Occupy Wall Street has been in the news for several weeks now. While it has not nearly reached the epic scale of the marches against the Vietnam War, it does represent a clear growing sentiment of unrest among people of the world around the ever-increasing financial divide between the haves and have-nots and against the policies of the government and financial institutions that support that divide. One of the biggest criticisms of the movement seems to be the lack of focus – that there seems to be no clear leader or unified voice.
When I think of the unifying voice of a social movement, I think of two things: a hero or leader with a clear message and a musical theme to inspire and hold together those who follow. There have been many artists in the past associated with social and cultural movements: Woody Guthrie for the plight of the common man after the great depression, or Curtis Mayfield for the Civil Rights movement as the soundtrack behind Martin Luther King, Jr, or Bob Dylan for the 1960’s anti-war movement, or John Lennon for the Peace movement. There are obviously many more voices and causes worth noting, including more recent events including humanitarian concerts like Live Aid or current efforts by Bono and KNAAN, carrying the torch for crisis in Somalia today. One of the common threads helping to sustain and support each of those prior historical social movements seemed to be a unifying voice, and even a couple of key songs or musical themes, that underscored the common, memorable message, helped harmonize the demonstrations and gave a collective resonating voice to millions.
Although several artists have shown up to perform and show support for Occupy Wall Street, like Crosby and Nash, Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Rufus Wainwritght, Sean Lennon, Pete Seeger and Katy Perry, I am still longing to see the movement grow and to discover who will come forth to create the unifying soundtrack that will resound loud and clear enough to help make a real impact, shape a clear direction, and get enough of the world to sing along to leave a lasting historical and cultural impression.
