Tag: activism

June 5, 2013 - The punk rock, activist "art collective" Pussy Riot is the focus of a new film by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorvokin titled "Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer". The documentary explores what is really going on with the arrest and jailing of three women in Russia, who were merely exercising the right of free speech. The film has had great reviews and acceptance, and won a World Cinema Jury Prize from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film is a six-month journey into the lives of the three women, Nadya, Masha and Katia and their ordeal with the Russian justice system facing charges of "hooliganism" after performing a 40-second free speech action at the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. The church lobbied heavily with the Putin government to come down hard on the girls, and they all 3 ended up with prison time. Their predicament has garnered worldwide attention, and has sent shock waves reverberating through Russia.

Nadya has been freed on appeal, but the other two remain jailed. In fact, there is a new law unofficially called the "Pussy Riot Law" that just passed, that will make the penalties even stiffer if someone else tries this in the future. The new "Pussy Riot Law" calls for one year in jail and a fine of $300,000 rubles ($9,400 US) for "public actions expressing clear disrespect for society and committed with intent to offend the religious feelings of the faithful." If one does it in a house of worship, the penalties get even worse.

Check out an interview with the filmmakers on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart the other night below (fast forward to end), the direct link is here. Also, check out the movie's website here to see the trailer and learn more about the film. Apparently Vladmir Putin likes Dire Straights, so we need to get Mark Knopfler to come out in support of the girls and say, "Free Pussy Riot!", and maybe Putin will pardon them. So Mark, please come out in support of freeing Pussy Riot!

June 3, 2013 - The Clearwater Festival, a music and activism 2-day event that works on cleaning up and protecting the Hudson River, is all set for June 14-15, 2013 with a great line up of activist-musicians. Read more on JTMP Green.  (photo credit: Jim The Photographer on Flickr/CC)

MAY 31, 2013 - Aerosmith, who was blogged about recently by JTMP for showing support for the whale-protecting organization Sea Shepherd, headlined the "Boston Strong" benefit concert to raise money for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Along with the bad boys from Boston were the Dropkick Murphys, New Kids on the Block, and one of my all-time favorite bands, Boston. Boston opened up with "More Than a Feeling" and the crowd went wild. A bombing victim, Jeff Bauman, who lost both his legs in the tragedy was there, and was flashed on the big projection screen shown smiling and "Boston Strong". Aerosmith played their classics like "Walk this Way" and "Sweet Emotion", and the Dropkick Murphys played 3 songs from their new EP "Rose Tattoo" (featuring Bruce Springsteen) that also benefits the Boston Marathon bombing victims. The J. Geils Band, James Taylor, Carole King, Jason Aldean, Boyz 2 Men and others also performed and sang. The concert proceeds will go to One Fund Boston. 

Watch clips from "Boston Strong" on our JTMP YouTube Channel HERE, and watch Boston open up the show with "More than a Feeling" below, thanks to DGB519 from YouTube below. (Unfortunately, due to high demand, the live stream server crashed and Boston was not aired, so this is the best quality available)

MAY 23, 2013 - Chinese musical-activist Ai Weiwei has released his new music video to his activist song "Dumbass" and strongly criticizes the Chinese government. In the video, Ai is jailed, hooded and is abused by the Chinese state power for speaking out politically similar to when he was jailed for 81 days for speaking out politically back in 2011. Naturally, China has blocked the video. The video is filled with heavy metal screeching guitars and obscenity screaming against the oppression in China that censors and punishes free speech. In a statement Ai Weiwei said, "People who are detained suffer traumas, and those who detain us know this very well. This is why we are secretly detained, blindfolded, cuffed, not allowed to meet with lawyers and relatives. I had been thinking about how to recover from the trauma. And I came up with the idea of using music to convey a sentiment that is tremendously secret, and private, to the public." Watch the video below.

MAY 23, 2013 - Musical-activist Bono from U2 discusses politics and issues in an interview with Charlie Rose back on May 16, and Bono talks about AIDS and Africa; and even praises conservatives like George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rica and Jesse Helms and how they got America to provide antiretroviral medicines for over 8 million people in Africa and forgiving  African debt. Bono has been doggedly trying to work with both conservatives and progressives, wanting to bring everybody to a "radical canter". He rankled his bandmate Edge by meeting with Helms, because Edge points out how Jesse Helms and other conservatives constantly hack the budget for the arts. Check out the whole Charlie Rose interview of U2 here.