The photo on the left was on one of the Anti-bomb CND marches back in the late 50's or early 60's.
My neck and shoulders (face hidden by the poster ) are bottom left. The singer/guitar player my youngest brother.
All three of my brothers and a group of fellow singer/Socialists spent many summers, marching and singing anti-bomb, pro peace songs.
The Aldermaston March was the biggest of these events and always culminated in a rally in Trafalgar Square, where The Hiroshima Song and others would be relayed to the thousands in the crowds.
While very serious about the purpose of the protest, we nevertheless enjoyed the singing, and of course it helped us to forget our aching legs and feet.
The marches were always lead by amixture of politicians, clergy, actors and writers and often the addresses over the public address system in the Square were of the finest calibre.
While it is true there were also hundreds of police present, both on the march and in the square, it was rare for any serious trouble to break out and mostly relations between "Us" and "Them" were fairly friendly.
I can't help wondering if today's youth could be persuaded away from their phones and gadgets long enough to register any interest at all in the issues of the day.
And if they could, what would they sing?
Wow Ray another example of how close our views and our lives are. I had no idea of your radical youth or you of mine... brought together by the wonders of of the internet it is something to celebrate...and I do. Salutations my friend!
ReplyDeleteI think the reason there are so often similarities in our remembered histories is that we are of a similar age and lived through the same periods of growth and change.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to h ear other people's versions of "our" stories, it somehow helps to convince us that we did even then live in interesting times.