When we get through the destruction of democracy and poisoning of the world, and I believe we will, how will this all go down in history? I am an optimist and I think we will survive this attack on humanity. I see the glass half full, in process. Then there are those pessimists who say half empty. Then there is the government, who sometimes says the glass was too big in the first place.
(I know, the original is the engineer saying it, but I’m telling the jokes here.)
I wrote a song in my musical about saving the forests, You’ve Traded Your Wealth for Money. Now one would think this is the most obvious thing, but more than one educated person has asked “What does that mean?” Here are some of the lyrics:
The chorus:
You’ve traded your wealth for money,
You’ve traded the bee for its honey.
There are parts of life the strongest hand cannot hold,
Parts that won’t be traded in gold,
There is no price on the spirit to unfold.
Later I say, For the golden egg, you’ve done in the goose… More to it - but you get the idea. I wasn’t going to dwell on that, but now that I bring it up, the big money, corporate raider investor who buys the failing lumber town, sings the song When I See Forests, I See Green. Then later, in a kind of disclaimer, he sings It’s the Banker That’s the Rich Man (“I have to do this”- cut down all the trees to pay my debts).
What I find myself saying a lot these days in my presentations, is that men in suits who lie are nothing new. The difference now is they’re not just lying, denying justice, stealing from the historically marginalized minorities, they’re coming for the privileged white middle class - upper, for that matter.
My eyes were really opened to what you might call class struggle when I went to Nicaragua with Holly Near (dropping names). I accompanied her for a couple of weeks in 1984, pianos being hard to find in remote Central American towns. She’s of course a real committed activist and she changed my life, along with others like Pete Seeger. We traveled all around, though not too far from Managua, and saw good people who just wanted to have what we take for granted, the right to vote, education, health care, all that radical stuff.
We played a number of small concerts, and we were invited to various events, particularly a big stadium gathering where they announced elections to be held in the fall. The young Daniel Ortega explained that they had needed to do a great literacy education program to have the populace ready for democracy and elections. He said they did it in less years than the US did after declaring independence from England. I’m going to distract from my point here to mention, he was a progressive President and he’s back again now, corrupted from the ideals we thought he represented then, trying to hold on to power.
“¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!” (“The people united will never be defeated!”) The chant that led to the defeat of the dictator Pinochet in Chile, was something you heard all the time. Nicaragua had thrown out Anastasio Somoza, the latest in the family who had ruled and stolen as much as they could for nearly half a century. If there’s any excuse for the US being on the wrong side of this in the 1980’s, it’s that our ruling class thought that communism was coming, and getting closer to Harlingen Texas all the time, according to President Reagan. I didn’t see communism there; all I saw was desire for democracy and rights – Mom and apple pie America. All I heard from people there was “Go and tell Ronald Reagan we don’t want war, we want trade” - and Baseball and McDonald’s - I exaggerate, but that’s the gist of it.
Now, here’s what I want to bring up. With Holly, we went to the gates of the US Embassy. There were a few people with signs, they’re kind of there all the time, not much of a protest. And there was the pretense of peace, though Reagan’s folks were creating a fraudulent army to try to fight the threat of democracy coming. The elections were free and fair, by the way, according to international observers.
At the gate, there were two men in suits, not together, but the suits in the hot weather set them apart. We got into a conversation with the first one, and he turned out to be in some way representing the US government. I wish I had gotten his name. We were not recognizable as anything but two red-haired Norte Americanos, maybe misguided tourists. Holly asked innocent questions like “Haven’t they accomplished good things in Nicaragua?” They’d won awards from the World Health Organization (I think it was) for a huge reduction in infant mortality, and educating most of the country who had been functionally illiterate, and in just four years. He got this look on his face and with a slimy smile like a used car salesman, he confided to us, “Well, you know, that’s not really in our interests.” (“is it?” – speaking to red-blooded Americans).
The other guy in a suit, that as I said opened my eyes, was from the AFL-CIO. He’s there working on unionizing workers. I suddenly got it. All over the world they sing the “International” – Arise, ye workers from your slumbers… Unionized workers have fought for human equality against oligarchs and corporate power for a long time. The people united – dangerous. And we’re told the movement is communists, anarchists, or forces somehow evil and destructive to the American way. Equality is not in the interests of the corporate, colonial, ruling class. They function on the assumption that we need an underclass that is uneducated and desperate, so they won’t fight for their rights. We might call this oppression.
So, we can hope truth will eventually win out over lies. Though we know the history is written by the winners, and the publishing of books is controlled by the “economy.” And just who is served by this economy? (Where’s my bailout?)
Here’s a song that says something about this all, and something about other stuff too.
Nothing We Haven’t Seen Before © Jim Scott 1995
Nothing we haven’t seen before,
From covert conflict to open wars.
Area prone to domination,
Little hope for repatriation,
So much pain and so many tears,
So the lessons can fall on deaf ears.
At what cost the war is won?
It’s all over, but the revision’s just begun.
Everything looks different but you’re just the same,
Still looking for someone else to blame.
Whispered words of what is fair
Drown in the silence of despair.
All wisdom and advice falls short of help;
A mirror’s no use ‘til you can recognize yourself.
You were tryin’ to find that flag of truce even as the bridges burned.
It’s all over, but the second thoughts await their turn.
Without closure, the curtain’s drawn.
The wounded search for meaning, the proud move on.
Dreams were dashed and trust was broken,
Faith so bound in words unspoken.
Do you pick the rubble for what might have been?
No one in their right mind would want to feel that way again.
The clock waits to extract its toll,
The credits fade, and the regrets start to roll.
So frustration found release.
Did anyone remember to speak for peace?
Was it for law and order that rights were wronged?
In the name of justice the war prolonged?
Yet through it all, some greater love was grown,
And weren’t there moments beyond anything you’ve known?
So pack up your guilts and fears,
It’s all over, but the memories start here.
