Under the baobab: American prosperity and progress came from sacrifice of working people

Our strike is over, or at least half over. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has settled with the TV and film producers. As members we are in the process of ratifying the agreement. The primary issues were fair compensation and the encroachment of artificial intelligence on the control of our work product.

The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists continue their strike. SAG/AFTRA has jurisdiction over most film, TV and radio artists. Leadership has also asked for strike authorization for game and video artists. The primary issues are fair compensation and control of our images when they are enhanced by artificial intelligence. The producers want to use our still and video images to generate future programs ad infinitum without compensation to the actor. Current technology allows the manipulation of characters that have been artificially created out of actual images and plot lines (see WGA strike above) into TV and film programs. Actors would lose all control of their own images and the messages those images present, sliding us further into an unthinkable dystopian post-Orwellian reality. These struggles of WGA and SAG/AFTRA over the use of AI are only the beginning. The control and manipulation of imaging is becoming a crisis in our culture. But how will it be resolved and by whom?

Contrary to what robber barons like Carnegie, Rockefeller and Musk posited, American prosperity and progress have not come from the fanciful notions of enlightened capitalists but rather they were built by the sweat, blood and sacrifice of working men and women. This “house on the hill” was constructed by immigrants who fled to these shores looking for opportunities to build a better life, and by enslaved and kidnapped Africans transported here as agricultural fodder to till cotton, sugar cane and tobacco. Their labor helped accumulate the country’s wealth and build the foundation of our industrial development. These efforts aggregated with others, like the World War II women who left home and hearth in support of the war effort on assembly lines, are the sinews to the body of the American dream. Union leadership was essential to that development.

I was proud and happy to see President Biden walking the picket line with the UAW. He was the first sitting American President to muster the courage to do so. In the past, governments usually sided with management in these disputes. By supporting the workers, Biden showed everyone which side he is on. He followed it with an enlightening speech on the future of democracy at the announcement of the Senator John McCain Library in Arizona. He was introduced by Ambassador Cindy McCain, the wife of the former Republican Senator and Presidential candidate. God be with you and the workers, Mr. President.

Around Penn State

Penn State, ranked 28th in the country among public universities according to US News and World Report, is nationally known for its sports programs. It consistently fields top ten teams in wrestling, football, soccer, volleyball, field hockey and hockey. The university’s commendable status is also enhanced by its academic excellence and arts training. The nationally recognized musical theater program was recently showcased at The President’s Club luncheon. Dozens of its theater alum have appeared and are currently appearing on Broadway and top regional theaters. In the spring, Prof. Steve Broadnax, MFA graduate and present grad program head at PSU, will direct Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Sally and Tom” at NYC’s Public Theatre. He directed his own creation, “Bonez,” which is running until Oct. 15 at Philly’s Peoples Light and Theatre Company. It features Penn State MFA grad Eric Robinson Jr.

Herb Newsome, also a graduate of the MFA program, will direct “Blues is the Root,” a musical biography of Blues legend Willie Dixon at the New Horizon Theatre in Pittsburgh in February. Go State!

Charles Dumas is a lifetime political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He lives with his partner and wife of 50 years in State College.