Protest Song

From Anti-Flag website:

We met the Donots during our first European tour, spring of 2002, when we toured with them and Millencolin. Almost automatically the Donots became great friends to us. They weren’t overtly political in their music like Anti-Flag, but it became evident very quickly that both bands shared very similar political points of view - especially regarding the idea that people of all nations must stop being manipulated into warfare by their governments. When the tour ended Ingo of the Donots and I kept in touch via email.

A few months before Anti-Flag’s Spring 2003 European Tour I had begun working on a new song which I hoped Anti-Flag would record acoustically and release on our website for free. The song idea wasn’t a new one for me, I wanted to write a song that encouraged people who liked our music and agreed with our message to take the next step: participate in political activism. Unfortunately, with time always in short supply I had never focused on such a song long enough to finish it. That changed with Bush’s impending terror war against Iraq. All of a sudden I found myself with a great sense of urgency to get the job done! So, the evening before the day of worldwide protests in February I sat down to finish the song no matter what! Luckily, the song writing came to me quickly and within a number of hours it was complete. The next step was to record it before Anti-Flag left for Europe... not an easy order to fill as we were leaving in 36 hours.

The next day, just as I was hatching a plan to record the song in the Pittsburgh, I received a message from Ingo of the Donots inquiring about meeting us in Germany for a visit. THAT’S WHEN IT HIT ME! After arriving in Germany, we could meet the Donots at a studio (somewhere in Germany, I had no idea where?), and record the song together! All of this probably on little or no sleep! GREAT IDEA JUSTIN! It would be an awesome opportunity for us to work with group of people we love and more importantly, it would symbolize the international unity that we have been promoting for so many years: two bands, one American, one German, working together to speak out against an act of state-sponsored terror.

I dropped Ingo a message that went something like this:

"Ingo. I have a crazy idea! When we get to Germany we’ll meet you guys and together we’ll record an anti-war song that I’ve written. Then we’ll release it on our web sites for free. I am leaving for Europe tomorrow, please respond asap. PEACE OUT- Justin Sane XOXO"

The next day I got on the plane hopeful that Ingo would receive my message in time, and with a little luck have an idea of where we might record. Upon landing in Germany we received a phone call from the Donots. They were excited by the idea and had booked four hours at a studio that was on the way to our second show. Step one complete, the plan was coming together...

After catching up on as much rest as possible, and then playing a great show in Hamburg, we set out on an overnight drive to meet the Donots. 10 a.m. came fast and hard! It actually hurt to get up... but we did. Both bands put all our heart and energy into what turned out to be a very raw and emotion packed four hours. The 4 hour time limit had us working at an intense pace: I showed everyone the song, I laid down a quick and savage acoustic guitar track, Ingo, #2, and I split up the lead vocal lines, then everyone (including our friends in ZSK (the German band we are currently touring with) pitched in on the choruses and hand claps. Considering the fact that no one had even heard the song I was very happy with the job everyone did. The time limit created an intense sense urgency that I believe really adds to the song, and speaks to the crisis at hand. It was do or die. There was no second chance, and we were all reconciled to releasing whatever we ended up with.

In the end it isn’t perfect, not even close. But I am proud of the effort and enthusiasm everyone put into it. It was very moving to be involved in a project with a group of amazing people from two countries, an effort where everyone worked together, made the best of a stressful time restriction, and worked quickly to resolve any conflicts and disagreements. It was truly a living illustration how beautiful and harmonious our world could be if those in power were actually interested in humanity and compassion instead of power and control.

Will you like this song or not? I don’t know. Honestly, making a song that people would or wouldn’t like wasn’t the goal of this project. The goal was try to compel you to act in some way (no matter how small!) the next time injustice is staring you in the face. I encourage you to start by taking to the streets in protest against this evil act of terror George W. Bush wants to carry out against the people of Iraq.

We do not believe the welfare of the Iraqi people is Bush’s concern. If the welfare of the Iraqi people was his concern there are diplomatic steps he could take to help them. Instead, he has categorically ruled those alternatives out, and proposed military action as the only alternative. Never mind that a military attack will kill thousands of Iraqi’s. Then Bush will install a ruling party in Iraq that does not care about the welfare of the Iraqi people either, but that is agreeable and subservient to US government and corporate interests.

We do not believe that Saddam Hussein is a military threat to the US, or anyone else outside of Iraq’s borders, as does Scott Ritter, the former UN Weapons Inspector who is extremely critical of the Bush Administration’s plans. Mr. Ritter has confirmed Iraqi allegations that the US was using the previous weapons inspections to spy on them by placing CIA agents in among the legitimate inspectors.

We do not believe that promoting democracy is the reason for Bush’s push for war. The Bush Administration doesn't want democracy in Iraq (unless it’s the kind of ‘democracy’ that they can control) because the majority of Iraqis are Shiite Muslims (rather than Sunni Muslims who currently control Iraq.) Iran is predominantly Shiite as well, and it is likely that a Shiite Iraq might ally itself with Iran.

Bush doesn't want self-determination for the Kurds, the group that Saddam Hussein gassed without so much as a peep of protest from our government, much to their consternation. It has been widely reported (even in the mainstream media) that the Kurds won’t get any meaningful role in a US controlled post-Hussein Iraq, or any redress to their grievances.

Bush’s war is a war for oil, a war for ego, and a war for profits. Bush’s ties to oil are obvious, settling the score for his father is obvious, and the dollar signs that blind him to the human suffering and death he is so eager to hand out are all too obvious. What we have to do is obvious too. We need to refuse and resist this illegal and immoral war. We need to protest against this illegitimate regime that has hijacked our democracy and return power where it belongs: with the people. We hope that you will join us.