RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist TOM MORELLO and bassist TIM COMMERFORD joined a protest march in LOS ANGELES yesterday (December 10), the 52nd anniversary of the signing of the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
According to US news site Allstar on [url=]www.cdnow.com, Morello addressed the rally at La Placita Olvera, which was organised by Anti-Racist League, Campaign to End The Death Penalty, Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition and the International Socialist Organisation.
He said: “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is something that was signed in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The United States has routinely violated it while pointing fingers at other countries who are official state enemies. So coming out today is to generally declare our solidarity for the tenets of the Declaration, to insist that our country steps up and fulfils its obligations for agreeing to it in 1948 as well as specific ways in which the United States is currently violating it – the Leonard Peltier case and Mumia Abu-Jamal being two of the most important ones.”
At the same time, drummer Brad Wilk joined a similar protest in New York.
Speaking on Allstar, Morello – who last week issued an apology to fans who were kicked off of Napster for downloading the new Rage album ‘Renegades’ – said the band are now “raging against the machine properly” and are focusing on their political goals.
Of Napster debacle, he said: “We’re still exploring ways to make it right and to make sure everyone gets back on. I was furious and not just at Q Prime (the band’s management company) and (their label) Sony for following through with it – it’s a music industry problem where there is this tremendous fear of the future and fear of the kids.”
He added: “We’re just concentrating ‘Renegades’, and the band is clearly refocused on the things that are important to us – the music that we make, fighting for social justice which we’re here doing today, and showing respect for our fans which hopefully we’re trying to do with this Napster thing. There’s no ambiguity, there’s no foot-dragging, there’s no wrestling with internal dissension. We’re raging against the machine properly.”