Young workers: ‘Raptivist’ lives and sings the struggle ("Kill the Autocrat")

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_5006

1 October 2011

MINNEAPOLIS - The days can get long and dull while mining nickel in Sudbury, about four hours north of Toronto, Ontario. Just the kind of working conditions that spawn musical creativity in young people like Michael Fraser O’Brien.

O’Brien, or “OB” as he is known to his friends, takes a rap music approach to workplace issues. He likes to say he is a hybrid of a rapper and an activist – a “raptivist.” As lead singer of the band, “Kill the Autocrat,” O’Brien takes on the establishment.


Michael Fraser O'Brien

“One day longer – the people’s voice is stronger!” he intones in the opening lyrics of their song, “One Day Longer,” which the group performed in Madison last March during the protests against Governor Scott Walker’s attacks on collective bargaining.

O’Brien not only talks the talk, he walks it. He and the other members of United Steelworkers Local 6500 endured a yearlong strike, from the summer of 2009 to the summer of 2010, to fight concessions when their mine was sold to a large Brazilian company intent on cutting labor costs and crushing unions.

“Using the economic crisis, they forced us out,” O’Brien said.



FULL story and video at link.