The Sedition: An Interview With Omar X of Rogue Nation

By Michael Muhammad Knight

So I just received my copy of Rogue Nation’s The Sedition and it has me flipping out. I sit down, type a sentence or two of this review nonsense, then jump up to punch at the air. This is hard, loud, aggressive music with Omar X singing, Fat Mat on bass, Benjamin Haddad supplying guitar and vocals and Michael Peters on drums. Good stuff.

At first it’s just naked energy and I feel like hurling a bottle through my own window, but on my second listen I read the lyrics. It’s not just an adrenaline shot for its own sake—there’s a current of political and cultural urgency running through every song. Track 10, “Victory Day,” begins with a sampling of Malik Shabazz. And when Omar X says something like A PROMISE MADE A LIE IS TOLD TO ADVANCE YOUR CULT OF GOLD, I can’t help but picture him spitting it in the face of a bound and gagged plutocrat.

RETALIATE, he booms on Code Red, INVESTIGATE—WE WANT THE HEADS OF ALL OF THEM/IT BE GREAT—WE’LL ALL BE SAFE—ONCE WE LOCK UP ALL OF THEM/END THE THREAT—BE A PATRIOT—YOUR NEIGHBOR LOOKS LIKE ONE OF THEM/CALL IN THE TIP NOW HE’S ON THE LIST…NOW THAT’S A GOOD AMERICAN?

And having taken a Voice and Diction class last year, I’m bewildered by the power in Omar’s chest. The man’s breath is dropped as he screams from his authority through twelve tracks.

Then there’s the bonus song, a hardcore version of Bob Marley’s Iron Lion Zion featuring additional vocals by the legendary Sean Muttaqi, owner of Uprising Records, straightedge Muslim and founder of the band Vegan Reich (later called Vegan Jihad).

I flip through the album’s liner notes to see who these guys thank. Omar first mentions “Allah (s.w.t.).” What’s more, the band dedicates their record to “the children of Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq who are resisting the foreign occupation of their homes.” I read on their website that they’ve recently played a benefit show with Propagandhi for the International Solidarity Movement. But Rogue Nation’s message doesn’t come at the sacrifice of aesthetics. You have four talented, hardworking young men here who just happen to be politically aware. They’ve made a good record. Go buy it.

MWU!: What are the aims of Rogue Nation?
OX: When we started in the late summer of 2002 our intentions were just to have fun and play hardcore with our good friends, which we did. As time passed on and we began to write the record (The Sedition) our style of music and our aim as a band changed. We began to take it seriously and thought this would be a good outlet for our musical and poetic ambitions. I guess to create an awareness of political and social issues that we feel passionate about whether it be on our streets or in the Middle East.

Our aim is to share our view so that we can connect with people who enjoy heavy music and who identify with the causes we scream about. It seems that the punk/hardcore scene has been lacking in recent years where too many bands have forgot about the roots of punk rock which are social activism and as Uniform Choice put it, "screaming for change." We have been influenced in a positive way by bands like Bad Religion, Bad Brains, the Dead Kennedys, Propagandhi, Refused, and so on… so we just want to add to this open ended Canon of Political Punk Rock that we took so much from growing up and hopefully have the same impact in someones life as those bands had on ours.

MWU!: What activists or leaders have influenced your political content?
OX: I guess as far as activists or leaders go, Malcolm X proved that one man could make a movement and create an awareness by just speaking the truth. Mahatma Gandhi showed us that peaceful civil disobedience could work and that even a skinny Indian man could stand up against an empire. Che Guevera for showing us that revolution in the Western hemisphere is possible and he died a martyr because of it. But one event stands out in my mind that sparked my desire to become more aware of the corruption and underhandedness of Western governments.

I was 11 years old when the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) aired footage of the seige at Oka, Quebec where hundreds of mohawk warriors from the Khanesatake and neighboring reserves created a blockade preventing the government from building a golf course on traditional burial lands. The standoff lasted the summer of 1990 until then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sent in the armed forces to replace the local police. I couldn't believe it and most people in this country couldn't believe it either…here was a group of people standing up to the armed forces and the authourities of a modern "civilized" nation and this was happening in our backyard. That was the turning point in my life and from then on I began to sympathize and support the causes of all oppressed people around the world wiether it be in Chechnya, Palestine, Iraq or right here in Canada.. other people I would list as influences would be modern day writers such as Edward Said, Iqbal Ahmed, Howard Zinn, Willam Blum and Hunter S. Thompson. and musicians such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bob Dylan, Chuck D and Krs-One.

MWU!: Do you see any conflict between being Muslim and Punk/Hardcore?
OX: I don’t think thats an issue at all.. a Muslim punk/hardcore kid must seem like an oxymoron to a lot of Muslims here in North America but I would argue that a Muslim Punk is the extreme mumin…where a lot of Muslim kids grow up praying, going to school and becoming doctors, engineers, lawyers, computer specialists and so on and are looked at as the ideal candidates for the Muslim of the year award (mashallah for all those who achieved such higher learning) to me it seems that these kids grow up without any knowledge of anything else other than what happens at school or in the mosque..which is sad because while their parents push for them to be raised in a good Muslim and scholastic environment…they become like kufrs... slaves to society and their jobs and the almighty green when the highest of acheivement for any Muslim should just be to be in the service of Allah only and fight man-made idols such as capitalism. Where a Muslim punk to me, rejects all the material aspirations that their Muslim community hammers into them and takes the diffrent route to become a weapon against kufr America and does whatever he can to fight the ideas of opression, capitalism, materialism and everything else that "America" (Canada included) stands for.

Islam is the antithesis of the material capitalistic ideology and to me the biggest struggle for any young Muslim is to figure out if you are gonna play their game or spend your life fighting it. Being a Muslim punk is to always question the information you are getting whether it be in the mosques that have extreme unIslamic teachings, or in school when your Jewish Islamic History professor is spewing lies and half-truths to you and fellow students. I see it as the duty of all Muslims, especially the spoiled brats of the Ummah here in North America to stand up against ignorance wherever we are…and that’s pretty fucking punk!

MWU!: I had a friend whose mom wouldn’t let her go vegan because it was supposedly "making haram what is halal." How would you respond?
OX: Tell her mom, "don't be ignorant.” I don’t think your friend is implying that eating meat is Haraam…which it is not…but it is very detrimental to health and the enviroment. The prophet himself was wary of eating meat and there are many hadiths where the prophet warns about the dangers of eating meat. It is not Haraam to eat meat nor is it Haraam to choose the vegan lifestyle…one of our great prophets by the name of Isa (pbuh) did not eat meat (he was a Nazerene and the Nazerenes did not consume animal products) so that point should be brought out if there is even a debate of whether vegan/vegatariansim is halal or not.

MWU!: What are Rogue Nation’s plans for 2004?
OX: We are currently on hiatus from playing shows while we write our second record entitled "The Rebellion" which we will record later in the year and will be available on Uprising Records. We will be doing some extensive touring in the states in spring and summer so watch out for us in your town. You can currently get a hold of our current record "The Sedition" at your local punk/hardcore record store or through Lumberjack or Interpunk. Salaams to all and don’t forget to fight for all that is good!