PEACE MARCH 20 CREATIVE ARTIST ACTIVISTS - One from the past, one from the present…
March 21, 2008
Social marketing. There are so many articles on this today it’s not funny. But the term is co-opted by business as if business is the only socializing force there is. But social marketing can mean something else and one of the first social marketers was one of the most innovative, most inspiring and in many respects his spirit inspires the Free Articulator.
“There had never been anything like it. It was completely original. The conscious use of one’s myth to project a political social and poetic goal, it had never happened before.” - David Fenton, Photographer. (From “The US vs. John Lennon” - watch it for free)
Celebrity culture appears today to have a corporate preoccupation with selling products, goods and services. This is particularly true of those celebrities whose faces move magazines, propel fashion (and its ills of the fur trade for example), and promote politicians into power they abuse. Celebrity cultism is such a cash cow now that it dominates marketing. “It didn’t used to be that way.”
“If I’m going to get on the front page, I might as well get on it with the word ‘Peace’.” - John Lennon
Once again we see a subversion of attention away from important issues towards services, goods, products that create a preponderance of debt and uncertainty leading to economic prosperity for a few and poverty for everybody else. This is the art of distraction and the Mainstream Media (MSM) is excellent at it, so good at it now that they pass off the most outrageous lies with apparent impunity.
Social marketing media today though, does something else entirely, it almost embodies this idea,
“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time someone stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” - Robert F. Kennedy
… a fabulous quote (because of the truth it contains that is fundamental to free society), that my good friend, Maarten, often used to characterize Allforart in its infancy, we’re still crawling Maarten and we do not want to lose the wonder of the child of five!
RFK’s quote has continuously driven me and others to work on this particular project. And today the Free Articulator gave a shout to the world, and it sent out a message that is even now rippling through the ether and returning positive messages of support, hope and determination to end war, fix the planet.
The power of ideas whose time have come is enormous, but not until the advent of the internet and social marketing could we really set out with determination to do more powerful things.
One from the Past, John Lennon
“That somebody of his caliber, had decided ‘Hell, I’m not just going to stand still and do nothing while the world around me is in flames, I’m going to do something.’ And so that action that he and Yoko did was of course attacked and mocked and there were contemptuous articles written about them, but on our generation it had a fantastic effect. I remember it being absolutely fantastic. I remember thinking ‘At last! Well done! Great!’” - Tariq Ali, Radical Activist/Journalist
John Lennon changed the world with his songs and his presence in so many ways. He used celebrity and demonstrated to us all that fame generated through art could be used for good, and not just commercial product endorsement.
With Yoko Ono John established so many new trends and this legacy has been kept alive and expanded. Yoko Ono’s own websites and activism is legendary and extensive.
I was stunned when researching this particular article that I found out that John and Yoko founded the Bagism movement, which addresses visual discrimination, judging people by how they look or appear to be instead of on their merits. Sometimes I’m pretty certain I’m living in a bag - consumerized of course.
By catching the attention of the masses with its outlandish premise, bagism presented a powerful social and political message to the world. As Lennon stated, “Yoko and I are quite willing to be the world’s clowns, if by doing it we do some good.”
As a songwriter I know the lyric carries the message, the music is the carrier wave that opens the door through emotion and feeling to your mind, and that’s a place I enter with care and respect for who you are, every time. A dear friend once said to me as we discussed music:
“Genre is not important, the status of the artist in question rarely interests me, it is the lyrics that often mean the most. Music is about communicating, it is another form of language, so the lyrics must speak to me as a fellow human. The arrangement of music and harmony can been viewed as a vehicle, something that facilitates and carries the message within those lyrics.” Emmah L. Williams, writer and socio-cultural activist Engender Truth
In the song title that decorates the banner for Peace Movement 20, Give Peace a Chance Lennon sings “Everybody’s talkin’ about Bagism, Shagism, dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism, This-ism, That-ism, ism, ism, ism.”
What does such a lyric do? It points out that a simple message must cut through the noise of other unimportant things that are a distraction to the real issues we need to focus on.
You could spend many weeks researching and tracking the undying legacy of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s activism. I think that’s a demonstrable commitment of the incredible power of creative individuals to do good and have a lasting impact on society - every one of us.
That sets an example that has continued to inspire others to do good, it established an ideal that was unprecedented and it rattled the corridors of power and establishment in a way that was and still is absolutely vital to the health and well-being of the human race. That creative ideal has slipped over the last 30-40 years declining into a corruption of the perception of artists, and that has been driven by corporate involvement in an industry that to service mankind and humanity best needs to be free of the encumbrance of enterprise as represented by corporations, who exploit more than dreams.
The independence of artists, their development as savvy entrepreneurs is a necessary preliminary to reverse the corruption of civilization and put humanity back on track. We need to be the masters of our own fates, not dancing to the tunes of the Elite, who plunder all that is good and leave nothing but decay in their wake. Such is the dogma of dollars.
John Lennon…and Yoko Ono…”one from the past”? No, I don’t really think that at all, the legacy of social, cultural, political and peaceful creative activism is still with us, the message of Imagine, War-is-Over, and other remarkable ideals continue to inspire a handful of ‘rebellious’ copyleft activists who grok what it means to have a heart, and do good in life. Thank you, John, thank you, Yoko.
Let’s fast forward from 1969…brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp!
One from the present - Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong
End War. Fix Planet. The name “Green Day” says much and I really didn’t make the connection other than…(cough)…organically right in this moment of penning this article. But there are other organic connections which demonstrate the depth of Green Day’s commitment to idealism and the important issues of the day.
American Idiot was the first song that drew my attention to Green Day. It just rocked me out. The slashing guitar symbolized my frustration with America as it is. The moving When September Ends told me that this band was also compassionate, but the video cleverly made the association to the ideals of the Sixties which captured my mind and set me on the lifelong path of becoming the Creative Artist Activist I am today. In a very real sense the art, music and cultural ideas of the Sixties inspired me to become a Free Articulator.
Billie Joe Armstrong and his band-mates are powerful singer-songwriters.
When you look to the band’s songs you see many creative connections and a great deal of powerful independent idealism at work.
Working Class Hero the connection is obvious. To choose such a song is a declaration of connection to a powerful idea. The song explores the hypocrisy of society and that hypocrisy is still alive and kicking today, the song just as relevant today as it was the day Lennon wrote it.
But Green Day is not shy of controversy, which is a topic we’ll be looking at, at a later time as it has something to do with marketing and promoting. Social marketing is in particular a part of being a Creative Artist, and it is instantly realized as authentic or false by people, though some have trouble making up their minds and others never do. No such authenticity problems with Two-Dollar Bill, you can feel the passion in his vocal delivery and that says to me that he is passionate, but even if he isn’t then I don’t care, because the song does the work it should do to make me think, feel and determine who I am for myself. Not an American idiot, that’s for sure. Perhaps I’m a Kiwi one.
This is part of what great art does, it offers alternatives to established realities, it offers ideals and ideas. Note the key words, it offers. Great art does not create, promote or support a dogma. It promotes a rationale, and that rationale can be so hated by those who are irrational, that they will then do practically anything to shut up or control the voice of reason and there’s no rhyme to that but that it shakes the corridors of power.
Billie’s band Pinhead Gunpowder tells me even more about the nature of the man. The name says he wants to explode people’s thinking and make them aware. That’s what great art does. It challenges our thinking, and it ultimately keeps our minds working.
Green Day and the songs and the band’s many side projects demonstrate obvious consistent commitments to issues.
The anthem American Idiot (vid) is courageous, bold, and legitimate as the world now knows. It practically legitimized American-bashing and frankly, Americans needed to be (symbolically) bashed back into sensibility by such a song. For me, this sort of creativity in music and other works of art embodies the challenge to not-thinking as the song’s lyric characterizes with such damning energy, and encourages the liberation of the intellect. Quite apart from that it’s just a song that groks! That it was criticized as anti-American misses the point of the song entirely, but it surely helps fuel a controversy.
That the Idiot Club has been formed and is up and running says much about the band’s and the fans’ commitment to not being idiots. The very song itself calls for Americans to stop being the idiots they have been over the bulk of the last century. The song freely articulates and calls for liberation as you can see in the lyric. It’s no-nonsense anti-establishment at a time the world needs it most.
The band is committed to a partnership with the following organizations:
- Amnesty International - committed to Darfur
- NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) a group started by Robert Redford and one which many at Allforart support and have participated in.
Since June of 2007 Green Day’s merchandise has been of benefit to Amnesty International’s Save Darfur campaign.
But the very name of the band is itself at once a protest and an urge towards the future we all desire. It does all this with provocative ass-kicking lyrics and sensitive gut-wrenching chord-crunching that grabs you by the oscillating butt in one hand and the head in the other! As if that’s not enough it kicks yer feet into gear and almost rips the clutch out of your heart with an endorphin-adrenalin cocktail!
Makes me wanna party!
Resistance is….Brilliance! Er…Idiocy…Uh?
Of course the message - Don’t wanna be an American idiot - totally opposes the work done by the prevailing American mythology pushed by the media and the art & entertainment networks that leads to a nation in deep trouble on every front: internally, externally, socially, politically, domestically, economically and internationally. For Americans to create and produce such a song is a sign of healthy resistance. Not a great one, but a hopeful one. That voice helps to galvanize and is a kind of social marketing that no social marketing network will ever quite approach or match. Faciliate? Sure. But match? I doubt it.
My only concern with Green Day is their tie to a mega-corp through Reprise, which was once an independent label started in 1958 by Frank Sinatra, who embodied creative principles:
“One of the label’s founding principles under Sinatra’s leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work; including publishing rights.” - Wikipedia
Sinatra sold Reprise to Warner Bros.
Green Day’s Activism
- The cover of Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” is available on iTunes. Green Day donated the song to the Instant Karma CD, and proceeds support The Campaign To Save Darfur, an Amnesty International’s campaign to focus attention on the urgent catastrophe in Darfur, Sudan. “Working Class Hero,” which appears on Lennon’s 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, is considered one of the former Beatle’s most overtly political songs, with its themes of class and social alienation. Green Day will also shoot an accompanying video for the track.
- Green Day are working with NRDC, encouraging their fans and other activists to support one of the most effective lobbies for defense of the planet. Video here. The official site states:
“The latest news for our planet is pretty grim. Scientists are saying that if we don’t take action now to slow global warming then the polar ice cap will be completely gone in 35 years. Good-bye polar bears, hello catastrophic hurricanes and droughts. We are taking action to stop greedy corporations and short-sighted governments from destroying our environment, and we want our fans to join us.”
- A Green Day bike was auctioned to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Greater Los Angeles.
I could be very cynical about such things, but the fact is that Green Day are doing it. Thus, I admire them and support them, and am glad to see the connection between Lennon and Armstrong moving everything forward so that we can string a line from the past into the present, into a better future.
“The more activists we have with us, the more chance we have to slow global warming and protect our last wild places.” - Green Day
The Effort We Need to Make Life Sustainable
As I have studied this civilization and what it is doing to itself, I have come to this conclusion, the effort to truly make life on earth sustainable is simply not urgent enough. We need to pump up the volume and we need to make peace happen so we can safely, as the human race cooperate to manage catastrophic climate change.
In my view, the vast sums of money being consumed by the warmongers year after year, day after day in wars that are without any moral imperative whatsoever is utterly insane. That we continue to allow this to happen instead of demanding an end to it now is sheer folly. It is not enough to get the US to stop this arms build up, all nations must stop it, and right now it seems to me that this waste of money on military expenditure is utter folly. Let’s demand peace by March 20, 2009. I really mean: END WAR. And then FIX OUR PLANET. With the resources wasted on war applied to the development of sustainability we would have a real chance. Let’s make it happen.
“They scare people into fighting wars we need not fight, sometimes must fight but by and large not. Why not sing about human community, sing about love, sing about peace? and suddenly that is a frightening voice to the people who want to hear the Battle Hymn of the Republic over and over again, ‘And their eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the lord,’ ” - Gore Vidal, Author
~
“I hope one day you will join us.” - John Lennon
We did. Now it’s your turn. Help us imagine. Help us create. Subscribe, support, contribute, donate to the groups these artists are supporting if you are not already. But make their efforts even more worthwhile and possible - demand an end to war. We cannot develop a sustainable lifestyle while the military are busy wasting resources and threatening life. Peace by March 20, 2009. We can do it.
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