#protest songs

It was a funny few weeks, with 70 people shot in Hong Kong and arrests obviously in Moscow; Chile now at the moment also. And I was thinking, forget about subtle art — what is not subtle is this murder of protesters, and what is not subtle is the jackboot coming down in Orwell’s picture of the future: ‘If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face forever,’ that chilling quote from 1984. I was just thinking, yeah, f— it, it’s not subtle, but let’s do it.

Woody Guthrie by Al Aumuller, circa 1942 - 'This Machine Kills Fascists' sticker on his Gibson (This guitar has never been found and is considered to many as the “Holy Grail” of vintage guitars.)

I'm American, so I guess this is an evergreen post. But felt inspired this weekend because *gestures vaguely* ... anyway, fuck ICE.

For the 2025 leg of the Unreal Unearth tour, Hozier had screens above the stage listing a bunch of protest songs during "Nina Cried Power," fitting since his song is a tribute to other protest songs. I also noticed the screens stopped when vocalist Amanda Brown came up to sing Mavis Staples' verse, which I appreciated.