Spirit in Action
Occupy the USA - Emma's Revolution
Pat Humphries & Sandy O are Emma's Revolution and they use their music in the service of activism and, as their web site notes, they're "like Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart with guitars". Their latest CD, Revolutions per Minute, chronicals & participates in many of this year's dramatic movements & concerns - like Iraq, Arab Spring, the Wisconsin Uprising & the Occupy Movement. They think and sing powerfully, providing fuel for change we really can believe in!
- Broadcast on:
- 18 Nov 2012
- Audio Format:
- other
[music] Let us sing this song for the healing of the world That we may hear as one With every voice, with every song We will move this world along And our lives will feel the echo of our healing [music] Welcome to Spirit in Action. My name is Mark Helpes Me. Each week, I'll be bringing you stories of people living lives of fruitful service, of peace, community, compassion, creative action, and progressive efforts. I'll be tracing the spiritual roots that support and nourish them in their service, hoping to inspire and encourage you to sync deep roots and produce sacred food in your own life. Let us sing this song for the dreaming of the world That we may dream as one With every voice, with every song We will move this world along There are many ways to add to the energy of good things being done on this planet and one way to do that is through art and music forms that can capture the imagination and ignite the soul. That's the work of Emma's Revolution. Pat Humphries and Sandio are Emma's Revolution and you'd best get ready for some powerful tunes and a heartful activism. Their latest CD is Revolutions Per Minute and it chronicles and participates in the sometimes daunting, sometimes amazing changes taking place in our world from Barack Obama's inauguration to Wisconsin protest to Arab Spring to the Occupy movement. Pat and Sandi joined me today by phone from their home base near Washington, D.C. Sandi and Pat, I'm delighted to have you here for Spirit in Action. Thanks so much, we're thrilled to be with you. The new album that you've got, it seems to me that half of the songs are custom made for what's going in this country. I kind of think that the Occupy Wall Street people or the people standing on the front in Wisconsin back in March, it feels to me like you wrote all these songs to get us pumped and to get us moving in the right direction. I think you're right on target. This is Sandi and we do write songs to sing at those events, so that song that you referenced Occupy the USA. We wrote it to sing at the opening of Occupation 2011 that's happening here in D.C. at Freedom Plaza, the one that we wrote for the Madison demonstrations called "Stand Together." We also wrote and went up to Madison and sang it there. Well, there were those tens of thousands of people outside the state house and also inside. So would it be fair to say that you two are pretty much full-time agitators for the good life in the entire United States? This is Pat. I would say we're full-time observers of what's going on and we like to be able to create work that helps to keep that fire going and keep the inspiration and the energy up because it, you know, folks, especially folks who are doing the Occupy's right now, need a lot of energy to maintain those encampments. It's a really huge commitment and we really appreciate that there are folks out doing that kind of work and, you know, we take our responsibility very seriously in forming people about the issues but also to continue to energize the community and unify the community around these really important issues. I think there are issues that we all care about. I can imagine that during the term of Office of George Bush that you were, let's say, providing energy against the discouragement that was looming for a lot of people or a threat that was looming for a lot of people. I do know that during those times there's considerable energy that burbles up to make a change in the world. Do you feel like you've gotten more or less energy now than so you did five years ago? That's a great question because actually we did write a lot of songs during the Bush term and then when President Obama was elected in that very historic vote, people actually said to us, "What are you going to have to write about?" I said, "If everything was magically going to change." So the sad but true thing is that we still have things to write about and it's been important to continue to bring those attentions to light, not just to, you know, the people in the streets who care about them, but also to bring them to President Obama he said during his whole campaign, "You've got to make me do what you want me to do and you've got to keep on me." And we really have been, you know, it took people a little time to sort of realize, that they are going to have to get back into the streets and write letters and send emails and make phone calls to influence this President. Obviously there's just a ton of energy right now. Everything was really kicked up by the Arab Spring, last Spring, and then Madison protest happening after that and now the occupies. There's a huge amount of energy on the streets and so many more people who wouldn't necessarily have come out during the Bush era, even if they were not in support of what was going on, but there is just now this great moment for people of all ages and all identifications and all strata to come out into the streets and claim they're part of the 99 percent. Were you there maybe on the mall when Barack Obama was taking office? This is Pat. We actually were there. In fact there was a peace ball, inaugural peace ball. The first inaugural peace ball was organized here in DC and we were playing that night with Holly Neer, so we actually couldn't be in the middle of all that was happening. One of the things that we observed here and it was astounding to see the way people addressed one another in the street during that time, not just during the inauguration, but for months we live just on the outskirts of DC and especially DC proper is 70 percent people of color. So when Barack Obama was elected, it truly was as if the invisible became visible and we were very conscious that people in this greater DC community felt very, very proud. They felt finally they might be represented and we had to be really conscious of that fact when the time came that people needed to be critical over things like the build up in Afghanistan, over the failure to close Guantanamo and all these kinds of campaign promises were falling by the wayside even after the first 100 days. We were very attuned and wanted to be very sensitive and honoring of the fact that the community really felt like this president had inherited a horrible mess and they wanted to give him a chance. On the other hand, as Sandy said, Barack Obama himself said in his campaign, "You need to keep on me on these issues that you care about. I need to hear from you." So that's when we wrote the song "Change" because the brilliance of the Obama campaign was that he touched on these things that we all really deeply long for and that is change we can believe in. I need some change. I can't believe it. I need some change that I can feel. I won't give up. I won't give in any change that's real. I need some peace. Don't want to kill me. I need some peace. I can't see. I won't give up. I won't give in any change that's real. I need some power to build my future. I need some power and I can't feel. I won't give up and I won't give in any change that's real. I need some power to build my future. I need some power to keep me going. I need some power and I can't feel. I won't give up and I won't give in any change that's real. I need some justice. I'm tired of waiting in. I need some justice that I can feel. I won't give up and I won't give in any change that's real. I need some hope. It's real. I need some power. It's real. I need some peace. It's real. I need some change that's real. It's real. Change by Sandio and Pat Humphreys. Collectively they're known as Emma's Revolution. Their website is Emma's Revolution.com. A number of us who voted for Barack Obama, I think we're very hopeful that we'd have a speedy end to military engagements abroad. That was, I think, a disappointment for a lot of people. How do you end up feeling about that now having had three years of his term in office? I think had we listened more closely to candidate Obama around in particular military buildup, we would have noticed that he never intended to end that war. He voted in favor of that war from the beginning and he said all along. I think that there was a lot of excitement about the possibility, first of all the possibility of just getting the Bush administration out of the White House and any other person that might carry out the same kinds of policies out of there, that I think we really didn't hear. We really didn't listen. When he said during the campaign, "I support a buildup in Afghanistan. I will send more troops to Afghanistan." There was always a huge amount of support for the Obama campaign coming from the oil lobby, coming from the natural gas lobby, coming from nuclear. We knew these things coming into it. Candidate Obama was a centrist at best, but we were all so hopeful that things might just improve enough. We were also focused on making sure that we didn't get McCain and Palin in that office. I agree it would have been disastrous, but I think we projected a lot of hopes onto this president that probably were not really realistic. I think a lot of us wanted to believe that secretly he was much more progressive than he actually is. Actually, I'm one of the people who very clearly heard him during the campaign. He said, "Yeah, Afghanistan, that's where we're going to shift our troops over to." I heard that, so it wasn't a surprise to me what he did. He was consistent with what he said. On the other hand, we didn't count on being in a couple more wars, and we really thought that Iraq would be wound on a lot quicker. I think he's pretty much followed the schedule that George W. Bush already had in mind. Yeah, yeah. How do you feel about the two wars relatively, Afghanistan and Iraq? I never believed that war is going to bring us a solution that's acceptable. I grew up with all the stories about World War II and everything, but even that had the U.S. government, frankly, intervened more strongly when they saw that Jews were being forced out of countries throughout Europe. I had they been willing to grant asylum and be a haven. Even our response to what people like to think back on as the good war, I think would have been very different. I think if you read some of the literature from that time, there's a chilling book called "Human Smoke" that talks about, and it's really quotes from different leaders during that time. There was a huge amount of anti-Semitism. The truth is there are great benefits to certain portions of industry and to the reputations of certain politicians. If there's a war, there's something to rally around. We've seen that happen time and time and time again, and I think that's been part of what people are sick of in these occupy demonstrations. They're sick of this approach where the 1% gets richer and more powerful, and everybody else pays. I think it's also the piece that I feel like is really important to remember is that we really could be living on the planet in a completely different way. When we look at how we use the resources around us, we really do have enough food on this planet to feed everybody, and yet we don't do it. We really could be powering ourselves with solar and wind and things that won't destroy our planet, and we have a hard time getting that to be used in the amount that it really could be to create a sustainable world. When we talk about these things that are just really heavy and trying things, I think it's also important to remember what is possible, and it's very possible for us to be living on this planet even as we've reached the 7 billion people on the planet. There would be different ways to live on this planet together. The truth about war throughout our history, wars have always been fought by the poorest people on the planet, on both sides. These current wars are no exception. Current administrations became aware through our experience in Vietnam that the population in general in the U.S. will not tolerate a draft. That's the perfect way to activate the middle class, and it's the perfect way for the poor in the middle class to point to the fact that rich people in this country for the most part don't fight wars. They're the ones that determine policy, and they're the ones that are forever shielded, and in fact those are the ones that benefit from wars. My father joined the military when he was 15. His mother died when he was very young, and he joined the military for the same reasons that a lot of people in this country have joined the military. He had very limited options in his life. He joined up, and then my nephew comes along. I'm one of six sisters. I'm second to youngest of all of us, and I have a nephew that's just ten years younger than I am. As he grew up, he always wanted to be a pilot. He dreamed of being a commercial pilot, and my sister and brother-in-law had the means to send him to private lessons to study, and as he learned more over the years and studied with more instructors, the guys would talk to him about being a commercial pilot as if he was going to get bored and would be like driving a taxi. They said, "If you really want the newest technology and the biggest planes, you have to join the military." He joined the military, and then September 11th happens. He finds himself in the cockpit of a fighter jet with orders to shoot down the next commercial airliner he saw. The truth about wars, and one of the things that I also observed, is that I've never seen a recruiting billboard in a rich neighborhood. ♪ I will not fight ♪ ♪ I will not take orders ♪ ♪ My life is short ♪ ♪ And getting shorter ♪ ♪ This is not my land ♪ ♪ I don't belong here ♪ ♪ This is not my war ♪ ♪ This is not my war ♪ ♪ When I was young ♪ ♪ I would play the hero ♪ ♪ By chance for real ♪ ♪ Next to zero ♪ ♪ I grew up war ♪ ♪ And I grew up empty ♪ ♪ Recruiters came ♪ ♪ Tried to tempt me ♪ ♪ They promised cars ♪ ♪ And they promised money ♪ ♪ They showed my future ♪ ♪ Bright and sunny ♪ ♪ Though it sounded good ♪ ♪ I did not believe them ♪ ♪ I had a friend ♪ ♪ They deceived him ♪ ♪ I will not fight ♪ ♪ I will not take orders ♪ ♪ My life is short ♪ ♪ And getting shorter ♪ ♪ This is not my land ♪ ♪ I took them on here ♪ ♪ This is not my war ♪ ♪ This is not my war ♪ ♪ My buddy Juan ♪ ♪ Joined the army ♪ ♪ He was convinced ♪ ♪ He would help his family ♪ ♪ He tried his best ♪ ♪ To buy the story ♪ ♪ But bloody lies ♪ ♪ Betrayed the glory ♪ ♪ Juan wrote to me ♪ ♪ From a bar in Baghdad ♪ ♪ And he helped me see ♪ ♪ The power that I had ♪ ♪ There is no war ♪ ♪ Without the warrior ♪ ♪ Just silent tanks ♪ ♪ Guns and mortar ♪ ♪ I will not fight ♪ ♪ I will not take orders ♪ ♪ My life is short ♪ ♪ Getting shorter ♪ ♪ This is not my land ♪ ♪ I don't belong here ♪ ♪ This is not my war ♪ ♪ This is not my war ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Juan came home ♪ ♪ To the docket over ♪ ♪ He laid him down ♪ ♪ In Kentucky Clover ♪ ♪ With his son ♪ ♪ And his wife beside me ♪ ♪ I read his words ♪ ♪ May they always guide me ♪ ♪ I will not fight ♪ ♪ I will not take orders ♪ ♪ My life is short ♪ ♪ Getting shorter ♪ ♪ This is not my land ♪ ♪ I don't belong here ♪ ♪ This is not my war ♪ This is not my one, life without life I will not take orders, I might be short, getting shorter. This is not my man, I don't belong. This is not my one, this is not my one. This is not my one, this is not my one. From Emma's revolutions, new CD revolutions per minute, that was not my war. We have with us here today for spirit in action, Sandy O and Pat Humphreys of Emma's revolution. That new CD and that song is so appropriate to some of the heartache we've seen. Is the one in that song, is that a real person or is that a conglomerate of a lot of the people that are out there that have been serving in our military? Yeah, he's not an individual in particular, but there's so much discussion even with regard to the DREAM Act which I understand people feel really strongly about providing some avenue for children of immigrants to be able to stay in the U.S., but I have great concerns about the fact that already we're sending these young people from these very vulnerable populations into war. And, you know, we've always done that. It's another way that we exploit vulnerable populations in the U.S., so I definitely wanted to make reference to that. I heard an interesting reflection about that phenomenon. At one point, I maybe was in Desert Storm. I heard Scott Simon speak at a national Quaker gathering. He was speaking about how sometimes his personal line ends up deviating from the Quaker line in that he hears things firsthand. And at that point, there was a lot of concern that the black and brown members of American society were being used as cannon fodder. They were put on the front lines and they were having the casualties. They were the ones who were bearing the brunt for us. And that was what was in the news. He said the people he was embedded with, the people he was speaking to, you know, significant number of them, black and brown. They laughed at the concern in the public press because they said they were proud. The reason that we're out here in front is because we're the only ones who are tough enough to do it. And part of me was horrified. And part of me was saying, yeah, that's really how the male psyche works. That's what I was actually going to respond in that way. I think people are always going to want to find a way to feel good about what they're doing. People want to feel good about what they're doing. They want to feel like their work and their life has great purpose. That's exactly why you call the show Spirit in Action. It matters so much to people. And so even if from the outsider, from someone else's perspective, it looks like someone's being put in a compromised position or being used badly. Sometimes those folks seeing that it's what they have. It's all they have and they want to feel good about it. So I feel like that kind of response really covers a lot of what we encounter all the time about the things that we feel are not necessarily working. And we could be doing them quite a different way. And we wouldn't be putting people in a position to have to say, hey, we're so good at killing that this is what we do. You know what I mean? I just feel like there are so many constraints on people that sometimes the response is to make the best you can, even if what you're making the best you can out of is something horrible. You know, if we really were much better equipped as a culture at conflict resolution, and if we were better equipped at training people in jobs that felt meaningful and where they felt valued, you know, I just don't think people would opt necessarily to learn how to kill people. I mean, it's just it's ludicrous. The one thing that we have gotten very, very, very skilled at throughout the course of our evolution is training otherwise reasonable people into being willing to take another human life. That doesn't speak very well for civilization. I mean, I love the quote from Gandhi, and I don't know exactly the year of it or anything, but, you know, a reporter apparently stuck a mic. A mic up to Gandhi's face and said, what do you think about Western civilization? And he said, I think it would be a good idea. Yeah, that Gandhi, he was such a joker. You know, when you were mentioning that, Pat, it made me think that it's actually a really good connection to the song that we wrote for the Madison, Wisconsin workers because when I think about what do we value in this culture, I always think that teachers should be the highest paid workers in this country. Because teachers teach everyone, no matter whether you become a CEO or you become an activist musician or you become, you know, anything that you become in the world, teachers are the ones who get us all started. So the fact that there's such a disparity between the kind of work that people are doing that makes all the difference in the life of another person. And I mean all the kinds of jobs that we just don't value as much as we could. If we changed our system of valuing it and really valued people's lives over that, we wouldn't have been in a situation that Wisconsinites found themselves in last March. And that really, that moment when all of those workers, the teachers, the nurses, the firemen, the police, the sanitation workers, all of those union workers said no way. You will not bust our unions. And they went and they stood out in the streets and they really ignited so much energy around issues of collective bargaining and issues of public sector workers. So it really excited us and we wanted to write a song and get up there and sing it. And we did that as soon as we could in those demonstrations, we were up there in early March. But we really, the point of it is that when we really value the work that sustains our communities, that sustains the people living here and the environment and everything, that's really the direction we need to go in. Teach your children, we plow your roads, we clean your office, we hold a heavy load, we're the workers who make this country run. We're in the gardens and the patients, we are families, friends and students. And we'll stay here until we've won. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever stronger, when the people stand together now. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever stronger, people stand together now. They've got their money, they've got their name, but we'll no longer let them rig the game. And we like to suppose the unseat corporate hand, that keeps on taking in return, just once more, it's time for them to learn. This state house is our night in the sand. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever stronger, when the people stand together now. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever stronger, people stand together now. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever better, when the people stand together now. From Wisconsin to Ohio, Indiana, and then who knows, from Michigan to New Jersey, sure. United, we will gather for our families and our future. It's our unions, it's our lives we're fighting for. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever stronger, when the people stand together now. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever stronger, people stand together now. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever stronger, when the people stand together now. When the people stand together, ain't no power ever stronger, people stand together now. People stand together now. Great advice and good historical evidence. Stand together, that's when we're powerful. We saw it here in Wisconsin, and we were privileged at that point to have Emma's revolution come over and sing the song for us, to build on that energy for us. Thank you for doing that, Pat and Sandy. It's our pleasure. I mean, we get, you know, as much as we're there to energize a crowd, we get energized by the activism that people do everywhere. It's one of the best parts about our work as full-time traveling activist musicians, is that we go from community to community, and we see what they're working on. You know, we just were in Delaware recently, and they were telling us about a program they have in their libraries where the kids come and read to a dog at the library so that it helps the kids learn how to read out loud without any pressure, right? You're reading to a friendly dog. I just thought that was the sweetest thing, and the kind of things that we hear inspire us to write these songs, so that's really a mutual thing. I think both of you, you do a pretty good job of balancing, as I say, the sad, the heavy, the distressing news with the hopeful news. That's not an easy balance to do, is it? I mean, some people go totally, I guess, negative, you might say, find something to complain about, or some people get somewhat polyanish, and are only speaking about the wonderful, imaginary things out there. You do a good balance on that. I think that people can't tolerate only hearing the bad news all the time. It's important to inform people about what's going on, but if you just give them the bad news, there's no energy left to do any of the work. It's very easy, I think, watching network news and things like that, to just move into a state of overwhelm, or to feel like things are hopeless. We take our responsibility very seriously to have a good time, to laugh, to lift people up, not in a polyanish way, but I just think that if people leave one of our concerts feeling like there's no hope, then we've really failed in our job to give people a window into ways that they can participate in being part of the solution. I think that, you know, I had some good teachers and things like that. I think growing up Peter was a good example. He knew how to very artfully balance very powerful, very strong, very serious, and sometimes very depressing themes with light, playful, inspiring joyous kinds of themes. So that I left singing, and I left a little lighter than I came in. We have come in the light to this place, in the light with our hearts, in the light open wide. We are here, in the light giving voice, in the light to the truth, in the light we divide. And I sing for today, let us know that there are ways showing love in the light giving hope, in the light we create, in the light that it needs. We are born in the dark, we are fed, in the dark we collect, in the dark through the field. We are held in the dark, we are healed, in the dark mysteries, in the dark we reveal. And I sing for today, let us know that there are ways showing love in the dark giving hope, in the dark we create, in the dark better days. Time is now, we begin where we are, we begin we have all, we begin learning. To be new, we begin to release, we begin to rebuild, we begin to believe, let us sing for today, let us know that there are ways showing love, we begin giving hope, we begin we create, we begin better days, let us sing for today, let us know that there are ways showing love, we begin giving hope, we begin we create, we begin better days, showing love, we begin giving hope, we begin we create, we begin better days. Better days, again, it's on the new release by MS Revolution, albums called Revolutions Per Minute. You can find it via their website, MSRevolution.com, and I'm sure a lot of other places too. But I think it's good to drop in and see them and catch up on their news, you'll see links to their video and the rest. You are listening to Spirit in Action, I'm your host, Mark Helpsmeet for this Northern Spirit Radio Production. Our website is NorthernSpiritRadio.org, follow the link to MS Revolution from our site, drop us a comment, listen to any of our programs last six plus years. We're speaking today to Sandy O and Pat Humphreys of MS Revolution. I'm sorry I didn't run into the two of you when you were in Wisconsin, I was down there in Madison a couple different times. Right, I know, I'm sorry we didn't also, that would have been really sweet. We loved seeing the folks that we did know there, that's actually why we came up when the demonstrations started. We started to get these emails from folks from our audience who know us and said we need you up here to come up and sing and be part of this historic moment really drew us up there, really got us thinking about writing a song to be able to sing with those people and something that they could use and keep as part of that movement. So yeah, it would have been nice to have met you up there. You do so much in your songs to provide energy and provide inspiration. It's easy to be dulled by American society, by our consumer driven society, dulled to the higher ideals that will really make our lives better. You know, I think it's an interesting mix because it is easy to be dulled and lulled sometimes into not thinking about it. And we find with all the places we go and the people we sing with and the communities we meet, that people really are committed to doing, you know, doing something better both for themselves and their family and their community, but they have a really stronger global perspective than they might have. So I think there's this inherent feeling of wanting to do better. At least those are the communities we come across and we meet tens of thousands of people a year. So actually, sometimes the thing that happens is when we have a concert in an area, they'll suddenly be a room full of people and the folks who have been working on environmental stuff will say, oh, I didn't know you were working on peace stuff and the peace people will say, well, I didn't know you were working on human rights stuff and it becomes this connection, this moment of connection and the people who even in their own town might not have known each other suddenly feel like, oh, okay, I'm not the only one who cares and I'm doing this and I've got a community and then they can have a great time and feel buoyed by that. And that kind of connection remains when we go on to the next place. And this doing things in the way we do is not necessarily altruistic, like we just feel like it should be done that way. I'm also very inspired and energized by the arc of innovation around making the planet more sustainable and the kind of ingenuity of people in the community that are coming up with better ways to do things. I think it's brilliant and very exciting to be around. I love being around that energy. You know, when our friends were starting to make their own biodiesel and stuff like that and power their cars, you know, we have sort of a long term plan of moving our touring operation into a small fuel efficient diesel powered RV that can ultimately be run on grease. You know, for us, it's kind of a larger upfront cost than we can manage at the moment, but it's definitely something that we want to move toward in the future. Who is your audience? Who are the people who turn off for this? And I asked this in part because I think that there's a lot of people of Vietnam War, vintage activists of that time who say, why aren't the young people out there? Of course, we've got the occupy movement, which there's awful lot of young and old and everybody people out there now. But for a number of years, the percentages standing against war and so on like that, a lot of us had gray hair. There are a number of things at work here. There are folks on one end of the spectrum. Sometimes they're the younger folks, but not always, that feel like maybe the way to go about activism, their way to go about activism is different than the generation or two or three. Before theirs. And they are, of course, much more savvy because they grew up with the technology at utilizing the available technology. They're using Twitter, so they're making videos of things. Their creativity just comes out in different ways. We sort of sit between those generations a little bit. I'm closer to your age than I am to some of these younger activists. So we hear kind of both sides of the story. In fact, here in DC, there are two occupy movements. One that is, we want no permits. We're going to just show up and we're going to risk it at a city park and we're just going to stay here and they do things by consensus. I mean, it has really been, I think, a lot of the elements that stand out from the occupy movement, we're really seeing have been generated by these younger activists. They've just been meeting in different ways. They've been going about direct action in different ways. I mean, the thing is, we don't all have to agree on the way that we go about these things, but we do need to be involved in whatever way we can be. I sort of grew up in a generation that was sort of the Reagan generation and people my age were not demonstrating. I was one of a handful of people. I was always the youngest person at the meeting of whatever particular activist group I was in by sometimes 10, 15, 20 years. But I've also seen that some of the folks from my generation, partly because I think we were influenced so heavily by the Vietnam generation earlier, a lot of us also became organizers in one way or another and carried that torch so that the next generation had some link between themselves and some of the older activists. I mean, the younger activists are infinitely more well informed than I ever was at their age and they have a whole skill set that connect them to activists around the world that I never had access to. So we're really learning from one another and becoming energized and in many cases re-energized. That's really what happened to start off the Arab Spring, really. It was a family man who took this horrible step of literally setting himself on fire because his situation was so bad and that sparked the revolution in Tunisia, which then led a young woman in Egypt to put together a video saying to people, "We must get out in the streets," and that sparked the revolution in Egypt. And so that was just an amazing, very stark but very potent example of both older and younger activists starting what have become these incredible revolutions that have influenced us here in the US, obviously as well. And that was the spark for me of starting this song called "Rise." The people rise, hear many these skies, hear the people's cries, justice for all. And the people rise. We are watched, history unfold, and a new world grows out of the old. The fear is shattered, courage fills the air, the sparks are flying, catch them if you dare, right before our eyes, right before our eyes, the government is full. And the people rise, hear many these skies, hear the people's cries, justice for all. And the people rise, rise. Here's a struggle, think this one day, this one moment when the people say, "We are marching, though the road is low, we are many." The people who fight us, we stand strong, right before our eyes. [Music] How many eyes are looking to you now, taking to the streets and learning how, to rise above the suffering and fears, for the dreams, stricken by our tears, right before our eyes, governments fall, and the people rise, hear many these skies, hear the people's cries, justice for all. And the people rise, rise, rise. Rise by MS Revolution, we have Sandio and Pat Humphreys here today with us for spirit in action. This is such an amazing time to live in. I have a feeling that in some ways it feels to me like the energy when the Berlin Wall fell, this hope and promise for the world. When you see Arab Spring, when you see the Occupy movement, when you see hope and change being demanded and lived out and sought by such a large number of people. It's a really inspirational time and I hope we just continue on with that energy. And I know that if you two have your way, we will have the songs to help charge us up to keep us moving. I want to thank you so much for joining me for spirit in action. Can we go out with Occupy the USA? Please do. Before I play it, I want to say one thing. I hadn't associated this kind of music with you. I wanted to do a barn dance to this song. That's excellent. Well, this song was very, I mean, if you listen through our songs over the years, we enjoy letting the song dictate what the song will sound like. On one hand, we do have a signature sound, but I think on the other hand, we really enjoy when the song tells us how it wants to play. How it wants to be presented. And sometimes that means we have to learn to play in the style that the song dictates and we do that. You know, this song came to me in the spirit of something along the lines of what Phil Oaks would have written. And I was pleased to actually that it came out that way. Thank you, Sandy and Pat. We're going out with Occupy the USA from Emma's Revolution News CD, Revolutions Per Minute. Again, thanks for joining me so much, Sandy and Pat. Thanks very much for having us. Great to talk with you. ♪ ♪ Welcome to U.S. occupation ♪ ♪ To win the hearts and minds ♪ ♪ Defend all humankind, tell the banks ♪ ♪ And the corporations ♪ ♪ We're here to occupy the USA ♪ ♪ Congress and the hedge fund stole our houses and our pensions ♪ ♪ Conspired to steal our healthcare at conservative conventions ♪ ♪ We're here to stand our ground ♪ ♪ We demand our jobs with justice ♪ ♪ We're 99 percent in charge ♪ ♪ Now you'll just have to trust us ♪ ♪ Stop the excel pipeline and it extracts across the heartland ♪ ♪ Reject the filthy energy extracted from the tar sands ♪ ♪ Pint and entrance Canada ♪ ♪ Expose before the nation ♪ ♪ Corruption forces us to organize a new invasion ♪ ♪ Welcome to the U.S. occupation ♪ ♪ To win the hearts and minds ♪ ♪ Defend all humankind, tell the banks ♪ ♪ And the corporations ♪ ♪ We're here to occupy the USA ♪ ♪ This occupation won't be one with guns or ammunition ♪ ♪ Art with creativity and righteous indignation ♪ ♪ We do all the work so we have the power to stop it ♪ ♪ No workers, no work not until we share the profit ♪ ♪ ♪ We support our unions and our right to organize ♪ ♪ Students, homeless immigrants are strengthening their ties ♪ ♪ Let's struggle far too long, now let this be a sign ♪ ♪ 1% in power meet the other 99 ♪ ♪ Welcome to the U.S. occupation ♪ ♪ To win the hearts and minds ♪ ♪ Defend all humankind, tell the banks ♪ ♪ And the corporations ♪ ♪ We're here to occupy the USA ♪ ♪ Welcome to the U.S. occupation ♪ ♪ To win the hearts and minds ♪ ♪ Defend all humankind, tell the banks ♪ ♪ And the corporations ♪ ♪ We're here to occupy the USA ♪ ♪ To democratize the USA ♪ ♪ We're here to occupy the USA ♪ ♪ The theme music for this program is "Turning of the World" performed by Sarah Thompson. This spirit in action program is an effort of Northern Spirit Radio. You can listen to our programs and find links and information about us and our guests on our website, northernspiritradio.org. Thank you for listening. I'm your host, Mark Helpsmeet, and I welcome your comments and stories of those leading lives of spiritual fruit. May you find deep roots to support you and grow steadily toward the light. This is Spirit in Action. ♪ With every voice ♪ ♪ With every song ♪ ♪ We will move this world along ♪ ♪ With every voice ♪ ♪ With every song ♪ ♪ We will move this world along ♪ ♪ And our lives will feel the echo of our healing ♪