Joan Baez Sings Against the Old Fascist World: Iconic Voice Still Resonates!

The archaic, reactionary, and fascist old guard is stubbornly clinging to life. Worse yet, they are in control! Whether we discuss the decay of the freedom ideal, the most significant backlash in history against progressive movement gains, or merely a new phase of capitalism in its most dystopian form, the tools to counterbalance the scale of cultural hegemony are few. With technology and major social networks under the thumb of the powerful, the survival of democracy will necessitate a return to the tangibility of action and the on-the-ground reconquest of territories lost to regressive ideologies.

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), representing a cross-generational spearhead of the most assertive faction of the Democrats in the United States, have grasped this necessity. As our correspondent Jacky Goldberg notes, this dynamic duo embarked on a ‘Fighting Oligarchy Tour’ across America to ‘plow’ through Republican-held territories from Utah to Montana, aiming to “flip already Trump-disillusioned voters”.

Spotlight on Baez and Young

On Saturday, April 12, Bernie and AOC made a stop in Los Angeles, California (a state supportive of Democratic causes), for a rally featuring performances by folk-pop musician Maggie Rogers (in her thirties) and veterans Neil Young and Joan Baez on stage.

Reminiscent of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, Joan Baez – whose persona and commitments have recently been highlighted anew by the film A Perfect Stranger about Bob Dylan – found herself, 62 years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom organized by Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963, where she performed We Shall Overcome, singing on a platform in front of tens of thousands of people for a brighter future. Ironically, it’s from the breeding ground of the old world’s dissent that we’ve drawn to battle the stale ideas of the fascist old world – perhaps because at that very moment, the younger generation was too busy capturing photos of Hailey Bieber at Coachella.