AWEARNESS: Can you comment on your song "Liberation Theology" and your view of what is required to help the poor and oppressed in the Caribbean and Latin America?

Matt (aka Smoke Feathers): What would you die for? Would you die for the good of others? Not many people would. And not many people do. But would you die for your own cause? Would you even speak your mind in our rich democracies when others put obstacles in the way of free speech just as the same time as they champion it?

"Liberation Theology" is a song about struggle, inspired by people putting their own lives at risk to help those who do not have the freedom or prosperity we enjoy. It is about rebellion, rage, bravery and uprising and came about as a result of life-changing experiences working as a news reporter in South America and the Caribbean where a new crisis in Haiti -- a nation plagued by terrible problems for much of its history -- was unfolding. We watched in horror and shame and the world turned away.

Liberation theologists believe that the church should play an active role in helping the oppressed and resisting the oppressors. Some say if Jesus Christ was alive today he would be a Marxist revolutionary or at least he would be involved in some kind of struggle against the establishment. You may recall the story of Christ going into the temple and overthrowing the traders' tables... Well, you get the picture.

At the time I was living in Georgetown, Guyana, Jean Bertrand Aristide was president of Haiti. Aristide -- a liberation theologist -- had fought hard to inspire the downtrodden in Haiti to organize and rise up against a brutal dictator. He eventually won power, was then overthrown and helped back to power by the United States. But, as is so often the case, the winds of favor changed in Washington and Aristide was finally removed and exiled in Africa. In my ignorant view from afar, Haiti lost a leader and won another nightmare. The first black nation to gain independence has still yet to find peace.

From what I read and hear, Haiti is no better off today -- the constant victim of a neo-colonial chess game. I guess, the United States could hardly tolerate another firebrand left-wing populist leader in its own backyard -- even if he had led his own people to freedom.

I realize Aristide may not be a saint -- few politicians are -- but I found his story and that of other liberation theologists across the world awe-inspiring. They stare the beast in the eyes and do not flinch. Even if they eventually fall, others gather round them and they grow strong together and achieve the unbelievable, overturn the vested interests and injustice of the status quo -- maybe just for a short sweet moment. We must remember them.

It will hardly surprise you to learn that the Catholic Church is not fond of the imaginative and brave liberation theologists in its midst. No establishment likes to be challenged and accused. You may recall a young, righteous Lauryn Hill lecturing the Vatican over child abuse. Well, that didn't go down too well because perhaps the truth hurts and the truth shames us. How the world of music misses and needs Lauryn's insight and music. Our world of music is losing its power to challenge and influence. We need a few liberation theologists of our own.

I see that as a duty. A labor of love. There are those who just want modern music to be a melody and some sweet lines that fit together well in an advertisement or on a drama soundtrack. There are those who will criticize those who politicize and write with substance. We must be vigilant. One day we may wake up and there will be no conscious in our art. And no soul. Perhaps that day is nigh. And with that in mind, Liberation Theology is ultimately a song of despair. Anger at the awful weight of the status quo and the dark forces that too often win and decide what path we -- and the downtrodden -- must take.

For the true sufferers, the only choice has to be resistance, to fight. There are, of course, those who would advise us to be still for the meek will inherit the earth in another life to come, but that is also the argument of the oppressor. Liberation theology says the opposite. Resist, organize, maintain. The river boy in my song is doing just that. Mo' Fiah!

AWEARNESS: What is the role of social networking sites like MySpace in spreading the word about important social issues?

Matt (aka Smoke Feathers): MySpace is a strange phenomenon. Some think it's the dark side, some think it's the greatest thing. But you cannot argue with its usefulness in spreading ideas and reaching out to people to create new communities. On the surface, for many, it is just a place where bands come and hawk their wares, desperate to get discovered. But there are many artists, not just musicians using MySpace to experiment and let the world hear and see what they do -- for free. It is the same for issues of social importance. We got to know a very small charity called Hanna's Orphanage that runs an orphanage in Ethiopia -- it's literally two or three people at this charity and they don't get paid and they put their own money into it. Well, we have their banner on our page and we have played a couple of benefit shows for them and now there are lots of other artists approaching the charity to try and help. It wasn't necessarily us that made that happen, but MySpace is the kind of place that makes that happen and where ideas can spread quickly -- especially good ideas.

Facebook has also started to bloom into something more than a place to show off. You can recommend a charity or a cause to your friends -- it may look superficial, but it's just another way of drilling an idea into the ether. People seem to create their own utopias in cyberspace where they are the kind of person they want to be in real life, supporting all these causes and becoming active in promoting them. I hope at some point the fantasy crosses back over into the physical world where that kind of participation is so badly needed.