Incendiary Pittsburgh punk rockers ANTI-FLAG will release their 13th album Lies They Tell Our Children on January 6 via Spinefarm. For this record, the band recruited several high profile and like-minded artists to feature on the songs. Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath and Bad Religion’s Brian Baker appear on the new single “THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES.” Watch the video here.
“To us, this song is a unique demonstration of the power of community,” the band says. ”Bringing in Tim and Brian was just to drive the nail home that this shit takes all of us. The predication of punk rock, to leave things better than you found them, to give a fuck about more than just yourself… The planet can’t spare another day before we take massive steps to stop catastrophic human-made climate disaster. Nuclear arsenals are on the rise. Millions are displaced around the world. From Ukraine to Yemen, there are currently 27 major conflicts on the planet. Corporate and terrorist networks are reaping massive profits from the bloodshed and division being sewn.
“A growing international neo-fascist crusade is spreading across the world hell bent on furthering a movement rooted in racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and every other kind of bigotry imaginable. Extremist religious movements grow more emboldened to seize power over the world’s governments enacting laws such as the Supreme Court has in the United States, where the human right to an abortion is being banned.
“We are truly in the fight of our lives. It’s a time to stand up and be counted. We are at a historic tipping point in human civilization where we can swing towards peace, empathy, optimism, justice, and human rights for all, or we can swing towards more of this ominous rising tide which has already brought so much inequality, pain and death.”
For the lyrics and essay about the track, scroll down. The video was lensed by INDECLINE Activist Art Collective.
Lies They Tell Our Children was recorded, produced and mixed by Jon Lundin.
There’s a dark cloud growing at the end of the road / There’s a crowd of people left with nowhere to go / And I get so sick at the sight, it keeps me up at night / There’s a headline telling you that this is the end / There’s no conversation its still us versus them / And I get so sick at the sight, it keeps me up at night / We’re in the fight of our lives / Crossing over the lines / We’ll never run, never hide / Wake up surrounded in flames / Holding onto our pain / Still some hope in our veins / I get so sick at the sight, it keeps me up at night / We’re in the fight of our lives / There’s an echo ringing that we’re going to war / It’s the same old story, they’re still killing for sport / And I get so sick of the sight, it keeps me up at night / Wake up to existential dread / Empires, they crumble in our head / Phone call, no one on the other end / Inside, to dispel the myth / So tired, we haven’t done anything / Reach out… no one on the other end
Russian imperialism brings fascism and genocide, disguised in the language of anti-fascism, to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Central European anti-fascists were among the first to call attention to Russia’s dangerously systematic and massive support for ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis across Europe since 2014. Today, tacit support has become open warfare, and CEE antifas are sending a message – Russia must be defeated and expelled at all costs, or death, darkness and subjugation will come to the CEE region, and all emancipatory activities, as well as their bearers, will get a bullet between the eyes.
Welcome to our region, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). A region historically shaped by the pinch between three empires. A region defined not by ocean shores, but externally and geopolitically – namely, by whether one of the neighboring empires wanted to overreach and subjugate parts of CEE – as in Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1968, Poland in 1939, the Baltics in 1940, Hungary in 1956.
Our CEE region is once again fighting for its life – and this is not a metaphor, an exaggeration, a rhetorical turn of phrase, but a tangible reality, the contours of which |can be seen today in Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel and many other places. It’s nothing else than genocide of Ukrainians that’s taking place in Ukraine. After all, it is what the ideological mouthpiece of the Putin regime, Alexander Dugin, has been calling for since 2014, when he described Ukrainians as a “race of bastards.” In this sense, the actions of Russian soldiers are not surprising. Under the bizarre guise of denazification, a policy of extermination – one of the pillars of Nazism – is taking place in Ukraine. “A Nazi,” says historian Timothy Snyder of Nazism as conceived by Russia, “is a Ukrainian who refuses to admit being a Russian.” If every Ukrainian today is a Nazi in the eyes of Russia, so is every citizen of CEE, foremost us, as organized anti-fascists.
To be clear, we are not suggesting to listen to the Ukrainian oligarchs. Nor are we suggesting to listen to ultra-nationalists like Right Sector, whose influence in Ukraine, to Putin’s benefit, is greatly exaggerated and cannot be compared, for example, with the influence of parliamentary parties like the AfD in Germany, United Russia in Russia or politicians like Orban in Hungary or Le Pen in France. In this respect, we fully agree with the autonomous anti-fascists from Ukraine who say “Several thousands Nazis, with minimal electoral support in a country of 40 million, are neither a threat nor a reason to invade… Yes, there are Nazis in Ukraine, same as in other countries. No, we don‘t need the help of Putin or other authoritarians to deal with them. We‘ll do it on our own.”
We suggest that you listen primarily to the voices of ordinary people and organized activists who have practically, quietly, without media fanfare, joined the armed defense of Ukraine and mutual aid networks, going from below, against the authorities, anti-fascist and in the spirit of committed Ukrainian anarchists like Nestor Makhno. We are thinking of initiatives and activities like Operation Solidarity, which say “We don’t want to die, we don’t want to flee, we don’t want to obey, we don’t have such a privilege. We are fucking angry and we want our freedom!” or the Resistance Committee/Anti-authoritarian Union, who again say “We were all brought to war by the desire to oppose Russian imperialist aggression. We are here to defeat the occupiers and defend the Ukrainian people, their freedom and independence.”
*excerpts taken from “An anti-fascist message from the shadows of Central and Eastern Europe” via FREEDOM NEWS
