So…you may remember my post The Ballad of Valery Ponomarev…about a jazz trumpet player whose arm was broken at Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris when he refused to surrender his (already tagged and approved as carry on luggage) trumpet case to some security thugs who were called as a result of a gate-keeper’s panicked call on the baggage.

Valery was up Shit’s Creek without a paddle.

No witnesses…they took him in back, out of the way of prying eyes.

No exalted position in the world..he’s just an artist, not a thieving MBA.

No recourse. Broken arm…cannot play the trumpet (Which is how he makes his living)…branded as a troublemaker by the pig-security, etc…

Read on.

So a number of us…his peers, his colleagues and friends…tried to stir up the waters a little. Tried to get some attention focused on his plight, on his position as an injured, innocent bystander in this ongoing war against individuality that is being waged by BushCo both domestically and internationally.

Valery called me today. “Look at the International Herald Tribune and NY Times tomorrow!!! They are paying ATTENTION!!!”

We have been successful, to some degree. And so it begins.

First this, a couple of weeks ago. (Jazz Times, September 30, 2006.)

According to liberal blog My Left Wing, about two weeks ago, renowned jazz trumpeter and ’70s-era Jazz Messenger Valery Ponomarev (pictured) had his arm broken by Charles DeGaulle airport security after he refused to relinquish his instrument. The 63-year-old American citizen, who was born in Russia, was asked to check his trumpet at the gate, despite the fact that it was already properly tagged as carry-on baggage.

The above referenced post, spread all across the internet (Plus the efforts of proximity1 among others) interested a reporter who works for Radio France.

And the mainstream media is now picking up on it. (International Herald Tribune)

Dispute over airline rules gets out of hand.

and

 NY Times

A Trumpet, a Struggle, and a Musician’s Broken Arm.

Result…? Lawyers have tools, and Valery may well come out of this with some sufficient compensation for his pain.

And THIS is the way the blogs can change things. One of the ways, anyway. By bringing the symptoms of this ongoing corporate/fascist takeover to the public in bite-sized pieces. Pieces that they can digest whether awake OR asleep. Pieces that could quite possibly pertain to them. To THEIR lives. Pieces that the media cannot resist.

The big picture? International politics, the push and pull of various jive political parties?

That is the purview of the networks, of the MASS mass media.

But the personal?

That has to be hustled up the food chain.

ALL of us should be writing about the specific.

The child who is being dissed by the educational system because he or she doesn’t fit in the true/false/pick-one boxes.

Senior citizens robbed of their coverage by a mechanical insurance system.

And yes…just plain citizens caught in the maw of the 1984 Machine.

Why???

BECAUSE IT COULD HAPPEN TO ANY OF US.

A trumpet?

Why not a computer next time?

A camera.

A “subversive” book?

Something on the No Read List.

A history of Venezuela.

A book of Sufi poetry.

Non-approved sneakers.

The list is endless.

If you can’t join `em…BEAT `EM!!!

VAYA!!!

Later…

AG

0 0 votes
Article Rating