Do You Hear the People Sing? Saving the World One Sing Along at a Time

Earlier this week, the Texas Solidarity Sing Along (yes! there's one in Texas!) posted a link on Facebook titled "Have your say: Can protest songs really change the world?" I'm so glad you asked! And, why yes, I believe they can! The folks at ONE, an advocacy organization cofounded by Bono and dedicated to ending extreme poverty, have since June been engaged in an effort they call "agit8: Iconic protest songs that have changed the world," which features high-profile performers recording their versions of some well-known, some less-well-known protest songs. The aim is to inspire people all around the world to take action.

I wholeheartedly applaud their efforts. The way we get music to people anymore is via their favorite performers. Listening is all well and good, and it's a necessary first step. But it's very passive and therefore delivers only some of music's true magic, which has been part of the human experience since before David played his lyre to soothe Saul's troubled soul. Look closely at the poster created for this laudable project:

It displays the words "come together" in large type. Like coming together for a performance? No. Like raising our voices together? Yes! Just as it says, that's when extraordinary things can happen.

Like the Singing Revolution that took place in Estonia in the late 1980s, in which, according to the documentary film, three distinct Estonian political groups sang their way to unity and a nonviolent revolution that freed them from Soviet rule. Like people all over the world who have been so inspired by the song "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from Les Misérables that it's been heard from Turkey to Taiwan.

Here in Madison, Wisconsin, many of us know firsthand about those extraordinary things that can happen, because we participate regularly in the Solidarity Sing Along, which has been meeting every weekday from noon to one at the state capitol since March 11, 2011. And lately some of us have also been meeting every evening at about 5pm at the capitol to sing until the building closes at 6.

Photo by Callen Harty

If you're local and you're not sure you're ready to sing in the halls of power, you might want to check out the Madison Song Circle, which meets every Wednesday, 6:30-8:30pm, at the Cardinal Bar, 418 E. Wilson. We sing from the Rise Up Singing songbooks in the tradition of a song circle, where we go around the circle and everyone, time permitting, has a chance to choose a song for the group to sing together. Many of us have gotten hooked on singing together. It keeps us energized, focused, hopeful, and connected to each other.

Photo by the Overpass Light Brigade.

I can hear some of you thinking, "Okay, well, that's nice, but I don't sing." Au contraire. Yes, you do. You may not sing well, you may not feel confident about your singing, but you can sing. In a supportive group. The point is not how well you sing, but simply that you sing. With your friends, with your community. And if you think it couldn't possibly make a difference, think again. Why has the Walker administration tried so hard to silence us, arresting and handcuffing hundreds just because we gather in the rotunda to exercise our right to free speech by singing together about our dissatisfaction with what's happening in our state? Because they know and fear not only the power of our collective voices but also the power of our solidarity with each other.

Folks in Texas as well as in Michigan have decided it is time to sing truth to power in their state capitols too. If you're eager to start a solidarity sing along in your state, you can download a copy of Wisconsin's Solidarity Sing Along songbook for free here. Many of the songs have Wisconsin-specific lyrics, so you'll want to put together your own songbook, but this will give you a good idea of what works in Wisconsin, and many of the songs are easily adaptable to other states, especially seeing as how the Republican-controlled states are all working from the ALEC playbook. The fight in Wisconsin is the same as the fight in Texas as the fight in Michigan as the fight in North Carolina as the fight in Turkey as the the fight in Italy... All over the world, people are oppressed and in pain; they feel discouraged and isolated and powerless. And the magic of singing together can help in surprising ways.

For music to really work its magic, it's not enough, as Pete Seeger would say, to put songs in people's ears. You have to put them on their lips. Pete has long advocated starting a singing movement. He would love what's happening here in Madison. What I have learned from Pete over the years is that singing together builds community. It builds strong community. And strong community is exactly what we need in these dark times.

Some of the people I've sung with at the SSA, I've never had a single face-to-face conversation with. But singing truth to power has bound our hearts more tightly than it's possible to describe. We are a loose collective, analogous to a neighborhood pickup basketball game, composed of Democrats, independents, anarchists, Greens, Wobblies, teachers, retirees, veterans, union members... Given that our governor has expressly stated his goal to divide and conquer, our solidarity is unquestionably a force to be reckoned with, so much so that the state Department of Administration has done everything it can think of to silence us. Thus far, to no avail.

Several days ago, my friend Rebecca Kemble wrote this in a Facebook post decrying the overwhelming global forces aligned against us:

Pretty much all we have is our relationships with each other and the potential for mass action as we build those relationships with trust and respect.

The forces arrayed against us are powerful, and they're determined to divide and conquer us, in the worst ways possible. Rebecca is right. Our only recourse is to hold fast to each other, in spite of our differences, in spite of our fears. The solidarity that's required isn't the artificial kind that comes from just taking your cue from the people in charge. It's the kind where you know that no matter what happens, there's a whole slew of people at the ready who will have your back and not back down.

One of the best ways to build such a community, to keep our spirits and energy up in the face of overwhelming global corporate power, is to sing together. Often. Loudly. Vociferously. The more we sing, the stronger and more united we'll be. When it's time to run for the barricades, we won't be caught fumbling for our songbooks. Not that songbooks are bad, but it's a good idea to keep a ready arsenal of songs that can flow from hearts to mouths to the ears of those in power at a moment's notice. If we do, there's no doubt that extraordinary things will happen and that we will indeed change the world.

Save Us from the Madness

In a segment of her show Thursday night, Rachel Maddow focused on Senate Chaplain Barry Black, whose morning prayers aren't pulling any punches:

Arlette Saenz on "The Note Blog" at ABC News says that "from the onset of the government shutdown, Black has turned his prayers into punditry, urging Congress to find a way to reopen the government. I would suggest that prayers may often sound like punditry. When we pray for peace, we're opining that peace is better than war. As a resident of Wisconsin, "save us from the madness" is a prayer I've uttered many a time.

Like many others, I find the shutdown extremely disheartening. Sickening even. I'm tempted to write that the inmates have taken over the asylum, but I don't want to cast aspersions on inmates in general, who are undoubtedly saner than the Tea Party Confederates currently holding the country hostage. At the New York Times, Timothy Egan comes right out and calls the GOP the "Party of Madness":

About 30 or so Republicans in the House, bunkered in gerrymandered districts while breathing the oxygen of delusion, are now part of a cast of miscreants who have stood firmly on the wrong side of history.

In considering Joan Walsh's assertion that the shutdown is the culmination of 50 years of GOP race-baiting, Andrew Sullivan suggests that the impeachment of Bill Clinton was

the first sign of madness when the Democrats first truly wielded power after the Southern Strategy bore fruit under Reagan. ... In the end, I could only explain the foam-flecked frenzy of opposition to Clinton and Obama by the sense that the Civil Rights Revolution of the 1960s was the defining event for a certain generation, that the backlash to it was seen as a restoration of the right people running the country (i.e. no minorities with real clout), and that Clinton’s and even more Obama’s victories meant this narrative was revealed as an illusion. This is compounded by racial and cultural panic—against gays, immigrants, Muslims, Latinos etc—and cemented by a moronic, literalist, utterly politicized version of Christianity. This mindset—what I have called the "fundamentalist psyche"—is what is fueling the rage. ... It is inherently irrational.

This irrational "foam-flecked frenzy" of racism and cynical race-baiting has plagued us as a nation for far too long. Enough already with the Southern Strategy. It has hurt all of us. Deeply. It's time for those of us who are offended and horrified by the madness to put our collective foot down, to rise up and speak up and keep doing so until sanity prevails. There is no refuge in silence. Silence = complicity = a never-ending reign of madness. Listen to the beautiful resonance of the chaplain's voice:

Have mercy upon us, oh God, and save us from the madness.

Can I get an Amen?

WI Legislature to Native Tribes: "No Recourse"

Those of you paying attention know that Wisconsin's Native American tribes are involved in a desperate struggle to preserve their land, water, and way of life. To call the proposed 21-mile open-pit iron ore mine genocidal is not hyperbole. Barbara With's excellent piece from February of this year lays out how severely the mine threatens the tribes. Quoting Mike Wiggins Jr., Chair of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa:

Because we’re directly downstream and set to endure the impacts of this project, we view it as an imminent threat. This human threat really manifests itself in a form of genocide. Genocide.

Adding grievous insult to devastating injury, the Wisconsin legislature wants to rewrite the rules regarding school districts' use of Native American mascots, shifting the burden of proof from the schools districts to the complainants, whose number will need to be equivalent to at least 10 percent of the total student body. Also, appealed cases will now be heard by the Department of Administration rather than the Department of Public Instruction. Representative Steve Nass's spokesperson asserted that the DPI is biased in the matter. As if the DoA weren't.

Barbara E. Munson (Oneida), member of the Wisconsin "Indian" Mascot and Logo Taskforce, eloquently makes the case for how "Indian" mascots and nicknames are harmful to children.

Wisconsin Indian educators want school environments where all students can thrive, and we want accurate and authentic historical and contemporary information taught about all people. ... Research shows that "Indian" mascot, logo and name stereotyping is harmful and that it teaches students to stereotype groups of people other than the depicted "Indians."

DPI Secretary Tony Evers asserts that "essentially, [lawmakers are] saying to the American Indian population in Wisconsin, 'There is no recourse here.'" Which, of course, is the point.

In other words, Wisconsin's Native American tribes have no recourse when it comes to the land, the water, and their way of life, and they have no recourse when it comes to their own identity and heritage.

Thing is, essentially the same can be said for rest of the people of Wisconsin. When it comes to what Charles P. Pierce calls "Walker's fire-sale of state assets," when it comes to our civil liberties, the preservation of our natural resources, health care, public education, and our children's future, we have no recourse. Except, possibly, the ballot box.

But to counter the gerrymandering, the voter suppression, the misinformation, and the big money, we're going to have to shake off all that's left over from our post-recall lethargy and marshal our forces as never before. We have no other recourse.

Solidarity Sing Along: One Day More

Yesterday, Friday the 13th

Cymbals and accordion
(Photo by Lisa Wells)

though it was, was one freakin fantastic day. The Learning Curve, the Solidarity Sing Along's amazing pickup band, sported eight (count 'em, eight!) guitars, two trombones, a concertina, an accordion, two fiddles, two basses (one washtub, one ukelele), a tambourine, a drum, cymbals, a bell, an egg (maraca), a more conventional maraca, three vuvuzelas, a Bulgarian tambura fondly known as the "people's tambura," and—of course—a cowbell. We had a great crowd and the weather was Wisconsin at its September finest.

The people's tambura
(Photo by Leslie Amsterdam)

I was excited and a little nervous because I had a new song to share. On Thursday, a friend posted a video of Elaine Purkey's classic labor song "One Day More," which she wrote about the 1980s United Mine Workers struggle against Pittston Coal in West Virginia. "If the company holds out twenty years, we'll hold out one day more." I was so smitten with the song that before I could do anything else (including finishing a work project that was due the next day) I had to write Wisconsin-specific lyrics for it, which I promptly did. "If the governor holds out twenty years, we'll hold out one day more."

Washtub bass
(Photo by Lisa Wells)

I posted the brand-spankin-new lyrics online, got a couple of good suggestions for improvements from friends, and another friend volunteered to make photocopies of the new lyrics for the next day's sing along. There's nothing like being part of a talented, generous community for collaboration, inspiration, and solidarity. Miraculously enough, I even managed to get my work project done. By the time I left for the sing along I'd practiced it just barely enough to be able to teach it to everybody. Here's me practicing just before the sing along started:


Thanks to Judith Detert-Moriarty for the video!
Folks seemed to especially like the line about the bald spot.
Heh-heh.

Tom Kastle singing "Whose House?" (Photo by Lisa Wells)

It was wonderful to have singer, songwriter, and tall ship captain Tom Kastle back from his recent travels. Tom often plays banjo for us, but he brought his guitar because he wasn't sure we would have enough. Alas, there was nary a banjo to be seen or heard on Friday, but we were very glad to have Tom there with his guitar. He sang his excellent song "Whose House?" which by popular demand is going into the soon-to-be expanded SSA songbook, along with that brand-spankin-new one, "One Day More."

WI State Senator Mark Miller (red shirt, back row) with the Learning Curve
(Photo by Leslie Amsterdam)

More cowbell! (Photo by Lisa Wells)

The highlight of this already fabulous sing along was when my state senator, Mark Miller, showed up. On July 27, 2013, just a few days after the arrests began in the capitol, I sent him a letter asking for his support for the Solidarity Sing Along. I have written him on numerous occasions in the past and have always heard back from him fairly promptly, so I was disappointed not to have heard back from him. Until yesterday, when he joined us in person at the sing along and thanked us for the work we're doing to stand up for free speech in Wisconsin. He stood next to me before he addressed the crowd. When I first saw him, I said, "Oh, Mark! I'm so glad you're here!" And I clasped his hand tightly for several seconds. I think he knew it meant the world to me for him to be there expressing his support.

Photo by Lisa Wells

Here's what he said (video from Leslie Amsterdam here):

The right to petition, to seek redress from government, is a fundamental principle of any kind of a democratic society, and it is contradictory to that principle to have to seek permission [loud cheers from the crowd]. It’s only by the courage you've shown that the rest of us will be able to maintain that privilege of being able to freely and openly petition and seek redress. So I wanted to thank you. Thank you!

Photo by Lisa Wells

After Senator Miller spoke, we recited Article 1, section 4, of the Wisconsin State Constitution:

The right of the people peaceably to assemble, to consult for the common good, and to petition the government or any department thereof shall never be abridged.

It was impressive to see how many people didn't have to look at the book. Funnily enough, lots of us have that bit memorized!

Maraca held high (Photo by Lisa Wells)

As if all that weren't enough, then from seemingly out of nowhere, local singer-songwriter Ken Lonnquist materializes, borrows a guitar, and we sing his song "Fourteen Senators," celebrating the Fab14, the senators who fled the state to delay the state legislature's vote on the dreadful 2011 budget-bill-bomb, for Senator Miller. "What's the score? People 14, Governor Walker zero!" It's nice to know that a few of the Fab14 (including Kathleen Vinehout, Jon Erpenbach, and Tim Cullen) are still standing with us, Chris Larson notwithstanding (pun intended).

Festive tambourine (Photo by Lisa Wells)

It's been a wild ride in Wisconsin since the days of the Fab14 and the Wisconsin Uprising. The first Solidarity Sing Along was held on March 11, 2011. Singing citizens began receiving citations from the Capitol Police about a year ago, and now arrests in the rotunda seem commonplace. In all that time, only one charge (for the heinous crime of sidewalk chalking!) has stuck, many have been dropped, and many are still winding their way through the slower-than-molasses courts. (The trial for my citation, for supposedly "conducting" on October 31, 2012, has been postponed about four times.)

In part, thanks to Chief Erwin and his heavy-handed crackdown, and mostly thanks to the stalwart people of Wisconsin, the Solidarity Sing Along is still going full tilt, every damn weekday. We are firmly resolved, joyously united, and altogether unintimidated. If—heaven forbid!—Walker holds out twenty years, we'll sing out one day more!

One Day More (Wisconsin Lyrics)

One Day More
Original lyrics by Elaine Purkey, new lyrics by Mary Ray Worley

One day more, one day more,
People let me tell you what we’re singing for:
We’re singing for our freedom, don’t you understand?
And we don’t need a permit, we just need your helping hand to...

Chorus:
Sing one day more, one day more,
If the governor holds out 20 years,
We’ll hold out one day more.
One day more, one day more,
If the governor holds out 20 years,
We’ll hold out one day more.

If Erwin thinks that he can win, he’ll get a big surprise,
With our civil rights at stake, we won’t compromise.
We’ll stand up to the Palace Guard, keep singing truth to power,
Raise our voice for justice every noon for an hour. And...

We don’t need permission, the constitution makes it clear,
We have the right to sing so the folks in power can hear.
This is the people’s house, and we’re here to take a stand
Because we are free people and we live in a free land. We’ll ...

Pirates in power are plundering our once progressive state,
Selling it out from under us to the lords of greed and hate,
But we’re not gonna let them, won’t take it lying down,
That’s a chair and not a throne, a bald spot and not a crown. We’ll ...

One day more, one day more,
People let me tell you what we’re singing for:
We’re singing for your freedom, don’t you understand?
And you don’t need a permit, you just need our helping hand to ...

Last chorus, last line:
Sing one day more, one day more,
If the governor holds out 20 years,
We’ll hold out one day more.
One day more, one day more,
If the governor holds out 20 years,
We’ll sing out one day more.

New lyrics © 2013 Mary Ray Worley

What Do "These Protesters" Seek to Gain?

I posted this photo on the Worley Dervish Facebook page this morning:

Image from the Shit Scott Walker Is Doing To My State Facebook page.

This afternoon someone made this comment in response:

I don't understand what these protesters seek to gain ? Over 2 years of protest now... Has it accomplished anything ? I am very much for peace and constitutional rights... But, these people are clearly breaking the laws and when you resist arrest Like that guy did... Sometimes regular people trying to do there job and go home get impatient and fed up with the pointless BS ! if you want to change things... Vote ! If enough people agree with you... You win ! If not, you may just be wrong... 

Are you saying, dear commenter, that the only forum for civic engagement is the voting booth? There is certainly no harm in singing for an hour a day in a public forum, conceding the space when others have reserved it, and continuing to voice objections in song to the heinous destruction of our state by right-wing legislators and the governor. Leonardo da Vinci said, "Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." Obviously that silence would be very valuable to the governor, so much so that he is going to extraordinary lengths to silence us.

How would it be for us to watch our public schools be trashed, our environment be pillaged, our job numbers continue to lag behind most other states, not to mention corruption (WEDC) and cronyism galore, and our only available recourse be the voting booth, while Republicans seek to disenfranchise voters through gerrymandering and voter i.d. ploys? If you do not understand, it is because you don't want to understand. We will not be silent while our state is being plundered and pillaged.

The Wisconsin State Constitution, Article 1, Section 4: "The right of the people peaceably to assemble, to consult for the common good, and to petition the government or any department thereof shall never be abridged." Never.

His reply:

Well, we disagree on many things I'm sure. I do not wish to silence the people, I am " the people " I only think more energy should be put into things with good results. This type of protest has been going on for decades.. With never much positive change from it. Much better ways to be heard, I believe.

Also, I am from Illinois, Chicago... As I'm sure you know, my state and city are in fiscal ruins !!! My state government ( democratic super majority ) leads the league in corruption and cronyism !!!

While your governor has balanced the budget from a huge deficit.. Has he not ?

No, the balanced budget is a fiction. Magic with numbers. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) has swallowed all kinds of funds it cannot account for. Our state economy is tanking, people are in desperate straits, and things only continue to worsen. And even if the budget were balanced, what good will that do if people have no jobs, our public schools are being suffocated from lack of funds, and our environment is being pillaged?

And incidentally, we sing for only an hour a day. There are many other hours in the day, during which we all do and accomplish a great deal. That hour a day of singing strengthens and encourages us to keep engaged in myriads of ways beyond the ballot box.

And also, it remains to be seen what the results of our singing are. Neither you nor we can begin to know them all. Some of those results are and will be tangible, and some are the things that continue to be knitted into our hearts on a daily basis.

Guest Post: Zoltán Grossman: An Even Better Circus

Guest post by Zoltán Grossman
Zoltán Grossman is a Professor of Geography and Native Studies at The Evergreen State College and a civilian supporter of Veterans for Peace who was attending the Vets for Peace Convention this week in Madison and is on the board of GI Voice/Coffee Strong. He was arrested at the Wisconsin State Capitol during the Solidarity Sing Along on Thursday, August 8, 2013.

I was arrested for singing Thursday at the Wisconsin State Capitol. I joined the daily Solidarity Singalong in the Rotunda at noon, on a break from attending the Veterans for Peace Convention. The police declared the Singalong an “unlawful assembly” because it had more than 20 people, then marched in to arbitrarily arrest people. I had not intended to get arrested.

Zoltán Grossman being arrested by the WI State Capitol Police.
Photo by Jenna Pope

I was singing a bit, but then just observed and took video and photos of the Capitol Police arresting citizens for expressing their views. Then the Police came to me, saying that they had seen me singing, and handcuffed me behind my back. They took me to the basement for processing, along with many others. I saw old friends Sue Pastor (who continued singing) and Jo Vukelich (who loudly objected to being searched by a male cop).

The Capitol cops said they’d send me to Dane County Jail for processing, because I was from out of state, along with a Vietnam veteran from Iowa, John Jadryev. The cops asserted that we had "No Ties" to Wisconsin, so I explained I’d lived here 25 years and edited an atlas of Wisconsin history. The hearts of most Capitol cops didn’t seem to be in their assigned tasks; one of them loosened our handcuffs a bit and allowed us to sit together.

When he asked my religion for the booking form, I identified myself as "both Jewish and Catholic, but being in handcuffs today I feel more Jewish." I told another cop that I’d just been to Circus World, but that this mass arrest for singing was an even better circus. He replied, "You got the full Wisconsin experience. Have you been to the State Fair for cream puffs?"

John and I were transported to Dane County Jail, after the squad car was momentarily swamped by protesters, making the officers really nervous. We were booked again, and began talking with the other inmates being booked. It was a scene right out of Alice’s Restaurant. One guy who worked as a stagehand said that he had missed his court date for an OWI offense, and asked what we were in for. "Singing," we said. "Really? Power to the people, dude," he replied. Another inmate said, "Yeah, Walker’s a douche."

One of the Capitol cops talked about the new snitzy uniforms they’d been issued, with a stripe down the leg, which one of the DeForest cops called "militaristic." We were held in Holding Cell 2 for two hours as we awaited processing, mostly talking with each other about Iowa, Wisconsin, and European history. We listened to the hard-luck stories of other inmates, which made our situation seem extremely minor.

When we got out, we were pleased that legal observers had spent two hours waiting for us, and letting us know our rights. The experience was no big deal personally, but it showed how low democracy in Wisconsin has fallen in two short years.

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If you'd like to help, you can contritube to the First Amendment Protection Fund, which helps arrestees cover court costs. Many thanks!