Sunday Concerts for Assange with Banda POPolare Emilia Rossa
Every Sunday Only on Youtube!
Every Sunday at Noon PST/15h EST/20h GMT on Assange Defense, Stella Assange, we will be premiering concerts from musicians around the world in support of my husband, Julian Assange.
An eclectic mix of never before streams on Youtube, the series will include live, acoustic and home studio music sets from musicians including James Kennedy from the Underdogs, Adelchi & Jes, David Rovics, Ben Mitchell, Mark Chadwick from the Levellers, Gabriel Moreno, Alabama 3, Siobhan O’Brien, Jessie Grace, Rick DellaRatta and many more.
This series aims to spread awareness about Julian Assange's case in preparation for the New Public Hearing that will be on Tuesday-Wednesday, 20-21 February, 2024 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Please check our Toolkit for more resources and info.
Every week we will be premiering a music set with weekly priority actions and other information on how you can join the fight and help Julian.
WEEKLY PRIORITY ACTION - This bill is still circulating!
UNITED STATES - We need your help.
Call your representatives to sign onto H.Res. 934!
H.Res.934 - Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment, and that the United States ought to drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.
118th Congress (2023-2024)
Read more here.
Find your Representative here.
This week’s Sunday Concert is with Banda POPolare Emilia Rossa
Watch it now on Youtube.
Tracklist:
1. Bella Ciao
2. Il violino di Vik
3. Odessa (2 maggio 2014)
4. La madre del partigiano
5. The Internationale
On 25 April 2011, the Banda POPolare dell'Emilia Rossa was born in Piazza Grande in Modena.
From the very first moment, our intention was to do revolutionary, militant and anti-capitalist politics through one of the most direct, effective and emotional forms of communication that exist, music....without, of course, renouncing the 'balotta' (balotta in Modenese dialect means 'movida', 'partying').
The name and symbol of our band clearly originate from a somewhat sarcastic and somewhat Warholian distortion of the name of that famous Emilia-Romagna bank that today represents one of the symbols of capitalism and the degeneration of the so-called 'Emilian model'. A model that is no longer red in word.
The Band is a proletarian group made up of union delegates from Modena's most important metalworking factories, including Ferrari and Maserati, and professional musicians.
We define our musical genre by the term 'internationalist' because we want to be outside any predefined scheme other than the unity and solidarity of the subordinate classes even in the musical and artistic sphere beyond all borders.
We also treasure important research on popular songs such as that carried out by Gianni Bosio and the De Martino Institute in the 1960s.
The syllable "POP" in the Band's name is a clear and humble reference and homage to the revolutionary band "Area" to which we do NOT refer (we would not be able to) in terms of style because they are absolutely inimitable and can no longer be reproduced, but to which we do refer in terms of spirit and subversive and anti-capitalist charge.
Ours is the motto of André Breton:
Independence of art for revolution,
Revolution for the definitive liberation of art
You've decided to join the fight and speak up for Julian in an industry where many may find it expedient to keep silent. What do you think formed your political perspective and activation?
Emilia Romagna is historically the region in Italy with the strongest and most deeply rooted communist tradition. This is why it was the region where the fight against fascism was hardest, to the point of being nicknamed 'the red Emilia'. This history and tradition has led us to be revolutionaries and also to use music as an anti-capitalist political battle tool as urged by geniuses such as Brecht , Picasso and Majakovsky
How did you come to care about this cause?
From the beginning, we have followed and appreciated the campaign of counterinformation and unmasking the crimes of capitalism waged by Assange and his staff. We also admire their courage and consistency. Therefore, it was only natural to learn about this campaign, which Stella Assange carries out with effectiveness and tenacity. It is a privilege for us to be able to make our own small contribution.
And what's the most important thing you'd like people to understand about Julian's case?
Julian's fight for freedom is the fight of all of us, of all those who fight against this system, capitalism, which only creates death, war, misery and destruction as we can well see in these weeks in Gaza
For more about Banda POPolare Emilia Rossa click here.