September/October 2006 Issue

Yell Fire!

Michael Franti and Spearhead. <i>Anti—</i>

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In 2004, Michael Franti visited Baghdad, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip to see how ordinary people were making out amidst armed conflict. The result was a feature-length documentary (I Know I’m Not Alone) and this fervently uplifting album. Having long ago outgrown his roots in ’80s hip hop and funk to embrace reggae, mainstream rock, and sunny, soul-flecked pop, Franti can croon sweetly, Bob Marley-style, or deliver a gruff lecture with equal ease. Despite some eloquent diatribes against the evils of militarism, he shuns hateful impulses, prescribing tolerance and old-fashioned love as the antidotes to strife. “God is too big for just one religion,” Franti growls to a pumping beat, later murmuring, “Don’t let your mind be so darn judgmental.” And the title song of his film borrows a page from the U2 playbook, hitching its positive message to a shimmering anthem. Yell Fire! performs a miracle, making optimism seem not foolish but downright necessary.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

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