Koch Industries' Presence in the Wichita Music Scene and its Ties to the Israeli Occupation
A spectre is haunting the Midwest music scene - the spectre of the Koch Industries empire. An unholy alliance between Wichita’s new mayor - Lily Wu, 2ŁØT, and Stand Together Music seeks to cover up the various ways Koch Industries’ actively makes the world a more dystopian hellscape than it already is. Their aim is to recruit people to conservative, Libertarian causes with a view to demolishing the government’s ability to regulate polluting fossil fuel industries.
Ever seen the band 2ŁØT on the bill at a recent gig? They’re led by the son and heir apparent of the Koch empire, Chase Koch. Chase, who’s set to inherit billions of dollars and almost half of Koch Industries has his fingers in many pies, backing up businesses that exploit the oil fields off the coast of Gaza as well as the weapons that sustain the killing of thousands of Palestinians. When Chase Koch isn’t busy building a more dystopian future, he’s out practicing his favorite hobby, playing guitar to unsuspecting crowds while converting people to his family’s Libertarian causes.
2ŁØT is made up of musicians Rudy Love Jr., Sage Judd, Omar Jahwar II, Robert Trusko, and Chase Koch himself. The weirdest thing about the band is not how cliché their music is, but how they’ve managed to be on the same bills as hugely successful artists like Justin Timberlake despite having very few fans. The events they play at are funded by the Koch organization with an end to reaching an audience otherwise unlikely to sympathize with their aims.
A recent show with 2ŁØT on the bill at Odd Fellow Hall was attended by the newly elected mayor of Wichita, Lily Wu. Her libertarian campaign used expensive ads to tout increased funding to the Wichita Police Department and was largely funded by the Koch’s. Covering up the agenda and dark legacy of Koch Industries through music as well as securing the election of sympathetic politicians is something Chase seems to be passionate about, and it’s something he’s been doing on a local and national scale.
Together with his father, Chase created the organization “Stand Together Music”, in which they’ve enlisted huge stars such as Lana Del Rey, The Chainsmokers, Machine Gun Kelly, Pitbull, Killer Mike and, ironically, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. These artists have either performed at or been interviewed at events which help to present the values of Charles Koch, his businesses and investments, and the family’s image far into the future.
How do they do it? By promoting causes so general and banal that they’re hard to disagree with. For Chase, the aim of his music is to “overcome entropy” while other band members want to “promote lasting change in the community” and to use music as “a tool for healing”. These vague abstractions allow them to partner with organizations like The Phoenix to host “sober-supportive concerts” that give them an opportunity to earn the acceptance of already vulnerable people and gain popularity at festivals and hip-hop events, spaces not normally welcoming to loud advocates of free-market neoliberalism.
Koch Industries are masters of manipulation. They’ve been doing this sort of thing for years, masking their intentions with philanthropy and making themselves look like they’re standing up for the working class and minorities. The reality is they function to cover up the evils they commit here in Wichita, the US, and all around the world. If they weren’t so good at it, almost all of us would find their actions reprehensible.
But who exactly are Koch Industries and what do they do?
Koch Industries is the 2nd largest private company in the world, amassing revenue of over 100 billion dollars a year. Residents of Kansas will recognize their long-standing presence in Wichita which goes back to 1940 when the company began. Fred Koch’s empire began after he developed a more innovative way of turning crude oil into gasoline. Finding no favor with established US oil companies, he spread his methods to Nazi Germany and the USSR. He subsequently amassed for himself a large fortune during WWII by selling his services to questionable buyers instead.
After his death in the 60's and lengthy legal battles, his two sons David and Charles inherited a large majority of the company. Their unscrupulousness began right away, after the company multiplied its fortune by stealing over $2.4bn (worth about $6bn today) from the Osage Native Americans. They managed this by skimming off barrels of oils they claimed they were delivering and selling them on elsewhere. They got away with it by convincing the tribespeople that they hadn’t stolen any oil and succeeded in making the government look bad. Koch Industries continue to employ these same tactics today.
Operating on right-wing Libertarian principles, Koch Industries advocates for free-market capitalism, private property rights, tax avoidance, and the reduction of workplace regulations wherever possible. Their elimination of workplace rights has led to many environmental and labor law violations and the cause of many direct and indirect deaths. All of which can be attributed to the application of their business operations and ideology.
Not only is their ideology good business, it and their massive fortune has helped changed the entire political landscape of the U.S. funding think tanks and organizations like Americans for Prosperity and the Cato Institute, they’ve been able to promote free-market ideology and select their own politicians for office.
For them, this means they can continue funding climate denial and fighting policies that protect our planet and its people, allowing them to continue earning vast sums of money exploiting fossil fuels.
They’re not just restricted to the US though. For years they’ve been funding the Atlas Network, a “think tank that creates think tanks” and works to erode movements that might hurt the profits of the 1% everywhere in the world. Notably, they helped Latin American tobacco companies oppose government anti-smoking measures with an aim to sustain their bottom line.
Their influence in the region continues to this day. Recently, they helped their right-wing bedfellow Javier Milei into Argentina’s presidential office by funding his campaign.
The impact they’ve had on the world is hard to quantify. Now, with Charles Koch approaching 90 years old, the question is: What lies ahead for their company and its extensive wealth and influence?
Who is Chase Koch and what does he want?
Chase, 46, was brought up to believe in the infallibility of libertarian economics and his father’s business. Having worked in Koch Industries since the age of 25, he was instantly shot to the top of the company, regardless of any talent he showed for it.
Since 2018, Chase has been the CEO of Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), the venture capital arm of Koch Industries. His job is to invest in small companies at younger stages to expand Koch’s reach and influence in future technology.
The amount of products that Koch Industries produce is already massive, from the gas in our cars, to the Lycra holding up our clothes, and even the insulation in the walls of our houses, their effect on our everyday world is impossible to avoid and even harder to comprehend.
This is the problem with KDT. They seek to secure their position in our lives as technology becomes ever more intertwined with our realities and identities. Can we allow this group of unelected men with enormous amounts of inherited wealth dictate how technology progresses, especially when they’ve shown time and time again how they only work towards increasing their power and diminishing their crimes?
Up until now, they’ve spent billions funding some of the latest advancements in data collection, cybersecurity, robotics, 4D and holographic imaging, drones, fintech, lithium production, nuclear tech, quantum computing, supply chain advancements, and AI.
Israel
One of KDT’s biggest focuses since its inception has been the fertile tech industry of Israel. Since 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu’s former director general Eli Groner has headed the Israeli office of KDT. Groner is notorious for his political success in developing the exploitation of the Leviathan gas field during his time in Bibi’s cabinet.
The Leviathan Gas Field sits near the coast of Gaza, where for years BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), a Palestinian led freedom movement, mobilized support to protect Palestinian drilling rights. Reminiscent of Koch’s past work with the Osage tribe, Groner worked to put the fields in the control of the Israelis, arguing that any “excess” profits would go straight into the hands of Hamas.
As well as his role with Koch Industries, Groner is on the board of IATI, (Israel Advanced Tech Industries), a non-profit that creates connections for companies working in the Israeli tech industry. Various companies in this group can be linked to powering the Israeli occupation and furthering violence of human rights against Palestinians. The group includes Microsoft Israel, Dell, Siemens Energy, and Phoenix (investment arm) to name but a few.
KDT fund Percepto, an autonomous drone development company who partner with Siemens Energy to power as well as protect their technology. Percepto’s drone tech is used to inspect and surveil multiple illegal Israeli settlement industrial zones.
The genocide of the Palestinian people is ongoing. As it claims the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people, Chase Koch and Eli Groner of KDT continue to, loudly and proudly, show their support for Israel’s military actions and continue to finance the technology that dehumanizes, subjugates, and murders Palestinians while almost completely flattening the Gaza Strip. However, not a word of remorse or condemnation of the violence has come from his lips. Instead, he has only seen fit to use the Holocaust as justification for Israel’s actions on an Instagram post dated Oct. 23.
Wichita
Whether we like it or not, Koch Industries has already embedded itself into various facets of our daily lives. Do we allow them to infiltrate even the creative spaces we turn to for escape? Will we allow them to form a collective amnesia over our city, as their power and prevalence continues to grow across the world?
This publication is independently made and remains anonymous for the safety of its authors. Journalists and the community at large are encouraged to share and expand upon this information.
Sources:
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https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7370
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https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7371
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