Within group. She also volunteers at the Coalition of Women for Peace and with the Who Profits project.

Anarchists Against the Wall (AATW) is a direct action group that was established in 2003 in response to the construction of the wall Israel is building on Palestinian land in the Occupied West Bank. The group works in cooperation with Palestinians in a joint popular struggle against the occupation.

Since its formation, the group has participated in hundreds of demonstrations and direct actions against the wall specifically, and the occupation generally, all over the West Bank. All of AATW's work in Palestine is coordinated through villages' local popular committees and is essentially Palestinian led.

This event is sponsored by Monkeywrench Books and the Palestine Solidarity Committee.

http://monkeywrenchbooks.org/
http://utpalestine.org/
http://awalls.org/

This is a zgraphix production, produced in collaboration with the new Austin Indymedia Center at http://austin.indymedia.org

Filmed, Edited & Produced by Jeff Zavala
http://zgraphix.org

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

David Rovics Live at Monkey Wrench Books - Full Concert

MonkeyWrench Books and Palestine Online Store are happy to host this evening of music and politics with David Rovics. Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Song list includes:

I'm A Better Anarchist Than You,
Cordova,
Draft Dodger Rag (by Phil Ochs),
The Last Lincoln Veteran,
Song for the Mavi Marmara,
Pirates of Somalia,
Saint Patrick Battalion,
Song for My Broken Heart,
Burn it Down,
John Brown,
Asylum-Seeking Daleks (by Attila the Stockbroker),
Lebanon (2006),
Behind the Barricades,
The Internationale

Sunday, December 5, 2010

David Rovics - John Brown

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to John Brown

Owen Brown was an abolitionist
John was Owen's son
He grew up in New England
He was born in Torrington
John Brown was a tanner
And a man of many skills
And he stood up for the workers
Who toiled in the mills

He stood up for the Indians
He stood up for the women
For the oppressed and the exploited
This good man stood with them
So when Kansas was bleeding
He went and joined the fray
If the slave-trade wanted Kansas
Then the slave traders had to pay

Riding through the Kansas prairie
With a fine and loyal band
Glory, Hallelujah
Beecher's Bible in his hand

With two thousand of New England's
Best and bravest sons
Captain Brown fought in Kansas
With a Bible and a gun
When Free Lawrence was on fire
Lighting up the night
The ruffians would flee
John Brown would stand and fight

Lincoln called him a fanatic
And he was a Christian who
Thought you should do unto others
As you'd have others do unto you
Christ said love your neighbor
And if your neighbor's held in slavery
He was one who felt his duty
Was to fight to set them free

Chorus

He drove the slave trade out of Kansas
Then went to bordering Missouri
Raided the plantations
No compromise, said he
Broke the chains and shackles
Rode at night to Canada
Out of the nightmare
The devil's friend, America

He was caught in Harper's Ferry
His family lying dead
They questioned him for hours
As he lay there and bled
They hanged him on the gallows
And laid him in his grave
John Brown was a Christian
And he died to free the slave

Chorus

David Rovics - Lebanon (2006)

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to Lebanon (2006)

Two soldiers had been captured
Theyd crossed to the other side
Two soldiers taken prisoner
Several others died
This is how it started
So said the Jewish state
Forget about 96, 82
67, 48
;
Two soldiers taken hostage
And by the Sea of Galilee
We must defend our borders
Wherever they may be
We must defend our soldiers
Wherever theyre deployed
Two of them are captured
One country is destroyed

David Rovics - Asylum-Seeking Daleks by Attila the Stockbroker

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to Asylum-Seeking Daleks by Attila the Stockbroker

They claim their planet's dying:
that soon it's going to blow
And so they're coming here - they say
they've nowhere else to go...
With their strange computer voices
and their one eye on a pole
They're moving in next door and then
they're signing on the dole...

Asylum-seeking Daleks
are landing here at noon!
Why can't we simply send them back
or stick them on the moon?
It says here in the Daily Mail
they're coming here to stay -
The Loony Lefties let them in!
The middle class will pay...

They say that they're not terrorists:
That doesn't wash with me!
The last time I saw one I hid
Weeks behind the settee...
Good Lord - they¹re pink. With purple bumps!
There's photos of them here!
Not just extra-terrestial...
The bloody things are queer!

Yes! Homosexual Daleks
And they're sponging off the State!
With huge Arts Council grants
to teach delinquents how to skate!
It's all here in the paper -
I'd better tell the wife!
For soon they will EXTERMINATE
Our British way of life...

This satire on crass ignorance
and tabloid-fostered fear
Is at an end. Now let me give
One message, loud and clear.
Golf course, shop floor or BNP:
Smash bigotry and hate!
Asylum seekers - welcome here.
You racists: emigrate!

David Rovics - Saint Patrick Battalion

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to Saint Patrick Battalion:

My name is John Riley
I'll have your ear only a while
I left my dear home in Ireland
It was death, starvation or exile
And when I got to America
It was my duty to go
Enter the Army and slog across Texas
To join in the war against Mexico

It was there in the pueblos and hillsides
That I saw the mistake I had made
Part of a conquering army
With the morals of a bayonet blade
So in the midst of these poor, dying Catholics
Screaming children, the burning stench of it all
Myself and two hundred Irishmen
Decided to rise to the call

(Chorus)
From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
http://www.free-lyrics.org/David-Rovics/71102-Saint-Patrick-Battalion.html

We marched 'neath the green flag of Saint Patrick
Emblazoned with "Erin Go Bragh"
Bright with the harp and the shamrock
And "Libertad para la Republica"
Just fifty years after Wolftone
Five thousand miles away
The Yanks called us a Legion of Strangers
And they can talk as they may

(Chorus)

We fought them in Matamoros
While their volunteers were raping the nuns
In Monterey and Cerro Gordo
We fought on as Ireland's sons
We were the red-headed fighters for freedom
Amidst these brown-skinned women and men
Side by side we fought against tyranny
And I daresay we'd do it again

(Chorus)

We fought them in five major battles
Churobusco was the last
Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston
We fell after each mortar blast
Most of us died on that hillside
In the service of the Mexican state
So far from our occupied homeland
We were heroes and victims of fate

(Chorus)

Saturday, December 4, 2010

David Rovics - Burn it Down

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to Burn it Down:
Rodney Coronado was arrested for a speech
That he gave one evening by the San Diego beach
He stated his opinions, they sounded just like mine
And now they want to put him behind bars til 2029

The prosecutor said the problem was the speech it showed intent
I couldn't figure out exactly what he meant
You can't describe an action and say you thought that it was swell
So what'll happen when we sing this, who the heck can tell

(Chorus)
We don't like the condo (bulldozer, Wal-Mart) and we're gonna burn it down
Corporate terrorists, drive them out of town
We'll bring a lot of gasoline, pour it on the floor
Light a match, say a prayer and run right out the door
Burn it down, burn it down, we're going to burn it down
Burn it down, burn it down, burn it down

Now if you just sang that chorus then you just broke the law
To be an eco-terrorist now you just gotta flap your jaw
And hey who knows by the time you have a chance to blink
Whether you're a criminal might depend on what you think

(Chorus)

Now they come for Rod, maybe next they come for you
And I'll tell you what I think all of us should do
Sing this song with me, raise your fist and caterwaul
If we fight together they can't arrest us all

(Chorus)

David Rovics - Pirates of Somalia

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to Pirates of Somalia:

Let me tell you the story of a hundred ships
Traversing the great big sea
Moving the riches of the world in large ships owned
By the captains of industry
They were heading to places like Amsterdam
London and LA
But they had to change their plans a bit
When they were held up on the way

Here's to the pirates of Somalia
Sailing the ocean blue
Here's to the pirates of Somalia
I'll raise the Jolly Roger to you

Harardhere is a town of fishermen
Living lives of hardship and toil
But today they had a really good catch
Two million barrels of oil
They travel with the Pirate's Handbook
Doing what's just and fair
Taxing the robber barons
And taking their rightful share

There are those who don't like pirates
But I think they're just great
I only wish that I could shake their hands
And say "good job, mate!"
I only wish I could join them on the seas
Bring those tankers to bay
Tax those corporations
And give the loot away

David Rovics - The Last Lincoln Veteran

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to The Last Lincoln Veteran:

They were old when I was young
Now they're all but passed away
Now it's just a second hand
Memory of the day
When from all around the world
They sailed off to Spain
Where they fought against the fascists
Where so many men were slain
Who will recall the days
When we all stood side by side
Now that the last Lincoln Veteran died

Beside Martin Luther King
Or in a Veterans Parade
You could see the men who made the journey
To join the Fifteenth Brigade
When men of many nations
Of most every creed and hue
Catholics and Protestants
Atheists and Jews
Joined together in the trenches
To turn back the fascist tide
Now that the last Lincoln Veteran died

The working class of many countries
Joined in a desperate bid
With what weapons they could find
They fought to save Madrid
From Brussels and Berlin
Galway and London town
Who will recall the Brigadistas
Who tried to take the fascists down
When there beside the people
Even the figs and olives cried
Now that the last Lincoln Veteran died

The Republic had the people
But the fascists had the tanks
Il Duce and Der Fuhrer
Deserve only some of Franco's thanks
'Cause the fuel to move the armor
Came from the USA
And the men that they gunned down
Were from New York and Frisco Bay
Uncle Sam said he was neutral
Who will remember how he lied
Now that the last Lincoln Veteran died

Some say people get conservative
The older that they age
They say that being radical
Is just a youthful stage
But the finest communist I've known
Lived to 95
And he spent his whole life fighting
For democracy to thrive
To forget these fallen heroes
Is something I cannot abide
Now that the last Lincoln Veteran died

David Rovics - Draft Dodger Rag (by Phil Ochs)

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to Draft Dodger Rag
(by Phil Ochs)

Well, I'm just a typical American boy
From a typical American town
I believe in god and Senator Dodd
And keeping old Castro down
And when it came my time to serve
I knew better dead than red
But when I got to my old draft board
Buddy, this is what I said

(chorus)
Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, my feet are flat
And my asthma's getting worse
Oh, think of my career, my sweetheart, dear
My poor old invalid aunt
Besides I ain't no fool, I'm a-goin' to school
And I'm working in a defense plant

I got a dislocated disc and a racked-up back
I'm allergic to flowers and bugs
When the bombshell hits I get epileptic fits
I'm addicted to a thousand drugs
I got the weakness woes, I can't touch my toes
I can hardly reach my knees
And if the enemy came close to me
I'd probably start to sneeze

(chorus>

Well, I hate Chou En-lai, I hope he dies
But one thing you gotta see
Is that someone's gotta go over there
And that someone isn't me
So I wish you well, sarge, give 'em hell
Yeah, kill me a thousand or so
And if you ever get a war without blood and gore
I'll be the first to go

(chorus>

David Rovics - Cordova

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com/) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to Cordova:

I am a fisherman, so were my parents
Here in Cordova on Prince William Sound
I'm not a treehugger but I love the mountains
And hauling in the gill net with the ocean all around
Life was good here, you could raise a family
With a hundred thousand tons of Herring sent out every year
1989, the tanker grounded
Nothing has ever been the same around here

Senator Stephens said not one drop
Of oil would spill on Alaska's shores
And if it happened it would be cleaned up
But our beaches were still covered, as was the ocean floor
Four years passed, each run collapsed
It was then we knew for sure the Herring weren't coming back
Exxon's promises of compensation
Were about as empty as a used up paper sack

It was August 20th, 1993
When we fishermen decided something must be done
We packed some groceries, we made some banners
We headed out to Valdez Narrows beneath the midnight sun
One hundred vessels took to the water
Pushed through a storm and to the Valdez sea
We lined up our boats, formed a blockade
And waited for whatever might be

A tanker was approaching
It was a sight to see there in the twilight of the day
We saw it turning and we all cheered and cried
As tanker after tanker after tanker turned away
A Coast Guard gunship from Seattle
Would take three days to get up to the sound
We held the line til then, then we went back
Home to Cordova, to this hallowed, oiled ground

I am a fisherman, so were my parents
Here in Cordova on Prince William Sound

Friday, December 3, 2010

David Rovics - The Internationale

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com/) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics for The Internationale:

Arise ye workers [starvelings] from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth [forthwith] the old tradition [conditions]
And spurn the dust to win the prize.

So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.

No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.

No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty [give up their booty]
And give to all a happier lot.
Each [those] at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.

David Rovics - Song for My Broken Heart

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com/) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This event was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Thursday, December 2, 2010

David Rovics - Behind the Barricades

Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies.

He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.

Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com/) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.

This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).

This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Lyrics to Behind the Barricades:

When the world has gone crazy
And it's all becoming clear
When they're gunning down our comrades
And it seems the end is near
As they're loading up the launchers
For the tear gas grenades
We can take off our bandanas (for a moment)
And kiss behind the barricades
When it's madness all around
You can see this at a glance
We will cry and we will sing
And we will laugh and we will dance
As they shout their marching orders
Beneath the helicopter blades
We will seize the moment
For a kiss behind the barricades
They will try to break our spirit
And at times they may succeed
But our love for the world
Is stronger than their greed
When the building is surrounded
And hope begins to fade
In my final hour
A kiss behind the barricades
As the movement grows
There will be hills and bends
But at the center of the struggle
Are your lovers and your friends
The more we hold each other up
The less we can be swayed
Here's to love and solidarity
And a kiss behind the barricades