[Bsb-forum:401] [MewBkd] YNET: Pete Seeger: Unless we communicate, mankind will disappear (fwd)

[Mustafa Akgul]

From: News-M <news at mideastweb.org>
Date: Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:02:23 +0200
Subject: [MewBkd] YNET: Pete Seeger: Unless we communicate, mankind will disappear


Pete Seeger: Unless we communicate, mankind will disappear


American folk singer who mentored Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, set to participa=
te in virtual rally for Negev's Arava Institute, but is supportive of comme=
rcial ban on Israel. 'The entire world should show Israel it should work no=
n-violently,' he says

Ayelet Yagil Published:  10.23.10, 23:47 / Israel Culture
      http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3973192,00.html





"My memory is going," says Pete Seeger during a phone interview conducted f=
rom his home in the Hudson River Valley. But the 91-year-old singer's sharp=
ness does not cease to amaze, as he spells out a surname he thinks is impor=
tant to the conversation or recalls his first visit to Israel in the 1960s.=
 During the conversation it is hard to believe that the speaker is a World =
War II veteran who performed for Eleanor Roosevelt and marched alongside Ma=
rtin Luther King, Jr.




Then, as now, Seeger whole-heartedly believed that songs can bring change. =
Seeger, America's most important folk-music singer, says time and again tha=
t dialogue and non-violent actions are the only way to solve conflicts. Thi=
s is why he's participating in a virtual rally in support of the Negev's Ar=
ava Institute, whose students include Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians an=
d others.



Many pro-Palestinian organizations, including Adalah-NY, the New York Campa=
ign for the Boycott of Israel, signed a petition calling on Seeger to withd=
raw from the rally, but he won't hear of it. That's not to say that he supp=
orts Israel's current policies. "My stand is supporting the boycott of Isra=
eli products. I don't know much about the artistic boycott taking place, bu=
t I understand the financial boycott. I don't think there will be a human r=
ace here in another 50 years unless the entire world finds a way to communi=
cate - whether it's with pictures or music or food or sports. Words may com=
e later, but we have to find a way to (talk) in some way".



'Big things don't impress me.' Performance at Obama inauguration (Photo: AP=
)



Three Grammy awards and presidential medals, from both Bill Clinton and Fid=
el Castro, have been bestowed upon Seeger. And yet, his name may not ring a=
 bell to the younger generation. "Arguably America's most celebrated anti=
-celebrity", New York Magazine called him, before a star-studded event in h=
onor of his 90th birthday.




This is the singer who helped Bob Dylan and Joan Baez as fledgling artists,=
 who took folk songs from around the world and introduced them to the West,=
 from Africa's "Wimoweh" to the Cuban "Guantanamera". Seeger and his band T=
he Weavers were the only act to bring a Hebrew song, "Tzena, Tzena", to the=
 top of the US charts, in 1950.



Seeger also wrote the song "Turn!Turn!Turn" by words taken from the book of=
 Ecclesiastes, later to become a hit with The Byrds. Seeger believes royalt=
ies from songs he helped make popular should return to their place of origi=
n, which is why he donates a share of "Turn! Turn! Turn" to the Israeli Com=
mittee Against House Demolitions.



Seeger paid a price for his political activism. His membership in the Ameri=
can Communist Party, which he revoked upon learning of the horrors of the S=
talinist regime, led to a subpoena in 1955 by the House Un-American Activit=
ies Committee. His pleading the first amendment ended in an indictment for =
contempt of Congress. Though he was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months=
 in prison, his conviction was overturned. Despite being a free man, Seeger=
 was blacklisted and banned from appearing on American TV and radio shows.=




Half a century later, it appeared that poetic justice has been served, as S=
eeger was invited to perform, alongside Bruce Springsteen and his grandson =
Tao Seeger-Rodriguez, at Barack Obama's inauguration.



As a former Washington pariah, did you feel you've come full circle in the =
inauguration?



"I don't know about 'full circle'. Big things don't impress me. I'm just as=
 impressed when I sing to the children in my home town. It's true, though, =
that during the Cold War, I call it the 'Frightened 50s', it was the Conser=
vatives who brought Mccarthy down, while Democrats were running for cover. =
The Conservatives had him eventually censured."



What was your reaction when you learned of Bruce Springsteen's intention to=
 release an album of your songs?



"I've never heard of him, because I don't listen to records. Although I hea=
rd he's very famous (laughs). I said go ahead."



Your relationship with Israel goes back a long way.



"That's true. I first visited in 1964 with my wife and children. I was inte=
rested in visiting a Kibbutz and met Yemenites who had just come to Israel.=
 I was impressed by the energy of the kibbutz.



"In 1967 I performed at a joint Israeli and Arab event (at the Hilton Tel A=
viv, days before the Six Day War broke out). Before that I performed in Leb=
anon, where they asked me not to come to Israel. Since then, things have go=
ne from bad to worse; Israel adopted large scale force while Palestinians u=
se small scale force.



"Little by little I understood more how Zionism started. Of course, after t=
he horrible experience of Hitler many people went to Israel. On the other h=
and, had I known more then, what was going to happen to Jews everywhere, I =
would consider how to prevent this terrible situation going on right now."=




What do you think you could have done, 50 years ago?



What I'm saying right now. I would have said to the Israelis and Palestinia=
ns, if you think right now is terrible, just think ahead 50 years when the =
world blows itself up and there will be no more human race. It will get wor=
se; it will get worse and worse unless you start thinking how to turn thing=
s around peaceably. We don't know how to do it, but we've got to try. T=
hat's what Dr. Martin Luther King did. Instead of taking a big task, such=
 as voting, he was dedicated to boycotting segregated buses. It took him 14=
 months to boycott one city. Finally, the fascists in America assassinated =
him. But he accomplished in 13 years what hadn't been done in a century."



The virtual rally for the Arava Institute, scheduled to take place on Novem=
ber 14th at 8 pm (Israel time), will be hosted by actor Mandy Patinkin (Chi=
cago Hope, Princess Bride) and includes performances by Ian Anderson of Jet=
hro Tull, Tuck and Patty and Israeli singer Mosh Ben Ari, whose song "Salaa=
m (Od Yavo Shalom)" will close the event.



Have you learned the song "Salaam (Od Yavo Shalom)" by heart?



"No, but I've learned a beautiful Lebanese song I've recorded for the rally=
, 'Ghannu Mai'. It ends with a phrase, when you know finally who freedom is=
, 'You must call to her. If not, she will not come closer.'"



Do you have any estimation how many songs you've written over the years?=




"There are 267 songs in my songbook. One of them is a famous song in which =
I changed only two words: 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'. I changed it from '=
why, oh why, can't I?' to 'why can't you and I.'



"I make a joke about it. I look at the sky and I hear Yip Harburg, who wrot=
e the words and died 30 years ago say, 'You can fool with the folk songs, b=
ut don't dare touch 'Over the Rainbow!' (laughs)



"You know why you can't, Dorothy? Cause you only ask for yourself. You go=
tta ask for everybody to make it over that rainbow."



You and your wife Toshi have been married for 67 years. Any tips for domest=
ic bliss?



(Laughs) "Good food."