12 Zack de la Rocha Quotes on Protest

Zack de la Rocha quotes on protest

2. [at Rock the Bells, New York, 2007] 'A couple of months ago, those fascist motherfuckers at the Fox News Network attempted to pin this band into a corner by suggesting that we said that the president should be assassinated. Nah, what we said was that he should be brought to trial as war criminal and hung and shot. THAT'S what we said. And we don't back away from the position because the real assassinator is Bush and Cheney and the whole administration for the lives they have destroyed here and in Iraq. They're the ones. And what they refused to air which was far more provocative in my mind and in the minds of my bandmates is this: this system has become so brutal and vicious and cruel that it needs to start wars and profit from the destruction around the world in order to survive as a world power. THAT's what we said. And we refuse not to stand up, we refuse to back down from that position not only for the poor kids who are being left out in the desert to die, but for the Iraqi youth, the Iraqi people, their families and their friends, and their youth who are standing up and resisting the U.S. occupation every day. And if we truly want to end this fucking miserable war, we have to stand up with the same force that the Iraqi youth are standing up with every day, and bring these motherfuckers to their knees. Wake up:'

3. [at Rock the Bells, San Bernardino, California, 2007] 'Sixty-eight years ago just after World War II, they claimed they were the greatest generation.. And I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure. All the potential for greatness is in this generation right here. 'Cause I know that this fucking government took this country to war for a lie to withstand its empire and millions of you across this country said no. Stood up, and said no! And with the whole world watching, this generation here, in this country, we have to step up! We have to step up! We have to take it from the concert stage, from the crowd, and into the streets and prove that we won't let these fascists rule us any longer. This generation. Are you standing in line? Are you believing the lies? Are you bowing to the flag, you got a bullet in your head...'

5. [at Alpine Valley, 2007] 'A couple of months back when we played this show at Coachella, Valley, that was our first show back, I said a few things from the stage that the next day, Fox News ran this whole piece about us saying that the President should be assassinated. But those fascists always get it wrong when it's from a band in the corner standing up. What we said was that the whole Bush Administration should be put on trial for war crimes, and then hung, and then shot. But this made me think about something: It made me think about what the fuck they're so afraid of. It made me think about what scares them. Is it really four of us from Los Angeles that have a point of view? Is it really just this music, and these rhythms, and these words? Is that what they're scared of? I started to think about it and you know, my conclusion is this: naw, they ain't scared of us. They're scared of you. They're scared of you. They're scared that you might, come election time, throw Bush, and Cheney, and all their fascists out of power. That's what they're scared of. And let me say this: that the Democrats are scared of you too, because they know that you see through their bullshit too. Because when Bush was wiretappin', spying on citizens, torturing innocent people, they were supposed to be the people to defend us from them. And they didn't do shit. So the Democrats are scared of you too. Why? Because they know they're coming to power. But they're scared because they know that if they don't fuckin' start pulling troops out of Iraq, then we're gonna go and burn down every office, of every Senator that doesn't do their jobs. All we're saying is that the world is watching us right now. The whole world is watching us. The brothers and sisters in South America that are dealing with this imperialist violence have their eyes on us. Our brothers and sisters in Iraq got their eyes on us because we are the ones who are gonna have to put an end to this nonsense. So wake up! Come on, wake up! Wake up...'

8. [At the Grand Olympic Auditorium, September 13 2000 - the last RATM show before their 2007 reunion] 'So who went out and joined us for the Democratic National Convention? I've never seen so many fucking cops in my whole life. It's like everybody knows when everybody went out there, the only thing we were out there to do is express how much we hate both the Democrats and Republicans because they sold this fucking country out. And by expressing our rights to resist, what do they do?...they open fire on the crowd. I don't care what fucking television station said the violence was caused by the people at the concert, those motherfuckers unloaded on this crowd. And I think it's ridiculous, considering none of us had rubber bullets, none of us had M16s, none of us had billy clubs, none of us had face shields. All we had was our fists, our voices, our microphones, our guitars, our drums, and anytime we get beaten in the streets for protesting, we take it to the court system, and the court system don't wanna hear it. Look what happened to Amadou Diallo in New York, they shot that brother 41 times and let all four officers go. It's time for a new type of action in this country.'

15. 'He has the nerve to call us violent when last year there were 80,000 cases of police brutality filed against departments all over the country this sheriff pig is poppin' off, poppin'off about how we're violent. Well, shit, he belongs to the most violent gang in US history.' [Referring to a Sheriff who tried to get a concert banned]

18. 'Brothers and sisters, our democracy has been hijacked. Brothers and sisters, all electoral freedoms in this country are over so long as it's controlled by corporations. Brothers and sisters, we are not going to allow these streets to be taken over by the Democrats or the Republicans. Because it's all of us who have built this city, and we can tear it down unless they give us what we need.'

23. 'Wake up!'

24. 'Burn! Burn! Yes, you're gonna burn!'

27. 'Why stand on a silent platform? Fight the war, fuck the norm!'

43. 'You know they went after King when he spoke out on Vietnam. He turned the power to the have-nots. And then came the shot'

57. 'Let the riot be the rhyme of the unheard'

72. 'Shutdown the devil sound'