Aterciopelados "Cancion Protesta", & the status of Freedom of Speech in 2007 USA

Shout out to Atreciopleados, the Colombian rock group.

Their album "Oye" was one of my favorites of 2006. Those who like rock, or like latin music, or like music with positive lyrics, should check this out, even if they don't speak spanish. It's mainly rock but has elements of the music of the indigenous Colombian people ("Native Americans" in US lingo).



During the Gee Dubbz regime, Dubbz has often made ridic, un-democratic, un-patriotic statements such as

"if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists"

In turn the timid bitchmade Democratic politicians, with a few exceptions like Russ Feingold, are usually too lame & timid to point out that this is obviously undemocratic.

There is a quote by Thomas Jefferson or another of the US "founding fathers". I can't source it, but it something like

"if the government is acting against the interest of the public, it's your duty to speak against it. Actually the ones who stay silent in such a situation are the ones who are unpatriotic, not the ones that speak out"

BTW, using Dubbz logic, the following remarkable humans if living in 2007 US would prolly be labeled by Dubbz and his WC crew as "with the terrorists", just for practicing their free speech and civil disobedience.
Jesus Christ
Martin Luther
Martin Luther King Jr
Mahatma Gandhi
Nelson Mandela

There are some American politicians, editorial writers, talking heads whose heart is in the right place on these issues of democracy, free speech, and civil disobedience.

Unfortunately, they don't have the eloquence of Aterciopleados singer Andrea Echeverri. Check the lyrics of the chorus of the song "Cancion Protesta" (eg Protest Song) from "Oye". It succinctly and quickly lays out an intellectual ethering of a response to Dubbz' assertion.

Suena otra cancion protesta
pero no la llaman terrorista
no es que no sean patriota
es que traiga otro punto de vista

For my peeps que no hablan espanol, here's the rough translation

A protest song is playing
but don't call it terrorist
it's not that it's not patriotic
it just has a different point of view

The verbose no-campaign-skills-having, foot-in-his-mouth, John Kerry prolly could not express this view in an hour or less!

Check the live clip of "Cancion Protesta" from a concert in Spain. Before the song Echeverri explains she's referring to Colombia and the government's "Plan Colombia" program, part of which is ethering the environment of some beautiful rural areas of Colombia by spraying ridic quantities of toxic chemicals to destroy coca crops.

Although Echeverri is talking about Colombia, the same logic is relevant to the USA.

Folks like Cindy Sheehan who protest the Iraq war are NOT UNPATRIOTIC, in fact they are the MOST PATRIOTIC for exercising free speech against Dubbz' Iraqi policy. In Sheehan's view, and most Americans' view, Dubbz' Iraqi policy doesn't benefit the public, the average Joe in the US or Iraq. So Sheehan is an American patriot for expressing her view, word to MLK Jr.