65 replies to this topic

[Jacki O.]

over 50,000 people marching in a protest against the bill doesn't seem like a minority to me. if you want to believe the media hype about this shit, then apparently the majority of americans support this bill as well. So can these bands boycott 70% of America? This is just playing the blame game. Why weren't these bands boycotting AZ when those employer sanction laws were passed? why hasn't sonic youth marched in anti-arpaio marches in az or talked about it to their fans? over the last few weeks i've had a lot of friends from out of state (and international friends) ask me "what it's really like in Arizona" because people dont know. To me it would be helpful for these bands to support the anti-sb1070 movements here and spread that word that there are people here working against these types of bills.

i think a minority in az is for it and they are more vocal, they vote, they listens to soundbytes and polls. i also think people are ignorant and when you say "illegal trespassers carry drugs into our state" they think that SB1070, and other like-minded bills, are addressing that information when that information is wrong in the first place.

i dont think the majority of arizonans are for the bill. but how can we say either way? there was no vote on this, the polls are skewed, and if you want to go by who our elected officials are, keep in mind that we have a very low voter turnout at election time.

according to the Pew Research Center AZ consistently ranks in the bottom 3rd of all states for voter turnout (they have tons of cool info on mid-term and presidential election voter turnouts).

maybe due to the small financial impact that these bands would have on the state, a boycott is effective at helping people lose their jobs and move out of az, but i cant see how it is going to make people vote in different politicians who will not try to pass these types of laws. if anything it will push sensible minded people out of the state leaving it more in the hands of ignorant people.

Shouldn't these bands be encouraging people in az to vote in November? isn't that how we can address political change? Shouldn't these bands be having concerts to raise money for No More Deaths or arizona based organizations that are fighting these laws, or even groups that work towards addressing racism and xenophobia in our communities and legislation?

I guess boycotts of this type can be minimally effective but ultimately they do not address the issues of racism and xenophobia. which is really what needs to be happening here and across america. open discussions and information spreading on these issues will be more effective than Rage Against the Machine not playing at the mesa amphitheater.

i view Arizona as the front line at a historic moment in American history and a very important place to be.

[chalupacabra]

also, and i can't prove this, but i'd be willing to bet that black artists in the 60's boycotting the south was as much about safety as it was about making a political statement.

I'm going with this as well for another reason this is fucking stupid. Conner Oberst should be afraid of having his ass kicked, but not for this reason. Or Sonic Youth? Fuck off.

Your Juanes and Cafe Tacvba's of the world...sure I get the potential issues for them but most everyone else just wants to

pat each other on their backs about how they 'spoke out'.

[donald]

i view Arizona as the front line at a historic moment in American history and a very important place to be.

100%

[MikeyWretch]

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[Jacki O.]

great article on the artistic politics of boycotts


At the same time as the Gracelands furore, the UK Musicians Union, which had maintained a boycott against South Africa since the 1960s, endeavoured to block UK shows by the Malapoets, a group of black Sowetans, and the multiracial Savuka, whose own anti-apartheid record, Asimbonaga, had in fact been banned at home. Once again, people with the same politics were forced to be at each other's throats.

[innerear]

Donald makes some good points.

I do believe the very public boycott of South Carolina among other things lead to South Carolina taking down the flag.
I believe a Boycott does the exact same thing as marches to the capitol or gathering people to form an SOS, it's drawing attention to the problem. And I think you are misguided in thinking that 50,000 people is alot in a state of a population of 6.6 million in a metropolitan area with a population of 4 million in a city with a population of 1.5 million. Particullarly with a large population of those people marching coming from other parts of the country. Most polls I have seen from both libral and conservative media have both stated that more people are for sb1070 then against... Anywhere ranging from upper 50% to 70%.
Personally I also think sitting in your little knitting circle and telling each other how great you are for disliking the same things is really not doing anything besides maybe pumping up your egos a little.

The only positive I've seen in this post was from donald saying to get involved and getting involved doesn't mean speaking to like minding people. It means presenting facts to those that are either on the fence on the matter or on the other side of the fence, and voting and writing your goverment officials.

[Jacki O.]

well we can argue about this til the cows come home but we're just doing the thing that you are arguing against. which is sitting in our "little knitting circles telling each other how great we are"

we're all agreeing on the same thing, which is that this bill is bad and politics in az are bad.

so what's the point?

50,000 organized to protest

3,000 organized to support

the rest is blah blah blah

what do think would help az innerear? i think peeps on the shizz are always open to hear more people's idea on how to get involved!

i think a lot of people on this board are involved in activities to fight these types of bills. and i dont see why discussing these issues with each other is ineffective.

[donald]

Donald what would you like me to do about bands not playing here?

To be honest, I hadn't thought about bands not coming out here. But off hand a few things I can think of are the following:

Write a well informed letter to Zach De La Rocha, instead of telling him to just stop by saying it hurts people, give options of how bands can help get the word out without hurting EVERYONE in the state. Maybe even give him the information that Jacki has provided of the companies that are funding Russel Pearces candidacy and point the boycotts in a more direct position instead of all over everything.

Maybe we should start a band coalition playing shows that help inform the audience of the implication of sb1070 and hand out flyers of info at each show.

Blog, tweet, get the true information out there.


The key factor is getting the information out there to the masses. The media isn't going to do it, it's up to us.

[MikeyWretch]

How about fire bombing? does anyone want to riot?
Ill throw some fucking bricks! Lets be violent!

[Tony]

Personally I also think sitting in your little knitting circle and telling each other how great you are for disliking the same things is really not doing anything besides maybe pumping up your egos a little.

sort of like how all these bands are going to pat themselves on the back and congratulate each other for forcing change if (when) sb1070 is repealed, even though they didn't do anything. when sanity prevails, it won't be because of cypress hill.

either way, i agree with you. bitching here in a quasi-anonymous forum isn't going to make any difference. i'm optimistic that i can glean some information, though, that might be used to help educate somebody.

[Jacki O.]

either way, i agree with you. bitching here in a quasi-anonymous forum isn't going to make any difference. i'm optimistic that i can glean some information, though, that might be used to help educate somebody.

exactly! maybe when i post shit on here people misinterpret and think i'm just sitting in my knitting circle and telling everyone how great i am (though i am really awesome btw) but i just like spreading information and encouraging discussion. a lot of my friends are on here and i can do it while im at work.

or maybe im misinterpreting it? negativity is a poison.

whatevskis

[innerear]

I'm sure they are going around telling each other how great they are. But them Boycotting is bringing more attention to the problem then if they do nothing, I think giving celebritys credit for anything beside making their art is stupid but thats just my opinion. But I realize that most people idiolize muscians and other celebrities so more power to them.

I already stated somethings to do start patetions send them to your goverment officials. Go to Scottsdale door to door with information on how sb1070 is unconstitutional and unjust. Give them facts on how crime has not risen in the past 15 years despite what is being said. All of these may not make sudden impacts but the more noise there is the more they get concered. It's easy to get on a soap box around people who agree with everything you say try doing it in front of people who disagree.

Oh and have sex with hot mexicans.

[MikeyWretch]

Wow. lame.

[donald]

Has anybody read the website to soundstrike?

There is actually information I wasn't aware of. They have SB1070 broken down point by point which I found amazing.

They also have a place to sign a petition for the president, I encourage everyone to please sign the petition

We might not all agree on their method, and believe that it should be brought to there attention as to why boycotting the whole state isn't the greatest idea. But in the long run, we all agree that something must be done, and they are providing information which is the most important item of all.

If anyone knows of anything MORE that I can do to help, let me know. I will do what I can to help.