Punk is politics, and in that game, the band Downtown Boys leaves nothing on the table. No one walks out of its shows without a chance at enlightenment – on workers’ rights, police accountability and punitive immigration policies, among other issues. And with singer Victoria Ruiz on the mic, Downtown Boys have no trouble getting their message across loud and clear – in English and Spanish – before, during and after their shows.
On Aug. 20, the Providence, R.I., band will be in Portland performing with Rock Against the TPP, the traveling “education concert” calling for the defeat of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
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The touring event seems like a perfect fit for band members Ruiz, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Norlan Olivo and Mary Regalado. The TPP, with its massive labor, environmental and human rights implications, merges multiple issues that have been woven into Downtown Boys’ sax punk party sound for years.
Fresh from a Rock Against the TPP event in Denver, Ruiz and DeFrancesco spoke with Street Roots about their passion for the project and the issues. But first, given that their recent album is titled “Full Communist,” we were curious: Are they or aren’t they?
Joey La Neve DeFrancesco: When we’re talking about communism we’re not talking about a 20th century, state imagination of top-down communism. It’s more of a small “c” communism that is creating a more participatory, democratic alternative to the kind of global capitalism that the TPP is putting into place. The idea is the opposite of full-on capitalism and what that means to be ruled by a complete corporate oligarchy and that is something the TPP is certainly pushing us toward. It’s literally putting control of state governments across the world in the hands of corporations which are inherently undemocratic. I think at the moment, fighting that idea is where our heads are at.
Jason Mekkam: You guys are known for heavy political messages in your music. What specifically about this compelled you get involved in this event?
Victoria Ruiz: I think that a lot of our stage banter and what we tend to talk about is fighting institutional racism and bringing together this idea that we’re never going to have worker justice until we have racial justice. And that’s part of this same movement against oppression. (The TPP) is planting the seeds of fascism in the United States.
J.M.: Have you had any issues with the fact that not a lot of people are familiar with the TPP? Is it challenging to get your listeners concerned?
J.D.: It’s designed from the beginning to be secret and hard to understand. It was negotiated completely in secret and agreed upon before even being revealed to the citizens of any of these countries. And now all that’s left to happen is this up or down vote. It can’t be changed further at this point. People kept saying at the rally in Denver – right or left, people universally for one reason or another opposed this deal for how much power it concedes to the people at the very top. When people learn about the details of it they are almost universally against it. But it is just completely shrouded in secrecy.
Only about six of 30 sections of the deal have anything to do with trade. You can talk about unfair trade policies and that’s a huge part of this as well, but then all of these other sections are entirely about getting corporations the power to deregulate labor laws, environmental laws, about strengthening copyright laws that mostly serve corporate interests. And giving pharmaceutical companies these monopoly rights over drugs, which is going to make it harder for people all over the world – particularly in the Third World – from getting HIV drugs, from getting cheap drugs for all sorts of illnesses, which at this point shouldn’t be an issue anymore.
When people learn about this, they’re almost always against it.
J.M: What has been the reaction from your fans?
V.R.: It’s so hard because everything that’s written about it is pretty much from the government perspective. The TPP says it’s a trade agreement, but only a small part of it is a trade agreement, and it’s really hard to make an everyday citizen understand. What that does is hide its relevancy to the everyday person who is just trying to make enough money for themselves or their kids, or just trying to get out of the criminal justice system or just trying to survive. I think our fight is to make it relevant.
I think that’s one of the challenges we love the best, to try to make things relevant for the people who are coming to our shows and who are coming to a punk show to have to think about things outside of that show. Everything we talk about and everything we already stand for is related to the context and the system of power that the TPP is coming out of.
J.M.: Victoria, you once worked for a public defender? How much of your experience there found its way into your lyrics.
V.R.: I was a social worker for three years. I worked (in the public defender’s office) for two and a half years, and I left so I could go on tour more. In our job, we would interview people who were in prison or who had cases pending, and we would mitigate their charges to try to prove to the judge that this person did not need to be in jail and there needs to be some other solution. I found that I completely disagree with the criminal justice system.
Most of the people I was visiting – I had a family member who looked like them, or a cousin or best friend who looked like a lot of the people I was talking to. Or they looked like people I grew up within my family’s neighborhood in East San Jose. I think it was that connection. It is poor people and it’s people of color that the system is trying to oppress, and that has pretty much made its way into all of the lyrics I’ve written with Joey, and a lot of the lyrics that Joey has written. There’s this huge spectrum of impact, that the workplace, capitalism and racism has on us.
J.M.: Do you feel musicians and artists have a certain responsibility to promote social justice issues?
J.D.: Coming from the places that we do as a band and the experiences we’ve had, I think that’s what naturally comes out. I think the focus on the role of the artist is something that’s talked about a lot, but I think in whatever vocation or profession you’re in, you can be pushing these ideals and pushing for social justice. If you’re a teacher, if you’re a bank worker, if you’re a server, if you’re an artist or a journalist – whatever you’re doing you can be pushing social justice forward. I don’t know if it’s a responsibility because that feels like something that’s very conscious as opposed to having to decide to fight for your rights and for standing up for what’s right in the world. But I think no matter what profession you’re in, people have to stand up. I think that’s where real change comes from. It’s not just from people showing up at the ballot box every four years. It’s from people in their professions organizing in their unions. It’s from artist speaking out. It’s from journalists doing their job, and everyone in their own locations making it happen.