Joan Baez, the original peacenik
One of the icons of the civil rights movement and the protest against the Vietnam War was Joan Baez. When I was in my early teens, I listened to her records and strummed along with my guitar, prompting my Republican parents to go nuts. I saw her in concert a few times and interviewed her in the early ’90s
“Phony Joanie,” as cartoonist Al Capp foolishly called her, is back in the spotlight because of a new album. The London Times Online printed an interview with her a few days ago. Among the observations:
“After 9/11 nobody wanted to hear anything bad about America,” says Baez, growing animated as she enters into political territory. “Nobody loves a war better than the President, and a few years ago it got to the point where if I said anything I truly believed about the Iraq war or global warming during a concert, people would get up and leave. That’s fine with me. Actually, it’s a badge of honour.”…
“Little by little it became clear that Bush was bizarre — and dangerous,” she says. “I would do concerts where I would see people in the audience sitting with their arms crossed, looking angry as I said: ‘I was right 40 years ago and I am right now!’ and throw my fist in the air. Now they’re listening. Bush’s great trick is to suggest that to go against him is to be unpatriotic. Slowly people realised that.”
Read the entire interview here.
(Image of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan from here.)