“Well here it is, the American Dream.”
While the world watched the Presidential Inauguration, sometimes in horror, as Elon Musk appeared to pull not one but two fascist salutes, the Village People mangled one of their songs, and president elect Donald Trump mangled his own words, Jack River delivered a timely reminder — people power is real, there’s strength in numbers.
Taking to her Instagram account, the Australian artist and activist shared an elegant critique of the state of America, whose leader returns to power as the first-ever convicted felon to become president.
“The dream of freedom has today fulfilled itself,” writes River (real name: Holly Rankin). “So free that a convicted criminal can become president and make 56 billion dollars in 3 days with his inauguration merchandise, a meme coin.”
River didn’t dwell on the speeches, the stiff-armed salutes, the controversy. What happens next, and how Australia responds, that’s the important stuff.
“Against all odds,” she writes, “I find the Trump presidency freeing in away that the truth will finally be laid out, the choices are clear, and the lesson should be learnt now; the world is what you make of it. If enough people want something, it’s very likely to happen. So what is it that we want? That’s for all of us to decide.”
Rankin is, of course, a tireless advocate for systemic change through art and activism.
For the several years, she been deeply involved in the climate movement. Among other projects, she worked closely with Climate200 on the Teal campaign, established a number of high-profile climate and community panels (New Energy) and festivals (Grow Your Own), publicly called out Scott Morrison and collaborated on solar projects with Cloud Control’s Heidi Leifner.
During the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Rankin famously called out Channel 7 for its lack coverage of the tournament — specifically its absence of homegrown music.
“How great would it be if you played all Australian music in your coverage of the Olympics? These are Australian moments, they deserve Australian music,” she wrote at the time.
Taking her argument another step, River continued, “And while we’re here, how good would it be to hear Aussie music in Coles, Woolies, Aldi, in banks, on hold, in stores and on ads being shown to Australians for the next few months. We need you more than ever. We wanna be your soundtrack.”
The Greens took the baton and called for Australian music to be synced to broadcasts of the Games.
Those words led to action. Qsic, a streaming music specialist from Melbourne, began pumping 100% Australian-made playlists into hundreds of shopfronts for the month of August, with 7-Eleven among the first retail chains to put its hand up.
Read Jack River’s “Happy Inauguration Day🇺🇸” post below.
