All You Fascists Bound To Lose

I don't pretend to be an expert in politics, and am rarely one to preach, but I have been raised well enough to know fascism when I see it.

That said, Thursday's Question Time, whilst being quite entertaining at times, was largely a waste of time in my opinion. Or wasted opportunity would perhaps be a better representation. It was too easy to sit and gang up on Nick Griffin, and with the majority of the crowd behind them I thought the panel lost focus trying to score points off eachother, especially on the subject of immigration which is a key subject in the BNP's rise into the mainstream. While Griffin didn't offer anything of particular value to the argument, the petty squabbling between the other politicians, I suspect, will have been what stuck in the minds of his sympathisers.

Griffin squirmed and dropped himself in it a couple of times as we'd hoped / expected (none more so than the darkly comical defence of David Duke as a member of an "almost totally non-violent" faction of the KKK). He was also cut off far too often though and while I doubt he'll have gained support from last night's showing, I don't think enough was made of the opportunity to deprive him of any of his current support, or that of the disillusioned that voted him in as 'the only other option'.

I won't go on, this isn't a political blog, and there's those a lot more knowledgable and eloquent than myself to take care of such matters. Music, protest & politics however have gone hand in hand for years, hence today's playlist...

Protest & Politics - Download


Manu Chao Politik Kills
The Impressions Choice Of Colours
Toots & The Maytals Revolution
Neil Young Southern Man
Ryan Adams Political Scientist
Jackson Browne Lives In The Balance
Tracy Chapman Across The Lines
Bright Eyes When The President Talks To God
Bob Dylan Masters Of War
Woody Guthrie This Land Is Your Land
Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger Draft Dodger Rag
Bruce Springsteen The Promised Land
Rory McLeod Stop The Apartheid Fascists
The Clash White Riot
Billy Bragg & Wilco All You Fascists
Ian Brown So Many Soldiers


PS - Re: 'The only other option'...there is an alternative. Spoil your paper, it'll say a lot more about what you think of matters.