Budowsky: A worldwide telethon for democracy in Ukraine

Huge masses of good and decent men and women across the globe are angered and appalled by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s crimes against Ukraine. They are deeply inspired by the indescribable courage of President Volodymyr Zelensky and people across Ukraine fighting to save their country and families, and ready and willing to take a personal stand for a cause that defines humanity today. 

To give them a place to stand, I propose a worldwide telethon — simultaneously broadcast on television, radio and social media across the globe — to inspire and empower a massive audience to support the nation, people and democracy of Ukraine.  

Participants would include luminaries in music, film, theater, sports and literature. And leaders of movements for democracy and human rights. And academic authorities who teach and write about promoting democracy, defeating dictatorships and stopping crimes of war.  

Participants would include powerful voices representing great faiths and appealing to the conscience of the world, and CEOs of global companies that give their support to this great historic cause.

This telethon — which would win support from progressive and conservative voices in leading parties across the democratic world and from good people enduring dictatorships who yearn to be free — would inspire the audience and provide direct means to donate money, goods or volunteer time to groups standing with Ukraine.

The world would be astonished and amazed, and the people of Ukraine would be given enormous financial and material support as well as a seismic boost of morale, by the sheer number of people around the world who would be inspired and empowered to offer direct support if given the opportunity proposed here.

Every Russian bomb on a maternal or children’s hospital, every photo of a dead Ukrainian mother or child, every instance of sadistic saturation bombing of civilians, every Russian threat to use nuclear bombs or chemical weapons, every Russian attack against a nuclear plant that could cause radioactive catastrophe, every story of prosecutors at the International Criminal Court investigating war crimes against Ukraine — inspires the Ukrainian people to fight with unyielding courage. And inspires hundreds of millions of good men and women across the globe who hunger for ways to support THEIR cause, and defend OUR democracies, from the world’s most despised dictator.

To understand the power of this worldwide telethon, visit YouTube and watch Bruce Springsteen singing “Chimes of Freedom” in East Berlin in July 1988. He began by telling East Berliners in German that he was bringing them rock and roll, in the hope it would help bring them freedom.

Watch the half million people in the audience as Springsteen sang words written by Bob Dylan about the chimes of freedom, as they waved their arms with stars in their eyes and hope in their hearts that East Berlin would someday be free from the brutality of Putin’s KGB!

One year from that day Springsteen sang, they were tearing down the bricks of the Berlin Wall!!

On Sunday I asked a good friend, Karen Kramer, who was married to the great director and producer Stanley Kramer for decades until he ascended to heaven, about the worldwide telethon idea.

Karen told me “Many in the entertainment and film business, like so many people everywhere, are passionately supportive of the people of Ukraine and are seeking ways to be helpful to them and show our support.”

Steven Spielberg described Stanley Kramer as one of our great filmmakers “not just for the art and passion he put on screen but the impact he has made on the conscience of the world.”

One of those films Karen mentioned was “Judgment at Nuremberg,” a film about man’s inhumanity to man. Near the end of that film the chief judge at Nuremberg, masterfully played by Spencer Tracy, concluded: “This is what we stand for here today. … justice, truth and the value of a single human being.”

I have no doubt the people of Ukraine will ultimately triumph. A worldwide telethon mobilizing support for them will help bring that day closer!

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives.