Postcard from the Slope

EMAIL FROM PETE SEEGER: END THE WAR NOW

6 Comments

I did a doubletake when I saw this email from Pete Seeger in my inbox. Here it is, a heartfelt anti-war letter from a legend who feels like an old, dear friend.

Protest music has been around for thousands of years. It just leaks out every so often and helps make history.

A group of young people and not-so-young people have gotten together to
sing one of my songs that I wrote around 1965 about the Vietnam War.
And they’ve done what I did a few years ago; they’re singing it about
the situation in Iraq. "Bring ’em Home!"

You can watch them singing and share it with your friends right here:


http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/bringthemhome/

What they are saying is we need to send the politicians a message in a
language they understand: election day votes. Here in New York, voting on the Working Families line is the best way to tell the politicians, bring them home, bring them home.

We’re in a very dangerous situation. The problems in the Middle East
are not going away — they’re getting worse. Churchill said, anybody who
thinks, when they get into a war, that they know what’s going to
happen, is fooling themselves. With all the power that the American
military establishment has, they still cannot predict all the things
that are going to happen.

To quote Martin Luther King, the weakness of violence is that it always
creates more violence. Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light
can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.

That’s the message at the end of the song, "the world needs
teachers, books and schools . . . And learning a few universal rules."
I’m glad they left that verse in.

Watch the video and then pass it on:


http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/bringthemhome/

There’s a saying from William James a young friend painted on my
barn. It goes: "I am done with great things and big things, great
institutions and big success, and I am for all those tiny invisible
molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual . . .
like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, which, if
given time, will rend the hardest monuments of pride."

Apply this to the current situation: Take this email and forward it
to your friends and family. Technology will save us if it doesn’t wipe
us out first.

We need to spread this message. Back in the sixties, I’d go from
college to college to college singing songs. That’s how folk songs were
shared. Sure, some person who thought it was an unpatriotic song might
boo, but a few seconds later he’d be drowned out by a few thousands
voices who started cheering enthusiastically. Made the poor guy start
thinking.

Change comes through small organizations. You divide up the jobs:
Some people sing bass, some sing soprano. Some copy the sheet music,
others drive and pick up those who ride the subway. You take small
steps. They all add up.

Take a small step today. Here’s your part: Tell your family and your
friends about what we can do to send a message to the politicians to
bring our troops home. And then vote on election day.

The very worst thing is for people to say: "My vote doesn’t count. So
why bother to vote at all?" Our votes do count. And if we vote to bring
the troops home, they count even more.

Let’s bring them home:


http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/bringthemhome/

In solidarity,

Pete Seeger

 

6 thoughts on “EMAIL FROM PETE SEEGER: END THE WAR NOW”

  1. I would like to shake Pete Seeger’s hand and say: ‘Thank you’.
    Pete if you’re reading this, please send me an email. I’ll fly from California for 10 seconds of your time. I’m very grateful.
    Thanks,
    Dennis Rainey

  2. My mom and dad worked at a camp in upstate New York, Manumet, and Pete Seeger also was there in the 1940s, I believe. My mom turns 90 this month and I would like to see if Pete remembers her. They were refugees from Germany who were lucky enough to get out and then lucky enough to find employment in this amazing camp.

  4. Mr. Peete Seeger,
    Back in the early 1960’s when Dr. King was marchng on Birmngham,Alabama you came to join the protest. You stayed in the home of an African American family in Fairfield, Alabama, an industrial town just outside of Birmingham and the location of U.S. Steel Corporation and Miles College. That home was my home. I was a young adolescent at that time but I remember you sitting in our living room on our couch, playing your guitar and singing to my mother as a way of thanking her for her hospitality. She died a few years ago at the ripe old age of 105. Well, I’m 61 years old now, am a gynecologic oncologist, and live in Zambia where I am building a cervical cancer prevention program that targets HIV seropositive women. During my earlier years in college (Oberlin ’70) I turned into quite a rabble-rouser myself, and I still am. Just wanted to connect. Hope this gets to you.
    Peace.
    Groesbeck Parham, M.D.

  5. HELLO:
    I’d appreciate it if you would be kind enough to provide me with the email contact address for Pete Seeger’s so that I might be able to send him an invitation to attend the Dutchess County Chapter of Women’s Council of REALTORS’ June 2009 Centennial Celebration for the Discovery of the Hudson River which will be a fundraiser to benefit the “Make A Wish Foundation.”
    Thank-you for your consideration for a
    prompt reply.
    FROM: Emily R. Craig; GRI, SRES
    Licensed NYS Real Estate
    Associate Broker
    Prudential Serls Prime Properties
    892 Main Street
    Fishkill, N.Y. 12590
    (845) 896-9000, ext.#117

  6. I wrote this peace song 15 years ago for the elementary school I teach at.
    It is our school song and our school band plays it.
    After seeing the PBS special on Pete Seeger I now understand I must thank
    Mr. Seeger for inspiring me as a child. This song came to me in a dream and I wrong the music and words down when I awoke.
    Please give Pete the lyrics. If he would like the music I can mail it out.
    Title: Piece by Peace We Build Our Community
    Piece by peace we build our community.
    Word by word we sing our song.
    Message by message we call the world to build
    Love, Joy, Peace and Harmony
    Minute by minute
    Day by day
    Year by year
    Change by change
    People will see the world united in
    Love, Joy, Peace and Harmony
    Piece by peace we build our community.
    Word by word we sing our song.
    Message by message we call the world to build.
    Love, Joy, Peace and Harmony (regular)
    Love, Joy, Peace and Harmony (soft)
    Love, Joy, Peace and Harmony (strong)
    It is a beautiful thing to hear the children sing this song!
    God bless you Pete Seeger.
    Respectfully yours, Kimberly Raedeke 651-602-0373
    call and I’ll sing it to you.

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