FDR’s Four Freedoms and a Pussy Riot in Russia

Fred W. Hill  

During his State of the Union address of January 6, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt enumerated what he held were “four essential human freedoms”:  freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.  At the time, the United States was not an active participant in any war, but totalitarian regimes dominated much of Europe and Asia and had launched wars of conquest.  The U.S. itself was hardly squeaky clean, stained by religious and racial bigotry, Jim Crow laws that made a mockery of constitutional rights and the terrorist activities of the Ku Klux Klan abetted by state and local governments.   Roosevelt was advocating an ideal, but one he believed a “basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.” 

History, however, tends to mock our grandest, humanist aspirations.  The worst regimes of 1941 were eventually overcome or eventually gave way to more moderate governments, and even Jim Crow laws were finally eradicated in the wake of media coverage of atrocities committed to put down non-violent protests that became too embarrassing to ignore in the context of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to win the hearts and minds of people around the world who tended to be dark-skinned – just like the black Americans they saw being oppressed in the “land of the free”.  That the Cold War itself ended with a few whimpers by disgruntled hard-line Communists rather than a series of catastrophic nuclear bangs was a relief to many of us who came of age during that era.  Russia, the largest shard of the shattered Soviet Union, would now become a constitutional federal republic, with guarantees of free speech and religion.  We won the arms race and now our old rival had become more like us!  Suddenly it didn’t seem too far-fetched to imagine that there would be a tremendous peace dividend – that billions then spent on weapons of mass destruction and the military infrastructure might be redirected towards providing greater public education for more people, and doing more to ensure no one is left in want of nutritious food and adequate shelter, among other lofty goals.   Making FDR’s high hopes a reality seemed possible.  The attacks of September 11, 2001, and the resultant “War on Terror” broke that illusion. 

Anyone paying attention, however, couldn’t have been all that surprised.  The threat of nuclear annihilation may have ebbed, but there was still plenty of violence around the world.  Another cause for fear, however, came from our very success in being fruitful and multiplying our numbers and living in comforts brought by massive consumption of energy at the expense of a healthy environment.  Even as severe drought has ravaged a large chunk of our nation for several years and underground water reservoirs built up over thousands of years are being rapidly depleted due to excess use, most of our elected representatives (and the people who vote for them) continue to deny the reality of global climate change brought about by human activity, as recognized by “an overwhelming consensus of scientists”. 
 Despite rightwing griping about government restrictions meant to protect the environment, we still have plenty of freedom to cause much damage but not enough freedom from fear and ignorance to face up to the long-term consequences of that damage.  Moreover, China’s shift from Maoist Communism, under which the predominant freedoms for the masses were to shut up and starve, to a form of state-run capitalism with little or no regulations to protect the environment or the general well-being of the population, has hardly resulted in a paradise.  A few can now become immensely rich, just like in the U.S., but at the cost of air pollution bad enough to reduce life expectancy in the increasingly over-populated cities; grand scale desertification over 25 percent of the nation; and the intensified slaughter of elephants, rhinos, tigers, and other endangered animals to provide trinkets, quack medicines and supposed aphrodisiacs.We may yet learn to fear the horrors of unrestrained human greed as much as human belligerency.

Meanwhile, freedom from want hasn’t gone away.  Globally, an estimated “25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes”, a consequence of severe poverty.  And exercising freedom of speech and religion too extravagantly, such as by going on a mission to North Korea to convince some locals about the wonders of Christ, opining in a college in Pakistan that the prophet Mohammed may actually have been wrong about something; or openly denying the existence of god in Saudi Arabia, may not only land you in legal hot water, but may cost you your head. 

Even in the no longer quite so evil empire of Russia, criticizing the church and the once and future President isn’t a good idea – unless you’re willing to put up with a few years of hard labor for your ideals, as members of the guerilla performance punk feminist band Pussy Riot can attest.  Three members of the group were arrested and charged with hooliganism based on religious hatred after they took part in a performance of a “punk moleben” (supplicatory prayer) on the altar of an Orthodox church in Moscow, urging Mother Mary to become a feminist and get rid of Prime Minister Putin and criticizing the close ties of church and state in Russia, the subservience of the Russian people to the church and the church’s traditionalist views of women.  One member was eventually released but the other two, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were convicted and sentenced to two years in a penal colony for having “crudely undermined the social order” and showing “complete lack of respect”.  Yes, in Russia it is illegal to hurt the feelings of religious believers.  To be fair, as noted by Christopher Stroop of the Religious Dispatches blog, Russian legislators are considering a bill to expand the protect the feelings of atheists as well, which would mean in Russia it will be more than just good manners to avoid discussing religious differences over dinner – it will be the law!

Roosevelt was a much better politician than a prophet.  Certainly, there are now many nations that protect the right of free expression and to worship or not however one likes, as long as doing so doesn’t cause unjustified harm to others and however unlikely it seems now, perhaps eventually freedom of speech and religion will be realities in every nation.  And it’s worth trying to eliminate starvation and abject poverty and prevent war and other forms of violence.  While we exist and think, however, we’ll never be entirely free of want and fear, nor should we be as they can be engines of aspiration although we should not let them overwhelm us to the point of rapacious greed, irrational hatred or incapacitating dread.  And in closing I’ll freely express my hope that a vast majority of humans will one day come together to peacefully resolve our global problems and free themselves from belief in any supernatural being that only leaves them in expectation of salvation from beyond that will never come.

Fred W. Hill is a member of www.Firstcoastfreethoughtsociety.org and this article was first published in their September newsletter.

The Champions Who Walked Among Us

(Article 11 – The Ice Breaker)

It was three years before the ending of the nineteenth century, as this young infant opened her eyes, to see the light of the world, outside of her mother's womb.  The month, the day, the year, February 27, 1897, and her birth herald something new, something, which had not happened before, was about to take place.   A seed had been planted in this baby, who would later become a woman that would cause her to seek the expression of her God-given gift, on  stages outside of her own nation of birth.

What would you do, if you had been given something extraordinary that made you stand out?

Born in the state of Pennsylvania, in a family whose father was self-employed, and whose mother had the opportunity of attending the Virginia Seminary and college in Lynchburg, Virginia, the young girl grew up with a love for music.  It was a special innate gift, a seed that had been laid before she was born into the world,  which would define her life.  Her voice was unusual and began to manifest itself soon,  and her aunt ,who had noticed this peculiar gift, convinced her to join the church choir–– she was only six years old.  It was unusual, this Contralto voice, significantly different from other voices.  Peculiar, because this contralto voice set her apart from others, not only in her race, but across all races of people.  Unaware of the role she would play on the world's stage, the lively young girl, who loved to sing, stood on the side of her aunt singing duets and travelling wherever her aunt would take her, singing songs of inspiration.

It was her aunt,

•     Who influenced her childhood career,

•     Who contracted venues such as the YMCA, or concerts at local churches, or local community events,

•     Who made sponsors  aware of her voice for certain special events they sponsored.

Three weeks before Christmas, tragedy struck. Her father was accidentally hit over the head while working. It was an accident, which came with complications that would demand his life a month later, and the young woman, who was now twelve years old would be left fatherless, along with her two younger sisters.

My lord what a morning,

My lord what a morning,

My lord what a morning,

When the stars begin to fall.

You'll hear the trumpet sound,

To wake the nations underground,

Look in my God's right hand

When the stars begin to fall,

When the starts begin to fall. {1}

Her mother, left with three daughters to bring up, had no time to mourn the loss of her mate.  She moved into the home of her father and mother-in-law, who themselves had already impregnated the history book with their new beginning.  Benjamin Anderson, born before the Civil War, was a freed slave and the first Black African- American to move into a neighborhood in South Philadelphia.

It was her grandfather;

•     Who vaccinated her with the vaccine of equality,

•     Who through the daily doses of self-esteem he poured into her character, built up her self-esteem,

•     Who opened her eyes to see the significance of the gift she had been given,

And The Ice Breaker with the contralto voice was born.

Can't you see her People?

See the young girl being prepared to go on the world stage to change history!

See the young girl as her grandfather prepares her mentally to greet the world!

See her as she sits at his feet, and he imparts in her the ability to stand with the wind against her face!

The hypothesis that Africans had limited brain capacity was a theory, which circulated for years throughout the scientific community of the United States. That the Negro lacked the ability to take care of himself was one of the main reasons for the continuation of slavery in the Southern parts of the United States. Even though the Negro spirituals, which were born out of  captivity and imprisonment in the South, were beginning to become known, no one had thought that a Negro could sing classics, or sing in another European Language.  That feat was considered impossible––that is until The Ice Breaker came along.

With the passing of her grandfather, one year after her mother had moved in with her and her sisters, finances were sparse in the family, and The Ice Breaker knew she would not be able to attend high school, or take those music lessons she so desperately needed.

•     What do you when your lack of money stands as an obstacle on the road of your destiny?

•     How do you deal with the mental anguish you encounter within yourself, the emotional ups and downs, which throw you into a whirlwind of what ifs?

•     Where do you turn when the road does not go any further?

Patricia Pierce-Garcia Schaack 

http://www.pgs-patgarciaschaack.com/index.php/en/

http://garciaandwalkon.me/2012/08/16/the-champions-who-walked-among-us-article-11-the-ice-breaker/

LIife is an Amazing Song

It is a wonderful book of a young boy’s life during the war times in Finland at his grandparents in Oulu, North Finland. Later he was sent to Orsa in the Dalarna region of Sweden. After several years with foster parents in Sweden, he finally returned back to Finland to his mother, sister and brother in South Finland. It was a happy homecoming after some seven years absence, but it was a shock. He found his family’s life to be hard and raw. Food was scarce. They lived in a tiny firetrap apartment building. His mother worked as a prison guard and with her meager salary was barely able to support the family. His father returned from the war and immediately announced that he wanted a divorce from mother. After that he disappeared from their life without any financial support.
Not long after their misery, there was a change when mother regained her old position at the Internationally famous Hotel Aulanko. The family moved to the hotel’s premises, into a solid large log cabin. Now life turned out for the better. The hotel years were exciting and uplifting. Life was beautiful again.
A “miracle” happened to the boy, at age seventeen, when he received an invitation to America, with all travel and living expenses paid, plus schooling in Philadelphia.
He embraced his new life in America with vigor - in the land of opportunity- becoming a successful business man years later.
The book is a memoir in the tradition of Angela’s Ashes, My Life as a Dog (Swedish book) and a hint of Tom Sawyer. 
Enchanting- Sad-Uplifting-Refreshing-Humorous
John Raikkonen is the the Author of a new exciting memoir about Finland during the Finnish-Russian war, year 1942 to 1945 and the after effect.