Back 1973, when folk music was the music of protest, A Grain of Sand (Chris Iijima, Joanne Miyamoto, and "Charlie" Chin) recorded a song called "The War of the Flea" about the war in Vietnam. This year, senz of depth and bambu remixed the song and linked Iijima's lyrics with their own.
Bambu raps "I am Chris Iijima/2005 fist in the sky/singing of a time when Iraq's being bombed/under reasons that's wrong". By linking two moments, 1965 and 2005, he links Iijima's analysis the war in Vietnam to his own protests against the war in Iraq.
Download the song here.
You don't think it's an oversimplification to compare our actions in Vietnam and our actions in Iraq?
ReplyDeletei'm not saying the situations are the same, but i do think it's important/meaningful to draw connections between US imperialism across different generations.
ReplyDeletethere are similarities between the wars: no clear and legitimate reason for going in, no clear path for withdrawal, a tough time recruiting enough soldiers, flagging domestic support, questions about human rights, etc. etc.
there are differences, too: the state of vietnam and iraq before us involvement, the justifications for going in, the us hasnt instituted a draft, etc. etc.
by connecting the two songs, we can focus on the similarities and say "we haven't forgotten injustices of the past, nor will we stand silent to the injustices of today".