Reed Johnson and Deborah Vankin over at LA Times.com posted an article that delved into the question of where are the protest songs, specifically about Occupy, when it comes to the top-grossing acts of the '00s? The article goes, “…much of the music that has topped the Billboard charts in the new millennium — Britney, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga — might suggest that America has been one big party since 2001, despite the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, two major wars, a wobbly economy and a bitterly divided government. Likewise, the recent popular manifestations of that unrest, the tea party and Occupy Wall Street movements, so far seem to have been largely lost on popular music.”

DEC 22 - Graham Nash and the son of David Crosby, James Raymond, have released the song, "Almost Gone" and companion video in support of whistleblower Bradley Manning. On Nash's website it says:

"The release is timed to Manning's first judicial hearing scheduled for December 16th, following more than 17-months in custody, including a year in solitary confinement that Amnesty International has characterized as 'harsh and punitive.'"

"Visually, the Almost Gone video is punctuated with bold graphics, disturbing images and harsh facts. Its release is scheduled to precede Manning's pre-trial hearing on December 16, which is the day before his 24th birthday.  "Bradley Manning is a hero to me," [Nash] sings, acknowledging Manning's role in making public videos and documents that shed light on such as issues as the true number and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq, human rights abuses by U.S.-funded contractors and foreign militaries, and the role that spying and bribes play in international diplomacy."

DEC 21 - Al Jourgensen and Ministry have revealed the artwork for their new album "Relapse" which will feature a modern day ballad in support of the Occupy movement called "99 Percenters". In an interview with Revolver Mag, Al said, “Putting out this song is the least I could do. We wanted to fly to New York and protest and get arrested and pepper sprayed. But we can’t do it because I got a Christmas deadline on this album. But I’m with ‘em in spirit so the least I could do is give them a chant-along song. I’m going, Hey man, here’s your song. All you gotta do is chant the chorus.”  The chorus that goes, "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,99 Percent!" was inspired by the "1,2,3 What are we fightin' for!" in Country Joe's "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag" protest song from the 1960s. The song will be available on iTunes on December 23rd. Below you can watch a exclusive JTMP video of Al and Ministry in Washington, DC in October of 2004, right before the 2004 presidential election.

See the new album artwork and read the interview on Revolver here.

DEC 14, 2011 - Citing protesting as "the defining trope of our times", Time magazine has named "The Protester" as their "Person of the Year". They state that after 1989 "street protests looked like pointless emotional sideshows — obsolete, quaint, the equivalent of cavalry to mid-20th-century war." But then came the Arab Spring and the young people uprising in Tunisia, then Egypt, and now has spread throughout the Middle East in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria. Even here at home, the Occupy Movement that sprang up in Zuccotti Park has left an indelible mark on history.

JTMP has recognized the various protests around the world on our Social Media Activist Central and our Occupy Music pages (see tabs above). To check out the full article, read the Time Magazine article here.

Conservative Internet/Radio show host Glenn Beck, after listening to "Born In The USA" for over 20 years, finally really listened to the words and realized it was not some right wing patriotic jingoism. He stated, "You get filled with patriotic pride, and then you find out that Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The U.S.A.' is anti-American." Listen to the entire diatribe below posted by Media Matters.
 

Justice Through Music has teamed up with hundreds of non-profit organizations and thousands of concerned America citizens in a coalition to end corporate personhood and overturn the Citizens United Ruling, called Move To Amend. We feel that big corporate money is poisoning our elections and democratic process, and preventing the voice of the American people from being heard by their elected representatives.

We strongly feel that the ruling in the Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission that ruled corporations are persons and entitled by the Constitution to buy our elections and run our government is un-democratic, misguided and wrong and needs to be overturned by a Constitutional amendment by Congress. As we say on the petition website, "We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights."

If you feel the same, and would like to sign the petition asking for Congress to act and overturn this horrible decision by the Supreme Court, and/or you are an organization that wants to join the coalition, please visit the Move To Amend website:

http://www.movetoamend.org
 

Occuprint is a new website that puts on display artwork inspired by the Occupy Movement, showing the various common threads running through the new movement. A few of the commonalities are anger at the greed of Wall Street and banks, and frustration of the disproportionate access to our elected officials and economic opportunities between the 1% and the 99%. The Citizens United ruling, which gave corporations the same rights as people, is also present on many of the posters, urging citizens (real people) to wake up, get motivated, and get out to fight for their rights.

To view the great artwork click here.