  |
 |
| |
|
|
|
 Imagine Peace—A Ray of Light in Dark TimesPosted on Oct 16, 2007By Amy Goodman John Lennon would have turned 67 years old last week had he not been murdered in 1980, at the age of 40, by a mentally disturbed fan. On his birthday, Oct. 9, his widow, peace activist and artist Yoko Ono, realized a dream they shared. In Iceland, she inaugurated the Imagine Peace Tower, a pillar of light emerging from a wishing well, surrounded on the ground by the phrase “Imagine Peace” in 24 languages. The legacy of Lennon is relevant now more than ever. The Nixon administration spied on him and tried to deport him, all because he opposed the war in Vietnam. Parallel details of the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretap program and the Pentagon’s participation in domestic spying, with mass roundups of immigrants, are chilling, and the lessons vital. Ono conceived the peace tower 40 years ago, at the outset of her relationship with Lennon. She grew up in Japan, surviving the firebombing of Tokyo. She told me, “Because of that memory of what I went through in the Second World War, it is embedded in me how terrible it is to go through war.” She continued: “I thought of building a light tower, and John loved that idea, this light tower that just emerges once in a while. And so, he actually invited me in 1967, the first time that he invited me to his house. I thought it was a party or something, but, no, it was a very quiet day. And he said, ‘Well, actually, I invited you because I wanted to know if you can build the lighthouse in my garden,’ and I said: ‘Oh, dear, no, no. It’s just a conceptual idea. I don’t know how to build anything,’ and I was just laughing. But that’s when he wanted this light tower, and that was 40 years ago.” Forty years ago, the young couple became increasingly active in the anti-Vietnam War movement. The FBI, under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, spent tremendous resources targeting critics, most engaged in perfectly lawful dissent. This was later exposed as COINTELPRO, the FBI’s counterintelligence program, which for decades spied on, infiltrated and disrupted domestic groups. Lennon was a pacifist in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. As the anti-war movement was growing in militancy, Lennon and Ono got married, and used their honeymoon as a public appeal for peace. They decided to spend a week in bed, as a “Bed In.” Knowing their action would attract the global news media, the newlyweds ensured that their call for peace was heard and that all photos included the word “Peace.” They launched a poster and billboard campaign, using the phrase “The War Is Over—If you want it.” The actions were creative and lighthearted—but clearly threatening to the Nixon administration. They developed a closer connection to the U.S. anti-war movement and, by 1971, were planning a massive get-out-the-vote concert tour to help defeat Nixon. Nixon and Hoover stepped up their campaign to neutralize Lennon. The FBI increased surveillance and harassment of Lennon, followed by an attempt to deport him. Lennon’s activities were also tracked by the CIA, as revealed in recently declassified documents. Arch-conservative Sen. Strom Thurmond wrote a secret memo pushing deportation to then U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, and the effort moved into full gear. Lennon beat the deportation attempt, and by 1980, with the release of the “Double Fantasy” album, was back demonstrating his creative brilliance, only weeks later to be slain. Today, revelations about current government wiretaps and surveillance continue. Verizon has just revealed to Congress that it supplied customer records to the government more than 94,000 times since 2005. The American Civil Liberties Union has uncovered collusion between the Pentagon and the FBI in circumventing the law to obtain financial and credit information on people in the U.S. I asked Yoko Ono to compare the Nixon and Bush administrations: “I’m not that concerned about professional politicians. I always believe that we can change the world by grass-roots movements. It is a very important thing to do. It is the first time that I realized that I respect America so much because there are so many Americans trying to shift the axis of the world to peace.” With major anti-war demonstrations set for cities around the country on Sat., Oct. 27 (see oct27.org), John Lennon’s legacy lives on, from the illuminated sky above Iceland to the heavily surveilled streets here at home. Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 500 stations in North America. © 2007 Amy Goodman Distributed by King Features Syndicate Previous item: Dissent From the Front Lines Next item: Our Offspring Fontanel Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
By Michael, October 18, 2007 at 9:56 pm # I like John Lennon both the man and his music. And I’m a fan of the indomitable Amy Goodman. Still, I don’t know if I have anything worth adding here? It’s just that I see people talking about peace and I want in. On the upside, finding people willing to talk about peace is getting a little easier, don’t you think? Not peace contingent upon the “enemies’” defeat, but peace as a philosophy, method and goal. We no longer believe in force as a tool to get our way. And there are more and more people questioning our way. Ironically I think it’s down to the current administration abandoning the covert ways of a century, under the impatient, arrogant influence of the neocons, and adopting similar methods but without the comforting hidden-ness. People are begining to see what it took to get the US to where it is and they don’t like it. It’s at odds with the national myth of American exceptionalsm; we are a good people - as though others aren’t.
By Roger Drowne EC ( Earth Citizen ), October 18, 2007 at 4:02 pm # See below PEACE SITES - IDEAS OK 2 COPY PASS em ON ... also see Earth Citizen - Hand-Shake and Hand-Sign http://www.OneGlobalCommunity.com http://www.EarthCitizenNEWS.com http://www.PresidentOfPlanetEarth.com a University of Earth Citizens
By Claire W, October 17, 2007 at 7:28 pm # John also stood for religious freedom. I think he’d be disappointed to see how extremist Christian and Islam groups are rising up and inserting their doctrine into governments worldwide. Maybe this monument will help spread a new awareness of what he stood for as a human being.
By William Lee, October 17, 2007 at 3:43 am # Nice article - we must forever remember John Lennon and what he stood for. But the article misquotes the posters that John and Yoko plastered every major city with back in those dark days. They read “War Is Over...If You Want It”. Not “The War”, but “war”...and that includes the present one! Were he alive today, John, at 67, would be the antiwar leader we so sorelyneed and sadly lack.
By thomas billis, October 16, 2007 at 6:23 pm # If you really want to see what America is all about compare the death of two singers.John Lennon an important part of American history we have to be reminded of anniversaries and a drug riddled Elvis Presley who was Nixons toadie has become a national icon.Small wonder we are where we are. Add Your Comment |
|
UN Envoy Heads to Burma with Urgent Relief Message
Email
Print
Share
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Ma.gnolia
Newsvine
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo
Jump to Comments
Bazaar|Podcast|About Us|Contact Us|User Agreement|Privacy Policy|Comment Policy
Copyright © 2008 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
COMMENT TOOLS:
Hide comments
Show comments
Comment on this article