The ever-political Thom Yorke has added his two cents to the anti-Abbott discourses seen during this somewhat painful election campaign. The Radiohead and Atoms For Peace frontman recently tweeted out a link to his almost 450,000 followers, which leads to an essay by journalist George Monbiot, appropriately titled Abbottalypse Now.
The essay was originally published in The Guardian, but can now be found here on Monbiot’s own website. It outlines his belief that Tony Abbott “intends to trash Australia on behalf of the super-rich”, by exploiting the country’s natural resources and putting in place redundant and half-hearted policies in response to environmental concerns such as climate change. Monbiot states that if Abbott becomes Prime Minister:
“The country will be run exclusively for the class to which Gina Reinhardt, Clive Palmer and Ivan Glasenberg belong: the one per cent of the One Per Cent. Forget the pious rhetoric and nationalistic bombast. Abbott’s policies are really about removing the social and environmental protections enjoyed by all Australians, to allow the filthy rich to become richer – and filthier.”
Thom Yorke has always been environmentally minded, but his passions only completely revealed themselves following Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer, and they gave great weight to the band’s follow-up, 2000’s Kid A. In 2008 Yorke even wrote an article for The Guardian explaining why he’s a “climate optimist”.
It’s even clear that even at this time, Yorke was being influenced by the work of Monbiot. In his article Yorke writes:
“As I heard George Monbiot saying not long ago, isn’t it funny how in the space of a year we went from listening to sceptics who denied this was happening to suddenly saying we’re all doomed – how interesting that both scenarios demand that we do nothing. That can’t be right. You should never give up hope.”
Radiohead have shown their environmental colours in the past, lending their song Everything In Its Right Place to a climate change awareness video created by Greenpeace. Check out the very moving clip below, and make sure to check out Thom’s tweet.
(Via The Vine)
Watch: A Homeless Polar Bear in London – Ft. Jude Law and Radiohead
Abbottalypse Now http://t.co/qOHFdhTIW0
— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) September 6, 2013
