176: Are Art & Upheaval Incompatible or Inevitable? You Decide

Are Art and Upheaval totallyincompatible or unavoidably connected?We’re rebroadcasting this episode from 2022, in part, because the ground beneath it hasn’t settled—it’s shifted, cracked, and in some places, caught fire again. The headlines keep reminding us: conflict, repression, dislocation, the slow erosion—and sometimes the sudden collapse—of trust in our institutions and in each other.And right there, in the middle of it, the same quiet, stubborn truth this episode points to: if you scratch the surface of upheaval, you will find artists. Not on the sidelines—on the frontlines. Bearing witness. Making meaning. Holding the line while other systems falose thier grip.Three things to listen for as you step in:First, the insistence that art is not ornamental in times of crisis—it’s operational. It does real work in real conditions.Second, the pattern: loss, rupture, and then—again and again—creative acts that stitch something back together. Not perfectly. But enough to move forward.And third, the wager at the heart of it all: that imagination isn’t an escape from reality—it’s a tool for reshaping it.Some people still think you can’t beat the devil with a song.Listen closely.Then decide for yourself.Notable MentionsFor this episode of Change the Story Change the World we are going to revisit some of those Art and Upheaval stories along with the song of the same name to make a point. Yea, some people think you can’t beat the devil with a song, but they don’t know!Art &amp; Upheaval (song) From the CD Songlines by Cleveland Plainsong:Art &amp; Upheaval: Artists at Work on the World’s Frontlines, New Village PressChange the Story Change the WorldSouth African Bill of Rights: The Bill of Rights is arguably the part of the Constitution that has had the greatest impact on life in this country. As the first words of this chapter say: "This Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom."It has also been the source of the majority of the groundbreaking rulings the Constitutional Court has handed down. To read more about selected rights and the way the Constitutional Court has interpreted them, see children's rights, women's rights, gay and lesbian rights, workers' rights and access to information.Art for Humanity: engages with multidisciplinary arts practice and a wide variety of creative practice within the context of the pressing need for the centering of social justice in our contemporary moment. Based primarily in Durban, the organization aims to support, host, document, create space for, catalyze, and help stimulate this intersection between the arts and questions of history, social transformation and social justice. Bishop Desmond Tutu: was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology.Khmer Rouge: The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), otherwise known as the Khmer Rouge, took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975. The CPK created the state of Democratic Kampuchea in 1976 and ruled the country until January 1979. The party’s existence was kept secret until 1977, and no one outside the CPK knew who its leaders were (the leaders called themselves “Angkar Padevat”).While the Khmer Rouge was in power, they set up policies that disregarded human life and produced repression and massacres on a massive scale. They turned the country into a huge detention center, which later became a graveyard for nearly two million people, including their own members and even some senior leaders.Reyum Institute of Arts and Culture: Reyum was a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to Cambodian arts and culture. Reyum was founded by Ly Daravuth and Ingrid Muan (1964 - 2005) in December 1998 in order to provide a forum for research, preservation, and promotion of traditional and contemporary Cambodian arts and culture.Watts Writers Workshop: was a creative writing group initiated by screenwriter Budd Schulberg in the wake of the devastating August 1965 Watts Riots in South Central Los Angeles (now South Los Angeles). Schulberg later said: "In a small way, I wanted to help.... The only thing I knew was writing, so I decided to start a writers' workshop."[1] The group, which functioned from 1965 to 1973, was composed primarily of young African Americans in Watts and the surrounding neighborhoods. Early on, the Workshop included a theatrical component and one of the founders was the actor Yaphet Kotto. The group expanded its facilities and activities over the next several years with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. Government files later revealed that the Workshop had been the target of covert operations by the FBI. Writers involved in the Workshop include Quincy Troupe, Samuel Harris Jr better known as Leumas Sirrah, Johnie Scott, Eric Priestley, Ojenke, Herbert Simmons, and Wanda Coleman, as well as the poetry group Watts Prophets.Amde Hamilton: Father Amde is widely recognized for being one of the original poets in the world famous Watts Writers Workshop during the 1960’s, where he and two other poets formed the legendary rap group, the Watts Prophets. Amid racism, poverty, and police brutality that ultimately sparked the Watts Riots, the Watts Writers Workshop tapped into the young, Black voices of Los Angeles that needed to be heard.Watts Prophets: The Watts Prophets are a group of musicians and poets from Watts, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California"...