This Week with David Rovics

The Ministry of Culture on WZRD

On Thursday evening we dropped by the studio of WZRD community radio in Chicago for an impromptu set, which they broadcast live. They also recorded most of it, and here it is...

Anita Barrows and the Ministry of Culture on Flashpoints

Most of August 14th, 2024's edition of Flashpoints -- the daily news and information show hosted by Dennis Bernstein on KPFA Community Radio in Berkeley, California -- was dedicated to music and poetry related to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The segment consists of Kamala Emanuel and me going back and forth with the absolutely breath-takingly powerful poet, Anita Barrows, who has written a poem every day since the genocide began in October.

What Spotify, Facebook, and the International Monetary Fund Have in Common

I don't know how it took me so long to notice this, but Spotify and Facebook, among other gigantic tech corporations, are using the IMF's playbook as their business model.

I HEARD A RUMOR album guided tour

Here's the archived, audio edition of the guided tour of the upcoming album, I HEARD A RUMOR. The guided tour was livestreamed earlier today. The album drops on all the music streaming platforms on August 1st.

New song: "Woomera (Free the Refugees)"

Many of the Australians I know who are now in their forties or older participated in the convergence on the Woomera detention center for refugees just after Easter, 2002.  It was a protest that became especially legendary because it was during this protest that a successful breakout of refugees detained in the facility took place.

It would be hard to overstate what an impact this protest, and the Woomera Breakout, seems to have had on both Australian refugee policies going forth, as well as elsewhere in the world that I have witnessed.  Off-shoring refugees as well as dramatically increasing security measures at such facilities in many different countries followed.  But the Woomera Breakout inspired many, and continues to do so.  Many of those refugees who escaped detention then are still free people today, known collectively as the Skippies.

"The Murdered and the Missing (Song for Chelsea Poorman)" REMIX

Yesterday I wrote a song about the murdered and missing indigenous women of Canada, and one in particular. Kamala and I recorded it with one microphone here in Australia, and in less than 24 hours, Chet in Hawai'i has delivered a gorgeous remix.

New song: "Chelsea Poorman"

One among the ranks of the thousands of missing or murdered indigenous women in Canada who I learned about recently is Chelsea Poorman, found dead in Vancouver, BC after being missing for 18 months.

"Divide and Rule" REMIX

Chet Gardiner has delivered a wonderful, old-timey remix of this song I just wrote, which shall be included in our ever-expanding upcoming album, to be titled I Heard A Rumor.

The song may or may not be the best song I've ever written. Judging from the vast majority of comments thus far, most people understand where I'm coming from here. Especially folks who have read some of the essays I've been writing related to social engineering.

But to clarify for those who aren't sure what I'm trying to say in this song: I don't at all mean to be suggesting that having an opinion or doing something about each of the issues mentioned in the verses is unimportant. Just that these issues are some of the issues that are being methodically used by the entities that control the social media matrix of hegemonic control that we all live in these days as useful tools for keeping us constantly engaging in circular arguments with each other, and thus rendered totally useless.

New song: "Rent Strike"

Key factors to a successful rent strike include people doing it at the same time, and being organized for collective action when the cops come to try to evict. It worked in the 1930's, but since then society and the laws have backtracked a whole lot.

New song: "Divide and Rule"

Ever feel like a marionette whose strings are being pulled by billionaires who like to watch their puppets form circular firing squads? Me, too.