[R-G] Propaghandi Scores Against War

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2657

June 3, 2009

Propaghandi Scores Against War
Torture, Terror, and Don Cherry face the music in the Band's sixth  
release

by Erin Empey

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Left to right: Jord Samolesky, Todd Kowalski, Chris Hannah, David  
“Beaver” Guillas Photo: Chris Hannah

Propagandhi, Winnipeg’s “progressive thrash” heroes, have just  
released a new album. Supporting Caste is twelve and a half songs of  
political passion and metal-tinged post-punk. Singer Chris Hannah  
discusses the issues inspiring their sixth full-length album.

Erin Empey: Do you think that Propagandhi has evolved since the  
release of Potemkin City Limits? What’s new with Supporting Caste?

Chris Hannah: I'd like to think so! At the very least, we added The  
Beave on second guitar to the line-up, so that's new, and in my  
opinion has added a lot more depth, dimension and atmosphere to our  
customary sonic pummelings.

Also, Jord has more gray hair on this record. I’m not sure if that  
comes through on the recording though.

Since you guys decided to fold your record label last year, how has  
working with Smallman been compared to G7 Welcoming Committee?

Well, considering we're in a time where the racket of selling  
recordings to people has been essentially eviscerated, it's been  
pretty good! We've known them for years, they understand where we're  
coming from and they live within choking distance. These are important  
factors.

G7 operated using Participatory Economics (parecon), where business  
decisions were made democratically and profits were shared equally  
among members. Based on your experience, do you think it could be  
applied on a larger scale?

After a decade of experience in a parecon-inspired enterprise that was  
subject to all the human frailties and palace intrigues that every  
single gathering of more than two people throughout history has always  
endured, I still can't come up with any good reason why people  
shouldn't endeavor to embrace parecon's core values of solidarity,  
equity, diversity and self-management in their workplaces. It makes  
sense and it is right.

The track “Human(e) Meat” opens with a howling Sandor Katz about to be  
cannibalized. Who is Katz and why do you want to eat him?

Sandor Katz is someone who talks and writes about food. He has a book  
called "the Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved" that is actually worth  
reading until you hit the absurd and utterly embarrassing chapter  
where he tries to rationalize torturing, maiming, killing and  
mutilating sentient animals for his personal enjoyment. It is the type  
of embarrassing new-age hippy nonsense that sets serious debate about  
food politics and human ethics back a decade every time it rears its  
hippy head.

We simply used his logic, step by step, and daydreamed me  
rationalizing torturing, maiming, killing and mutilating him for my  
personal enjoyment. Which is of course also absurd, which was the  
point of the illustration.

Apparently he has no sense of humour (or of his own irony for that  
matter) and is very upset about it. Poor persecuted meat eaters! Will  
they never be free from the tyrannical oppression of vegetarians?

In “Dear Coaches Corner” you lament Don Cherry using his platform to  
promote militarism. Do you think that there are ugly politics in  
hockey culture beyond Don Cherry's routines?

For sure. Cherry is just the emptiest and hence, the loudest barrel.  
The culture of professional hockey is essentially a propaganda wing of  
the western elite and their geo-political objectives. Why else would  
Jim Balsillie, head cocknose of the company that makes the Blackberry,  
appear on Hockey Night in Canada thanking Canadian troops in  
Afghanistan for "defending our lifestyle?" Wait, I thought it was  
about liberating Afghan women? Whoops!

During the pre-release of Supporting Caste, proceeds from downloads  
went to Partners in Health, Sea Shepherd Society and Peta2. Why are  
these groups important to you?

Partners in Health provides a preferential option for the poor in  
health care. At its root, their mission is both medical and moral. It  
is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When their patients  
are ill and have no access to care, their team of health  
professionals, scholars, and activists will do whatever it takes to  
make them well – just as one would do if a member of one's own family  
were ill. They stand with their patients, some of the poorest and  
sickest victims of poverty and violence, in their struggle for equity  
and social justice.

People for the ethical treatment of animals is probably best known as  
the most frequently criticized and denounced activist organization on  
the planet. Some of the criticisms are legitimate, like those that  
lament campaigns that play on and foster or perpetuate sexist  
stereotypes in the service of drawing attention to the mundane terrors  
visited upon animals in human societies. Still, Peta2 (the youth wing  
of its parent organization) is currently the most effective potential  
gateway drug to an abolitionist animal liberation perspective that is  
not merely anti-animal exploitation, but anti-capitalist, anti-sexist  
and connects human affairs with non-human animal affairs.

Less than one percent of the planet's living creatures live on land,  
so you'll have to excuse Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd  
Society for his bluntness when declaring the Sea Shepherds Society's  
"single-mindedness" for defending the oceans from human encroachment  
and exploitation. We humans constitute less than 0.1% of life on earth  
and act like we are entitled to the rest of it. Humans continue to  
terrorize and destroy the largest-brained sentient mammals in the  
history of earth and enlist the services of PR firms to cloak the  
brutality in vestments of scientific research. The Sea Shepherd  
intends to stop such stupidity.

Do you ever feel awkward about speaking on behalf of groups you are  
not a part of, such as Aboriginals, refugees or women? With an  
influential band, is there a danger of overshadowing the voices of  
those you are trying to help?

Not if you're a good listener. My obligation as I see it is to take  
the information that marginalized groups have articulated to me about  
the realities they face in a fucked up system and relay it to my  
people in a way that has resonance. And what can I say? My people  
happen to be largely white guys in NHL starter caps. Hey, we need  
information too, eh!

When are you playing Vancouver?

I refuse to answer such a politically-loaded question!

Erin Empey is a Vancouver based journalist who plays in the band Rebel  
Spell.