Tell Us The Truth tour comes to Asheville

By Wendy Hounsel

Nov. 15 (AGR) – The anti-globalization movement has found several powerful spokespeople in the musicians of the Tell Us The Truth tour. Steve Earl, Billy Bragg, Lester Chambers, The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello), and Mike Mills graced local club The Orange Peel, and later the Asheville Community Resource Center, with their compelling music and insightful politics this evening.

The musicians used their platform to address many pertinent issues deserving of more attention in the press, including media consolidation, economic justice, governmental accountability, and others. According to the Tell Us The Truth website, the tour aims to put issues like these “at the top of the American political agenda this fall.”

The musical performance at the Orange Peel was rife with the sort of in-your-face, progressive politics fans have come to expect from the artists, but for many the real show began at the press conference held afterward in the Magpie Gallery at the Asheville Community Resource Center. There, the musicians were able to expound upon their message, joined by local activists, organizations, and community members. That message, essentially, is that communication with one another is our most powerful weapon against the exploitation and deception pressed upon us by the globalization monolith.

Over 200 people of all ages crowded into the gallery, and despite its billing as a “press conference,” the event more closely resembled a community gathering – not at all a negative occurrence.

The conference began with remarks from co-sponsors of the tour. AGR editor Eamon Martin spoke first and was followed by representatives Allie Morris of the ACRC and Roberto Hawk of Free Radio Asheville. Janet Moore, spokesperson for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, addressed the need for a moratorium on the death penalty in North Carolina and urged the audience to support a bill coming before the General Assembly next spring. And Bob Philips, a representative for Common Cause, spoke about the specter of media consolidation and its repercussions on the already ill health of our nation and world.

In introducing the speakers, organizer Jenny Toomey noted that the idea for the press conference evolved out of the fact that “We’re having trouble getting the national press to write about this tour.” Due to its anti-corporate stance, the lack of official attention is not surprising. However, representatives from several alternative media organizations were in attendance.

In his initial remarks, Tom Morello said he often hears the assumption that the tour is simply “preaching to the converted.” On the contrary, he says, he looks upon it as “galvanizing the troops.” He sees the tour as an attempt to connect people who think they’re alone in their ideas because of the lack of real information in the mainstream media.

Steve Earl agreed. He pointed out that many different kinds of people buy his records, and said that although not everyone agrees with his political positions, he has nevertheless learned that his music has changed the views of some. He urged people not to give in to the belief that their individual actions don’t count.

“Cynicism is our greatest enemy in trying to make a better society,” continued Billy Bragg. “To me, Bush represents just one American tradition, the God and the guns one. There’s another tradition though, called ‘barn raising,’ where you come together and ... help a family raise the A-frame of a house or a barn. We in Europe need to reconnect with that spirit,” he said.

Lester Chambers recounted his days broadcasting underground FM radio in Los Angeles, relating attempts made to silence him and his compatriots to similar attempts on free speech today. He stressed that the path to change lies in communication. “If we communicate with each other and agree to work together, nothing can happen that nobody’s prepared for. If we know what we mean to each other and what the world means to us, we have a lot to go for.”

Mike Mills gave some insight into the motivations behind the tour. “There are two reasons we’re on this tour. One reason is that we’re really pissed off, and the other reason is that we’re hopeful.” The anger, he said, comes from the fact that mainstream media is so dominated by right-wing conservatism that “you can’t feel good about being an American by what you read in the papers or see on television, because all you get there is jingoistic bullshit. We’re here to do something about that,” he added.

From Asheville, the tour headed down to Miami for the FTAA Ministerial meeting of 1,500 corporate and government leaders, stopping in Atlanta and Tampa along the way. As this issue of AGR goes to press, the musicians are gearing up to protest the event side by side with thousands of environmentalists, union members, and social justice activists who have come together to halt the onslaught of the globalization machine. And this partnership, it seems, meshes nicely with the ultimate vision of the Tell Us The Truth tour: that of everyone communicating, working together, and mobilizing for a little ‘barn raising’ of their own.

The Tell Us The Truth website is available at: www.tellusthetruth.org