Serj Tankian
Overview: One of the most unconventional frontmen in rock, System Of A Down singer and solo artist Serj Tankian is very involved with promoting activism for various social and political causes that strike a chord with his beliefs. Besides his support and involvement with Amnesty International, Tankian co-created Axis Of Justice, an activist organization, with fellow musician and activist Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine.
» Serj is an official supporter of the Global Write-a-thon
» Listen to Serj's song "Fears"
Excerpt taken from an article written for Amnesty International by Andy Gensler in 2005
"I've been a member of Amnesty for many years," Serj explains, "before System of a Down and before Axis of Justice. I believe in our collective ability to resist, whether it's occupation, mistreatment, or human rights violations around the world, and Amnesty's done an amazing job in helping to release prisoners, initiating letter writing campaigns, and all sorts of things. I've been a member of Amnesty for a long time and I appreciate what Amnesty does."
And it's a mutual admiration society: System of a Down were one of the first bands to join Amnesty International's USA Music For Human Rights initiative. And over the years Music For Human Rights and System of a Down have successfully partnered to release prisoners of conscience, raise funds with ticket donations and signed skateboards, and educated fans through Amnesty tables at their shows. In fact, one of the prisoners the two groups adopted, a Tibetan nun named Phuntsog Nyidron was freed with the band's support at 2002's Ozzfest.
In the course of our interview, Serj mentions a number of issues he's currently involved in, including farm workers' rights, poverty and homelessness, environmental degradation, and the uprising in Lebanon (where he was born). His passionate political convictions are matched only by his knowledge on a wide range of issues which he sees as interconnected. "It is important for us to rally support for causes no matter what they are so long as they are just causes. If you do the right thing having to do with labor, you'll have less environmental issues; if you do the right thing with the environment, you'll have less social injustice -- it's all connected."
But there is one issue in particular that is both politically and personally important to Serj and the rest of System of a Down: international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide, an issue that first ignited Serj's political activism and remains an integral part of his political DNA. "When you ask your grandfather who his dad is -- my great grandfather -- and he sits you down and says, 'Well, I don't really know who he was. I was two years old when they took me out of the house. I was in the desert for two months and I ended up in an orphanage,' then suddenly this genocide is a very personal issue," Serj explains. "It's not even just a political issue anymore, it's about my grandfather." In fact all four members of System of a Down -- Serj, guitarist/singer Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan -- are of Armenian descent and had members of their families killed and/or their lives inextricably altered by the Armenian genocide.
System, along with the Armenian National Committee of America, have worked tirelessly in trying to get the United States government to officially recognize the Armenian genocide in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. However, due to "geopolitical concerns," specifically the United States' relationship with Turkey and the volatile political and economic situation in the Middle East, a bill to recognize the genocide has never reached the floor of Congress. "It's important for people to be aware of the Armenian Genocide," Tankian says. "Had the Armenian genocide been acknowledged as the crime against humanity as it was, then Hitler might not have believed he could get away with the Jewish Holocaust. History does and will repeat itself, unless we stop that cycle."
