Category: Music & Art

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the filthy politicians: I Don’t Think We’re Smart

This track from the Modern Man album by the filthy politicians echoes much of the wisdom expressed in the recently featured video Earth: Land Is Life. The song argues that our modern notions of “progress” have led us far off track from relationships with the human and non-human animals around us. It ends in a call to fight on the side of life and resist civilization and its destruction. Truly music for a culture of resistance.

Listen to this track and read the lyrics below, and hear more songs at the filthy politicians on bandcamp and at the filthy politicians on soundcloud.

we think we’re so smart it’s funny

not much wisdom but damn we got money

we’re just animals like everybody else

but we’ve learned to like to destroy ourselves

so if i could i would trade it all

fuck science let the chips fall

where they may – control is an illusion

toaster ovens and nuclear fusion

don’t get us anywhere but further away

from livin life in a natural way

we’re relatively new to the forest

gotta learn from the ones here before us

we’re the younger brother of all the other species

but we quit listenin and now it’s easy

to see how far off the track we are

gotta get back there’s a map in the stars

so we’ll start by tearin down the street lights

let bright days turn into bright nights

take old wrongs make new rights

as we dance on the grave of the ways of our old life

cuz right now we take and we don’t give back

if you want to survive then you can’t do that

you can’t pollute, poison an plunder

cuz if you bring lightning you’re gonna get thunder

and right now we’re flailing, about to go under

alarms are wailing and it makes you wonder

how we don’t hear it?

maybe it’s cuz now it’s too loud

and the waves are crashing down all around

so we can’t decipher the sounds anymore

i don’t think we’re smart

because we found new ways now to tear the earth apart

it’s gettin bigger but it ain’t gettin better

the writing’s on the wall in bright red letters

big dump trucks, sky scrapers

chemical factories, all earth rapers

agriculture means fightin nature

imposin our will like a legislature

we’ve wiped out the ones who were content

to live with the earth the way that we were meant to

so we gotta look back if we wanna learn new

ways to relate to the earth that we’ve burned through

it’s time for restoration

of the earth and our human relations

cuz we ain’t happy here in hierarchy

we’re better as equals i ain’t lyin b

but we’ve been chasin a ghost

ignoring the things that we need the most

like clean air, water, and community

civilization has enjoyed immunity

while all these kings and queens

get off scott free as we eat the memes

that you better not resist this just go along

they got armies and guns they’re too strong

but fuck that i’m learning

can’t sit back, won’t be a good german

and watch this holocaust any longer

choose life and we’ll all be stronger

cuz right now we’re slaves diggin our own graves

the earth we need’s the earth we pave

so we gotta wake up, wake up, wake up

then we gotta take up, take up, take up

the war of our ancestors and end it

so we can save our descendants

the filthy politicians: 200 Species Every Day

The song “200 Species Every Day” by the filthy politicians is a fictional scene straight out of the Decisive Ecological Warfare strategy advocated by Deep Green Resistance: a pair of activists carrying out well-planned and strategic attacks on infrastructure, in this case combining arson of a power station with raids on corporate offices to trash their crucial data.

As the filthy politicians ask in the preamble, “Why the fuck hasn’t this happened yet?”

Listen to this track and read the lyrics below, and hear more songs at the filthy politicians on bandcamp and at the filthy politicians on soundcloud.

yeah she said look at it now it’s like

everything is always spinnin around

and what’s hard to believe with your feet on the ground

is that we’re flyin through space not makin a sound

yeah, let me tell you about a ride and a journey

a small town girl on a midnight train

goin anywhere with a city boy destroyin

everything so they can breath again

cuz life don’t fit in a cubicle

lookin out the window damn that’s beautiful

fuck that we ain’t goin back said sally

take my hand we’ll take the back alley

we’ll take it all back from the peak to the valley

i wanna burn it all down, shall we

but i don’t wanna knock off gas stations

no we’re goin for the corporations

there’a power station we could blow

nobody’s out there, no one’s gonna know

until we’re in the next town down the road

where i know a safe place that we can lay low

she said just two people could cut the power

to the whole city for 38 hours

then dress up like police officers

then we got access to every office

her smile was so bright and life was such a mess

that he couldn’t think of anything else

and the word that he heard himself say was yes

yeah, she knew him long enough to trust him

but didn’t wanna risk it if they got busted

so she kept the network to herself

cuz what he didn’t know, yo he couldn’t tell

so they planned it out, got it all together

to the decimal everything down to the weather

no cell phones, no booze, shaved heads

no DNA, no trace for the feds

wasn’t hard to cop a cop uniform

the gangs were on that one long before

they got timed charges for the transformers

with a little dynamite for the corners

all sourced out yo paid in cash

it’s not that hard to build a stash

in a land where everyone has a gun

america manufactured his own crash

so they stole a car from a rich family

that was on vacation

on a beach at a resort in some starving

so called third world nation

then they drove out to the hills

satellites the cloudy night killed

they rehearsed enough, didn’t have to think

they cut the fence, just plain chain link

it only took them half an hour

then they were on their way

back to the city where she put on a wig

and they slipped on the costumes of the pig

they strolled out of that parking garage

left one last charge in the trunk of the dodge

they watched the fire as it rose up in the hills

then came the darkness and they both got chills

she waited for the look in his eyes when

he saw another fire on the other horizon

he knew she hadn’t told him for the right reasons

about the others, but he couldn’t believe it

so he asked her how many?

she said just enough to stand a chance, if any

but lets get in there, get what we came for

hard drives smashed all over the floor

then back out, on to the next one

darkness had never been this fun

they came to call it the great resetting

in an effort to address the great forgetting

life was under attack for so long

they had to fight back before it was gone

status quo had to go

everybody knew it deep down in their bones

so you better get ready for shit to go down

they’re on their way they’re in the next town

ya you better get ready for shit to go down

they’re on their way, they’re in the next town

Stephanie McMillan poster: Affirmations for Revolutionary Proletarian Militants

Support Stephanie McMillan’s work, and stay motivated to fight to change the world, with her new poster with 20 inspirational messages!

$19 — FREE shipping in US (international shipping is an ADDITIONAL amount; please add it from Stephanie McMillan’s shop)





Captions:

1. Contentment is for people in denial. I do not accept social injustice, exploitation, or ecocide.
2. My purpose is not for petty gains, but for radical social transformation.
3. I’m committed to the struggle for the long haul. It isn’t a game or hobby; it’s my life.
4. When I face a choice, I decide what to do based on the interests of the revolution.
5. I take every opportunity to help people understand the nature of the system and to join the struggle.
6. I don’t engage in self-destructive habits. I remain strong and alert for the struggle.
7. I am willing to listen to constructive criticism, so I can rectify my errors.
8. I avoid distractions and focus on my fundamental goal.
9. The problem is not me; it is the global capitalist/imperialist system.
10. I don’t blame individuals for social problems. Yet it is our responsibility for ending the system that causes them.
11. Everyone has a skill, talent, experience or insight that can contribute to the struggle.
12. I surround myself with sincere people who share common goals of ending exploitation and domination.
13. We will never be satisfied with reforms to the existing system. Our goal is nothing less than a classless and sustainable society.
14. Even when I’m alone, I stand up for what I understand to be true.
15. I do not avoid struggle; it is how people and history advance.
16. I don’t argue for argument’s sake. Instead I engage in political struggle so as to better understand reality.
17. Our nature is cooperative. If we work collectively, we can overcome the system that is crushing us.
18. I don’t jump to premature conclusions. Before making a judgment I investigate a matter fully.
19. I realize my loved ones are ideologically dominated, and have compassion for them as I struggle with them.
20. As I face each day, I determine my priorities, based on my long-term goal of proletarian revolution.

Videos recommended by Deep Green Resistance

We’ve compiled lists of videos we recommend to those learning about radical history and resistance, from presentations by DGR members to fictional films. We have two sets of lists. Enjoy!

Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel features resistance videos with Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Aric McBay, and other DGR members. You’ll also find non-DGR films and music videos with anti-civ analysis and themes of resistance.

  • Trailers for upcoming DGR films
  • DGR Workshop Presentations
  • DGR Presentations at PIELC (Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, OR)
  • DGR Authors (Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay) giving various presentations
  • Other DGR members on various speaking tours
  • Radical Feminism
  • Resistance & Anti-civilization Films
    • Resistance – Contemporary
    • Fictional Resistance & Anti-Civ
    • Resistance – Historical
    • Indigeneity
    • Civilization: The Problem
  • Resistance Radio: audio interviews by Derrick Jensen
  • Music videos

We also have a set of Deep Green Resistance IMDB lists. These don’t include any actual video clips, but do provide more information on the films, including reviews by other people.

  • The Problem of Civilization – Big Picture
  • The Problem of Civilization – Specific Issues
  • Resistance – Contemporary
  • Resistance – Historical
  • Resistance – World War II
  • Resistance – Fictional
  • Indigeneity
  • Feminism
  • Historical & Political Documentaries
  • Restoration & Nature Documentaries
  • Animal Rights
  • Fictional anti-civilization films

Zack de la Rouda: environmental/conscious hip-hop

Zack de la Rouda, a “Poet, singer, songwriter, rhapsodist, activist, rewilder, homesteader-in-training”, has released several albums plus miscellaneous tracks, full of rewilding and anti-civ sentiments with hip-hop beats. Explore his music, most downloadable for free, at Zack de la Rouda at Bandcamp.

To get you started, here’s “(Live Like) We’re Dying”, with a chorus advising:

we gotta start looking at the hands on the time we been given

if this is all we got then we gotta start thinking that

every second counts on a clock that’s ticking

we need to live like we’re dying

we only got 86,400 seconds in the day

to turn it all around or to throw it all away

gotta tell ’em that we love ’em while we got the chance to say

we need to live like we’re dying

Stephanie McMillan: Art Is a Weapon in the Battle of Ideas

Grassroots organizer Stephanie McMillan does important anti-capitalism work with One Struggle, and uses political cartoons as one vehicle towards social and environmental justice. You can watch a video of her from a recent event, in which she presents a very general overview and polemic about political art, the relationship of culture and politics, and the need for explicitly revolutionary art as a vital component of a revolutionary movement.

How does culture advance political aims? How do we use our art to challenge capitalism/imperialism? Why does the bourgeoisie love abstract expressionism?

These were some of the questions I addressed a couple weeks ago at a One Struggle event in Fort Lauderdale, in a slideshow presentation called “Art is a Weapon in the Battle of Ideas.”

Also see Stephanie McMillan’s upcoming events, including a presentation in Florida, conference calls, and this year’s Earth At Risk in San Francisco.

Music videos by The Filthy Politicians

The Filthy Politicians write smart, hard-hitting lyrics eloquently arguing against consumerism, misogyny, colonialism, abuse of the environment, and civilization in general. DGR Great Basin member Max Wilbert wrote a review of The Filthy Politicians album “Modern Man.” View their music videos below (warning: some graphic photos in “Party in the USA” and in “The Un Free Trade”) or download their music from Soundcloud and Bandcamp:

Addict

Miley Cyrus Remix: Party in the USA

Smoke

The Un Free Trade

The Business (As Usual)

Beehive Collective: The True Cost of Coal

The Beehive Collective draws amazingly intricate and detailed graphics showing stories of Biotechnology threats, globalization in the Americas, and “The True Cost of Coal”. You could spend hours studying the poster and its interwoven tale of the effects of coal on mountains, valleys, wildlife, and human communities. Enjoy this and the many other posters at the Beehive Collective website!

To Be a Warrior Poet – Reflections on an attempted suicide

Will Falk, a Deep Green Resistance member in San Diego CA, tried to commit suicide a year ago, seeing that as his best chance to escape the crushing weight of student debt, relatively meaningless work, and disconnection from the natural world. Will has since found meaning in writing and in action to protect the natural world. He calls on artists to use their skills to support all those fighting on the side of life.

The world is burning at an ever-faster pace. We are at war. Many of us may be imprisoned, tortured, raped and ultimately killed. Before I tried to kill myself, I let myself wander too far with clogged ears deaf to the friends – both human and non-human – that fill this world with meaning.

Armed with my experiences, I know that art can – and must be – a weapon used in defense of the world. Art can help us listen to what the natural world is telling us. Art can also give us the strong hearts we are going to need to face and stop the horrors that stand before us.

Read the rest of To Be a Warrior Poet.

Cartoons Against Capitalism

Cartoons may seem like a questionable choice of medium for conveying complex political theory, organizational strategy, and scathing critique of mainstream movements, But then, if you feel that way, you must not have read the work of Stephanie McMillan.

 

McMillan, a cartoonist based out of Florida in the United States, has two main cartoons. The first, Minimum Security, is a daily comic strip in the form of a long-form narrative, about a group of friends trying to stop ecocidal maniacs from destroying the Earth. The second, Code Green, began in August 2009 as a weekly editorial cartoon focused on the environmental emergency.

 

From the author, Stephanie McMillan:

“I’ve been thinking of quitting drawing “Code Green,” my weekly editorial cartoon about the environmental emergency. My income from paying clients has crashed; if I’m going to continue it, it needs to be supported by readers. So I’ve started a fundraising campaign.

I’m not going to be pushing this much at all. This is the only post I’m going to make about it. I’m okay with quitting this cartoon. But because some readers seemed dismayed when I talked about quitting, I didn’t feel right about ending it without giving you a chance to keep it going.”

 

Support Stephanie McMillan’s Code Green here: http://www.indiegogo.com/codegreen