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How exactly was Crass socially and politically active, how direct?
Obviously, as an information service,
we were very powerful,
it was pre-Internet, pre-computers really
so we didn't have that sort of outlet.
But the network we had was massive.
Our own involvement were very soft edge stuff like graffiti campaigns
which were very very carefully done, militaristically done,
graffitiing a central part of the underground network in London.
We'd start doing statements, neatly.
We never sprayed on property, we sprayed on posters,
so say there was a wall poster, like a film poster for a war movie.
Then, we'd have "Fight war, not Wars."
On it. Very neatly.
And we had this policy of being very neat.
So it couldn’t really be complained about as vandalism.
Not that I object to vandalism necessarily...
But because it seemed like a way we might be able to attract
an interest to people, who otherwise could dismiss it as vandalism.
So it went from that, to sort of
direct actions, super gluing or paint bombing
that sort of stuff, we never got into sort of arson.
Stop the city events of the early 80s, I suppose...
were the most extreme manifestation of that, in the sense that..
they were sort of mixture, part festival, part riot...
The idea was to close down the city and I can't remember well
there's two days in the year, when certain figures shifted in the city
from one institution to the other.
It's when they decide on currency and all that.
Anyway, basically, if you put the city out of operation on those days,
you are really *** up their entire modus operandi.
Like the banks and shipping agencies and that sort of stuff.
From sort of smoke bombs in the underground which completely stops
it has to stop the underground...
to banks - having their windows smashed in...
streets were blocked...
phones were blocked...
the place became inoperable for a day.
I believe, it set a pattern
certainly "Reclaim the streets"
came out of the Stop the city movement inevitably
and the Stop the City, it spread across the globe.
It started happening in Australia, America,
I don't know whether it happened in Europe at all,
but certainly modeled in London ones,
I know it was repeated in Australia
And America you know, I don't think...
that Seattle would have happened in the same way.
How does it feel?
# How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead? #
# Young boys, rest now #
# Cold graves in cold earth #
# How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead? #
# Sunken eyes, lost now #
# Empty sockets, in futile death. #
# Your arrogance has gutted these bodies of life #
# Your deceit fooled them that it was worth the sacrifice #
# Your lies persuaded people to accept the wasted blood #
# Your filthy pride cleansed you of the doubt you should have had #
# You smile in the face of death cause you are so proud and vain #
# Your inhumanity stops you from realising the pain #
# That you inflicted #
# you determined #
# you created, you ordered #
# It was your decision to have those young boys slaughtered #
We released the record called...
"How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead?"
And writing for one of the daily newspapers here,
was a guy who did the music bit in it - or the pop bit...
*** prick.
And his brother was a conservative politician
in Infield, so he says to his brother,
"Look what this band called Crass has done... "
"They've written about how does it feel to be the mother.. "
So the politician gets the arsehole,
says how outrageous the record is and it's disgusting...
Of course then, there's a circular, a memo passed around
Houses of Parliament in the Tory party,
says that in no account must a member of the conservative party
have anything to do with a band
known by the name of Crass,
the opposition, Labor government, heard about it,
we then, we started receiving letters of support from the Labor MP's
and then a Labor MP actually mentioned it in the house of Common...
in a question... "Has the Prime minister listened to the latest record..?"
How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead?
She needed something to boost her public face...
She was failing miserably,
on her agenda, on her internal agenda,
and needed some individuals to pop arhetoric?
It was very jingoistic? And she's into it.
How the *** hell did Bush manage to...
gain credibility through going to Iraq?
I mean, he has done,
despite the fact that...
and how has Blair remained in power?
After supporting the invasion of Iraq?
But they do do, because people are essentially jingoistic...?
Look at a football match...
You'll see one tonight, and you'll see how jingoistic...
doesn't matter if it's guns or footballs...
When the men are out, they're out, aren't they?
It's very difficult, for..
a country in a state of war to actually
dare to say, i object,
you know, because we were accused of being traitors
both in the national media and by people down in pubs,
and that sort of ***.
We put together a conversation between Thatcher and Reagan,
which was edited out of actual speeches,
and the basis of the conversation
was basically Reagan questioning Thatcher about the sinking of the Belgrano
We had had classified information from the Falklands, we knew a sailor
who used to be a skinhead and was heading out to the Falkland
and then he contacted us, somehow as he was returning,
and just spewed out all this information
about the sinking of the Belgrano and the sinking of the Sheffield.
The sinking of the Sheffield still hasn't come to light, it was 4 ships
it was one of the big flagships that actually prince Andrew - Edward
one of the royal sons was on board,
so they had to ensure that That wasn't gonna get whacked.
The naval response was to order that 3 of the 4 ships should send up flack,
you know, which is silver foil,
which diverts missiles,
and the other one wasn't informed, the Sheffield,
so guaranteed, when the missiles arrived,
they would go for the one that wasn't protected by the foil shield,
which it did.
So the Sheffield was sunk
and the men knew that.
And there was almost a mutiny, which is why the boats took so long coming back.
They had to sort that out.
R: Why eliminate Belgrano?
You directed this.
The Argentineans were then going.
Secretary Haig reached an agreement.
T: Argentina was the invader!
Force has been used.
It's been used now,
punishing them as quickly as possible.
R: Oh, god! It's not right!
You caused the "Sheffield" to have been hit.
Those missiles we followed on screens.
You must have too, and not let them know.
What do you hope to gain?
T: What i said before. - "Andrew"
As "cruise" go in,
I want incentives at all levels.
Pete took the tapes out to mainland Europe...
sent it to all the major newspapers in mainland Europe...
And then we heard nothing...
Next thing we heard was, a report in America,
I think it was a San Francisco paper,
about KGB tapes, Pentagon exposing KGB tapes.
Which we recognised as being our tape.
And then, it became a really big story...
in the American press, about KGB, these are the methods used, you know...
what will lead to the 3rd world war.
Anyway, somehow this guy rung us, this reporter,
and he said: "Do you know anything about these tapes?"
I picked up the phone and said: "No, I don’t know what you're talking about"
and he said: "No, I think you do, I want to come round and talk to you about it"
So I said: " If we were to admit it, would you be prepared to print...
all the information that's given on the tapes, about the Sheffield and about Belgrano?"
And he said "Yes, I can do that", and they did do it...
so we managed to get this top secret information about the Belgrano and the Sheffield
in the national, the good quality press.
It had no effect at all...
Except a huge interest in us all of a sudden...
at that point the KGB actually did get in touch with us...
under the guise of being a literary magazine and invited us to their offices in West London.
which was obviously a complete sham.
And it quite obviously was KGB,
and basically, they were seeing if we were worth recruiting.
From that point on, it just became *** stupid.
We were no longer commentators and activists.
We'd become sort of experts or something.
Certainly, we became desirables to the secret services, that sort of rubbish...
And it started feeling really dangerous.
# Pacified #
# Classified #
# Keep in line #
# You're doing fine #
# Lost your voice? #
# There ain't no choice #
Play the game
Silent and tame
Be the passive observer
sit back and look
At the world they destroyed
and the peace that they took
Ask no questions
hear no lies
And you'll be living in the comfort
of a fool's paradise
You're already dead
If you're the passive observer
here's a message for you
You're already dead
Afraid to do what you know you should do
You're already dead
The world's at the edge
of nuclear destruction
But you're too afraid
to make the connection
You still believe the system's there
for your protection
You're already dead
There are flames, it's looking better