Archive for June, 2008
Hecklers Highlight Silence of Major Latino Organizations Around War
Posted by illvox collective in General on June 30, 2008
By Roberto Lovato
I was in Washington cafe yesterday when hecklers from Code Pink interrupted Sen. John McCain no less than 3 times during a major speech to Latino voters and elected officials. Shortly after the event, several of protesters marched triumphantly into the coffeeshop I was sitting in on P Street after they stole the media thunder of the event organizers, the Nation Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO). NALEO was trying to highlight Latino voting power and unprecedented participation in this year’s elections.
Despite NALEO’s attempts to let the media know that it was the white women and not members of their organization, many of the mainstream media basically reported as if Latinos had dissed the GOP candidate. While many, if not most, of us do, in fact, find McCain and other warmongers more than worthy of attack for their seemingly infinite ability and desire to send other, mostly poor people’s children to kill and die in war, we should prioritize accuracy and fairness.
Yet, while I find Code White…..I mean Code Pink as problematic as other “progressive” organizations when it comes to issues of race and inclusion, I must say that watching and listening to the middle class white women-and not the working and middle class Latinos in the audience-yell in garbled Spanish, “Ya basta con la matanza” (Stop the Killing) as they denounced the war and its supporters inspired a rather odd mix of bother and shame; It reminded me of something I’ve been wanting to talk about for some time: How NONE of the national Latino organizations in the U.S. have come out against the war. NONE.
Though I have longtime friends and colleagues at most of them, it saddens me to report that, to date, none of the major Latino organizations-NALEO, LULAC, National Council of La Raza (NCLR), MALDEF, Southwest Voter Registration (leaders of SVREP have, however, taken positions) have come out against the Iraq war.
Such silence raises questions not unlike those raised around the trials and tribulations of disgraced former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. As stated here previously, leaders of organizations like LULAC and NCLR not only didn’t denounce Gonzales, they were important players in the campaign to get him appointed the country’s first Latino Attorney General-even after revelations of Gonzales’ leadership in legalizing the torture like that perpetrated in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo came out. In an indicator of the nuance and differentiation that exists in the Latino political universe, Southwest and MALDEF came out against Gonzales.
And , in addition to enabling someone who, in a more just and fair world, would be locked up for life as a war criminal, some of these Latino organizations are also taking money from and providing a platform to the most violent and wasteful institution in the United States: the Pentagon. As I’ve reported here , the Pentagon is spending BILLIONS to save itself by recruiting unprecedented numbers of young Latinos for the cause of war and plunder. Money to improve decrepit schools that are supposed to prepare our kids for life, schools that are pushing our kids out, is instead being used to bolster the institution that will prepare them for death-and no Latino organization of any stature is saying anything about it. In their efforts to survive, huge numbers of Latino media outlets have allowed themselves to become mouthpieces of the Armed Forces by accepting hundreds of millions of dollars to print, beam and broadcast Pentagon ads targeting Latinos (ie Army of One, Yo Soy El Army, etc.)
We should not, however, paint all Latinos or all Latino organizations with the same brush of silence about war. MANY, many individuals like Camilo Mejia and many organizations like Project YANO and others are fighting the good fight against the Pentagon in its war for the hearts and minds of our kids.
So, when you see and listen to the silence in the audience in the video below, please remember that is the silence of the few, as polls have, for some time, indicated that the vast majority of Latinos opposes the war madness perpetrated by the likes of John McCain.
Via Of America
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Mugabe, Britain & the Abuses of Anti-Colonialism
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 30, 2008
By Priyamvada Gopal
Over forty years ago, as Africa commenced the long and arduous process of decolonization, one of its foremost liberationist thinkers issued a prophetic warning. Frantz Fanon, himself a freedom fighter, wrote that the national leader in the postcolonial era should not ‘fall back into the past and become drunk on the remembrance of the epoch leading up to independence.’ His powerful descriptions of a once effective leader who gradually secedes from reality and betrays the people who entrust him with their future has resonances for the tragic situation in which Zimbabwe finds itself today. Having reduced a once significant anti-colonialism to a self-serving dogma, Robert Mugabe is the kind of fallen leader Fanon cautioned Africa against. Hesitant African leaders who are being called upon to intervene might want to reread his classic essay, “The Pitfalls of National Consciousness” from that classic liberationist text, The Wretched of the Earth.
As Zimbabwe spirals into further political chaos, Mugabe and his party’s addiction to power will further indulge an equally self-serving Western appetite for spectacles of Third World despotism. If Mugabe finds it convenient to invoke the demon of colonial oppression (which many Zimbabweans, barely thirty years out of colonial rule, remember all too well), he also enables British politicians to spout pieties condemning violence while their own nation is currently implicated in two dubious and bloody wars. Were the BBC and Channel 4 to show as many close-ups of injured and dead Iraqis as they do of Mugabe’s maimed victims, criticism of violence against innocents might be somewhat more evenly distributed than it currently is. The British government turns accusatory fingers in Zimbabwe’s direction while Mugabe shouts back anti-colonial slogans. It is a perfect symbiosis, a mutually convenient embrace of denunciation, with each party laying claim to the higher moral ground. The only innocents, however, are ordinary Zimbabweans.
Both Mugabe and Britain are guilty of avoiding historical truths in favour of a skewed story which legitimates their own position. Britain’s persistent refusal to acknowledge its own colonial legacies is contradictory. It reneged on its commitments to the land reform programme claiming, in Claire Short’s words, that there were no ‘links to former colonial interests’ while nevertheless concerning itself with the fate of the white farmers who represent these interests. Alongside an extremely selective use of human rights discourse, such contradictions mean that Mugabe’s denunciations have some truth to them even if their main purpose is to detract from the ruling elite’s own depravities. While Africa is ostensibly central to Britain’s international development agenda, the emphasis has always been on the paternalism of aid rather than acknowledging and making reparations for the economic devastation wrought by colonialism. Rarely do condemnations of land seizure, violence and intimidation extend back to the time Matabeleland came under British rule. This too was accompanied by the seizure of vast swathes of fertile land by a handful of British farmers while large numbers of Ndebele and Shona people were killed or forced into labour. Brutal modern regimes in that part of the globe didn’t begin with Mugabe.
Mugabe, meanwhile, should also reacquaint himself with the original aims of anti-colonialism and the people’s expectations of the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe. Having resisted the anti-poor agendas of international monetary institutions and initiated necessary land reforms, the Zimbabwean leader has also refused all responsibility for those many failures of his rule not reducible solely to the colonial past. A once dynamic band of freedom fighters have degenerated into a party who brandish their liberationist laurels while they subjugate, starve and brutalize an entire population in the name of anti-colonialism. The sanctions imposed by the West have, as they usually do in such cases, strengthened Mugabe’s brutish hold on power and further harmed the vulnerable. Real anti-colonialists like Fanon and Gandhi both insisted that that freedom was not about replacing the white tyrant with the brown or black one. Mugabe is the exemplary cautionary tale here, a freedom fighter who has essentially recolonized his people. Indeed, the very techniques of suppression and intimidation deployed by the Zimbabwean leader, a knight of the British Empire until yesterday[,] were taught to him by the colonial masters he professes to despise. Censorship, brutal suppression of resistance and the dismissal of any form of criticism as seditious were all part of the colonial arsenal. Quick to claim credit for spreading parliamentary democracy, Britain is less forthcoming about acknowledging the legacy of authoritarian rule also left behind by its empire.
Frantz Fanon died young, but one can imagine what he might have to say to his fellow former liberationist. Mr Mugabe, it is time for you to return the power which the Zimbabwean people once vested in you but which they now legitimately wish to reclaim. Liberate them from the tyranny of the rule you have exercised for too long and without a continuing mandate. Your actions weaken all of us who hold the accomplishments of liberation dear and only strengthen the hypocrisies of former colonial powers. The great tradition of African anti-colonialism to which you constantly refer has never been about blaming the colonizer alone; it has always taken account of the culpability and responsibilities of African leaders and elites.
As for those in Britain, it is time for the ‘proper analysis’ some commentators have called for, one which would include honest reflections on the imperial legacy rather than ’shutting up’ because of colonial guilt. It is the only way to deprive Mugabe of his main moral weapon. This is not just about the kind of simple-minded ‘balance’ which the BBC generally advocates (though it has long since abandoned that value with regard to Zimbabwe), but also an informed sense of how history shapes the present. Failing this, Zimbabwe and the rest of us are destined to asphyxiate ourselves in what Fanon aptly termed ‘the tragic lie’ of the aftermath of colonialism.
Via Mostly Water
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Peltier Statement for the 2008 Oglala Commemoration
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 30, 2008
Greetings my relatives,
I say relatives because you are all my family. I am honored, greatly honored today that you would listen to my words and come together in this way so that our future generations’ will not forget what happened here in this land.
You can’t imagine how much I miss walking on the bare earth. Or brushing against a tree branch or hearing birds in the morning or seeing an antelope or deer cross my path. I have been here in federal prison for 32 years; if you could imagine being in your own home stuck in one room for one year without leaving it, multiply that by 32 and you might have some idea of how imprisonment plays on your feelings. I really get tired sometimes living here in this cell, this prison. Yet at times I feel really good because for some reason I know that there are those out there who have prayed for me in some way. And it helps me because there are moments when a peaceful feeling will wash over me in my solitude.
I try to keep up with world events like the war in Iraq, where those people are going through the same thing our Indian people went through and over the same things. The US wants their resources and they have divided those people against each other. Those children over there and families for generations will still feel the effects of that onslaught of destruction.
When I look at our own people’s situation I see a people who have not recovered from the destruction put upon them in the past. Today, the greater society of America doesn’t want to accept us for who we are because we will always stand as a reminder of the immoral wrongs that they do and have done all over the world, all in the name of technology and progress. Our people have told them from the very beginning about the consequences of mistreatment of individuals and mistreatment of Mother Earth. There are history books that quote our chief headmen and medicine people cautioning them about there destruction of the earth and nature.
We know the first concentration camps America ever had held Indian prisoners. The first biological warfare was used on our people with poisonous blankets. The first atomic bomb dropped was dropped on Indian land in Nevada. Today there are abandoned uranium quarries in Navajo country that cause genetic defects on a lot of their people. When you look into the past, America has used us Indians as their social experiment. They tried to destroy us with boarding schools, relocation, and even the first slavery practice was with American people. However Indian people would fight or commit suicide than to become slaves, and so they imported Africans.
Forgive me if I am repeating things you already know, but I just wanted to bring these things up because these are the reasons behind the Wounded Knee takeover in 73 happened and the shootout at Oglala happened. Our people were not just taking a stand against this government for themselves; they in essence represented Indian people all across the Americas. Our resistance wasn’t to kill anyone; our resistance was to remain alive while we let the world know what had been and what was being done to us, the Indigenous people.
I know for a fact from communication all around the world, that we Indian people inspired many other indigenous people to stand up and defend themselves because of our actions. I have gotten letters from all over the world where people said “if the native Americans can stand up to people like that being in the belly of the beast, surely we can do likewise in some way.”
I recognize that my being here isn’t all about me; my continued imprisonment in essence serves as a warning to others willing to stand up for their people. The US has violated their own constitution they violated the treaties we had with them, they violated all kinds of moralities to bring about my conviction. The average non Indian American either doesn’t know or couldn’t care less. As long as they can keep their high standard of living our struggles mean nothing to them. Most recently other nations have raised the issues of America’s mistreatment of the people in the concentration camp in Guantanamo; issues of lack of a fair trial, issues of physical, mental abuse and of sanctioned torture of prisoners. I want to also mention that our people were the first to be tortured by this government and we were the first to be victims of scalping by the Europeans. The colonizers were paying for our men, woman and children’s scalps.
I may sound angry in what I am saying, but all this goes back to why we are here today. We must not forget what has happened in the past but we must also find a way to heal from those things that have happened and be stronger in the future. We need to heal our families; we need to heal our family’s structures so that what happened to our people in the past can’t happen to us again. For several generations our children were shipped off to boarding schools which destroyed their understanding of family and family responsibilities, and you think of the statistics today facing this, they don’t have to kill us anymore with guns, our children and adults both are killing themselves.
Again, like I said before we have not healed from the destruction that was put upon us, I know each one of us can be better than what we are, it takes effort, it takes getting back to our ceremonies, it takes getting back to our respect for one another, the earth, the Creator and our respect for our brothers’ and sisters’ vision. It takes men being men and being strong fathers and uncles and grandfathers and brothers, not just as a matter of birth but as a matter of responsible behavior. It also takes our women to stand as the strong mothers they were meant to be and the sisters, grandmothers and aunties. We need to repair ourselves and not wait for some grant from the government to tell us or guide us in our recovery. We need to take that responsibility ourselves and mend the sacred hoop.
Again I want to say as I have said many times in the past, though my body is locked into this cell, my heart and soul is with you today. In closing I would like to acknowledge the loss of our brother Vernon Belcourt and the great loss of my brother Floyd Westerman, a tireless advocate for Indigenous rights I’m sure that he as well as many others, who like him devoted their time and energies to better the conditions our people face, are here with us today in spirit. We have no guarantees of the time of our own passing but until that time or my time I will miss them greatly as I miss you my family. Be kind to one another, and remember my words; for I have spoken to you from my heart of hearts. And you will always be in my prayers.
In the spirit of Crazy Horse and every Indian man or person that stood for their people,
Doksha
Leonard Peltier
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July 5: Day of Action Against Starbucks
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 30, 2008
CNT Seville and the Starbucks Workers Union in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA) have called for protests against Starbucks for 5 July 08 all over the world. Union organizers of both unions have recently been fired because of their union activity. Do not allow multinationals to practice union busting! ¡Viva la solidaridad internacional! ¡Viva la lucha obrera!
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Protesting Border Wall with Trees
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 30, 2008
The first of 400,000 trees are being planted to form a “green wall” in protest of the fence the U.S. is building along the border with Mexico.
The treeline will eventually stretch for 318 miles along the border between the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas.
Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira Valdes says “our wall is of life, and it competes with shame and hate.”
The U.S. government says its fence is critical to security. Critics say it fuels animosity between the two countries and raises environmental and private property concerns.
The mayor of a Texas border town attended Friday’s tree planting in Piedras Negras. Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster opposes the ongoing construction of 670 miles of border fence.
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Justice for Javon Dawson
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 30, 2008
On Monday, June 9, Keon Dawson turned 14 years old. While many 14-year-olds might spend their birthdays celebrating, Keon spent his in a demonstration in front of the police department because just two nights before, St. Petersburg police murdered his brother, Javon Dawson.
Javon Dawson was at a graduation party at the Shining Light Masonic Lodge on Saturday night when police shot him in the back. According to witnesses, the 17-year-old had his hands up when he was shot twice in the back.
Witnesses say that when one teen tried to stop the bleeding, the police responded by pepper spraying him. Another teen’s attempt to save Javon’s young life brought on threats by police that he too would be shot.
Not surprisingly though, the State has already begun a campaign of slander and cover-up. They could not pull up any rap sheet — a common tactic used to justify when police murder an African — because he had never had any previous contact with police. In fact, everyone who knew him, including his high school principal, knew him as “a good kid.”
Instead, the police painted a picture that implied that this young African who had never had a run in with police became an instant outlaw that night. They claim that this young African who had never been in any trouble decided tonight that as his first criminal act he would commit suicide by aiming and firing a gun at police so they could kill him.
However, the police story contradicts the accounts of all of the witnesses who say that young Javon didn’t even have a gun. But killer cop Terrance Nemeth did. In fact, the bullets he fired into Javon’s back weren’t his first.
Killer cop Terrance Nemeth is a seasoned killer. This battle-worn, former Marine had just recently returned from Iraq where he received awards for occupying Iraq the same way police occupy the African community in St. Petersburg and throughout the U.S.
In fact, some have questioned whether killer cop Terrance Nemeth was even psychologically prepared to return to “civilian life” in the U.S.
Community responds with outrage
Keon Dawson Keon Dawson spent his 14th birthday in a picket line after police murdered his brother just two nights earlier.
The day after police murdered young Javon Dawson, outraged Africans flooded into the auditorium of the Uhuru House, headquarters of the Uhuru Movement. Frustration was high, and it was clear the African community wanted to stop the police murders and to get justice for this young African.
David Dawson, Javon’s father, was speechless. His mother, Yolanda Baker, was stricken silent with grief. They had lost their son only hours ago and police refused to even let them see him.
Ollie Godfrey, Javon’s stepmother, spoke saying, “This is an injustice in our community because that could have been anybody’s child laying out there that night. They said he was in the hospital. We went to the hospital, and they said that he wasn’t there. We went back out there, and they left him lying out there for four hours like a dog in the streets. We know that the police are going to put it the way they want to to make themselves justified, but it was not justified to shoot somebody in their back. I don’t care what the circumstances were.”
Javon’s little brother, Keon, explained with tears in his eyes how the police threatened to kill him if he tried to help Javon as he lie bleeding to death on the ground. “I saw my brother shaking on the ground, and then I tried to run over there. The police was like, ‘get back, or I’ll shoot you too.’”
“No Justice! No Peace!” demonstration The African community demands justice for Javon Dawson and an end to the city of St. Petersburg’s attacks on the African community.
A powerful demonstration was held on the morning of Monday, June 9 in front of the St. Petersburg police headquarters. Chants of “Jail the Killer Cops Now!” and “No Justice, No Peace!” could be heard blocks away.
The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM), which led the demonstration, released a press statement that said, “InPDUM stands in total opposition to the public policy of police containment being imposed on our community. Police containment is when the police are given an open license to kill, harass, intimidate and arrest us in an effort to keep the African community silenced and docile. This reckless public policy of police containment has resulted in the police murders of young African men, with 17-year-old Javon Dawson being the most recent victim.”
The statement also connected Javon’s murder with police murders of other teens. Javon’s murder is reminiscent of the police murder of 18-year-old TyRon Lewis by the St. Petersburg Police Department in 1996. Then the city recklessly started a rebellion as a result of its vicious policy against the African community.
Immediately after the October 1996 police murder of TyRon Lewis, the Uhuru Movement launched a successful campaign within the African community and entire city that challenged the city’s negative public policy of police containment. As a consequence of our community’s unified demands, the city of St. Petersburg was forced to go eight years without a police killing of a single African person while at the same time giving lip service to the notion of economic development for the African community.
Then, as a process of reinitiating the brutal public policy of police containment while simultaneously trying to hide its hand in it, the city brought in the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department to brutalize the African community. This resulted in the Sheriff’s Department’s murders of 17-year-old Marquell McCullough in May 2004 in a hail of 19 bullets and the murder of Jarrell Walker who was shot in the back three times in April 2005.
Now, eager to carry out its plans to turn St. Petersburg into a different kind of city with no place for its current residents, the city is intensifying its attack on the African community using the St. Petersburg Police Department directly to facilitate its containment and removal.
The city of St. Petersburg has not been able to murder an African without invoking a serious resistance in response. Rebellions erupted following the murders of TyRon Lewis, Marquell McCullough, and Jarrell Walker.
Even now, a powder keg is being created by the government of the city. The reckless public policy that is being guided by violence from the police and the land grabs and gentrification backed by the city government are fueling this powder keg.
In fact, it seems like the city is trying to provoke a rebellion by murdering another African teenager so that it could create an excuse to intensify its brutal assault against the African community.
Community in motion
committee Four members of the Justice for Javon Dawson Committee at a press conference; Ollie Godfrey, Diop Olugbala, Brenda Dawson and Kimberly Fritts (left to right)
On Wednesday, June 10, a meeting was held at the Uhuru House where the Justice for Javon Dawson Committee was built. Led by Javon’s stepmother Ollie Godfrey as its president, the committee also includes Javon’s cousin, Laketa Dawson, as its secretary; Brenda Dawson, Javon’s aunt, as its fundraiser; and Javon’s cousins Kimberly Fritts and Felicia King as its outreach coordinators. Diop Olugbala, InPDUM’s International Organizer is functioning as the committee’s political action coordinator.
The committee immediately got to work, scheduling a press conference the following morning and holding a candlelight vigil immediately after the meeting at the site where the police murdered Javon Dawson. Africans from throughout the community came raising their candles and pledging to not allow a moment of peace in the city of St. Petersburg until justice is won.
One sister led the crowd in the song “Victory is Mine” exemplifying the committee and the African community’s determination to win the struggle for justice for Javon Dawson and to end the city’s attacks against our community.
Javon’s murder is part of larger plan
The murder of Javon Dawson does not happen in isolation. The public policy of police containment that caused his murder is part of an overall plan to change the face of the city of St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker plans to turn St. Petersburg into a haven for wealthy white people, and this vision of a new city has no place in it for African people or poor people in general.
The razing of an entire African community and African businesses so that the Tropicana Field dome could be built on its ashes was part of this process. This process saw an entire section of the African community historically called the south side because of its proximity to Central Avenue renamed “Midtown” followed by a serious gentrification to extend the downtown area.
This process of creating this new African-free St. Petersburg is being continued now with a plan to build a $500 million dollar waterfront stadium to replace the dome that was built on the ashes of the African community. The city’s plan for economic development comes at the expense of the African community.
Organized resistance is the only way to stop it
The police, which function as an occupying army in the African community, will continue to murder African people as long as there is no consequence. They will continue to kill African people one by one so long as we are unorganized.
The African community must get organized in its own interest to defend itself. It cannot stand by and allow the police to attack our community. Nor can it simply react whenever the police kill or brutalize another one of our children.
What must be understood is that police murder is but a symptom of our fundamental problem, which is the fact that we are not free. African people have not had self-determination — or control over our own lives — since Europe’s attack on Africa that stole us from Africa and Africa from us.
Since that attack, African people have been held under colonial domination in a parasitic relationship for the political, social and economic benefit of the U.S. and Europe. This is why no matter how hard we work or how long we work, our work doesn’t build wealth for us. It builds wealth for the white community.
Africans within U.S. borders are a domestic colony, held within the borders of a colonizing country.
To prevent Africans from trying to free ourselves from this parasitic relationship, there is an organized entity called the State. The State uses brute force to maintain this parasitic relationship. The police who contain our community through violence are part of the State. The courts that justify the violence committed against our people are also part of the State. So are the military and the school systems.
The State is an apparatus whose sole purpose is to maintain the relationship between those who have and those who don’t have because everything that belongs to them has been stolen by those who have. So the solution to our problems is not to just try to stop police violence because it’s only a symptom of our condition.
We have to take power over our own lives, and to do this African people have to be organized. African people in St. Petersburg, Florida and everywhere else around the world where we have been dispersed must join the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, the organization representing the African working class’ demand for self-determination.
So any demand for justice for our community must be a demand ultimately for power over our own lives. It must be a demand for State power.
Only when we are organized to take State power in the hands of the African working class can we end the attacks on African people.
In the case of the murder of Javon Dawson, InPDUM has put forward demands for:
• Reparations now to the families of Javon Dawson, Jarrell Walker, Marquell McCullough and TyRon Lewis!
• Prosecution of the killer cop who murdered Javon Dawson!
• Real economic development, an infusion of millions of dollars of both private and public monies to develop commerce and businesses owned and controlled by African people!
Stand with InPDUM for justice for Javon Dawson!
Join the Justice for Javon Dawson Committee! Call InPDUM at 727-821-6620 or email justice4javon@yahoo.com.
If you’re located outside of Florida:
1. Call Mayor Rick Baker (727-893-7111). Demand he “Immediately end the military occupation of the African community, including the Operation Safe Summer program!”
2. Call the St. Petersburg Police Dept. (727-893-7780). Demand they “Fire Terrance Nemeth! Indict Nemeth for the murder of Javon Dawson! Immediately end the military occupation of the African community, including the Operation Safe Summer program!”
3. Call Florida State Attorney Bernie McCabe (Pinellas office: 727-464-6221). Demand he “Indict Terrance Nemeth for the murder of Javon Dawson!”
4. Make a Donation to the Justice for Javon Dawson Legal Defense Fund: Make checks payable to “David Dawson”
5. Bring the Justice For Javon Speaking Tour to your City: Call 727-821-6620
6. Join the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (learn more at InPDUM)
If you’re located in Florida, or can travel, join the Marches for Justice for Javon Dawson in St. Petersburg:
Saturday, July 19, 11:00 a.m.: March from the Uhuru House, 1245 18th Avenue South to the St. Petersburg City Hall, 175 Fifth Street North for a rally demanding:
1) Reparations Now to the families of Javon Dawson, Jarrell Walker, Marquell McCullough and TyRon Lewis!
2) Prosecute Terrance Nemeth, the killer cop who murdered Javon Dawson!
3) Real economic development, an infusion of millions of dollars of both private and public monies to develop commerce and businesses owned and controlled by African people!
Via Uhuru News
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Italy, Libya Look to Halt Migrants
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 30, 2008
By Christian Fraser
BBC News, Rome
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has arrived in Libya for talks with Col Muammar Gaddafi.
The two leaders will discuss how to stop illegal immigrants using Libya as a launching point for Italian shores.
Mr Berlusconi said he would ask for the creation of Libyan holding centres for illegal immigrants and increased vigilance of Libya’s coast.
On Wednesday, a boat thought to be from Libya reached the Sicilian island of Lampedusa with 275 illegal migrants.
Every year thousands of immigrants from the African continent head towards Libya, from where they attempt to sail across the Mediterranean for Europe.
Stranded migrants
There are possibly around a million people at the moment trying to make that journey.
Most have travelled from sub-Saharan states such as Ghana and Sierra Leone, attracted by Libya’s reputation as a centre for people smugglers.
Mr Berlusconi is meeting Mr Gaddafi in the northern province of Surt, to discuss one solution, an accord signed in December.
The agreement would allow Italian naval vessels to patrol the Libyan coast with Libyan sailors aboard – but it is yet to be implemented.
This is perhaps because Libyan authorities are worried that if these efforts prove too successful, they will end up with thousands of stranded migrants.
The compromise could be a renewed focus on Libya’s southern borders, where the migrants cross the Sahara desert without too many problems.
Italy is offering to fund a radar or satellite system which would help the Libyan authorities respond.
There are other issues up for discussion – notably oil.
Italy, the former colonial power, is Libya’s biggest trading partner and 25% of oil imports come from their north African neighbour.
The Italian prime minister might express his concerns at the rising price of crude oil.
It jumped again on Friday in response to threats from Libya’s most senior oil official that his country might cut production if it continues to be pressured by the US.
Via BBC News
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Grupo’s Insurgent Art Project
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 30, 2008
This September, the Republicans are meeting in Saint Paul, Minnesota, September 1-4, 2008, to nominate candidates for president and vice-president of the United States and to create their political platform.
The Republicans, as you may remember, are the ones that brought the citizens of the United States (and the citizens of the world) such delights as the war in Iraq, the current economic recession, flagrantly increased national debt, and a lack of timely response to global warming. They are also creators of the current impasse with national healthcare, the stalemate with NAFTA reform, decreasing immigrant rights, tax cuts for the rich, and blatant, far-reaching government corruption.
So how do you feel about all that? Want to express yourselves? Well, we want to help you.
Grupo Soap del Corazón is a Latino artists’ group based out of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. We have a nine-year history of cultural and social activism here in Minnesota and in North and South America. Our work has been seen by thousands of people in galleries, museums, non-profits, and alternative art spaces as well as on the walls and telephone poles of many communities. We are organizing an international poster project, to take place on the streets of your town (wherever you are) and on the streets of our town. As you may know, political posters have a long and varied international history and have been an effective way for artists to effect change. We are hoping to inspire posters and postering throughout the world… in Spain, Chile, Ireland, Norway, India, Mexico, Germany, etc – and also throughout the U.S. Here’s how you can be a part of our efforts:
1. Make a poster. Anything expressing your viewpoint on the coming U.S. election, the Republican convention, the state of the United States, it’s role in the world, and the state of that world.
2. Create the poster any way you want.
3. Minimum size for the poster is 11”x17”.
4. You must print a minimum run of 8 posters. The posters must be multi-run prints: one-of-a-kind works of art will not be accepted. A minimum of 5 must be placed out in your community, on walls, on telephone poles, in windows, etc.
5. A minimum of 3 of the posters must be sent to Grupo Soap del Corazón and arrive by August 30th, 2008. 1 poster will be in an art exhibit that we create and, later, our archive. 1 poster will be sent to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. The rest will be used to poster the streets of the Twin Cities before, during, and after the Republican convention.
6. To be part of this effort, you must also send us at least one digital image of your poster on walls, telephone poles, etc in YOUR community. Send them to artjones@bitstream.net.
7. Digital of all posters posted out in your community will be put up on our website: myspace.com/gruposoapdelcorazon.
8. There will be an exhibition of ALL the posters, most likely opening in October for the end of the campaign. Right now we are in negotiations with the California Gallery in Northeast Minneapolis. We will announce the show on our myspace site by September 15th, 2008.
9. Send your posters to:
Grafica Politica #2
Grupo Soap del Corazon
c/o Douglas Padilla
304 2nd Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
10. Please spread the word. Email around to other artists and encourage them to participate. We especially urge you to encourage artists in countries outside the U.S.A. – we want the world’s voices to be heard here.
11. We will pay special attention to anyone who organizes a group of artists and sends in posters as a group. Additionally, groups will get extra acknowledgement in the exhibition.
So, poster your town with your thoughts and feelings – and we’ll help you poster ours.
Grupo Soap del Corazon
artjones@bitstream.net
Via Just Seeds
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Seen in the Denver Post
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 29, 2008
Let the misinformation campaign begin…
Recreate 68 protesters split before convention
By Ivan Moreno
The Associated Press
06/28/2008
DENVER — They adopted a bold name — Re-create 68 — promising a protesters’ show of force like in Chicago 40 years ago when the Democratic National Convention comes to Denver in August.
But the Denver-based umbrella coalition ranging from anarchists to environmentalists has fractured in recent months. Prominent activists have split with Re-create 68 over its incendiary rhetoric and, according to some, its refusal to endorse nonviolent protest.
“My understanding was that there was some resistance to really settling on a commitment to non-violence,” said Dana Balicki, whose group, Codepink, joined a new protest coalition for the convention.
Re-create 68 appeared shortly after Denver’s selection as convention host. On its Web site, the group once vowed its protests here would make the 1968 clashes with police in Chicago “look like a small get-together.” The war in Iraq, government infringement of civil liberties and the environment dominated its message. The coalition once included Tent State University, a student organization that began at Rutgers University demanding that war funding be channeled to education, and Troops Out Now, a New York-based group.
Re-create 68 has since sought to tone down its rhetoric to appease would-be allies and critics. Its Web site has been edited to emphasize its members are drawing from the “optimism” of the 1968 protesters.
Co-founder Mark Cohen says the group’s mission always was to “recreate” the spirit of political activism of the 1960s. The group says it opposes violence but reserves the right to “self-defense” during the Aug. 25-28 convention.
That hasn’t stopped a dozen activist organizations from leaving its umbrella and forming a second protest coalition called the Alliance for Real Democracy. It includes Codepink, Students for Peace and Justice and Tent State University, among others.
Claire Ryder, a member of the Denver Green Party, said she attended some Re-create 68 meetings but now refuses to talk about them. Duke Austin of Boulder-based Students for Peace and Justice also declined to comment. So, too, did Codepink organizer Zoe Williams.
“We wish them the best,” said Glenn Spagnuolo, Re-create 68’s most prominent spokesman, who calls the protesters’ rift a creation of the mainstream news media.
Unity dominated a recently weekly meeting of Recreate 68 in the basement of a Denver coffee shop. “Love is free will. Enter with luv,” read a sign as organizers discussed convention preparations, including the topic, “Be positive: R68 is not exclusionary — we are working with everyone.” A former New Yorker, Spagnuolo, 37, has participated in heated Columbus Day parade protests in Denver. Many local residents oppose celebrating a man they say helped introduce centuries of oppression of Native Americans.
Spagnuolo also gained attention for supporting the free speech rights of University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, who triggered national outrage over an essay equating some Sept. 11 victims to Nazi Adolf Eichmann.
Re-create 68 has been at the forefront of efforts to get protest permits from the city, and is pressing officials to release information about police plans to handle demonstrations during the convention. The American Civil Liberties Union represents the group and 13 other plaintiffs.
It plans a large anti-war rally on the eve of the convention and at least 10,000 people for daily demonstrations addressing political prisoners, civil rights violations, immigrant rights, the environment and racism.
Sen. Barack Obama’s historic candidacy didn’t affect planning, Spagnuolo said.
“We firmly support the idea of a black president. That’s a racial step forward,” he said. “But we don’t applaud what Obama stands for or what he’s done the last couple of years. The only thing now is that imperialism has a black face instead of a white one.” But Re-create’s rhetoric — and a plan to levitate the Denver Mint — can overshadow its efforts to pry information from the city.
“The DNC is setting up a very dangerous situation,” Spagnuolo warned when the Denver convention host committee won a permit to use Civic Center park for a convention event. Re-create 68 insisted park permits go to groups not affiliated with the convention.
Spagnuolo warned the Democrats would be to blame if things “blow up.” He later explained that people participating in Re-create 68 demonstrations nearby could spill over to Civic Center park and that he wasn’t implying there would be violence.
“When they make a statement like that, we just can’t ignore it.
We have to prepare for the worst,” said Charlie Brown, a Denver City councilman and one of Re-create 68’s most outspoken critics.
Brown said the group puts Denver police in a “no-win” situation where they’ll be criticized if they respond aggressively and if they take a laid-back approach.
Brown also criticized the group for being “selective” about First Amendment rights, noting its protests of the Columbus Day parade.
“They basically hate America, they hate both political parties, they hate capitalism, you can go down the list,” Brown said.
“Their real goal is to make it so bad here that no American city will ever want to host a convention.” Re-create 68’s preparations include an attempt to encircle and levitate the Denver U.S. Mint and shake the money out to spread the wealth — a nod to Abbie Hoffman and protesters who tried to levitate the Pentagon in 1967.
“I think that everybody has a little bit of magic inside them and if we combine our energies, who knows what could happen,” Spagnuolo said.
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Boots Riley Counters Charges
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 29, 2008
Norfolk, VA – A music performance at the Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival by Boots Riley, the well-known front man for The Coup, ended abruptly with police charges of “abusive language.” Boots was charged with an obscure law even the police had difficulty finding; citing him with § 18.2-416. This law has never been applied to a performer. In this situation, Boots’ lyrics were only “provoking” a good time, as the vast majority of the people in attendance were dancing and visibly upset when the festival pulled the plug. The city is pressing forward with the charge – which the city is enforcing for the first time in 26 years. Since the incident on June 21st, numerous false reports have emerged, and Riley is looking to set the record straight.
Riley claims the charges were racially motivated as they are part of a backlash from the recent Afr’Am Festival in Norfolk in which Gospel and R&B performances generated “noise complaints,” despite the performers adhering to the same decibel parameters as all of Norfolk’s other festivals. The Afr’am fest has been the subject of controversy since. Both festivals occurred at Towne Point Park, an area where high-priced condos have recently been built and an impending $11.5 million makeover is in the works.
“City Officials claim that they are making the statement that profanity will not be tolerated,” says Boots Riley. “Obviously, since no one has been charged with this in 26 years, profanity IS tolerated. The statement they are making is that the culture and the people they feel I represent won’t be tolerated. I was already off stage; the man they asked to leave the stage was Trombone Shorty, another Black man who looks nothing like me. This happened at 10:00PM, and it was far from a ‘family’ atmosphere, most of the audience was intoxicated after drinking at the festival’s bar – ‘The Missing Kidney’. There was also a VIP section where free alcohol was distributed by the keg. Anyone who has been to a music festival on a Saturday night understands the scene. I did not leave the park afterward, as was claimed by FestEvents, the organizers of the Bayou Boogaloo Festival. I stayed and debated the validity of the charge with police and festival promoters. It is clear that this is part of a larger debate that has nothing to do with profanity, one that is being dealt with nationwide. That debate is about racism, gentrification and the ownership of public space.”
Neither FestEvents nor the city indicated that swearing was a concern at this paid-admission festival. Additionally, the chorus of the only song Riley performs on Galactic’s album contains the phrase “What the F–k?”, inferring FestEvents knew what they were getting. There was never a “slew” of profanity as reports indicate, only a few words that were meant to flatter, explain a life situation, or used as a lyrical device to provoke positive thought.
Festevents’ statement that Riley’s act was a “surprise” to them is false. It was and is currently posted on their website with a hyperlink to Boots Riley’s and The Coup’s MySpace, under the link “The Bands of Bayou Boogaloo” reading: “Galactic with special guest Boots Riley (The Coup)”. Also, Festevents-sanctioned and paid-for fliers and advertising for the event billed Boots Riley as a featured performer, indicating the city’s claim of “not knowing he would perform” is false.
EDIT: Clyde says the Boots incident has prompted new contracts by event organizers.
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Why am I Starting to Become More Prideful in My Identity?
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 29, 2008
By Sean Jin
Why am I starting to become more prideful in my identity as an Asian, as Chinese?
We take notice of identities only as they begin to become problems for us. For white people, being white is rarely a problem (and even when it is it’s certainly not to the same extent that it is for people of color), and so it becomes invisible.
I facilitated a flag-drawing activity for a group of students, some weeks back. The students were asked to make a flag using elements of their identity, whatever that might be – musician, race, whatever. And you know what I noticed? All of the women put down being female as a source of pride, though none of the men put being a male down. All the minorities put their race down, though none of the whites did. And so on and so forth.
It begins to feel like I must take pride in being Asian, lest I be overwhelmed by the relentless tide of whiteness thrown in my face daily. I must take interest and pride in my history, my people, our struggles. If I didn’t – if I allowed my worldview to be shaped by mass media and pop culture – I would think that the only thing I can become – the only thing my people can become – is a goofy, accented, nerd, or maybe a strange and mystical martial arts master. Television has only ever told me I can be a goofball nerd or a foreign martial arts master. So fuck a television.
And perhaps it’s because of these same reasons that I love hip-hop so much. Because it’s a space where people have said, “Enough.” A place where people have come together and said, “Fuck your whiteness. I am black, I exist, and here I stand.” And, no, I’m certainly not black. But that strength of will – is something I aspire to.
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NOII Site Hacked
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 29, 2008
From our friends in the struggle…
The No One Is Illegal Vancouver website was recently hacked. Given the nature of the message left behind, we believe the hacking was clearly of political nature and not a random incident. The targetting was not only of our website but also of google and other search engine caches, which have erased our site. We have managed to restore our site content however there are still many glitches. We are taking this security breach quite seriously and wanted to inform our supporters of this attack and also so others can take whatever steps you feel are necessary to protect your own communications. If there are any folks who are web-savvy, we do require some support, so please do email back if you are possibly able to help us out.
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Big Love
Posted by illvox collective in General on June 29, 2008
Just a brief post giving it up to Undercover Black Man whose investigation rooted out Mike Cornelison, a white guy who runs a GOP-flavored gear website and author of the book Classical Masterpieces for Electric Bass, who tried to pretend to be a Black man named Ahmed with a Black-nationalist pro-Obama website, complete with texts aimed at scaring dumb whites. Tre from half court on that one!
Notes from A Different Kitchen points heads to a new exhibit by the late political graphic artist Keith Haring.
Reclaim the Media shares a link to edition two of Listen Up! Northwest, a radio magazine featuring stories of communities in action throughout the Northwest. Featured this time include “Growing up Haida in Canadian residential schools” and “Bridging the cultures of Mexico and the U.S.”
The site insurrección posts some video from Chile’s revolt over new education policies. Links to info in Spanish available.
The CJR blog gets into the whole Ralph Nader controversy and comments since. If you missed it, Nader took shots at Barack Obama for his politics and accused him of wanting to “talk white.” Some reeeeeal interesting media critiques worth reading, for those interested in race and politics.
The Unapologetic Mexican passes word that legendary Chicano poet Luis Omar Salinas has died.
In belated linkage, Class Traitor kicks it about Father’s Day, Black men and fathers’ roles. Long post, but well worth reading.
Global Voices Online shares Muna Nawajaa’s story of a grassroots video project that helped her capture an assault on her family in Palestine.
And finally Grandiose Parlor shares photos from the celebration of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday.
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Crimethinc Call for Workshops
Posted by illvox collective in Uncategorized on June 29, 2008
If you are planning on performing or presenting this summer’s CrimethInc. convergence, please send in a brief description of what you’ll be doing to crimethincbooking@yahoo.com.
We encourage everyone to see the CrimethInc. convergence as a space to try out ideas that would never see the light in any other context. This is a chance to risk everything, to debut brand new formats with your knees knocking together in terror! Don’t just drone through the old standards—challenge yourself and others! Draw on your passions and anomalous interests to offer your comrades points of departure they would never come across anywhere else, including in other anarchist circles. If your two true loves are lobsters and William Blake, put on a puppet show: Songs of Experience as Interpreted by Creatures of the Deep! If you’re quite comfortable discussing post-structuralist theory, try something you’ve never done before—put on a burlesque show, or do the research for a presentation on the history of anti-state responses to domestic violence, or volunteer at the childcare station all week! If we are careful and conservative in spaces like this that belong to us, we’re bound to stay careful and conservation in the rest of our lives, too. GO FOR IT!
Here are a few examples of this year’s workshops and performances…
Publishing A Small Periodical Newspaper
A comprehensive crash-course in the production of a community newspaper: learn how you and 3 or 4 friends can publish a small-scale newspaper or community journal! Covers outreach-writing methodology, theme-selection, presentation, and distribution. This workshop covers the nuts and bolts of newspaper projects; the “Small Town Organizing” workshop functions well as a complement.
Small Town Organizing for Anarchists
Do you feel stuck—like you’re running in place—in a small town? Come share your experience and hear insight from our work in the field: this workshop offers a walking tour through strategic models for mutual-aid outreach, DIY-community building, public relations, literature distribution, broader network health, and morale boosting. We’ll also tackle such obstacles as poor social dynamics within small-town DIY communities, practical consensus for beginners, and how small and well-known anarchist cells can avoid being singled out as criminals.
Designing Posters and Other Propaganda
This workshop isn’t for designers only; rather, we’ll take a look at conventional anarchist design methods and style and analyze their effectiveness in communicating meaning. In addition to theory, this workshop includes some basic tutorials for both old (cut & paste) and new (digital design) schools, and offers some useful instances for both. This workshop emphasizes utilizing equipment and resources that are freely accessible to most people.
Storytelling Revisited
Security Culture meets Resistance Mythology in this dynamic workshop of storytelling and storytelling about storytelling. Learn about the elements and sequence of a good story, about the fascinating characteristics of compelling characters, enjoy irony and satire in their natural habitat, and consider how to escape moralism and encourage appreciation for good stories at the same time. Learn how to utilize these ingredients to talk your way across a border or into a building; learn how good storytelling—and listening—skills can protect participants in direct actions and simultaneously nurture momentum for resistance.
Direct Action Planning: Mock Spokescouncil
In this exercise, participants will break into affinity groups to plan a mock action via the spokescouncil model. Excellent practice for publicly coordinated actions that demand layers of privacy within and between groups.
Direct Action Role-Playing: Staying Safe in the Streets
This workshop offers real-time, real-space experience for groups to move securely together in stressful situations, to protect themselves against attacks, avoid being boxed in, stay aware in changing environments, and achieve objectives.
Performer: Testament
I am not a rapper, I am just a revolutionary who raps good. I’m taking hip-hop back to its revolutionary roots and spreading dissent through the powerful, thought-provoking rhymes. I’m here to save hip-hop from the glorified violence, materialism, sexism, and racism that the music industry creates, promotes, and markets for their own capitalist purposes. The revolution will not be signed to a record deal.
Via Crimethinc
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What Do You Say?