Jello Biafra

Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), better known by the stage name Jello Biafra, is an American punk rock musician and political activist best known as the former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys. In the wake of the band's disbandment, he has become a solo musician and spoken word artist. In his political life, he is an active member of the Green Party and has participated in activism relating to his progressive political beliefs. He is a self-proclaimed anarchist (though not a promoter of anarchy), and advocates civil disobedience and pranksterism in the name of political change. Biafra himself has been known to use absurdist media tactics in the tradition of the Yippies to highlight issues of civil rights, social justice, and anti-corporatism.

Political beliefs

Biafra claims to be an anarchist in his personal dealings with people, though does not advocate the replacement of current governments with an anarchic system. He claims that mankind is not yet ready for anarchy, and still needs government to control the order of human life for the safety and progression of human events.{{ref|platform}} In speeches, he has advised people to partake in civil disobedience, political pranks, and hacktivism. Some such acts that he has advocated include hacking corporate owned websites and planting marijuana seeds in public areas.{{ref|h2k}}

Related Topics:
Anarchist - Hacktivism - Marijuana

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Biafra was a swift critic of the Parents Music Resource Center during the 1980s, and has constantly criticized co-founder Tipper Gore, as well as the Tipper Sticker, a warning placed on records indicating explicit content. Biafra confronted her twice on episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Many of the songs he wrote for the Dead Kennedys during the 80s showed opposition to the religious right and Ronald Reagan. In the 1990s, Biafra's opposition to the right continued with his opposition to George H. W. Bush and the Gulf War, though he also was opposed to some practices of Democratic president Bill Clinton. Most notable among these are Biafra's opposition to the United States' involvement with NAFTA, GATT, and the World Trade Organization.

Related Topics:
Tipper Gore - The Oprah Winfrey Show - Religious right - 1990s - George H. W. Bush - Gulf War - Bill Clinton - NAFTA - GATT - World Trade Organization

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Biafra advocates what he refers to as the "maximum wage": increasing taxes for the wealthy and eliminating taxes for those in the lower and middle class. On top of this, the maximum wage would close tax loopholes for both large corporations and religious organizations. He has advocated using these taxes to provide the public with several free services, including free health care, free education (including amnesty on student loans), and free transportation. Taxes would also be used to give subsidies for the arts, organic farms, hemp and kanaf farms, urban squatters, and renewable energy sources.

Related Topics:
Maximum wage - Organic farm - Hemp - Kanaf - Squatter - Renewable energy

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Biafra has been an advocate for ending the death penalty in the United States. In his address to the Green Party, he chose Death Row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal (whom anti-death penalty activists believe to be wrongly accused of murder) as his vice presidential candidate to help point out his stance on the issue as well as attract attention to Abu-Jamal's situation.{{ref|platform}} Because of his support of Abu-Jamal, which includes releasing spoken word albums by him on Alternative Tentacles, Biafra is now on a Fraternal Order Of Police boycott list.{{ref|imdb}} He has also proposed ending police brutality by making officers stand for public election every four years.

Related Topics:
Death penalty - Mumia Abu-Jamal - Police brutality

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Biafra believes in ending the war on drugs by legalizing marijuana and other narcotics. He believes drug addicts should be treated instead of jailed and should be given legal outlets to get drugs from, thus eliminating illegal drug sales. He also advocates ending jail sentences for minor, non-violent, drug related offenses. In drug education for public schools, Biafra advocates educating students on drugs by using demonstrations of drug use in classes and allowing experimentation in controlled environments to help reduce the possibility of addiction. These, he believes, would provide an alternative to anti-drug advertising, which he believes does not work. He also advocates ending drug testing of employees and students.

Related Topics:
War on drugs - Narcotics - Drug testing

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Other subjects that Biafra advocates include anti-gentrification, election reform, increasing the amount of low-income housing, gay rights, eliminating sport utility vehicles from urban areas, labeling of genetically modified food, and withdrawal from NAFTA and the World Trade Organization. He also claims to be a supporter of the Green Party's Ten Key Values.{{ref|platform}} Interestingly, he also supports the use of sky marshalls on commercial flights, highlighting the fact that Biafra's beliefs challenge both liberal and conservative politics. (Noted Biafra: "I'd rather have a cop on an airplane than wind up dead, thank you very much.")

Related Topics:
Gentrification - Election reform - Gay rights - Sport utility vehicle - Genetically modified food - Ten Key Values - Sky marshalls

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Though Biafra takes on serious issues, he uses sarcasm and humor to get his opinions across. Thus, some of his claims as to what he advocates are not always taken seriously by the public. Some of the ideas he proposes, such as forcing polluters to swim in the pollution they caused until they clean it, are obvious jokes. Other joke propositions are not always taken as humor, and thus turn off some people from his ideas. Still, supporters of Biafra see his comedic approach as a useful way of getting the public to pay attention to the issues.

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