Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240622

Amy we spend the hour remembering the renault did actor, musician, composer and activist Theodore Bikel, who died tuesday at the age of 91. Theodore bikel was known for creating the role of baron von trapp in the sound of music on broadway, cofounding a folk festival with pete seeger and his role as tevye on fiddler on the roof which he played more than 2000 times. It may surprise you to learn that Theodore Bikel, a man so close that in a fight with israel and with jewish life, was also an outspoken critic of israeli policy especially a pending measure which would forcibly relocate some 40,000 bedouin from their ancestral land. When i say the very people who were told to get out in the fictional village of fiddler on the roof, the descendents of those very people are now telling others, strangers in their midst, that they must get out of their homes, seems fundamentally wrong. And a wrong cannot be allowed to stand. Inigo today, Theodore Bikel the musician, actor activist for the hour. All of that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In a major victory for lowwage workers, new york state has cleared the way to raise the minimum wage for fastfood workers to 15 an hour. A special wage board recommended the wage hike wednesday. It is now expected to be approved by the states labor commissioner. The wage hike will be phased in by 2018 and new york city and by 2021 across new york state. Andrew cuomo praised the recommendation. When new york acts, the rest of the state follows. That is the new york a. We have always been different. We have always been first. We have always been the most progressive. This Statement Today is going to radiate all across the country. And seiu and the Community Organizations can go all across the country, that if new york can do it, why cant you do it . Amy the move comes three years after fast food workers in new york city launched the fight for 15 campaign, which quickly spread across the country. In related news, the university of california also announced wednesday that it, too, would be raising the minimum wage for its workers to 15 an hour over the next three years. The move will affect both employees and subcontractors. The university is the states thirdlargest employer with approximately 200,000 workers. The announcement was made by Janet Napolitano the former secretary of homeland security. The Obama Administration issue two permits on wednesday to allow shell to begin oil drilling in the arctics remote chukchi sea. Earlier this year, a report by the department of the interior calculated that there would be a 75 chance of one or more large spills in the chukchi sea if shell drills there. A grand jury has indicted accused charleston shooter dylann roof on federal hate crime charges for allegedly massacring nine africanamerican steering a Church Service in Emanuel Ame Church in charleston, South Carolina. U. S. Attorney general Loretta Lynch announced the indictment wednesday. We are here today to announce that a federal grand jury in South Carolina has returned a 33 count indictment against dylann storm roof, charging with federal hate crimes and firearms charges for killing and attempting to kill africanamerican parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in charleston South Carolina. Because of their race and in order to interfere with their exercise of their religion. Amy in ferguson, missouri officials appointed a new africanamerican to head the predominately white force. He will become the interim Ferguson Police chief. The appointment comes four months after a department of justice probe found widespread discrimination in the Ferguson Police department. In news from greece, the parliament has approved a second round of austerity measures, which have been demanded by european creditors as a condition of the countrys bailout. On wednesday, lawmakers overwhelming voted in favor of the measures, despite lastminute fears of a rebellion within Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras leftleaning syriza party. Outside, people rallied against austerity. In turkey, the government has announced new plans to tighten security along its border with syria, two days after a suicide bomb killed more than 30 people in the turkish city of suruc. According to government officials, the suspected bomber is a turkish citizen with possible ties to the selfproclaimed islamic state. New york city has backed down on plans to curb the rapid expansion of the Ridesharing Company uber. The city council planned to vote as early as today on a measure to cap the number of uber vehicles while the city studies ubers impact. Uber had pushed back. Now the administration of mayor bill de blasio has backed down dropping the vehicle cap, at least for now. In texas, new information has emerged about the arrest of sandra bland, the 28yearold africanamerican woman found dead in a jail cell in what authorities claim was a suicide by hanging. Sandra bland was stopped for not signalling a lane change. Dashcam video shows texas state trooper brian enicinia forced her from her car, threatening to light her up, after she failed to put out her cigarette. Now, Waller County sheriff glenn smith says bland told jailers she had previously attempted suicide. But an attorney for blands family said relatives have no evidence of a prior suicide attempt. A local abc station obtained a voicemail bland left for a friend while in jail. Hey, this is me. I was just able to see the judge. I dont really know they had man a 5,000 bond. Im still just at a loss for words, honestly, about the soul process. About this whole process. Amy video of blands arrest shows her accusing police of slamming her head into the ground and saying, i cant even hear. Texas authorities have denied claims the 52minute dash cam video was edited, telling mother jones apparent glitches in the video resulted from a Youtube Upload error. Meanwhile, hundreds gathered in new york to honor bland. We are demanding an end to wise up or missing. Were going to continue fighting. We are done with the terror. Were going to keep fighting. By any means necessary we will be out here. We going to continue to fight until it is done. Amy protesters also raised questions about the death of kindra chapman, an africanamerican 18yearold found dead in her her jail cell in alabama one day after sandra bland was found. Chapman was arrested july 14 on accusations of stealing a cell phone. Just like in Sandra Blands case, authorities have claimed she hanged herself, but her family does not believe that account. At the protest in new york demonstrators also mourned a 25yearold africanamerican transgender woman who was found beaten to death in tampa florida, tuesday. Im here today representing india clarke. She was the 10th trans woman of color murdered in this country this year. Say her name. Into clark. Say her name. Talks india clarke. Amy india clarke is at least the 10th transgender woman murdered in the United States this year, part of what experts are calling an epidemic. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Today we spend the hour remembering the renowned actor musician, composer and activist Theodore Bikel, who died tuesday at the age of 91. Bikel was known for creating the role of baron von trapp in, the sound of music, on broadway and for the role of tevye in fiddler on the roof, which he played more than 2000 times. One of his earliest film roles came alongside Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in, the african queen, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in, the defiant ones. Theodore bikel was also a beloved folk singer who cofounded the newport folk festival with pete seeger and could accompany himself on guitar, mandolin, balalaika and harmonica. He made more than 20 albums, many of them in hebrew and yiddish. But it may surprise you to learn that Theodore Bikel, a man so closely identified with israel and with jewish life, was also an outspoken critic of israeli policy, especially a pending measure known as the prawer plan, which would forcibly relocate some 40,000 bedouin arabs from their ancestral lands. Just last week israels agriculture minister uri ariel withdrew a request that the cabinet discuss continuing the legislation, pending more input from bedouin leaders. In may, Israeli Arabs protested a 21 Supreme Court decision to allow the destruction of an unrecognized bedouin village to make way for a jewish town ruling its bedouin residents had no legal rights to it. Well, in late 2013, bikel wrote an editorial in the forward headlined, israel must work with bedouin to develop negev for all forced removals and hostility to ancient people must end. He also produced a widely watched video for rabbis for human rights that opens with the title, fiddler with no roof, and his own introduction. My name is Theodore Bikel and i want to ask you to help prevent a terrible moral tragedy. I spent much of my life playing tevye in fiddler on the roof. I see a parallel with what is happening today. 40,000 bedouins are being told to get out of their homes. In a scene and fiddler on the roof, the russians arrive and they tell them that three days to get out, tevye says, why should i get out . Why should we leave . I dont know why, i have an order here, he says. What if we refuse to leave . We know the consequences of refusal. Amy yes, that is actor, singer, activist Theodore Bikel, famous for playing, among other characters, tevye in fiddler on the roof. Theodore bikel died tuesday at the age of 91. I interviewed him last year and , today we spend the hour featuring our conversation. I began by asking bikel why this issue of bedouin displacement was so important to him. There is a human equation here, and it has to do with the basic humanity of human beings who are nominally free to pursue whatever it is that they want to do. People who lived on the land for centuries, long before the receive in a state of israel, who all of the sudden are being told to get out, to be relocated , an Agrarian Society that is forced into sometimes urban ghettos. It seems less than just. The point is, these are not simple questions. And complicated questions very often ask for conjugated answers. But one thing that is absolutely clear in my mind is that human beings cannot be treated like cattle. Human beings must be given the dignity and respect that all human beings deserve especially by a people who themselves, jews have experienced such deprivation in the past. So when i say that the very people who were told to get out in the fictional village of fiddler on the roof, the descendents of those very people are now telling others, strangers in their midst, that they must get out of their homes seems fundamentally wrong. And a wrong cannot be allowed to stand. Now, im not a naive person. I know, and ive said this before, this is a collocated question of the bedouins themselves dont always agree among themselves about what the solution is. I also know that the commissions that have been in place never consulted them never had them as part of the solution. And that is wrong also. You cannot tell people to get out of their homes without their having a say in it. There was a commission headed by former Justice Goldberg of the Supreme Court of israel that had recommendation powers, that no implementation powers. Later, the reason other commission by prawer and the son of the Prime Minister, and that came to naught objected to the plans saying it gave away too much and people on the left objected saying it gave too little. Again, it is not a simple question, but what is simple to me is the fact that were talking here about human beings, citizens of a state, whether or not you wanted, whether or not it is true, but the basic law of israel speaks of all its inhabitants regardless of their providence, regardless of their faith, regardless of the color of their skin. And that, we surely as americans, must understand. Amy then you might be surprised to hear this coming from your voice, a voice familiar to so many as tevye and also as a remarkable singer and musician. Theodore bikel, named for theodore herzog, the founder of zionism. What kind response of you gotten from all sectors of the Jewish Community . The right wing of the Jewish Community has never been particularly in my corner. The right portion of the political spectrum and i do not see i die, never have do not see eye to eye, never have. I am a liberal, for a better definition, and proud of it. I grew up in a home. My father was a socialist and a zionist. I cling to both. I am a zionist. I do not believe in boycotting the state of israel. I do believe in a boycott that is targeted and other words, i will not buy produce from the territories because the territories are the single obstacle to peace that i can see on the map of israel. But i will not side with those who want to boycott all of israel. All of israel institutions, all of israeli economic and academic institutions. I do not side with them, and i believe it is wrong to call for boycott of for example, as was recently done by him a thompson you have to be careful whom you attack and whom you defend. Amy the theater being one you helped to found many decades ago in tel aviv. Yes, indeed. And i was in favor of those who said they will not perform in the territories in the town of areiiel, for example, which is part of the disputed territories, occupied territories of israel. I am in favor of the refusal to appear, and i call i recall what mypablo said, my cello is my weapon, i decide where i play, and for whom i play. We make a statement by our presence and by our absence. Amy Theodore Bikel talk about where you were born and how you came to live in israel as a child. I was born in vienna austria. A lovely place, a place that allowed me to develop as a human being, to love theater literature, to love music, and allowed me to develop as a jew. I was 13 years old when the nazis marched in. Overnight, i became from a human being of civil rights, and object of hatred and of persecution. And i became ultimately, a refugee. Which in one way or another, i remained on my life. I had to flee. I had to flee a place that i used to call home and i have not returned to that place until fairly recently. I returned to it with honors. They have asked me to observe the 75th anniversary in a very solemn location in the parliament of austria. But all these years i smarted under the notion that a human being was told to get out. And that was me. Not only to get out, but to leave behind everything that was precious to him, especially the books. Amy the books of Sholem Aleichem you point out in the video. And those were not just books , they were our friends, our relatives will stop we grew up with them. These were our songs. This was our background. This went back to the place that i came from, the place that i never lived in except in my memories and in my songs and in the land which that i still cultivate to this day yiddish. Amy so you are forced to leave austria when germany occupied, during you left with your parents . Correct, yes. Amy how did you get to palestine . The british gave out some very limited number of entry permits into palestine. They called them certificates. Frankly, they did not know what to do with them, so they turn them over to the Jewish Community in austria. And in turn, these visas were given to people who had seniority in the zionist movement. And my father was one of them. He had been a labor zionist all his life, and we were lucky enough to be able to receive one of those coveted entry permits that covered only my father, my mother, and me. And we could take one suitcase each and flee. My grandmother had to stay behind. It was she who actually rescued all our stuff come all our books. She sat in the interim of a warehouse that was lorded over by a nazi and she cry from morning to night, finally, this big man said, get this old woman out of my sight, im not doesnt sign off on anything she wants just get her out of here. He did, and she asked a shift our stuff from nazi germany to palestine. Amy how long did you live in palestine . You move there at the age of 14. I was 14 years old when i got there. I left when i was 22. I lived there for eight years. And i left, there wasnt even a state yet. It was still called palestine at the time. I went to england to study at the Royal Academy of dramatic art, and i stayed in england for eight years. Finally, ended up in new york in 1954. And i have been in america ever since. Amy actor, singer, activist Theodore Bikel, famous for playing, among other characters, tevye in fiddler on the roof. He died tuesday at the age of 91. We are spending the hour with my interview with him from january 2014. [music break] amy Theodore Bikel singing, if i were a rich man, from fiddler on the roof. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We spend the hour featuring my conversation in 2014 with renowned actor, folk singer, musician, and composer, Theodore Bikel, who died tuesday at the age of 91. He performed the role of tevye in fiddler on the roof more than 2000 times. As we continued the interview, i asked Theodore Bikel to describe how he brought to life the stories of Sholem Aleichem, an for a generation that is not familiar with his writings, to talk about why aleichem was so important to him. Sholem aleichem is the quintessential jewish writer, yiddish writer. He also insisted not to only write what he did and about what he wrote, but to write in the language of his people, to write in yiddish. In those days, respectable jewish writers actually wrote in hebrew. That was the language of the intellectuals. And he insisted that you could only express yourself if you used the language of the people where the people lived, how they lived, how they spoke how they had the twinkle in their eye with the humor how there was a tear every time there was laughter, and how there was laughter every time there was grief. And that was the greatness of Sholem Aleichem. We had 35 volumes of the collective works of Sholem Aleichem sitting on our shelves when the nazis confiscated them, and every single one of them expressed something that i hold dear to this day. Amy i want to go back to the video, Theodore Bikel, and issues of Sholem Aleichem. This is a clip of you forming dust performing part of tevye the derry man. Sholem aleichem, how nice to see you. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the last time. And what havent we been through since then . Riots, floods, the troubles, small troubles. And what we go through with our children, that is no laughing matter. But as the saying goes, you have to survive even if it kills you. So lets talk about cheerful things. What do hear about the cholera epidemic in odessa . Amy and in this clip, Theodore Bikel reads from progress by Sholem Aleichem. We have a streetcar now. A fellow from yellow cab calls to me. Must be the conductor. Next him, a man with a long ragged coat with a whip. The driver, no doubt. The conductor points to a lopsided shack on wheels. The streetcar. Emaciated horse that used to be white is hitched to it. Conductor, are we going to move . God willing, he says, and rolls a cigarette. I asked again, when do we start . Today, he says. And lights up. I wait. More passengers struggle in. One could not tell what animal the virchow used to be. And then another man climbs in this one without a coat. He looks sick and frozen. Then a basket of apples appears followed by a panting woman wrapped in three tattered shawls, she grabs the apples and gives us a look of suspicion as though we might have stolen any walsh who is not looking still in any while she was not looking. I pay my fare. He steps over to the ready for coat tickets, he says. The man shrugged his shoulders. What do you want . I have in a single to my name do you want me to walk or should i rob somebody so you can get your lousy money . The conductor looks chastened and moves on to the cutlass passenger. This one pretends he is sleeping. Ticket, i heard you the first time. Good hand over your money for coat and over your money. Get off. Suddenly, the apple woman speaks up, there is no justice in the world. What makes this man different from any other one . You let me in the other fellow go without a ticket. It is because that one is wearing a fur coat and this one is not wearing a fur coat . Who is asking you to but in . The other men, i know him and knows his family. This one, whoever knows who he is . Is that any reason to throw him off the streetcar . What you characters one more jew on it. One is asking for opinion. You better pay your own fare while were at it, come on full just how were at it. Come on. I knew it. I knew it. Amy Theodore Bikel reading from the stories of Sholem Aleichem the forthcoming documentary Theodore Bikel and the shoes of Sholem Aleichem. Theodore bikel, if it would be presumptuous to ask how you think Sholem Aleichem would respond to the occupation, israels occupation of the occupied territories that you have been very critical of . Well, he had this notion that people survive, as i said in the documentary, you have to survive even if it kills you. Survival is the prime command the first thing that we are always committed to look upon commanded to look upon as the beall, endall of what you are about. You can break all the laws as long as you can save lives. And if you dont save lives, it is not worth staying alive for. You know, this may be very naive , it sounds like a dogooder and i am not only a dogooder, im also a pragmatist. I know it takes a lot of hard work to do the right thing and to believe in the right thing and to defend what you believe in, but that is what i do and that is what i have been doing all my life. And ive got to keep doing it until i no longer can. Amy what youre saying is so important, it might shock jews not only in the United States, but around the world, because you have been so identified with israel as well as, you know, yiddish with the stories of Sholem Aleichem. How often are you asked in interviews, for example, about your artistry, about your work, about your feelings about the Israeli Occupation right now . Look, when i criticize israel , and i do i love israel more not less, because i wanted to be a better place than it is. I want it to be nobler. I want it to be more in keeping with what jews are about. We are about Human Dignity always have been. And we must never forget that. And we cannot say that now that there is a state that things have turned and things have changed and all of the sudden there is a pragmatic consideration that forces us to become all like the other nations in the world. No, we always insist that we are not like the other nations, that we are better, that we are capable of better. And that is what i want to keep. Amy you have criticized the United States where you have been a citizen for many years. Same thing. Same thing. Amy i want to play a clip speaking about the 1968 Democratic National convention or you were a delegate. In his interview, youre sitting next to singer judy collins. Yes, i was elected delegate and also sort of unofficial charge of demonstrations on the floor. When asked to do the memorial for bobby kennedy, we saying is that we sent for fully half an hour. After we lost what was known as the peace clank, at the convention, i started to sing and that went on for quite a while. John chancellor, who is working the floor than, like a martian with an antenna coming out covered his mic and said, not supposed to take sides, but keep it up, this is great. And then on the wednesday of the convention, a couple hundred of us went down Michigan Avenue because we wanted to show solidarity with the kids who are being beaten up in the park. And i saying sang, we shall not be moved and i had a loudspeaker thing in my hand and i sang tell Richard Daley he shall be removed. Tell Richard Daley he shall be removed, just like a pellet garbage in the alley. I was expected to be arrested if any moment, but there were too many witnesses around. There were National Guardsmen with bayonets pointing at us. I said look at this carefully, we are american citizens discharging our lawful duty and we are being threatened by guns and bandits. Dont forget it, remember it always. Amy that was theater but how talking about the 1968 that was Theodore Bikel, talking about the 1968 delegation. How did you become a delegate . I was elected from the state of new york. Some people put it down to the fact i was done for other things, namely performing, and i put it down to my political acumen that people knew i was a good guy and that i would be able to defend the right points of view when i got to the convention in chicago. Amy talk about political activism, why you feel that is important next to your art. I am an artist, but i do not stand apart from the world. I am a part of the world. And i keep insisting when i speak to students, for example always, always, always be part of your surroundings. I do not trust theater students who only read the theater pages. I do not trust the financial people who read only financial pages. A financial wizard needs to read the arts pages and an artist needs to read the Political Pages in order to live in the world in which he or she functions. And that is an adage that has not changed. I am an activist because i am a human being. And i am, as the greeks have said, a political animal, i live in the fabric of a society that forces me to partake in whatever it is that society presents me with. And i cannot divorce myself from it. I cannot say to myself, im a lofty person, engaged in some mythical remove, and im not because i am part and parcel of everything that there is. Amy i want to turn to you singing if i were a rich man well, many will recognize it but also to talk about the issue of inequality today. This is Theodore Bikel as tevye in fiddler on the roof [captioning made possible by democracy now ] in fiddler on the roof. Amy Theodore Bikel as tevye singing, if i were a rich man. It can be a theme song of many today in the United States with the growing inequality between rich and poor. Your thoughts, Theodore Bikel . Poverty is a scourge. Poverty is a curse. And the spread between rich and poor is getting larger and larger and larger, much to the detriment of Human Dignity and the society in which we live. They cannot be allowed that billionaires fill their pockets while hungry babies cry. Amy what comedian about it . Protest yell occupy if you must. But do not be silent. Do not be quiet. And do not think that somebody else is going to fight your fight for you. You have to do it. Amy Theodore Bikel announced actor folk singer, musician, and composer. He performed the role of tevye in fiddler on the roof more than 2000 times. He is known for creating the role of baron von trapp in the musical, the sound of music ok a play about the austrian family who fled austria when the nazis annexed it. The broadway play was written by rodgers and hammerstein who reportedly wrote the song edelweiss was going to feature Theodore Bikel. We will come back to it in a minute. [music break] amy Theodore Bikel singing edelweiss. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We returned to my 2014 interview with renowned actor, folk singer, musician, and composer Theodore Bikel, who died tuesday at the age of 91. He was known for the role of tevye in fiddler on the roof, which he played more than 2000 times. I asked him to talk about his work in yiddish theater and fiddler on the roof and also how he created the role of baron von trapp in the sound of music. Actually, the sound of music was the very first musical i did in my life. To me, was just another play and a plate moreover that had a theme i was familiar with, and austrian family that is forced to get out of austria because they could not stand the barbarity of the nazis. That was being played down in the original production of sound of music because in those days, a musical was known as a musical comedy, was meant to be light and fluffy. And a serious topic serious topics are not really dealt with by musical theater at that time, as they were later on in the history of broadway theater. But even then i felt that there was something important that needed to be said, even by the sound of music and even as lightly as they did say it. It was a story that needed to be told, and it wasnt quite told the way i would have liked to have told it but it was good enough. Amy that was what years are you playing baron von trapp . 1968, 1969. And then they made a movie and the movie certainly conveyed the occupation of austria, the nazis moving it and the fear of the von trapps. By the time the movie got to be made, theres far more of that to be found in the story and in the movie itself. But onstage, for example the nazi swastikas, we had them in boston we tried out before coming to new york, but there were no swastikas at the opening on broadway and no heil hitlers. That came much later and was added back into the play when they found they needed it for sort of extra bite, as it were. But it was, as i said, a light story, lightly told. Amy this is a clip of you performing edelweiss post quote edelweiss named after the white edelweiss flower, the National Flower of austria found high in the outs. Sung by the character you played, baron von trapp. Edelweiss, edelweiss every morning you greet me small and white, clean and bright you look happy to meet me blossom of snow may you bloom and grow bloom and grow forever edelweiss, edelweiss bless my homeland forever edelweiss, edelweiss every morning you greet me small and white, clean and bright you look happy to meet me blossom of snow may you bloom and grow tevye bloom and grow forever edelweiss, edelweiss bless my homeland forever bless my homeland forever amy Theodore Bikel singing with mary martin in the 1959 rodgers and hammerstein musical the sound of music. Tehoheo, the musical that many may have learned about world war ii through, the amazing part of art and theater and politics. Im glad that they learned those who did, in us who did not, theres still time for them to learn. Amy speaking about art politics and resistance, can you talk about the founding of the newport folk festival with pete seeger . Well, we always felt that we owed it to the folk field so much and we were never able to repay the debt that we owed. We learned from these people. We learned from old singers with beaten up guitars. We learned from them as they sang in the field. We learned the songs that they brought to us. And we had no way of repaying them. And so we said one fine day pete seeger and george and i but have a festival and lets make a lot of money and give it back to the people to whom it belongs. Lets create many festivals of fiddlers and lets buy instruments for people who cant afford them, let us buy tip recorders for those who collect the music. That is what we did with the money that was generated at newport. We plowed it all back and the field. As far as payment is concerned everybody got 54. Whether your name was joan baez or bob dylan or whether you are a blind blues singer from mississippi, everybody got 54 for performing at newport. And all of the rest of the money that was generated by the festival was used in order to help the folk field. Amy this is a clip of you Theodore Bikel, singing with pete seeger on a 1956 episode of rainbow quest. Using a traditional he hebrew folksong derived from the old testament. Amy do you remember, Theodore Bikel, singing with them . And who is rashid hussain. I no longer remember. [laughter] amy but the song lives on. And how good it is for brethren to dwell together in peace and unity. That is what the song says. Amy so you have performed tevye more than 2000 times. Do you plan to continue . I think i have hung up my milk pail by now. Im about to turn 90 years old in may of this coming year, of this year and i think enough milkman possibly. I mean, i may be persuaded to sing a song or two from it but to do a full production of fiddler, i dont think i will anymore. Not that i cant, but it is just , you know, i used to have to dye streaks into my beard to make me look older are younger is the case may be. I no longer have to do that now. Amy what would you like still to accomplish . Teach. Tell people of the things that i know about. Trying get the performers to perform a little better, a little fuller than they do. Teach people the ways of peace rather than teach them the ways of war. Amy you played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States when you moved here. Can you talk about why that was important to you . Well, that relates directly to my experience as a boy. When the nazis marched into austria, not everybody dissipated in the dissipated in the terrible deeds that were being perpetrated upon my people. I saw people drugged out into the streets and subjected to unspeakable indignities and some of them shipped off on trucks. And there were some who did not participate in any of this, but they also did not open their doors and windows, either, to call a halt. And today, neither i nor you nor history itself condemns all these nice people next door of guilt and complicity because silence speaks very loudly and nonaction is also an act. Amy i want to and where we began with the issue of israel and the occupied territories. One of those who very critical of israels occupation was Nelson Mandela who just recently died some of the president of south africa. And there have been parallels made between israel and south africa when it comes to the occupation. I was wondering your thoughts about this and how you see ultimately, the situation can be resolved . There are certain parallels but they do not have to do with apartheid per se, dissemination, but treating segments of the population differently than other segments are treated as. No one, for example, in the right mind would say to a jewish settler, a jewish settlement, that they have to be displaced to make room for a water project. It is simply not in the cards. They dont do that. But they do it to bed once butbedouins simple because they can. And that is not right. And when things are not right you have to put them right. Over 100 years ago, that slogan that people used to yell at other people my country, right or wrong, was answered by a former general and senator who said indeed, when right to be kept right and one wrong to be put right. I believe that to be true of america stop i believe that to be true of israel. Amy what message do you have for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . Get out of office. Amy Theodore Bikel, thank you for being with us. What is the Favorite Song of the thousands and thousands of songs you have song . It depends when you ask me. Amy im asking you now. Usually it is a yiddish song and one about my childhood. Amy what song is that . Childhood years. And the tears that i cried our old mans tears. Amy could you sing it for us . Amy and in english, why is this song so important to you . How quickly have i aged how quickly have i grown old and i still see the room where i grew up and i see my mother in front of my eyes and i remember her chastising me and chasing me to go to school and learn, but nothing remained nothing remained and now she is gone as well and i am old. Amy is there anything else you would like to add, Theodore Bikel . Yes, i would like to survive a little longer. And when we say that, we usually mean forever. Amy Theodore Bikel, we thank you so much for spending this time and look forward to seeing you when you are in new york. Thank you so much, amy. Amy Theodore Bikel, renowned actor, folksinger, musician and composer. He died at the age of 91 on tuesday, july 21, 2015. He was born in 1924. Theater brickell perform the role of tevye in fiddler on the roof, which he played more than 2000 times. He is not for creating the role of baron von trapp in the sound of music. It was a beloved folksinger who cofounded the newport folk festival with pete seeger and could accompany himself on several instruments. He made more than 20 albums, many of them in hebrew and yiddish. And that does it for our broadcast. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ]