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Calendar
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Occupy Music? Crisis, Resistance and the Sound of Revolt
- facilitated by Alex Billet, an openly radical music journalist
- Saturday, April 21 from 4:30 - 6:30 in the second floor lounge of 430 S. Michigan
It’s no news to anyone involved in Occupy that the support among musicians of all stripes for our movement is high. In the months since Occupy Wall Street took off, we’ve had countless songs and statements released by artists in solidarity with this movement. Some of these artists are no surprise (Tom Morello, Ani DiFranco, Lupe, etc), some totally out of left field (Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, etc). All in all, this is the largest proportion of musicians who have openly allied with a social cause since the 1960s.
This session will seek to explain why. In doing so it will briefly examine what music’s social role has been historically and anthropologically. It will look at the reality of the modern music industry as a hindrance on free speech and artistic expression and ask what might be needed to overcome the strictures that said industry has imposed on music. Finally, it will look briefly at both modern and historical examples of what it looks like when movements provide the breathing room for new, rebellious forms of art to gain more traction.
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MST Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement
- facilitated by Jeff Frank (OC attorney and national coordinator of Friends of the MST)
- Sunday, April 22 from 5 - 7 p.m. at LaSalle & Jackson
The MST (Movimento Sem Terra - Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement) is one of the largest social movements in the world. The MST claims land through occupations and builds settlements on the occupied land where peasants farm cooperatively. In its 30 year history, the MST has occupied land in 23 of Brazil’s 27 states and settled over 370,000 families (over 2 million people). You can learn more information on our website:
www.mstbrazil.org.
There has been a lot of interest from the Occupy movement in the MST. An MST leader spoke to Occupy Oakland (posted on the website). Jeff Frank will present on the history and methods of the Landless Worker’s Movement and what the Occupy movement both in Chicago and internationally can learn from their politics and organizing strategies.
