Mayor Sheila Dixon’s pending resignation is a real tragedy both politically and personally.   

We don’t know the details of the bargain she made with the judge and the prosecutors, although that will all  come out shortly. My guess is that there will not be another trial and that she will fight to keep her  pension. I predict that she may run again in the future.

It is hard to say what a Stephanie Rawlings-Blake administration will be like. The hope is that she will  keep on some key personnel to make the transition easier for our city. However, rumors abound that Frederick  Bealefeld’s tenure as police commissioner will be short under acting Mayor Rawlings-Blake. Many feel that  the pending acting Mayor, along with her ally Governor Martin O’Malley, did want to see Bealefeld named  commissioner, that they favored former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey. The commissioner believes that  public safety comes first and that massive arrests are not the way to ensure the safety of the public. He is  a tough, smart cop who needs the years ahead of him to turn the culture of the department around.

I have questioned Mayor Dixon about her integrity on my program on such issues as voting on the Board of  Estimates to give contracts to Utech (a company that employed her sister), taking free tickets to an event  at 1st Mariner Arena, and awarding a computer contract to her campaign manager--if you remember, a contract  paid out in sums small enough to not have to be disclosed officially. But she was not indicted for any of  those events. She was indicted for perjury because she did not disclose fur coats given to her by her  boyfriend, albeit a contractor. She was found guilty of taking less than $600 in gift cards. What happened  in the state prosecutor's office that they could not indict her on issues of substance?!  

The mayor has made some bad personal blunders. But I don’t think they merit her going to jail or having to  resign. She should have apologized to this city, and the whole mess should have been a matter for an ethics  hearing that could have forced her to repay the money and face the voters. I find using gift cards meant for  poor children to be abhorrent, but it's hardly an offense worthy of resignation.

Having said that I do not think Mayor Dixon should go to jail over these offenses, I want to add that I  don’t think anyone else should, either. Thousands of people have languished in the Baltimore Detention  Center for stealing far less than the mayor did. This should be a call to reform our entire justice system.  

We will see what the administration of Stephanie Rawlings-Blake brings to us. More importantly, I hope we  see the people of this city bring something to her, to force some creative thinking about the problems we  face and to build our own dynamic future.

photo by Michael Cantor

Last Night's Elections

Woke up this morning to the headlines about last night’s elections. Republican wins for Governor in New Jersey and Virginia, gay marriage overturned in Maine and the much ballyhooed battle over the 23^rd New York Congressional District was a lesson about the future of Republican conservatism.

The elections in NJ and Virgina should be a wake up call to the Obama White House and Democratic leadership. I fear they won’t be. American voters put Obama into office because they had real hope that it was not going to be politics as usual. Many feel their hopes are being dashed.

In Virginia, enough of a portion of Obama’s base among progressives, young people and African Americans stayed home to hand a defeat to an uninspiring and lackluster Democratic candidate and campaign.

In New Jersey, a Democratic Governor with deep ties to Goldman Sachs and Wall Street (much like Obama's inner circle) went down to defeat in a failing economy, unemployment, distrust of corporate capitalists, and disappointment in the hopes that he was a reformer.

In New York City, Bloomberg barely won for the exact same reasons that Corzine lost.

It is interesting that even though most Americans say they are satisfied with their health insurance, a majority of Americans, 56% at the least, want a strong public option. A majority of Americans are upset or very angry at a bail out and stimulus that seems to be going to the financial industry and not touching the lives of ordinary people. Citizens are worried about their jobs, paying for the needs of their children, the rising cost and intensity of just living normal lives day to day. The economic issues, not health care, are the issue gripping America.

The defeat in New York shows that, even in Republican districts, the harsh, mean spirited, hate-filled, conservative, Fox-fueled, Limbaugh, crippled point of view is an anathema to most Americans.

What Obama and the Democrats need to learn from this is that many Americans are upset that he has come into office and conducted things as his predecessors would have done. He is surrounded by Wall Street and the financial industry interests seem to be cleaning up with our money, killing new regulations to safeguard people, and none of the stimulus money is going to jobs or saving our homes from foreclosures.

What they need do have done is to have fought for a public option to counter the interest of insurance and pharmaceuticals. A very simple, straight forward message of health reform that would have inspired Obama’s millions to back him and force Congress to respond.

I fear the message they will hear from this is to play the same conciliatory game even harder than they have done before. The uninspired will not inspire us to support them.

Gay Marriage Referendum

We have come a long way since we thought sweet Uncle Harry was a little light in his loafers and spinster Aunt Peggy was just a little different than the rest of us. A majority of Americans have come to accept an open gay and lesbian world and support equal rights for gays and lesbian. But most of our citizens are not ready for gay marriage. It might have passed in Vermont, or San Francisco, or New York City, or Eugene, Oregon, even in Salt Lake City. The young and the urban cosmopolitan worlds are there. The battle will continue, it just might take a little longer.

(WARNING: You may find the images of death and violence contained below disturbing.  Please do not scroll down if you do not wish to see them.)

I received this post from our colleague, William Kern, the Managing Editor of WORLDMEETS.US, last night, before the images hit the newspapers this morning.  It is part of this continuing dialogue with his friend and colleague in Iran.  Below is their very moving and telling conversation via Skype.  

While the world of the web, Twitter and Facebook, may be driving this Iranian revolt in ways we could not imagine forty years ago, or even 5 years ago, it is part of a tradition that is much older and deeper.

In my lifetime it is connected to the 1956 revolt in Hungary against the Soviet Union’s domination of their nation.   The world watched in awe, but that is all we did was watch, as the Soviet troops and tanks mowed down the resistance fighters and crushed their revolution.  The same thing happened again in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1968, when lovers of freedom stood up against the Soviets demanding freedom.   At that time it was part of a worldwide revolutionary movement for change that grew out of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960’s here in America.   We had our own standoffs with the police and the establishment powers of our nation, which used its federal power through efforts like COINTELPRO to intimidate and murder those who stood against the war and racism.  

In recent years, we have seen Tiananmen Square and the demonstrations in China in 1989, the bursts of Burmese resistance in 2007 against their own tyranny, and the Tibetans demanding freedom from the Chinese government.   We could see all these as defeats; I suppose in their immediate aftermath they felt like stunning losses.  

Having been part of movements like this in my past I understand the intensity, passion and power of those moments.   How quickly events change around you.   How the spirit of resistance kept your spirits high enough to face any response.   Even when you knew the moment was lost, you could not back down to the might around you.

If the Iranian rebellion is crushed, it will not be a defeat.  It is a part of a continuum of resistance to tyranny and working to create a culture of justice and human rights in our world.   Every such powerful moment widens the cracks in the weakening walls of oppression.  It sows seeds for the power of change in generations to follow.

Already in Iran we are seeing deep divides, even within the ruling circles of the theocracy.  Who knows how all this will unfold in the days ahead?

The photograph and Skype dialogue below shows us the power of this moment.  The photo itself should sear itself into the consciousness of the world as a symbol of why we stand for freedom.

-marc

(The name of the Iranian has been removed to protect his identity.)

[12:45:35 AM] willkern: Are you alright, ________?
[12:50:06 AM] ________: hi
[12:50:09 AM] ________: i am ok
[12:50:20 AM] willkern: Vey good
[12:50:23 AM] willkern: very good
[12:50:32 AM] ________: but yesterday was horrible
[12:50:57 AM] willkern: We have all been holding our breath since the Supremo's speech
[12:51:17 AM] willkern: You are not alone - the whole world is riveted
[12:51:22 AM] ________: even my brother received club strokes
[12:51:40 AM] willkern: These will be very treacherous weeks
[12:51:50 AM] willkern: But I state the obvious
[12:51:58 AM] ________: and a young girl was killed
[12:52:36 AM] willkern: We have seen the photos - you would be amazed by the torrent of information that's getting out, my friend
[12:52:50 AM] ________: yes
[12:52:57 AM] willkern: This is all happening in the open
[12:52:57 AM] ________: this is the facebook revolution
[12:53:00 AM] ________: twitter revolution
[12:53:37 AM] ________: regimes is trying to restrict the routes connecting us to teh world
[12:53:42 AM] willkern: Power never concedes without a fight
[12:53:48 AM] ________: yes
[12:53:58 AM] ________: and Mousavi announced he is prepared to be killed
[12:54:00 AM] willkern: It will not end easily - it is a war of wills
[12:54:17 AM] willkern: I know - it's quite a dramatic development
[12:54:22 AM] ________: I don't really know how much he will come with people
[12:54:34 AM] ________: but he has taken these few steps well
[12:54:39 AM] willkern: He has become a symbol that even he has little control over
[12:54:48 AM] ________: Khatami lost similar opportunities ten years ago
[12:55:08 AM] ________: Khatami did not have the courage to call the people to streets
[12:55:13 AM] ________: but Musavi could
[12:55:19 AM] ________: and this is an advantage
[12:55:40 AM] willkern: I'm going crazy looking for content about Iran AND the United States
[12:55:50 AM] ________: http://aghaejaze.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/neda2.jpg?w=468&h=269

[12:56:02 AM] ________: she is the girl who was shot dead
[12:56:08 AM] ________: look at her eyes
[12:56:12 AM] ________: a world of hope
[12:56:20 AM] willkern: ________ - all of our news coverage has her face blurred
[12:56:22 AM] ________: and love for freedom is waving in her eyes
 [12:56:54 AM] ________: yes I see footage in some tvs
[12:57:03 AM] ________: they have done so
[12:57:36 AM] ________: this story has brought all Iranians under a single flag
[12:57:51 AM] ________: even the Iranians who never engaged in politics in Europe and US
[12:58:00 AM] ________: are now express sympathy
[12:58:08 AM] ________: these are great days in our history
[12:58:14 AM] willkern: But ________ - what about among the poor? It is said that Ahmadinejad has tremendous support among the least advantaged and educated
[12:58:36 AM] ________: well I think the movement has spread from the north of Tehran
[12:58:39 AM] ________: to the center
 [12:58:59 AM] ________: and may spread to poorer slums
[12:59:17 AM] ________: but it is natural that in small towns and villages there is no considerable movement
[12:59:24 AM] ________: I have experienced another revolution
[12:59:27 AM] ________: in 1979
[12:59:39 AM] ________: the wave of movement reaches these parts lately
[12:59:46 AM] willkern: Look ________ - I am glad you are still in one piece - but this could be the most dangerous time - so let's not talk politics
[12:59:56 AM] ________: and conservative people in these parts usually wait and see
[1:00:05 AM] ________: they like to be assured of the balance of power
[1:00:11 AM] willkern: The crackdomn is likely to get much worse before it gets better
[1:00:15 AM] ________: ok
[1:00:19 AM] willkern: crackdown ..
[1:00:40 AM] willkern: I want you to know that billions support you --
[1:00:41 AM] ________: The crackdown will produce a reverse result
[1:00:54 AM] ________: thank you
[1:00:58 AM] ________: this is a cause of humanity
[1:01:02 AM] ________: not just we Iranians
[1:01:06 AM] ________: the Chinese
[1:01:13 AM] ________: people in Burma
[1:01:18 AM] willkern: This may take some time - but this could the beginning
[1:01:23 AM] ________: in every other country
[1:01:27 AM] willkern: of a great change
[1:01:32 AM] ________: yes
[1:01:42 AM] ________: this time the people may be defeated
[1:01:52 AM] ________: but they have taken a step forward
[1:02:00 AM] willkern: There is no way to know - because the leadership is split
[1:02:05 AM] ________: and this defeat is different from the previous one
[1:02:10 AM] willkern: Now take care my friend -
[1:02:14 AM] ________: ok
[1:02:22 AM] ________: thank you for your consideration
[1:02:33 AM] ________: we thank everybody who follow up our situation
[1:02:43 AM] willkern: Take the least possible risk, ________
[1:02:50 AM] ________: ok
[1:03:02 AM] willkern: I know you will do what you think is right
[1:03:08 AM] ________: I would have liked to be on the field on Saturday
[1:03:19 AM] ________: but my mother begged me not to go
 [1:03:38 AM] ________: though she herself went to the demonstration
[1:03:40 AM] willkern: If I were in your shoes - I do not know what I would do
[1:03:56 AM] ________: she says she can never come from this prison to that
[1:04:01 AM] ________: as she did for ten years
[1:04:14 AM] willkern: She is a brave lady
[1:04:19 AM] ________: yes
[1:04:31 AM] ________: in 60s she still like to be with the youth in actions
[1:04:38 AM] willkern: Do what you think will do the most good, my friend
[1:04:46 AM] ________: ok
[1:04:49 AM] willkern: Right
[1:04:53 AM] ________: of course I always think of your advice
[1:05:13 AM] willkern: For my part - I am working on an article from the French on the crisis and will post it soon.
[1:05:25 AM] ________: ok
[1:05:31 AM] willkern: Go with God my friend
[1:05:34 AM] ________: I’d like to read it when you’re finished
[1:05:39 AM] ________: tnx
[1:05:46 AM] ________: take care friend
[1:05:49 AM] ________: bye for now
[1:05:57 AM] willkern: You know where to find me
[1:06:06 AM] ________: yes I know
[1:06:06 AM] ________: always
[1:06:17 AM] ________: I also have a facebook page
[1:06:23 AM] ________: you can visit it
[1:06:25 AM] willkern: What is it>
[1:06:27 AM] willkern: ?
[1:06:38 AM] willkern: I will share it
[1:06:43 AM] ________: I have it with real name
[1:06:50 AM] ________: ________
[1:06:54 AM] willkern: I'll share it if you want me to
[1:07:00 AM] ________: yes
[1:07:02 AM] ________: waiting for u
[1:07:21 AM] ________: what is your facebook Id?
[1:07:46 AM] willkern: William Kern
[1:07:55 AM] ________: i will add u
[1:08:05 AM] willkern: Please do, my friend.
[1:08:07 AM] ________: ok
[1:08:13 AM] ________: well i must go
[1:08:18 AM] ________: bye
[1:08:20 AM] willkern: I don’t look at it too often - but more and more lately
[1:08:21 AM] ________: dear will
[1:08:27 AM] willkern: Until we meet again
[1:08:38 AM] ________: with hope
[1:08:43 AM] ________: hope never dies
[1:08:45 AM] ________: bye
[1:09:29 AM] willkern: Talk to you soon, my friend.

Update: Here is a subsequent conversation they had earlier today.

[10:43:45 AM] willkern: ________ - are you and your family alright?
[10:44:10 AM] ________: yes
[10:44:15 AM] ________: I am all right
[10:44:17 AM] ________: how are u?
[10:44:38 AM] ________: only my sister and brother lashed by security forces on Saturday
[10:44:41 AM] ________: and nothing else
[10:44:50 AM] willkern: I'm working every moment to find more content I can post
[10:45:20 AM] ________: unfortunately my facebook faces errors so that i can't add you
[10:45:23 AM] willkern: We are all thinking about you and watching
[10:45:35 AM] ________: this trouble I think is for the restrictions imposed by regime
[10:45:40 AM] willkern: There will be a time for that
[10:45:46 AM] ________: yes
[10:45:54 AM] ________: here the girl NEDA
[10:46:00 AM] ________: has turned to be the symbol of the movement
[10:46:06 AM] ________: that poor innocent girl
[10:46:15 AM] willkern: I posted the picture and video in the last story I posted
[10:46:22 AM] ________: thank you very much
[10:46:34 AM] ________: we need a global campaign in support of Iran
[10:46:44 AM] willkern: I have received three or four e-mails from people about that
[10:46:48 AM] ________: I admire Americans and Europeans for their sympathy
[10:47:04 AM] willkern: Oh believe me, ________ - you have a global campaign
[10:47:19 AM] ________: BBC Persian covers the events broadly
[10:47:31 AM] willkern: Can you read it?
[10:47:31 AM] ________: as well as Aljazeera Alarabiya etc
 [10:47:48 AM] ________: your article?
[10:47:58 AM] willkern: BBC Persia
[10:48:06 AM] ________: yes
[10:48:13 AM] ________: we have satellite receivers here
[10:48:21 AM] ________: this is the best source for us
[10:48:30 AM] willkern: I hear that BBC Persia has started adding satellites to make sure the signal gets through
[10:48:50 AM] ________: it had to move from Hotbird to other satellite transponders
[10:49:04 AM] ________: and we receive it through Nile Sat
[10:49:28 AM] ________: today the workers installing satellite receivers equipment have a brisk market :D
[10:49:46 AM] ________: people are decisive to break this news boycott
[10:50:04 AM] willkern: How does it feel in the street now?
[10:50:16 AM] ________: today streets were relatively calm
[10:50:20 AM] willkern: Can you walk around freely?
[10:50:28 AM] ________: tomorrow the people may gather in two squares of Tehran
[10:50:47 AM] ________: sparodic clashes happend but not as broad as saturday
[10:50:57 AM] ________: you can see pics on news.gooya.com
[10:51:07 AM] ________: it is of course Farsi-language
[10:51:23 AM] willkern: I will look at that
[10:51:33 AM] ________: http://news.gooya.com/didaniha/archives/2009/06/089690.php
[10:51:35 AM] willkern: I discovered yesterday ________ =-
[10:51:49 AM] ________: this shows that even some clerics have joined the demonstration
[10:51:56 AM] willkern: That Google now has a machine translator for Persian
[10:52:13 AM] ________: yes
[10:52:30 AM] ________: and i heard google has made it possible to see tehran streets online
[10:52:49 AM] ________: http://news.gooya.com/didaniha/archives/2009/06/089608.php
[10:52:54 AM] willkern: Google Earth?
[10:53:09 AM] ________: yesterday BBC showed footages from Tohid Sq. in Tehran
[10:53:26 AM] ________: it was unbelievable how people stormed adn police had to retriet
[10:53:29 AM] willkern: I will use these photos
 [10:53:38 AM] ________: this has happened for the first time in the last 30 years
[10:53:52 AM] ________: I think it is through Google earth
[10:53:54 AM] willkern: How do you feel inside, my friend
[10:54:19 AM] ________: one min excuse me
[10:58:01 AM] willkern: Wow - these pictures are amazing. Iranian women are incredibly brave
[10:58:33 AM] ________: yes
[10:58:43 AM] ________: Iranian women are true heroes
[10:59:06 AM] ________: they save men from police
[10:59:29 AM] ________: a writer has told the new iranian revolution is a woman revoution
[10:59:45 AM] ________: this struggle may be defeated again
[10:59:52 AM] ________: but people learned many things
[10:59:56 AM] ________: and experienced new things
[11:00:09 AM] ________: they believed their power and overcame their fear
[11:00:51 AM] ________: http://news.gooya.com/didaniha/archives/2009/06/089610.php
[11:01:16 AM] willkern: ________ - I just hope that the power struggle with the leadership is resolved in favor of change
[11:01:34 AM] willkern: Look ________ - you stay as safe as possible. I have to go back to work and make use of all this
[11:01:43 AM] ________: http://news.gooya.com/didaniha/archives/2009/06/089663.php
[11:02:00 AM] ________: and this picture has this caption: The photo the shook the world!

[11:02:09 AM] willkern: That picture is particularly striking
[11:02:41 AM] willkern: Thank you for the links my friend.
[11:02:56 AM] willkern: I'll be here all day working
[11:07:18 AM] ________: ok, have nice time but take care of yourself
[11:07:22 AM] ________: be healthy and happy
[11:07:29 AM] ________: I should go William
[11:07:37 AM] ________: bye

We're looking for a new intern to help with production work for The Marc Steiner Show.  Note that this position is unpaid.  For more info, contact Justin Levy at justin@steinershow.org.

photo by Michael Cantor

Pete Seeger turned 90 on May 3^rd. They threw him a 90^th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. He is an American icon, a national treasure that embodies the heart of the great American soul of liberty and justice for all.

For more than 70 years he has been singing about freedom, justice, civil rights, human rights, for the workers, for the environment. Wherever someone struggled for freedom in America, Pete was there. On Barack Obama’s Inauguration he sang with Bruce Springsteen and closed out the event with every stanza of “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie. He fearlessly and to the glee of the revelers included the long unused stanza that called for the “breeching of the wall of private property.” He bounded off the stage like a man forty years younger. He was hugged and greeted by the new President.

He lives his beliefs as he sings them. When Senator Joe McCarthy and his dreaded House Un-American Activities Committee came after him, he refused to cooperate. He was blackballed and banned for ten years. He said “I don’t give a shit about my career.” When he returned, the Smothers Brothers brought him back to TV. He sang the anti-war and freedom folk song “Waste Deep in the Big Muddy.”

When he helped make Huddie Leadbetter’s, (aka Leadbelly’s), “Good Night Irene” into a hit, he made sure that Leadbelly got the royalties. He did the same for the family of Solomon Linda who wrote the African Freedom song that everyone sang in the fifties, sixties and seventies that became a rock‘n’roll hit, “Wimoweh.” He could have stolen the proceeds of the royalties and kept them for himself, as so many of the unscrupulous did to Black performers. Not Pete Seeger; he lives his life by his word, by work, by his politics, by his beliefs.

I first saw him as a young civil right worker singing with the Freedom Singers in Mississippi, a young Bob Dylan by his side. I grew up with his folk music because my mother always played him.

They say he has memorized more songs than any performer alive. Whenever he hears of a struggle for human rights in America, for the poor, for the infirmed, for our earth, he is there at 90. On his banjo, that he has had for over 60 years, are written the words “this Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces it to Surrender.”

He has become a sage. When asked why, in the face of so much opposition, of so many backward turns and some say the hopelessness of the causes he believes, why does he keep singing, pushing and fighting for justice, he gives a New Testament parable about a soldier who with his sword slashes open a bag of seeds. Some fall on the rocks and die, some seeds drown in the water, some are crushed under foot, but some fall onto fertile ground. They sink into the soil and grow a thousand fold. That is who we are he says. He knows the fight for freedom, for a just world is endless, and that every song we sing, every word we write, every story we tell, every oppression that is pushed aside brings more people to a better world and one day the fertile soil will win.

Peter Seeger, one of the few heroes I have in life …. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!