Oppression
We did a cover of Carburetor Dung’s 1993 song “Oppression” for our upcoming Malaysian cassette release on Revulsion Records. Check it out on our Music page.
Why’d we do it? We’d never heard of Carburetor Dung before, and not really any Malaysian, Singaporean or Indonesia bands before we starting planning this tour. We wanted to to learn about the underground/punk scenes there, and so we asked the people who were helping us with shows to suggest a band that everyone over there knew well, so we could pick a cover song. We wanted to show people there that we were interested in them, and their scene, and their scene’s history. Carburetor Dung’s name came up from a few sources, and so we found their MySpace page, found Oppression, and thought we could give it a spin. It also helped that they’d listed the lyrics, and they were in English.
So, we started working on learning it, and twisting it around to our own weird 97-shiki sensibilities. In the meantime, we were connected to Joe Kidd, guitarist of Carburetor Dung, who told us more about the song…
“Oppression is basically about Malaysia’s Internal Security Act (ISA), a remnant of the colonial times where the government is allowed to detain anyone without trial for two years. We know a lot of people who underwent the detention and the stories told are not for the faint of heart. ISA is still in use nowadays, there are at least 100 persons still detained at the Kamunting Prison up north.”
As we learned more about the song, and Malaysia, we started paying more attention to world news from Malaysia. What we learned was that in Malaysia today, a conservative ruling party intimidates opposition leaders and organizers, and arrests them under the ISA. Just last week, an opposition MP, a blogger, and a journals were all arrested under the ISA. The journalist was arrested for reporting a racist remark made by a government official. All were criticizing the government. All were exercising free speech.
In the USA, we think our system is above that. Sure, Bush is a dick, but it couldn’t happen here, could it? However a side-by-side reading of some of the provisions of the Patriot Act and the ISA leaves chilling similarities. While the ISA is no doubt more overt, the Patriot Act backed up by the precedent and practice of of free speech zones, unwarranted wiretaps, secret prisons, the use of torture, extraordinary rendition, declaring people “enemy combatants”, etc etc, shows the direction in which we are pointed.
So, despite the fist-pumping “anthem” nature of the song being a little cheesy, and the lyrics a little cliché Joe Kidd said “I’m glad you like the tunes heard, but i must say they are now quite ‘cringeworthy’. However, we do play Oppression all the time. It has been quite an anthem…”, after learning more about the true sentiment behind it, and how they aren’t just empty words said while posturing, we’re proud to play the song. This is from real people under a real threat, and they’re pissed. “Oppression” really does connect the past to the present. It does connect underground music and musicians in the US to those in Malaysia. It connects people who get their freedom and rights abused and taken away by the rich greedy and powerful.
Oppression!
“We walked so proud, we walked so free”
I heard you shout
Do all you want, say all the rage you have inside
Open your eyes, society
See what we got
You think you’re free, you think you’re safe
You know you’re not!Oppression!
What do you read, what can you see
Between their lines?
What can you do, what can you say
When you’re blind?
Where should we shout, where should we turn
When we see their faults?
Are we so thick, are we so dumb
Just like they want?Oppression!
We’ll raise our voice (no way!)
We’ll raise our fists (no way!)
Is this your face democracy, conformity?
We’ll criticise (no way!)
We’ll organise (no way!)
Where is our voice, democracy, stability?
What should we see? (nothing!)
What should we think? (nothing!)
Where’s our sight, democracy?
You hide the key!
You’re blinding me!Oppression!
1993 - Carburetor Dung
In the USA, where is our anger? Where are our protest songs?