Friday Nite Videos -- November 22, 2013
Portside
Woody Guthrie's guitar famously bore the legend, This Machine Kills Fascists. Here are the Woody lyrics (probably dating to the 1940s) that most directly spell out this message, with appropriate pictures of contemporary bad guys. Woody's confidence in the victory over fascism was the flip side of his confidence in the victory of the common people who, he sang, were Bound for Glory.
Who defines the Dream, as the Dreamers movement implicitly asserts, matters a great deal. In fact, it defines the nation. Here are 10 songs of immigration and identity: Crash at Los Gatos (Deportee). Ice El Hielo. Jamaica Farewell. Across the Borderline. Follow the Drinking Gourd. No Irish Need Apply. Rumania, Rumania. America (West Side Story). Where Is the Love? Ballad for Americans.
Reader Comments: Citizens United; Zimmerman Trial; Egypt; Plane Wreck at Los Gatos("Deportee"); Elizabeth Warren; Capitalism & Austerity; Voting Rights Act; American Left; Progressive Patriotism & July 4th Songs; Fracking and Greens;
Announcements - Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions - New York - Jul 24 - Jewish Voice for Peace; Left Labor Project - New York - Aug 1; Call for articles on building international labor solidarity - Working USA; Paid Internship Opportunity
To some, patriotism means "my country -- right or wrong." To others, it means loyalty to a set of principles, and thus requires dissent and criticism when those in power violate those standards. Not enough Americans are aware that much of what we consider our patriotic culture, especially our iconic music, was created by artists and writers of decidedly left-wing sympathies.
Reader Comments on: Lean In and One Percent Feminism; Marx's Revenge: How Class Struggle Is Shaping the World; BRICS; Dues Check-Off; Obama's Cyber-War; Internet Privacy; Social Security; Independent Worker Unions; Minimum Wage; Detroit; NCAA; Announcements - Fair Elections Rally in NYC - Apr 3; Delegation to Venezuela - Witness the Elections; NYC People's Jazz; Paul Robeson, Woody Guthrie, Peter Seeger - Lessons from the Cultural Front
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