If I
Had A Hammer: Songs Of Hope & Struggle (CD), by Pete Seeger.
Released May 19, 1998. Songs of hope and struggle from America's favorite left-wing
folksinger. Music samples from the CD and a music review are provided by
Amazon.com.
Peace
is the World Smiling: A Peace Anthology For Families (CD), by many
artists. Warm and friendly multicultural folk music for kids of all ages advocating
peace, love, and ecology. Music samples from the CD are provided by
Amazon.com
The
Harder They Come (CD), by Jimmy Cliff. Spirited rebellious reggae music
from Jamaica. The soundtrack from the 1973 film "The Harder They
Come". Music samples from the CD and a music review are provided by Amazon.com.
Missing, starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek, directed by Constantin
Costa-Gavras.
If you're wondering why people want to put Pinochet on trial for crimes against
humanity, this video will fill you in. In
1973, after a prolonged political conflict, General Pinochet militarily
overthrow the democratically elected government of Chili with aid of ITT and the
CIA. According to Juntas United, "Pinochet's army invaded
Santiago, the capital, bombed the presidential palace and began systematically
torturing and exterminating the people who worked for Salvador Allende's elected
government." Juntas United estimates that 10% of the
population fled the country within 5 years.
Reviewed by Amazon.com.
Romero,
starring: Raul Julia, et al., directed by John Duigan. The
U.S. government led by then-President Ronald Reagan spent at least 4 billion
dollars funding the death-squad government of El Salvador in the 1980s.
This story documents the repression, Salvadorean Roman Catholic Archbishop
Romero's brave humane attempt to stop the escalating military violence, and his
assassination by a right-wing death squad while he was preaching a sermon in church
. I have heard an estimate that at least 20% of the Salvadorean
people fled to the U.S. in response to military repression and El Salvador's civil
war. (As a side note, when
500 people (including myself) were arrested and jailed in a massive nonviolent
civil disobedience in front of the White House on the tenth anniversary of
Archbishop Romero's assassination, the mainstream media ignored it. As we
watched the TV news from our jail cell, we didn't see our protest recorded in
the news. I do recall their lead story- that Redskin Dexter Manley had
been busted for coke. My complaint to the Washington Post Ombudsman
Richard Harwood got the response "demonstrations are passé."
The police, on the other hand, deployed in force, seemed to think it was a large
protest, and I heard some of them reminisce about the large anti-war May Day
protest back in the early 70's.)
Reviewed by Amazon.com
The
Good Fight, starring Mary Dore and Sam Sills, directed by Noel Buckner.
Documents the fight of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade- 3,200 Americans who
volunteered to fight fascism in Spain in the late 1930's before the fascists
started WWII. By the way,
George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway both volunteered to fight fascism in Spain. Reviewed by
Amazon.com. Also
reviewed by Reel.com.
Out of print. King, starring Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson, directed by
Abby Mann. A made-for-TV movie documenting the life and untimely death of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Currently out of print, but you can probably rent a copy
from a video store or library.
Under
Fire, starring Gene Hackman and Nick Nolte, directed by Roger
Spottiswoode.
This movie, while not a documentary, tells the story of the Nicaraguan
revolution from the perspective of U.S. journalists. After
the successful Nicaraguan revolution, Archbishop Oscar Romero
played a valiant but unsuccessful role in trying to halt military and right-wing
paramilitary abuses of power in El Salvador. I listed his movie under
repression because he was martyred instead of successful.
Reviewed by Amazon.com. Also
reviewed by Reel.com
Spiral-bound
edition.
Paperback
edition. Rise Up
Singing: The Group Singing Songbook, by Peter Blood, spiral bound
edition, convenient for use as a songbook. (Also available in a paperback
non-spiral bound edition.) Words, chords, and sources to 12,000 songs,
including a variety of political songs. Reviewed by Amazon.com.
Songs
of Work and Protest, by Edith Fowke & Joe Glazer. 100 favorite
songs of American workers complete with music and historical notes. Reviewed by Amazon.com.
Sing
for Freedom, by Guy Carawan. The story of the civil rights movement
through its songs. (This book contains many more songs than Everybody
Says Freedom.)
Everybody
Says Freedom, by Pete Seeger and Bob Reiser. Music, pictures, and
stories from the civil rights movement. (This book contains plenty of stories and
pictures, but far fewer songs than Sing
for Freedom.) Reviewed by Amazon.com.
Out of print. The
Raging Grannies Songbook, edited by Jean McLaren and Heide Brown.
Published in 1993. 102 home-made protest songs to the tune of popular songs by the
Raging Grannies, who are free-spirited Canadian protesters. Their songs are about
saving the environment, peace, protesting, speaking out, and other left-wing political
causes. Reviewed by Amazon.com.
