(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, December 19, 2015 ) Chester ME -- Abin Griffin, musical activist and lead singer/songwriter for The Psychobillys, honors John Lennon with the release of the tribute song "Forever Lennon, Forever Love". The song was originally written in April of 1981, three months after John Lennon's passing.
Griffin studied Worker owned and democratically controlled economics extensively and has written a Workers economic Bill of rights based on his own research based on the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation, of the Basque community in Spain. Written by: Robert Francis Griffin, (Abin) All Rights reserved (2011)
Abin calls to end all economic slavery, economic apartheid, and economic inequality. Underneath these rights, everyone is considered an equal. Worker ownership consists of both democratic economics and capital subservient to labor. Capitalism by definition is capital over labor. With worker control through participation, (one worker, one vote), you can achieve democratic capitalism and, therefore, begin to build a true democratic society. In order to survive, Griffin claims we must change our entire view of economics. He insists co-operation instead of competition is the solution. Without co-operative democratically controlled economics, controlled by the local worker, everyone is doomed to failure. If these things aren't implemented both economically and environmentally, the future generation is at stake.
Abin and The Psychobillys
For those unfamiliar with the history of the Mondragon, a village priest by the name of Father José María Arizmendiarrieta came up with the idea back in the 1950 in the Basque region of Spain to employ the youth in his parish. His belief was that through ownership by the workers, the wealth that was created by new industry would be distributed to its workers and community that supported them.
"Within the various units of the corporation, workers decide on the direction of production for the company as well as what to do with the profits. While CEO-to-worker pay ratios in the United States have reached over 300-to-1, in Mondragon the cooperative model ensures that in most of its operations, "the ratio of compensation between top executives and the lowest-paid members is between three to one and six to one." - Zaid Jilani
There are many businesses in the United States that follow this economic ideal. Filmmakers Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young explains that "Employee ownership in the U.S. is much more widespread than usually understood, with at least 11,000 such businesses in operation. Many are Employee Stock Ownership Plans or ESOPs, where employees own part or all of the company. Introduced under President Nixon, this is one way for private enterprises to transition to employee ownership. ESOPs may or may not be democratic and participatory places to work. Worker cooperatives are both owned and managed by their workers -- one worker, one vote. According to the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, currently there are about 400 worker cooperatives in the U.S. They operate many types of businesses, mainly services, and are growing especially among Latino immigrants and in working class communities."
Abin Griffin is also the music producer for The Rainbow Medicine Show. The show has a 27-year history which includes a media peace event back in April 1997 with Ralph Nadar and the Student Green Party. Nadar, as main speaker of the show, gave a speech at the Maine Center for The Arts. The Psychobillys performed four other shows and acquired signatures for four other petitions. The most notable of all petitions was with Bill Linell, that aided in closing the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.
For additional information, please visit The Psychobillies FaceBook group.
About Abin and The Psychobillys: Abin Griffin lead singer songwriter for The Psychobillys. Abin wrote this tribute song in April 1981, three months after John Lennon was assassinated. He felt like John's spirit was close to him when he wrote "Forever Lennon Forever Love"
