Sing globally, act locally
David Boulton reflects on a folk icon and a special era
For activist Friends of a certain age, the death of Pete Seeger in January at the age of ninety-four will have stirred many memories. Whether we marched to and from Aldermaston with Michael Foot and John Collins, or sat down in Trafalgar Square with Bertrand Russell, or picketed South Africa House with Peter Hain, or barricaded the American Embassy in support of Martin Luther King, Bayard Rustin and the leadership of the Civil Rights Movement, we found ourselves singing ‘We shall overcome’, ‘Where have all the flowers gone?’ ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ and half a dozen more of Pete’s inspirational songs. Quakers, Marxists and the faithful company of Britain’s radical dissenting tradition discovered its twentieth century anthems, and they remain wired in our heads – or is it our hearts?
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