Żegota - Movement In The Music

When people in 2021 say, "Gee whiz, where was the punk resistance during the Trump adminstration?", like a goddamned DIY band is going to organize people like Pete Seeger did, they're probably looking for something like Fat's "Rock Against Bush" compilations. Which, you know, fine, gotta give the kids at the Hot Topic something to listen to. It's better than nothing, right? But, to tell the truth, I prefer my aural resistance a lot crustier, more abrasive. Something like Greensboro's Żegota.

This was John Ericsson's new band after he left Catharsis, another outstanding political HC band from the late 90s. Named after the Polish Żegota Council to Aid Jews, there's no confusion where they were coming from politically. The final track on this, their first record for noted hard left label CrimethInc., is titled "Open Disobedience; Bold Resistance". They were pro-bikes, anti-cop, pro-organization, anti-melody, pro-hollerin'. It's a perfectly good soundtrack to Food Not Bombs, Black Bloc, and chaining oneself to the doors of an international bank.

I'm not certain why I never owned a copy of this up until last year, but when I came across a copy in a Half Price Books "fill a shopping bag for $20" sale, I couldn't pass it up. Its digipak is printed on recycled material, doncha know? It's weird and jammy and dirty and smells funky and it makes me want to run thru a brick wall to punch a Proud Boy. Viva la resistance!

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