1. INTRODUCTION

"The big problem is money. The economic power is more powerful than the political.  So we vote, but the politicians - they're all puppets."
                                     Manu Chao

Songs are emotional and can affect people's feelings. That may be the reason for music's political impact on the world. Songs can have an agenda-setting function or can create solidarity among people who have similar world views. All songs have a message that is transferred between the composer and the listener. The composer points out problems and convinces the listener that something is wrong and needs to be changed. However, it is not only the content of the songs that deliver a message  and affects listeners, but it is the singer's persona, character, force of personality and his or her political engagement that plays a crucial role. Manu Chao, a singer, is to be evaluated not only on the basis of his song's lyrics, but also on his attitude as a musician, celebrity, and private person.

This paper tries to answer the following questions: How can Manu Chao be interpreted in political terms? Is he really a political singer? If yes, in what terms? Is he against the economic globalization or does he use the advantages of economic globalization in order to increase the sales of his albums, as some people argue? In contrast to some authors, who claim that Manu Chao manipulates the discourse against the globalization, this paper looks at Manu Chao as a political left-wing singer because he strongly criticizes neoliberal policies and the effects of these policies on Third World countries. Manu Chao states in his interviews and concerts that he is against the economical globalization, which creates a dependency of the Third World countries on the First World countries. Moreover, he sees a dominance of the economical over the political, which leads to the malfunctioning of democracy. It is not only his rhetoric that supports his arguments for an anti-globalization movement, but also his behavior in real life situations. Accordingly, this paper aims at analyzing Manu Chao's political engagement by placing him into the context of the dependency theory. The lyrics of some of his songs, his support for the Mexican Zapatistas, the concert he performed at the Genoa G8 demonstrations, his background, and his interviews are all factors that reinforce the argument, and can be analyzed in the dependency theory framework. First, the theoretical framework will be discussed: The globalization discourse will be handled in order to highlight the points in which Manu Chao can be interpreted as political; As well as the dependency theory, which can be interpreted as a reaction to the unfair consequences of economic globalization and the different strains in it. Secondly, the third chapter will focus on why Manu Chao is a political singer, why he can be evaluated in the context of the dependency theory, and why he is not a product of globalization.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 GLOBALISATION

Marx was obviously the first thinker, who emphasized the globalizing effects of capitalism. He argued in the Communist Manifesto with Engels that capitalism inevitably expands beyond the national borders in search of new markets. However, that should not mean that the core of globalization lies in economic determinism. Neoliberal ideology, which is the dominant paradigm in the current international political system, promotes its own virtues, accelerating the internationalization of markets. That means that economical globalization and neoliberal ideology are not two separate entities, but in fact support each other and should be handled together.

In the article "Globalization and Politics", Berger handles the changes in the international political economy and its effects on national politics and society under the light of the various debates about political consequences of globalization. In other words, she wants to point out the relation of economics and politics, in a world where the speed of economic transformation is so great, with trades and finances, which are ever-expanding, changing the conditions of world politics. She also highlights the differences expressed in debates regarding the political consequences of globalization. Furthermore, Berger discusses how this growing trade and capital mobility affects the autonomy of nation-states and the relative power of various groups in society. (Berger 2000: 43) The difference between internationalization and globalization is that whereas globalization refers to a process in which the distinction between the domestic and the external breaks down, "internationalisation presumes that they remain discrete national units with clearly demarcated borders". And finally regionalization can be understood as the "intensification of patterns of interconnectedness and integration amongst states which share common borders or are geographically proximate as in the European Union" (Mcgrew 2001: 24).

Berger focuses on the new literature of the 1990s and stresses the point that there are disagreements even on the basic characteristics of the globalization process. If the patterns of worldwide trade, finance, and production are creating a single global market and even a "single economy in the macroeconomic sense" (Glyn/Sutcliffe 1992: 77 cit. Berger 2000: 285), as it is the common understanding of this new literature, can it be interpreted as the advent of globalization or as an extension and intensification of patterns of internationalization and regionalization? (Berger 2000: 44) Firstly, Berger deals with writers such as Ohmae, who argues that globalization is contributing to the demise of the sovereign nation-state as it undermines the ability of governments to control their own economies and societies. These writers, who can be considered as "hyperglobalists", also point out that the state/society relationship claim that globalization reduces government's legitimacy and authority in the eyes of the public, resulting in an erosion of public confidence in governments (Berger 2000: 45). Berger illustrates the fact that this group of writers, who share the common point that globalization, undermines the national state, assign different weightings of various factors when explaining the decline of national control over economies. Some scholars in this group emphasize the new information technologies, while other scholars emphasize the role of financial liberalization as well as ideology or the politics of interest.

There are a second group of scholars, namely "sceptics", who tend to interpret the changes of the past twenty years as intensifying regionalization and internationalization, rather than globalization, in contrast to those scholars mentioned before. These analysts argue that states remain the principal units shaping the world politics and economy. (Faulks 1999: 55) Berger mentions Hirst and Thompson as representatives of this view. Hirst and Thompson claim that, in reality, the international economy has for decades operated in the context of the states system and claim that "the world trading system hitherto never just been an economy, a distinct system governed by its own laws. On the contrary, the term international economy has been shorthand for the complex interaction of economic relations and political processes".(Hirst and Thompson 1995: 418 cit. Faulks 1999: 68) Berger  mentions that the first point of criticism of Hirst and Thompson against the hyperglobalist thesis is that corporations are not rootless economic actors, but are still dependent on states because most of the assets of even the largest companies are contained in their home country. (2000: 46) Moreover, skeptics claim that in 1913, capital flows were as mobile as today, which means that there was a significant internationalization in the past. In this group of scholars, some stress regionalization. The increase in trade and finance flow within each of the four major economic blocs- the EU, Latin America, East Asia and North America- is  greater than among these blocs; that means regionalization characterizes current global order rather than globalization.

If capital mobility grows and labour does not move easily, then governments would be more  responsive to the interests of capitalism ". by rewarding mobile factors." (Berger 2000: 51), which will result in a shift in domestic politics, including the decline of social democracy, too. Hence, room for maneuvering in independent fiscal and monetary policies is constrained by the internationalized economy, especially for leftist parties.  One example of tying the neoliberal policies and the notion of comparative advantage of trade theorists is the application of neoliberal policies in Africa led by the IMF and the World Bank. Faulks states,

[that] the central strategy dictated by structural adjustment was the notion of comparative advantage. Such a strategy needed to be supported by the reduction of state interference in industry, privatisation programmes, the removal of barriers to international trade, and the deregulation of labour market. (1999: 77)

These different views about the effects of globalization create a framework for Manu Chao's critique of economic globalization due to the power of economical over political. It may be argued that Hirst and Thompson reject this claim by stating that the international economy is strictly dependent on the state system. The point is that not all the states remain the principal units shaping the world politics and economy. Some states have greater impact on the economical processes and some do not. This unequal interplay is demonstrated by dependence theorists, whose ideas are in harmony with Manu Chao's manner of thinking and acting.

 

2.2 DEPENDENCY THEORY

Not only are there two main groups of countries, those owning colonies, and the colonies themselves, but also the diverse forms of dependent countries which, politically, are formally independent, but in fact, are enmeshed in the net of financial and diplomatic dependency. (Lenin 1967:  742-743)

Dependency is a concept that emerged during the 1960s in Latin America and was used in the comparative analysis of Third World Countries, such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. The dependency theory sees the world-economy as an unequal relationship between industrialized countries and developing countries. For the Brazilian political scientist, Dos Santos, dependence refers to a situation "in which the economy of certain countries is conditioned by the development and expansion of another economy to which the former is subjected" (Dos Santos 1970: 231). Dependency theorists focus also on the underdevelopment in the developing countries and explain it in reference to the international economic relations and their impact on the social, economic and political institutions of the developing countries. The unequal relationship between the core, industrialized countries, and periphery, developing countries, are described by focusing on the global capitalist order. (Baylis, Smith 2005: 333)

In contrast to modernisation theorists, which explain the underdevelopment with internal factors and with the incomplete formation of the capitalist institutions of a particular state, the dependency theorists stress the external factors leading to the underdevelopment. Edelman and Haugerud state that dependency theory reversed many propositions of the modernization theory, functioning as an anti-thesis to it. (2005: 112) Dependency theorists see the world trade as a perpetuator of the underdevelopment, whereas modernization theorists see its functioning as a solution to the underdevelopment.

Actually, there is not one theory of dependency. Theorists take very different positions regarding the solution of underdevelopment, and have different main focuses, but their level of analysis are common, namely the structure of the international capitalism and the configuration of power among states who belong to the capitalist world order.  

There are different strains in the dependency theory. Some argue that emphasizing external factors may lead to an ignorance of the internal class struggle, and others argue that the concept of dependency can obscure imperialism. Chilcote (1981: 300-313) differentiates between the Marxist and non-Marxist approaches and the dependency theory. He stresses that all these views have anti-imperialist assumptions, but not necessarily Marxist based. He categorizes anti-imperialist approaches under the headings such as Structuralist, National, Autonomous Development of Prebisch, Furtado and Sunkel, Internal colonialism of Gonzalez Casanova, and Poles of development of Andrade.



Anti-Imperialist and Non-Marxist Approaches

Structuralist, National Autonomous Development
This tradition in the dependency theories developed from the structuralist perspective of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA). Paul Prebisch, an Argentine economist in this commission, argued that economy should be controlled locally through import-substitution policies. According to him, by setting high tariff barriers and establishing national industries, Latin America can give rise to national development. The aim was to achieve national autonomy through state control. Chilcote interprets the ECLA approach as anti-imperialist because it created a connection between the underdevelopment in Latin America and the international economic system. (Chilcote 1981: 299-301) He states that the ECLA approach has two important assumptions:

One held that the developing nations are structured into dual societies, one advanced and modern and the other backward and feudal. Under the capitalist state and the growing autonomy of national interests, an infrastructure of roads, power, and other essentials could be established to ensure the path toward industrialization. The other proposition divided the world into an industrial center and a periphery. Under unrestrained competition the center tends to appropriate most of the increment in world income to the disadvantage of the periphery. (Chilcote 1981: 301)

The Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) tied underdevelopment to the global world order, and in this respect, it reinforced the proposition of dependency theory. However, it links the following:
...backwardness to traditional or feudal oligarchies, assumes that development would be promoted by a progressive national bourgeoisie, and advocates import substitution as a solution to consumptive dependence on the outside world.  (Chilcote 1981: 308)

Internal Colonialism
The internal colonialism model is based on the concept of the "infrastructure of dependency", which refers to the structures, such as patterns of urbanization, social classes and industrial organization, that are internal to the dependent nation. Suzanne Bodenheimer uses this concept in terms of dependent industrialization, which means foreign domination of the most dynamic sectors of industry, increasing capital-intensive technology without taking the unemployment into account, and comparative advantage for foreign enterprises over local firms and the formation of clientele social classes. Clientele classes include industrial bourgeoisie, state bureaucracy and the middle class, which are depended on foreign interests. (Walls 1978: 234) Besides Bodenheimer, Mexican sociologist Pablo Gonzalez Casanova demonstrates this strain of the dependency theory. He states that the conditions of traditional colonialism still exist in the internal structure of the states:
Internal colonialism corresponds to a structure of social relations based on domination and exploitation among culturally heterogeneous, distinct groups ... .It is the result of an encounter between two races, cultures, or civilizations, whose genesis and evolution occurred without any mutual contact up to one specific moment... The colonial structure and internal colonialism are distinguished from the class structure since colonialism is not only a relation of exploitation of the workers by the owners of raw materials or of production and their collaborators, but also a relation of domination and exploitation of a total population (with its distinct classes, proprietors, workers) by another population which also has distinct classes (proprietors and workers). (Casanova 1969: 131 cit. Walls 1978).
Conclusively, the Gonzalez-Casanova definition reflects a dual class structure: one dominant and the other subordinate class systems. (Chilcote 1981: 302)

Marxist and Anti-Imperialist Approaches

Subimperialism
"Subimperialism" is the notion that Brazilian marxist, Ruy Mauro Marini, uses to analyze Brazilian capitalist development, and to explore Brazil's position under the military regime when the country was the agent of USA and Europe towards the other South American countries. Following the interests of the multinational enterprises and by exploiting the working class, the expansion of the Brazilian economy depended on the ability of its bourgeoisie to compete in foreign markets. (Chilcote 1981: 304) Hence, Marini categorizes Brazil as a sub-imperial power and local watchdog of the region to the interests of USA.
In its internal and foreign policy, the Brazilian military government has taken hardly any steps to accelerate the integration of the Brazil into the North American economy; rather, it has expressed the intention of becoming the center from which imperialist expansion in Latin America will radiate. It is not a question of passively accepting North American power, although the active correlation of forces often leads to that result, but rather of collaborating actively with imperialist expansion, assuming in this expansion the position of a key nation. (Marini, cit. Kellog 2006: 13)

Monopoly Capitalism
In Monopoly Capital, Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy attempt to overcome what they call the stagnation of Marxian social science. Monopoly capital, rather than competitive capital, became the focus of these writers. They state that "Marx treated monopolies not as essential elements of capitalism but rather as remnants of the feudal mercantilist past which had to be abstracted from in order to attain the clearest possible view of the basic structure and tendencies of capitalism" (Baran/Sweezy 1966: 4). Baran and Sweezy argue that 'fundamental structural change' from competitive to monopoly capitalism necessitates a change in the laws derived from Marx's 'competitive model'; for example, the falling rate of profit. (Mattick 1978: 2) The authors analyze the generation and absorption of a surplus under monopoly capitalism. "Attention to surplus, they believed, allows for an analysis that links the economic base of society with the ideological superstructure" (Chilcote 1981: 305).

Baran and Sweezy not only replace "the law of rising surplus for the law of falling profit", but also surplus for surplus-value:
We prefer the concept 'surplus' to the traditional Marxian 'surplus-value', since the latter is probably identified in the minds of most people familiar with Marxian economic theory as equal to the sum of profit-interest-rent. It is true, that Marx demonstrates that surplus-value also comprises other items such as the revenues of state and church, the expense of transforming commodities into money, and the wages of unproductive workers. In general, however, he treated these as secondary factors and excluded them from his basic theoretical schema. (Baran/ Sweezy 1966: 10)

The Underdevelopment of Development-Andre Gunder Frank
Andre Gunder Frank was a major economist and social historian and one of the founders of the dependence theory. Frank stressed that "commercial monopoly rather than feudalism and precapitalist forms as the economic means whereby national and regional metropolises exploit and appropriate surplus from the economic satellites" (Chilcote 1981: 306). Therefore, Latin America had been constructed within the framework of capitalist development as the periphery of wealthy countries, namely metropolises. The First World countries systematically "underdevelop" the periphery.



3. MANU CHAO AND CRITICISM OF ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION

3.1 IS MANU CHAO A POLITICAL SINGER?

The political importance of Manu Chao is not only found in his lyrics. His stage presence during concerts, the provocative t-shirts he wears that publicize certain issues, his political engagement such as being a founding member of  the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC), which is one of the leading anti-globalization activist groups in France, are attestations that he is a left-wing political singer. Moreover, Chao performed a free concert at the Genoa G8 demonstrations, and is a supporter of Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico. In his interviews, he states that he strongly opposes the economic globalization, which he claims has the purpose to exploit the economically underdeveloped countries - again reemphasizing that he is a political singer. His political consciousness and sensibility can be observed in more than one way. Table 1 demonstrates, what criteria is necessary to render a singer as political. Three levels of analysis are used in order to measure the political consciousness of a singer: First, the quality and content of symbols used by the singer in order to convey certain messages, and where and when his concerts take place; second, his attitude, which is typified by activism he is involved in (for example being a member of a political organization or providing financial aid for political purposes); and third, the content and style of his songs.

    Table 1: How to interpret a singer as political?

 

Symbolic a)  Symbols b) Concert    Place and Time

Attitude/Embodiment a) Private   b) Singer

Music a) Style   b) Content

 

In this paper Manu Chao is located in the context of dependency theory not only because of the lyrics of his songs, but also because of his activism and symbolic.   

 

3.2 WHY TO EVALUATE MANU CHAO IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE 
      DEPENDENCY THEORY?

Life Background and Manu Negra

Manu Chao was asked if he remembers his political awakening. His response was the following:

In our neighbourhood of Paris, maybe we all played different music and we were from different ethos, but what made everybody get together was to fight against the neofascists. We had a problem in Paris because the fascist skinheads used to come to the shows and always fight, so the community got united - people that play reggae, people that play punk, people that play rock - against the fascist skinheads. That was the real political fight at the time. (Chao: 2007)

Manu Chao's experiences led him to become a political left-wing singer. He was born on June 26, 1961, in France. Chao sings mainly in Spanish, English and French, and once in a while in Arabic, Galician and Portuguese; he is prone to mixing them in a song. His father was a writer and journalist who resided in the suburbs of Paris at the time of Manu Chao's birth. His mother and father moved to Paris to escape Franco's regime in Spain. In 1987, Chao and several of his friends formed a band, Mano Negra, named after a group of Spanish anarchists of the 1980s, and became a solo artist after the group split up. Following the breakup of Mano Negra, Chao abandoned Paris and spent the next four years traveling throughout South America. He has also been in Senegal and Mali.  While in Colombia, Chao bought a train in order to travel inside the country. The train had frequent mechanical problems. Furthermore, the Colombian army frequently stopped the train in order to find guerillas in hard-to-reach areas. (Falling 2007) One can argue that the roots of his political consciousness can be found in the suburbs of Paris, where he grew up with immigrants and with an intellectual family atmosphere. In addition, the long travels in South America contributed to his political awareness.

Political Songs

Political songs can be categorized as protest songs, propaganda songs, ballads, parodies, social commentaries and patriotic songs. (Bloodgood/Deane 2005: 4) Many songs of Manu Chao intend to stir political and social change, directed at members of the anti-globalization movement in order to increase solidarity within the movement. Due to many of his songs having the aim of reinforcing and mobilizing members of the anti-globalization movement, they can be labelled as protest songs. In Sing a Song of Social Significance, Denisoff states the functions of protest songs:

Songs of persuasion can be perceived as functioning to achieve six primary goals:
The song attempts to solicit and arouse outside support and sympathy for a social or political movements.
The song reinforces the value structure of individuals who are active supporters of the social movement or ideology.
The song creates and promotes cohesion, solidarity, and high morale in an organization or movement supporting its world view.
The song is an attempt to recruit individuals for a specific social movement.
The song invokes solutions to real or imagined social phenomena in terms of action to achieve a desired goal.
The song points to some problem or discontent in the society, usually in emotional terms.
(Denisoff 1983, 2-3 quoted in Bloodgood/Deane 2005: 6).

Taking these points as references, one can argue that "Welcome in Occident" fulfill many of the characteristics of protest songs to a particular degree.

Mano Negra: Welcome in Occident (in: King of Bongo, 1991)

C'mon you little eastern bird
Welcome into the occident world

Welcome into this world of dreams
No more beans! Burger Kings!
No more no more securitat!
Maximum libertad!
Libertad for mullaya!
So HERE WE ARE! HERE WE ARE!

C'mon you little eastern bird
Welcome to the occident world

Welcome into this world of happiness
Where you can talk & you can dress
& you can sleep cause you can't guess.

What they've done to Afrika
& to south Amerika
(you're the next Honduras
they'll gonna take your ass) ...So

C'mon you little eastern bird
Welcome into the occident world

So go for it, go for it
Suck the occident dick
Wham Bam Thank you mom
Suck the sticky world dick

Occident is comin'
Occident is commin'
Deep inside your dully nest.
Givin' to you all the best!:
Mac Donald, MTV
Mister Bush & Mr T

DONT ASK ME
WHERE'S THE PARTY ?

Cause there's no party for you & me
In such a wonderful country,
They gonna tell you:"Man you're free
...But you gotta work early"

C'mon you little eastern bird
Welcome into the occident world

Generally, the song can be interpreted in the framework of the dependence theory. The concepts "little eastern bird" and "occident world" imply an unequal relationship between the western and eastern countries by characterizing the eastern countries as a little bird. Thus, the concepts identify an east/west dichotomy, whereas the hegemony of the western countries over the eastern countries is shown with  "little bird" as a symbol. The sentence "welcome to the occident world" refers to a situation where eastern countries are no more independent countries, but bound to the occident world. It shows the dependent relationship of the eastern countries to the western countries. The phrase "welcome into this world of dreams" may refer to the "American Dream", which was first used by James Truslow Adams in "The Epic of America" in 1931. Adams states that:

"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability, or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (Adams 1931)

In the song, one can feel the negative connotations towards the notion of the American Dream - namely a dream that can never be realized by the majority of people. Furthermore, there is also always a discrepancy between rhetoric and real life situations in the dominant western countries, which is pointed out:  "They gonna tell you: 'Man you're free/ ...But you gotta work early'."

The following sequence is the most important part for the purpose of this paper. It is made clear in the following lines that the developed countries had colonized Africa and South America, as dependency theorist claimed:

What they've done to Afrika
& to south Amerika
(you're the next Honduras
they'll gonna take your ass) ...So

 Burger King, McDonalds, and MTV used in the song imply the economic and cultural globalization, which have their roots in the western countries and serve their interests. Former American President Bush is used here as a symbol of war, because Mr. T, who played  In The A-Team Sergeant Bosco "B.A.", an ex-army commando on the run with three other members from the U.S. government, and former American President Bush are named in the same sequence as products of western civilization. There is a link between globalization and war in the song.

     .
Interviews of Manu Chao

One of the most important reasons why Manu Chao is categorized in the context of dependency theory is that his rhetoric implies the hegemony of the first world countries over the third world countries. He views economic globalization as creating a dependency of the poorer countries to wealthier countries. This can be observed in one his interviews very clearly:

Die Globalisierung ist ja auch nicht das Problem. Ich glaube, dass die Globalisierung der Welt etwas Gutes ist. Das Problem ist nicht die Globalisierung an sich, sondern vielmehr eine Abhängigkeit durch eine wirtschaftliche Globalisierung. Viele Kontakte überall auf der Welt zu haben ist gut, ich bin nicht gegen die Globalisierung, weil ich glaube, dass sie unsere Zukunft ist. Das Problem ist die Abhängigkeit, dass versucht wird, jedem eine bestimmte Art der Globalisierung aufzuzwingen, die eigentlich nur eine wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeit bedeutet. Und persönlich denke ich, dass diese Form der Globalisierung sehr gefährlich ist für unseren Planeten, deshalb bin ich auch dagegen. Die Zukunft, die sie uns aufzwingen wollen ist nicht gut für meine Kinder. Daran glaube ich wirklich und dagegen kämpfe ich. Ich kämpfe nicht gegen die Globalisierung sondern gegen eine Diktatur. (Manu Chao 2001)

 In an interview Manu Chao stated, that the concept Babylon, he uses in his song "Rebel Spell" is a symbol for dominant western social and economic systems. His arguments are in harmony with Frank's views, who claims that national and regional metropolises exploit and appropriate surplus from the economic satellites, meaning the First World countries systematically "underdevelop" the periphery. Manu Chao stresses the fact that the economy of underdeveloped countries is subjected to the economies of wealthy countries as the political scientist, Dos Santos, claims: dependence refers to a situation "in which the economy of certain countries is conditioned by the development and expansion of another economy to which the former is subjected" (Dos Santos 1970: 231).

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation and Manu Chao

One of the reasons why Manu Chao can be analyzed in the framework of the dependence theory is his support for The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). He dedicated the album "Clandestino" to the Mexican Zapatista revolutionaries. In South America, he played in a lot of indigenous communities, and the Zapatista community in Chiapas. The name of the Zapatistas comes from the Mexican revolutionary, Emiliona Zapata, who was against the monopolization of resources such as land, water, and timber by the bourgeoisie, and fought in the Mexican Revolution in 1910. The Zapatistas' movement started on the first of January in 1994. This date coincides with the adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which they claim to be "death sentence" (CITATION). According to Sub-Commander Marcos of the EZLN, "when NAFTA goes into effect it will represent an international massacre" because the treaty will only exacerbate the polarization of wealth in Mexico, and hence increase the poverty and immiseration of the Mexican poor" (Wehling 1995). The poor people in the country have suffered from the neo-liberal economic reform in Mexico and their conditions have worsened.

Analysis of the Mexican economy proves that far from being the bastian of economic reform, it is fragile and weak without foreign aid and investment. The majority of people gain nothing from a system that panders to the New World Order. For every day that the system continues children starve, families grow poorer and workers [grievances rise].Change must come. We support indigenous people and all the downtrodden of Mexico. Viva la Revolucion! (Subcomandante Marcos).

Although the Zapatistas are based in the mountains of south eastern Mexico, their ideas and world view have influenced many activists and anti-globalization movements in different countries. This fact is especially reflected in demonstrations against capitalist world order. The Zapatistas demand the right to education, respect for indigenous peoples, an independent press, abolishment of the debts for the poor people, fair democratic elections, decentralization, which refers to a creation of municipal self-governance with cultural, economic and political autonomy, from the Mexican government. It can be claimed that Zapatistas differ from other revolutionary groups in Latin America who also oppose the neoliberal world order in the sense that they oppose random violence, and are not Marxists as they state continuously. Furthermore, they oppose sexism and are not patriarchal, but believe in the self-determination of all people, and stress the importance of ecological debates, desiring a decentralization, in the form of regional assemblies, instead of the current state structure. (Wehling 1995)

Manu Chao met Subcomandante Marcos in Chiapas. In an interview he stated that the movement is more important than the leader.

I should say - and he would agree with me - that my personal opinion about Marcos isn't important. What is important is the movement. Marcos doesn't want to be a protagonist or a kind of icon. The question is not Marcos, the question is all the community. (Manu Chao by interview 2007)

Protest Against G8-Summit in Genoa

Another reason for placing Manu Chao in the framework of the dependence theory is his free concert in G8 demonstrations in Genoa, the day before massive riots broke out. Manu Chao wanted to raise money for the activists in order to support their demonstrations. In an interview, he stated that he became involved in politics because the Italian government did not want him to do the event, but he declined it.

After 1999 in Seattle, anti-globalization protests took place during every meeting of the World Bank, IMF, WTO and G8. In July 2001, more than 250,000 people protested globalization and the G8 meeting that took place in Genoa. The city center was controlled by Italian police and armed forces who responded in a brutal way to the protests. Blair said about the protests that "[i]t would be very odd if people came to protest against this G8, as we're focusing on poverty in Africa and climate change. I don't quite know what they'll be protesting against" (Tony Blair in Dundee, March 2005). However, in the eyes of the activists, the G8 Summit represents the wealthy states with an economical hegemony who are responsible for poverty in Africa and Third World Countries due to debt and trading policies. Activists, in general, call for debt relief and trade justice.

3.3 IS MANU CHAO A PRODUCT OF GLOBALISATION?

Manu Chao is a hero of anti-globalization movements, but some scholars argue that he is himself a product of globalization. (Hepp 2004: 9) Andreas Hepp argues that Manu Chao utilizes the global marketing of his albums, such as Esperenza. He analyses this argument in three levels: namely production (Produktion), representation (Represäntation), and acquirement (Aneignung) categories. For the production level, Hepp states, "Auf der Produktionsebene fällt wie gesagt auf, dass Manu Chao, obwohl er dem Image des unabhängigen, alternativen und kritischen Künstlers entspricht und sich umfassende künstlerische Freiheiten sichert, sehr wohl die Vorzüge einer global agierenden Musikindustrie zu nutzen weiss" (Hepp 2004: 9). He reinforces his argument in giving the example that Manu Chao works with big music multinational companies, such as Virgin records, in order to do the systematic marketing of his CDs, despite the fact that he is an opponent of economic globalization. There is a conflict between what Manu Chao says and does because such multinational companies are agents of economic globalisation. Thus, not only his journeys to the different countries make Manu Chao successful, but the marketing of his CDs through Virgin Records. At the representation category, namely the demonstration of his products, Hepp argues that Esperenza is a characteristic media product in the globalization era. (2004: 10) There is a hybrid style mix because he uses and integrates the styles and elements of French, Spanish, afro-American, African, and Latin-American into his music. "Durch eine solche Spezifik repräsentiert seine Musik einen hybriden Stilmix, der lokale Bezüge nicht verliert, gleichzeitig aber ortsübergreifende Verbindungen herstellt" (Hepp 2004: 10).  At the acquirement category, Manu Chao is accepted as part of anti-globalization movement. He is named as "Globalmatador", "Singer of other globalization" or "the bard of globalization critics".
The rhetoric and the acts of Manu Chao prove that he is not a pragmatic selfish singer who wants to maximize his interests, but rather an artist who utilizes global marketing in order to reinforce his arguments and support anti-globalization movements. This does not mean that he is a product of globalization.

4. CONCLUSION

In contrast to some authors who claim that Manu Chao instrumentalizes the discourse against the globalization, he is nonetheless a political left-wing singer, who can be placed in the context of the dependence theory. Again, it is not only his rhetoric, but also his acts in real life situations that support the argument that he is a left-wing singer. His life background, the lyrics of some of his songs, his support for the Mexican Zapatistas, and respectively for Subcomandante Marcos, the free concert he performed at the Genoa G8 demonstrations, and his statements in the interviews, reinforce the argument that he can be analyzed in the context of the dependency theory. Hence, the political importance of Manu Chao can not be revealed in his lyrics alone. His performing style during his concerts, his politically influenced t-shirts, and his political engagement - founding member of the ATTAC are all verifications that he is a left-wing political singer. In his interviews, he argues that he strongly opposes the economic globalization. He mentions the influence of Zapatistas on him with the following words: "Die Menschen aus dem Lakandonischen Urwald in Chiapas haben mir die Augen geöffnet, was in unserer Welt los ist und haben mich auf das Thema Globalisierung gebracht" (Manu Chao by interview  2001).

 

 

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