cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/9710405
a couple snippets from the interview. the first snippet is about Tom Morelloa doing some concert to promote voting in the midterms. the second snippet is him saying that he didn’t vote for Kamala because of her complicity in Gaza genocide, he doesn’t use the word genocide.
bold is interviewer, non-bold in tom
Is there an argument that people’s focus on Ed Sheeran is indeed a distraction from what they should be focusing on?
Yeah, 100 percent. It’s all right to shame him in this moment because he deserves the shame, but not the focus. The focus is your and my tax dollars are going to commit horrific war crimes in the Middle East, and that, I believe, should be the focus and what we should be doing our best to stop in its tracks.
It’s a clickbait, it’s salacious, it’s, “Oh my gosh, poor Ed Sheeran.” First of all, has Ed Sheeran never seen a Macklemore performance before in the last three years? He certainly should’ve known what he was getting into.
The one thing that’s sort of adjacent is, this is a time where speech is being vilified and is a crime, where the truth is a crime, where skin color is a crime, where immigrant status is a crime, where gender is a crime, where sexual orientation is a crime. And it’s my belief that the true crime is the rise of authoritarianism, and the true crime is the erosion of freedoms, and the true crime is an impending environmental disaster. And so my hope at each one of my shows, I deputize the audience as anti-fascist crime fighters, and that’s really the way that I think you have to look at the world right now. Like, what are the real crimes that are happening, and what is it that you and I can do to stop it?
Now that I’ve gotten you fired up — your Power to the People Festival. What is its most essential purpose?
It is not PR or hyperbole to say it is a festival of peace, love, justice, and music. In a time where war is celebrated, this is a festival of peace. In a time where hatred and division are rife, this is a festival of love. In a time where injustice is the norm, this is a festival celebrating fighting for justice. In a time where there’s a lot of shitty music, there’s gonna be a lot of great music on this stage, so we’re going for four for four.
How much were the midterms on your mind when you scheduled this?
As my dear departed mom, Mary Morello, who passed away at 102 years old, was a very political person, said, “You’ve got to fight the fascists every which way you can.” One of those ways is at the ballot box. It’s not the only way, and you should not just think that because you’ve done that. Voting is a piece on the chessboard, and that you try to create an environment where in between the voting you can fight for a more just, a more peaceful, a more equal world.
And so, is the festival three weeks before the midterms? Yeah. Does the money from the festival go to voting rights organizations? Yeah, it does, but the festival is about something much bigger than that. It’s about what kind of world do you really wanna live in, and should we fight for that world, or should we settle for the one that’s being spoon-fed for us by the oligarchs?
Returning as promised to the electoralism issue — there are some on the left who tend to argue it doesn’t matter, don’t bother voting, both sides are the same. So what would you say to someone on the left who says, “Listen, man, I listen to Rage Against the Machine, and I know everyone’s the same. It’s about tearing down the power structure. Doesn’t matter who you vote for. I’m not voting”?
On the one hand, I think that rebellion is self-care, in a way, but I answered that already. Mary Morello was 100 percent right. You have to stop the fascists every which way you can. First of all, a lot of people who I greatly respect and admire the sacrifice they’ve made to try to get people with my color skin to be able to vote in this country, and have died, been lynched for it, they’ve been shot in the back for it, and it’s very disrespectful to their memory to do that.
But that in and of itself is not going to change the levers of power in a significant way. It’s not. It’s not. You should do it. But it would be like, okay, great, you vote, and on the next day you start working. You start working harder for the world you really want without compromise and without apology. And not just putting in the hands of whatever corporate Democrat you choke down your vote for in that particular election, that it’s your job to make the world the way that you think it could be to help those that are the most in need and to hold those accountable who are most guilty.
Do you feel that people on the left should have voted for Kamala Harris?
I’m crystal clear that people’s conscience cannot allow them to do something that they fundamentally believe is wrong. I was the scheduling secretary for United States Senator Alan Cranston. I saw how the corporate Democrat sausage is made. It is worse than you think. And there is a reason, there is a righteous fury at the corporate controlled, money controlled electoral system we have that is absolutely legitimate, and people cannot choke down — I understand it — voting for a candidate that’s responsible for what happened in Gaza, and they just can’t do it, and I’m not gonna blame them for that.
But I think that putting it on them is the most cowardly thing. Put it on the fucking Democratic Party. First of all, I don’t believe it’s their responsibility and they’re never gonna necessarily never do the right thing, but I think it’s all of our responsibility to co-create the world that we want and not point fingers at people that were just like, “Well, you know, my conscience didn’t allow me to do that, so it’s your fault.” I will not co-sign that.
Did you vote for Kamala?
I certainly did not.
You did not?
Did not. I couldn’t do it.
I didn’t realize that.
V for Vendetta — that one inch of who you are belongs to you, and they can’t have it. Now, I live in a state where it may not have moved the meter, but I just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t do it.
When’s the last time that you didn’t vote for the Democratic candidate?
Can’t remember the last time I did.
Wow, okay. I thought you were softening a little bit.
Can’t remember the last time I did.
Quite well, actually. Kamala or Trump winning would have resulted in the exact same outcome in Gaza. The vast majority of the Gaza deaths were during Biden’s term. Trump’s Gaza policy is “continue all of Biden’s policies, but be more performatively cruel about it.”
So in terms of the actual impact on Gaza, Trump or Kamala winning made no difference at all.
However, what has changed is that support for Zionism has become politically radioactive among the Democratic party. This was only possible because Kamala’s genocide support cost her the presidency. Her loss delegitimized pro-genocide voices among the Democrats, and the party has moved substantially on the issue.
So again, the actual condition on the ground in Gaza hasn’t changed, but Trump and Kamala had identical Gaza platforms - full support for genocide. At least with Kamala losing, there are some hopeful signs of optimism for the future.
The biggest difference is that Harris might have been halfway competent about it
Fucking insane bullshit. There’s no way you’re actually this stupid so my guess is you have an agenda
Something isn’t “insane bullshit” just because it goes against your sports team. The cold hard, unavoidable truth is that the vast majority of the deaths and destruction in Gaza occurred on Biden’s watch. Trump just continued Biden’s policies, though admittedly with more performative cruelty.
i find it very amusing that when the two major US parties do the same policy, regardless of which originated it, on the fediverse it’s always “the democrats did this and republicans continued it”.
makes it very easy to know which opinions are worthless, if they can’t even figure out when something started.
That’s a pretty broad brush for such a narrow observation.
You’ll find most people agree the USA PATRIOT act had the Republicans starting it and the Democrats continuing it. Still shitty policy, though.
So you agree that the Gaza argument doesn’t matter since both of them would bomb Gaza anyway?
Then why did you throw all these Trans and migrants in the US under the bus?
Migrants??? Kamala ran on having a harsher immigration policy than Trump. Biden deported more than under Trump 1.
And queer people weren’t exactly safe under Kamala. All she had to say was that we should follow the law. Meanwhile her party was busy persecuting us as well.
Poor reading comprehension.
No I think Trump has been worse on Gaza than Harris would have been. The cruelty isn’t just performative, it has hurt real people. But between the two of them, Gaza was doomed by the bipartisan consensus no matter what.
I agree that Trump has made pro-Israel stances absolutely toxic on the left. I don’t think that would have happened with Harris in office. But the cost has been incredibly high.
I really see no evidence that Kamala would have been any better. This seems to be a vibes-based argument. Trump has more evil vibes than Kamala, so therefore he has to be materially worse for Gaza. In practice, both sides give a blank check to the Israelis. Kamala would have given a blank check to Netanyahu while giving speeches calling for peace and reconciliation. Trump gave the same blank check while calling Palestinians subhuman animals. The actual material reality is the same. Trump’s just cruder and crueler about it.
Eh you’re right. I was going on vibes there, I concede.
Her constituency was EXTREMELY against Israel’s actions to the point of HER LOSING BECAUSE OF IT. That would have made a difference. That same constituency forced a sitting president to give up his run for a 2nd term mere months before an election. Dems have to consider their constituency’s stance on topics more than Republicans do.
And now we have a president (and House and Senate) whose constituency doesn’t give a flying fuck about Palestinians.
Never, ever forget that the reason Biden got cancelled was because of a bad tv performance and not the genocide. I distinctly remember all the blueanon folk screaming about holding ones nose and voting for biden until he looked bad on TV, then the dems told them who to blindly support next and when that (very predictably) failed the people that get blamed for the loss are … the voters that just couldn’t swallow what the dems shat out. It’s time to hold the politicians accountable and not the masses that are doing exactly what the system is supposedly for, affirming or not affirming someone for public office.
Downvoters cant handle the truth that cutting off rheir nose to spite their face has lasting consequences.