Tidbits - May 1, 2014 - Happy May Day

Portside salutes May Day - rallies around the world; The Internationale in 40+ languages; May Day and labor history tools; Reader Comments -Cecily McMillian Trial Update -= Trial ends tomorrow; Net Neutrality; Chris Hani's political legacy; Ukraine; Israel and Palestine; Paul Robeson, Jr.; UPDATE - Northeastern University has backed down on the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine; A Seeger Fest to Honor Pete and Toshi, and It's Free - July 17 - 21

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May Day 2014, posted from the AFL-CIO,AFL-CIO

Today is May Day - International Worker's Holiday

May Day rallies held around world - live updates

Live Updates at The Guardian (UK)

The Internationale in 40+ Languages - MP3 collection

words by Eugene Pottier (1871)
music by Pierre Degeyter (1888)

The Internationale, originally a French song, is now a well known song available in most major languages.

Here is the link, pick your favorite language to sing along with.

"The Internationale" conducted by Arturo Toscanini--BANNED by U.S. censors!

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Uploaded February 1, 2010 by farmerne

In 1944, to honor the Allied victory in Italy, the great Arturo Toscanini--a refugee from Fascism in his home country--decided to conduct a performance of Verdi's "Hymn of the Nations". "Hymn" is a composition that Verdi originally built around the national anthems of Britain, France, and Italy. In order to honor all four of the major Allies, Toscanini decided to add "The Star Spangled Banner" for the U.S. and "The Internationale" for the Soviet Union. The music was performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, with the Westminster Choir and the great tenor Jan Peerce as soloist; conducted by Toscanini. It was filmed as a featurette to be shown in movie theaters, and was narrated by Burgess Meredith.

In the early 50's, at the height of the Red Scare,U.S. censors excised the portion of this performance that featured the "Internationale".

For years the sequence in the original featurette was considered forever lost. But recently a copy of this missing piece of film was rediscovered, and now this rousing rendition of the Internationale--together with chorale and orchestra under the direction of a legendary conductor--can now be enjoyed again.

May Day: Time to Teach about Labor - Zinn Education Project


The Power In Our Hands Lessons Now Online

We are happy to feature 16 newly available labor lessons from the book The Power in Our Hands: Curriculum on the History of Work and Workers in the United States by Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond.

These are role plays and writing activities that project high school students into real-life situations to explore the history and contemporary reality of employment (and unemployment) in the United States.

Cecily McMillian Trial Update - Trial Ends May 2

UPDATE 4/30: Today was mostly spent on Cecily's testimony, with a brief break for testimony from her friend Lara Wasserman, who was visiting her at the time of M-17. She testified to everything she remembers/was conscious for of the incident, which was mainly the grab, a moment on the floor of the bus, a moment in the ambulance, and gradually waking up in the hospital. In cross-examination the prosecution brought up her medical records, her past, her clothing, press attention, and a few other things. She did an absolutely wonderful job on the stand. There will be no court tomorrow, so Friday morning we will likely see a brief witness to verify the submission of one of the medical records and then enter into closing arguments and deliberations. WE WILL HAVE A VERDICT ON FRIDAY SO IT IS CRUCIAL THAT EVERYONE BE THERE!!!!

for Trial Updates go to: #Justice4Cecily- PACK THE COURTS!!

The last day of Cecily McMillan's trial is tomorrow! It is extremely important that we pack the courts! If you are unable to make it but still want to help, no amount is too little to donate to our fundraising page.

We have incurred a massive amount of debt throughout this trial and no matter what the verdict is tomorrow, we know we cannot do it alone. Thank you all for your support, and Solidarity!

Re: The Crime of Peaceful Protest

Rarely have I ever read as moving an account as the story of Cecily McMillan, The Crime of Peaceful Protest, reprinted from Chris Hedges' article in Truthdig.  This should be required reading for anyone who still harbors any illusions about the status of our criminal justice system.  Beyond that, it also provides a heartrending raison d'etre for features like Portside.  Your readers owe you a well-deserved vote of thanks.

Henry Foner

Re: Net Neutrality: We Need a Better Deal

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of brush war after brush war to keep net neutrality intact. The latest utterances by Tom Wheeler, former shill for big cable, of his intent to end net neutrality rather than, as the courts suggested, put in a little effort to correctly phrase the order to keep it in place, indicate that even if we win this one he'll still be in there trying to hand the baby over to Comcast every chance he gets. It's not enough that we should (rightly) demand net neutrality be preserved, it's time we started trying to remove obstacles like Wheeler who is clearly using his post to pursue a private anti-consumer agenda.

To that effect I have started a petition on the White House's site We The People, asking President Obama to fire Wheeler, and attempt to fulfill his 2007 campaign to make net neutrality the law, at

Steven Grant

Re: Republicans Blast Nevada Rancher for Failing to Use Commonly Accepted Racial Code Words

Not all of your subscribers know that Borowitz is a satirist and may have taken your email as news reporting.
Mis-information.

Don Goldhamer

Re: Chris Hani's Political Legacy

Portside opened its space for New School Prof. Sean Jacobs to arrogantly opine: "Yet, "any observer" of contemporary South Africa "can't help noticing" that while Chris Hani is still lionized and his name invoked in speeches and songs, the "principles he stood for no longer  animate the political project of the liberation movement he laid down his life for or that his erstwhile comrades in the ruling party, its Communist ally and the main trade union federation have been disappointing"." (emphasis added)

Why is it that Portside loves to snipe at the movement in South Africa? I don't know what is going on with the moderators, but it is certainly not what I think Portside is supposed to be about. A national election will be held in South Africa on May 7, and this is Portside's contribution to help Americans understand the election dynamics and issues? Polls indicate the ANC will win almost two-thirds of the vote, which is not a drop from the last election. The second political party is the Democratic Alliance, which is a right-wing dressed-up apartheid party. If the ANC gets two-thirds of the vote, it will be able to amend the SA Constitution, which is a holdover of the compromise that ended apartheid. Of course, if center and left voters stay home, this can't happen.

Sean Jacobs apparently would like South Africans to stay home, which is the line of the ultra-left and old tired ex-lefties who think they sound radical. In reality, they are helping monopoly capital. Duh!

Portside: Why not carry some articles that explain what the ANC alliance (ANC, the main labor movement (COSATU), and the Communist Party) has accomplished - and what they have not. And why! By the way, the SACP has more than tripled in size in recent years, to more than 160,000. And, the ANC has doubled in size to 1.2 million members.  Not exactly the trajectory of the left in the USA. I think they have something to teach Americans and the rest of the world about how to build a movement!

If you want to hear the SACP's analysis, why not ask the SACP to submit a serious article? Or, look through their published articles, and reprint some of them. They have a lot to teach us...

Which side are you on, Portside?

Sidney Horowitz

Re: Seeds of Discord in Ukraine

An article calculated to plant seeds of discord on the Left -- unworthy of Portside.

Joseph Kaye

Re: Exclusive: Kerry Warns Israel Could Become `An Apartheid State'

Running a little late, isn't he?

Joe Maizlish
Los Angeles

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I notice that neither The Daily Beast, nor by extension Portside, thought it worthwhile to interview any Palestinian activists to get their opinions on this issue.

Sam Friedman

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Could become? ....

Bill Doar

Re: Paul Robeson Jr., Activist and Author, Dies at 86

The tallest tree in the forest.

Jim Brough
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: The Wisdom of (Little) Crowds

And BIG "Crowds" are Even Wiser!. (Wiser than Little Crowd that is)

Soooo - Let's get One Million (or more) people in some Demonstrations and Actions - and the current Rule of the United States by the Rich and the Rich Corporations can be Ended!

Jim DeMaegt

UPDATE - Northeastern University has backed down on the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine

Thanks to the absolutely relentless support we have received from around the world, Northeastern University has backed down on the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine! We are reinstated and will be fully functional for the fall semester. This is a huge victory for free speech on campus, but also for the entire Palestine solidarity movement in the US. Our fight demonstrates that we will no longer tolerate discussions of Palestine and Israeli crimes being marginalized because some may disagree with us and use their power to try and silence us. Our message was heard at Northeastern loud and clear, so now let's spread it around the country. Viva Palestine!

View the petition

Victory - This petition made change with 6,636 supporters!

A Seeger Fest to Honor Pete and Toshi, and It's Free - July 17 - 21

By Allan Kozinn    
April 30, 2014
New York Times

credit: Pete Seeger at Joe's Pub - Michael Arthur drawing

"My grandfather didn't leave a blueprint about the kind of memorial he wanted," Kitama Cahill-Jackson, whose grandfather was Pete Seeger, said in a telephone interview. "But when my grandmother died, just a few months earlier, I planned her memorial with him, and nothing says more about what someone would like than to see what they planned for a loved one."

Mr. Cahill-Jackson has assembled Seeger Fest, a series of free concerts and events that will  commemorate both Mr. Seeger, who died in January, and his wife, Toshi Seeger, who died last July. The series, which he announced on Wednesday, will include concerts, a film screening, a photo exhibition and a memorial service, both in New York City and in several sites in the Hudson Valley, an area that was a focus of the Seegers' ecological campaigning,

The opening program is a screening of the 2007 documentary, "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song," at Pier 46 on the Hudson River, in Manhattan on July 17. The Seegers' family, friends and musicians who worked with them will offer stories and music at a public memorial service at the Bardavon Opera House, in Poughkeepsie on July 18.

On July 19, a daylong celebration of the Seegers in the Hudson Valley will include music and a pot luck diner at the Beacon Sloop Club, in Beacon, and square dancing at the Ashokan Center, in Olivebridge. There will also be food and rowboating at Rocking the Boat in the Bronx; http://www.rockingtheboat.org/ and an exhibition of films and photographs by Pete and Toshi Seeger at El Taller Latino Americano on the Upper West Side.

David Amram, Tom Chapin and the Chapin Sisters, Holly Near, Peter Yarrow, Dan Zanes and the Paul Winter Consort are among the musicians who will present a tribute to the Seegers at Damrosch Park as part of Lincoln Center Out of Doors on July 20. Some of those musicians will perform again, along with others, in New Songs of Justice: An Evening Honoring Pete Seeger, at the Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, part of SummerFest, on July 21.

"One of my grandfather's frustrations, in planning Toshi's memorial, was that he wanted it to be outdoors, and open to everybody," Mr. Cahill-Jackson said. "But we did it in late October, and that wasn't possible, so we ended up doing it indoors, and private. This is more like what he wanted for Toshi, and all together, it really presents who he is."
 

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