Throughout history, those in power have relied on a familiar tactic: divide people against one another and often against their own best interests so they don’t look upward. Whether along lines of race, class, gender, immigration status, sexuality, ability, identity, or culture, the result is the same: ordinary people fighting sideways while systems of power remain untouched.

The new CRITICAL ACTION single, “Punch Up,” is about that dynamic. The song reflects on how resentment, fear, and misinformation can be used to fracture solidarity, and how people can be pushed into conflicts that ultimately serve those above them.

They feed the hate, divide the streets
when weak punch weak, it protects the elite

But the song is also a reminder of another possibility. The antidote to division is solidarity. Real solidarity means connecting the dots between the many forms of oppression that shape our lives: capitalism, racism, sexism, ableism, authoritarianism, and xenophobia. When people begin to see these struggles as connected rather than separate, the possibility of collective power becomes much harder to suppress.

When people refuse to be turned against one another and instead recognize their shared interests, the balance of power shifts.

Watch the lyric video below.