33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day

The book is an anthology of sorts: Mr. Lynskey picks a few dozen protest songs and talks about them in terms of both their musical and lyrical interest and their political content, while offering capsule biographies of the artists who wrote and recorded them. One question it contends with is whether the protest song is a living genre.

Music was put to very good use during the Civil Rights movement. “We Shall Overcome” immediately comes to mind. But there were many, many others that were used as teaching songs, solidarity songs, songs to supply courage and fortitude, and much more.

As one person commented, there is so much today to protest, that one would think the protest song phenomenon would be far from dead. Yet I can’t think of one contemporary American song that would qualify. Of course, I haven’t attended many mass rallies lately. I wonder if there was much singing in Tahrir Square? Are protest songs abundant in the Middle East? Is there much going on in Syria in this regard?

Wilson included a clip of Billy Holiday singing “Strange Fruit”. It is just one example of a song of protest.I think what makes “Strange Fruit” so powerful is that it names the crime. It articulates in metaphor the lynching so prevalent in the South, although present in other states, too.It certainly highlights the fact that rather than diminishing the description of something, metaphor can intensify it almost to an unbearable level.

Southern trees bear strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

And “Lady Day” singing it:

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Mohamed ElBaradei

Cairo has rightly grabbed the world’s attention. While there has been some violence, and certainly things are very tense, it is clear that with the presence of Mohamed ElBaradei, the former director of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, that continued direct, non-violent action will be used to topple Mubarack.

What started in Tunisia and travelled to Yemen and now Egypt is stunning. I’d also add that it is long overdue. The worry, and one has every right to worry given the time and place, is that things devolve with chaos the only change on the horizon.

With every protest of this magnitude and importance I think of that very simple question: What would Gandhi or King or Socrates do?

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(Aerial view of the Agora in Athens – 1975)

Thursday, 9/30, will be our first Agora Day. Here’s what I shared with students on iLearn.

Welcome to the first Agora Day discussion forum!

Once a month you’ll be doing philosophy just like Socrates — out in the agora discussing topics with people. We will not meet in class on Agora Days.

What’s it about? Thinking, questioning, and listening critically. What are you supposed to ask people? A good place to start is with the current topic or theme discussed in the dialogue we’re reading. Or it could be a general issue from King’s life and reading. Or from the other readings we’re doing. You could also look ahead and discuss a prominent question we will be examining. For instance, California is grappling with the death penalty again. There have been recent executions in the US that have raised some concerns. In short, the possibilities are endless. Kinda like some of Socrates’ own discussions in the Agora of Athens.

The “marketplace” for us will be anywhere you are. We will not meet in class on our Agora Days, but you are responsible for sharing the outcome of your discussions on topics related to our class (which is just about everything!) with “the citizens of the world” with the class.

Where do you post your Agora Day activities? This iLearn forum is one venue. Others are the SocratesKing Facebook page and the SocratesKing on Twitter. Choose one or more venues to post your activities. You may post more than once.

Don’t wait for me. Just jump in and post.

Here’s to some great discussions!

Prof. Pam

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From CNN.com:

The Obama administration is objecting to a request for an immediate halt to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy after a federal court ruled that the policy barring gays from serving openly is unconstitutional.The government calls a worldwide cessation of the policy “untenable,” saying an injunction should be limited to the plaintiff, the gay political group Log Cabin Republicans, and members who it claims are gays and lesbians serving in the military.

The government also states that an immediate termination of the 17-year-old policy may pose a threat to the military.

Sure sounds eerily familiar. Why should the “feds” insert themselves into a local matter? If a private organization files a federal suit and wins on behalf of a group that is discriminated against, that suit should only apply to the specific parties mentioned in the lawsuit. And, if the two groups (homosexuals and heterosexuals) serve together in the military it will pose a threat to everyone.

King, the Southern Christian Leadership Counsel (SCLC), and the NAACP brought legal action against segregation laws in various cities in the South. They literally tried to make a “federal case” out of the segregation policies. The Supremes weighed in, true.

But I do not believe we would have been content had the federal government taken a “hands off approach” with respect to removing the segregation policies of specific jurisdictions and types of public accommodation and education. “Well, gee. Your suit was in Alameda county. So we don’t think you should make the federal government force the folks in San Mateo county — or all counties for that matter — to allow blacks to be able to swim with whites in public pools. Besides, if we have the races sharing swimming pools throughout the Bay Area the world will come to an end.”

I realize it isn’t that bad. But still! It’s easy to see why some would consider it to be the Obama administration’s position that is completely “untenable”, not the court’s.

On the other hand, what about people who hold a different view? The argument would have to be that (on the swimming example) changing to interracial swimming pools is an unreasonable disruption in how people in the Bay Area have lived their lives and organized their cities for generations. In fact, it’ll be so disruptive that the whole nature of “swimming in a public pool” will change so radically that our “world” is going to fall apart.

It reminds me of the problem King addresses. The so-called “friends” of desegregation said that King was moving “too fast”. That he needed to “slow down”. “You’re asking for too much change too soon. It’s too disruptive. Not yet. Wait.” King’s response is telling. We’ll be reading some parts of it in his “Why We Can’t Wait”.

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It appears Seton Hall University will offer a controversial course on gay marriage over the objections of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, according to the professor scheduled to teach the class.The undergraduate seminar course — called “The Politics of Gay Marriage” — is to begin Tuesday with about two dozen students, said W. King Mott, an associate professor of political science.

“The class is happening. I’ve never heard that it wasn’t,” said Mott, who has sent the syllabus to the enrolled students.

The course is being taught by an openly gay man, already demoted from an high level administrative post of Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He was demoted after writing a letter challenging the church’s position on homosexuality.

I’m writing to ask him for a copy of the syllabus. Perhaps it’ll give us further material for discussing the issue with respect to the texts of King.

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A UC San Diego student admitted Friday to hanging a rope noose from a campus library bookcase in an act that triggered more protests at a school already roiled by other recent racially charged incidents.

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Here’s an excerpt:

The executive board of the SF State chapter of CFA adopted the following statement on February 25th:

California Faculty Association (CFA), San Francisco State University Chapter shares in the anger and frustration of students, faculty and staff regarding budget cuts that are destroying public education. We believe that peaceful protest and civil disobedience are powerful forces for change in a democratic society, and we defend the rights of individuals and organizations to practice them. However, CFA does not support or condone violence in any form. We oppose any vandalism or destruction of property. We also oppose the excessive use of force by law enforcement. This is our university – students, faculty, staff, and the community – and such acts undermine efforts to protect San Francisco State from those who would dismantle it. We seek a university founded upon mutual respect, social justice and accountability.
The governor’s chief of staff acknowledged that last fall’s campus demonstrations pushed him to raise the amount of money he proposed for next year’s CSU budget.  That pretty well tells us one of the things CSU needs: more large peaceful demonstrations for public education and services. Ultimately, it is the integrity of our position and actions rather than violence that promotes the establishment of a community which supports a long-term commitment to education and social justice.

http://takeastand4publiced.org/

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The pilot of the plane was angry at the government and its historic inability or reluctance to treat its citizens fairly. You may read his letter, apparently meant to be his suicide note, here. It’s six pages but is not rambling. Don’t get me wrong: Mr. Stack rants. I’m sure those in the class will have the same experience that I have had: I could not help but think of Thoreau again when I was reading Stack’s letter. This morning I had just led the class through a careful consideration of the last few paragraphs of Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience.

Paragraph 52

No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America. They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak, who i capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day. We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth which it may utter, or any heroism it may inspire. Our legislators have not yet learned the comparative value of free-trade and of freedom, of union, and of rectitude, to a nation. They have no genius or talent for comparatively humble questions of taxation and finance, commerce and manufactures and agriculture. If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the sasonable experience and the effectual complains of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations.

Paragraph 53

…There will never be a really free and enlightened State, until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived…

No, I don’t think Thoreau would be a suicide bomber, which is what I’m calling Joe Stack. But I can imagine Thoreau listening to Mr. Stack. I can imagine him as an FBI negotiator talking to Joe Stack. Thoreau doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy who would resort to endangering other individual’s lives to make his moral and political point. But it’s pretty hard not to imagine vast areas of agreement between these two men.

Maybe that’s what’s creeping me out.

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