Pete Seeger: Nobel Peace -Updated-deadline Feb1!

Subject: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: NormanD
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 08:54 AM

Apologies if this has already been posted:

"Pete Seeger has been an ambassador for Peace and Social Justice over the course of his 87 year lifetime. As a prominent musician his songs, messages and performance style have worked to engage other people, particularly the youth, in causes to end the Vietnam war, ban nuclear weapons, work for international solidarity, and ecological responsibility. It is time that a cultural worker receives the recognition that this work has great influence and global reach, that it is not only a medium of entertainment but of education, compassion and fraternity."

For more information, or to sign the petition:

click here

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: GUEST,Ian cookieless
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 10:03 AM

I'm not entirely sure about the value of prizes in general, myself, except that in troubled times a prize like this can give publicity and prominence - and perhaps even some degree of safety - to an individual fighting for a cause. Certainly the Noble Peace Prize has had this intended use in the past. As for recognition for good influence on and support for others, support for peace and positive change in the world, this is long overdue in Pete Seeger's case, as anyone who knows the history of this fine human being will know. I hope he gets it.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 10:14 AM

I tried to sign it twice, but it kept telling me I had the secret, mixed-up code letters at the bottom to ensure whatever wrong. My eyesight is fine and my brains till works, so I don't know what the problem was. I hope he wins, regardless.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: John Hardly
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 10:33 AM

Maybe you should have stopped at signing it once.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: GUEST,Patrick Costello
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 12:16 PM

I don't have anything against Pete - but putting him in the same ranks as Martin Luther King and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi strikes me as pretty stupid.


-Patrick

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 12:22 PM

It wouldn't take it the first time, John. Good grief!

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Stringsinger
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 12:28 PM

If they can give it to Kissinger, what is it worth?

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 12:32 PM

About ten million last year.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Wolfgang
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 12:33 PM

BTW, Gandhi is the most prominent non-winner of the Nobel prize for peace.

In a year in which Paris Hilton is mentioned for this prize support for Seeger doesn't look like a particularly bad idea.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 12:36 PM

Paris Hilton? For what? Flashin' her tits?

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Wesley S
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 12:43 PM

Perhaps they thought it was the Nobel "piece" prize.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: open mike
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 01:25 PM

over 4 thousand signatures now.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 02:46 PM

Third try was a charm.:-)

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: rich-joy
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 01:30 AM

I had three goes, Kat - and then gave up - even wrote an email to the petition mob about the difficulty, but haven't heard anything back!!!


... certainly hope Pete gets a Gong, though!!!



Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 01:42 AM

I s'pose it's just USers that can sign?

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: NormanD
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 07:53 AM

"I s'pose it's just USers that can sign?"
No, I signed from the UK. The Peace Prize is an international recognition.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 05:21 PM

I know, Norman, but the petition says its objective is "To persuade American Friends Service Committee....", that's why I wondered. But if it accepts your signature, I'll give it a go too.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Cool Beans
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 06:59 PM

I've been to many a Pete Seeger concert. His heart and mind are in the right place, except when he's been duped (cf. Tawana Brawley) but the Nobel Peace Prize? The thing they give to people who've been under house arrest because they spoke truth to power? To people who've brokered cease-fire agreements? To doctors who treat people in the world's hellholes?
This Pete for Peace effort reminds me of Tom Lehrer's great line:
"In the fight against poverty, war and injusice--Ready, Aim, Sing!"

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: guitar
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 07:01 PM

about time

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Stringsinger
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 07:06 PM

It would be nice to see Pete make the money. He would probably give it all away to a worthy cause.
Frank

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 09:19 PM

"I Have Sung in Hobo Jungles, and I Have Sung for the Rockefellers":

Pete Seeger Refuses to "Sing" for HUAC

During the Cold War era, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) interrogated more than 3,000 government officials, labor union leaders, teachers, journalists, entertainers, and others. They wanted to purge Communists, former Communists, and "fellow travelers" who refused to renounce their past and inform on associates from positions of influence within American society. Among the Committee's targets were performers at events held in support of suspect organizations. Pete Seeger acquired a love of American folk music while traveling through the South in the 1930s with his father, a musicologist and classical composer, and as an employee in the Library of Congress' Archive of American Folk Song. As a folksinger motivated by concerns for social justice, cross-cultural communication, and international peace, Seeger performed songs from diverse sources to many kinds of audiences, and in 1948 campaigned for Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace as part of the folk music organization People's Songs. In the following testimony before HUAC, Seeger refused to invoke the Fifth Amendment, protecting citizens from self-incrimination. Instead he insisted that the Committee had no right to question him regarding his political beliefs or associations. This strategy resulted in prison terms for contempt of Congress for the Hollywood Ten in 1947. Seeger himself was sentenced to a year in prison for contempt, but the verdict was reversed in 1962. Nevertheless, Seeger remained on a network television blacklist until the late 1960s.

The interrogation and Mr Seeger's answers are here. Let's see who among us will behave the same when we are called.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Mike Miller
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 12:51 AM

I bow to no man in my regard for Pete Seeger as a folksinger and as a commited idealogue. Pete has identified with those he saw as victims and, for his sincerity, he deserves recognition. He has not, however, had a significant affect on world peace. This is not because he didn't want to, but because he, usually, sang "to the choir" and because, as much as we would like to think that folksingers are important, they ain't. Except for his commendable efforts on behalf of the Hudson River, Pete has had very little affect on the world outside of music. When well meaning Mudcatters tout Pete for the Nobel, they are seeing him as their representative. If he is important, so are we.
Pete may, well, be eligable for a Nobel Prize in the arts. That would be, both, pleasent and appropriate.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 01:47 AM

"When well meaning Mudcatters tout Pete for the Nobel, they are seeing him as their representative. If he is important, so are we."

I disagree, Mike. I would suggest that be amended to read "If he is important, so is the cause of peace."

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Mike Miller
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 09:32 AM

The cause of peace is so important that we should recognise the difference between sincere commitment (Seeger) and accomplishment (Ralph Bunch). Whether we like it or not, those in positions of power are most able to shape policy and determine the peace. Pete has never been in a position that allowed him that power. Anwar Sadat was. So was MLK. So is Rep. Murtha and, so will be whoever gets us out of this silly occupation in Iraq.
Pete Seeger is what he is, an important folksinger and leftist symbol. But, if one's politics are the determining factor for Nobel Peace prizes, I would, sooner, vote for Studs Terkel or Harry Golden.
The Nobel Prize is not awarded for sincerety or intent. It is given to recognise accomplishment. Thus, a Kissinger, who kept us mired in Vietnam, gets a Nobel for getting us out.(I know that sounds illogical but, let's face it, Pete Seeger, whose hands were unsoiled by the "Big Muddy" could not have done that).

                      Mike

Subject: BS: Pete Seeger for Nobel Peace Prize
From: Eleanor Walden
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 08:59 PM

PETE SEEGER FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
GETS 5000 SIGNATURES IN GRASSROOTS PETITION DRIVE: www.petitionthem.com

Pete Seeger is an ambassador for Peace and Social Justice and has been over the course of his 87year lifetime. As a prominent musician his songs and performance style have worked to engage other people, particularly the youth, in causes to end the Vietnam war, ban nuclear weapons, work for international solidarity, and ecological responsibility. It is time that cultural work receives the recognition that the arts have great influence and global reach, that it is not only a medium of entertainment but of education, compassion and fraternity. There is no more quintessential cultural worker than Pete Seeger.

Culture, in essence, means to honor our forbears. In the words of the Eastern European writer Milan Kundera: “ the struggle for people’s power is the struggle for memory and against forgettingâ€쳌. We all stand on Pete Seeger's shoulders in a manner of speaking. We have an opportunity to acknowledge him a "father" of many cultural, social, and political movements, which have enriched us all and in which we all share, as much as we share our parental DNA.

Pete’s unique sense of purpose, decency, and ability, and the support of, his wife Toshi, and his family gave him the opportunity to be all that he could be. Pete also had his mentors: among them Paul Robeson, who said: “The Artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice; I had no alternative.â€쳌

Cultural workers know the power of the arts; we also know how difficult it is to gain recognition for cultural creation. Pete Seeger has gained recognition without compromise! Carl Sandburg called Seeger "the living embodiment of America's traditions...." When Pete was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 they said, “Pete Seeger’s contribution to folk music, both in terms of its revival and survival, cannot be overstated.â€쳌 Pete was also honored by the Kennedy Center with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. In 2001 they again paid tribute to Pete Seeger with a cross generational presentation. The program featured friends and family including Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, grandson of Pete Seeger, and Sarah Lee Guthrie, granddaughter of Woody Guthrie. The songs, which Pete wrote or contributed to -- “We Shall Overcome,â€쳌 “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,â€쳌 and “The Big Muddy,â€쳌-- all anti-war anthems, have served as beacons for an entire generation.

Pete knit the world together with songs from China, the Soviet Union, Israel, Cuba, South Africa and republican Spain. We learned about the history of this country from his singing of songs from the, revolutionary war, the Farmer-Labor party, anti-slavery movements, IWW, and CIO organizing days.

It is the desire of the committee and the signers of the petition that we not be engaged in “forgetting,â€쳌 and in making the choice to “fight for freedomâ€쳌. This nomination puts those objectives in perspective.

Pete will be 88 years old May 3rd so there is urgency to this endeavor.

Contact: Eleanor Walden [e-mail]
510-848-6397

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 09:34 PM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 09:49 PM

I'm glad you refreshed this, Peace. I hadn't seen it the first time around. Some others won their peace prizes for channeling the flow. Mr. Seeger has rolled a boulder uphill, unceasingly. Let's tell him, "thanks".

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 09:52 PM

Mrzzy was looking for it. There is another thread on it, Bob, just started within the hour.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger for Nobel Peace Prize
From: Eleanor Walden
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 10:03 PM

PETE SEEGER FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
GETS 5000 SIGNATURES IN GRASSROOTS PETITION DRIVE: www.petitionthem.com

Pete Seeger is an ambassador for Peace and Social Justice and has been over the course of his 87year lifetime. As a prominent musician his songs and performance style have worked to engage other people, particularly the youth, in causes to end the Vietnam war, ban nuclear weapons, work for international solidarity, and ecological responsibility. It is time that cultural work receives the recognition that the arts have great influence and global reach, that it is not only a medium of entertainment but of education, compassion and fraternity. There is no more quintessential cultural worker than Pete Seeger.

Culture, in essence, means to honor our forbears. In the words of the Eastern European writer Milan Kundera: " the struggle for people's power is the struggle for memory and against forgetting". We all stand on Pete Seeger's shoulders in a manner of speaking. We have an opportunity to acknowledge him a "father" of many cultural, social, and political movements, which have enriched us all and in which we all share, as much as we share our parental DNA.

Pete's unique sense of purpose, decency, and ability, and the support of, his wife Toshi, and his family gave him the opportunity to be all that he could be. Pete also had his mentors: among them Paul Robeson, who said: "The Artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice; I had no alternative."

Cultural workers know the power of the arts; we also know how difficult it is to gain recognition for cultural creation. Pete Seeger has gained recognition without compromise! Carl Sandburg called Seeger "the living embodiment of America's traditions...." When Pete was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 they said, "Pete Seeger's contribution to folk music, both in terms of its revival and survival, cannot be overstated." Pete was also honored by the Kennedy Center with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. In 2001 they again paid tribute to Pete Seeger with a cross generational presentation. The program featured friends and family including Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, grandson of Pete Seeger, and Sarah Lee Guthrie, granddaughter of Woody Guthrie. The songs, which Pete wrote or contributed to -- "We Shall Overcome," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," and "The Big Muddy,"-- all anti-war anthems, have served as beacons for an entire generation.

Pete knit the world together with songs from China, the Soviet Union, Israel, Cuba, South Africa and republican Spain. We learned about the history of this country from his singing of songs from the, revolutionary war, the Farmer-Labor party, anti-slavery movements, IWW, and CIO organizing days.

It is the desire of the committee and the signers of the petition that we not be engaged in "forgetting," and in making the choice to "fight for freedom". This nomination puts those objectives in perspective.

Pete will be 88 years old May 3rd so there is urgency to this endeavor.

Contact: Eleanor Walden [e-mail]
510-848-6397

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 10:49 PM

What Bob the Postman said. Thanks, Peace!

It took me two shots. The letters in the confirmation code are pretty distorted and a bit hard to read.

Pete has been a steadfast, lifelong advocate of peace and social justice, and back in the McCarthy days, when he and the Weavers were well on the way to fame and fortune, he was willing to turn his back on all that rather than compromise his principles. And he became famous partially because of his unwillingness to compromise his beliefs.

Early on, I had the good luck and the privilege to be part of an all-night, informal "sit around on the floor and pass the guitar back and forth" type songfest with Pete, and his enthusiasm for the music is highly contagious. The guy is genuine.

He stood firm all his life when many others would have given up or given in. High time he got some official recognition and appreciation.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Pete Seeger for Nobel Peace Prize
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 10:53 PM

Yup. Signed it.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 10:55 PM

Don, I signed it with you.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Stringsinger
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 12:19 PM

Pete did offer to sing for the HUAC. "Wasn't That A Time". They didn't want to hear it.

He took the First which was truly courageous.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 09:47 PM

Aren't there maey Divisions of the Noble Peace Prize? Like Physics, Chemistry, Economics etc? Literature....

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 10:07 PM

"The Nobel Prize

Every year since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace. The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize. Each prize consists of a medal, personal diploma, and a cash award."

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 10:08 PM

Enthusiastically seconded.

A giant of our time and a musical statesman who, without going out of his way to do so, has shown with every syllable and every lick of his banjo what stunted criminals, appeasers and wretches his politician contemporaries are.

He's burnt out his life in selfless devotion trying to make the world the place we all hoped it would be. And still hope, despite tyrants who shake their iron rod, as a 200-year-old song puts it.

Bob

Subject: RE: Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival 2007
From: GUEST
Date: 09 May 07 - 10:54 AM

This isn't going to sit well with you Euro-liberals out there, but, though Pete Seeger has done many good things, I don't see how an avowed, unrepentant communist-- and a Stalinist to boot-- can possibly be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:36 PM

No, you don't see how.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: cshurtz
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:54 PM

As far as bashing Pete for being a Communist/Stalin supporter...I'm pretty sure if had he known the absolute truth about Stalin he would have quit the party sooner than he did. Those guys back then (the american communist) were just trying to help people in this country. They saw capitalism as the root problem (which it still is) and were inspired by the Russian Revolution. Sure, they might have had naive beliefs about the Soviet Union, but I'm sure alot of people also have naive beliefs about the USA. In my opinion, Pete is one of the great humanitarians of the past century ...right up there with MLK, or anyone else.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:05 PM

"...an avowed, unrepentant communist..."

You obviously do not know a thing about Pete Seeger.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: John Hardly
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:12 PM

My understanding -- and it's easy enough to research -- was that he did come to realize, in hindsight, his praise of Stalinist Russia as a mistake. And he apologized for it.

What's always driven me a little crazy is that "communist" is still seen by some as an unfair, inaccurate description of the man, even though he has been quite open to admit it.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:22 PM

It is because people do not understand what Communism was all about in America at that time.

It should also be noted that Pete left the party well before Stalin's attrocities were revealed.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: John Hardly
Date: 09 May 07 - 05:47 PM

"It is because people do not understand what Communism was all about in America at that time."

If that were the case, he need not have apologized.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 09 May 07 - 07:21 PM

He did not apologize for being a Communist, he apologized for believing in Stalin.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: John Hardly
Date: 09 May 07 - 08:26 PM

Then nobody should be criticized for pointing out that Seeger was a Communist nor for pointing out that he was a Stalinist (at one point). But most of what I've seen written about him makes it sound as though those who accused him of being a Communist were wrong. Acoustic Guitar Magazine did this a few years ago in an article on Seeger. They wrote about the history and referred to "his accusers" as though their accusations were vacuous. They were not.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 May 07 - 08:52 PM

"It should also be noted that Pete left the party"
When was that?
"well before Stalin's atrocities were revealed."
And when was that? They were revealed to different people at different times. Some heard about them from Koestler and Orwell. Others waited to be told by Khrushchev.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: Peace
Date: 09 May 07 - 11:33 PM

Seeger joined the CP in 1942. He left it in 1950, maybe 1952.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: cshurtz
Date: 10 May 07 - 01:15 AM

Not to turn this into a discussion about Communism, but I believe it is pretty clear that the presentation and dissemenation of folk music in this country would be completely different without the strong communist and communist culture community presence in the 1930s and 1940s. After all, Alan Lomax was not a card carrying member, but he was a sympathizer (something his father even argued with him about) and he presented radical songwriters as authentic examples of folk culture. It's hard for me to think about our representation of American folk music without giving a little knod to the United States Communist Party

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: GUEST,Mike B.
Date: 10 May 07 - 01:53 AM

Apparently there were a few folk singers who testified before HUAC and ratted on their fellow performers.

I won't name any of them here - merely note that the initials B.I. and J.W. come to mind.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger: Nomination for Nobel Peace
From: cshurtz
Date: 10 May 07 - 02:01 AM

Yes B.I and J.W named some names...as in his role in rudolf the red nose reindeer old B.I must have been more interested in the Silver and Gold