Ode to Freedom
I have been struggling mightily, along with many others, as I see my beloved nation turn into what can only be described as a fascist, repressed country… a country under current leadership that is filled with revenge and discrimination and violence and destruction of civil liberties. Almost everything I hold dear has been trampled upon … crushed, denigrated, dismissed. And, the values that undergird our Constitution and Bill of Rights are dismissed as irrelevant or they are misinterpreted or downright ignored.
I am angry. I am actually embarrassed to be an American in this America. I am feeling helpless, despite efforts to write and do art and protest and sign petitions and educate others. I feel the calamitous weight of oppression. Robert Reich suggested we are living in a time of trauma (a topic about which I know a thing or two having written 3 books on the subject).
Nothing was providing relief … until now.
A former student (WG) suggested several days ago I watch a film titled Following the Ninth: In the Footsteps of Beethoven’s Final Symphony (the 9th for the record). It was produced more than a decade ago (I had somehow missed it back then and since). It was written and directed by Kerry Candaela and released by the Ode to Joy Foundation (another unknown to me). It can be found on the Foundation’s website and appears on YouTube as well. Try this link: https://youtu.be/QFRoBtuzDxY?si=cfzqXoTTcf_6YSqP.
To say I was skeptical about seeing the movie is an understatement. But, WG was insistent and he helped me find it online and kept checking in with me. He asked: “How is it going? How’s the movie?” After watching the first third, I noted the film was depressing; it is reminding me of the horrors of our nation now and the current diminution of people and places and culture by people in positions of power. The film, depicting conflict and eradication of rights and human life in Chile and East Berlin and China and Japan, struck too close to home for my liking. The movie was about, or so it appeared, freedoms denied.
My former student answered: “Keep watching.” Note the student turning into the teacher.
I just finished the film and I am crying. There was a moment later in the film (one of many showing conductors leading orchestras and choirs playing and singing Ode to Joy) when Leonard Bernstein is seen conducting the 9th symphony in East Berlin right after the Berlin Wall fell. And, for abundant reasons and with remarkable perspicacity, he had the singers replace the words “Ode to Joy” with “Ode to Freedom” (in German). Wow.
As the film progressed and the voices and actions of people across the globe were fighting to save freedom of speech and freedom of expression and freedom of movement and the revival of communities, I began to see hope, especially in young people. The central speakers in the film, individuals who had endured horrors in their respective nations while still young, appear towards the end of the film with smiles and wisdom and a better understanding of life and its vicissitudes. They had found ways forward. They had helped make better nations. They had enabled freedom, and they lived to see it come to fruition. (Yes, they lost many friends and family along the way.) The film’s central speakers were wise beyond their years, having experienced life in the absence of freedom but they still had joy at the end, evidenced by their finding solace and hope in Beethoven’s last symphony.
WG remarked that after this film, he will never be able to listen to that 9th Symphony again without appreciating how it enabled and likely still enables literally thousands upon thousands of people to find hope when things appear(ed) dismal and intractable and full/filled with unending fear and terror. And, yet, both during and after these tumultuous periods depicted in the film, the central speakers and whole nations found voice in Beethoven’s music and the lyrics to Ode to Joy.
I want everyone to watch and listen to Following the Ninth. (Unlikely I know.) You will see a facsimile of what is occurring in our nation now. We need to speak up and out to save what matters to us: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, freedom of religion, freedom of thought. And, unlike the central speakers in the film, I am not young as our nation craters and I hope I live long enough to see a resurgence of respect for and appreciation of the rights of all humans and the abundant freedoms upon which this nation has rested from its birth.
It is in this context that I want to remark on the horrific compact the current administration just presented to nine American universities: it identifies a litany of concession the US government is demanding for institutions of higher education in exchange for “priority” access to federal funds. Extortion by any other name. And yes, it ties into the film.
Within that unconstitutional document (in my view and the view of others), the government states this and I quote:
Therefore, signatories to this compact commit themselves to fostering a vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus. A vibrant marketplace of ideas requires an intellectually open campus environment, with a broad spectrum of ideological viewpoints present and no single ideology dominant, both along political and other relevant lines.
As I read these words, I could not help but think how the current administration makes the demands for a marketplace of ideas on our campuses (an idea with which I wholeheartedly agree…quality education is just that) and yet, in the operation of the government in America today, the leaders express disdain for viewpoints that are not in line with their own and proceed to seek retribution with respect to anyone who voices or acts on concepts and ideas that are not in line with this government. The current administration is most assuredly NOT creating a marketplace of ideas and broad ideological viewpoints. T and JDV and many others are doing the opposite of what they are demanding of universities.
The irony of the Compact’s demands and the behavior of current leadership is not lost on me. But, and this part is new, I will keep listening to and watching the efforts of many others support freedoms in their nations and I will continue to speak up and out whenever and wherever possible, playing and signing “Ode to Joy/Freedom” loudly and often.
