Our Tradition

Tonight I was listening to part of a set of CD's, a Weaver's Concert at
Carnegie Hall from (I think) 1953 at Christmas time. I was at that concert
and I was sixteen years old. There are lots of different songs, but there
is a theme that you can trace through the Weaver's music, Pete Seeger's
individual music, Tom Paxton's music, and a whole bunch of other people
(Woodie Guthrie, e.g.). It has to do with freedom of thought, freedom of
expression, the rights of working people, the commonality of needs and
aspirations of people throughout the world, and the evils of war. The
specific issues change as time passes, but the important values remain the
same. So much of what they say in that concert is relevant today. We were
struggling to overcome the McAarthy era back then when the "hidden
Communists in our government" were the enemy and people's freedoms were
being taken away to "save" the U.S. Now, it's the "terrorists" who are the
excuse for taking away our freedoms. It's like nothing ever really changes.

Posted by Miriam V.