By Marco den Ouden
What is tyranny?
The liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously posed the questions on what constitutes legitimate state power.
“The central question of politics (is) the question of obedience and coercion. Why should I (or anyone) obey anyone else? Why should I not live as I like? Must I obey? If I disobey, may I be coerced? By whom, and to what degree, and in the name of what, and for the sake of what?’” – Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty 1958
The anarchist answer to the question is that no one may be coerced or forced to obey. Ever. For any reason. As long as you don’t initiate the use of coercion yourself, you should be free to manage your own life and property, to engage in any and all activities that are agreed to by mutual consent. The State itself is the great perpetrator of evil.
Another take on politics is the scepticism about government power suggested by Karl Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies. Popper argues that the question of who should rule is “quite useless” and should be replaced by a new question, a question based on the idea that we should “prepare for the worst rulers and hope for the best”. That question is, “How can we so organize political institutions that bad or incompetent rulers can be prevented from doing too much damage?” (Italics in the original - page 121 of Vol. 1). The answer is a system of checks and balances that allows for peaceful changes of government as circumstances and public opinion change. Tyranny, in Popper’s view, occurs when that peaceful change is thwarted. When peaceful change is thwarted by the use of violence and suppression of speech and action.
The songs in this playlist present some historical examples of tyranny and dictatorship, living under tyranny, the propaganda that promotes tyranny, and how tyranny can be fought through song.
We start with an account of the life of one of the most notorious tyrants in history—Adolf Hitler as recounted by Eek-a-Mouse. Another great tyranny of the twentieth century was that of the Soviet Union, especially under the murderous regime of Stalin. Blues singer Louisiana Red, despite his name, is no Red. Red’s Dream is to tell “old Khrushchev sittin' there looking bad, ‘Get that junk outta Cuba ‘fore you make me mad.
Dig up them missile bases, take them planes and all or I'll grab me a bat with your head for the ball!’" Obviously about the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.
One does not really understand tyranny unless one has experienced it. John Kay, the lead singer of Steppenwolf, tells the very personal story of his escape from East Germany with his mother in 1948. The lyrics of Renegade include “Hey you, keep your head down. Don't look around, please, don't make a sound. If they should find you now the Man will shoot you down."
Colonialism also was a practice that suppressed people through violence and re-education. The idea here was to take indigenous children away from their parents to indoctrinate them into the colonizer’s conception of civilization. Australian Troubadour Archie Roach tells the story in Took the Children Away. The album with that song was awarded the first Human Rights Award for Songwriting by the Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 1990.
A tyranny cannot survive without its dedicated bureaucrats. Hannah Arendt, covering the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, went expecting to see a monster. What she witnessed in Eichmann was the dedicated functionary doing his job. She called this phenomenon the banality of evil. Cult With No Name sing about it in the aptly named Idi’s Admin.
The horror of the Rwandan genocide is well documented. The Tutsi (15% of the population) had been favored by the colonizing Germans. Now the Hutu were in control. Propaganda started cropping up demonizing the Tutsi. The attitude was “You cannot change someone who is inherently evil; you must crush them like an insect.” And crush them they did. The action was so swift that beer buddies one day set out to kill their friend the next. Three-quarters of the Tutsis (between 500,000 and 800,000 people) were massacred. Down in Rwanda by Smith and Mighty is a lament more than a warning.
But several songs did sound warnings. Conspiracy theories abound. And sometimes a great many people fall prey to such machinations. Back in 1972, Gary Allen, a John Birch Society member, co-authored a book called None Dare Call It Conspiracy that alleged that modern American politics “are the result of a sweeping conspiracy by the Establishment's power elite,” trying to establish a New World Order based on Marx’s Communist Manifesto. (Wikipedia) The book still sells today, but the irony is that both the left and the right are fond of alleged capitalist conspiracies to remake the world. Dub Syndicate sing about The Corporation. Lyrics include “None dare call it conspiracy. The corporations are bigger than any nation states. It’s all about the information. They own the President financing election campaigns. Secret meetings that shake the world.”
The double meanings sometimes attached to ideas is eerily recounted in Power in the Darkness by the Tom Robinson Band. The song has three parts. Part one calls for freedom. “Freedom to choose what you do with your body. Freedom to believe what you like.”
Then it transitions with a spoken word section: “Today, institutions fundamental to the British system of government are under attack. It's about time we said 'enough is enough' and saw a return to the traditional British values of discipline, obedience, morality and freedom.”
Then the final transformation: “Freedom from the reds and the blacks and the criminals. … Lesbians and left wing scum. Freedom from the niggers and the Pakis and the unions. Freedom from the Gipsies and the Jews. Freedom from leftwing layabouts and liberals. Freedom from the likes of you"
Negativland intrigued me with their song Christianity is Stupid. The lyrics repeat the line “Christianity is stupid” several times followed by the line “Communism is good.” It’s coming from loudspeakers. “(Did you hear that?) Give up. Give up. Give up! Give up!” It ends with a throwaway but significant line: “Shop as usual and avoid panic buying.” It made me think of John Carpenter’s movie They Live, an attack on consumerism where aliens disguised as humans are subverting the world with subliminal messages. Only special glasses let you see the messages and the aliens. Loose your mind in consumerism. This, of course, is also the message of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Take a soma holiday.
Tin Foil Hat by Todd Rundgren and Donald Fagen is a direct attack on the phenomenon known as Trump. Is Donald Trump a threat to democracy with his musings about suspending the American constitution to seek a third term and seeking revenge on his enemies? Or is he blowing hot air?
My favourite song on this week’s list is Bloody Revolutions by Crass. They warn about the danger of revolutions whose goals are often subverted once the revolutionaries become the state.
The seizure of that power is all your revolution's for.
You romanticise your heroes, quote from Marx and Mao.
Well their ideas of freedom are just oppression now.
Nothing changed for all the death, that their ideas created.
It's just the same fascistic games, but the rules aren't clearly stated.
Nothing's really different 'cause all government's the same.
They can call it freedom, but slavery is the game.
We end our playlist with two songs about the power of protest music to enable change and resistance. One is Cálice by Brazilians Chico Buarque & Milton Nascimento. It’s a protest against the military dictatorship of the 1960s. According to Wikipedia, “Buarque avoided censorship by using cryptic analogies and wordplay.” The word “calice” means chalice, but it also means “shut up,” a critique of the government’s censorship.
And our closing number is Hozier’s powerful song Nina Cried Power. They’re not calling for political power but for their rights and freedoms, for their personal power to live their lives as they wish, free from intimidation and repression. “It's not the song, it is the singin'. It's the heaven of the human spirit ringin'. … Power has been cried by those stronger than me straight into the face that tells you to rattle your chains if you love bein' free.”
The Autocracy A-List Playlist:
1. Hitler - Eek-a-Mouse
Life of Hitler well told.
2. Red’s Dream - Louisiana Red
Red wants to end the reds in Cuba and Russia.
3. Renegade - Steppenwolf
Personal story of Steppenwolf singer’s escape from East Germany.
4. Took the Children Away - Archie Roach
About re-education of aboriginal children in Australia but applies as well to Canadian residential schools as well as other colonialist suppression of indigenous culture.
5. Idi’s Admin - Cult With No Name
Role of administrators like Eichmann in a tyranny.
6. Down in Rwanda - Smith & Mighty ft. Andy Scholes
Rwandan genocide.
7. The Corporation - Dub Syndicate
Bircher as well as left wing sentiment.. excuse for anti-semitism (Rothschild conspiracy)
8. Power in the Darkness - Tom Robinson Band
Intriguing contrast between call for freedom and its perversion by the alt-right.
9. Christianity is Stupid - Negativland
Reminiscent of the movie They Live.
10. Tin Foil Hat - Todd Rundgren & Donald Fagen
An allusion to Trump.
11. Bloody Revolutions - Crass
Revolutions often lead to tyranny.
12. Calice - Chico Buarque & Milton Nascimento
Using cryptic lyrics in song to combat tyranny.
13. Nina Cried Power - Hozier ft Mavis Staples
Resistance to tyranny in song.
Big Bad Regime B-List Playlist:
1. Revolution 1 - The Beatles (happyclapper)
Opposes revolutions based on violence.
2. Let My People Go - The Winans (pejepeine)
Compares the pharoah’s oppression of the Jews to apartheid.
3. Happy Birthday General - Robb Johnson (TatankaYotanka)
Condemns support by Thatcher and others of Pinochet.
4. The Dictator - Catherine Graindorge ft Iggy Pop (Traktor Albatrost)
Alludes to Trump and/or Putin.
5. River of Babylon - The Melodians (George Boyland)
About Nebuchadnezzar and Jewish captivity.
6. Stalin Wasn’t Stallin’ - Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet (ParaMhor)
About Soviet war against Hitler.
7. Marching Men - Rich Kids (ShivSidecar)
One of the features of repressive dictators is legions of marching jackbooted soldiers/
8. Naboen Er Nynazist - Elektrisk Regn (Traktor Albatrost)
Norwegian song about his neighbour being a Nazi which ironically predicted the neo-Nazi Brevik who massacred 77 people.
9. Como La Cigarra - Mercedes Sosa (Maki)
A song about resisting tyranny by going underground.
10. Done With Bonaparte - Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris (Maki)
Napoleon from the perspective of one of his soldiers.
11. I’ll Meet You in Poland - Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel (Shoegazer)
A very discordant song about the Hitler-Stalin Pact.
12. Young Ned of the Hill - The Pogues (Uncleben)
About Cromwell from an Irish perspective.
13. None Dare Call It Conspiracy - Mark Stewart & Maffia (Shoegazer)
Echoes Bircher conspiracy theories. A rather discordant but interesting subject.
14. Tomorrow Belongs to Me - Mark Lambert (MussoliniHeadkick)
Eerie song from the movie Cabaret about the appeal of fascism to youth. Sadly the song has been adopted as an anthem by neo-Nazi and racist groups.
15. When the Generals Talk - Midnight Oil (ajostu)
About military dictatorships.
16. Tear the Fascists Down - Woody Guthrie (Nicko)
Guthrie says the fascist Nazis will never defeat America.
17. They Dance Alone - Sting (nosuchzone)
The survivors of Pinochet’s repression dance alone with the memories of their lost loved ones.
18. Saviour Machine - David Bowie (severin)
A different take on tyranny fears the takeover of artificial intelligence. Reminded me of the movie I, Robot.
19. Putin - Randy Newman (SongBarLandlord)
Newman skewers Putin in his inimitable style.
20. Ich Bin Ein Auslander - Pop Will Eat Itself (happyclapper)
The title means “I am a foreigner” and the song reflects on harboring the persecuted as the Danes did with the Jews.
21. Zimbabwe - Bob Marley & The Wailers (Nicko) a guarded call for revolution in Rhodesia hoping the revolutionaries won’t become the new authoritarians.
22. Leopold - Crystal Axis (nosuchzone)
Belgium’s King Leopold II was one of the most repressive colonisers of Africa.
23. If I Had a Rocket Launcher - Bruce Cockburn (BanazirGalbasi)
Advocates armed resistance to tyranny, in this case knocking helicopters out of the sky.
24. God and the FBI - Janis Ian (Fred Erickson)
Opposes sexual repression in 1950s America.
25. Apartheid - Peter Tosh (Nicko)
There were a surprising number of songs against tyranny from the Caribbean. This one opposes apartheid.
26. Group Areas Act - Lucky Dube (Nicko)
The end of the Group Areas Act was one of the first steps to dismantling apartheid, celebrated in this song.
27. Lift the Iron Curtain - Lord Invader (Nicko)
Title says it all.
28. Haiti - Arcade Fire (Nicko)
Opposes the repression of the Duvaliers in Haiti.
29. Mr. Welfare Man - Curtis Mayfield (Fred Erickson)
Argues that welfare is a trap that keeps people submissive to the State.
30. Al Vent - Raimon (Maki)
One of the first anti-Franco songs.
Guru’s Wildcard Picks:
(Wanted) Dead or Alive - Manhattan Transfer
Lists all the tyrants assassinated, executed or deposed in 1979 including Eric Gairy (Grenada), Idi Amin (Uganda), Shah of Iran, John Vorster (South Africa), Ian Smith (Rhodesia), Bokassa (Central African Republic), Ali Bhutto (Pakistan), General Somoza (Nicaragua), Park Chung Hee (South Korea), and Achempong (Ghana).
Will You Harbor Me - Sweet Honey in the Rock
Would you shelter discriminated against people from tyranny? Like the Danes sheltered the Jews during WWII as related in Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem.
Mechanical Minds - Nordic Giants
Features Chaplin’s speech from The Great Dictator.
More warning signs …
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: Warning signs: songs about tyranny and dictatorship. The next topic will launch on Thursday around 1pm UK time.
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