The greatest offence of all to the great Father is when we seek to torment and render each other miserable.Regardless of skin color.
And to all Americans, since the first smell of revolution until today, Paine would again say,
I reflect that since the discovery of America she, Britain, hath employed herself in the most horrid of all traffics, that of human flesh.He demanded immediate emancipation of all Africans in the colonies, which didn't, of course, happen. Or as someone would come to say "What would have happened when Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty or give me death" if one of his slaves had stood up and said "Me, too!"
But just think of what a different country we would be: no Civil War needed, no emancipation movement needed, no endless hounding of our President.
After months of research, and with a growing sense of the man in me, I looked around and saw statues and miniseries and school textbooks full of Washington, Franklin and Jefferson, but hardly a trace of Paine. I knew then that I had to write the play. And when I began to see the absurd misunderstandings and distortions of his ideas and vision, I knew that I had to take the story to as many people as possible.
MAB: I'm so glad you did! Experiencing history in this way is one of the ways we evolve--both individually and as a nation--the arts always seem to be the midwives of this evolutionary process. It is easy to see how your poignant portrayal of Paine inspires so many to greater good. And thanks for sharing how Paine's story personally inspired you--story connects us to the deeper levels of meaning behind the facts, and the storyteller's essential job is to weave the fabric that supports the community.
I understand that right now you are fundraising to develop this project into a television movie for distribution to PBS, that's exciting! Can you tell us more?
IR: Yes, we have an Indiegogo Campaign that continues through Wed., Dec. 10th, 2014, and we're very excited about it. It's a democratic campaign, you can give anything from $1 and on up. Paine would like that.
We will follow in the footsteps of our film of my first one-man play, "From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks" about radical labor leader Harry Bridges (which aired on PBS for 4 years.) NETA distributed that film and they are eagerly awaiting this one! We set a target of $25,000 and about halfway through the campaign we have already raised $18,000. Exceeding the target will bring us even closer to filming, since we've already raised $35,000 of the $100,000 budget from other sources.
This limited edition screen print of Paine is one of the perks of the Indiego-go campaign
(Image by Jos Sances/Alliance Graphics, after Cruikshank) Details DMCA
This is a nonprofit project, so donations are tax-deductable and there are great thank you gifts. So yes, I'm happy to invite readers to please join us, let's take this man's extraordinary story to 150 million Americans and, who knows, to the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and France Televisions.
MAB: Thanks so much, Ian, for sharing both Paine's and your visions to truly "Begin the World Over Again", and perhaps save the soul of America. I'm newly hopeful and inspired!
IR: Thanks so much for your support!
Ian Ruskin's website: www.thelifeofthomaspaine.org
Ian Ruskin's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ianruskin?fref=ts
See the YouTube video about "From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks" at https://www.youtube.com/user/harrybridgesproject?feature=results_main
Of interest:
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