Free Improvisation Series: Pauline Oliveros / Loren Rush / Terry Riley

Though recreation of compositions has dominated Western music for the last two hundred years or so, improvisation has not been far below the surface. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, and Mendelssohn were accomplished improvisers; Johann Hummel even advocated for free improvisation, not just among performers and composers, but among the general public (quoted in Sarath, 2011). It was also, and remains common in organ performance. But as the years wore on, improvisation began to slip away from common practice of performers. It made a resurgence in the 1920's as jazz became a popular form of music, and this led to a lasting influence on Western music. But in the world of Western classical music, improvisation remained rare, and was even scoffed at by John Cage (during certain parts of his career).

Part Three - Pauline Oliveros, Loren Rush, Terry Riley, et. al.

In 1957, Pauline Oliveros (1932 - 2016), Loren Rush (b. 1935) and Terry Riley (b. 1935), three composers in San Francisco, assembled at KPFA studios. Riley was asked to provide the soundtrack to a short film about sculptor Claire Falkenstein called Polyester Moon. Instead of writing and performing a piece, the trio decided to improvise it. Rush had been a program assistant at KPFA, and so had access to the station's Ampex tape recorders. The trio recorded several improvisations and picked what they felt was the best one for the soundtrack.

The Ampex 351 (1958), an example of tape recorders from the era. Photo by the Villa Raspa Factory Organizzazione.

The experience of improvisation was so thrilling that the trio decided to meet regularly. They also continued to record themselves, but not just for novelty or posterity: recording enabled them to improve their work through critical listening and discussion, without prescribing “guidelines or structure” for their improvisations. Oliveros notes that improvisation with such imposed guidelines often "fell flat". The use of recordings liberated them from "unnecessary controls", allowing them to "develop trust in process through spontaneity." (Bernstein, 81)

They improvised as a trio, but also with guests. Laurel Johnson, a friend of Oliveros', was an untrained musician and frequent collaborator in the late 1950's. A man named Bill Butler is also listed on the RadiOm website, where recordings of these sessions can be heard, but no information can be found about him. They were also joined occasionally by their composition teacher, Robert Erickson (1917-1997). All three were students at San Francisco State, and studied privately with Erickson, who encouraged his students to improvise. (Fischlin, 53).

Loren Rush, photo from My KPFA - Conversations

Loren Rush remembers Erickson's role in the improvisation sessions as more proactive: "He would ask us to try things, not very much ... And we were perfectly willing to do it, because we were just making music." (Carl, 126)

Terry Riley, photo from New Albion Records

The original trio of Oliveros, Riley and Rush stopped improvising together in the late 50's, and each pursued their own separate interests. But improvisation remained a critical part of each of their work, and in the work of their friends Ramon Sender and Phil Winsor. Instrumental improvisations were used as the raw material for tape-based compositions, as in Oliveros' Time Perspectives (1961). Her earliest electronic compositions were also improvised. (Fischlin, 53)

Pauline Oliveros ca. 1966, photo from Sonoloco Record Reviews

"Improvisation was an all-important tool for all of us in the development of much collaboration and of the community that was continuing to increase its numbers. Even though we improvised together often, each person retained individuality and a style that was specifically different. Even so we bounced off of each other's work with glee." (Bernstein, 82)

-Pauline Oliveros

:References:

Bernstein, David W. "The San Francisco Tape Music Center: 1960s counterculture and the avant-garde." University of California Press: 2008

Carl, Robert. "Terry Riley's In C." Oxford University Press US: 2009.

Fischlin, Daniel & Ajay Heble. "The other side of nowhere: jazz, improvisation, and communities in dialogue." Wesleyan University Press: 2004

Potter, Keith. "Four musical minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass." Cambridge University Press: 2002

Sarath, Edward. "Message from the President." ISIM Newsletter Spring 2011, Vol. 7, #1. International Society for Improvised Music.

Free Improvisation Series: Lennie Tristano

The next couple of posts will be a series based on research into free improvisation in recordings. Basically, my point of view is that free improvisation is an approach to music-making, not a style per se. Recorded evidence makes obvious that it developed spontaneously across several styles of music, in several different countries at about the same time, without any apparent communication between the people who engaged in it.

Therefore, this series is chronological, but this is not meant to imply a continuity as if this were a style like "jazz" or "baroque" or "reggae". These styles could be considered culturally-based, and are thus canonical; free improvisation is unique in that it is not. Anyone can "invent" free improvisation, whether they've heard of it before or not.

Lennie Tristano, Intuition

Given the integral role that improvisation plays in it, it was inevitable that jazz music would eventually lead to completely free improvisation. Although he has been overshadowed by the reputations of his contemporaries, Lennie Tristano was a significant figure in the jazz world in the late 40's. His approach to composing, often re-writing jazz standards with radical new melodies (i.e. "317 E. 32nd St." and "Lennie's Pennies"), foreshadowed future experiments with tonality by Andrew Hill and George Russell. He performed and recorded with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, both of whom he profoundly influenced.

In 1947, Tristano was named “Musician of the Year” by Metronome magazine (thanks no doubt to the support of his friend Barry Ulanov, who edited the journal during this time). With this honor came the invitation to contribute to the magazine. Tristano did so with a pair of articles: "What's Right with the Beboppers" and "What's Wrong with the Beboppers". In the latter, Tristano expresses that mere imitation of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker would lead to stagnation of jazz as an art form. But while his convictions were clear, Tristano was no hyper-modernist, emphasizing the value in “contributing” to the music that came before, rather than diverging from it.

Photo credit: William P. Gottlieb

Tristano pontificates that “[p]erhaps the next step after bebop will be collective improvisation on a much higher plane because the individual lines will be more complex.” During the next two years, Tristano and his group played some of the first known experiments with free improvisation, even performing it at Birdland. Tristano, and later Konitz, used the term “intuitive” to describe such playing. Sometimes they blended free improvisation with tunes, a la Ornette Coleman, sometimes they just played without any theme at all. These eventually culminated with a recording session with Capitol Records, where these free improvisation experiments were finally documented.

On May 16th, 1949 (the Blackwell guide to jazz says April 23rd, 1949), Tristano and his group recorded “Intuition” and “Digression” for Capitol Records. Now, strictly speaking, these are not totally free improvisations because decisions were made beforehand about the order in which the musicians would begin playing, and the time span between entrances. (One may consider the 3 1/2 minute time limit allowed by the recording medium to be another limitation, though a less controllable one.) However, since it was established that they "were going to improvise strictly from what [they] heard each other doing", it is still worth noting these sessions in a chronology like this.

Lennie Tristano, Digression

When they began to play "intuitively", Tristano indicated that the engineer “threw up his hands and left his machine”. Tristano's management refused to pay him for the recordings and the company threatened that they would not release them. Barry Ulanov, who was present at the recording session, publicly challenged Capitol to demonstrate “courage and … enlightenment” by releasing the recordings. This coming from the editor of a major music magazine! Capitol eventually issued “Intuition”, the more upbeat of the two, as a single in 1950 (Capitol 7-1224, backed with a solo piano version of "Yesterdays"). "Digression" stayed in the can until this 10" EP came out in 1954 (Capitol EAP 1-491):

"Classics in Jazz" indeed.

Tristano was a critically-acclaimed jazz musician, written about frequently by major music magazines. He played on Symphony Sid’s popular radio show. Capitol, one of the "Big 6" record companies in 1947, also had Stan Kenton, Peggy Lee, and Bennie Goodman sides in its catalog. (To put it in perspective, this is exactly the kind of exposure being given to Miles Davis at the time.)

The 1950 release of “Intuition” received mixed reviews. Ulanov to describe the new recording as a “[revivication of] the contrapuntal form which underlies the great years … of Johann Sebastian Bach.” Billboard Magazine called it "Tristano's weirdest yet - only the most advanced tastes will appreciate the subtle work of Konitz, Marsh, Bauer and the rest of the group. This is bop to the nth degree." in 1953, Charlie Parker commented that “rather than to make the melody predominant … in the style of music that Lennie and them present, it’s more or less heard or felt.” (There are several recordings of Tristano playing with Charlie Parker between 1947 and 1951.) Of the EP which contained "Digression", critic Nat Hentoff lauded the group's “fascinating study in presumably ad lib counterpoint.” Even composer Aaron Copland weighed in, stating that "something has been developed here [in America] which has no duplication abroad]."

Of course, Tristano also had his detractors. Nat Cole, Tadd Dameron, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, and others, felt that the improvisations were esoteric, and criticized their self-conscious experimentalism.

It's no surprise that free improvisation didn't catch on of course: it's far too experimental and unpredictable for mainstream radio and club performance, but at least Capitol records took a risk by releasing it. I don’t know of any earlier recorded free improvisation, but it would indeed be exciting to discover free improvisation in ethnographical recordings, some unique home recordings, or long lost Louis Armstrong sides.

You can hear "Intuition" and "Digression" for free on Grooveshark.

Part Two of the series will be George Gurdjieff.

:References:

Shim, Eunmi. “Lennie Tristano: his life in music.” Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007.

Kernfeld, Barry. "The Blackwell guide to recorded jazz."

“What’s Wrong/Right with the Beboppers” June/July 1947 Metronome

Lennie Tristano Discography

The Sounds of Earth: Interstellar Freeform (revised)

(photo: NASA)

This is The Sounds of Earth, a gold-plated copper record album which has been fastened to the identical Voyager I & II spacecrafts. One side includes images, depicting Earth, some as diagrams, but many as color photographs.

The images are encoded in a way that is both analog and digital, a less high-tech version of what would later become the RCA VideoDisc. A binary signal is encoded, physically, to the disc. It is read in exactly the same physical way as an ordinary vinyl record: a stylus runs over a groove. But there is another process involved in encoding and decoding the information: a binary, and therefore digital, process. The end result would be a kind of phonographic slideshow.

At a rotation speed of 16 2/3 rpm, Frank Drake figured out how long the record would have to spin to encode and decode a color picture. A small video company called Colorado Video, Inc. was selected by Valentin Boriakoff to encode the images. This was in 1977; in 1971, Jon Clemens at RCA filed a patent for an "information record" which was the first step in a consumer line of VideoDiscs. These didn't go public until 1981, so it's likely that CVI's was developed independently. I am looking for the patent used by CVI. In the meantime, the principle is diagrammed here, in Jon Clemens' 1971 patent on the "information record":

photo: CED Magic.com

What images were included?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axj1CVG6udE

The sound portion begins with a welcome from the United Nations secretary general, Kurt Waldheim. Then come greetings in 55 languages, representing a greeting from the entire world. Whether this will mean anything to any potential alien listeners is questionable, but if they are as curious as humans, there is no doubt that they will pore over these words, as our archaeologists furiously hypothesize about Stonehenge.

What follows is a sound collage called "Scenes from Earth", a narrative which begins with a selection from Willie Ruff and John Rodgers' realization of Johannes Kepler's Harmonia Mundi, a sonic representation of our Solar System. The collage ends with sounds of human consciousness and a few seconds of a distant pulsar. In between, we hear sounds of earth's storms, volcanoes, and sounds of human activity and invention, all brilliantly mixed to give the collage a binaural quality.

The musical selections are drawn from all around the world. Admirable attempts are made at representing as many cultures as possible, although Western music is a little over-represented in my opinion. The entire record, can be listened to here:

http://www.goldenrecord.org/

From an extraterrestrial's (or future human's) perspective, our music may be no different than human speech: simply a manipulation of sound waves by which we communicate ideas. With language, we communicate ideas more concretely: specific requests, questions, etc; with music, more abstractly: through manipulation of bamboo pipes and boxes with strings in them. From this perspective, what we call "music" is the simple and predictable result of natural phenomena, expressible as mathematical equations, just as are the sounds of volcanoes, the weather, and other animals. Similar sentiments have been stated by John Cage and Pauline Oliveros, among others: music is just sound, and nothing more. It is simply our psychological projections and theoretical analyses that make it seem like more than this.

The separation between human and primate, technology and object, music and sound is not real, it is only imaginary. The limitations of the sound recording medium allow incidental machine sounds, speech in 50 languages, and "music" alongside each other as if to demonstrate this fundamental equivalency. (Incidentally, an excerpt of the impulses in Ann Druyan's brain was included in the aforementioned sound collage.)

The media's response to the Sounds of Earth was largely positive. One negative review could be found in The Wilson Quarterly, in which the critic asks what "some future cosmic junk collector" would make of the record's various features. The cynicism of this point of view is matched only by the hastiness with which this review was obviously written; it can be dismissed. I know of no other attempt to criticize of the Sounds of Earth, other than perhaps that it was a waste of money. This is just a question of priorities, and priorities are simple to rearrange.

For Sagan, the Voyager spacecraft were not mere scientific tools. They were expressions of mankind's creativity, curiosity and hope. In their era, Voyager I & II represented the pinnacle of jet propulsion, aerodynamic, computer, and nuclear science. This knowledge was applied to exploration and discovery, rather than to petty intimidation and violence. The Sounds of Earth is no different: Sagan viewed it as more than sound, more than music. It is a beautiful artifact to behold, and if we had any sense, CD's of it would be in every library in the country.

Project Director: Carl Sagan
Image Director: Frank Drake
Image Conversion: Valentin Boriakoff & Colorado Video, Inc.
Music Directors: Tim Ferris, Carl Sagan
The Sounds of Earth: Ann Druyan
Greetings: Linda Sagan

Revised June 2nd, 2011

All About Emergency Managers: An analysis of HB-4214

Talk of HB-4214 has been making the rounds for a couple of days. Articles by E. D. Kain and James Parks, and on-air mention by Rachel Maddow have helped to spread the word about this otherwise little-known piece of legislation. It's very easy to take pundits and columnists at face value, but responsible citizenship requires us to look in closer detail at the legislation in question. I have done so below, and hope you will do the same and draw your own conclusions. You can find the legislation below:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/%28S%280dt31045210gkc4523a5eanw%29%29/mileg.aspx?page=BillStatus&objectname=2011-HB-4214

[As my source I am using the pdf file "As Passed By The Senate", rather than the summaries or analyses.]

First let's ask if the assertions are true: does the legislation indeed allow for the appointment of "emergency managers" to take control over democratically-elected offices?

In a word, yes. HB-4214 is sponsored by Michigan's 79th district representative Al Pscholka (R), whose other legislative projects indicate a preoccupation with labor and education reform of a pretty radical variety. This particular bill provides the legal means by which the state executive can "take action and to assist" local governments (those of cities, townships, school districts, etc.) if it is determined that those governments are in a condition of "financial stress or financial emergency". Assistance is provided through the assignment of "emergency managers" who are given certain powers over governmental functions. The next question is, what is the extent of the emergency managers' powers?

We will return to this question after establishing some background. Parks, Kain and Maddow state that Gov. Snyder has the more or less autocratic authority to "declare" a city, village or other local government to be in a financial emergency, and to assign an emergency manager. But this is only partly true. The legislation clearly lays out the process of determining the existence of a "local government financial problem". This process is carried out in un-democratic ways, but it is not strictly dictatorial.

The determination is made by a "the state financial authority of a local government", detailed in §12. Subdivisions (a) thru (r) describe specific situations, at least one of which must be present (as determined by the state financial authority), in order for a preliminary review team to be established. This preliminary review team is appointed by the governor, and will consist

"of the state treasurer or his or her designee, the director of the department of technology, management, and budget or his or her designee, a nominee of the senate majority leader, and a nominee of the speaker of the house of representatives. The governor may appoint other state officials or other persons with relevant professional experience to serve on a review team to undertake a municipal financial management review." §12(3)

The situation is somewhat different in the case of school districts, including at least

"the state treasurer or his or her designee, the superintendent of public instruction or his or her designee, the director of the department of technology, management, and budget or his or her designee, a nominee of the senate majority leader, and a nominee of the speaker of the house of representatives." §12(4)

This review team is given "full power" to "examine records and books" (§13(1)a), "utilize the services of other state agencies and employees" (§13(1)b), and negotiate what is called a "consent agreement" with the chief administrative officer of the local government in question (mayor, commissioner, etc.). This agreement must be approved by the "governing body of the local government".

In political rhetoric, this is the opportunity for the people to voice their opinions. But because of our representative (indirect) democracy, we can only formally voice our opinions through our representatives. Therefore, if this legislation is used against our community, we must try to influence city council members by voicing our opinions. Council meeting times and locations are available on city council websites.

§15 provides the governor with the authority to determine whether or not the local government is in a condition of severe financial distress, and therefore what action to take. The local government has 7 days to request a hearing on the governor's ruling. Even after a hearing, the governor, "in his or her sole discretion based upon the record, shall either confirm or revoke, in writing, the determination of the existence of a financial emergency."

In other words, after the governor's decision (on the existence of a financial emergency) is made, a hearing on the governor's decision may be requested. But even after the hearing, the governor has sole veto power. More democratic legislation would require this final decision to be made by an outside entity, or at least by committee.

§15(3) This decision may be appealed by a vote of 2/3 majority of the governing body of the local government, to the Ingham County circuit court. If the governor's decision is found to be unsupported by evidence, or to have been "arbitrary, capricious, or clearly an abuse or unwarranted exercise of discretion" (basically an abuse of power), the court may overturn the governor's decision.

§15(4) If a financial emergency is found to exist, "the governor shall declare the local government in receivership [my emphasis] and shall appoint an emergency manager to act for and in the place and stead of the governing body and the office of chief administrative officer of the local government." The bill mentions the emergency manager's "broad powers ... to rectify the financial emergency..." Elected democratic officials have no powers "except as may be specifically authorized in writing by the emergency manager and are subject to any conditions required by the emergency manager."

Parks asserts that "the bill even allows Snyder to appoint a corporation as the emergency manager." This is untrue: §15(5)c of the bill clearly stipulates that the emergency manager must be an individual. However, this does not preclude possible associations with (and thus, influence from) large corporations, even those outside of the local government's reach (§15(5)b). The only requirement is that emergency manager candidates must have "a minimum of 5 years' experience and demonstrable expertise in business, financial or local or state budgetary matters." (§15(5)a)

§15(8) Short of impeachment, only the governor can remove the emergency manager, either if he/she is not doing satisfactory work, or if the "financial emergency is rectified", which is determined by the state treasurer [§15(9)].

Emergency managers do not have absolute power. For instance, if the emergency manager wants to "sell or transfer a public utility" in a city or village, "approval of a majority of the electors" is needed. §17(2) says the emergency manager does have the authority to suspend elected officials' "access to the local government's office facilities, electronic mail, and internal information systems". But §19a indicates that "the salary, wages, or other compensation, including the accrual of postemployment benefits, and other benefits of the chief administrative officer and members of the governing body of the local government shall be eliminated." This is indeed looking more and more like a power grab.

§19(1) spells out all the various civil powers of the emergency manager. While all are worth reading, (c) is one of the most alarming: the emergency manager will "receive and disburse on behalf of the local government all federal, state, and local funds [my emphasis] earmarked for the local government. These funds may include, but are not limited to, funds for specific programs and the retirement of debt." So basically the emergency manager has absolute control of our tax money.

This bill provides the legal means for Gov. Snyder to decide that, say, the CEO of Chrysler, being an "expert" in business and financial budgetary matters, would be an appropriate emergency manager for the city of Detroit. The CEO of Chrysler would have control over all federal, state and local funds headed to the city of Detroit. We'd be fools to believe that his use of our funds would be unbiased to his position in Chrysler. All he would have to do is convince Gov. Snyder and the state treasury that his financial decisions would save Detroit from financial oblivion.

Collective bargaining is mentioned in several places. §20b explicitly addresses collective bargaining, but does so to protect "payment of a benefit upon the death of a police officer or firefighter that occurs in the line of duty". However, in §19(1)k, the emergency manager may "reject, modify or terminate 1 or more terms and conditions of an existing collective bargaining agreement." This decision is legitimate if the emergency manager and the state treasurer decide that it is "reasonable and necessary", given local and broader economic climates, and given that it is "temporary and does not target specific classes of employees".

Lastly, to nail the point home: §25 grants immunity of liability to emergency managers, "as provided in section 7(5) of 1964 PA 170, MCL 691.1407."

As Michigan residents, we should be embarrassed at the lack of faith our house, senate and governor have in our ability to solve our own problems. Rather than working to support labor, education and health care, which obviously encourage community and free thought, steps are serious steps are being taken to make them dependent on private institutions for funding. The local governmental system has the capacity to represent the people. Michigan's cities and schools already have a bothersome reliance on corporate funding, it does not also need state-appointed babysitters. HB-4214 would pave the way toward a regression to feudalism. While we would be short-sighted to cry "fascism", we would be far more so to accept Gov. Snyder's signature on this cynical piece of legislation.

(As a side note: Sections 2, 4, and 6-11 are curiously absent from the documents available at the link above. Whether this is an oversight or a deliberate omission is uncertain.)

UPDATE (3/14/11): According to a personal email from Rep. Pscholka, sections 2, 4, and 6-11 do not exist:

"The sections that you are referring to do not exist. The bill is formatted by specific standards developed by the non-partisan Legislative Service Bureau (LSB). LSB does all of the bill drafting for all members of the House and Senate in the State of Michigan ... All other Michigan legislation is formatted similarly."

Soundscapes

I sit here reading Pauline Oliveros' "Software for People" in the University of Michigan music library. I will be reaching over occasionally to type onto my laptop.

The following is a sonic diary of five minutes in the library:

I hear footsteps of ladies (perhaps men) in high heels as they enter and exit the library. The specific words of soft conversations are lost in the distance between us. A computer beeps with each book scan. A book page flutters as a patron turns it. A man's boots squeak from melted snow. Another patron zips up his bookbag. A door squeaks. A chair scrapes the floor. Blue jeans scuff as a man walks by. A patron stifles her sneeze. A flash drive is discussed. Cough. A xerox machine.

All these sounds float upon the bedrock of the air conditioning system, which rumbles away in the building's basement. This is combined with the constant wisp of air through the building's vents, two of which are several feet from my head.

After a brief flicker of the energy-saver lightbulbs, the bedrock sound has changed. A deep rumbling is no longer present, but a pitched hum remains. The other sounds in the library, noted above, continue in more or less random order.

These sounds do not belong to me. I contribute occasional quiet sounds by typing, and by shifting the position of my arms as they rest on the table. But these are likely only perceivable by me. Anyone else who notices them may well be typing a similar sonic diary, and may note that such sounds do not belong to them.

These sounds do not belong to me. They belong to the physical phenomena which generated them, but it is not an relationship of possession; it is a relationship of causation.

Human beings have a special relationship with the sounds of our own causation. There are two categories of human sound: intentional and incidental. Incidental sounds occur as a result of other activities, like walking or writing. Intentional sounds may be synonymous with communication. (Communication with the self is an oft-neglected area of interest.)

While communication can occur through any sense (think of pheromones), much of it takes place through sound and light. Communication exists on a spectrum of concrete to abstract. Concrete communication constitutes language; abstract communication constitutes what the West calls "art" (although neither can be 100% one or the other).

When we arrange our activities specifically to create abstract sound, music results. By sitting in the music library typing words in a specific order as I am doing, I contribute to the soundscape but I am not making music. This could easily change though: I can also use my laptop as an instrument, contributing to My Own Personal Soundscape:

Tha jfeafofofofofo qpru qpruq rpqurpq rupq asdfjjasdfjj asdfj asdfj afjf[ RJ
fup[fupufpfupufpufpufpufajorhqieijwe ij weijwe ojadifh

Doing so is surprisingly challenging. The limitations of my instrument are immediately clear: it is capable of brief, quiet, percussive clicks of slightly differing timbres. Social pressures are also present: I do not wish to draw attention to myself by typing nonsense onto my laptop. Cowardly perhaps, but these sounds seem to have a much fuller purpose when they are generated incidentally to my efforts to communicate with you, the reader.

What can - what should be done with our sonic surroundings? Should they be imperfectly captured with a recording device? Carefully constructed with an installation? Manipulated with abstract sounds for personal expression? Should we simply take them for granted, as we do 99% of the time?

I think, rather, that they should simply be acknowledged. They are the bedrock for all of our sonic communications, concrete or abstract. The sounds of our respiratory and nervous systems are always with us; the sounds of our atmosphere always surround us. For a fuller sonic experience we should acknowledge these as our foundations.

If he had copyrighted his piece, would we owe Dennis Johnson royalties whenever we "Listen"?

The Effects of the Afghan War Diary

The release of the Afghan War Diary has sparked a great deal of discussion, and rightly so. The Diary consists of over 90,000 internal US military documents, from 2004 to the present. The scale of the leak has prompted comparisons to Daniel Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, which helped bring about the end of the War in Vietnam. Three kinds of comparisons can be made: the actual content, the reactions of the respective administrations to the leaks, and their effects on their respective wars. In terms of content, there's really no comparison. The Afghan War Diary is nearly 190,000 pages longer, and consists mainly of low-level (though still top secret) tactical and field reports, documenting casualties, details of operations, etc. And, since they start in 2004, they do not provide details from the first three years of operations. The Pentagon Papers, on the other hand, were a detailed high-level study of Vietnam, its history going back to 1947, and the geopolitical benefits of the US having access to markets and resources there. In terms of reaction, the Nixon administration tried to censor the New York Times' publication of the Pentagon Papers, a case in which Judge Gurfein ended up ruling in favor of the defendant. A book was published by Bantam Books, and the Papers were read by Senator Mike Gravel into the public record. Secretary of Defense Henry Kissinger characterized Ellsberg as "the most dangerous man in America", because his actions threatened national security. So far, the Obama administration's attempts at damage control have taken two forms, suggesting that there is some level of administrative disarray in how to deal with this. The Washington Post summed up the first approach in an article headlined "White House, foreign allies downplay impact of classified document leak." The article quotes an unidentified "U.S. official" who said that "...there is not a lot new here." Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Mohammed Sadiq, is quoted as saying "These allegations are always repeated ... I see nothing new." Wahid Omar, spokesman for Hamid Karzai, said "...most of this is not new." The other approach warrants some comparison to the Pentagon Papers ordeal, and was expressed by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who called the leak "a breach of federal law", and warned that it may threaten national and operational security, and that of our allies. This point of view can currently be heard all over national radio and television, as experts debate whether or not having the documents available is a good thing. Unfortunately, this argument functions primarily to turn the general population against whistle-blowers and their actions, and to dissuade the population from "threatening national security" by reading parts of the Diary and making up their own minds. The possibility of the threat to our security is irrelevant, since nothing can be done now. The Afghan War Diary may not provide evidence of the US's precise geopolitical goals of the War in Afghanistan, but it reveals that the US military has killed many Afghan civilians that it has not reported. Perhaps a more accurate body count can be established. The Diary also illustrates the extent to which the ISI (the Pakistani equivalent to the CIA) has been supplying and funding the Afghan insurgency against NATO occupation; incidentally, the US has provided tens of billions of dollars to fund the Pakistani government since 2001, in the fight against terrorism. The inconsistency here is astounding, and will hopefully be the focus of a great deal of investigation. As for the effect on the Vietnam War, The Pentagon Papers showed that four administrations (Republican and Democrat) of American rulers had lied to the public about the objectives for the War in Vietnam. This generated a large amount of popular skepticism, and provided critical political leverage in bringing the Vietnam War to an end four years later. More generally, the Papers gave a much-needed view into actual United States foreign policy, including information on secret wars that were being conducted in next door in Cambodia and Laos. The effect that the Afghan War Diary will have on the outcome of the War is up to us. If the documents really are old news, then they will be of little use to our opponents. The news about ISI funding of insurgents exposes either the tremendous hypocrisy or utter incompetence of the US Department of Defense, and as such provides some much-needed tactical leverage against the war. But even more crucially, the death tolls revealed in the Diary should lead to an increased moral opposition to the war on the part of the general population. These two revelations may provide the necessary political pressure to withdraw our troops from the country, and bring them home to safety. (If we're really concerned with the safety of our troops, we ought to consider this option.) But this will only happen if we exert this pressure against the Obama administration, since they have made it clear that they're in it for the long run. The bottom line is, these documents provide invaluable insight into the the War in Afghanistan. We can choose to listen to the pundits who want us to be afraid of facts, or to use these facts to inform our own opinions.

Sermon on Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995)

In November 2009, I delivered the following sermon at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor. We commemorated the life of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. In preparation, Rev. Reid Hamilton and I selected Matthew 5:10-16, Micah 3:9-12 and Psalm 37:1-18. Unfortunately I don't have footnotes yet. If you have questions or would like some sources for my info, please get in touch with me.

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I love and hate learning about the world. I love it because the more I know, the less I take for granted. I feel more connected with the world around me when I learn about history. I’m sure you all know the feeling.

On the other hand, I hate learning about the world because more often than not, when I take a closer look, I am profoundly disappointed with what I find. You all know this feeling when you hear about something like the use of child labor on Michigan blueberry farms, or the genocide of the Native Americans in the wake of Westward expansion. These are not pretty stories, and they bring up some very difficult questions about our own lives. If I bought blueberries from that farm, how much of my money contributed to the perpetuation of their employment of seven-year-old children? Did the children want to work, or were they being exploited? We are living on land that was taken from the Native Americans; what does this mean for “America” the concept? What does this mean for my relationship to this land and our society? Is it really morally acceptable to ignore our country’s past and continue going about my business, even if my “business” involves moral actions in the present?

I could come up with answers to these questions, but they would be far from complete and final. These questions are far more complex than we may want to admit. World issues seem to be fractal in nature: patterns of elegant simplicity and infinite complexity. As a “preacher”, I feel that it is my responsibility to give you some facts about our saint today, and the connections that I feel it has to our lives. Perhaps Jesus will even be in here somewhere. But how can I come up with a course of action for someone else, if I can’t even come up with one for myself?

Here at Canterbury House, when dealing with saints, we try to combine the specific with the universal. Blending the two can be particularly challenging with saints from hundreds of years ago, as the political, religious and social landscapes are often quite foreign to us. But exploring the historical context helps to bolster the human factor of whatever universal lesson we draw. As John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island.” I’m reminded of Constance, the 19^th century American nun who stayed in Memphis to comfort ailing victims of Yellow Fever. Learning about selflessness as an abstract thing is all well and good, but to see how beautiful and tragic it can be in practice is beyond words. It’s the same as the difference between the seeing a photograph of the Swiss Alps and seeing them in person … or walking on them. Fortunately, Ken Saro-Wiwa is not a symbol representing the distant past. We do need to dive a bit into the past, but we hardly need to bend over backwards to connect his life to our own.

If we were to postulate about the resources around which our society (not just American) is most oriented, oil would be pretty high on the list. The number of products which require oil is staggering: tires, paints, plastics, polyfibers, waxes, polish, asphalt, CDs and vinyl records… Because we take such products for granted, it makes sense to investigate where the raw materials come from.

One of the largest oil reserves in the world is found off the coast of southern Nigeria, in a region called the Niger Delta. The last 50 years of Nigeria’s history have been tumultuous, and deserve far more attention then can be given here, but this will have to do for now. After Nigeria declared independence from the British Empire in 1960, the country was split into three states, which were determined more or less along tribal lines. These states were to cooperate within a coalition government. To the north were the Hausa-Fulani; to the southwest the Yoruba; and to the southeast were the Igbo.

The cultures of these three states were very different. The Hausa-Fulani were controlled by an Islamic autocracy of Emirs and a Sultan; the resulting society was based power and wealth that was inherited, rather than acquired. The society of the Yoruba was considerably freer. Traditional religions and customs were permitted by the governing oligarchy of tribal elders, which offset the power of the centralized monarch. By comparison, the Igbo were the most free. Villages functioned independently of any centralized authority. Within the villages, decisions were made by general assembly, rather than by monarchal decree.

Oil was discovered off the coast of the Niger Delta in 1958, which was part of the southeastern Igbo province. The three parties fought for political power over the region throughout the 1960’s. When diplomacy failed, there were a coups, counter-coups, and assassinations. In 1967, the Igbo state seceded from Nigeria and declared itself the Republic of Biafra. After three years of famine brought on by sanctions and military blockades, the republic was reabsorbed back into the Nigerian whole. Since then Nigeria has largely been under the control of a various military juntas. 80% of the funding for these governments comes from oil profits.

The Niger Delta has become a surreal wasteland. Particularly hard-hit was a region called Ogoniland, the homeland of the Ogoni people. Many sources of fresh water became polluted by industrial waste and oil spills. Others have mixed with salt water coming from canals dug by the oil companies. Either way, it is undrinkable. This pollution effects fishing and agriculture adversely as well. Air pollution has rendered the rain largely acidic. Large plumes of burning gas, some of which have burning for decades, light up the night sky. Oil pipelines were installed across Ogoni land without permission or warning. Little to no compensation was ever offered to the Ogoni people for the use of their land.

In 1990 the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People was formed, with playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa as its president. A MOSOP Bill of Rights was written, and peaceful protests were organized. Saro-Wiwa was a charismatic and popular figure, and under his leadership the MOSOP was able to organize a protest of 300,000 people in January 1993. This was approximately 60% of the Ogoni population.

In May 1994, Saro-Wiwa and eight others were detained for allegedly inciting the murder of four Ogoni chiefs. The chiefs were murdered in Gokana, while Saro-Wiwa was in police custody in a distant town. This, coupled with his consistent policy of non-violence in MOSOP, provides strong evidence against his involvement in the murders. He was held for 8 months and finally charged in January 1995. During his tribunal, the Nigerian government invoked a decree that forbade the questioning of the tribunal’s decisions. The defense didn’t stand a chance. Ten days later, Wiwa and the eight others were hanged.

In terms of privilege and opportunity, we live in the uppermost echelon of the human race. We all reap the benefits of a global economic system that is dedicated to providing people like us with what we want, when we choose to pay for it. We have influence over this system, what it provides, and how it provides it. But it would be all too easy to use this opportunity to preach as a platform to call for a boycott on Shell, Chevron, or some other company. There are plenty of movements in America with such goals. If you’re interested, do check them out. Besides, Shell pulled out of Nigeria in the mid 1990’s. Perhaps there are smaller oil companies that operate with more ethical standards than the big guys. If they do exist, it would seem that the morally preferable option would be to vote with your wallet: support those companies rather than the big ones, just like shopping at a food coop instead of at Walmart. But there’s a larger issue at work.

It just so happens that oil products and byproducts are causing a great deal of harm to our environment. If they end up in the ground, they take hundreds of years to biodegrade. If they end up in the air, they contribute to the greenhouse effect. They adversely affect our planet. Now every time I fill up my gas tank, I feel guilty for not having the guts to rearrange my life so I don’t need gasoline. The Maldives is not just trying to create a spectacle when they hold a cabinet meeting, underwater, in scuba gear. They’re worried about their country being flooded, and they’re far from the only ones. In short, global warming is a moral issue.

Maybe if Mike Bloomberg started holding New York City council meetings in the East River with the same symbolic purpose, the powers that be would be taking this issue a bit more seriously. In the mean time, reducing our level of oil consumption, possibly completely boycotting all oil based products, would bring about a tectonic shift in the global marketplace. Perhaps this is a more reliable alternative to waiting for our governments to sign legislation that set long-term emissions reductions.

However, then another issue enters play. A prime complaint from the Ogoni people is not that the oil was being taken from Ogoni land, but that the oil money is being used to fund a corrupt non-democratic government, rather than being given to the people themselves. (A study of Igbo labor would be helpful here.) If the demand for oil suddenly drops, there will be no money for the Ogoni people, and hundreds of other exploited indigenous peoples, to have. In a somewhat roundabout way, our boycott could risk letting Shell and Chevron off the hook.

So what do we do about this? From the situation I’ve described, we’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t. But there is a solution. There must be. I certainly have no idea what it is. But I believe that there is a solution. Some people call that solution God, some call it fate, some have other names. I don’t know what I call it, but I feel it has something to do with the fractal model that I think applies to world affairs. We can never know everything about everything in every human being’s head (much less in our own!) But the more we learn, the more informed decisions we can make. And we then have the responsibility to actually make those decisions, not just think about making them.

I’m not trying to say we’re responsible for Saro-Wiwa’s death because we buy Shell gasoline. If world affairs are too complex to assign distinct solutions, they’re certainly too complex to assign blame. And I don’t even mean to sound pessimistic. It would be too easy to spiral into depression. We have to keep trying. Finding the silver lining on the cloud of human depravity is a never ending quest. Be optimistic. There’s plenty to feel good about amongst the bad things. Human beings have accomplished great things, and we will accomplish many more. We all need each other, and correct our mistakes when we become aware of them.