The Air We Breathe, the Water We Drink, the Land We Share

March 1, 2025

Ken Shirk  -  AFM International Secretary-Treasurer

Anyone who lived through the early 1980s will remember US President Reagan’s sabre-rattling with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War with its attendant threat of imminent nuclear annihilation—a group of senile old men in the Kremlin and a has-been actor in the White House, each with their gnarled fingers poised over their Big Red Launch Buttons in a high-stakes game of chicken. The citizens of both countries held their collective breaths for three years, not knowing what the immediate future would bring. It was a very stressful time.

As an American citizen, the present-day atmosphere feels much the same. Setting aside the ongoing unraveling of the US federal bureaucracy upon which Americans depend for some semblance of stability in their lives, the new US administration—populated by a bunch of unbelievably rich people—has apparently decided that it’s time to play chicken again. Only this time, it’s not with adversaries, it’s with friends and allies.

The man occupying the chair formerly identified with the Leader of the Free World has decided it’s all up for a real estate negotiation—all ripe for the taking—that Panama has no sovereign authority, Gaza should be converted into a Mediterranean resort, Greenland does not belong to Denmark (never mind the indigenous people of Greenland), and Canada has no more standing in his mind than as a 51st state.

The orange-coated offal about Canada being annexed is particularly disturbing to me as a longtime AFM officer.

It’s disturbing because I’ve always been extremely proud that the members of this one international union have, through thick and thin, preserved and maintained the idea that we as Canadian and American musicians have much more in common than differences, and yet we honor and cherish our respective national and cultural identities.

What do we have in common? Our music, for one. Whether it’s Euro-centric, Latin, African, Asian, indigenous, folk, jazz, rock, country, and on and on, and without regard to the origins of our individual ethnic heritages, we bring what we do together into one grand continental weaving of a multi-layered cultural experience—for our people and for our lives.

We breathe the same air. We drink the same water. Our feet stand on a land unimpressed by political boundaries. We share a language.

These things, both natural and ethereal, are our glue.

And yet, we are still Canadians and Americans. As Canadian and American musicians, we must stand together, because no one else will stand with us. We are here for each other.

So, I say to Canadian members, be not too worked up by that musky odor emanating from behind the orange curtain with its eau d’imperialism wafting through the air. Can’t happen. It’s nothing but a distraction. Guard and honor your water, your air, your land, and your form of government. Hold on to who you are, and remember that we are all in this together.

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