Kennebunkport peace rally and musing on music...

By Chellie on August 28, 2007 12:41 PM

I spent this past Saturday at the anti-war protest in Kennebunkport. Ever since this war began (in fact, before it began), I have attended a wide variety of protests -- in Maine, NYC, and in DC. There are times when you wonder how much of an impact it actually makes to join others in the streets -- are the people who really need to make a decision paying any attention? Then I think back to my first anti-war protests, when many of us were trying to stop the war in Viet Nam. While it often seemed like you were just one body in a sea of walkers -- if there were enough bodies, you felt like you could end a war. Fortunately, the voices today are clearly making a difference.

Saturday brought an enthusiastic crowd on a sweaty-hot day, and it seemed like at least a third were from NH, MA and CT - lots of people willing to travel to let people know that they are angry about the war. I was so glad to see so many very engaged people, and I always run into wonderful old friends at any gathering in Maine. Many people came with homemade signs -- here is my favorite.

These girls are from North Yarmouth. The oldest, Nikki, will be voting by the time the 2008 election arrives (her birthday is the same as my daughter Hannah, October 18th). It was great to see that Nikki is already making her voice heard -- and learning more about the issues before she votes. I asked Nikki's sister and her friend, Lena and Nicole, who are in 8th grade, whether they just came because of their older sister's interest. They made it very clear that they were in Kennebunk to listen to the speakers and let their opinions be known. This photo of the back of the signs they made is one of my favorite displays.

I asked one of the girls whether she put "Imagine" on her sign to refer to the John Lennon song from 1971, which was such a critical part of the background music that helped to end the Vietnam War and she said yes. I couldn't help but think back to 2003 -- during the build up to the war when this song was banned from certain radio stations. I spoke about that in a speech I made soon after the banning about the dangers of media consolidation.

"You heard earlier about the Tell Us The Truth tour in which Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was featured along with other artists such as Lester Chambers and Billy Bragg. Mike Mills of R.E.M. said on that tour that Clear Channel right after September 11th banned 100 songs considered 'insensitive,' ranging from Imagine by John Lennon to every song by Rage Against the Machine."

It is only a few years later, and now we are trying to sort out how to end this war -- something even Republicans like Sen. Warner are calling for -- you can't help but wonder what would have happened if we had been able to read the truth about the war before we made such an important decision. And, if all the music had been there when we needed it.

[To read an excerpt of my speech, click on Read More...]

From the speech on Media Consolidation:

"Clear Channel is the story of radio consolidation. It is a company that in 1996 owned 43 stations. Today it has more than 1,200 stations.
Clear Channel is also the largest concert promoter in the country and
the largest owner of live venues. Clear Channel sells the tickets and
owns the billboard. Talk to any artist today, and they will tell you
that you have to deal with Clear Channel radio one way or another.

"Clear Channel is currently negotiating with 15 unions in this country, and they aren't people who are interested in negotiating with
unions. Their brand of negotiating is often called arm-twisting.
They've been cited for price fixing, anti-competitive behavior, federal
labor law violations and certainly, violations of the FCC.

"Let's talk a little about their politics. Glen Beck, their popular radio host, promoted 18 pro-war rallies around the country. Clear
Channel banned the Dixie Chicks from their stations because of a
negative comment the group made about President Bush during the
build-up to war. Campaign contributions? The company gave more than $1
million in 2002, three-quarters of that to Republicans.

"I heard an interesting question the other day: Is Clear Channel making these donations based on its ideological beliefs, or is it just
currying favor with the party in power so it can expand its operations
and have rules and regulations that allow it to do business the way it
wants?

"You heard earlier about the Tell Us The Truth tour in which Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was featured along with other artists
such as Lester Chambers and Billy Bragg. Mike Mills of R.E.M. said
on that tour that Clear Channel right after September 11th banned 100
songs considered "insensitive," ranging from "Imagine" by John Lennon
to every song by Rage Against the Machine.

"During the Tell Us the Truth tour, we were in Nashville, Tennessee -- Common Cause was one of the sponsors -- and we were listening to
singer-songwriters talk about what it was like to work in the industry.
One woman raised her hand and said, 'You know, I was raised during the
Vietnam War and I got all of my information from my college professors
and listening to the radio. Where do our young people turn today? Where
is the music, where is the art, where is the information they need to
have as they think forward into the future about what it's like to be
Americans?'

"Billy Bragg, a wonderful performer from the UK, was also part of the tour, as I mentioned. Billy Bragg talked a lot about
Clear Channel, and said the situation would be bad enough if it was
limited to his industry and his job, but it goes much further than
that. And I have to say, as a mother of a son who is an aspiring actor
(and a wonderful waiter), and a daughter who is trying to make films
that are independent and express her point of view, I'm concerned about
my children and anyone else who wants to work in this business.

"And what about how the country is being served? What about the fact that most Americans believed there were weapons of mass destruction
because we didn't have a press that would tell us the other side? What
about the buildup to the war? What about that many Americans, in the
buildup to the war, couldn't find 'fair and balanced' news? They found
they had to tune into the BBC to find out how we looked to the rest of the world."