On April 26, 2012, 40,000 Norwegian people came together to sing a beloved children’s song Barn av regnbuen (Children of the Rainbow), which is a translation of Pete Seeger’s song, My Rainbow Race. They did this in response to the claim by horrific mass-murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, that the song indoctrinated the children of Norway — to love and accept everyone via multiculturalism. I won’t try to make sense of the diseased brain of Brevik.
The song, which promotes and hails multiculturalism, was performed by [Lillebjørn] Nilsen and a crowd of more than 40,000 people in Youngstorget in Oslo, on April 26, 2012, as part of a protest march against the actions of Anders Behring Breivik after the July 22 attacks in 2011. The performance was arranged as a Facebook event by two volunteers after Breivik claimed, during his trial, that the song was being used to “brainwash” Norwegian children. The song was thus performed a few days later, in the midst of the ongoing trial, followed by a march up to the site of the trial, where the crowd laid down flowers.
They came together, not in hate or to spite Brevik, but to take back their much-beloved song. A mass murderer would not be allowed to define the intent of the song, nor would he be allowed to turn them into fearful, distrustful people.
The United States understood this in the days following September 11, 2001. Then the hate-mongerers and corporate profit machine decided that there was more money in making and keeping the people scared out of their wits. So many of us, beaten down by years and years of joblessness and fear generated by the seemingly endless economic downturn, fell for the scape-goating tactics of the hate merchants, and our society continues to suffer to this day.
As a people, Americans need to put aside our fear, hate, and distrust, in order to fight back against the profit-driven machine that is destroying us. We have never before been so divided as a nation, and I don’t care what they say on Fox (hate-mongering corporate profit machine) or any other corporate-owned media says, President Obama is not the one dividing us.
Ben Franklin said it best, although in a different context: “We must hang together, gentlemen…else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.”
I am sick of the death spiral of this country, and I want to stop it. We — all of us together — need to take this country back from the ruling class. How can we do it?
Shall we sing? What song would bring us together as a nation?
PS: I just saw that Rachel Maddow covered this on her show last night! Best thing in the world!
This is our daily open thread — TGIF!
TheZoo 