Why Michael Jackson's 30-year-old protest anthem has found a second life in India's student movement

Scroll through Instagram reels from the CJP-led student protests and one thing quickly becomes apparent. Amid videos of students protesting in Delhi, raising slogans and gathering at solidarity meetings across the country, one song keeps returning. Not a contemporary protest anthem or a viral track from today's charts, but Michael Jackson's 'They Don't Care About Us'.

Released in 1995, the song has become the unofficial soundtrack of the movement online. Videos carrying the chorus, "All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us," have racked up thousands of views, with students using it to document marches, speeches, sit-ins and confrontations with the police. Nearly three decades after it was first released, the track has found a new audience among young Indians, many of whom were born years after Jackson recorded it.

The resurgence is hardly accidental.
'They Don't Care About Us' has always occupied a unique place in Michael Jackson's catalogue. While much of his music celebrated love, hope and personal transformation, this was one of his most direct political statements. Released as part of the HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I album, the song was Jackson's response to injustice, discrimination and institutional indifference. Its pounding military-style percussion, repeated chants and uncompromising chorus made it sound less like a conventional pop song and more like a street demonstration.

The song was also among the most controversial of Jackson's career. Soon after its release, some of its lyrics drew criticism from Jewish organisations, who argued they contained antisemitic slurs. Jackson denied any prejudice, saying the lyrics were written from the perspective of someone experiencing hatred and discrimination. He later agreed to replace the disputed words in subsequent releases and music videos, but stood by the song's central message about inequality and injustice.

Its music video became just as iconic. Directed by Spike Lee, one version was filmed in the streets of Salvador, Brazil, alongside the Afro-Brazilian percussion group Olodum, whose thunderous drumming gave the song much of its unmistakable energy. Brazilian authorities reportedly tried to prevent the shoot, fearing it would draw attention to poverty in the country, but the video went ahead and has since become one of Jackson's most recognisable visuals.

Over the years, it has resurfaced during protests around the world, from Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the United States to pro-democracy movements elsewhere. In 2020, Spike Lee revisited the song with a new version of the video featuring footage from anti-racism protests, saying its message remained as relevant as when it was first released.
The Delhi student protests have now added another chapter to that history.