Rise Against - We Will Never Forget lyrics

It was less than a year after September 11th
And I was at the
Chicago Tribune writing about shootings
And murders and it was leaving me
Feeling pretty dark and depressed
I've done activism in college
So I decided to help a local group
Hang door knockers against animal testing
I thought it would be a safe
Way to do something positive
But of course I have the absolute worst
Luck ever and we were all arrested
My charges were dismissed
But a few weeks later two FBI
Agents knocked on my door
And they told me that unless I help
Them by spying on protest groups
They put me on a domestic terrorist list
I'd love to tell you that I
Didn't flinch but I was terrified
And when my fear subsided I became obsessed
With finding out how this happened
How animal rights and environmental activists
Who have never injured anyone
Could become the FBI's number
One domestic terrorism threat?
A few years later I was invited to
Testify before Congress about my reporting
And I told lawmakers that
While everybody is talking about going green
Some people are risking their
Lives to defend forests
And to stop oil pipelines
They're physically putting their bodies
On the line
Between the whalers' harpoons and the whales
These are everyday people
Like the protesters in
Italy who spontaneously
Climbed over barbed wire fences
To rescue beagles from animal testing
These movements have been incredibly
Effective and popular
So in 1985 their opponents made up a new word
"Eco-terrorist" to shift how we view them
They just made it up
Now companies like Fyser and
The Cattlemen's Beef Association
The Third Commission, Ringling brothers
They've all backed new laws
To silence their opponents
The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act
Turns activism into terrorism
If it causes a loss of profit's
Now most people never even
Heard about this law
Including members of Congress
Less than one percent were in the
Room when it passed the House
The rest were outside at a new memorial
They were praising Dr King
As his style of activism
Is branded as terrorism
If done in the name of
Animals or the environment
Supporters say laws like this are
Needed for the extremists
The vandals, the arsonists, the radicals
But right now companies like TransCanada
Are briefing police about how to
Prosecute non-violent protesters
As terrorists
The FBI's own training documents on
Eco-terrorism are not about violence
They're about public relations
Today in multiple countries
Corporations are pushing new laws
That make it illegal
To even photograph animal cruelty
On their farms
The first of these "Ag-Gag" prosecutions
As they're called
Was a young woman named Amy Meyer
And Amy saw a sick cow being moved
By a bulldozer outside of a slaughterhouse
As she was standing on the public street
And Amy did what any of us would
She filmed it when I found out about her
Story I wrote about it
And within 24 hours it created such an uproar
That the prosecutors just dropped
All of the charges
But apparently even exposing stuff like
That is a threat
Through the Freedom of Information Act
I learned that the Counter Terrorism Unit has
Been monitoring my articles and speeches
Just like this one
The point of all of this is to make us afraid
But as a journalist I have an unwavering
Faith in the power of education
Our best weapon is sunlight
Dostoevsky wrote that the whole work of man
Is to prove that his a man
And not a piano key
Over and over throughout history people
In power have used fear
To silence the truth and to silence dissent
It's time to strike a new note
The way that we do that
The way that we fight fear in
The way we move forward
Isn't by placing our faith
In politicians and CEO's
It's by coming together in our
Own communities of resistance
It's no accident that again
And again and again the people on the front
Lines defending the earth
And the animals have come from this
From punk, from hardcore
From basement shows and liner notes
And records like this one
From hearing that these laws have no meaning
Past the setting of the sun
I know how bleak and overwhelming
This all can feel
I struggle with that darkness
Every single day
But despite it all I draw power from this
I draw power from seeing handfuls of people
No different than you or I
With no money and no special training
Fight back so fiercely
That it has rattled the
Most powerful industry
On the planet to their core
I heard this interview with Rodney
Mullen a while back
People calling him the godfather
Of street skating but he said that thing
About the Bones Brigade
And that era of skateboarding was that
It was so much more than any individual
It's like a match he said
A match only has power because
Of the atmosphere around it
The air that allows it to ignite
And allows the flame to breathe
I'm not sure what the appropriate
Response is right now
The appropriate response to
Capitalism's relentless
Destruction on the natural world
In the repression of those who
Dare to resist it but, I know that each time
We choose compassion over greed
Each time we turn our fear into rage
Each time we refuse to live an ordinary life
That atmosphere only grows
And the brighter every new fire will burn