This Week with David Rovics

What's one thing that just about all of us can do right now?  I've got answers.

And I don't even live in Gaza.

What do we need? Historical knowledge, vision, optimism, organization, and deep culture. When do we need it? Always.

A song for a photograph, for the photographers, the artists, the journalists, and all who are finding effective ways to tell the stories.  In this case, the stories of a genocide.  Latest remix from Chet Gardiner.  If anyone knows where to find the photo I wrote the song about, please tell me.

In preparation for Sunday's vigil for Gaza that I'll be singing at (12-2 pm at 12th and Hawthorne SE here in PDX) I did a livestreamed concert from my living room to practice some relevant songs.

While Israel continues its genocide of the Palestinians, all the Republicans in the Senate and half of the Democrats voted once again to continue facilitating the genocide. This song names the names of the genocide-supporting Democratic Senators, all of whom should obviously not be in positions of power -- all of whom should be locked up in the Hague, for that matter. This version is another brilliant remix from Chet, bound eventually for another album.

Another powerful remix from Chet Gardiner to drive home the message of the song I wrote just the other day, following announcements from Israel-supporting, war-profiteering leaders like Starmer, Carney, and Albanese that they might just consider recognizing the state of Palestine  --if there are any Palestinians left alive come September, and if Hamas gives up and the Palestinians who haven't been killed yet pretend effectively "play dead."

The western powers talking about recognizing the state of Palestine sometime in the fall if certain outrageous conditions are met is the very definition of the term, "gaslighting."

After 22 months of Israel's total war on the children of Gaza, Senator Bernie Sanders put forward a bill to stop sending arms to the Israeli death machine.  All the Republicans in the Senate voted against it, along with half of the Democrats.  These 24 Democratic senators who voted to support Israel's ongoing genocidal war have names.  And after initially trusting an AI chatbot to give me correct names, I did some proper research with the aid of human journalists, and wrote an updated version of the song.

After 22 months of Israel's total war on the children of Gaza, Senator Bernie Sanders put forward a bill to stop sending arms to the Israeli death machine. All the Republicans in the Senate voted against it, along with half of the Democrats. These 24 Democratic senators who voted to support Israel's ongoing genocidal war have names.

If it weren't for a very long flight, all the kangaroos and kookaburras, and everyone driving on the left side of the road, I might have thought I was still in the USA.

This song is probably my best songwriting effort on the awful subject of Israel's continuing genocide of the Palestinian people by mass starvation. Chet Gardiner has provided us with another stellar remix.

Some distinctions between Auschwitz and Gaza? Gaza is much bigger. And the genocide is being financed and armed by the US and most of the rest of the western world.

Vivien Langford was at last weekend's Gaza solidarity rally in Sydney for 3CR Community Radio, and she made this audio montage from the rally, featuring an amazing speech from someone from the Australian Jewish Council, followed by Kamala and I singing "I Support Palestine Action," and an announcement about the National Convergence on Canberra, which we will be singing at today, tomorrow, and Tuesday.

Maha Almassri is a Palestinian grandmother from the Gaza Strip who was staying with her son in Sydney, New South Wales, after fleeing Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, when one morning she was abducted by police in a pre-dawn raid and put in detention, where she remains today, with no explanation, and no recourse but detention or "self-deportation."  Maha is one of several Palestinians who have been similarly abducted and detained by Australian authorities this month.

The British courts have regularly been finding Palestine Action innocent of any wrongdoing, in the group's efforts to smash the war machine, deeming them to be on the side of international law and British law, and deeming the state and the arms industry to be breaking the law. In light of this state of affairs, the British parliament has acted decisively, passing a law with an overwhelming majority to declare Palestine Action a terrorist group, and thus to declare that anyone expressing support for Palestine Action to be a terrorist as well, potentially liable to spend up to 14 years in prison for singing the chorus to this song. Photo by Guy Smallman, from a protest in London at which many were arrested for holding those signs. Many more were arrested in the following days.

As the daily American-and-Israeli massacres of starving Palestinians in search of food parcels continue in Gaza, Chet Gardiner has delivered a powerful remix of one of the many songs I've written in recent months on this subject, borrowing a line I heard from a reporter on Al-Jazeera, "The Food Lines are the Front Lines Now."

Evening in the Americas when I received this brilliant remix from Chet Gardiner, and at the very moment I received this mix I was hearing news on Al-Jazeera about yet another morning massacre in Gaza, of starving Palestinians knowingly risking a likely death by Israeli machine gun fire in order for a slim chance at obtaining a small sack of flour.  The abhorrent Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's Hunger Games continue.

This is the 3rd of 3 Selections from My Life as a Protest Singer.  The full 11 episodes of My Life as a Protest Singer are available in the Everything folder that all members of my CSA have access to.  If you appreciate my musical (and/or other) efforts, have disposable income to speak of, and might be willing to part with a few bucks a month to keep me on the road, making recordings, etc., please feel hereby encouraged to sign up!  A few dozen more people joining my CSA could vastly improve my family's currently fairly precarious finances.  Let's keep the protest music going.  Thank you for your attention to this matter.

The US seems ever more intent to go to war with Iran. Meanwhile, there is a country in the Middle East with undeclared nuclear weapons, which the IAEA never visits -- Israel.

As much as I love all of the instrumentation and vocal harmonies that characterize the new album (which you can hear in that multilayered form right now on Bandcamp), listening to all of these songs in their original, solo acoustic form yesterday I found personally to be a powerful experience. I think these 12 songs, heard in this order, provide a fairly raw and I daresay gripping account of the past two months in certain vital corners of planet Earth. I thought I'd present them to you like I heard them, back-to-back, in case you want to try that, too.

I made an audio mash-up of songs from the new album, and a slideshow to go along with it. Which may represent the sum of my abilities to hype an album release. In Our Dreams is on Bandcamp now, and drops on streaming platforms in July.

My Life as a Protest Singer is an approximately 11-hour audiobook, available exclusively for members of my CSA.  This is the 2nd of 3 Selections from the audiobook, available for anyone to check out.

Here's the podcast rendition of a guided tour of my upcoming album, In Our Dreams, wherein I share with you ten of the songs that will be part of the album, in the order I wrote them, with commentary.

As Israel continues its bombing campaign against Iran and Trump considers whether to join in, I witness intelligent-looking pundits with reasonable-sounding voices discuss matter-of-factly whether dropping massive amounts of bombs on the cradle of civilization again might make the world a more peaceful place this time around.

A song I originally wrote soon after the murder of Dr. George Tiller (May 31st, 2009), which we thought we'd put on the new album (2025). New instrumentation by Chet Gardiner, harmony vocals are Laura Love.

The reality is incomparably worse than the movie.

What's in a tweet?

As much of the US military heads in the direction of Iran, the fighters and bombers and destroyers are all armed with missiles made by 5 American corporations, otherwise known as the War Machine. Powerful remix from Chet and Laura, destined for the upcoming album.

Most recently the daily massacres of starving Palestinian children seeking small packets of flour are being carried out by drones and tanks. Haunting remix from Chet and Laura for the upcoming album.

In the wake of the killings of the Israeli diplomats in Washington, DC, and the bizarre press reports about antisemitism, I wrote this song. This is the version destined for the upcoming album, brilliantly transformed by Chet Gardiner and Laura Love.

All this talk of "coming to the table" after being bombed some more is just so crazy.

As my friends are trying to reach Gaza by sea and trying to gather at the border in Egypt, the Israelis are proceeding with their plan for the expulsion of any Palestinians who manage to survive Israel's famine, bombings and daily massacres. This is another brilliant remix from Chet and Laura.

Throughout 2024 and early 2025, in between writing songs and essays, touring and raising kids, a side project has been another memoir project. I declared it finished, and recorded the whole thing. The memoir is in the form of an audiobook. My Life as a Protest Singer is my third or fourth effort at writing a memoir.  This may seem ridiculous, but those who have engaged in the practice of memoir-writing know it's not.  There is so much to write about, and so much that will inevitably be left unwritten.  There are so many angles, so many approaches.  The vast majority of whatever it is will never make it in. The full production of My Life as a Protest Singer consists of 11 episodes of about an hour each, or about 11 hours of me wagging my jaw.  In its full 11 episodes it's available exclusively for members of my Community-Supported Art program.  Whether you're a paid member via my website or via Patreon, Substack, or Bandcamp, you've been given a link to my Everything folder.  It's in there, within the “Extras” folder.  If you're a CSA member and don't have the link to the Everything folder handy, just email me for it. What I have made available for free to the general public is the very abridged version, Selections from My Life as a Protest Singer, which is a 3-episode series. Starting with Selections from My Life as a Protest Singer EPISODE 1.

The song I wrote about recent events in Los Angeles, transformed by a chilling and very electric remix from Chet and Laura.

I spent an hour yesterday talking with Tom Walker, who was interviewing me for the Peace & Justice Report on WSLR community radio in Sarasota, Florida.

The final phase of the genocide involves daily massacres of Palestinians so driven to feed their families that they're ready to risk being shot by Israeli soldiers in order for a chance to get ahold of a little pasta.

Brilliantly rocking remix from Chet Gardiner and Laura Love of this song I wrote a few days ago about the horrific conditions in the Krome detention center in Florida -- which are a lot like the horrific conditions at so many other ICE facilities in this land of cruelty.

Among the various absurdities is Trump saying Los Angeles looked like "occupied territory." It is, of course -- since at least 1846. But he probably wouldn't get the irony.

The point, obviously -- and openly stated by our government officials -- is to make the USA such a terrible place to seek asylum that people would rather face torture or death or hunger at home, than to even try to leave.

Whether it stops the genocide or not, the upcoming album is going to be really good, full of remixes like this one just in from Chet Gardiner and Laura Love of my latest song, "Gunning Down Little Girls and Boys."

Every day since the US/Israeli mercenaries set up their fake aid distribution killing field, they have committed a massacre of starving children -- children who have been starved by those very same governments who are putting food parcels in their hands and bullets in their backs.  Was there something else in the news?

The Israeli regime has been telling us all along what's coming next: mass expulsion or death for everyone in Gaza. Do you believe them yet?

Israel has one company that makes the sorts of bunker-busting missiles that have been annihilating the population of Gaza for so many years (Elbit Systems).  The US has the rest of them, which provide Israel with most of its missiles, fighter jets, etc.  Otherwise known as the American war machine -- without which the genocide would not be possible.

The girl in the flames the world has been seeing over Memorial Day weekend actually survived the bombing of the classroom she was sleeping in, unlike the many other children and women and men who were burned alive, in that and other Israeli air strikes targeting children throughout Gaza, throughout the weekend.

I spoke at length with folks from Atlanta, Georgia for the What the Folk? show on WRFG Community Radio. Here's the whole show -- the interview segments as well as all the excellent song selections from various artists that comprise the rest of this wonderful two-hour radio show.

I'm very excited to announce that the brilliant Laura Love is contributing vocal harmony parts to tracks on my upcoming album, such as this one.  What these harmonies are adding to the impact of the songs is immeasurable, in my humble opinion.

In the Israeli military there is a popular expression.  They say the soldiers of the world's most moral army, as they call themselves, care so much about humanity -- even Palestinian humanity -- that they are all crying while they're shooting.  I'm quite certain the same is true for Elias Rodriguez as he shot the Israeli diplomats.

On my recent trip to BC I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Brian Charlton & Stephen Harvey for their Labour Beat radio show. We had a wide-ranging and downright fascinating conversation. The first 40 minutes of this episode represents Part 1.

When I was in BC recently I was interviewed at some length by Cornelius Lundsgaard for Hornby Island Community Radio.

When all is lost, all that's left is our dreams.