EXCLUSIVE | 'Jethro Tull' frontman Ian Anderson slams Trump, Bolsonaro over climate change: 'These people are criminals'
'Jethro Tull' singer and flutist Ian Anderson has built quite a career for himself in the music industry. He may be a rock legend but what truly concerns him nowadays isn't what's on the charts or what's playing on the radio; not in the dark and troubling times that we live in.
In an exclusive interview with MEA WorldWide, Anderson spoke about his concerns with regard to climate change, something that has been on his mind since 1973.
"There are a lot of people who think of climate change as only something they've learned about in the last few months," Anderson said. "And of course a lot of people who haven't learned about it at all, like President Trump or Bolsonaro in Brazil or the loathsome Scott Morrison in Australia. I mean, these people are criminals. They should be tried for crimes against humanity for their ignorance and their appalling dismissal of the facts regarding climate change and what is now being quite correctly described as the climate emergency."
"But these buffoons are either men of little intellect or men of unbelievable arrogance and desperation to secure their own positions of power through denial of very real issues in order to win votes from the fossil fuel industry, coal miners, and so on in the heartlands of America; or loggers and farmers in Brazil, or indeed, the fossil fuel industry in Australia," he explained. "I mean, Australia is a great example of getting its comeuppance right now, when you look at the smog over Australia from burning of fires in the bush and Scott Morrison's attitude towards climate change, you will see that this is havoc being wrought upon an insidious prime minister who refuses to face facts."
"In Australia, in the USA, even in my own country, you can pretty much divide 50-50 those who are arrogant, selfish, concerned only with today and those that care about the future of their children and their grandchildren," Anderson continued. "We are living increasingly in dramatically divided societies. And back in the times of 'Aqualung', when I wrote 'Locomotive Breath', it was a song based on globalization, population growth, the issues of being on a runaway train out of control. It was a metaphor for humanity being on this crazy out-of-control engine that has no way to slow down. And that's the world we live in today. And it's not particularly prophetic, I wasn't the only person saying these things, but people didn't listen. And people don't listen today. I would imagine that 99% of the people who've ever listened to the song 'Locomotive Breath' don't actually stop and think, 'What's this about? What's he getting at here?' And unfortunately, that's the message. It's very, very difficult as a songwriter to get these messages across and all you can do is try and hope that a few people will understand what you're singing about and perhaps make their own dedicated effort to try and understand these issues and come to their own conclusions."
Anderson will be performing a Christmas show at Wells Cathedral in the UK on December 13. He will be back on the road in 2020 for two major tours, 'Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull' and 'Jethro Tull: The Prog Years', as well as a number of other shows.