Protest An avenue of Empowerment Protest Protest looks

Protest An avenue of Empowerment

Protest • Protest looks at the world as it is • And sees the world as it should or could be • It is about using words to take back what is yours – your human rights • Essential question…what is the relationship between literature (poetry and lyrics), freedom of expression and protest?

Protest What are protest songs? *A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change. *It may be any genre of music or any style of lyric.

Protest Songs • Some issues & movements include: • Women’s suffrage: (The movement to give women the vote), • the labour movement (for fair working pay and conditions), • the human rights movement, civil rights, • the anti-war movement and 1960 s counterculture, the feminist movement, the sexual revolution, • the gay rights movement, animal rights movement, vegetarianism and veganism, and environmentalism. • The indigenous land rights movement

Predict Take notes about “By the Rivers of Babylon” It’s a song It’s about a place called Babylon and a river there. It could have metaphoric meaning What does it mean? How was it used to protest? Does it have any significance today?

Protest Songs • Oppression - • “By the Rivers of Babylon” by various artists

“Rivers of Babylon” Lyrics & A rastafarian song The group Boney M originally written covered the version you Meaning and recorded in The lyrics are adapted from the texts of Psalms 19 and 137 from the Bible. heard in 1978. 1970. • Boney M. – Rivers Of Babylon • By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down Ye‐eah we wept, when we remembered Z ion. • • By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down Ye‐eah we wept, when we remembered zion. • • When the wicked • Carried us away in captivity Required from us a song • Now how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land

Predict Take notes about “By the Rivers of Babylon” It’s a song It’s about a place called Babylon and a river there. It could have metaphoric meaning What does it mean? How was it used to protest? Does it have any significance today? It is a Rastafarian song written and recorded in 1970.

Traditional Rastafarian Brent Dowe, the lead worship often included singer of the Melodians, psalm singing and said that he had adapted hymn singing, and Psalm 137 to the reggae Rastas typically style because he wanted modified the words to to increase the public's • Boney M. – Rivers Of Babylon fit their own spiritual consciousness of the conceptions; Psalm Rastafarian movement • By the rivers of babylon, there we sat down 137 was among their and its calls for black Ye‐eah we wept, when we remembered zion. sacred chants. liberation and social • justice. “Rivers of Babylon” Lyrics & Meaning • By the rivers of babylon, there we sat down Ye‐eah we wept, when we remembered zion. • • When the wicked • Carried us away in captivity Required from us a song • Now how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land

“Rivers of Babylon” by Boney M. Lyrics and Meaning • • • When the wicked Carried us away in captivity Requiring of us a song Now how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land Yeah, yeah, yeah let the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart Be acceptable in thy sight here tonight Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts Be acceptable in thy sight here tonight By the rivers of babylon, there we sat down Ye‐eah we wept, when we remembered zion. By the rivers of babylon (dark tears of babylon) There we sat down (you got to sing a song) Ye‐eah we wept, (sing a song of love)

“Rivers of Babylon” by Boney M. Lyrics and Meaning • By the rivers of babylon, there we sat down Ye‐eah we wept, when we remembered zion. • • By the rivers of babylon (dark tears of babylon) There we sat down (you got to sing a song) • Ye‐eah we wept, (sing a song of love) • When we remember zion. (yeah yeah) • • By the rivers of babylon (rough bits of babylon) There we sat down (you hear the people cry) Ye‐eah we wept, (they need their god) • When we remember zion. (ooh, have the power)

Comprehension Strategy 2: Questioning Task – Double Entry Journals By the Rivers of Babylon - Meaning From the text “By the rivers of Babylon” Where is Babylon? What historical significance does it have? What present-day significance does it have? My thoughts and research Babylon is an ancient city in present-day Iraq (about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad) Psalm 137 is about Jewish people in exile – kicked out of homeland with the conquest of In Rastafarian faith, “Babylon” is Babylonia. used for any governmental system that is either oppressive or unjust. Therefore, “By the Rivers of Babylon” refers to living in a repressive society and the longing for freedom, just like the Israelites in captivity.

Protest Songs – by 10 EN 5 2015 • What movements &/or songs can you think of that have to do with current issues? Turn to a classmate and make a list of several songs and the issues they address. • “We are the world” by various = famine • 30 Seconds to Mars “This is War” – effects of war • Five Finger Death Punch “Bad Company” – Anti-war • Michael Jackson “They Don’t Really Care About Us” – Social alienation • “Same Love” – Macklemore & Chris Taylor? • The Script feat. Will. i. am - “Hall of Fame” – Female empowerment Michael Jackson – “Heal the World” – world hunger

Protest Songs – 10 EN 5 2015 • Michael Jackson -“Black and White” –anti-racism • Motionless in White “arehaoie reaov’op” – stereotypes and acceptance • Taylor Swift -“Mean” – cliques and social isolation • Disturbed “Land of Confusion” – rebellion against governmental greed • Gloria Gaynor – “I will survive” – women’s liberation

Prediction Bingo Purpose: Predicting: Strategy 3 • To connect a your prior knowledge to a topic or concept • To identify any gaps in your basic understanding • To engage you in future content and ideas Description: • This strategy may be used when approaching a new text or extract (start or mid topic) or when checking your own background knowledge.

Non-Fiction Text – Online Newsmagazine Article • From Crikey. com. au • From an arts section of the magazine called ‘Daily Review’ • The article is entitled “Australia’s Top 10 (Political) Rock Songs” by James Rose published Feb 20, 2014 • Brief synopsis – It features Australian in the 1970 s and 1980 s that would become “Australian pub rock”

Predicting: Strategy 3 Prediction Bingo 1. Draw a noughts & crosses grid like below: Procedure 2. Present the text to students, revealing only the title, image, graphic or problem. Identify these parts to the class, read them aloud. Encourage discussion of ‘What the text could be about’ for 2 -5 mins. 3. Invite students to suggest what words they will expect to appear in the text based on what they already know and the clues from the text. These content words need to be written onto the grid (cannot include words such as it, the, on etc). 4. 1 st reading – The teacher is to read one to two paragraphs. Students are to tick off bingo words as they appear. Discuss. 5. 2 nd reading – re-read the text to students, this time explaining / paraphrasing important points. Ask students to identify similar terms.

Prediction Bingo: Draw a noughts and crosses grid like below

Australia’s Political Songs • "Australia's Top 10 (Political) Rock Songs by James Rose • Predict – (Super Six Comprehension Strategy) • Activity: Prediction Bingo

Prediction Bingo: Draw a noughts and crosses grid like below

Protest Songs: The Civil Rights Movement • The movement in the United States from around 19541968 whose goal was to end racial segregation, discrimination and establish the civil rights of individual African-American citizens.

Protest Songs: The Civil Rights Movement This song is a haunting critique of lynching and race terrorism. • “Strange Fruit” performed by Billie Holliday • Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. “strange fruit” is a metaphor for what? Imagery is used to create a picture. What pictures are described here? Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, The lyrics contrast the For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, physical and natural beauty Here is a strange and bitter crop. of the south with the ominous and ugly and evil lynching of a black person.

Protest Songs: The Civil Rights Movement Make two columns, one • • entitled physical beauty “Strange Fruit” performed by Billie Holliday and the other entitled “ugly human act” Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop. Place the green words under the “physical beauty” column Place the red words under the “ugly human act” column Now you decide which column to place the underlined words under.

Protest Songs: The Civil Rights Movement Make two columns, one • • entitled physical beauty “Strange Fruit” performed by Billie Holliday and the other entitled “ugly human act” Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop. Place the green words under the “physical beauty” column Place the red words under the “ugly human act” column Now you decide which column to place the underlined words under.

Protest Songs • Now create a few sentences describing the meaning of the lyrics of the song. • You can use the sentence starters below if they help. • The song “______” performed by Billie Holliday protests the ______ of ______. The song uses _____ to create pictures in the listener’s mind. For example, the words “__________________” are used to create a beautiful image of _______. However, “_______________” is used to create a horrible picture of an awful human act.

Protest Songs • Protest songs are • frequently situational • associated with a social movement (through context).

Protest Songs • Or they may be abstract, expressing, in more general terms, opposition to injustice and support for peace, or free thought.

Protest Songs: 2 Pac – “Changes 1998” http: //rapgenius. com/2 pac-changeslyrics I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself: /“Is life worth living? Should I blast myself? ”/ I’m tired of being poor and, even worse, I’m black/My stomach hurts so I’m looking for a purse to snatch/

Protest Songs • Types • The sociologist R. Serge Denisoff subdivided protest songs as either "magnetic" or "rhetorical". • "Magnetic" protest songs were aimed at attracting people to the movement and promoting group solidarity and commitment, as for example, "Eyes on the Prize" and "We Shall Overcome". • "Rhetorical" protest songs are often characterized by individual indignation and offer a straightforward political message designed to change political opinion. Examples include Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" (which contains the lines "I hope that you die / And your death'll come soon") and "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye.

Protest Songs • By type • Denisoff ‘s system, however, paid little attention to the song tunes of protest music. • some of the most effective protest songs gain power through their appropriation of tunes that are bearers of strong cultural traditions.

Protest Songs • By location • Algerian Raï protest music • Rai (Arabic: , ( ��� which is the Arabic word for "opinion“), is a form of folk music, originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930 s and has been primarily evolved by women in the culture. Rai has been forbidden music in Algeria, to the point of one popular singer being assassinated. Although since the 1980 s it has enjoyed some considerable success. • The song "Parisien Du Nord" by Cheb Mami is a recent example of how the genre has been used as form of protest, as the song was written as a protest against the racial tensions that sparked the 2005 French riots.

Protest Songs • By location • Algerian Raï protest music • According to Memi: It is a song against racism, so I wanted to sing it with a North African who was born in France • Because of that and because of his talent, I chose K-Mel. In the song, we say, 'In your eyes, I feel like foreigner. ' It's like the kids who were born in France but they have Arab faces. They are French, and they should be considered French. http: //lyricstranslate. com/en/parisien-du-nord-parisiannorth. html (translation)

Protest Songs • By location • Australia • Indigenous issues feature prominently in politically inspired Australian music and include the topics of land rights and aboriginal deaths in custody. One of the most prominent Australian bands to confront these issues is Yothu Yindi. Other Australian bands to have confronted indigenous issues include Tiddas, Kev Carmody, Archie Roach, Christine Anu, The Herd, Neil Murray, Blue King Brown, the John Butler Trio, Midnight Oil, Warumpi Band, Powderfinger and Xavier Rudd. • In addition to Indigenous issues, many Australian protest singers have sung about the futility of war. Notable anti-war songs include "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (1972) by Eric Bogle, and "A Walk in the Light Green" (1983) by Redgum, most often remembered by its chorus "I was only nineteen".

Protest Songs • • By location Britain and Ireland Early British protest songs English folk songs from the late medieval and early modern period reflect the social upheavals of their day. Ballads celebrating social bandits like Robin Hood, from the 14 th century onwards, can be seen as a desire for social justice • The era of civil and religious wars of the 17 th century in Britain gave rise to the radical communist millenarian Levellers and Diggers' movements and their associated ballads and hymns, as, for example, "The Diggers' Song“ with the incendiary verse: • But the Gentry must come down/and the poor shall wear the crown/Stand up now, Diggers all! • From roughly the same period, however, songs protesting wars and the human suffering they inflict abound. For example, "The Maunding Souldier" or "The Fruits of Warre is Beggery", framed as a begging appeal from a crippled soldier of the Thirty Years War. [12]

Protest Songs • • By location Britain and Ireland Early British protest songs The advent of industrialisation in the 18 th and early 19 th centuries was accompanied by protest movements and a corresponding increase in the number of topical social protest songs and ballads. An important example is 'The Triumph of General Ludd, ' • As labour became more organised songs were used as anthems and propaganda, for miners with songs like "The Black Leg Miner", and for factory workers with songs like "The Factory Bell".

Protest Songs • • By location Britain and Ireland 20 th century The modern British protest movement started in 1958 to protest Britain's participation in the arms race and recent testing of the H-bomb. The protest "fired up young musicians to write campaigning new songs to argue the case against the bomb and whip up support along the way. • A song composed for the march: "The H-Bomb's Thunder", set the words of a poem by novelist John Brunner to the tune of "Miner's Lifeguard": • Men and women, stand together/Do not heed the men of war/Make your minds up now or never/Ban the bomb for evermore. "

Protest Songs • • By location Britain and Ireland 20 th century Folk singer Ewan Mac. Coll had penned "The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh", (1953) and "The Ballad of Stalin" (1954), commemorating the death of that leader. • Mac. Coll declared that: • “Young people are finding out for themselves that folk songs are tailor-made for expressing their thoughts and comments on contemporary topics, dreams, and worries, ” • In 1965, folk-rock singer Donovan's"Universal Soldier" was a hit on the charts. His anti -Vietnam War song, "The War Drags On" appeared that same year. The romantic lyrics of pop songs in the 1950 s gave way to words of protest.

Protest Songs • • By location Britain and Ireland 20 th century As their fame and prestige increased in the late 1960 s, The Beatles—and John Lennon in particular—added their voices to the Anti-war. • In 1969, when Lennon and Yoko Ono were married, they staged a week-long "bed-in for peace" in the Amsterdam Hilton, attracting worldwide media coverage. At the second "Bed-in" in Montreal, in June 1969, they recorded "Give Peace a Chance" in their hotel room. The song was sung by over half a million demonstrators in Washington, D. C. at the second Vietnam Moratorium Day, on 15 October 1969. In 1972 Lennon's his most controversial protest song LP was Some Time In New York City.

Protest Songs • • By location Britain and Ireland 20 th century Lennon also performed at the "Free John Sinclair" benefit concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on December 10, 1971. on behalf of the imprisoned antiwar activist and poet who was serving ten years in state prison for selling two joints of marijuana to an undercover cop. On this occasion Lennon and Ono appeared on stage with among others singers Phil Ochs and Stevie Wonder, plus antiwar activists Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers party. Lennon's song "John Sinclair" (which can be heard on his Some Time In New York City album), calls on the authorities to "Let him be, set him free, let him be like you and me". The benefit was attended by some 20, 000 people, and three days later the State of Michigan released Sinclair from prison.

Chuck D As leader and cofounder of the legendary rap group Public Enemy, Chuck D redefined rap music and hiphop culture with the release of PE's explosive debut album, YO BUM RUSH THE SHOW, in 1987. The group's subsequent seven albums were released over the next 13 years, all meeting with critical acclaim from publications as disparate as TIME and THE SOURCE and garnering worldwide sales in the millions. At the close of 1999, THE NEW YORK TIMES included Public Enemy music on their list of the "25 Most Significant Albums of the Last Century, " and in 2005, the Library of Congress included FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET in their list of 50 recordings worth preserving in the National Recording Registry

• 2 — Poets: The unacknowledged legislators of the world • English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in his manifesto In Defence of Poetry, described poets as ‘the unacknowledged legislators of the world’. For Shelley there was an inextricable link between poetry, political views and social action and he wanted to challenge the legislation of his time through his poetry.

Introduction • “Rap is nothing new…Rap’s forebears stretch back through disco, street funk, radio DJs, Bo Diddley, the bebop singers, Cab Calloway, Pigmeat Markam, the tap dancers and comics, Gil Scott-Heron, Muhammed Ali, a Capella, and doo-wop groups, ring games, skip-rope rhymes, prison and army songs, toasts, signifying and the dozens, all the way to the griots of Nigeria and the Gambia (Toop, 1991, p. 19)

Introduction • “Rap is nothing new…Rap’s forebears stretch back through disco, street funk, radio DJs, Bo Diddley, the bebop singers, Cab Calloway, Pigmeat Markam, the tap dancers and comics, Gil Scott-Heron, Muhammed Ali, a Capella, and doo-wop groups, ring games, skip-rope rhymes, prison and army songs, toasts, signifying and the dozens, all the way to the griots of Nigeria and the Gambia (Toop, 1991, p. 19)

• “Contemporary rap music is the postmodern incarnation of a traditional African-American musical and rhetorical style. The cultural focus on improvisation, rhyming and performance…”