‘Conflict can divide and unite the people who encounter it.’
Task
Complete an extended written response in expository, persuasive or imaginative style. Your writing must draw from at least one selected text from the protest song unit and explore the idea that ‘conflict can divide and unite the people who encounter it.’ Structure your extended response as a 5 - 6 paragraph response. Your selected form, may require alternative paragraphing. Your response should have a beginning, a middle and an end. Aim to write at least 750 words. Getting started We have learnt that many protest songs are intended to unite people to take collective action against a situation of conflict. Review the content about protest songs on the other pages of this website. Listen to the songs featured below. Google the lyrics as well. 1. 'The Internationale' is an anthem of revolution, a stirring and moving hymn and call to the oppressed everywhere to rise up against tyranny. Originally written as a defiant rallying call in 1871 by Eugène Pottier in response to the crushing of the Paris Commune, its rousing tune was added 17 years later by Pierre de Geyter. The song has been translated into hundreds of languages and covered by many performers. This version is by Billy Bragg.
2. 'Which Side Are You On' (1931) was written by Florence Reece, the wife of union organiser, Sam Reece, during a miners’ strike in Harlan County, Kentucky. In an attempt to intimidate the Reece family, the sheriff and his men (hired by the mining company) illegally entered the Reece family home in search of Sam Reece. Sam had been warned in advance and escaped, but Florence and their children were terrorised by the intruders.
This version of the song is by the Dropkick Murphys, an American Celtic punk band. 3. Next to 'Blowin’ in the Wind' (1963)', Dylan’s 'The Times They Are a-Changing' (1964) is one of his most well known protest songs. 4. Curtis Mayfield's 'People Get Ready' (1965) is a hymn of the civil rights movement and has been sung in other times of struggle such as the movement against Apartheid in South Africa. The song has been covered by many perfomers, but the original still inspires, unites and reminds all of the human struggle for equality.
Released almost two years after the historic March on Washington, 'People Get Ready' is a song of reconciliation that rejects racial barriers. |
4. Johnny Cash's 'Man in Black' (1971) is a protest song written and sung by and about Johnny Cash.
Cash sings: "I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, But still is there because he's a victim of the times.' 5. U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' (1983) is a tirade against sectarian violence. Bono’s despairing “How long must we sing this song?” encapsulates a generation’s frustration with the Troubles and war in general. The Troubles refers to the conflict in Northern Ireland which began in the 1960s and persisted until the late 1980s. *language warning
6. Band Aid's 'Feed the World' (1984) made people realise that famine in developing countries was a problem for all of us to fight. Until the song was released, with its videos of starving children, the plight of millions of African families was seen as just a footnote in the news. Live Aid generated revenue, but it was the song which caught people's imagination.
7. Public Enemy's 'Fight the Power' (1989) is a protest song about race relations. In the context of the history of race relations in the United States, 1989 was another year in a long struggle for equality for African Americans.
'What we need is awareness, we can't get careless You said what is this? My beloved, lets get down to business Mental self-defensive fitness Yo! bum rush the show You gotta go for what you know Make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be' 8. Billy Bragg's 'Sexuality' (1991) is a protest song about not discriminating against people because of their sexual choices. Bragg's message is anti-homophobic and was prompted by the misinformation and mainstream hysteria about AIDS that was prevalent at this time.
9. Green Day's 'American Idiot' (2004) is an open and uncomplicated assault on the policies of the Bush administration and the attitudes that sustained them.
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