I pledge allegiance: No one used to complain when schoolkids reciting the Pledge would mutter creative alternatives: "... of the United Snakes of a merry cow, and to the Republicans for which they scam, one nacho underpants." But when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Wednesday that the phrase "under God" made the pledge temporarily unconstitutional, politicians practically drooled over themselves to prove that they wouldn't let anyone mess with their beloved pledge.Who'd have guessed that among those quavering pols would be our very own Barbara Lee? The same Babs Lee who, let's be honest, gained her political identity by telling Congress to take its reactionary war on civil rights and shove it. But preventing the forced indoctrination of schoolkids was apparently even more controversial than going to war: Lee jumped right on the bandwagon and voted for a House resolution condemning the ruling. All of which makes 7 Days wonder what that wacky Berkeley city council would do? City clerk Sherry Kelly says the council probably won't take up the issue until September, when it traditionally makes its yearly -- ouch! -- recitation of the Pledge. As for local school districts, state Superintendent Delaine Eastin has given them permission to stick with the Education Code, which prescribes daily "appropriate patriotic exercises" for all students.
To the dictator: If our schools need someone to lead these patriotic calisthenics, might we recommend Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante? At a rally for union workers at the Port of Oakland last Thursday, Davis Jr. seemed to forget he was at a labor event, not an auditorium full of third-graders. He warned the crowd that America faced a grave new danger -- the threat of a Godless Pledge. And he was going to do something about it. "I'd like everybody to right here, right now join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, despite what the court says," Bustamante exhorted.
Ignoring scattered cries of "Bullshit!" and "Fuck that!" from the crowd, the lieutenant governor spun around in search of a flag toward which to genuflect, and found one hanging forlornly behind him. "Hands over your heart!" he commanded, then launched into the Pledge, stopping halfway through to bark "Take off your hats!" at the half- interested union members.
Afterward, Bustamante defended its place in the classroom. "The kids can stand up if they want to," he insisted. "And if they don't believe that part that says 'under God,' they don't have to say it. It's voluntary!"
Funny thing, he never told the Port workers that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taking a page from the book of William Zig Zag Foster, a leader of the CPUSA. He led Madison Square Guarden rallies during the Popular front in recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance. (Detail from, "The Communist Party in the Thirties, " by Harvey Klehr, Basic Books, late 80's. Blurbed by both, Hal and Theodore Draper, brothers.
I expect now that Joey Johnson of RCP will be joined by the staff at Revolution Books in Berkeley to march on Barbara Lee's office and burn a flag. After the Berkeley P.D. beats them up, I expect Copwatch to file a complaint.
And, Carrol, after the revolution, I expect Wojek to be locked up under the anti-hooliganism clause of the revised Stalin Consitution of 1936."The most democratic constitution in the world!, " fellow travelers called it then. Zillions were imprisoned under charges of hooliganism in ther fSU under its terms.
Joanna, read a book like the memoir of Jan Kavan or http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/books/0-253-33866-2.shtml . The Kavan, blurbed by Arthur Miller tells of the repression she and her Son suffered under Czech Stalinism. Both loyal Communists. When I was in Prague in the summer of '79 I got to talk to more than a few disillusioned Communists that had suffered much after the Prague Spring was crushed. Most of the core of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, Charter 77, was comprised of purged cade from the Czech CP, some from the highest ranks of the Party. http://www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/czech/further.html Michael Pugliese