This Week with David Rovics

Mark Cronin sings "Behind These Prison Walls"

Australian musician Mark Cronin shared with me his rendition of my song about imprisoned Australian journalist, Julian Assange, "Behind These Prison Walls," and I had to share it with you, because it's gorgeous. Looking forward to being in Australia again myself very soon!

New song: "The Ballad of the USS Liberty"

57 years ago this week, the Israeli military tried to sink an American ship and kill all the crew -- knowing full well that's exactly what they were doing.

Mass Media, Social Media, and the New Civil War

How close are we to being in the movie?

"I Heard A Rumor" REMIX

A song for all those canceled or awaiting cancellation, I wrote it last year, and Chet Gardiner has just made it much more relevant with some brilliant instrumentation.

Blockout 2024 and the Star-Making Machinery

In light of the Blockout 2024 social media campaign, some thoughts on celebrity.

"Poor People's March on Washington" REMIX

There is a widespread belief that the FBI was not just running a character assassination campaign on Martin Luther King, Jr., but that they were also directly culpable for his murder. There is also a widespread belief that the reason why they escalated their campaign to the point of killing him was that the establishment was deeply worried about the unifying impact of MLK's active plans to lead a huge occupation of Washington, DC of a broad cross-section of poor Americans who were to stay until victory. A symbolic version of his vision was enacted, a month after his death, as it happened, but it was nothing like the campaign he had planned to lead.

This rendition of the song I wrote earlier this month was enhanced by Chet Gardiner's banjo, bass and other instruments from his studio in Hawai'i.

"Hani Mahmoud and Tareq Abu Azzoum" REMIX

As I sit here, most of the journalists still reporting from Gaza seem to be somewhere in a hospital complex in Rafah that is currently under siege by the Israeli military. This song is not a prediction of their deaths, but rather a plea for their lives.

"My Techno-Fascist God" REMIX

Out of the ashes of the free internet, our techno-fascist future has arrived, with billionaires and their algorithms in control of our means of communication and our very minds. Here's Chet Gardiner's remixed rendition of the song.

New song: "Since Long Before October"

And now watch them justify the missiles that they sent
To bomb the starving children dying in their tents

Fear and Suspicion in the Northwest

Amidst all the solidarity is the unavoidable observation there is a whole lot of fear and suspicion making sure it's unlikely to spread.