This Week with David Rovics

A History of the World EPISODE 16

Listen to episode 16 first, or start at the beginning with episode 1 at davidrovics.com/ahistoryoftheworld.

2020-2022

• The Centers for Disease Control suspend evictions nationwide (“Don’t Pay the Rent”)

• New Zealand/Aotearoa becomes one of the very few places on Earth free of Covid-19 (“Aotearoa”)

• George Floyd is executed on camera, and protests and riots explode across the US (“As I Watch Minneapolis Burn”)

• Sustained protests take place across the US for months and millions of people say that Black lives matter (“Say Their Names”)

• The Trump administration declares Portland and Seattle to be “anarchist jurisdictions” (“Anarchist Jurisdiction”)

• Israel bombs Gaza again, with even bigger bombs than the last time (“Watch the Buildings Crumble”)

• Palestine Action forms in the UK and starts destroying Elbit Systems factories (“Smashing Elbit Systems”)

• There is a Heat Dome over Portland, Oregon and the temperature hits 116F/47C (“116 Degrees”)

• Russian invades Ukraine, and the US imposes sanctions on Russia (“This is Not a Trade War”)

• Georgia state police kill an activist named Tortuguita in a hail of bullets for trespassing (“Tortuguita’s Playlist”)

More episodes

This series basically ends here with 2022.  But for a lot of vitally important history on late 2023 and 2024, I have a three-part podcast series very much like this one which you can listen to at davidrovics.com/palestine.

"Deport the Billionaires" REMIX

Another brilliant remix from Chet Gardiner's studio in Hawai'i, of my most recent composition, "Deport the Billionaires."

A History of the World EPISODE 15

You can just listen to episode 15, or start at the beginning of the podcast series at davidrovics.com/ahistoryoftheworld.

2016-2020

• Thousands of people travel from all over to protest against the pipeline being put through the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota (“Standing Rock”)

• Grenfell Tower burns in London, killing 72 (“Names and Addresses”)

• White supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens (“Today in Charlottesville”)

• The state of Arizona cracks down further on those trying to keep refugees from dying on the border (“I Was a Stranger”)

• The Trump administration institutes the child separation policy on the US-Mexico border (“ICE”)

• Willem van Spronsen dies in an effort to prevent refugees from being deported in Tacoma, Washington (“The Time to Act”)

• The Great March of Return begins in Palestine on Land Day in 2018 (“Land Day”)

• Two-year-old refugee, Mawda Shawri, is killed by police in Belgium (“Mawda Was Her Name”)

• Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, is forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy and imprisoned at Belmarsh (“Behind These Prison Walls”)

• Stella Moris announces to the world that she and Julian have two children (“When Julian Met Stella”)

• Annual numbers of people dying on the streets of Los Angeles County exceeds 1,000 for the first time (“Living on the Streets of LA”)

• Bernie Sanders runs for president again and has his campaign sabotaged by the Democratic National Committee (“Bernie 2020”)

• Jason Hargrove becomes one of the first “essential workers” to die from Covid-19 in the US (“Essentially Expandable”)

• The Oregon Employment Department demonstrates itself to be completely unprepared for the Covid-19 emergency (“Ballad of the Oregon Employment Department”)

A History of the World EPISODE 14

Just listen to this episode, or start at the beginning with episode 1 at davidrovics.com/ahistoryoftheworld.

2013-2016

• Edward Snowden reveals the NSA's Prism Program to the world ("Prism")

• I am prevented from entering New Zealand on a mysterious basis ("Spies are Reading my Blog")

• Folks who smashed helicopter gunships with sledgehammers in Australia go on trial ("If I had a Hammer")

• There is a coup in Ukraine, and the Biden family gives the appearance of involvement ("A Biden Ballad")

• The police killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Jr. elicit marches across the US ("I Can't Breathe")

• A white supremacist commits a massacre at the oldest Black church in South Carolina ("The State House Lawn")

• A massacre on the Kenya-Somalia border is prevented ("One Day in Kenya")

• Hundreds of thousands of refugees flood into Europe from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere ("Upon Our Shores")

• The autonomous region of Rojava is established in northern Syria ("Rojava")

• Omid Masoumali immolates himself on the island of Nauru in an Australian internment camp ("Leila and Majnun")

• Jeremy Corbyn is elected leader of the British Labor Party ("I Agree with Jeremy")

• Donald Trump launches a campaign for the US presidency, and wins ("Make the Planet Earth Great Again")

 

New song: "Deport the Billionaires"

If we deported the billionaires and nationalized their wealth, the rest of the US could be twice as well-off at least. A much better deal than whatever benefit we're supposed to get from deporting our neighbors!

Why the Resistance Needs Music

Lots of folks are desperately wondering how we build the resistance.  If such efforts have any chance of success, history shows that it had better be a resistance that sings together.

Will the Real Wobbly Please Stand Up?

If you're a card-carrying member of the IWW or just Wobbly-adjacent, this message is for you.  (If you've never heard of the IWW, it's also for you.)

"Trump 2.0" REMIX

I think this will be the last track on the new album documenting the past few months of our collective jump from the frying pan to the fire.

New song: "Trump 2.0"

Moving on from the frying pan to the fire.

"Blinken's Last Press Conference" REMIX

Last Thursday, at Secretary of State Antony Blinken's last press conference, journalist Sam Husseini asked such pointed questions that they had to drag him out of the room.

Yet another brilliant remix from Chet Gardiner. Sometimes his remixes are full of musical activity, and other times they’re more understated, like this one. Always in service of the song. One more and we’ll put out the next album…