It is one hundred years since the birth of Woody Guthrie,
the dusty-voiced 1940’s Oklahoma folk balladeer who has held a strong
fascination for a generation of American musicians.
There’s a new album released of songs based on his lyrics,
curated once again by his daughter Nora, featuring artists he inspired such as
Jackson Brown.
Yet Woody Guthrie has inspired many people who have never listened
to his music, or probably anything vaguely folkish. His greatest gift to lefties and try-hard
rebels is the slogan he stuck on his acoustic guitar in the 1940’s – this machine kills fascists.
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| Woody Guthrie, photo Lester Balog, Woody Guthrie Archives |
The audacity and confidence of this statement should send a
chill up your spine, if your politics is anywhere to the left of Genghis Khan. It should give you a surge of empowerment, a
tingling sense that you can do something.
I thought the slogan would look great on my computer. I could make it into a sticker for my laptop!
It would be a signal that words –my
words - have power, that the keyboard is mightier than the sword.
So I googled “this machine kills fascists sticker laptop”. And there it is. In fact, there is a range of laptop stickers
featuring this slogan. It looks like a
whole cadre of geeky activists have got it covered.
Folks, you can buy the stickered slogan through Amazon. Along with the tee shirt, skateboard, posters,
hat, and bumper stickers.
The discovery that “this machine kills fascists” is now at
the centre of a whole range of consumer products dampened my spirits. It undercut the impact of the slogan.
And after some more silent pondering, I’ve decided the
slogan may be somewhat presumptuous for a computer.
After all, not many are using Apple’s finest to battle
dictators.
Computers don’t kill fascists, dictators, or authoritarian
regimes. Despite excitable claims, social
media doesn’t threaten them. In some
places, ruthless leaders use it to preserve their own power.
Take the case of the Arab Spring, where the true impact of
portable computing devices and social media do not fulfil the hype.
Yes, social media helped accelerate the change of government
in Tunisia and Egypt, but it has slowed it down in Syria, where Twitter and
Google reportedly agreed to a Syrian government demand to enforce rules that censor tweets and blogs.
Large companies making money in the online world acquiesce
with such states. Vodaphone apparently agreed
with a request by the former Egyptian regime to suspend their mobile phone
network during the turmoil in Egypt.
Google initially tried to co-operate with the Chinese
government, but Google broke free from that awkward embrace after the rest of
the world criticised it for being co-opted into self-censorship.
Social networks in China track the IP addresses of their
customers on behalf of the government. Behind
the “Great Firewall of China”, access to 2,600 websites is impossible.
So the message I have downloaded from my pondering is this:
the laptop sticker looks cool, but don’t fool yourself. This machine annoys fascists.
Or: this machine is used by fascists. Used against you.
So what machines kills fascists? Look at the sentiment behind the slogan.
Woody Guthrie knew the message from music can inspire people to take up the fight
against oppression.
Look at the photo again, and look at the direct and
determined expression on Woody Guthrie’s face.
He knows his music has power to move people into action.
The guitar is just a tool to deliver the music, the computer
is a tool to deliver the message. It is
human mind that does in fascists and dictators.
So relent. Get the
sticker and the T shirt, and be inspired.
And most appropriately, get the hat. Because what lies under the cap is truly the
machine that kills fascists.
Sources.
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