A peace protester in Rochester, New York, USA, was arrested in September for playing a song called "Hey, Hey, USA: How Many Children Have You Killed Today?" at high volume outside a military recruitment office. He was fined for "disturbing the peace".
The moral of the story is that playing a political pop song is "disturbing the peace", but the US war machine's dropping of cluster bombs on Afghan kids is fine! Iraqi kids will be next.
The song in question was the work of Ginger Tom, a four-piece garage band from Newtown in Sydney. Ginger Tom describe themselves as a "blatantly political band who sound something like the Vines and Radio Birdman".
The description is apt, with lyrics like "I can't see merit in our status as a deputy sheriff taking marching orders from the USA/Can't you see there's something wrong to repress dissent with cluster bombs for a Christian crusade of a modern age?" and "You oughta see all the refugees from the Museum of American Atrocities/... I'd rather see some common sense arguments in parliaments rather than the armaments of racist wars".
"Hey, Hey, USA" has been picked up for a compilation of anti-war songs to be released in Britain for the Stop the War coalition. It will also include songs by Ani de Franco, Asian Dub Foundation, Jello Biafra, Billy Bragg and many other great acts. The song is also being played on college radio stations across the US.
Ginger Tom has produced an excellent four-track CD that presents their snappy thrash-folk-pop. As well as "Hey, Hey, USA", the CD includes "Elevator", catchy ode to inner-city alienation and "Coming Out Wrong" about student blues. "United" is a folky pro-union anthem which recently also was included on the Wobbly Radio/Unions NSW compilation CD, Mayday, Mayday: Songs of Solidarity.
The band states that its songs are free from copyright and it urges punters to record the CD for friends or download the songs from Ginger Tom's informative anti-war web site for free.
Green Left Weekly has four copies of Ginger Tom's CD to give away. The first four readers who phone Norm on (02) 9690 1220 after 3pm on November 20 will score a freebie.
Visit <http://www.gingertom.net> for details of Ginger Tom's coming gigs in Melbourne, Geelong, Canberra, Adelaide, Wollongong and Newcastle.
From Green Left Weekly, November 20, 2002.
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