Solidarity

It is back to school, back to work. There is a bit of protest in the air. Last night my son dutifully wrapped his textbooks in old Korte's grocery bags (rather than buy the book covers at Target), and listened to his sister's album from Sage Francis, and you can practically read his mind: Where did summer go?

In the Boundary Waters, we dined elegantly:
*Salmon and Rosemary Pasta
*Potato Pancakes
*Spinach and Cheese Tortellini with Pesto Sauce
*Asiago cheese and smoked oysters, along with red wine
for “happy hour” on The Rock. We even splurged and brought along these nifty picnic glasses.

But now back home we're packing Sad Sack lunches for back-to-school, back-to-work: turkey and mayo on wheat, Cool Ranch Doritos for the kid, last night’s leftovers in Rubbermaid for the hubbie and me--and I doth protest. I don't want to sit inside today! Though I’m facing a tight deadline I still vow at least to bring my lunch outside and watch the sky.

But my protests are small and silly. Yellow taxicab drivers are striking in New York. Something about the demand that they install GPS units and ways to accept credit cards from their customers. A few days ago those in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward protested the debilitating lack of progress on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Clerical, technical, and health workers are striking at the U. Seems even profs who teach “Labor Struggles in Developing Countries” are being told by the administration to do nothing public about the strike that will disrupt the normal flow of classes. My daughter’s feminist theory class and instructor are planning to join the picket line Thursday.

I haven’t walked a picket line myself but I know my mother, who worked in the tradebook section of the University of North Dakota bookstore, fought for better wages. Mine have been only little acts of defiance. Once, in high school, we girls protested the school’s policy of unannounced “purse checks.” The administration was on the lookout for cigarettes and drugs. They’d call in girls and ask them to dump the contents of their purses onto the main office counter. So we contacted as many girls as we could and asked them to pack their purses with tampons—and nothing else. Sure enough, three of us were called in at once and the look of the vice principal’s face when these bundles of white sticks came tumbling out of our handbags was right out of Ferris Bueller.

If you’re stuck at your desk on this sunny day and feel the pulse of protest, large or small, past or present, pull up a good protest soundtrack. Though not specifically "protest," I always like a little Pink Floyd, especially their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Here’s some help: In the American Sociological Association- sponsored journal Contexts, the editors compile a list of "essential protest songs."

There are 14 songs on the list including standards as "We Shall Overcome," Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin' " and the 1930s union anthem "Which Side Are You On?"

"Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Lyrics by James Weldon Johnson; music by J. Rosamand Johnson. Key lyric: “We have come over a way that with tears has been watered / We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.” Known as the “Black National Anthem”—the antidote to “America, the Beautiful.”

“Which Side Are You On?”
By Florence Reece. “Don’t scab for the bosses, don’t listen to their lies / Us poor folks haven’t got a chance unless we organize.” Written during the labor struggles in Harlan County, Kentucky, in the 1930s, it was later adopted by the civil rights movement.

“Strange Fruit”
Performed by Billie Holiday. By Abel Meeropol (who later adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg). “Pastoral scene of the gallant south / The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth.” A chilling protest against lynching. Maybe the greatest protest song of all time.

“Pastures of Plenty”
By Woody Guthrie. “Every state in this union us migrants has been /‘Long the edge of your cities you’ll see us, and then / We’ve come with the dust and we’re gone in the wind.” Guthrie’s ode to America’s migrant workers.

“The Times They Are A-Changin’”
By Bob Dylan. “There’s a battle outside and it’s raging / It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.” Tough call between this and Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Only a Pawn in Their Game,” “Masters of War,” “With God on Our Side,” etc., etc.

“We Shall Overcome”
Adapted from a gospel song, the anthem of the civil rights movement. “Deep in my heart, I do believe / We shall overcome some day.” Infinitely adaptable.

“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round”Also adapted from a Negro spiritual. “I’m gonna keep on walkin’, keep on talkin’ / Fightin’ for my equal rights.” Another powerful civil rights anthem.

“I Ain’t Marching Anymore”
By Phil Ochs. “It’s always the old to lead us to the war / It’s always the young to fall / Now look at all we’ve won with the saber and the gun / Tell me is it worth it all?” An antiwar classic, complete with a revisionist history of American militarism.

“For What It’s Worth”
Performed by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. By Stephen Stills. “There’s something happening here / What it is ain’t exactly clear / There’s a man with a gun over there / Telling me I’ve got to beware.” Eerily foreboding.

“Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)”
By James Brown. “Now we demand a chance to do things for ourself / We’re tired of beatin’ our head against the wall and workin’ for someone else.” A Black Power anthem by the Godfather of Soul.

“Respect”
Performed by Aretha Franklin. By Otis Redding. “I ain’t gonna do you wrong while you’re gone / Ain’t gonna do you wrong ‘cause I don’t wanna / All I’m askin’ is for a little respect when you come home.” The personal is political.

“Redemption Song”
By Bob Marley. “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery / None but ourselves can free our minds.” Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” is also a contender.

“Imagine”
By John Lennon. “Imagine no possessions / I wonder if you can / No need for greed or hunger / A brotherhood of man.” Lennon as utopian socialist.

“Fight the Power”
By Public Enemy. “Got to give us what we want / Gotta give us what we need / Our freedom of speech is freedom or death / We got to fight the powers that be.” An exuberant hip-hop call to arms.