Add The Clash's Mick Jones to the List of Vegetarian Jewish Punks

Last year, I wrote a post about prominent Jews in the punk scene who are vegetarians and animal advocates, namely The Ramones' Joey Ramone, NOFX's Fat Mike, New Found Glory's Ian Grushka, Yidcore's Bram Presser, and the members of Useless ID. Add Mick Jones, the guitarist of The Clash, to the list!

The New York Times noted in an article this week:

Mr. Jones explained that he doesn't consume meat or dairy. "I read about how animals experience fear on the way to slaughter," he said. "I didn't want to eat that. I figured it would make me a stronger person."

I first learned that Jones is Jewish by listening to Yidcore's "Punk Rock Chanukah Song." (The video shows an animated Jones dancing the hora while wearing a Union Jack shirt, set to the lyrics "Lou Reed danced the hora at his bar mitzvah bash, with li'l Jonny Richman and Mick Jones from The Clash.") According to The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk, Jones is the author of the line "He thinks it's not kosher!" in The Clash's "Rock the Casbah." Vivien Goldman, a prominent music critic in The Clash's heyday, is quoted in the book as saying:

[T]he English and the American experience is so different, but I would say that there are hardly any Jews in punk in England, and that the main role of Jews in punk in England was ideological, and in terms of formulating the identity of punk. It was not so much in the bands, although there was ... Mick Jones ... it's because of Mick, I think, that we have that line 'This is not kosher' [sic] which is the biggest Jewish line in punk, as far as I can see. ... It was kind of radical, because it's so rare to hear any Jewish terminology used in England. It's not like here where everybody schleps. So I thought it was very bold to have the Jewish vibe out there in the punk mainstream.