On Politics: Tom Morello

Whether grinding his unmistakable axe for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave or founding the socially conscious non-profit Axis of Justice -- whose first concert series CD/DVD will hit the shelves in November -- with System of a Down's Serj Tankian, Tom Morello has had extensive experience dealing with the whole "Art and politics should never mix" bullshit. By ignoring it, that is. He knows full well that the two have been inextricably linked long before Woody Guthrie, Ludwig Van and Picasso, although the humble Morello would never include himself in such company. But, on the eve of a contentious election, Morello's various voter mobilization and consciousness-raising activities -- touring solo as The Nightwatchman with the Punkvoter camp and others, working on charity albums for the Sudan crisis, or just generally schooling the youth on their corrupt officials -- are much-needed wake-up calls for Generation Xtina. Here's hoping they're paying attention.

Scott Thill: I'd ask you how you got involved in voter mobilization for this upcoming election, but you've always been doing stuff like that.
Tom Morello: Right. Mixing music and politics is not anything that's particularly new for me and -- especially during this important historical crossroads -- I think it's key for people to speak their minds and tell the truth as they see it. Whether they're musicians, journalists, students, carpenters, longshoremen or whatever, that's the engine of change. I think we're at a very dangerous juncture. It is often that we find a corporate-controlled president who widens the gap between rich and poor and is involved in nefarious military adventures abroad in the White House, but this goofball is off the scale. This guy is an absolute monster, and it's time he got his pink slip.

ST: How did Bush effect this down-home Texas pose when he's really an upper-class rich kid from Yale?
TM: The one thing the right wing definitely has together is their propaganda machinery. They've got several TV networks pumping out scandalous disinformation 24 hours a day about what's going on in the world. I'm sure you've seen the statistics that show that the more you watch Fox News, the less you actually know about what's going on around you. Everything from WMD to the non-link between Saddam and Al-Qaeda, you're likelier to be stupid after watching Fox News than if you watched no news at all. That's just one of the elements. The administration is good at manipulating public sentiment with these slick, calculated, soft-focus, creamy visions of freedom and patriotism that disguise policies of oppression at home and aggression abroad.

ST: Both Kerry and Bush are millionaires. Can they honestly be expected to care about Average Joe American?
TM: It's crucial to remember in this election year that there are shades of difference between them, and those shades will make a difference in thousands if not millions of lives. But that is not an excuse for people who care about their quality of life and those around them to not be active at times other than the election. The issues of social justice, the environment, human rights and peace don't go away after November.

ST: Which leads to my next question: Do you think everyone will just go to sleep like they did after Clinton if Kerry is elected?
TM: There's a possibility of that happening, but that's a problem I'd like to have! (Laughs).

ST: Do you think that, at least according to the 2000 election turnout, that those very people are close to believing that their votes don't really count?
TM: I think that they're rightly suspicious that the candidates running for office don't have their interests in mind.

ST: Do you think the uproar over artists getting political is based on the arbitrary assumption that art and politics aren't already inextricably intertwined?
TM: I don't believe there is a separation of art and politics, but even if there was, political activity and standing up for your rights are every much a part of human history as broken hearts and driving around in cars during the summer, about which there have been a great many songs written. Music can be a tremendously inspirational tool for agitation and organization. I know it has been for me and I feel that some of the music I've been involved with in the past has done that for other people. Bands like Anti-Flag are doing that for kids now, and it's clearly potent. So it would be foolish for someone to argue that politics and art shouldn't mix.

ST: Do you think that this election will come down to the war, and shouldn't it be included with the economy as a mega-issue since it's costing an astronomical amount of money per month?
TM: Absolutely. War and the economy are in the same basket, because I believe that's exactly why we are at war. It obviously had nothing to do with its stated reasons like WMD -- of which there were none -- or terrorism -- of which there has been a dramatic increase since the war began. Or Democracy, for that matter. If you want to call Iraq a democracy today, you're out of your mind. How many unchangeable laws, or Bremer orders, were written before the handover? If Iraq was a true democracy, they could hold a referendum right now and decide whether they want American troops there or not.

ST: How do you think Kerry would handle the Iraqmire?
TM: I think that if he gets elected, Kerry would certainly owe it to the American people and the people of the world to have a saner policy toward Iraq. The Bush agenda has been so numbingly belligerent and deceitful that, if Kerry is put into office, it would be because of the people's direct opposition to the lies of the Bush administration. He would be a fool not to do the right thing and work for greater harmony in the region, rather than force even more American aggression down the throats of the people who already hate us.

ST: That seems to be the refrain of many bands I'm talking to these days. They're saying that, as musicians, they tour the world and the one thing they're all beginning to notice is that no one likes us.
TM: (Laughs). I don't know if that's true, but I do not that know likes what our government is doing right now, and that's an important distinction. I think there's a much greater subtlety of understanding outside of the U.S. media machine that dictates that the American administration is one thing, and the American people are another.

ST: Do you think Bush has motivated non-voters well enough on his own without these concerts?
TM: He has certainly done enough on an artistic front to motivate artists to step forward. Artists, like many Americans, are totally fed up with what they've seen with the policies and lies of the Bush administration.

11 October 04

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