Among the e-mail in my inbox this morning was a note from a group that is trying to convince the Nobel Prize Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to folk singer and life-long activist Pete Seeger.
Seeger’s causes have been many and varied throughout his life, beginning with the labor movement in the 1920s and 1930s, and these days with environmental issues, but every single one of his causes has ultimately boiled down to making the world a better, more tolerant, more peaceful place for everyone. His critics are not without merit as they point out his involvement with Communist politics in the ’30s and ’40s and the desire of his supprters and Seeger himself to downplay that time, but, like many who got involved with the Communist Party in the United States in those years, he clearly did so out of the idealism that the Soviet Communists promoted overseas and, more relevantly, out of reaction to the gathering storm of Fascism spreading across Europe. The decades after World War II and Seeger’s unmatched devotion to peace and freedom surely outweigh the complicated political positions many were forced to choose during a dangerous time.
The solicitation I got said that the group has found a member of Congress to consider being the the official submitter of Pete Seeger’s name to the Nobel Comittee (not surprisingly, Congresswoman Lee represents Berkeley, California and surrounding towns; too bad they couldn’t get Mike Capuano to join in, given Seeger’s close ties to Cambridge and Harvard). They want people to submit comments to Congresswoman Lee’s office to sway her to do it, which will pave the path for the actual submission. Meanwhile, they’ve collected nearly 20,000 signatures for an online petition to send to the Nobel Prize Committee to try to convnice them to actually give Seeger the award (the original goal of the petition was to convince the American Friends Service Committee to nominate Seeger, but with the congressional rep on board they can right for the judges). I signed it, but if you want to go a little further you can make a donation to the group that’s doing all this lobbying, although I would bet that Pete Seeger himself would prefer that you make a donation to some group in your own community that actively works toward a better world.
I really hope they pull this off. There are undoubtedly many people in the world doing fine work for the causes of peace, justice and equality, but Pete Seeger has lived his whole life for it and truly deserves the recognition.
I am a huge fan of Pete Seeger and I applaud this effort to honor him because he is fully deserving in all ways. He has been a distant role model for me and despite my accidental luck in hanging out in shared circles, I’ve tried to meet him, never succeeding…I guess I’m a failed groupee.