atlantis
So, I have to tell you this. Yesterday I went to a demonstration. I am Italian, south Italian, and I’m witnessing the worst government we have seen since WW2. An alt-right, fascist, racist government, sadly in tune with what’s happening around Europe right now. The rise of this alt-right populism is scary, all this hate against migrants is scary, this lack of humanity is scary. Anything that stands between us and staying human is scary.
A young man, Soumaila Sacko, was shot dead here in Italy earlier this month. They will tell you he was just a migrant, but he was also a worker, an activist, a father, a boyfriend, a friend for many. A black man, shot dead because he was ““stealing”” metal from an abandoned factory to build his own barrack in the tent city he lived in with other workers. Killed because of a bunch of metal to use as a rooftop for his own barrack. We have an interior minister who says that migrants go on a cruise when they try to cross the sea (more than 3,000 died in the attempt only in 2017). We have an interior minister who says that “fun’s over for them now.” (Fun. Living in tent cities, picking tomatoes for 12 hours a day, two euros per hour, with no rights. Fun.) Instead of fighting against the roots of the problems that, especially in this impoverished south, affect local & migrant workers all the same. Instead of fighting against mafia, illegal employment, the gangmaster system, very low rages, instead of helping out and finding solutions, they manage to convince people it’s migrants they should be angry at, not them. It’s an old story, and it happens over and over again, and I’m tired, I’m upset, and I wish people weren’t this blind. Now, I went to this demonstration yesterday organised by this trade union, with this amazing, incredible activist, Aboubakar Soumahoro, talking on the stage amongst others. More than 2000 people, black and white, local and migrants, which is a big deal down here. For the memory of Soumaila, to remember than our rights and migrant’s rights, as workers and people, are exactly the same. That we are fighting for the same reasons. That we are the same, we’re exactly the same, it’s who tries to divide us who’s not part of us. Simple as that.
At some point, during the demonstration, I heard the coolest cover of I Wish You Were Here for the first time and I’m obsessing ever since. It’s reggae, and it’s beautiful, and let me say this, I got chills. I teared up a bit, thinking of what it meant in that moment. I blog about music on here, you see, but i blog about the power of music first and foremost. Music that brings us together. Music that unites us. Music that speaks a universal language, songs that we all can make ours. And let me say this, I can well imagine Pink Floyd smiling at the scene, because I know where they all stand. I know what they support. I know how political they are (Roger more than anyone, Roger is truly the most political “rockstar” right now, but all of them are). It’s what music is about, really. This, and nothing else.
A friendly reminder from one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to (Roger Waters: Us+Them Tour).
No one should tell you what to do, what to wear and god forbids NO ONE should tell you it’s not acceptable to be a man/woman, queer, non-white, Muslim, Hebrew… We’re all red and bloody underneath our skin, we’re all human.
Be you. Be human. Stay alive.
I think it’s more about not falling into a certain propaganda. Like, not really about you being able to be who you want, but you resisting this nationalist rising political agenda that tricks people into using minorities as scapegoats. Migrants, Kurds, Latinos, Palestinians, African Migrants etc etc. We have to resist that racist agenda with all our strength. “Stay human” was activist Vittorio Arrigoni’s signature, that how he used to end all his articles and reports. He was killed in Gaza in 2011, and Roger contributed to a tribute video in his memory some time ago. Staying human in this case is not really about being yourself and staying alive and live your life (well, that’s pretty important too, and probably part of the message in a way) but accepting others for being themselves, and for staying alive and for living their life and that goes beyond borders, nationalisms, skin colors, sexualities, religions … walls.
Roger Waters Pink Floyd ‘Forum Music’ Studio Francoeur, Paris 22 jan.1969, France, by Jean-Pierre Leloir.
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, 11 December 1968.
Jethro Tull (Ian Anderson, Glenn Cornick, Clive Bunker, Tony Iommi), The Who (John Entwistle, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, Pete Towsnhend), Taj Mahal, Ed Davis, Gary Gilmore, Chuck Blackwell, Marianne Faithfull, The Dirty Mac (John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell), Yoko Ono, Ivry Gitlis, The Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts), Nicky Hopkins, Rocky Dijon
Nick taking the photo: Strike a pose darlings. Gorgeous. Perfect. Fantastic. You’re doing amazing sweeties.
