JOAN BAEZ
READY TO GO TO JAIL AGAIN IN PROTEST AGAINST VIETNAM WAR
The same day that Eartha Kitt confronted Mrs. Johnson at the White House on the war in Vietnam, Joan Baez, the famous folksinger, was released from jail in San Francisco after serving thirty-one days for taking part in antiwar demonstrations in Oakland, California, December 19.
Miss Baez, who is an outspoken opponent of U.S. aggression in Vietnan, said of her experience in jail, "It's nothing for people like us. The most frustrating thing about it is that you can't stop people from murdering by the thousands on the outside."
The 26-year-old vocal artist was one of almost 300 arrested December 18 and 19 at the Oakland military induction center. The demonstrators blocked entrances to the building, which processes draftees from all of northern California. Arrested with Miss Baez were Kay Boyle, a well-known novelist, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet.
The willingness of well~known artists and writers to face jail for their antiwar views is symptomatic of the depth of the revulsion over the war among the mass of the American people. It is also a significant indication of the gulf that separates the capitalist rulers from the sentiment of the masses that the government does not hesitate to jail artists of the stature of Joan Baez.
In appearances in the United States and abroad in the last two years Miss Baez has condemned U.S. action in Vietnam. In a number of cases, notably in Germany and Japan, she has had problems with translators refusing to translate her antiwar comments. In Japan, after such an incident, the translator testified that he had been acting under the direction of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
In the early summer of 1966 Miss Baez sang at a gathering sponsored by the Confederation of Trade Unions in West Berlin. She spoke out sharply against the war there, but the translator became very silent at that point in the program.
In Japan Miss Baez taped a number of radio shows early in 1967. Her translator, Ichiro Takasaki, translated the singer's references to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as "the show would be televised."
Her famous antiwar song, "Saigon Bride," was reported to the audience as "a song about the Vietnam war."
When the scandal broke, Takasaki told the press that he had been pressured by a "Harold Cooper" from the CIA.
After being released from jail
in California, Miss Baez told the press
that she expected to be arrested and put
behind bars again at some time in the
future. When she took part in the Decen-
ber demonstration she had announced her
intention to spend Christmas in jail as
a symbolic protest against the war. "The
only way to stop killing is to stop kill-
ing," she said.
ON STOKELY CARMICHAEL'S ALMA