Music and Arts Strategies in Public Policies and Social Justice

 

Souce: MSU College of Music

The time has come to develop strategies in the field of music and arts around the world, aiming to disseminate the evils of political actions in favor of lobbyists and climate change in a world on fire. This is very much in need when politicians vote against public policy and social justice, as it was the case registered in the Brazilian Nacional Congress vote against the indigenous population.

The power of music and the arts is recognized and must be used to combat the wrath of the so-called Marco Temporal and other perverse and unsustainable actions defended by large corporations and landowners, aimed at accelerating climate change and the biggest crisis of this century.

Despite the efforts of many artists, what is clear is the lack of definition of strategies for mobilizing them, designed to strengthen their power to confront actions in defense of public policies for the benefit of society. In Brazil, samba singer Bezerra da Silva used his critical approach to social justice in most of his songs (video below).

 

Bezerra da Silva - Justiça Social

Both artists and music psychologists have been concerned with the power and abilities of music to influence our emotions, mood or state of mind, thoughts, well-being, identity, and our behavior toward others. Ancient philosophers have said that music can make us better people.

The biggest problem of this century is the climate change crisis, but unfortunately, people are often failing to act to tackle environmental problems. In the field of environmental psychology, several theories can help us show why we are acting so slowly on environmental issues.

Consequently, suggestions are that artists and music may play an important role in influencing environmental beliefs and behaviors. Some countries are moving in this direction, in actions coming from artists themselves, companies and public authorities.

The participation of artists in favor of “Demarcação Já” was recently noticed, which could have been greater if there had been a strategy defined by the various sectors of society, including public authorities, in financing certain actions, mainly in defense of democracy.

It can also be seen that agribusiness lobbyism, support for the world on fire, attacks on democracy, defense of the Marco Temporal coup, and January 8th were inseparable movements, deserving the mobilization of those in favor of democracy, sustainability and social justice, principles recently defended by the country's highest Court of Justice – STF.

The way the fire intensified for four years in the Amazon and what happened at COP26 were examples that clearly demonstrated how economic interests are above the interests of humanity.

Considering that artists have a clear awareness and perception of what is happening, what needs to be done at the moment is to intensify their power so that some transformations in our society can happen through musical work. It becomes urgent to create a culture of support for our artists to speak out loudly about climate issues, rather than seeking to compete their bands against each other.

The subsequent shift from environmentalism to popular music coincided with an unprecedented rise in carbon emissions. Despite the so-called protest anthem of some artists, such as Michael Jackson's music, it seemed that the culture of the time itself turned its attention away.

Michael Jackson - Earth Song

However, in recent years, as the climate crisis reaches its breaking point, artists around the world are returning to Earth to ask what can still be learned and what can still be saved. We cannot fail to mention the participation of countless Brazilian artists, who have been singing about animals and nature.

While it was evident the anger of those defending the Marco Temporal, through the violent attack on sustainability and indigenous and quilombola populations, it is also evident that artists of this country are already struggling along with all of us with the pain and anger that comes from living on a planet that is moving towards environmental disaster.

It is expected that the public authorities will start financing musical events between now and COP2/30, showing the strength of our artists in environmental issues, in a country lacking the cultural changes necessary to face this climate crisis.

The bad news continues to get worse and arrive faster than anyone can imagine and assimilate: ice storms where they were not expected, melting glaciers, endangered species, increasingly dangerous forest fires, in addition to human mortality. The environmental disaster is becoming haunting for all of us.