10 Zack de la Rocha Quotes on Resistance

Zack de la Rocha quotes on resistance

1. [at Coachella, 2007] 'A good friend of ours once said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. Presidents as those were applied to the Nazi's during WWII, then every single one of 'em, every last rich white one of 'em, from Truman on would have been hung to death, and shot. And this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be. And the challenges that we face, they go way beyond administrations. Way beyond elections. Way Beyond every four years of pulling levers. Way beyond that, because this whole rotten system has become so vicious and cruel, that in order to sustain itself, it needs to destroy entire countries, and profit from their reconstruction, in order to survive, and that's not a system that changes every four years, it's a system that we have to break down generation after generation after generation after generation after generation. 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...'

6. 'It is important for me, as a popular artist, to make clear to the governments of the United States and Mexico that despite the strategy of fear and intimidation to foreigners, despite their weapons, despite their immigration laws and military reserves, they will never be able to isolate the Zapatista communities from the people in the United States.'

9. 'We were witnesses to that. We saw how the soldiers burned and razed the fields, threw the children out of schools, and turned the schools into barracks... And each time we became more familiar with the Zapatistas form of organization, communal work and cooperation. And I realized that the motives behind the militarization were to break down the community, to keep the people from organizing in an autonomous manner in order to overcome poverty and isolation.'

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

38. 'I'll rip the mic, rip the stage, rip the system. I was born to rage against 'em'

45. 'Rep the stutter step then bomb a left upon the fascists'

53. 'Made the masses of mastadons a path to trample the fascists on.'

59. 'You see the powerful got nervous, cause he refused to be their servant, and he spit truths, that burnt like black churches [from Voice of the Voiceless, a tribute song to Mumia Abu Jamal]'

61. 'Long as the rope is tied around Mumia's neck, let there be no rich white life we bound to respect, cause and effect, can't ya smell tha smoke in tha breeze, my panther, my brother we are at war until you're free'