“A change is gonna come…”
by Shane Solanki
This was the name of a Sam Cooke song which came to exemplify the sixties civil rights movement in the USA. Can music change the world?
The story of AfroReggae is now world renowned. A bunch of dudes wanted to deal with the amount of deaths and violence in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro, so they set up music workshops for local residents. Now, AfroReggae travels the world, performing, teaching and sharing skills with other organisations. The film Favela Rising documents how their social movement actually brought about a tangible reduction of violent crime in Rio De Janeiro.
Ten years ago, the world famous Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim collaborated with world famous literary theorist and Palestinian activist Edward Said to create the East West Divan Orchestra. The orchestra combined musicians from both Israel and Pallestine. In these brilliant lectures, Barenboim explains how politicians could benefit from paying attention to musicians, who learn to ‘speak’ and ‘listen’ at the same time to produce a harmonious cacophony - perhaps parallel to the kaleidoscopic maelstrom of the swirling masses we find in cities worldwide.
But there are those who would argue that it’s not music that changes the world – it is in fact politics. And there are others that would argue that it’s not music or politics – but fools.
Another South American legend of grass roots activism was also concerned with reducing violence in his home town of Bogota, Colombia. But Antanas Mockus is not your regular kind of activist. He became mayor of Bogota. In his term as mayor, he reduced violent crime by half. His methods were unusual. He sacked the entire traffic police force, riddled with corruption, and successfully replaced them with a troupe of mime artists (the police were offered their jobs back on the condition that they retrain in mime). Check out this documentary on Mockus, perhaps the most unusual politician the world has ever seen.
Clowning, and tomfoolery, is a fascinating way to engage with the confrontation which occurs on our concrete streets. Take the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA), a UK organisation who use clowning to diffuse the tension so often prevalent at protests and demonstrations.
When does activism become politics? Obama began his political career in grass roots activism. Antanas Mockus went on Colombian national TV dressed as a superhero hugging a carrot, ridding the streets of rubbish (by putting litter into the bin, and by ripping advertising off walls). Mockus recently came a whisker away from becoming the world’s first green president. AfroReggae have played a significant role in the political landscape of Brazil under the leadership of Lula. CIRCA are on the frontline of protests, asking us to consider the way we negotiate public space. And an Isreali member of the West East Divan Orchestra has this to say;
“Barenboim is always saying his project is not political. But one of the really great things is that this is a political statement by both sides. It is more important not for people like myself, but for people to see that it is possible to sit down with Arab people and play. The orchestra is a human laboratory that can express to the whole world how to cope with the other.”
