This Week with David Rovics drovics

A song of appreciation for all the protesting students, staff, and faculty at Columbia and many other institutions across the US.

The third in my series of musical broadcasts about the history of resistance in its many forms.
In this session I share songs and thoughts exploring:
The mostly Irish soldiers who left the US Army and joined the Mexican Army during the Mexican-American War
The gold diggers' rebellion in Ballarat, Australia in 1854
The syndicalists' occupation of the Danish Stock Exchange in Copenhagen in 1918
The Japanese diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Polish Jews during WWII
The My Lai Massacre in Vietnam in 1968, and helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson's stand in defense of the survivors
The explosive beginnings of the Icelandic environmental movement in 1970
The notion that music can change the world

The story behind the song, "St Patrick Battalion."

Israel wages real, genocidal war against Palestinians. But in other arenas, the pro-Israel lobby in its various forms wages war against global public opinion. The Zionist entity targeting me in recent months has been UK Lawyers for Israel, so I wrote them a jingle.
UK Lawyers for Israel
I woke up one morning with an email in my inboxContaining lies and slander, known locally as “bollocks”I was about to tour in England, singing songs aboutThe holocaust in Gaza, when one of the venues pulled outThey had gotten a letter from UKLFIThreatening consequences if they did not complyAs Israel commits its war crimes, more and more people seeBut this brave bunch of barristers are gonna keep the world free
The list of their accomplishments are right there in black and whiteThey take credit openly right there on their websiteIf you got kicked off of PayPal, GoFundMe or FacebookThey probably brag about it – go and take a lookAnyone who calls out Israel as a fascist stateIf they get any attention, they can expect to meet their fateLose their jobs, have lies and slander spread about their nameCanceling careers, that’s the name of the solicitors’ game
UK Lawyers for Israel intends to turn the tideTo advocate for the state that is committing genocideIf you cry out against the slaughter that could be their cueTheir next target might be you
You can see there on their website, their email list is tinyBut they can compensate in cash for what they lack in popularityAnd their legal threats aren’t limited just to the UKWherever someone supports Palestine, they’ve got something to sayIf it’s a gathering in Glasgow or a conference in BerlinThese livid lawyers will make sure that censorship will winThey’ve even got a charity, and a troll farm, tooAnd they don’t care if you are a Christian, a Muslim or a Jew
Chorus
They took the Labor Party, centered in their sightsAnd accused all the best of them of being antisemitesThey took the best professors and they got them firedThey took former Supreme Court judges, said that they were liarsIf you're afraid to speak out, the roots of that fearMay result from a campaign intended to create that atmosphereIf you're feeling threatened, the reason whyCould just be the Lords and Ladies of UKLFI
Chorus

And now for a few words on eating and paying the rent.

When people die, they leave behind many different kinds of echoes.