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DISCOGRAPHY:	Know Your Enemy
LYRICS:	Nick Jones
MUSIC:	James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore
QUOTES:	"The song is about a person called Paul Robeson, a black civil rights activist in the States, who also is a singer and actor. The song is a tribute to him. As we are talking about the 40s and 50s I wanted the song to sound somewhat old. Therefore I used my old Martin acoustic guitar and played into a small cassette recorder. Then we fitted it via timestretching to the other backing tracks." (James, Guitar 02/01)

CASTRO, FIDEL (1927 - ) Cuban revolutionary and political leader: prime minister 1959-76 and president since 1976. Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1927. He attended Catholic schools before graduating from the University of Havana with a degree in law.Castro was a member of the Ortodoxo Party, a social-democrat party, and strongly criticized the government of Fulgencio Batista. On the 26th of July in 1953, Fidel Castro launched an attack on the Moncada army barracks. It failed, and most involved were killed or captured. Fidel was captured and given a trial, which he used to make his famous speech, "History Will Absolve Me". Sentenced to 15 years, he was pardoned after just two. He then went into exile in Mexico, where he trained and assembled the 26th of July Movement. He gained support from Che Guevara and others before leaving aboard the Granma to invade Cuba in 1956. Returning to Cuba, the revolutionaries hid in the Sierra Maestra mountains, gaining support among the peasants. Eventually, Batista was forced to flee in 1959 and Castro took over. Many Cubans left when it became clear that the Revolution was a Marxist one. Economic antagonism from the United States caused Castro to nationalize all American property. The United States Government tried various schemes to assassinate Fidel Castro and continues to economically isolate Cuba. The CIA even tried to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs to remove Fidel Castro from power, but the Cubans successfully fought it off. As a result, Castro became closely aligned with the Soviet Union. The Soviets bought large amounts of sugar and supplied Cuba with economic and military assistance. This money fueled many of Castro's social programs, such as his war on illiteracy and free universal health care. Unfortunately, aligning Cuba with the USSR only led to more friction between Cuba and the United States. Castro has also successfully assisted foreign revolutions in Angola and Ethiopia. He was elected the head of Nonaligned Nations Movement and has been a strong critic of US imperialism. The destruction of the Soviet Union has left Cuba in a poor economic state and Castro less of an international figure, though he remains President of Cuba. MANICS REFERENCE: 'WENT TO CUBA TO MEET CASTRO' (Let Robeson Sing lyrics) FOR MORE INFORMATION: The Castro Speech Database

CIA = Central Intelligence Agency Independent executive bureau of the U.S. government established by the National Security Act of 1947, replacing the wartime Office of Strategic Services (1942-45), the first U.S. intelligence agency. The CIA was established to gather intelligence abroad and report to the President and the N ational Security Council, his advisory body. It was given (1949) special powers under the Central Intelligence Act: the director may spend agency funds without accounting for them; the size of ist staff is secret; and employees, exempt from civil service procedures, may be hired, investigated, or dismissed as the CIA sees fit. To safeguard civil liberties in the United States, however, the CIA is denied domestic police powers; for operations in the United States it must enlist the services of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The CIA has often been criticized for covert operations in the domestic politics of foreign countries. The agency was heavily involved in the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, deeply embarrassing the United States. In 1971 the U.S. government acknowledged that the CIA had recruited and paid an army fighting in Laos. Its foreign operations came under attack in 1974 for involvement in Chilean internal affairs during the administration of Salvador Allende. In 1986 it was shown to be involved in the Iran-Contra investigation. While covert operations receive the most attention, the CIA's major responsibility is intelligence, in which it uses not only covert agents but such technological resources as satellite photos and intercepted transmissions. MANICS REFERENCE: 'THE CIA SAYS YOU'RE A GUILTY MAN' (Let Robeson Sing lyrics) 'THE C.I.A. SAY YOU'RE ALL THEY'LL EVER NEED' (Drug Drug Druggy lyrics) FOR MORE INFORMATION: Central Intelligence Agency Homepage

CUBA (Republic of Cuba, capital Havanna, population 11 mio.) History from 1956 onwards and US-Cuban relations: Fidel Castro Ruz, a tall, bearded attorney in his thirties who had been in exile in Mexico, landed in Cuba on Christmas Day 1956 with a band of 12 fellow revolutionaries, evaded Batista's soldiers, and set up headquarters in the jungled hills of the Sierra Maestra range. By 1958 his force had grown to about 2,000 guerrillas, for the most part young and middle-class. Castro's brother Raul, and Ernesto (Ché) Guevara, an Argentine physician, were his top lieutenants. Businessmen and landowners who opposed the Batista regime gave financial support to the rebels. The United States, meanwhile, cut off arms shipments to Batista's army. The beginning of the end for Batista came when the rebels routed 3,000 government troops and captured Santa Clara, capital of Las Villas province 150 miles from Havana, and a trainload of Batista reinforcements refused to get out of their railroad cars. On New Year's Day 1959, Batista flew to exile in the Dominican Republic and Castro took over the government. Crowds cheered the revolutionaries on their seven-day march to the capital. The United States initially welcomed what looked like the prospect for a democratic Cuba, but a rude awakening came within a few months when Castro established military tribunals for political opponents, jailed hundreds, and began to veer leftward. Castro disavowed Cuba's 1952 military pact with the U.S. He confiscated U.S. investments in banks and industries and seized large U.S. landholdings, turning them first into collective farms and then into Soviet-type state farms. The United States broke relations with Cuba on Jan. 3, 1961. Castro forged an alliance with the Soviet Union. From the ranks of the Cuban exiles who had fled to the U.S., the CIA recruited and trained an expeditionary force, numbering less than 2,000 men, to invade Cuba, with the expectation that the invasion would spark an uprising of the Cuban populace against Castro. Planned under the Eisenhower administration, President John F. Kennedy gave the go-ahead for the invasion in early 1961, but rejected a CIA proposal for U.S. planes to provide air support. The landing at the Bay of Pigs on April 17, 1961, was a fiasco. Not only did the invaders fail to receive any support from the populace, but Castro's tanks and artillery made short work of the small force. A Soviet attempt to change the global power balance by installing medium-range missiles in Cuba-capable of striking targets in the United States with nuclear warheads-provoked a crisis between the superpowers in 1962 that had the potential of touching off World War III. Denouncing the Soviets for "deliberate deception," President Kennedy on Oct. 22 announced that the U.S. Navy would enforce a "quarantine" of shipping to Cuba and search Soviet-bloc ships to prevent the missiles themselves from reaching the island. After six days of tough public statements on both sides and secret diplomacy, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev on Oct. 28 ordered the missile sites dismantled and shipped back to the Soviet Union, in return for a U.S. pledge not to attack Cuba. A Soviet satellite in the 1960s and 1970s, Cuba helped spread the Communist revolution in the Western hemisphere. The U.S. established limited diplomatic ties with Cuba on Sept. 1, 1977. Emigration increased dramatically after April 1, 1980, when Castro, irritated by the granting of asylum to would-be refugees by the Peruvian embassy in Havana, removed guards and allowed 10,000 Cubans to swarm into the embassy grounds. As an airlift began taking the refugees to Costa Rica, Castro opened the port of Mariel to a "freedom flotilla" of ships and yachts from the United States, many of them owned or chartered by Cuban-Americans to bring out relatives. It wasn't until after the refugees had reached the United States that it was discovered that the regime had opened prisons and mental hospitals to permit criminals, homosexuals, and others unwanted by the Cuban government to join the refugees. For most of President Ronald Reagan's first term, U.S.-Cuban relations were frozen. But late in 1984, an agreement was reached between the two countries. Cuba would take back more than 2,700 Cubans who had come to the United States in the Mariel exodus but were not eligible to stay in the country under U.S. immigration law because of criminal or psychiatric disqualification. Castro canceled the agreement when the U.S. began the Radio Marti broadcasts in May 1985 to bring a non-Communist viewpoint to the Cuban people. With the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, Cuba's foreign trade plummeted as did aid from Russia, producing the worst economic crisis in the island's history. The government moved slightly toward a mixed economy in 1993 by permitting limited private enterprise in a number of trades and services and allowing Cubans to possess convertible currencies. In March 1996, the U.S. passed the Helms-Burton Act, which further extended the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba by penalizing non-U.S. companies doing business with Cuba. Reaction to the measure was widespread international condemnation that included the U.S.'s North American neighbors, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean nations. Christmas was declared an official holiday in Cuba in 1997, for the first time since the revolution, in preparation for Pope John Paul II's historic visit to Cuba in Jan. 1998. By Castro's allowing the pope's visit, he raised hopes that the gesture signaled a new openness, easing of restrictions, and increased religious freedom for Cubans. In mid-1999, the U.S. sent negotiators to Havana to begin talks on better communication between the U.S. and Cuba regarding drug shipments in the Caribbean, despite protests from some Cuban-Americans. The U.S. government stated that the action was not part of an effort to normalize relations with Cuba. MANICS REFERENCE: 'WENT TO CUBA TO MEET CASTRO' (Let Robeson Sing lyrics) 'CUBA, MEXICO CAN'T CAUTERIZE OUR DISCIPLINE' (Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart lyrics) 'BUT CUBAN BOXERS STILL WIN' (Baby Elian lyrics) In 2001 the Manics were the first Western rockband who played a gig in Havana, the capital of Cuba. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Cuba Net

FREEDOM TRAIN The poem 'Freedom Train' was written by Langston Hughes. Robeson recited 'Freedom Train' many times at his concerts. Click here for the whole poem and/or here for a soundfile of it. MANICS REFERENCE: NOW LET THE FREEDOM TRAIN COME ZOOMING DOWN THE TRACK GLEAMING IN THE SUNLIGHT FOR WHITE AND BLACK... (Let Robeson Sing lyrics) FOR MORE INFORMATION: Paul Robeson

MCCARTHY, JOSEPH (1908 - 1957) US senator, leading US anticommunist figure in the late 1940s and 50s; McCarthy himself was a product of Wisconsin. He left school at 14 years of age to tend to a farm. Six years later he returned and completed High School. The following year he was a student at Marquette University. He received his law degree from that institution in 1935. Eleven years later, he was elected to the Senate. McCarthy first began his witch hunt in February of 1950 in Wheeling, West Virginia. This is when he waved a piece of paper and claimed it had the names of 205 Communist Party members who held high positions in the State Department. A special committee looked into the accusations, and then denounced them all as false, and attacked McCarthy for unethical tactics. For the next couple of years these attacks continued, on several people, no one was safe. After winning reelection in 1952, McCarthy had guaranteed himself a position of chairman of the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee of the Senate Government Operations Committee. His first attack was on Charles E. Bohlen. This was the man who President Eisenhower had nominated for the ambassador to the Soviet Union. This accusation put quite a distance between the President and the Senator. Each new investigation into McCarthy's accusations drove him into further excess. In November of 1953, he attacked President Eisenhower on national television of not acting to eliminate subversives from the federal government and that America had been "reduced to a state of whining and whimpering appeasement." In December of 1953, McCarthy accused one person too many. This time the communist was supposed to be Major Irving Peress, who was a memeber of the left-wing American Labor Party. In November of 1953 Peress had been routinely promoted to the rank of major under the Doctor Draft Law, although he invoked the 5th Amendment when asked about loyalty. A few weeks later the Pentagon learned of his background, and ordered a discharge. McCarthy called Peress before his subcommittee on January 30, 1954. When McCarthy asked about the loyalty of Peress, he again took the 5th. McCarthy then demanded that Peress be court-martialed, but the process of the discharge had already started. Immediately after his appearance before McCarthy, Peress was given an honorable discharge. From this point on, the public image of McCarthy dwindled. Politicians and comedians everywhere took part in the bashing. Perhaps the most damaging of attack came from then Vice President Richard Nixon, who speaking on behalf of the administration on March 13th, 1954, he denounced "reckless talk and questionable methods" of McCarthyites. From here it was only a matter of time. On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to censure McCarthy by a vote of 67 to 22. McCarthy responded with a bitter attack on the Eisenhower administration, and apologized to the American people for urging them to vote for Eisenhower. His health deteriorated, and he began to drink. McCarthy died on May 2, 1957. The official cause of death was acute hepatitis. However, according to a number of sources, it was due to liver cirrhosis. MANICS REFERENCE: 'MCCARTHY POISENED THROUGH WITH HATE' (Let Robeson Sing lyrics) FOR MORE INFORMATION: Listen to witchhunt speeches of Joe McCarthy

MK ULTRA mind control programme invented by the CIA Concerned about rumors of communist brainwashing of POWs during the Korean war, in April 1953 CIA Director Allen Dulles authorized the MKULTRA program, which would later become notorious for the unusual and sometimes inhumane tests that the CIA financed. Reviewing the experiments five years later, one secrecy-conscious CIA auditor wrote: "Precautions must be taken not only to protect operations from exposure to enemy forces but also to conceal these activities from the American public in general. The knowledge that the agency is engaging in unethical and illicit activities would have serious repercussions in political and diplomatic circles." Though many of the documents related to MKULTRA were destroyed by the CIA in 1972, some records relating to the program have made it into the public domain, and the work of historians, investigative reporters, and various congressional committees has resulted in the release of enough information to make MKULTRA one of the most disturbing instances of intelligence community abuse on record. As writer Mark Zepezauer puts it, "the surviving history is nasty enough." The most notorious MKULTRA experiments were the CIA's pioneering studies of the drug that would years later feed the heads of millions: lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. The CIA was intrigued by the drug, and harbored hopes that acid or a similar drug could be used to clandestinely disorient and manipulate target foreign leaders. (The Agency would consider several such schemes in its pursuit of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who they wanted to send into a drug-induced stupor or tirade during a public or live radio speech.) LSD was also viewed as a way to loosen tongues in CIA interrogations. MANICS REFERENCE: 'MK ULTRA TURNED YOU PARANOID' (Let Robeson Sing lyrics)

MOSCOW/a> Rus. Moskva, capital of Russia and of Moscow region(1991 est. pop. 8,802,000) Moscow is Russia's largest city and a leading economic and cultural center. Moscow is governed by a city council and a mayor and is divided into boroughs. The five major sections of Moscow form concentric circles, of which the innermost is the Kremlin (see under kremlin), a walled city in itself. Its walls represent the city limits as of the late 15th cent. The hub of the Russian railroad network, Moscow is also an inland port and has several civilian and military airports. Moscow's major industries include machine building, metalworking, oil refining, publishing, brewing, filmmaking, and the manufacture of machine tools, precision instruments, building materials, automobiles, trucks, aircraft, chemicals, wood and paper products, textiles, clothing, footwear, and soft drinks. MANICS REFERENCE: 'NEVER GOT PAST SLEEPY MOSCOW' (Let Robeson Sing lyrics) FOR MORE INFORMATION: The official site of the Moscow government

ROBESON, PAUL (1898 - 1976) American singer, actor and black activist The son of a former slave turned preacher, Robeson attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., where he was an All-American football player. Upon graduating from Rutgers at the head of his class, he rejected a career as a professional athlete and instead entered Columbia University. He obtained a law degree in 1923, but, because of the lack of opportunity for blacks in the legal profession, he drifted to the stage, making a London debut in 1922. He joined the Provincetown Players, a New York theatre group that included playwright Eugene O'Neill, and appeared in O'Neill's play All God's Chillun Got Wings in 1924. His subsequent appearance in the title role of O'Neill's The Emperor Jones caused a sensation in New York City (1924) and London (1925). He also starred in the film version of the play (1933). In addition to his other talents, Robeson had a superb bass-baritone singing voice. In 1925 he gave his first vocal recital of Negro spirituals in Greenwich Village, New York City, and he became world famous as Joe in the musical play Show Boat with his version of "Ol' Man River." His characterization of the title role in Othello in London (1930) won high praise, as did the Broadway production (1943), which set an all-time record run for a Shakespearean play on Broadway. Increasing political awareness impelled Robeson to visit the Soviet Union in 1934, and from that year he became increasingly identified with strong left-wing commitments, while continuing his success in concerts, recordings, and theatre. In 1950 the U.S. State Department withdrew his passport because he refused to sign an affidavit disclaiming membership in the Communist Party. In the following years he was virtually ostracized for his political views, although in 1958 the Supreme Court overturned the affidavit ruling. Robeson then left the United States to live in Europe and travel in countries of the Soviet bloc, but he returned to the United States in 1963 because of ill health. Robeson appeared in a number of films, including Sanders of the River (1935), Show Boat (1936), Song of Freedom (1936), and The Proud Valley (1940). His autobiography, Here I Stand, was published in 1958 MANICS REFERENCE: Let Robeson Sing lyrics FOR MORE INFORMATION: Paul Robeson