By Mat Ward
Green Left Weekly
July 30th, 2019
On July 24, an accountant determined that the Great Barrier Reef-threatening coal mining company Adani was “a corporate collapse waiting to happen”, despite receiving taxpayer funds. The news came as a heatwave threatened to melt the Arctic. Underlining the insanity of subsidising the coal industry was the new album from Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore, which revives protest folk songs from the past. On “I Hate The Capitalist System”, Moore sings: “My husband was a coal miner, who worked hard and risked his life, just trying to support three children, himself, mother and wife.” And on “Come All You Coal Miners”, she sings: “Coal mining is the most dangerous work in our land today, with plenty of dirty, slaving work, and very little pay. Coal miner, won’t you wake up, and open your eyes and see, what the dirty capitalist system is doing to you and me. I am a coal miner’s wife, I’m sure I wish you well. Let’s sink this capitalist system in the darkest pits of hell.”
