From ANDRAS JONES: RICK FELLOWS has been an activist in the most direct sense of the word for as long as I have known him. That would go back to the late 1980’s. In this session we talk about the labor and human rights protests Rick has participated in with our guest DAVID ROVICS over the years, as well as some of what he’s up to now. I had initially intended for the theme of this show to be questions from local and international activists who would resonate with the themes in David’s music. I didn’t expect it to turn into an exploration of the way Olympia turns on, vilifies, and alienates some of its best citizens for reasons that may seem emotionally satisfying in the moment but ultimately make our town a dangerous place to be an activist. Readers of this blog saw the slanderous over-reaction when I decided to discuss anti-semitism on the show. Elana Freeland talked in her session about the way the local scene turned on her when she started writing about Geo-engineering. And here we have Rick, struggling mightily not to reference his own recent scapegoating at Media Island International, the organization he devoted himself to for over twenty years. I’m tempted not to mention it myself but by inviting Rick onto the show and promoting him I’m aware there are some who will paint me as taking sides against them by continuing to support and include Rick with an appearance on Radio8Ball. Rick’s question about movement building is asked in the context of these painful and divisive attacks within the activist community that work to stifle dissent and progressive struggle as effectively as any repressive Cointelpro agenda. Who knows? Maybe the local activist community is stronger without local elders like Rick and Elana who now have to go out of town to share the wisdom they’ve gained from their lives of activism and education. Perhaps Olympia’s better with me hosting Radio8Ball in fancy studios around the country and in a basement in Olympia than on the airwaves at KAOS where it was born. Of course, I mean this sarcastically. As David’s song points out, rents are going up and people are being displaced and marginalized and criminalized and disenfranchised by the corporations that are working to control the world. Wasting the energy of our local organizations escalating normal personal conflicts to loyalty tests between us and them that rob our community of the experience and insight of those who have devoted themselves to building those organizations is just bad strategy. As I have seen, those who misuse their authority within local organizations to vilify people they don’t like or understand eventually find themselves the target of similar attacks and, as painful as this is for the individuals involved, the worst result of this is that our local organizations lose their energy and cohesion and settle into a rotating cycle of over-reactions and purges. Until we address this, Olympia, the town with so much progressive promise, will remain weak and cruel and ineffective. And I, as one of its least favorite sons, will keep calling it out and offering my format as place anyone (even those who hate me) are invited to ask their question and explore their answer from The Pop Oracle. That’s how we build movements.

POP ORACLE Song of The Day (February 6, 2019): CHRIS “SANDMAN” SAND “Ballad Of A Salad”

Letter to My Landlord

I’m writing you this letter ’cause among the choices
It’s probably better than listening to voices
Raging in my head, saying point and shoot
Then after you’re dead, your face meets my boot
I don’t know your name, it’s better that way
‘Cause I can’t play this game, who knows what I’ll say
I feel like I’m burning, I’ve had it up to here
Time that you were learning the meaning of fear
I live in these apartments – they’re your private property
Among your residents, most of us agree
That you’re a piece of shit – how does that make you feel
We don’t like you one bit – that’s for real
We think you’re a thief, that you don’t care
Seems your one belief is whatever the market will bear
Whatever you can get away with, what you can make us pay
If we ever get justice, you should fear that day Landlord!
But it’s not just you – it’s all your kin
The things you do caused the state we’re in
You bribed the politicians so they’d let you off-lead
Now the legal situation’s just the one you need
For you to make millions, for profits to be high
Even billions won’t be with you when you die
I hope you find the death you seek, meet the devil that you serve
If you live another week that’s more life than you deserve Landlord!
In the class war you are waging there’s no question who is winning
But if there’s any justice, this is only the beginning
The next act in this play will be written by the tenants
And until your dying day, you’ll be paying penance
Your assets will be seized, that’s a fucking given
You profiteers of misery will start spending time in prison
Then you can get a job – figure out what you do best
You can keep the house you live in – but we’re taking all the rest
Landlord!

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