---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 06:27:15 -0800
From: karen sloane <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]

Friends.....  the following is a "rush transcript" of the interview between
Michael Franti of Spearhead and Amy Goodman of the DemocracyNow! radio
program of pacifica radio (link follows).  This interview took place just a
few days ago on March 27th.  I think it is CRUCIAL that we remain aware of
the issues REALLY facing us both as a nation and as free people in the world
who have the interest of ALL people in the world in our minds and our
concsiousnesses.  I believe that things are much scarier than we realize, as
Michael Franti's bandmates experience well illustrates below.  It is
critical NOW that we not allow ourselves to be swayed by fear, oppression,
rhetoric, propaganda or any other of the tools so freely being used by our
own government in an effort to sugar-coat and whitewash what they are doing
in our names.  Be fearless.....  be honest....  be real.  And pray, because
now is the time.

Peace and Love for all....
Karen
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Hip Hop Artist Michael Franti Speaks Out on U.S. Government Surveillance of
his Band and MTV Self-Censorship

“There’s a lot of us who are now making a blip on the radar… [the government
is] starting to pay attention and collect information”

“Our label received a letter, a mass e-mail from MTV instructing the fact
that no videos could be shown that mentioned the word bombing or war.”

NOTE: THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT

DEMOCRACY NOW! March 27, 2003

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! Host: For nearly a decade hip-hop artist and
activist Michael Franti has been a leading progressive voice in music. He
grew out of the Bay area music and political scene of the 90’s and in 1986
he founded the drum and bass duo “The Beatniks” paving the way for his next
musical endeavor “The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy”. His most recent
musical project is the musical collective “Spearhead” begun in 1994 and he’s
used his music to push social boundaries, speaks out against sexual
violence, encourages his community to prevent the spread of HIV and has been
very vocal in his opposition to war. And now it maybe the reason why the
government is looking at him and his group Spearhead. Welcome to Democracy
Now Michael.

Michael Franti: Hi Amy.

Amy Goodman: It’s good to have you with us. Can you talk about what’s been
happening as you’ve been touring the country with songs like “Bomb da
World.”

Michael Franti: Well we’ve been touring for the last year and a half
performing that song and everywhere we go it gets standing ovations, people
begin to cry. People are just very grateful to hear any voice out there
right now who are speaking in support of peace and human rights.

Amy Goodman: What’s happened as you’ve been on this tour?

Michael Franti: Well, what’s happened most recently is that we performed at
a rally on March 15th in San Francisco and the next day on the 16th—that,
that rally was out here—and on the 16th on the East Coast, a band member of
mine who prefers to go unnamed, his mother received a visit from two plain
clothes men from the military and this band member of mine has a sibling who
is in the Gulf. And they came in and talked to her and said you have a child
who’s in the gulf and you have a child who’s in this band Spearhead who’s
part of the “resistance” in their words, and they had pictures of us
performing the day before at the rally, they had pictures of us performing
at some of our annual concerts that we put on that are in support of peace
and human rights. They had his flight records for the past several months,
they had the names of everybody who works in my office, our management
office “Guerilla Management”. They had his checking account records. They
asked his mother a lot of questions about where he was, what he was doing in
this place, why he was going here. They confiscated his sibling’s CD
collection that they had brought over to listen to while they were in the
Gulf, and basically were intimidating—told her which members of the press
she could talk to and which members of the press she should not speak to.

And basically what this signals to me is that—I don’t feel like we’re being
particulary singled out or under any investigation for any activity because
all the activity that we do is very much above board and all the events
where photos were taken out were all public things we were at. But what it
does signal to me is that there’s a lot of us who are now making a blip on
the radar, you know, whether we’re organizers at rallies, whether we’re
musicians, whether we’re people who are speaking out, authors, writers,
actors. And we’re beginning to make little blips on the radar. They’re
starting to pay attention and collect information about what’s going on. You
know , more important to me or more important than me you know, being a part
of that is the fact that our civil rights are being eroded across the board
for every person.

And for musicians in particular it’s a really hard time. Last week our label
received a letter, a mass e-mail from MTV instructing the fact that no
videos could be shown that mentioned the word bombing or war. No videos
could be shown that had protesters in it. Any footage from military—they
gave a list of prior videos that could not be shown, yet MTV has aired
videos that show troops saying goodbye to their loved ones and going off to
war in a very heroic fashion and troops which are gonna be coming home
traumatized, wounded and dead and then be treated and thrown onto the scrap
heap of veterans, as we’ve seen veterans treated in this country. And at the
Academy Awards, there were also letters and talk that went around saying not
to speak out. Radio—mainstream radio, Clear Channel in particular, of course
has put the word out not to air songs that are in opposition to the war and
in support of peace. Meanwhile, our song “Bomb Da World” which we just put
out is now in heavy rotation on a top youth radio station in Australia and
in Denmark and it’s expected to get added to a lot of stations in other
countries.

Amy Goodman: A few days ago, Democracy Now! Correspondent Jeremy Scahill and
I were at the Ani DiFranco concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center
to talk about Democracy Now and the importance of independent media in a
time of war, just before she went on. And Clear Channel, which owns New
Jersey Performing Arts Center, runs that venue, told her no political
information could be given out and threatened—it seemed the venue threatened
to close down the concert if there was any political speech.

Michael Franti: It’s incredible, it’s outrageous and I think it’s something
that we all need to be aware of and need to support the art, you know,
whether it’s music, whether it’s films, whether it’s dance performances or
whatever, this is the last place, apart from Pacifica and a few other
stations around the country, where these voices are being heard.

Amy Goodman: And Clear Channel that runs 1,200 radio stations now, runs many
of the big venues in this country for musicians.

Michael Franti: So it’s important that we call these stations and demand
that these voices be heard.

Amy Goodman: Well Michael Franti, I want to thank you for being with us, as
we go out with your voice, with “Bomb Da World.”

http://www.democracynow.org/franti.htm

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