I spent the day writing a song for the students, staff, and faculty at Columbia University who have been risking a lot to take a very bold stand -- and them along with growing numbers of students, staff, and faculty at growing numbers of other institutions!
Boycott, Sanction and Divest
It’s happening now, like it has before
At the universities, in a time of war
Put people together, they'll communicate
Talk about things like college and state
Talk about the research that built the Iron Dome
Talk about their relatives starving back at home
Talk about tuition, and where the money’s spent
And where all the buildings in Gaza went
Wake up each morning and the headlines say
How many hundreds of Palestinians died today
How many thousands were killed in the past week
People get together, people speak
The newscasters say with surety
The campuses lack security
Meanwhile across the ocean wide
Palestinian genocide
People are saying they won't leave til they win
And then the police are sent in
Beaten and arrested staff and students
And to try to silence this growing movement
They’re punishing people for making it known
That the direct connection can be easily shown
How the investments of this institution
Are funding another Final Solution
Where it goes is anyone’s guess
After all, this is the US
Battles have been lost and won
But with bombs being dropped every day by the ton
With the orphaned and famished beneath the sky
Waiting for the moment when it’s their turn to die
Some people just can’t look away
They have to set up a tent on the campus and say
Boycott, sanction, and divest!
Bearing Witness is the new album, out on Bandcamp now, dropping on streaming platforms on May 1st. The Bearing Witness WORLD TOUR has me in the PNW in May, Australia in June/July, California in August, Scandinavia in November, and those islands north and west of France in March, 2025.
New song: "Boycott, Sanction, and Divest"