How did England get to be a world player when Betty calls the shots & makes lawyers wear that funny thing on their head?

(Photo by Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)

You wouldn’t think there’d be much dispute about what solidarity is but in fact there is–or at least there is confusion. For those who want to change the world, “an injury to one is an injury to all” isn’t a sentimental or ceremonial mantra but an iron law of social change.

Somehow, in an attempt by some to thwart the appeal of socialist ideals, solidarity became identified as an act of white supremacy, the noblesse oblige of privilege. Some of that discredit is due to political chicanery by those who prefer capitalism since conformity can be a lucrative career move. But also implicated in the confusion is the “mismanagement” of those ideals by some socialists who have made solidarity an expedience–or much worse, the pivot of betrayal. Mismanagement is the politic word for treachery.

Solidarity is not an act of supremacy; nor is it not an expression of sympathy or, heaven forbid, pity. Nor is it negotiable. We don’t express solidarity with sweat shop workers, immigrants, homeless, unemployed, starving, & those millions fighting tyranny & austerity because we feel sorry for them because they’re the “underdog.” Solidarity has more muscle than mere weepy-eyed sentimentality. It means we recognize our connections with others in a complex, international nexus of economic, social, historic, & political bonds. Our fate is inextricable from that of all others.

Neoliberalism, the barbaric phase of capitalism, tries to sever those bonds by creating competition between working people from Asia to Africa to Europe to the Americas. Racism is central to that competition & the rancid, hateful howlings of that ideology change little from one continent to the next.

We render solidarity–of the muscly hard-nosed kind–because of our common humanity, because we are committed to the ideal that all human beings are equal, & because one consequence of neoliberal globalization is making working people around the world completely dependent on each other for justice & emancipation.

This photo of a 2010 protest in Cork, Ireland in solidarity with Palestinians is repeated thousands of times at thousands of protests around the world to support those being targeted by tyranny. These protests represent humanities highest aspiration: solidarity. Someday it will represent our highest achievement. Solidarity forever!

(Photo by John Jefferies)

Usually I don’t comment on the passing of celebrities so much as I ridicule celebrity culture. But it’s being reported that Casey Kasem, the long-time radio host of “American Top 40”, suffers dementia, is in critical condition & that his family is engaged in an unseemly dispute over his care.

The one thing media won’t mention about Kasem (of Lebanese ancestry & raised in Detroit) is that he was an antiwar activist, especially prominent against the first Iraq War. I’m unable to find links to confirm my memory but Kasem played a role in promoting & financing “The Fire This Time: US War Crimes in the Gulf” by Ramsey Clark which is about the first Gulf War in 1991.

He also spoke at antiwar protests in Washington, DC & elsewhere to oppose the Gulf War. I have listened to hundreds of antiwar speeches (& given them) in my lifetime but one speech by Kasem always stood out to me for its power. It wasn’t just my surprise that a man famous for being a rock & roll DJ could be so powerfully opposed to war but that he could express our anger with such eloquence & without an ounce of pretension.

The theme of his speech is now nearly cliched but then it was entirely original: In litany form he said, “How come there’s never money for education but there’s always enough money for war. How come there’s never money for healthcare….”

I hope Mr. Kasem recovers, though at 82 & in bad health that’s unlikely. But his eulogies should not be written without honoring his role in antiwar opposition. The first Gulf War was a turning point in the US antiwar movement, signaling a decline in massive participation, due in part to the barbarity of the military onslaught against Iraq. Mr. Kasem was not daunted & for that we tip our hats to him.