Prometheus 6   

MOS DEF AND RAKAA IRISCIENCE ACCUSED OF BEING TRAITORS
by Davey D

It's the year 2003, but the way things are going it might as well be 1984... In the wake of the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks and the passing of Homeland Security and the Patriot Acts I and II, the Bush administration has set a climate that has been Draconian and Dogmatic where disent or differing opinions are not only not tolerated, but also grounds to call you a traitor...

Over the past couple of years there have been journalist fired for speaking out against Bush's policies..Talk show host Bill Mair is the most glaring example.. Anti-War activists have been visited from the FBI and other government officials who wanted to make sure 'they weren't a threat to national security'. Michael Franti and Spearhead
recently had this happen..

We have had a number of celebrity activist who have lost endorsement deals or come under well orchestrated, organized attacks for speaking out against Bush... Actor Martin Sheen was let go from being a spokesman for a major credit card company. The Dixie Chicks were subjected to boycotts from major radio station chains.. and the
latest skirmish has Danny Glover underfire with him possibly losing his spokesperson position with MCI.

Now we have 'private' citizens that are leading the witch hunt with no discouragement from the Bush administration. There are two scenarios that have popped up. First is a deck of cards called the 'Deck of Weasels' that have been put out by NewsMax.. The cards were patterned after the Bush administration's Deck of Death cards which highlighted 52 Iraqi leaders who were wanted by the USA..

This Deck of Weasels depicts activist and celebrities who have spoken out against the Bush administration. The cards include quotes from the people depicted. Among those featured on the cards are Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, Jacques Chirac, Barbra Streisand, Teddy Kennedy and Kofi Annan. Normally this sort of thing would be overlooked and ignored. The problem is that major news outlets all over the country have spotlighted this Deck of Weasels...

Now for the record, there is a deck of cards put out by an activist group in Oakland, that spotlight companies and people who profited from the war, but that hasn't been highlighted in the mainstream press at all..Why is that? Why hasn't Fox news talked about that?

The second situation comes from a new website called probush.com which was spotlighted in Sunday's [May 18th] LA Times... Here the creators of this site have put together a 'List of Traitors'. Here's what reads on the site

Treason: Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.

Traitor: If you do not support our President's decisions you are a traitor.

The list includes pictures of a number of outspoken anti-war activist and a number of Hip Hop artists... Including Michael Franti, Mos Def, Zack De La Roca, Fred Durst, Rakka from Dilated Peoples, author Michael Eric Dyson, Suheir Hammad of Def Poetry Slam, comic strip writer Aaron McGruder, Ozalmatli and Professor Cornel West to name a few...

There has been no condemning of this website from the Bush adminstration who are featured prominently on the site with phone numbers, website links and addresses to get a hold of them.. I caught up with Rakaa Iriscience and asked him his thoughts on this.

He said, "Things like this are ridiculous and irresponsible especially in today's political and social climate where a handful of powerful people are trying to squash dissent".

He continued on, 'Most of the people on this list had an anti-war stance not an anti-American stance. It's ridiculous to equate anti-war sentiments with being Anti-American".

When asked if he thought such lists would be circulated and have an effect on his livelihood, Rakaa said, "It probably won't effect my recording career, but it may have an impact on sponsorship opportunities considering that War is big business and a lot of big businesses supported the war efforts."

He concluded, 'I Take it as it comes. If people want to sponsor me they know where I stand on things politically. What's; ironic is the fact that I'm out here trying to promote peace and end violence so you would think I would and others would have a bigger platform to speak out unfortunately, we have people trying to silence and ridicule us for promoting peace".

Rakaa concluded by noting that it was a A-List standout group of people on the list who's community work and activism speak for itself..and he is and would be proud to hang out with them..

Both the 'Deck of Weasels' and the 'Pro Bush Traitor's List' claim to be satirical. The Probush folks even offer you an address to write if you feel like you have been unfairly added to the list.. However, it appears to be a clever way for folks behind these efforts to cover themselves in case of lawsuits and other legal actions... The fact
that these lists got such widespread coverage indicates that at least in the mainstream media the sentiments expressed by the people behind these efforts are shared by the media giants..

These things take on added weight because of the recent scenarios that have occured where folks speaking out have been approached by governement officials. The week before last two 16 year old kids from Oakland High School were interrogated by the Secret Service after one of the kids said President Bush needed to be Bushwacked'.. Two weeks before, the parents of one of the members from Michael Franti's group Spearhead were visited by government officials who wanted to know about the groups anti-war activities. The agents came with pictures and financial records of the group. Now actor Danny Glover is getting sweated and may not be a spokesperson for MCI because of his anti-war views. Lastly major radio stations all across the country are still avoiding playing the antiwar song 'Down With US' which was put together by many of the West Coasts most popular artists including WC, Daz, RBX, Dilated Peoples and many others..

Here's the URL for the Traitor's List..
http://ww.probush.com/traitor.htm

But honestly, I'm just about speechless at these two:
Sometimes I wonder if the lack of Iraqi WMD means that I'll ever, ever, ever, ever see a conservative apologize for the bullshit they heaped on Hans Blix