culture of protest:what is America to me?

Posted by rflacks on: Thu 28th Jun, 2012

To mark July 4th and to continue marking the 30th anniversary of the Culture of Protest we'll re-broadcast tonight the 2nd show I did back in 1982. It features a conversation with Earl Robinson, the composer of a number of important musical contributions to American patriotic song, including the House I Live In, and the Ballad for Americans. We talked about this work and Earl performed live in the studio. And we took note of a number of other examples of the fact that a great deal of the culture of patriotism in the US was created by people labelled as 'subversive', or 'deviant'. It's a broadcast I;m particularly proud of so give it a listen!

The Ballad of Americans was performed on national network radio by Paul Robeson (seen in the photo with Earl Robinson). The public response was enormous, and the work became an instant classic. Tune in to hear it!

Years after this broadcast I co-authored a piece with Peter Dreier that provided much more detail on how American radicals have provided much of the content of American patriotic culture (contrary to all conventional wisdom). That piece can be found on the Nation website: http://www.thenation.com/article/patriotisms-secret-history. Tune in tonight:

culture of protest thurs 6/28/12 6 pm pdt kcsb 91.9fm www.kcsb.org

Tags: Ballad for Americans, July 4th, leftwing patriotism, earl robinson, paul robeson

1 Comment

Comment by elijah on Fri 29th Jun, 2012

Great show. Thanks!

About

Dick Flacks here...sociology professor emeritus at UCSB. Budget cuts mean that I can't continue my annual course on political sociology. Maybe a blog will be a space for me to continue to ruminate and pontificate. And maybe (as a veteran teacher on these matters) I can offer some ways of thinking about what's happening nationally and locally that will be useful, as we struggle to make sense of the tortured complexities of these times. I've been a leftwing activist for more than 50 years. What we've been struggling for all these years is full democracy--to increase the opportunities for people to have real voice in the decisions that affect them. Step by step over these years we've made some gain...but it is a long march, and one that never ends. The big barrier to democracy in our society is the concentrated power of corporations. At the same time, democracy is undermined by the felt powerlessness of people in their daily lives--the persistent belief that our problems are only our own personal concern. It's a strong cultural theme--such individualism--constantlly reinforced by mass media and everyday circumstance. But the current big crisis of the economy maybe makes it more possible for more people to understand that we've got to have social reform and economic reform. So my writing here is aimed at helping us figure out what to think and act on that so that we can hope for new democratic possibilities. WE'll be talking about the local and the national. The blog name comes from an old labor union hymn: Step by step the longest march can be won. Many stones can form an arch...singly none. And by union what we will can be accomplished still. Drops of water turn a mill, singly none, singly none. For 27 years I've had a weekly radio show on KCSB (91.9 fm. www.kcsb.org) It's called the Culture of Protest. It's comes from my fascination with music and social movements. I collect 'political' and 'protest' music and that's what we play each week (Thursdays 6-7 pm). So sometimes here we'll share and talk about that. I'm worried about one thing about the blogosphere. And that's the way that some people use the blog comment space for anonymous nastiness. I'm sick of the kind of political blather that assaults the motives of others, and sees dark conspiracy behind every thing one doesn't like. This kind of stuff is helping to poison the political atmosphere. So I'm going to strive for a civil tone to whatever interaction may happen on this blogsite.