Bedouin Soundclash Slams Tory Art Cuts

The hugely successful band Bedouin Soundclash, from Kingston Ontario, is the latest to take a shot at explaining why Stephen Harper's cuts to the arts are a terrible idea. I hope the band doesn't mind, but here is the entire posting from the band's Myspace Blog:

"For anyone reading this internationally, the fact that Canada is having an election in addition to the U.S. has likely gone unnoticed. Actually, given its coverage in our own country alot of younger Canadians might have turned their focus more towards the excitement of Barack Obama than to Steven Harper (or they have focused on their Wii which is an amazing machine i have to admit.) There isn't much 'sexy' about this election. And, I'm not sure any of the leaders have had sex in a while, they look stressed. Regardless, I thought I would put my own thoughts out the on the issues that are facing someone like myself.

In an underhanded gesture, without consulting the public, Prime Minister Harper has cut over 14 million dollars to film makers, musicians and writers in Canada. One great canadian group, Holy Fuck, were amongst those cited as bands who have benefited from this spending. They were trashed in the papers by conservatives as an example of terrible art we support with this funding. I'll go back to that ridiculous and scary argument later. (well, if it pleases Big Brother that is).

The cuts were targeted at funds which were directed to international arts initiatives for Canadians touring, promoting, and working abroad. The cold logic was that this did not benefit Canadians at home. We are facing an economic crisis and to Harper this was probably frivolous spending that Canadian tax payers don't see back.

As someone who has recieved those grants at times I can put it into my own perspective. If we choose to tour Germany, France, England, Japan etc. we are eligible for this money. When we have received the money we are able to effectively promote ourselves, pay our (Canadian) crew, and come home with money in hand. Logically, this money is claimed in Canada and we subsequently pay taxes back to the country. The system is harmonious and is actually estimated at bringing in 85 million dollars worth of revenue annually to Canada. This far exceeds the money granted.

The conservatives also felt, beyond economics, that this money was going to “fringe arts groups” like Holy Fuck who are “unrepresentative” of canada and “offensive”. We are now living amongst Big Brother, comrades. When a government can decide unilaterally what it deems acceptable art we are living in dangerous times. Arcade Fire, Metric, Sam Roberts, K-os, Broken Social Scene, Billy Talent, Nelly Furtado, Alexisonfire, City and Colour, Bedouin Soundclash, etc. have all recieved funding as well and have all seen their careers improve immensely abroad as a result.

Mr. Harper under fire, noted that he did have a love for the arts and has a grade nine royal conservatory certificate on PIANO! He also submitted a shot of him to the papers at his baby grand over on Sussex street. One of his 'party animal' aides said every year they have a jolly good time at the Christmas party when Stevie cuts a rug to his favourite rock and roll tunes. Finally! I hope he releases the live session on record, the great white Ray Charles of the north. I can't think of something more enjoyable than sitting back with my HiFI cranked and listening to the sweet soulful sounds of Steven Harper tickling the ivory. That one is going right next to my Neil Young records, and also into the canon of great contributions to Canadian art. You are right, who needs spending when we have conservative covers of Elton John? Even your mom can agree, holy fuck.

When the government needs money because we have sent troops to Afghanistan, he pulls it from the arts. I think i would much rather be recognized around the world for our humanity and arts, then for forceful peacekeeping in a country where anti-Canadian sentiment is now high.


Perhaps Steven Harper should put less time into making Hanukkah cards for every Jewish-Canadian around the country to “celebrate” the holidays and put the money he spent on paper back into something worthwhile. (I didn't realize the Jews were so important to Harpers votes, holy fuck!)

And in terms of votes, he now is calling to pull our military out of Afghanistan by 2011. Just in time for the election. I would hope that he made that difficult decision to participate in a war out of moral principle and safety. In a war where more than 100 Canadians have died, you would hope it was for more than a gesture of proxy to the U.S.

He also wants to end house arrests in this country and make close to 30 crimes worthy of imprisonment. At a time where money is scarce, why would we want to spend more money on keeping people imprisoned of petty crimes, in a situation which would not promote rehabilitation but has shown to further a criminal tendency. His health minister also wants to cut funding to Insite, a clinic which allows safe injection for addicts in the lower east side here in Vancouver. He feels it promotes drug use, ignoring the medical evidence that when a user can inject safely around health care workers it limits the spread of disease, controls OD's, and most importantly has shown a great success rate in those who will subsequently go on to rehab. Holy fuck!

The reason i bring both these things up is that both these issues fall under the Conservatives dogma of 'law and order.' Harper says he is 'colour blind' and that the rules fit for everyone. However, the reality is that the predominant majority in the lower east side, and disproportionate of those in Canadian prisons, are native. He is completely ignoring the real social issues, and leaving behind those he has decided aren't important to votes.

I am not telling anyone how to vote. In fact, I really can't stand these 'vote or die' campaigns, or 'rock the vote.' If kids don't want to vote then don't vote. If you have everything that you need in your life (like Wii which is truly fantastic) then continue on the path. I will leave bullying to the U.S. and P Diddy. (by the way P Diddy also wants you to know Burger King is now open late. start eating!)

It was funny last week when our management got a call from the NDP asking if we would play an opening rally in Toronto. At the time, all three leaders Dion, Harper, and Layton had shut Elizabeth May of the Green Party out of a televised debate. They offered us money to play. I said that we would play for free, under the condition that we could wear green party shirts onstage and that Jack Layton would push to get May into the debates. The rest of the day there was so much public outcry over the Green Party anyways in this country, that May was allowed into the debate. I read the paper the next day with the headline that she was in. “fuck,” I thought, “we are going to have to play this fucking thing for free now.” Holy Fuck!

Jay



P.S. For the information of the conservatives and our spending. We shot a video in Japan and with the extra footage our director Marc Ricciadelli starred as himself in a short film he called 'escamaster'. Marc rode the escalators to the extreme, and we have the video on the myspace page. Strangely enough, without knowing three months ago the controversy of names with swears in them, he used 'Two Snakes' as the song for the video. This was written by another great hardcore band called Fucked Up. Get your knives out again."