The Ecstatic
The Ecstatic - Mos Def
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4.0 out of 5 stars Black Dante,
By | Kurupt "God-Body Reviewer" |
« May 2009 | Main | July 2009 »
June 30, 2009
Mighty Mos drops Ecstatic another very nice album for your collection. As always Mos is on the album with dope word play, dope delivery, and lyrics that make you think. What i really liked about the album was the production. Beats by Dilla, Mad Lib, Preservation, and Mr. Flash. The beats are dope and get your head bouncing while enjoying some fire lyrics. Also the album features the great Slick Rick and my man Talib Kweli. Another liked is this album is more rapping and not so much singing. I don't mind Mos' singing but at some points in the past it was a bit too much. The only song i didn't really care for was NO HAY NADA MAS. I don't speak enough spanish to appreciate it. All in all this is a good release by Dante and should be added to your collection immediately!!!
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire - [SOUNDTRACK]
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Sid Ananthakrishnan (San Franicsco, CA).......... |
"If you saw the movie then you know how integral the soundtrack was to the movie. Needless to say the soundtrack is fantastic and just listening to the music will automatically have you relive the movie!
AR Rahman - the music composer is a genius and he's done a spectacular job as usual. A couple of tracks are from other sources - namely Papers Planes and Aaj ki Raat. The rest of the tracks are original productions for the movie."
Kurt Loder, MTV.COM...................
"The propulsive score, by Bollywood soundtrack auteur A. R. Rahman, is hip-hop fusion of a very up-to-date kind"
Product Description
In composing the music for acclaimed director Danny Boyle's intoxicating new film Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman has conjured the sound of a city, fusing the frenetic scramble of daily life in Mumbai, India into beautiful fugues that ride upon the dust clouds kicked up by its everyday people.
From the movie's first frames --- with children racing through alleyways, knocking over merchants and pottery, police kicking loose clay roof tiles, disrupted birds fluttering from gutters -- we hear the sound of their commotion made manifest in "O... Saya." It's a rumbling hybrid of Bollywood and hip-hop, a brand new collaboration between Rahman and M.I.A. It's the kind of cinematic moment where image and sound coexist. And that's only the first five minutes.
Filmed in the streets and slums of Mumbai, India, Boyle needed just the right music to compliment the film's cinema verité urban realism. He turned to internationally renowned composer A.R. Rahman (a huge star in South Asia--selling more than 100 million albums worldwide and 200 million cassettes--Rahman is one of the world's top 25 all-time top selling recording artists.) The film's score is central to the propulsive modern grit that pervades the story, but is also a nod to classic Bollywood productions where the music is front and center. And loud. Says Rahman, "We wanted it edgy, upfront. Danny wanted it loud."
M.I.A.'s appreciation for Bollywood music led her to record much of last year's Kala inside A.R. Rahman's studio in India, although the two had never worked together until now. Referring to him in URB magazine as "the Indian Timbaland," M.I.A. obviously jumped at the chance to work on "O... Saya" with the famed composer. Rahman says, "She's a real powerhouse. Somebody played me her CD and I thought, `Who is this girl? She came here and knew all my work, had followed my work for ages. I said, `Cut the crap, this "my idol" crap. You have to teach me.'"
M.I.A. crops up again, later in the film, with the remix of her worldwide hit "Paper Planes" seemingly made for Slumdog, as the lyrics pronounce, "Sometimes I feel like sitting on trains..." while a light blue locomotive chugs and hurls its way through India, young boys perched up top in the sepia sunlight scoping out for a scrap of food.
Other songs on the soundtrack include "Gangsta Blues," featuring hip-hop artist BlaaZe, which flutters with the rhythms of a film projector, capturing a bit of the madness of crowds as they disperse in a thousand directions to escape the claustrophobia of back alleys. And nothing quite prepares you for the triumphant climax, the overarching ode to joy that is "Jai Ho," closing out the film in a rousing sing-a-long that's had film audiences burst into spontaneous applause. As Rahman told Variety, "The energy of the film takes you through a roller coaster, and that's one of the main inspirations for the whole music."
Kala - M.I.A.
Kala - M.I.A.
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Maya Arulpragasam, the British-based daughter of Sri Lankan refugees, delivered one of 2005's eye-popping debuts, Arular. For an album that proudly flaunted tin-can production, indecipherable South London slang, and lyrical nods to suicide bombers, it brought the woman who records under the name M.I.A. unexpected mainstream success--she followed its release by touring North America with Gwen Stefani and recording with Missy Elliott and Timbaland, while the single "Galang" made its way into a car commercial. Kala (the first release was named after her freedom-fighting father, this one after her mother) throws Arulpragasam's newfound pop credentials into the bustle of Bollywood rhythms, police sirens, 8-bit dancehall beats, Third World car horns, and street singers. Recorded across several continents, it presents a far more dynamic listening experience than her first album, especially with tracks like "Bamboo Banga," "Jimmy," and "Paper Planes." It's no less exhausting, though. What with the New Order sample, Timbaland cameo, and gunshot sound effects, there isn't a moment when it doesn't feel like you've unintentionally invited an entire carnival into your home. --Aidin Vaziri
Product Description
THIS CD FEATURES A FREE RINGTONE AND MOBILE PHONE WALLPAPER (see insert for details)
M.I.A. is hailed as one of the most freshly creative artists to hit the scene, paving the way for fierce and adventurous females to break the mold. With KALA, she pulls even more globe-trekking, and genre bending into her musical mix.
Recorded in India, Trinidad, Australia, London, New York and Baltimore, M.I.A. has crafted an international sound that is as excitingly undefineable as it is infectious.
The first single from KALA, "Boyz" was just listed at #1 Rolling Stone's Hot List, and #1 song of the Month in Blender magazine!
"Electrifying" - The New York Times
Lauren M. Sebestyen "Music Addict"
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M.I.A.'s music is very catchy and I love her quirky, not-too-political lyrics. I especially like the first track (Bamboo Banga) and the last track (Come Around, featuring Timbaland). Although I liked the Arular album a bit more than Kala, this album still hasn't left my CD player since I bought it!
Scratch Came, Scratch Saw
Scratch Came, Scratch Saw, Scratch Conquered
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Dub reggae legend Lee Scratch Perry delivers a follow-up to his Grammy-nominated collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Steve Marshall and producer John Saxon. Perry continues to create unique, category-defying music. For the uninitiated, Lee Scratch Perry is one of the most important figures in the history of reggae music. Not only did he help develop the early reggae sound captured in a number of important recordings, but as an engineer, producer, songwriter, and performer he pioneered a number of innovations, including dub reggae and the scratch turntable effect used by DJ s today. Here, Lee Perry draws his narrative from his spirituality and today's global events. Very special guests Keith Richards and George Clinton join Marshall, Reuben White, Tim Hill, Erica Iji, Mark Mason, and Sheridan Tandy.......
By | Comment man "Comment man" |
I agree with all these marvelous reviews, this is just such a great CD, but I should tell you a short story. This I fear is how most people will view the great genius, that towering monument to Dub, the fantastic Lee Scratch Perry.
I was on a date with my future wife and we went to an establishment of drink and I introduced her to my former roommate. I happened to mention they had both heard work by the great Lee Scratch Perry, at which point they looked at each other and said, simultaneously--"HE'S A F***ING WIERDO!"
This should be considered the normal opinion. You have been warned.
Black Magic -
Black Magic - Jimmy Cliff
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You might be tempted to buy Black Magic because it's a big-name affair, bursting at the seams with non-reggae heavy-hitters Annie Lennox, Sting, Wyclef, Kool & the Gang, and Joe Strummer, but pop giants aside, this is strictly Cliff's album--from the scratch- and funk-ified riddims of "Fantastic Plastic People" to the Jah-infused, Marley-reminiscent "Terror (September 11)." That is not to take away from the collaborators--Wyclef and Kool & the Gang bring the party to the streets with steady rockers "Dance" and the '70s band's fringe-of-memory chestnut "(Ooh La, La, La) Let's Go Dancin,'" and Strummer's contribution, one of his last, sticks around for its lyrical substance and light-touch genre fusing. Producer Dave Stewart, Lennox's Eurythmics partner, zigs and zags the album stylistically, but that seems to suit the reggae legend. He's equally at home sending sunny shout-outs home to Jamaica and rejiggering the old get up, stand up sensibility through songs like "War in Jerusalem." Closing track "Good Life" caps the prevailing mood, though: The harder and more varied the music that comes, the better it gets for Cliff. --Tammy La Gorce
Ori. Release '04. Produced by Dave Stewart & includes appearances from Annie Lennox Sting Jools Holland Kool & The Gang Wyclef Jean Yanick Noah & one of the last ever recordings from Joe Strummer.
By | Spencer Pennington (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews |
Jimmy Cliff is one of the world's legendary reggae artists, and in my opinion, is only surpassed by Bob Marley & the Wailers and Peter Tosh. The "Black Magic" album seems to almost "rival" Toots & the Maytals' "True Love" album also released this year, showing the star with a slew of duets with the likes of Sting, Joe Strummer, Annie Lennox, and Dave Stewart.
While it could be argued that Cliff's best work dates back to his early years from 1967-1975, this album is a solid, sound masterpiece showing that he still has that spark to create beautiful music. While Cliff has moved more towards a Pop-reggae style instead of a traditional One Drop style since the 80's, his music has been solid for both hardcore and casual reggae fans with it danceable beats and political or spiritual overtones. The diversity of musical styles here only serves to lift the album's charm, ranging from more traditional-esque songs like "The City," to his famous Pop-reggae style with songs like the title track "Black Magic," and even to new-age Dancehall in his duet with the legendary Bounty Killer on "(Ooh La, La, La) Let's Go Dancing".
One of the album's most promising tracks is his duet with Punk Rock legend Joe Strummer, "Over the Boarder," as well as one of his solo pieces, "Good Life" and the uplifting "Jamaica Time". I can promise that if you purchase this album, you'll be pleasently surprised with Cliff's still-extraordinary work.
No Hiding Place
Niney Presents No Hiding Place
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Legendary reggae producer Niney `The Observer' Holness is best known for his work with Dennis Brown but he's also worked, at some stage, with almost all of Jamaica's reggae stars. This 20 track compilation reflects the range of styles he exceeded in from ska to rock steady to lovers rock and features the talents of artists such as Ken Boothe, The Ethiopians, Ruddy Thomas and The Mighty Diamonds. This collection features artists such as John Holt, Ken Boothe, Gregory Isaacs and Sugar Minott.
Michael Jackson - "Man In The Mirror"
Michael Jackson - "Man In The Mirror"
Im gonna make a change,
For once in my life
Its gonna feel real good,
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right . . .
As i, turn up the collar on my
Favourite winter coat
This wind is blowin my mind
I see the kids in the street,
With not enough to eat
Who am i, to be blind?
Pretending not to see
Their needs
A summers disregard,
A broken bottle top
And a one mans soul
They follow each other on
The wind ya know
cause they got nowhere to go
Thats why I want you to know
Im starting with the man in the mirror
Im asking him to change his ways
And no message could have
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place
(if you wanna make the
World a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and
Then make a change
(take a look at yourself, and
Then make a change)
(na na na, na na na, na na, na nah)
Ive been a victim of a selfish
Kind of love
Its time that I realize
That there are some with no
Home, not a nickel to loan
Could it be really me,
Pretending that theyre not alone?
A willow deeply scarred,
Somebodys broken heart
And a washed-out dream
(washed-out dream)
They follow the pattern of
The wind, ya see
Cause they got no place to be
Thats why Im starting with me
(starting with me!)
Im starting with the man in the mirror
(ooh!)
Im asking him to change his ways
(ooh!)
And no message could have
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place
(if you wanna make the
World a better place)
Take a look at yourself and
Then make a change
(take a look at yourself and
Then make a change)
Im starting with the man in
The mirror
(ooh!)
Im asking him to change his ways
(change his ways-ooh!)
And no message couldve
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place
(if you wanna make the
World a better place)
Take a look at yourself and
Then make that . . .
(take a look at yourself and
Then make that . . .)
Change!
Im starting with the man in the mirror,
(man in the mirror-oh yeah!)
Im asking him to change his ways
(better change!)
No message could have
Been any clearer
(if you wanna make the
World a better place)
(take a look at yourself and
Then make the change)
(you gotta get it right, while
You got the time)
(cause when you close your heart)
You cant close your . . .your mind!
(then you close your . . . mind!)
That man, that man, that
Man, that man
With that man in the mirror
(man in the mirror, oh yeah!)
That man, that man, that man
Im asking him to change his ways
(better change!)
You know . . .that man
No message could have
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place
(if you wanna make the
World a better place)
Take a look at yourself and
Then make a change
(take a look at yourself and
Then make a change)
Hoo! hoo! hoo! hoo! hoo!
Na na na, na na na, na na,
Na nah
(oh yeah!)
Gonna feel real good now!
Yeah yeah! yeah yeah!
Yeah yeah!
Na na na, na na na, na na,
Na nah
(ooooh . . .)
Oh no, no no . . .
Im gonna make a change
Its gonna feel real good!
Come on!
(change . . .)
Just lift yourself
You know
Youve got to stop it.
Yourself!
(yeah!-make that change!)
Ive got to make that change,
Today!
Hoo!
(man in the mirror)
You got to
You got to not let yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(yeah!-make that change!)
You know-Ive got to get
That man, that man . . .
(man in the mirror)
Youve got to
Youve got to move! come
On! come on!
You got to . . .
Stand up! stand up!
Stand up!
(yeah-make that change)
Stand up and lift
Yourself, now!
(man in the mirror)
Hoo! hoo! hoo!
Aaow!
(yeah-make that change)
Gonna make that change . . .
Come on!
(man in the mirror)
You know it!
You know it!
You know it!
You know . . .
(change . . .)
Make that change.
June 29, 2009
Black Wall Street! A History Lesson to Learn
Black Wall Street! A History Lesson to Learn from and Re-Build on!
Reality check: the only things keeping Black people in the condition that we are in centers around our failures. Our failing to remember how to confront and overcome various types of fear; our failing to remember how to confront and effectively neutralize the power that oppresses, seduces and robs us of dignity; and our failing to remember how to effectively use the individual and collective power we possess to change our condition and the condition of our people. There was a period when we awoke but then the oppressor came with a Plan B that put us back to sleep again and sent us to dreamland! Now is the time for the Reawakening of our people and the gathering for the Harvest! The alternative is to watch our youth kill each other, starve in the streets and wither and rot in lock down institutions! A planned matrix of Spiritual, mental and physical death!
We empower the oppressor by not being what we should be – by not remembering how great we are; by not remembering and promoting the dynamic movements the freed men and women – slaves and descendants of slaves - Negro Black Americans initiated; We do not need to dig in the ruins of Egypt or any other African country to know how brilliant, creative, powerful and innovative our people – the Sons and Daughters of Africa and their descendants around the planet were and still are. As Black Americans we need only to look closely at our true Negro Black American History – African-Caribbean History that took place right here in America and the Caribbean. Before we trip on 3000 BC we must understand true Negro Black American History from 1600 A.D. to 2009 A.D.!
Reality check: Start with Tulsa Oklahoma. An excellent example of what was and what the beast did and will do to destroy and stop Black economic empowerment and community development. Here are the links to four videos that are extremely important. Share them with your family and those who educate your children:
The Tulsa Riots Part 1 click here
Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma - Pt. 1 click here
Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma - Pt. 2 click here
Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma - Pt. 3 click here
These videos feature the people who lived the history - true Griots - sharing truth - not a watered down Hollywood version of Greenwood or a commercial re-make. They present a vivid chapter of Negro Black American History that we must review, remember and learn from. There were numerous ‘Black Wall Streets’ – numerous thriving Black communities established throughout America. They were self sufficient thriving communities with businesses, schools, houses of worship. In these days there was ‘nation building’ going on!
Reality check: We were a segregated and superior community. Our HBCUs were turning out brilliant teachers, doctors, and lawyers that were teaching and treating our people – thriving in segregated communities. Segregation created prosperity for us – necessitated self reliance – forcing us to spend our money with our people – 90 percent of our money circulated in our communities!
Negro Black American is not a history of a weak cowardly, lazy people as the White version of history would have our children and the world believe. The form of chattel slavery practiced and supported by the European was the most vicious dehumanizing form of servitude ever perpetuated – the African Holocaust! Yet we are still here.
Ask yourself: What happened? – why have we been in such a terrible state of socio-political economic condition for the past 80 years; why have so many of our HBCUs deteriorated and have so few Negro Black American students graduating; why have the Black farmers loss millions of acres of land – a close look at history from 1700’s to date will answer all questions and also point the way to Where to go from here!
After reviewing the Tulsa videos kindly re-read Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic speech Where Do We Go From Here? Also click here and review the video of his speech on Economic Power which I have also posted. Make sure to share this information with your children so that they understand that Negro Black America has always fought for change – that fighting for change and transformation of America did not start with the Obama run for political office, it started with the first African slave and first freed slave’s run for his life – fight for his freedom and justice in this hate filled land they found themselves marooned in!
Anyone who reads and understands Dr. Kings speech "Where Do We Go From Here?" delivered at the Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta, Georgia to the 11th Convention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on August the 16th 1967 will see that Dr. King was moving beyond a Civil Rights Dream to Economic Empowerment. He was throwing down the ‘gauntlet’ to what I like to call the Economic Empowerment Warriors. These are individuals, true Warriors, who are not blinded by the glitz nor deafened by the noise or silent about what is going on in America today or the international financial meltdown. Warriors who have and will continue to focus on the paths to Economic and Political Empowerment Dr. King charted and highlighted in this speech.
I have included excerpts from Where Do we Go From Here? The entire speech can be downloaded at: http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/popular_requests/voice_of_king.htm Our failure to remember and continue on the path has been costly!
.Perhaps the area of greatest concentration of my efforts has been in the cities of Chicago and Cleveland. …….
….The most dramatic success in Chicago has been Operation Breadbasket. Through Operation Breadbasket we have now achieved for the Negro community of Chicago more than twenty-two hundred new jobs with an income of approximately eighteen million dollars a year, new income to the Negro community…..[Applause]….; there was another area through this economic program, and that was the development of financial institutions which were controlled by Negroes and which were sensitive to problems of economic deprivation of the Negro community. The two banks in Chicago that were interested in helping Negro businessmen were largely unable to loan much because of limited assets. … And I can say to you today that as a result of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, both of these Negro-operated banks have now more than double their assets, and this has been done in less than a year by the work of Operation Breadbasket. [applause]
……….. And finally, the ministers found that Negro contractors, from painters to masons, from electricians to excavators, had also been forced to remain small by the monopolies of white contractors. Breadbasket negotiated agreements on new construction and rehabilitation work for the chain stores. These several interrelated aspects of economic development, all based on the power of organized consumers, hold great possibilities …….. The kinds of requests made by Breadbasket in Chicago can be made not only of chain stores, but of almost any major industry in any city in the country.
…..And so Operation Breadbasket .…. It simply says, "If you respect my dollar, you must respect my person." It simply says that we will no longer spend our money where we can not get substantial jobs. [applause]
…The problem indicates that our emphasis must be twofold: We must create full employment, or we must create incomes….
…..we are likely to find that the problem of housing, education, instead of preceding the elimination of poverty, will themselves be affected if poverty is first abolished. …. Negroes, who have a double disability, will have a greater effect on discrimination when they have the additional weapon of cash to use in their struggle……
Peace Power and Blessings will come from Back to Black
The Nationalist "Maoist" Movement in China
The Nationalist "Maoist" Movement in China
The Shifting Tide of Chinese Sentiment — A Nationalist "Maoist" Movement in China?
Joe Tougas writes: June 4th is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, what my friend in Beijing cautiously refers to in public as “that thing that happened in 1989.” In the context of that bloody day and the economic crisis, China is re-examining the merits of capitalism versus communism in a pivotal moment in the country’s history.
For the past six years, there’s been a political movement in China called Wu You Zhi Xiang, which roughly translates to “Utopia” in English. However, it should be noted the translation is very loose due to the absence of a completely correlating word that fully expresses the sentiment of this organization’s Chinese name.
With images of Mao Zedong, Che Guevara, and the Chinese flag at the meetings, where on can hear songs from the Cultural Revolution playing before the speakers get started. Utopia is critical of the United States, and the right wing of the Chinese government, particularly with regard to China’s neoliberal capitalism and economic involvement with the U.S. It also conveys a message through its literature that China should replace the U.S. as the world leader. Whether Mao Zedong would have agreed with these sentiments or not, there is a banner on the wall that says “we miss Mao” in Chinese.
The Revival; Royce Da 5'9S'
"The Revival"; Royce Da 5'9S'
This respect that Ryan Montgomery, aka Royce Da 5'9, has earned amongst his peers has been ten years in the making. Though he began his career at a time when these qualities were still abundant in the rap game, Royce is the last of a dying breed in 2009. He is one of the few artists today to put the quality of his music above everything else, choosing to opt for perfection over conforming to an overcrowded genre of mediocrity.
Now, in an age where hip-hop's drought has forced the audience to weed out the nonsense and search for the answer to a dull and uneventful art form, Royce returns with Street Hop, his full-length rescue mission to show MCs how it is supposed to be done.
Executive produced by DJ Premier, Street Hop is Royce's most personal project to date. Though it is chock full of creative ingenuity and picturesque stories that have wildly astonishing twists, Royce shows his versatility by mixing in songs like "Shake That," which recounts the turmoil and stress Royce felt as not only an artist, but also a husband and a father, while being incarcerated for a year.
Growing up on the West Side of Detroit, music was a constant companion for Royce. His father played guitar and made sure to expose him to Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and Bootsy Collins, while his mother favored pop stars like Janet Jackson. However, as timing would have it, it was hip-hop that caught Royce's attention. Memorizing songs from Run-DMC and LL Cool J, and getting immersed in artists like D.O.C., Steady B, and N.W.A., Royce became inspired to make a name for himself around the D as a ferocious battle MC tearing up open mics at Maurice Malone's famed Hip Hop Shop, Ebony Showcase, Napoleon's Retreat, and C-Note Lounge. It wasn't long before his buzz caught the attention of the then up-and-coming Eminem, whom Royce's manager arranged a meeting with in 1997. The two clicked and began recording songs as the duo Bad Meets Evil. One of these songs, "Bad Meets Evil," made it's way onto Eminem's debut, The Slim Shady LP. Through his relationship with Em, Royce began his famed ghostwriting career, writing Dr. Dre's heartfelt, "The Message," on 2001. His hard work led to a deal with Columbia Records, who partnered with EI records to release his debut, Rock City (2.0), in 2002. A staple in the underground rap scene, the album spawned the DJ Premier-produced classic, "Boom."
Regardless of radio support or BDS spins, Royce has become one of Detroit's undisputed heavyweights, and hopes to keep having a positive impact on his hometown. "I'm proud to be someone who went through a lot of ignorant things and got past it," he says. "I'm the leader of a city and I want to be looked at as a leader and lyricist."
With a proven track record as a superb lyricist, Royce has always delivered on his early promise to make music that his fans, and even his fellow MCs have always come to expect. In 2004, he released his sophomore album, Death Is Certain, and followed it with the independently released, Independent's Day. Although the project was originally supposed to be a mixtape, his distributor insisted it be released as an album. Royce then quickly added the superior mixtapes, Bar Exam and Bar Exam 2, hosted by DJ Premier and DJ Green Lantern, to his catalog. "I think the Bar Exam mixtapes made up for what Independent's Day was missing," Royce says. "It reinvented me and let people know that I'm serious. Bar Exam 2 is probably my most lyrical project to date. And my new album, Street Hop, is going to top that."
With "Street Hop," Royce will finally cement his hip-hop legacy above ground, by introducing the masses to the same MC that so many rappers have grown to respect. Fueled with a sadistic sense of humor and biting sarcastic wit, songs like "Gun Harmonizing" and "Far Away" are haunting ditties illustrating the consequences that accompany going against Nine Nickel and his goons, and will appeal to the most hardcore hip-hop heads. Other songs such as "Part Of Me," may have a breezy laid-back club-ready beat, but the story's graphic ending will make any professional skirt chaser think twice about his ways and is controversial to say the least. "I could care less about radio. I don't like nothing that's on the radio, so why would I cater to radio," Royce admits. "I'm just going to stick to doing what I do. Radio's either going to come to me, or it's going to remain being corny."
Realizing that there is strength in numbers, Royce joined forces with three other MCs to form the hip-hop supergroup, Slaughterhouse. Joe Budden, Crooked I and Joell Ortiz all have the skill to impress even the toughest hip-hop critic. And together, they have decided to set off a massive hip-hop takeover. With Slaughterhouse's upcoming appearance on the Rock The Bells tour, a growing list of writing credits (Royce has already contributed to Diddy's next album), and popular video bloggin that has the internet on lock (ImNaShitFoolTV), Royce Da 5'9" is poised to make his biggest splash yet. Rappers, get ready.
EVA'S ON; INYOUR FACE
IN YOUR FACE RECORDS PERFORMING ARTIST EVA
The stunning blonde teen who recently left her home in Northern California to enroll in college at the University of Arizona has been rotating her schedule, taking the required freshman courses, joining a sorority and penning introspective lyrics to accompany the pulsating tracks for her highly anticipated release.
"We tried to get a lot of the material done before I started college," she continues, "I've always kept journals filled with material and various experiences I've had. I'm taking time now to go through them for inspiration and to select the areas of my life I want to explore on this CD. Some of the material is romantic, but all of it is personal. I like to keep my music upbeat and I'm working with a few rapper and hip hop producers for a different perspective."
Eva's passion for music brimmed under the surface as a child, where she listened to the radio and was glued to MTV. It wasn't until she was a sophomore in high school that she actively began to pursue a career in the performing arts. "Prior to that, I was shy," Eva recalls. "My family and friends didn't even know that I liked to sing because I was so shy and had stage fright. I got over my fear by appearing in high school musicals like Bye, Bye Birdy and Thoroughly Modern Millie. My first performances were background roles, but once I hit the stage I was hooked. Ultimately, I made my decision to record an album. I knew I had to break out of my shell."
Now that tracks have been recorded for her debut CD, Eva is ready for the spotlight. "The danceable tracks on my album are my favorites, but this CD reflects exactly who I am musically."
Eva's album is loaded with hot tracks and loads of star power. Wanting to immediately stand out, Eva enlisted the help of hip hop superstar Snoop Dogg on the CD's lead track "Popular." "Snoop heard the track, thought it was an instant hit and agreed to be a part of it," comments Eva. "Popular" explores the self conscious feelings many young girls have today in relation to their peers. It was produced by hip hop and R&B hit maker Poli Paul who has produced hits for Christina Milian and Chingy. Another stand out is "One Night Stand," which reflects the views of modern day romance. That track gets a touch of melodic flavor with the addition of grammy award winner Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs N Harmony fame.
The world will soon get the opportunity to be formally introduced to all facets of Eva's dynamic teenaged life as part of a new reality show chronicling her destiny for stardom. " All About Eva" will examine the balance she strikes between being a college student and the demands of a pop music career. It will also delve into the recording process and examine her interaction with many of music's top producers including Jonathan 'JR' Rotem, the man who made Rihanna and Sean Kingston music superstars. Rotem produced two club tracks for Eva, titled "Do That" and "I'm On Fire." The show will also examine how Eva shapes her image from her dieting woes to her furious gym and choreography workouts.
Mostly, Eva looks forward to being a role model to teens, just as female pop idols were to her. "I'm up for it," she affirms. From the days of performing in Thoroughly Modern Millie to becoming a thoroughly modern sexy songstress, Eva has arrived, singing and dancing her way to the top of the charts.
This summer, Eva will be working with Scott Storch on some tracks to complete her album, as well as rehearsing for live performances to get ready for a spot date tour opening for some major acts in August and September.
Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions
Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions
Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions
After the small print-run debut of Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions at the San Francisco and New York Anarchist Book Fairs we are happy to finally make this magazine available in digital format.
From the introduction:
Unfinished Acts is a collective recounting and analysis of events surrounding the shooting of an unarmed 22-year-old Black man in Oakland. Oscar Grant III was executed by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officers during the first hours of 2009 on the platform of the Fruitvale station. Unfinished Acts was written collectively by a group of anarchists who were and still are actively present in the rebellion following Oscar Grant’s execution.
.....
The following pages include a few short histories of a few significant social movements to help contextualize the rebellions. This history acts as intermissions for a documentary dramatization (but factually correct!) of some of the events that unfolded in the streets during the first month of 2009. We have reconstructed the narrative and dialogue from collective stories, personal experiences and videos of the rebellions posted online. We conclude with our own analysis and lessons.
.....
In conversation,
Unfinished Acts
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Serani's "No Games" is # 1
Serani's "No Games" is # 1 on America's reggae iTunes Chart
Serani's "No Games" is # 1 on America's reggae iTunes Chart
Alliance star Serani's bonafide hit "No Games" has landed at the #1 spot on America's reggae iTunes Chart for the first time, knocking Bob Marley's timeless classic "Three Little Birds" off the top spot. Having been selling thousands of downloads and ringtones for months, No Games has been flirting with the #1 spot for some time, but now replaces Bob Marley's anthem, that sells an average of 5,500 a week in downloads on iTunes.
"No Games is actually still gaining in spins across the country," said Serani's manager. "This record just won't go away. It’s still getting added to playlists in many states across the country every week so it continues to spread."
Serani recently recorded a remix for No Games with songstress Shontelle, while on tour in the UK. Shontelle scored big in the UK with her recent hit "T-Shirt" and being label mates Universal Music made the match and hooked up the two artists. Universal/Island Records will release the No Games + remix package digitally on July 6th.
"Shontelle was great to work with," said Serani. "She's a very talented songwriter and she has a great personality so the chemistry was good in the studio. The remix is hot."
‘MONTEGO BAY’ WAS WORTH THE WAIT!
QUEEN IFRICA’S ‘MONTEGO BAY’ WAS WORTH THE WAIT!
The anticipation, the crave and the suspense is finally over. The musical empress, Queen Ifrica, has finally released her eagerly awaited debut album, ‘Montego Bay’, appropriately named after the community from which she hails.
The album opens with T.T.P.N.C., (Tribute to The Pitfour Nyabinghi Center - located in Montego Bay). The song, produced by Tony Rebel, honours the elders within the Rastafarian community where Ifrica was raised. The reverential drumming and chanting compliments Ifrica’s chants, offering praises to the Most.
The sweet reggae melody of the title track, Welcome to Montego Bay is one that will immediately have listeners rocking to the bubbly feeling that the reggae-flavoured track gives, as Ifrica highlights some of the things that characterize her hometown.
The classic rhythm from the Rastafari anthem Satta Massagana is updated on Rebel’s production of Coconut Shell, a celebration of the Rastafarian sacred herb, marijuana, as Ifrica declares, “dah one yah red up mi eye… mi burn it dis morning as mi rise up… mi still dey up inna di sky, high, high…” The track allows listeners to “whole a joy and meditation” while bouncing to Ifrica’s lyrical rhymes on the smooth-flowing rhythm.
The ‘Fyah Muma’, who is like a Lioness on the Rise, asks, “are you ready, are you ready,” as she brings good music for fans whenever they call on her name.
Ifrica then changes her style of delivery by deejaying on Yad to the East, showing off her diversity, as she drops some fast-speaking lyrics that fans will surely appreciate.
The lovers rock that will take the minds of listeners Far Away is one that Ifrica expresses her romantic side. This single is among one of her more popular and much embraced singles from the album. Daddy, however, would be the single from the album that needs no introduction, as it is already one of the biggest hits of Ifrica’s career.
Don’t Sign is done on a dancehall rhythm which is easily identifiable. Ifrica here, shows that she can cater to a wide cross-section of audience.
Another track that has already gained in popularity is Keep It To Yourself, which is like a follow up to Daddy, as she continually defends the children through her music. Keep It To Yourself , produced by Donovan ‘Don Corleon’ Bennett, finds the Fyah Muma blazing against the increasing atrocities experienced by children in Jamaica and worldwide, and the corrupt forces unwilling to penalize such heinous actions.
It was then back to her African roots to “trample the beast” in Calling Africa, another Rebel production. Here, Ifrica sinjays amidst chanting, giving the single a unique twist.
Queen Ifrica’s ‘Montego Bay’ album is rounded off by tracks of a slower tempo, with In My Dreams, Streets Are Bloody and Daddy (Spanish Version) which allows listeners to fall into that meditative mood, reflecting on serious issues that plague the youths of Jamaica.
Overall, Queen Ifrica’s ‘Montego Bay’ was a well composed album that definitely delivered. It was worth the wait!
2009, International Reggae Day Festival
International Reggae Day Festival 2009 happens July 1st
International Reggae Day Festival 2009 will presented as a virtual global reggae party highlighting the power and impact of Jamaican music on the world by combining the power of music, media and technology to create a marketing platform for things Jamaican and the global reggae culture.
The IRD website at http://www.internationalreggaeday.net along with complimentary Facebook, Myspace and You Tube social network sites, will anchor the festival's Internet and media programming activities including new releases, mp3s and music business features.
IRD 2009 invites you to join us in saluting two major players in the internationalization of Jamaican music as a global phenomenon:
Island Records for its successful brand management of Jamaican music on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary as the world's first independent record label
Copeland Forbes as he launches his Reggae My Life Is brand sharing firsthand accounts of Jamaica's music history by its premiere tour manager
IRD will launch a Music Business Forum on its website as part of its effort to encourage year round traffic to the site which will be updated monthly video posts from international music professionals about various topics affecting the growth and development of Jamaican music, industry documents, blogs, links and a monthly newsletter highlighting key areas of the global music business, market trends and profiles.
Confirm participation at rastapickney@gmail.com and log on to celebrate IRD on July 1 at www.internationalreggaeday.net
Andrea M. Davis
3 Washington Drive,
Kingston 10, Jamaica W.I.
Tel/Fax: 876.969.6551
Mobile: 876.846-0754 or 881.6326
E-mail: rastapickney@gmail.com or siim@houseofsiim.com
Website: www.hialtd.com
International Contacts:
US Tel: 954-246-3762
UK Tel: 011-44-14-8985-8032
Affiliated Websites:
www.internationalreggaeday.net
www.facebook.com/intlreggaeday
www.youtube.com/irdmediatv
www.myspace.com/jahreggaeday
www.myspace.com/jahbookings
www.houseofsiim@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/buyart
www.bridgetsandals.com
www.tootsandthemaytals.com
www.naturalempress.com
Hollywood actors move closer to strike
Hollywood actors move closer to strike
AFP: Friday July 11, 2008
Hollywood's top actors' union appeared closer to strike late Thursday after the studios group said the actors had given no ground in contract talks.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) accused the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) of making unreasonable demands in talks Thursday on its proposed replacement of the old contract which expired on June 30.
"The refusal of SAG's Hollywood leadership to accept this offer is the latest in a series of actions by SAG leaders that, in our opinion, puts labor peace at risk," AMPTP said in a statement.
SAG "unreasonably expects to obtain more in these negotiations than directors, writers and other actors obtained during their negotiations," the studios said.
The 120,000-strong SAG did not provide any details of its response to the proposed contract after a five-hour meeting, but said its committee members will meet Friday to discuss the AMPTP's response to their demands.
AMPTP called on union leaders to put their offer to SAG members for ratification, saying it "includes more than 250 million dollars in additional compensation, important new media rights and protection for pension and health benefits."
"The last thing we need is a long, hot summer of labor strife that puts even more pressure on a badly struggling economy and deprives audiences of the entertainment they clearly desire in such difficult times," the studios said.
"Any further delay in reaching a reasonable and comprehensive agreement does a disservice to the thousands of working people of our industry who are already being seriously harmed by the ever worsening de facto strike."
Hollywood is currently in limbo after a previous contract between SAG and the AMPTP expired on June 30 with no new deal ready to replace it.
Ill-tempered negotiations between SAG and AMPTP have echoed the build-up to the strike last winter by screenwriters that paralyzed Hollywood for 100 days. It became the US entertainment industry's most damaging dispute for 20 years, costing an estimated two billion dollars.
Echoing that dispute, actors are seeking an improved share of royalty profits from new media and Internet sales.
Simmons Introduce New Pastry Line
Vanessa and Angela Simmons Introduce New Pastry Line
By Monique D. Love
(BTN)Jun 24, 2009 Vanessa and Angela Simmons (MTV's "Daddy's Girls") have added onto their already successful shoe and eyewear line, Pastry’s, a new hip clothing line called Pastry Capsule. Earlier this week the sisters exclusively introduced their line at Macy’s with a runway show.
Search for the Nation's Funnest Comics
NBC Universal Launches Sixth Annual "Stand-up for Diversity" Search for the Nation's Funnest Comics; Actor/Comedian Anthony Anderson (NBC’s “Law & Order”) Named 2009 Celebrity Spokesperson
NBC Universal has begun its yearly nationwide search for the funniest comics of diverse backgrounds with its sixth-annual “Stand-Up for Diversity,” which will include open calls in four major U.S cities.
It was also announced that acclaimed actor and comedian Anthony Anderson (NBC's "Law & Order") is the new celebrity spokesperson for the 2009 tour. The nation’s hottest rising diverse stand-up comic ultimately will be awarded a talent holding deal with NBC Universal, along with other prizes to be announced later.
The highly anticipated talent search and showcase opportunity begins June 28 in Miami. Additional cities will include New York, Atlanta and San Diego, with the final showcase scheduled to take place in Los Angeles in early December.
"With every new year, our efforts underscore NBC Universal's genuine commitment to spotlight fresh diverse talent for the general entertainment community in Hollywood," said Kendra Carter, Director, Talent Diversity Initiatives, NBC Universal. "Our entry-level outreach has proven to be successful in the past and will pitch a larger tent by adding more cities to the tour this year. This confirms our priority of introducing prominent industry players to some of America's funniest and diverse comics."
“I’m honored to be a part of ‘Stand-Up for Diversity,’ and excited that NBC Universal is making an effort to further its diversity efforts,” said Anderson.
The "Stand-Up for Diversity" tour will kick off June 28 with an open call at The Miami Improv in Miami with auditions that will start promptly at 10 a.m. at the venue, located at 3390 Mary St., Miami. The first 100 comedians will have the opportunity to perform a one-minute stand-up set (early arrival is strongly recommended). A small group of semi-finalists will be asked to return later in the day to perform a longer set for callbacks. The finalists will perform their original material at the NBC Universal-sponsored showcase the following evening.
Following the auditions, a live showcase will be held at the Miami Improv on June 29 at 8 p.m. Miami natives are encouraged attend and support their local comics as audience response will be a factor in determining which comic -- or comics -- will be selected for the “Best of ‘Stand-Up for Diversity’” showcase to be held in Los Angeles this fall.
Many of the comics from last year's “Best of ‘Stand-Up for Diversity’” showcase in New York City signed with top Hollywood agents and met with the entertainment industry's leading casting directors and executives. The top prize of 2008 went to comedian Rob Stapleton
Over the course of the next few months, open calls and showcases for "Stand-Up for Diversity" will be held at the following cities:
MIAMI
Miami Improv
Auditions: Sunday, June 28 at 10 a.m.
Showcase: Monday, June 29 at 8 p.m.
SAN DIEGO
The Comedy Palace
Auditions: Sunday, July 12 at 10 a.m.
Showcase: Monday, July 13 at 8 p.m.
ATLANTA
The Punchline
Auditions: Tuesday, August 11 at 10 a.m.
Showcase: Wednesday, August 12 at 8 p.m.
NEW YORK
Auditions and showcase:
November 2009
(Dates and venue to be announced)
Prospective participants and audiences can check for details on the next open calls and showcases in these cities by going online to www.standupnbc.com or www.diversecitynbc.com.
SOURCE:
Indie Studios Launches' Venture
DF Indie Studios Launches a Producer-Centric Venture With Guaranteed U.S. Theatrical Distribution for Films Budgeted up to $10 Million
Entertainment finance and business development experts Mary Dickinson and Charlene Fisher have announced the launch of DF Indie Studios (DFIS), a new, producer-centric studio model for the independent film industry. DFIS aims to finance and distribute between 10 to 12 multi-genre, commercially viable films per year, budgeted up to $10 million and backed by a guaranteed U.S. theatrical release, $150 million in distribution guarantees, foreign sales, promotion and advertising (P&A) revolver, as well as distribution across all platforms.
This new film financing model bases investor returns on all the revenue streams of the company, including distribution fees and exit value.
DFIS' mandate is to serve as a home for a carefully selected group of producers, providing the tools to give their commercially viable films in this price bracket the best chance for national and international success. DFIS films will be produced by a team of established producers with successful box office track records including: This is that Productions - Ted Hope and Anne Carey (Adventureland, In the Bedroom, 21 Grams, The Ice Storm, The Savages); Scott Free - Ridley and Tony Scott's shingle (Gladiator, The Taking of Pelham 123, Thelma & Louise, American Gangster); Jennifer Fox (Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck, Duplicity, Syriana); and RedBone Films whose co-founder, Samara Koffler, ran Harrison Ford's production company for eight years.
Dickinson and Fisher are joined by Rita Chiappetta-Thibault, chief financial officer of DFIS. As executive vice president of finance and accounting for New Line Home Entertainment, Chiappetta-Thibault helped grow revenues from $150 million to more than $1 billion.
The DFIS distribution strategy was developed in conjunction with veteran Ira Deutchman, a three-decade distribution and marketing expert who has worked on over 150 films and launched Fine Line Features, Cinecom Entertainment Group and Emerging Pictures. Foreign sales and output deals are managed by industry veteran Glen Basner, chief executive officer of FilmNation.
For the last two years, the DFIS founders have engaged respected studio finance executive John Hadity, to guide them through the intricate world of film financing, tax incentives and production planning. Hadity, currently the chairman of the Producers Guild of America East, served 12 years as executive vice president (EVP) of production for Miramax and currently heads Hadity & Associates. He will work closely with DFIS EVP of Production Amy Slotnick, a studio production executive and independent film producer who recently concluded her tenure with Miramax as senior vice president of production.
The DFIS advisory board includes Ben Silverman, co-chair of NBC Universal; David Wiederecht, president of Investment Strategies and chief investment officer for GE Asset Management; David Spieler, global head of Duff and Phelps Technology and Entertainment Practices; and Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton.
"DF Indie Studios is set to become an invaluable saving grace of a currently endangered species: the intelligent, ambitious and commercially viable independent film - maybe even of intelligent, ambitious and commercially viable independent filmmakers themselves," stated Tilda Swinton. "It is my honour and my personal pleasure to be working alongside Mary and Charlene in shaping this inspired and inspiring company."
"To launch a completely unlevered company in the current climate is the right way to go for our investors, partners and producers," said Mary Dickinson, who serves as chief executive officer of DF Indie Studios. "Our investors appreciate that they will share in all the revenue streams of the studio. They love that we will be also be generating 10,000 to 15,000 film jobs over the next five years, and pumping millions of dollars into local economies with DFIS."
"We couldn't be launching the company at a more perfect time. There is a huge opportunity in the independent film world and we believe we have found a singular place in the market," said Charlene Fisher, president and chief operating officer of DF Indie Studios. "There is a growing demand for commercial features, and a lack of quality products at the right price. At DFIS we will work with our production partners and provide end to end financing, a rigorous greenlight process and guaranteed U.S. distribution to meet this increasing demand. No one else is solely supporting films produced for up to $10 million in this way."
Chief Executive Officer Mary Dickinson has 20 years of experience in business building, investment and restructuring in entertainment and sports. She restructured and ran the leading extreme sports film production company, Teton Gravity Research, taking it from near bankruptcy to stability. Among other initiatives, her efforts included producing two NBC primetime pilots with Ben Silverman's production company Reveille. She consulted on the development and financing of RedBone Films (now a DFIS partner), and negotiated content and representation deals with ABC's "The View," British Telecom, and William Morris.
President and Chief Operating Officer Charlene A. Fisher has 16 years of experience in business development and restructuring in the entertainment, sports and internet arenas. Most recently, she restructured and managed a portfolio company for GE Asset Management and then worked with RedBone Films to develop a dynamic new independent film production business model. She has also worked with clients that include ABC, NBC, HBO, ESPN, The Golf Channel, NBA, NHL, MLB, and PGA and LPGA Tours, among others.
"I wanted an opportunity to get involved in independent film with a partner that treats its investors as exactly that - partners. The DF Indie Studios business model has been designed as an old-fashioned, unlevered model that ensures investors share in all revenue streams of the studio including distribution fees and any exits. Additionally, their veteran management team and producing partners are exactly the people who can deliver on the DF Indie Studios promise," says investor Sue Callaway, former general manager of Jaguar Cars North America, and a current contributing editor at Fortune and http://www.CNNMoney.com.
Mamet's "Race"
Kerry Washington to Join James Spader and Richard Thomas in Mamet's "Race"
Kerry Washington ("The Last King of Scotland," "Ray") will join previously announced stars James Spader and Richard Thomas in the forthcoming world premiere Broadway production of David Mamet’s "Race," which is scheduled to begin previews Nov. 17 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The play will open on Dec. 6 directed by Mamet.
The play will be produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel and Steve Traxler, the team behind Mamet’s "Speed-the-Plow," "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "November" as well as "August: Osage County," "Blithe Spirit" and "Hair."
No details on the storyline have been released yet.
SOURCE:
Hip Hop for HIV Awareness
Stars Set to Perform at Hip Hop for HIV Awareness
By Monique Love
Plies, Bun B, Twista, Yung L.A., Gorilla Zoe, Day 26, Bobby Valentino, LeToya Luckett and Ginuwine are set to perform at the Hip Hop for HIV Awareness free concert at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX on July 11.
Houston’s popular radio station 97.9 The Box, The Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Amerigroup Community Care, AIDS Foundation Houston, and the NAACP Houston branch have teamed up for the Hip Hop for HIV Awareness, to educate Houston residents about the ongoing AIDS epidemic.
Free testing started June 22 and continues til June 26 at the NAACP Family Technology Center. For more information visit http://www.kbxx.com.
SOURCE:
All-Star Comedy Jam Series
Shaq Partners with Jeff Clanagan to Produce All-Star Comedy Jam Series
Basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal has teamed up with the Codeblack Entertainment's Jeff Clanagan to present the "All-Star Comedy Jam" series. Featuring some of today’s hottest urban comics, the series will provide sidesplitting, no holds barred hilarity on topics ranging from America’s new president to shopping at Target. It also provides the up-and coming comedians with an opportunity to showcase their creativity and perform alongside the stalwarts of comedy.
On his partnership with the NBA Legend, says Clanagan, “I am thrilled to collaborate with NBA’s most distinguished athlete on these multi-star live comedy events. This partnership will help expand Codeblack’s reach into television and further cement our desire to both develop and produce exciting entertainment projects from their inception as a live event through to their subsequent telecast.â€
Given Shaquille O'Neal’s entrepreneurial aspirations this project marks a natural evolution of his brand. “I am excited to partner with a veteran like Jeff Clanagan and I am thrilled to be venturing into the comedy and television world.
The "All-Star Comedy Jam" series, directed by Leslie Smalls, premieres on Showtime on Wednesday June 17th. The second installment of the "All-Star Comedy Jam" series will be filmed live at the 13th annual American Black Film Festival on June 26th in Miami and premiere on Showtime in January, 2010. Comedy genius DL Hughly will host this stand-up special which features Earthquake, Arnez J, Lavell Crawford and Mealaine Comarcho.
SOURCE:
Fall TV Lineup
Upfront Announcements: LL Cool J, Michael Straham, Wanda Sykes and Sherri Shepherd on Fall TV Lineup
The annual ritual of the networks unveiling their primetime fall lineups is in full bloom. LL Cool J, Michael Straham, Wanda Sykes and Sherri Shepherd are among the names on the fall primetime TV lineup.
LL Cool J is among the stars who have landed new series on CBS' schedule next season. LL will star in a spin off "NCIS" alongside Chris O'Donnell. The pilot recently aired as a two-part episode of "NCIS." Shane Brennan is executive producing.
Fox will try to do so with "The Cleveland Show," a new animated series that is a spinoff of the popular "Family Guy." "Cleveland" follows Peter Griffin's friend Cleveland Brown (voiced by Mike Henry) as he and son Cleveland Jr. move to Virginia to live with Cleveland's high school sweetheart ( Sanaa Lathan). The cast also includes Nia Long, Kevin Michael Richardson and Arianna Huffington "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, Rich Appel and Henry co-created the series and are executive producing.
Fox's "Brothers" stars former NFL star Michael Strahan as a former NFL star player who returns home to Houston to live with his parents and to help his brother, injured in a car accident, run a restaurant. His brother will be played by Daryl "Chill" Mitchell ("Veronica's Closet"). CCH Pounder ("The Shield") also stars in the series. "You'll see a real chemistry there," Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said yesterday.
Fox also announced "The Wanda Sykes Show," a late night Saturday show hosted by comedian Wanda Sykes.
Lifetime has picked up "Sherri," a comedy pilot starring "The View" co-host Sherri Shepherd. The network has ordered 12 episodes of the multi-camera comedy series. Shepherd will continue her work on "View" while starring on the Lifetime series. The sitcom, loosely based on Shepherd's experiences, centers on a woman who deals with her husband's infidelity by allowing her husband's girlfriend and their child to move in with them. The cast also includes Tammy Townsend ("Lincoln Heights"), Kali Rocha ("Grey's Anatomy"), Elizabeth Regen ("The Black Donnellys") and Kate Reinders ("Ugly Betty"). Shepherd will produce alongside Terri Minsky, Nina Wass and Gene Stein.
"Brothers In Arms"
Matthew Sand to Rewrite Denzel Washington's "Brothers In Arms"
Matthew Sand has been hired to rewrite "Brothers in Arms," which Denzel Washington is attached to direct as well as produce for Alcon Entertainment. The film is about about the only black U.S. tank unit to fight in the European theater during World War II and is based on a nonfiction novel by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton.
"Brothers in Arms" tells the story of how the unit overcame prejudice and sought to prove themselves on the battlefield by spearheading the Allied Forces' drive eastward toward Germany during the Battle of the Bulge. The battalion helped liberate some 30 towns and villages and won the respect of their fellow soldiers.
Alcon's co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove will produce alongside Washington.
Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic Set For Bigscreen
Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic Set For Bigscreen
DreamWorks has acquired the life rights to Martin Luther King Jr. and is bringing a biopic on the slain civil rights leader to the big screen, reports Variety. Steven Spielberg, Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones will produce.
King's estate owns the copyright to all the speeches, books and famous works of the slained civil rights leader. This will be the first film to be authorized by the estate and gives the producers the right to utilize King's intellectual property -- including his famous "I Have a Dream" speech delivered during the 1963 March on Washington.
"We are all honored that the King Estate is giving us the opportunity to tell the story of these defining, historic events," Spielberg. "It is our hope that the creative power of film and the impact of Dr. King's life can combine to present a story of undeniable power that we can all be proud of."
"In trying to tackle such an ambitious project, the question we had to ask ourselves is, 'Why now?' " DreamWorks CEO and co-chairman Stacey Snider said. "The answer lies in MLK's own words: 'All progress is precarious.' With every step forward, new obstacles emerge and we must never forget that his life and his teachings continue to challenge us every day to stand up to hatred and inequality.
King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th, 1968, at the age of 39.
SOURCE:
Martin Lawrence Set to Produce
Martin Lawrence Set to Produce Three Television Series
By Monique D. Love
According to Hollywood Reporter, Martin Lawrence and his production company Runteldat are set to produce three television comedy series.
The first series, an animated comedy based on his own experiences growing up in Washington D.C., has been bought by Fox. A second project, a scripted sketch comedy show based on comedian Gary Owen will be airing Starz.
Lawrence is also shopping around a comedy set in a funeral home.
SOURCE:
June 28, 2009
Mexico: Gunmen kill policeman
Mexico: Gunmen kill policeman, teen at taco stand
By GUSTAVO RUIZ, Associated Press Writer Gustavo Ruiz, Associated Press Writer
Reuters – Mexican soldiers patrol a street in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco June 10, 2009.
MORELIA, Mexico – Gunmen opened fire and tossed a grenade at a crowded taco stand in the central Mexican city of Uruapan on Thursday, causing cooking gas tanks to explode and killing a police officer and a 15-year-old boy.
A spokesman for the state prosecutor's office in Michoacan state said the policeman was shot while eating with a fellow officer.
Before fleeing, the assailants shot two tanks of cooking gas that exploded, burning the teenage taco stand worker to death, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity because his office does not allow him to give his name. Four other people were injured.
Investigators said the attack apparently targeted the two officers.
Uruapan has been plagued by drug violence. The city's mayor was among 10 Michoacan mayors detained by federal officials last month for alleged drug ties. In 2006, suspected La Familia cartel members dumped five human heads on a bar dance floor in the city.
Drug gangs have been staging increasingly bold attacks since Calderon launched a national crackdown on cartels in 2006 by sending troops to Michoacan, his home state. More than 10,800 people have died in drug violence in Mexico since.
Also on Thursday, armed men barged into a motel room and killed five people in their beds in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, said Victor Valencia de los Santos, public safety secretary for Chihuahua state. A sixth person was wounded.
Two other people were killed during a car chase and shootout between armed men in downtown Juarez, said Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the joint military and federal police operation responsible for security in the city. Both people killed were gunmen.
The federal Attorney General's Office, meanwhile, offered a 10 million peso ($737,000) reward for information on the whereabouts of Francisco Serrano, the customs administrator for the Gulf coast state of Veracruz believed to have been kidnapped this month.
Serrano recently launched a new system to check shipping containers at Veracruz, one of Mexico's most important ports and the scene of increasing drug violence.
Mexico's president vowed not to allow attacks on government and police derail the fight against drug trafficking.
"Wherever they attack our personnel, we will make it difficult for anyone to carry out their criminal activities," Calderon said during a speech in Veracruz.
Americans' New Worth Shrinks 1.33 Trillion
1st quarter wiped out $1.3 trillion for Americans
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer Jeannine Aversa, Ap Economics Writer – Jun 11, 09
WASHINGTON – The brute force of the recession earlier this year turned back the clock on Americans' personal wealth to 2004 and wiped out a staggering $1.3 trillion as home values shrank and investments withered.
Net worth, or the value of assets such as homes, checking accounts and investments minus debts like mortgages and credit cards, declined 2.6 percent in the first three months of the year, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.
Those months were some of the worst of the recession so far for job losses, and the stock market sank to its lowest point of the year in March. Since then, some signs suggest the economy is stabilizing.
Still, partly because of the carnage earlier in the recession, Americans are putting plans on hold until the economy improves.
B. Smith, a conductor for a Chicago commuter rail line, is waiting to buy cars for two of his children. He spent $260,000 to build his suburban Chicago home about 10 years ago and watched its value spike to $380,000 in January 2008. Today, it stands at about $310,000. "I'm still ahead, but I'm not as ahead as I was before," he said.
Even if things improve, such a dramatic evaporation of wealth will probably make Americans more thrifty down the road, said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody's Economy.com.
"The bulk of consumers alive today have not experienced declines in wealth like this," Hoyt said. "They are already turning thrifty, and it will stay that way beyond the short term. This has been a significant learning experience."
Americans' personal savings rate zoomed to 5.7 percent in April, the highest since 1995. And the amount in savings — $620.2 billion — was the most on record dating to January 1959.
One way to save: Maurice Boler, a management consultant, said he does many repairs himself on his Indianapolis home rather than pay someone else. "I just take a little bit longer," said the 53-year-old father of four, three of whom live at home.
Even if the economy recovers and starts to thrive again, he said he probably won't break out the credit cards again. "It's really not about stuff," he said. "Stuff is nice, but life is not about how much more stuff can we get."
According to the Fed report, the biggest damage to wealth in the first quarter came from the sinking stock market. The value of Americans' stock holdings dropped almost 6 percent from the final quarter of last year — in a market that was already brutal.
The Wall Street slide that began in 2007 wiped out more than half the value of the U.S. stock market, but investments have bounced back. Since the end of the period covered by the Fed report, the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index is up 20 percent.
Rick Thompson, 77, a retired broker from Huntingdon Valley, Pa., isn't losing sleep over the economy or the stock market despite seeing his net worth edge lower in recent months.
He and his wife, Faith, own the four-bedroom house where they've lived for 40 years. It may have lost some of its value, but not much, he said. A conservative investor, he shifted most of their portfolio from stocks to bonds in late 2007, when the then-soaring market made him uneasy.
He admits the recession has weighed on his psyche, but the rise in stocks since early March has lifted his spirits. Thanks to the Wall Street rally, they are going ahead with plans for a trip to Europe next year.
Another hit to household net worth in the first quarter came from falling house prices. The value of real-estate holdings fell 2.4 percent, according to the Fed report.
Collectively, homeowners had only 41.4 percent equity in their homes in the first quarter, the lowest on record dating to 1945, as Americans fell behind on mortgages or entered foreclosure. That was down from 42.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
The Case-Shiller national home price index, a closely watched barometer, last month estimated that house prices dropped 7.5 percent during the first quarter and have fallen more than 32 percent from their 2006 peak.
While the first quarter was ugly, the hit to Americans' net worth was worse late last year. In the October-December period, it fell a record 8.6 percent, according to revised figures. That was the largest drop on record dating to 1951.
If Americans continue to spend — no guarantee — Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and other economists say they think the recession will end late this year. But if shoppers hunker down and cut spending again, that could delay any recovery. Late last year, Americans cut spending at the fastest rate in 28 years.
On Thursday, there was encouraging news: Retail sales rose slightly in May following two straight monthly declines, the Commerce Department reported. And the number of newly laid-off workers filing for unemployment fell by the lowest number since late January.
Kathy Bullard, a librarian in Providence, R.I., said she plans to be even more frugal in the coming months. At 58, with a 10 percent pay cut coming on July 1 and her pension plan frozen, she doesn't expect to buy more new clothes or books anytime soon.
"I have no idea what my net worth is," she said. "It would probably just depress me."
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AP Business Writers Tim Paradis in New York, Dave Carpenter and Karen Hawkins in Chicago, Deanna Martin in Indianapolis and Kelsey Abbruzzese in Providence, R.I., contributed to this report.
Family wants 2nd autopsy
Jesse Jackson: Family wants 2nd autopsy
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody – Jun 27,
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson's family wants a private autopsy of the pop icon because of unanswered questions about how he died and the doctor who was with him, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Saturday.
"It's abnormal," he told The Associated Press from Chicago a day after visiting the Jackson family. "We don't know what happened. Was he injected and with what? All reasonable doubt should be addressed."
People close to Jackson have said since his death that they were concerned about the superstar's use of painkillers. Los Angeles County medical examiners completed an autopsy Friday and said Jackson had taken prescription medication.
Medical officials also said there was no indication of trauma or foul play. An official cause of death could take weeks.
The coroner's office released the body to Jackson's family Friday night. There was no immediate word on whether the second autopsy was being performed right away. Jesse Jackson described the family as grief-stricken.
"They're hurt because they lost a son. But the wound is now being kept open by the mystery and unanswered questions of the cause of death," he said.
Two days after Jackson died at a Los Angeles hospital, his most famous sister, Janet, arrived at the mansion Jackson had been renting. She drove up in a Bentley and left without addressing reporters.
Moving vans also showed up at the Jackson home, leaving about an hour later. There was no indication what they might have taken away.
There was also no word from the Jackson family on funeral plans. Many of Jackson's relatives have gathered at the family's Encino compound, caring there for Jackson's three children.
A person close to the family told The Associated Press they feel upset and angry about a lack of information about those who were around the pop superstar in his final days. The person requested anonymity because of the delicate nature of the situation.
Jackson had been rehearsing for 50 London concerts aimed at restoring his crown as the King of Pop. He died Thursday at age 50 after what his family said appeared to be cardiac arrest.
A 911 call from Jackson's rented home reported that his personal doctor was trying to revive him without success. Police have talked to Dr. Conrad Murray and have said they intend to speak with him again but have stressed he is not a criminal suspect.
Murray has yet to speak publicly since Jackson's death. Police towed his car from Jackson's home hours after Jackson died and said later it could contain medication or other evidence. Coroner's officials also said Jackson was taking prescription medication but declined to elaborate.
A lawyer at a Houston firm, William M. Stradley, confirmed Murray had hired his firm and said one of its partners was meeting with Los Angeles police on Saturday. Stradley said Murray accompanied Michael Jackson to the hospital.
"He was there from the beginning and he's been cooperating with police from the very beginning," Stradley said. "Dr. Murray has never left L.A. since Mr. Jackson's death, and he remains there."
Murray lives in Las Vegas but apparently left his practice and moved in with Jackson about two weeks ago. No one answered the door Saturday at his Las Vegas home, which property records show Murray bought five years ago for $1.1 million.
The promoter of the series of London concerts that Jackson was to begin next month has said Jackson personally insisted Murray be on the payroll.
Also Saturday, spiritual teacher Dr. Deepak Chopra said he had been concerned since 2005 that Jackson was abusing prescription painkillers and most recently spoke to the pop star about suspected drug use six months ago.
Chopra said Jackson, a longtime friend, asked him for painkillers in 2005 when the singer was staying with him following his trial on sex abuse allegations. Chopra said he refused. He also said the nanny of Jackson's children repeatedly contacted him with concerns about Jackson's drug use over the next four years.
He said she told him a number of doctors would visit Jackson's homes in Santa Barbara County, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Whenever the subject came up, Jackson would avoid his calls, Chopra said.
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Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Juan A. Lozano in Houston, and Gillian Flaccus, Brooke Donald, Beth Harris and Mike Blood and AP Global Media Services Production Manager Nico Maounis in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
doctor in Jackson's death
Questions swirl around doctor in Jackson's death
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jun 27,
LOS ANGELES – Elvis had one. So did Anna Nicole Smith and Marilyn Monroe. They are the doctors who cater to celebrities, dispensing powerful painkillers and sedatives to some of Hollywood's best-known entertainers.
Now, as police investigate Michael Jackson's sudden death, questions are swirling around the King of Pop's personal cardiologist and his actions in the superstar's final days.
Dr. Conrad Murray reportedly was with Jackson when he stopped breathing Thursday and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. An ambulance crew worked on Jackson at his home for 42 minutes before rushing him to UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The cardiologist has hired a Houston-based law firm and on Saturday, an attorney there said he was cooperating.
"Dr. Murray has never left L.A. since Mr. Jackson's death, and he remains there. Investigators have indicated Dr. Murray is considered a witness and is not in any way a target of any kind," William M. Stradley told The Associated Press. He said his colleague was meeting with investigators on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said the singer's family wants a private autopsy because of unanswered questions about how he died and about Murray.
And Jackson's longtime friend Deepak Chopra said he's been concerned since 2005 that physicians were overmedicating the singer.
The suspicions of Jackson's friends and family fit into a long-standing pattern of celebrity doctors becoming entangled in death investigations involving prescription drugs.
Doctors can become enchanted by the glamour of the celebrity lifestyle and may find it hard to refuse potent painkillers for their clients because of their wealth and power.
"It's a big issue with people who are used to getting what they want. And if someone says no, they can pay someone else to get what they want," said Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist at the University of Southern California who is writing a book on social problems and celebrity culture.
"The physician is not immune to that heady feeling of being in a celebrity's inner circle."
In other instances, the doctors themselves may have questionable pasts or significant debts, and caring for a celebrity allows them to make large amounts of money, said Julie Albright, a sociologist at the University of Southern California.
"Some of these people might not be the most successful doctors, so the money will also buy their complicity in fueling a drug habit," said Albright, who was speaking generally and not specifically about Murray.
Records reveal years of financial troubles for Murray, a 1989 graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville who practices medicine in California, Nevada and Texas.
Over the last 18 months, Murray's Nevada medical practice, Global Cardiovascular Associates, has been slapped with more than $400,000 in court judgments: $228,000 to Citicorp Vendor Finance Inc., $71,000 to an education loan company and $135,000 to a leasing company. He faces at least two other pending cases.
Court records show Murray was hit last December with a nearly $3,700 judgment for failure to pay child support in San Diego, and had his wages garnished the same month for almost $1,500 by a credit card company. Another credit card claim for more than $1,100 filed in April remains open.
He also owes $940 in fines and penalties for driving with an expired license plate and for not having proof of insurance in 2000.
Best-selling author Deepak Chopra, a longtime friend of Michael Jackson and a licensed medical doctor, said he first became concerned about the pop star's prescription drug use in 2005, when Jackson visited him shortly after his trial on sex abuse allegations.
Chopra said Jackson asked him to prescribe painkillers and already had a bottle of Oxycontin.
"I was kind of a bit alarmed. I said, 'Why are you taking that. You don't need that,' and then I started to probe a little further, and after I grilled him a little bit, he admitted he was getting them from a bunch of doctors," Chopra said.
Chopra said he refused to prescribe the medicine, but over the next four years the nanny of Jackson's children would periodically call to say that a parade of doctors was coming to his homes in Santa Barbara County, Los Angeles, Miami and New York City.
She told Chopra she felt they were overmedicating him, and one time she even tried to stage an intervention with Chopra's help, he said.
Each time, Jackson would discover the nanny's calls and then shut himself off from Chopra to avoid discussing the issue, he said.
Chopra, a spiritual adviser, said he last talked to Jackson directly about his drug use about six months ago and spoke with him on the phone about two weeks before his death.
But they did not discuss drug use on that call, and Chopra said in his final months, Jackson seemed much healthier and excited about his upcoming concerts in London.
"This is a strange addiction. You cannot get these pills or injections unless a physician prescribes them, and he had this bunch of enabling doctors who were in a sense criminals. And they get away with it half the time — and I hope they don't this time," he said.
"It's become a culture with celebrity doctors who in one sense get a sense of importance by hanging around with celebrities."
Marilyn Monroe died at 36 from an overdose of sleeping pills in August 1962. She had been under a doctor's care at the time.
Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 at 42, was known to travel with George Nichopoulos, a former physician who overprescribed drugs to clients. Nichopoulos lost his medical license but was acquitted of criminal charges related to Elvis' death.
More recently, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged a psychiatrist and a doctor with conspiring to provide Anna Nicole Smith with thousands of prescription pills.
Smith died Feb. 8, 2007, in Florida after collapsing at a hotel; medical authorities later ruled her death an overdose.
Megastars may be given more leeway than ordinary patients because of their wealth — and because of expectations that the famous often have eccentric habits, said Albright, the sociologist.
"It's almost expected in some ways if it's a rock star or a big actor. You almost expect them to have a larger-than-life lifestyle," she said. "People are drawn to celebrity like a moth to a flame, including these doctors who want to be around that lightness and brightness."
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Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Juan A. Lozano in Houston, and Beth Harris and Michael Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
SBA loans can make Black businesses bloom
New SBA loans can make Black businesses bloom
by Willie Ratcliff
Jellyroll’s, a friendly, well-stocked store at 4923 Third St. in the Bayview Hunters Point district of San Francisco, might still be in business today if a program like SBA’s new ARC loans had been available three or four years ago. Many Third Street businesses folded during the five years that Muni made a mess of Third Street building the T-Third light rail – denying jobs to residents and driving customers from Third Street merchants. Muni refused to apply for available federal funds to compensate businesses during the disruption, evidently hoping to kill the Black businesses that form the backbone of the Black community. – Photo: Willie Ratcliff
It may not solve all the problems in the hood, but if most of the businesses on a commercial corridor like Third Street in Bayview Hunters Point get no-interest loans with no payments due for a year, it’s not only the merchants who’ll be celebrating. They’ll be creating new jobs – for that youngster who’s serious about his or her future, the single mom who’s trying so hard to give her kids a chance and the dad who’s come home from behind enemy lines to discover that nobody’s willing to hire ex-cons, nobody but the friendly storekeeper or contractor he’s known since childhood.
On June 15, the U.S. Small Business Administration, revitalized by President Obama, launched the ARC program, America’s Recovery Capital, giving banks and credit unions 100 percent guarantees so they’re taking no risk when they make loans of up to $35,000 to small businesses. The borrower pays no interest and makes no payments for 12 months, then has five years to repay the loan. SBA charges no fees and pays interest to the lender at prime plus 2 percent. So don’t let your lender say no; it has no excuse for denying one of these loans to a viable, established business.
“The Malcolm X Experience” is the work of political prisoner Zolo Agona Azania.
“We should own and operate and control the economy of our community,” Malcolm X taught us in one of his most memorable speeches, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” delivered April 12, 1964. Everybody wins when small businesses thrive that are owned, operated and controlled by our neighbors. The owners can not only create good jobs; they can afford to sponsor positive programs and events, and residents can “Buy Black” – shop in the neighborhood and keep hard-earned Black dollars cycling and recycling through the Black community.
Willie Brown, publisher of Inglewood Today
As Willie Brown, publisher of Inglewood Today, writes in an editorial headlined “‘Buy Black’ Boosts Economic Survival”: “Until the mid-‘60s, African Americans bought from each other and built their own schools, libraries and hospitals out of necessity. While racist laws of the day kept many from receiving full social status (i.e., living wherever they wanted), they were able to live well because the money flowed back into their neighborhoods. Black Wall Street, a business district in Tulsa, Okla., boasted a thriving Black economy during the oil boom in the 1920s.” In the Bay Area, we have to look no further for historic inspiration than Fillmore Street in San Francisco, Seventh Street in West Oakland and East 14th in East Oakland.
After decades of exploitation by lenders that redlined Black neighborhoods, granting no loans at all, then stole our property with predatory sub-prime loans, it’s hard to believe that these SBA ARC loans are real. But now’s the time to take a chance. Mandated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus bill, the ARC program is temporary, lasting only as long “as funding is available or until Sept. 30, 2010, whichever comes first,” warns SBA on its website, http://www.sba.gov/. Click on ARC Loans or call the SBA Answer Desk at 1-800 U ASK SBA to learn all about it. Unlike most loan programs, ARC loans can be used to pay down existing debt, like those credit cards that charge 30 percent interest.
Once you’ve read up on the ARC program, you may have to educate your local lender. The loan manager at the Wells Fargo branch on Third Street in San Francisco’s Black heartland hadn’t heard a word about it when I asked on June 16, the day after the program launched. He called later to assure me that Wells Fargo will be making ARC loans.
If putting a Black president in the White House hasn’t magically brought peace and prosperity to every hood in the land, now his Small Business Administration is giving us a leg up on the ladder to Black self-sufficiency, a prerequisite to a healthy community. To tap into the wisdom of some visionaries committed to building the Black economy, visit Jim Clingman at Blackonomics.com, the Anderson family at ebonyexperiment.com and the late Muhammad Nassardeen of Recycling Black Dollars at RBDmedia.net. If you’re ready to think big, go to BlackEnterprise.com. And to organize with other Black entrepreneurs to demand our fair economic share, check out the National Black Chamber of Commerce at NationalBCC.com, headed by Black business champion Harry Alford.
Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff can be reached at (415) 671-0789 or publisher@sfbayview.com.
Oscar Grant murder: Double standard of justice
Oscar Grant murder: Double standard of justice in Oakland
by Megan Cornish
The murder of a 22-year-old unarmed Black man, Oscar Grant, by a transit cop in Oakland during the early hours of New Year’s Day sparked national indignation. Onlookers captured the shooting on cell phones, and their video footage was transmitted to millions via the Internet and TV.
Community members continue to demand justice for Grant, an apprentice butcher and the father of a 3-year-old, and an end to police brutality. But to win justice in this case and forestall future repression requires overcoming government resistance and demanding effective community control over the police.
A blatant execution-style killing
Oscar Grant was one of several Black men taken off a train by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officers while appalled passengers shouted for police to stop. Grant was assaulted before being forced facedown onto the platform by one cop, Tony Pirone, while another, Johannes Mehserle, shot him at close range.
Black community groups, left organizations and the Alameda County Labor Council mounted or participated in a series of demonstrations. Some protesters vandalized cars and shop fronts. Over a hundred people were arrested.
Public condemnation, including the militant protests that resulted in arrests, finally forced the authorities to indict Menserle for murder two weeks after the shooting. The rage of the arrestees is fully justified, and they should get amnesty. Oakland has a long history of police murders of young Black men, including the infamous 1968 shooting of “Lil” Bobby Hutton, a 15-year-old Black Panther Party member.
The anger of young Black male protesters interviewed by video blogger Zennie62 leaps off the screen. “It was a modern-day lynching!” one yells. “Black people need to get together, and not just Black people, everybody in Oakland!” says another.
The murder charge itself is almost unprecedented.
As is usual in police brutality incidents, excuses are being manufactured for Mehserle after the fact. One flimsy story is that he mistook his gun for a taser. Predictably, Mehserle also has big-money support from the BART Police Officers Association, which posted $3 million for his bail. Pirone, the cop who assaulted Grant and held him down, has not been charged at all.
Again according to pattern, the character assassination of the victim has begun. Like many inner-city Black men, Grant had a police record, but that is irrelevant to the case.
Lives measured differently
On March 21, traffic cops stopped Lovelle Mixon, a Black Oakland man with a parole violation. No doubt desperate, Mixon ended up killing four police before being killed himself.
This event provoked establishment fury and demands for more police and stricter probation requirements. The killing of Oscar Grant took a back seat.
More police, however, are not the answer. The cause of violence in inner-city Black communities is the economic blight and terrible living conditions there. These circumstances generate the despair that sets off violence.
That exploited urban population must be kept down, and that is the reason why cops commit murders like Oscar Grant’s over and over. Under capitalism, it is the job of police to repress poor people of color in order to protect the property of the rich. Inevitably, someone will occasionally lash out against those carrying out the repression, as Lovelle Mixon did.
The whole profit system needs to be overturned. But to oppose injustice and demand relief from abuse right now, an elected civilian review board that is completely independent of the police is worth fighting for. This review board should have full power to conduct its own investigations and subpoena witnesses and have the services of an independent special prosecutor at its disposal. End police brutality!
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Enough! wants peace in Sudan
Enough! wants peace in Sudan but war in Congo
Go figure. Enough! wants Sudan’s Omar Hassan al-Bashir behind bars – but wants U.S. support for Uganda’s Museveni. The fragile peace that was gained for two years in the region as the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and the Ugandan government negotiated peace was destroyed by President Yoweri Museveni’s decision to attack.
by Carolyn Edson
Villagers who have formed a local self defense force move during a training session in the village of Bangadi in northeastern Congo Feb. 18, 2009. In the face of attacks and massacres by the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), who had slaughtered some 900 Congolese civilians since December, the villagers, using locally made weapons, have twice repelled LRA attacks in recent months. – Photo: Finbarr O'Reilly, Reuters
On its website, Enough! (www.enoughproject.org) says it’s the project “to end genocide and crimes against humanity.” Yet it is spearheading a project that could do the exact opposite.
Enough! is advocating yet another invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo by Ugandan forces, supposedly to capture or kill Joseph Kony and his treacherous Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) with additional reinforcement and assistance by the United States.
Enough! demands a U.S.-assisted “Operation Lightning Thunder II.” This follows the dismal failure of “Operation Lightning Thunder I,” an attack on LRA positions inside the Congo by Ugandan troops assisted by the U.S. in December 2008, the last month of the George W. Bush government.
For 23 years all military operations against this notorious LRA have failed. Failure means that thousands of innocent people have been killed by both sides. Over a million people have been displaced in Uganda into wretched camps from which more people died of preventable diseases than from the conflict itself, literally in the hundreds of thousands.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
Thousands have been killed and displaced in DRC as a result of the Uganda operation aided by Bush. Human rights organizations have reported that women and children have been abducted and subjected to torture and rape if not used as porters and then killed.
The fragile peace that was gained for two years in the region as the LRA and the Ugandan government negotiated peace was destroyed by President Yoweri Museveni’s decision to attack. The talks were undermined, some say because of Museveni’s maneuverings behind the scenes and Kony’s refusal to sign the final peace accords.
Against this background of bloodshed and failed military operations Enough! is propagating yet another invasion of DRC by Uganda’s army, the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF). This time, for it to succeed, the U.S. should take a more active role, Enough! claims.
The whole idea is ridiculous and has only tragic possible outcomes. Enough! would have us believe that this time would be different because civilians would be “protected” and there would be “humanitarian” and “developmental assistance.”
This is preposterous rhetoric for American home consumption. The U.S. has had a terrible record of “protecting civilians” in any of its own wars; how will it be able to ensure the protection of civilians in a Ugandan army spearheaded war?
The price of blood diamonds: “For every hand taken in marriage, another hand is taken away,” this flier reads, adding, “To secure that their enslaved workers wouldn’t steal them, conflict diamond Guerillas would often cut off one of their hands. Beauty isn’t worth death.”
President Museveni of Uganda is the author of the abysmal camps in the northern part of Uganda, where the World Health Organization in 2005 reported that up to 1,000 civilians died per week. Apparently they were left unprotected deliberately, and one could be forgiven for thinking that he intended for as many people to die in the camps as possible because until the very end he did nothing to improve the conditions in which people were forced to live. They were left to die “like grasshoppers trapped in a bottle.” This is a phrase which President Museveni will recognize.
Museveni regarded the administration of President Bush as his friend and ally. The Museveni government has earned notoriety as being one of the world’s most corrupt regimes. One would have hoped that the present government of the U.S. would distance itself from such regimes. Apparently President Museveni serves the interests of the U.S..
Now while all these militias, rebel groups and armies have been causing horrific wars at great cost to human lives in central Africa, so-called developed countries have been enjoying a lifestyle that is sustained in large part by the resources that come from Africa. The DRC supplies the world’s diamonds, coltan, tantalite, oil and so forth.
DRC diamonds find their way to Western nations through Uganda. Western multinational corporations have no trouble hiring militias or mercenaries who deal with the warlords and militias in order to illegally extract these resources.
The warlords and militias hold the civilian population in what can only be called modern day slavery, human life meaning nothing to those in power or to the corporations. Western governments know this but turn a blind eye. We rarely hear a peep from Enough! which supposedly opposes crimes against humanity and genocide.
In previous wars perpetrated by Uganda in DRC, 7 million people died and the UPDF plundered DRC as documented in numerous United Nations and Human Rights Watch reports. See “Ituri Covered In Blood.”
In 2005 also the International Court of Justice ruled against Uganda for the Congo crimes and awarded $10 billion to Congo. Is there a hidden agenda behind Enough’s! advocating for another U.S.-backed Uganda invasion of Congo? Whose tail is wagging which dog?
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Madagascar: Troops defy orders to put down opposition protests
Madagascar: Troops defy orders to put down opposition protests
by Fred Weston
“We no longer take orders from our hierarchy; we are following our hearts. We were trained to protect property and citizens, not to fire at people. We are with the people,” one rebel soldier is reported as saying.
The depth of the crisis and the level of social discontent in Madagascar directly affected a group of soldiers of the Army Corps of Personnel and Administrative and Technical Services who had been ordered to move against protestors on the streets. The soldiers refused to obey orders to fire on the people and repress anti-government demonstrators. Following this, they then declared they would not obey government orders either.
The soldiers at the Camp Capsat military camp on the outskirts of the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, prepared their lines of defense as they were expecting an attack on the part of the presidential guard. The 600-strong troops apparently control large stocks of arms and ammunition.
These dramatic events remind us of Bertolt Brecht’s poem, “General, Your Tank Is a Powerful Vehicle,” which goes like this:
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.
General, your bomber is powerful
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.
General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.
These soldiers in Madagascar are being forced to think. As they say, they were trained to defend the people, not to shoot on them. And now they face the wrath of the ruling class and its officer caste.
Talbot Antonin Alexis, director general of Madagascan national police, has called for unity between the police, the armed forces and the gendarmerie in a desperate attempt to re-establish some order. Madagascan national police initially said he would be taking “military measures within the army.” Since then, a section of the army took over his headquarters and forced him to resign.
The government has accused the rebel soldiers of organizing a mutiny, something the soldiers deny. They stated that they were simply refusing to be used against protesting civilians. Colonel Noel Rakotonandrasana, a spokesperson of the rebel soldiers, explained, “We cannot accept the repression of the civilian population.”
All this comes at a critical moment for Madagascar. These events have taken place in the context of a bitter power struggle between the oppositionist Rajoelina and the President Marc Ravalomanana. At the beginning of this year, Andry Rajoelina, the opposition leader, started calling protests against the president. The president ordered the security forces to find Rajoelina, who has gone into hiding.
What has provoked the recent soldier rebellion has been the increasing use of the army to clamp down on the rising tide of protest sweeping across the country. Since the beginning of this year, about 100 people have been killed on the streets by the army. In February a protest rally was marching on the presidential palace but it was met with brutal repression and 28 people were killed.
Madagascar has a population of 20 million people, most of whom live in abysmal poverty. More than half the population survives on less than $1 a day. Like most African countries, Madagascar has been forced by the World Bank and the IMF to apply so-called structural adjustment programs, involving opening up its markets to the more powerful industrialized countries and privatization. In the last recession in 2001-02 at the same time as a serious political crisis affected the country, GDP fell by 12 percent. Last year inflation stood at over 9 percent, seriously affecting the already impoverished masses.
The 2001 presidential elections were heavily disputed but in April 2002, the High Constitutional Court declared Ravalomanana the winner. He then went on to win a second presidential election in 2006. Since then, however, the world economic crisis has added to the already difficult living conditions of the masses. Ravalomanana’s so-called “free market reforms” are now being exposed for what they really are, an attack on ordinary working people on the island.
Rajoelina, “a charismatic young businessman,” as he is described in the media, and quite a wealthy man, also owns his own television and radio stations. He was the mayor of the capital until recently and used this position to attack the government. In doing this he has tapped into a mood of anger brewing among the poor masses. In this context the army ranks have also been affected. Apart from refusing to fire on the people, the soldiers have been complaining about pay and the fact that their superiors have been embezzling funds.
The unfortunate thing about all this is the lack of a genuine mass socialist alternative that could unite the workers, the poor and the rank and file soldiers against the ruling elite. In 1972 the Party for Proletarian Power (MFM) was set up as a left-wing opposition. Unfortunately, as has happened to many former “left” forces in the past, the party abandoned its left-wing credentials to espouse liberalism and changed its name to the liberalism, in the meantime losing all its parliamentary representatives.
In the political vacuum that exists in the country is a struggle between two businessmen. But the movement of the masses and the revolt within the ranks of the army shows the potential is there for something much bigger.
After the mutiny of the Border Guards in Bangladesh, this revolt of soldiers in Madagascar highlights the point that Marxists have always made: in acute social, economic and political crises, when the masses start to move, the soldiers, the “workers in uniform”, sons of workers and peasants, can turn against their officers, refuse to be used against the masses, and can therefore be won over to revolution.
The famous “armed bodies of men” cannot always be relied on by the ruling classes. What we have seen in Bangladesh and Madagascar are indications of how deep the crisis is becoming. It bodes well for the workers of the world, but it requires a conscious, revolutionary leadership for it to be transformed into a force for revolutionary change.
Source:
Media as a weapon
Media as a weapon: New Orleans’ 2-Cent
by Jordan Flaherty
2-Cent
The video grabs your attention immediately. Young people in the Lower 9th Ward hold up signs that read: “Looter,” “We’re still here” and “America did this.” Amid empty lots and damaged houses, poet Nik Richard delivers this message: “Hurricane Katrina was the biggest national disaster to hit American soil and, nearly two years later, this area is still devastated. But you know what? We made sure we preserved it strictly for your tourism. For about $75, you can take one of these many tour buses.”
Tourists drive by and people with cameras gawk. Richard looks directly at the camera and says, “It looks like there’s more money to be paid in devastation than regeneration. If y’all keep paying your money to see it, should we rebuild it?”
The short film “New Orleans for Sale,” which has garnered several awards, was made by 2-Cent Entertainment, a group of young Black media makers in New Orleans. The group, which currently has 10 members, made “New Orleans for Sale” to convey the frustration felt by many New Orleanians as the city has become a national spectacle and a backdrop for countless national politicians, while the aid the city needs to rebuild still hasn’t arrived.
In 2008, the film won several awards, including an NAACP Image Award in a competition, called Film Your Issue, which featured a high-powered jury with the likes of news anchor Tom Brokaw and media executives from MTV Networks, Lionsgate Entertainment and USA Today.
Working at the intersection of art and justice, as well as entertainment and enlightenment, 2-Cent has attracted a wide and growing audience. In New Orleans, they’ve also collaborated with the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, produced shows on local television and radio stations, and created mix CDs and scores of short videos. Beyond creating inspiring programming, 2-Cent members also seek to pass their skills onto the next generation, and have taught and presented their work in New Orleans high schools and colleges.
“Huey Newton said the young people always inherit the revolution,” says Brandan “B-Mike” Odums, 2-Cent’s founder. “And that’s what 2-Cent is; it’s how our generation responded to that call.”
Positive images
The collective formed in 2004, when Odums gathered a group of friends – most of them fellow students at the University of New Orleans – to produce a TV show with a message.
“A lot of TV promotes a monolithic way of thinking, saying there’s only one way to be, or promoting ignorance as cool,” says Odums. “We say it’s hot to stand up for yourself and speak for yourself.”
The group was still newly formed when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and, in the aftermath of the storm, with 2-Cent members spread across the United States, they nearly disbanded. “Katrina made us realize that this is what we want to do,” says Odums. “We’d done two episodes before the storm. Everybody was scattered. We had to decide if this is something we really want to do. Katrina forced us to make the decision.”
The collective briefly relocated together to Atlanta, then made the decision together to return to New Orleans.
Kevin Griffin, another of the founding members of 2-Cent, joined because he shares Odum’s desire to change the images and messages delivered to today’s youth. “We were seeing the images that BET and others were putting out,” Griffin says. “And we wanted to do something different, more positive.”
Griffin is not just a media activist; he is also one of the leaders of a citywide movement spearheaded by the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, an organization whose mission is to close the Youth Studies Center, the city’s youth prison. The group has led campaigns to shut down other youth prisons around the state, including the notorious youth prison in Tallulah, Louisiana, and they are also working to create more options for young people beyond jail.
Kevin Griffin is a producer at WBOK, a powerful AM station in New Orleans launched Nov. 1, 2007, as Black talk radio after its purchase by Danny Bakewell, publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper.
For Griffin, these struggles have personal meaning. “At the age of 10, I was sent to the Youth Studies Center,” Griffin explains. “A year later I was moved to Tallulah, which was known as the worst youth prison in the country. I was 11.
The next youngest person was 17, so I was a child among adults. And I was there for five years.”
When he was released, Griffin was determined to turn his experience into something positive. “I could have stayed on that path that was laid out for me,” says Griffin. “But I didn’t want to become that.” He credits his family for helping support him when he got out.
Griffin now works full-time at WBOK, a Black-owned talk radio station; their slogan is “Talk back, talk Black.” Art also runs in his family. His cousin Mannie Fresh, the music impresario of New Orleans’ Cash Money record label, produced much of the music that made New Orleans hip hop famous.
Humor and style
2-Cent videos are notable for both humor and great production values. “We liked a lot of the messages you would see on Public Access TV,” explains Griffin. “But we wanted to make something with better production.” This combination of form and content, and a mix of serious and comic, defines the 2-Cent style.
“We take education and comedy and we mix it all together,” says collective member Manda B, who writes and acts in many of the group’s videos. “We can trick people into learning. We built it off a foundation of edutainment. Even with our most crazy and bizarre scripts, we have a meaning.”
The group seems to have limitless energy and ideas, and they bring new angles to their subjects, finding humor in unexpected places and bringing ideas to young people by using that humor. Their piece on Jena, Louisiana, is filmed at the Sept. 20, 2007, protests in Jena, when tens of thousands of young people converged in what was called the birth of the 21st century civil rights movement.
But the 2-Cent video intercuts with one of their members – an effortlessly humorous young performer named Stiggidy Steve – wandering confused on Jena Street in New Orleans and wondering where everyone is.
“Older folks may try to put out similar ideas,” says Manda B. “But it’s like they’re preaching. I think we know how to connect with our generation.”
These young media activists praise Gil Scott Heron, who said the revolution will not be televised. But for 2-Cent, media is a tool to be taken and used for the mission of social change.
“Other generations marched, and we march too,” says Odums.
“But in this age we have a whole new range of weapons, and we’re trying to use those weapons. I think Martin Luther King Jr. would want to be on YouTube, to have his speeches distributed that way.
“Malcolm X would love to make mixtapes, have those out on the streets. The same reasons they boycotted and had protests in that era are our reasons too. We’re coming from that same mindset, but we’re using new tools, trying to get our inheritance.”
After nearly five years together, the group has survived Katrina and all the connected stresses of living in New Orleans during this time, and their bonds have become stronger and closer. When asked what aspect of their work they were most proud of, various 2-Cent members expressed the same sentiment as Manda B, who explained, “For me, the best element of all this is that we’re family.”
For a large collective, 2-Cent seems to have no problem working together, creating new content every week, and continually expanding the range of work they do and the audiences they reach. “We’re all together like family,” says Griffin. “And we can’t imagine not staying together.”
Jordan Flaherty is a journalist based in New Orleans and an editor of Left Turn Magazine. He was the first writer to bring the story of the Jena 6 to a national audience and his reporting on post-Katrina New Orleans shared a journalism award from New America Media. His work has been published and broadcast in outlets including Die Zeit (in Germany), Clarin (in Argentina), Al-Jazeera, TeleSur and Democracy Now. He is also co-director of PATOIS: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. He can be reached at neworleans@leftturn.org. Learn more about 2-Cent at http://2-cent.com.
Before Nation
Before nation
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
As the temperature of war increases in Iraq and the U.S. increases troops in Afghanistan, an unanswered question looms. Not “what is a nation” so much as “why is this a nation, and when”?
When we speak of Iraq, Afghanistan or even Pakistan as nation-states, we are really speaking of political elites in their capitals and of relatively new political identities that are not truly agreed upon even in those states.
Many of these nations had their borders drawn, not by themselves, but by diplomats in Europe, more for their interests than the inhabitants thereof.
Let me give but one example: Remember the former Pakistani president-general, Pervez Musharraf? In the year he was born, there was no Pakistan. He was born a citizen of northwest India.
In many of these countries there are millions of people who see themselves, first and foremost, as members of ancient tribes, to whom loyalties lie. They are Pashtun, Punjabi or Tajik.
In Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s autobiographical work, “Infidel,” she recounts the childhood memory of her and her sister standing in their back yard in Somalia, reciting the lineage of their clan. Standing over them was the daunting figure of grandmother, a switch in hand, and woe to the child who would forget or overlook an ancestor.
Her grandmother didn’t demand that they recount the rulers of Somalia. What was important was tribe, clan and sub-clan histories and lineages.
For millions and millions of people in Africa and South Asia, one’s clan is crucial; nation is ephemeral. For before nation, there was clan. When one is in distress, there is clan. When one is endangered, there is clan.
Nation is a collection of strangers. Nation is the faraway capital. Nation is the oppressive force that imposes taxation, or unwanted military presence.
As the U.S., under Obama, plans to downsize in Iraq and beef up in Afghanistan, it faces a force that Americans have not had to consider for several centuries: the power of tribes. (Here, I speak of the so-called “Indians,” a European name imposed on a host of tribes, clans and sub-clans.)
This is the true social and political power that lies beneath the ossified and often corrupt national governments in which the U.S. has invested billions.
There is the formal nation-state, with all the structure that Americans like, but unseen is the true movers and shakers of society – identity formers – tribes.
This may be the rock upon which all U.S. efforts – all of its billions, all of its military might – shatters.
© Copyright 2009 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Read Mumia’s brand new book, “Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A.,” available from City Lights Publishing, www.citylights.com or (415) 362-8193. Keep updated at www.freemumia.com. For Mumia’s commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org. For recent interviews with Mumia, visit www.blockreportradio.com. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia’s commentaries and interviews. Send our brotha some love and light at: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Greene, 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg PA 15370.
Niger Delta v. Shell Oil case postponed
Niger Delta v. Shell Oil case postponed as government burns, loots villages
by Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
Finally, Shell and Chevron are beginning to face a global backlash and local militancy against their greedy ripoff and poisoning of the people of the Niger Delta and complicity with government atrocities.
(GIN) – Arguments scheduled to begin here this week in a landmark case of villagers from the oil-rich Niger Delta against the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell have been indefinitely postponed, it was announced Tuesday, May 26.
The Ogoni villagers were prepared to testify that Royal Dutch Shell aided the Nigerian government in the capture, prosecution and execution of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and others because they opposed the toxic poisoning of their villages from oil pollutants.
Sources say that the postponement is to permit negotiations for settlement between the parties to the suit. A new date has not yet been set for trial.
Meanwhile, a full scale military assault by the government is underway in the Niger Delta, where rebels are demanding a say in the allocation of oil profits, now almost completely under the control of the government. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has threatened “all out war” against the Nigerian military.
The declaration followed an attack by navy gunboats in largely civilian areas, leaving as many as 30,000 civilians displaced without adequate food or water. Aid agencies have been barred from the region.
“The military has declared total war on our people,” said Edwin Clark, a local ethnic leader. “MEND calls upon all men of fighting age to enlist for our freedom,” the armed group said to the media.
Civil society groups in the U.S. are urging lawmakers and the Obama administration to seek a halt to the violence and allow humanitarian supplies to be brought into the region.
First-hand reports suggest the military is burning entire villages and looting them. The villages of Opuye, Okerenkoro, Kurutie and Oporoza are reported burned to the ground and many innocent civilians are reported among those killed in military operations in the Gbaramatu region of Delta State.
Oil companies have made record profits in recent years. Yet the oil-rich Niger Delta remains impoverished, with no schools, no health facilities or basic infrastructure.
While the region had always produced food in abundance, today most food is imported due to the decades of contamination of the water and soil by oil and gas companies. Thus, the military blockade ultimately means starvation for thousands of people.
“Due to the media blockout, Americans may not realize that a rise in the price of gas at the pump is related to bloodshed in the Niger Delta,” said Daphne Wysham, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. “As one of the largest consumers of Nigerian crude, the United States government cannot stand idly by and watch innocent civilians being killed, starved and maimed.”
For years, militant groups have fought for fair distribution of oil wealth to local communities in the impoverished region.
“We are calling for an immediate ceasefire and monitored, independent, third-party negotiations to seek a permanent solution to the inequities that are the root cause of the problems in the Niger Delta,” said Laura Livoti, founder of Justice in Nigeria Now.
The state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. has joint-venture partnerships in the Niger Delta with oil companies including both Shell and Chevron, and both companies are guilty of poisoning the Delta’s land and water and stealing its resources. At Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting May 27 in San Ramon, Calif., hundreds rallied outside, while inside the meeting Tunde Okorodudu, a pro-democracy activist and former senatorial candidate in the Niger Delta declared:
“What is bad for my people is also bad for business. Communities where Chevron extracts oil have made it known to the company for many years that they were suffering as a result of Chevron’s operations. When villagers ask for jobs, environmental remediation for pollution the company caused, electricity, investment in education and healthcare and environmental audits and mitigations, Chevron responded with minimal investments in community projects that have not dented the community needs.”
“Chevron has known for years that an insurgency was building among frustrated residents of the Niger Delta as a result of the lack of development and environmental harms caused by oil development,” said Okorodudu. “And now, the company’s practices in the Niger Delta have contributed to harm their bottom line, with the attack yesterday of a major oil pipeline in Abiteyeye, which the Wall Street Journal reports reduced Chevron’s output by 100,000 barrels per day.”
The company’s 10k report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2009 states that its Nigeria oil production for 2008 was 154,000 barrels per day. This means that the current instability has reduced the company’s production by almost two thirds.
In a related development, a group of environmental organizations released a report on May 19 that cites Shell as being the most carbon-intensive polluting oil company in the world. The release coincides with that company’s annual shareholder meeting in The Hague.
Lisa Vives is executive director of Global Information Network, www.globalinfo.org, which distributes news and features on Africa and the developing world about global issues that are overlooked or under-reported by mainstream media. She can be reached at ipsgin@igc.org. Bay View staff contributed to this story. For more information, visit www.shellguilty.com and www.justiceinnigerianow.org.
Is Black radio in jeopardy?
Is Black radio in jeopardy?
by Minister of Information JR
Iyanna Jones, Executive Producer of the groundbreaking film "Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio"
Longtime Black Michigan Congressman John Conyers has written a bill that is now moving through the House of Representatives called the Performance Rights Act, which would require the payment of a performer’s fee to play songs on AM and FM radio stations, along with satellite, cable and Internet music services.
Kathy Hughes, the owner of Radio One, which many in the Black community deem the Black Clear Channel, has issued a clarion call to Black people saying that Conyers’ bill will kill Black radio. But the question remains: Is Black radio now in jeopardy or has true Black radio that is accountable to the community been dead for decades?
Iyanna Jones is the executive producer of the groundbreaking new film, “Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio,” which looks at the history of Black radio in relation to where it is now in this country.
Media is a very important tool that can be used to educate and liberate us – first in thinking, then physically – or dumb us down to control our minds and keep our bodies captive.
Fifty years after the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and 40-plus years after organizations like the Black Panther Party used the medium, Black radio is only a shadow of its former self today in comparison to how the Black community used it in those days. Back then, Black Radio was to our social and political movements what color is to photography:
It is not a necessity but it does embellish feelings and emotions on the subject.
That is why I wanted to check in with one of our community’s national experts on the questions at hand. So kick back and keep reading. Iyanna may captivate you with her answers …
M.O.I. JR: Be it that you recently released your documentary on Black radio, how do you feel about the Performance Rights Act, which would require AM and FM radio stations to pay a performer’s fee to play songs – also satellite, cable and Internet music services?
Chuck D of Public Enemy has been doing radio for a long time.
Iyanna Jones: I think to pay artists on major labels that are getting a lot of money or are getting huge advances should not be a priority as far as the Black community is concerned.
However, it might very well help independent artists who need the exposure to get some radio play. But at the same time, some artists are the victims of draconian, slavery-type deals. Because of the nature of the music business it doesn’t matter whether it’s a Kathy Hughes or a Percy Sutton in this situation; they are bound to have interests that differ either moderately or greatly from those of the Black community, and we would do well to keep that in mind.
M.O.I. JR: Kathy Hughes of Radio One came out and asked people to go against this specific piece of legislation “to save Black radio.” What did you think about Black radio before this controversy? What do you think about Kathy Hughes and Radio One?
Iyanna Jones: I never get into personalities. I don’t know Kathy. But anybody Black in media is going to be conflicted if they try to play the game. Serving the Black community vs. keeping your business afloat or staying relevant versus staying authentic is the timeless Black identity struggle in this capitalist society. It is sad that when we talk about Black radio we seem to only point to a Kathy Hughes. We don’t have 40 or 50 people like her that we can point to in Black media.
The Black station owner’s struggle is a struggle to stay in business. Where’s the struggle to keep Black concerns at the forefront? The answer is because there’s no money in investigative journalism from a Black perspective. There’s no corporate incentive to keep the Black community informed. Most of the information we receive is second hand from other news services. There is no mainstream interest in providing us with information that is going to put us ahead.
I understand Kathy’s argument. The bottom line is that Black stations are struggling financially, but is that really a Black community struggle? I don’t think so. I think those are two different struggles, especially since the Black community’s main complaint is that their culture, their values and their mores are not represented on these so called Black-face stations.
Nobody who has a militant message or a radical message is given a national platform unless they are right wing. So can we be critical of Hughes, of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters? Yes. But we still must remember that this system was not designed to empower Black people. At the very least, this struggle should force those station owners to ask themselves what they are willing to do for the Black community.
M.O.I. JR: For those that do not know, what is the name of your film and what is it about?
Melvin Van Peebles, a legendary writer, producer, and director
Iyanna Jones: The film is a feature length documentary called “Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio.” It’s a controversial documentary directed by U-Savior Washington and narrated by Wayne Gillman of Air America and WBLS that will be made available to the public in June 2009 in time for Black Music Month. You can order it at www.disappearingvoices.com.
While not a complete history of Black Radio – that would take dozens of volumes and decades to complete – the film offers viewers a well rounded discourse that touches on the impact of Black jocks not only on radio but on the very fabric of American life. We have rare interviews with prominent figures like Melvin Van Peebles, Gary Byrd, Chuck D of Public Enemy, M1 of Dead Prez, Kae Thompson and Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets and with air checks by famous jocks like Frankie “Hollywood” Crocker, Enoch “The Dixie Drifter” Gregory, Jocko Henderson, Hal Jackson and Eddie O’Jay.
Disappearing Voices does more than examine the factors that contributed to Black radio’s demise. It is an expose, a history lesson, a memoir and a source for solutions.
It’s one part historical exploration – it explores the history of broadcasting in general and Black Radio in particular – and another part detective, investigating what made Black radio unique and following some of the jocks who contributed to that uniqueness.
Finally, “Disappearing Voices” covers Black radio’s high points and the point at which it took a downward turn. It explores the current environment and what can be done to turn Black Radio around. The film embarks upon an in-depth exploration of systemic racism, Arbitron, Madison Avenue advertising agencies, Black radio station owners and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Black disc jockeys, community organizing and possible solutions to the ailing Black radio industry.
M.O.I. JR: In looking at the state of what Black radio is, do you think it is worth saving? Why?
Iyanna Jones: Absolutely. Don’t be fooled. Radio is still a very powerful and viable platform. It’s more affordable than TV and it’s a far reaching means to keep the community together. It can help develop an economic infrastructure. And the powers that be recognize this.
Look at how the nationally syndicated Michael Baisden organized for the Jena 6. People listened. So even though the quality of programming has gone down, we still listen. And our enemies know this.
And this is why there is always a big business push to control media. It’s not about money. They already have it all. It’s about power and controlling information and therefore our minds.
He who controls the diameter of our thinking controls the circumference of our actions and that’s why there is a vested interest in keeping us dumb. But we have to fight to get radio back to where it needs to be. It’s dying but it’s not beyond recovery.
M.O.I. JR: How has the response been to your film?
Iyanna Jones: Fantastic! Emails, phone calls and even snail mail have been literally rolling in. This is why I say yes, Black radio is salvageable, because the people want to save it. They respect it. They love it. They remember it fondly and they want to restore it to its greatness. Many of the most avid supporters have been people in college and high school, which proves that radio is not an irrelevant medium. Rather it is one waiting to be resuscitated by a younger generation. People keep asking us how they can join the movement.
M.O.I. JR: How do people stay in touch with you?
Iyanna Jones: Visit www.disappearingvoices.com to see the trailer, write an entry on our blog and also pre-order a copy today. “Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio” will be on sale in June 2009 just in time for Black Music Month. The orders are flooding in. You don’t want to miss out.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.
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Caravan for Justice III
Caravan for Justice III brings the heat to the lawmakers
by Crystal Carter
Sacramento, activists, teachers and family members came together to rally against laws that have failed to serve the betterment of their communities.
The third installment of the Caravan for Justice took place Tuesday, May 26, on the steps and inside the State Capitol building in Sacramento.
“It’s a hot day today,” said Minister Christopher Muhammad. “But it’s going to be even hotter for the legislators if they don’t listen to our demands.”
Minister Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam as well as the executive director of Muhammad University of Islam in San Francisco, is one of the main organizers in the Caravan for Justice.
So far the Caravan for Justice movement has been a success. Their last visit to the Capitol on April 8 caused two legislators, Tom Ammiano and Leland Yee, to initiate a bill promoting “civilian oversight” to handle complaints against the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police in the wake of Oscar Grant’s death. The protest has also focused on issues involving gang injunctions and succeeded in prompting Sen. Roderick D. Wright and Leland Yee to inject a bill to combat them.
Dana Blanchard, a fifth grade teacher from Berkeley, brought 14 of her students with her to participate while voicing her concerns to the crowd. She understands that not everyone can get to the protests but she offered other alternatives: signing petitions, writing letters and attending events when you have the time.
“I brought my students with me so they can learn how to stand up for what they believe in,” she said.
Blanchard said that the state we live in doesn’t care about its students. She is worried about where her students will end up if they don’t know their rights. She says that she tries to let her students understand that there may be things that they disagree with and there may be things that they don’t understand but she always makes it a point to let the children know that their opinions do matter.
Tom Helme, 26, graduate of Humboldt State University, spoke about the project that he and a group of other community members started called Cop Watch in the city of Modesto.
“We decided to take matters into our own hands after realizing how much police can get away with,” said Helme. “Now when we see someone getting wrongfully harassed by the cops, we pass them out our ‘know your rights’ card.”
The know your rights card spells out a step by step process of what one should do when being questioned by the police. One part of the card reads:
“If the police stop you, ask, ‘Am I free to go?’ If not, you are being detained. If yes, walk away. Ask, ‘Why are you detaining me?’ To stop you, the officer must have a ‘reasonable suspicion’ to suspect your involvement in a specific crime (not just a guess or a stereotype).”
“Getting involved in protests like this gives us a sense of community,” said Helme. “We are transforming energy into action.”
Bisola Marignay, an activist who participated in the caravan insisted that although there are a number of issues that were addressed in the protest that she would not have it any other way.
“Separation is a weakening factor,” she said. “When we come together, our energy is that much stronger.”
Oralia Cortez, 62, along with her group, Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS), came from Bakersfield to get their word heard. Cortez has a vested interest because her son is serving 35 years to life for his third strike for stealing $1,000 dollars. She says that in order to influence the legislature, you must use your words as your weapon.
On Nov. 2, 2004, the state’s voters rejected an amendment to the statute – offered in Proposition 66 – that would have required the third felony to be either “violent” and/or “serious” in order to result in a 25-years-to-life sentence. In the last week before the election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched an all-out campaign against Prop. 66. “It would release 26,000 dangerous criminals and rapists,” he stated. When, in fact, there were only 8,000 people sentenced to 25 years to life under the Three Strikes Law.
Currently, there are more than 8,400 inmates serving possible life terms under the three strikes law, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“Wickedness prevails when good people do nothing,” she said. “An unjust law is no law at all.”
According to Minister Christopher Muhammad, the fourth Caravan for Justice is scheduled to take place sometime next month. Plan to get on one of the dozens of buses that will take you there from around California.
Watch Caravan for Justice III on video
For more information, visit www.caravanforjustice.com, email info@caravanforjustice.com or call toll-free (877) 549-8657.
Crystal N. Carter, a 2008 graduate of San Francisco State University, is a member of the Bay Area Black Journalists Association (BABJA). She writes for ColorLines Magazine and can be reached at ccarter6@gmail.com.
How the Nafta Flu Exploded
How the Nafta Flu Exploded
Al Giordano/Special to The Narco News Bulletin
May 7, 2009;
US and Mexico authorities claim that neither knew about the "swine flu" outbreak until April 24. But after hundreds of residents of a town in Veracruz, Mexico, came down with its symptoms, the story had already hit the Mexican national press by April 5. The daily La Jornada reported:
"Clouds of flies emanate from the rusty lagoons where the Carroll Ranches business tosses the fecal wastes of its pig farms, and the open-air contamination is already generating an epidemic of respiratory infections in the town of La Gloria, in the Perote Valley, according to Town Administrator Bertha Crisostomo Lopez."
The town has 3,000 inhabitants, hundreds of whom reported severe flu symptoms in March. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, reporting from Mexico, has identified a La Gloria child who contracted the first case of identified "swine flu" in February as "patient zero," five-year-old Edgar Hernandez, now a survivor of the disease.
By April 15 - nine days before Mexican federal authorities of the regime of President Felipe Calderon acknowledged any problem at all -the local daily newspaper, Marcha, reported that a company called Carroll Ranches was "the cause of the epidemic."
La Jornada columnist Julio Hernandez Lopez connects the corporate dots to explain how the Virginia-based Smithfield Farms came to Mexico: In 1985, Smithfield Farms received what was, at the time, the most expensive fine in history - $12.6 million - for violating the US Clean Water Act at its pig facilities near the Pagan River in Smithfield, Virginia, a tributary that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The company, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dumped hog waste into the river.
It was a case in which US environmental law succeeded in forcing a polluter, Smithfield Farms, to construct a sewage treatment plant at that facility after decades of using the river as a mega-toilet. But "free trade" opened a path for Smithfield Farms to simply move its harmful practices next door into Mexico so that it could evade the tougher US regulators.
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Transforming philanthropy into revolutionary giving
Transforming philanthropy into revolutionary giving… and dismantling the non-profit industrial complex
by Lisa Gray-Garcia aka Tiny
I just wonder what part of re-thinking he didn’t understand. I began reading an op-ed entitled “Re-thinking philanthropy” by William F. Shultz published recently in the American Forum. From a quick e-glance at the subject line I was filled with excitement, imagining a critique of the rooted-in-slavemaster hierarchy becoming seeds of the non-profit-industrial complex crabs-in-a-barrel system that non-profit organizations barely survive on and compete with each other over crumbs for. But alas, no, I would be sadly disappointed as I read on, seeing only a vague questioning of non-profit organizations who receive public money but don’t provide health care to their workers.
The lofty title and the barely challenging thoughts left me wondering what part of re-thinking didn’t Schultz understand. Doesn’t the notion of “re” anything imply that you will be asking the hard questions – like who gets access to wealth, how wealth and the earth’s resources were stolen from the original stewards of the earth only to be controlled and disseminated by folks who have nothing to do with its labor force, its gardens, its oceans, its resources?
How development is never led by countries and peoples called “developing nations.” How dreaming, conceptualizing and strategic planning about money has been done by poor folks throughout the centuries but that knowledge, those dreams, that scholarship is never valued for the complicated work that it is but rather is seen as unimportant only because the folks doing the strategic plans, the schedules, the budgets, the work plans are working poor mamaz and daddyz, abuelitas and aunties and uncles.
During the first 200 years of the theft of indigenous people’s land, destruction of resources and death of peoples and communities known as European colonization in the U.S., the missionary ideals and practices of Christian charity were replaced by the capitalist and patriarchal pattern of philanthropy. One of the earliest examples of philanthropists were benevolent slave owners who “took care of their slaves.”
From that frightening template of patriarchal domination, philanthropy was implemented by corporate moguls like John D. Rockefeller, Leland Stanford and Andrew Carnegie who used the process of giving away their money to appear as though they were caring about people, rather than just making profit while they sponsored and launched well-funded studies and endowments and created fellowships, grants and entire institutions around eugenics, a terrifying fascist and racist pseudoscience created to achieve so-called racial purity, eventually adopted by Hitler to rationalize the Nazi beliefs and practices of murdering Jewish peoples and disabled folks.
Philanthropy is only a tool
But of course you can’t blame philanthropy. After all, it’s rooted in Eurocentric, Western values of capitalism, which promote, demand and rely on separation, ageism, individualism and self-determination to produce an ongoing supply of consumers – isolated, separated from their families, consuming new couches, new cars, a separate set of silverware and dishes, not to mention apartments and houses. These values directly impact the programming decisions and priorities of an organization’s development, transforming the agendas of well-meaning and sometimes even revolutionary organizations rooted in poor communities of color into programs that perpetuate rigidity and harm on indigenous, multi-generational, care-giving communities.
The results of these values’ impact on organizations include the creation of youth-only programming for indigenous youth whose cultures value eldership and family, even to the harming of a community’s deep cultural structure or the complete separation and de-linking of naturally linked cross-movements such as an organization working for tenants’ rights and organizations working to advocate for homeless families and children. These values also lay the groundwork for the punitive systems of harm perpetrated by the non-profit industrial complex.
In another emulation of capitalist values driving non-profit funding the same way as market shares determine the for-profit market-driven world, non-profit organizations are forced to pursue funding led by that year’s sexy initiatives. On more than one occasion at what I call a step and fetch it grant interview where the grantor decides whether you, the grantee’s issue or project, is important enough to fund, I have actually heard the word sexy used to describe poverty, disability, racial justice, domestic violence, homelessness and global development.
This process has only worsened due to the economic downturn. Large foundations are using the excuse of the downturn to fund even less, demand even more and widen the gap between communities in poverty leadership and who drives development decision-making.
The alternative: revolutionary giving
So what would it look like to re-define development and fundraising? To practice what we at POOR Magazine call “Revolutionary Giving”? It would begin with the recognition that just because people have money, have inherited money, or have access to money and connections that they inherently hold the knowledge needed to distribute that money.
Further, to understand that people who have struggled to raise children in poverty, take care of elders, keep multiple low-wage jobs or navigate multiple systems like welfare, education, social security and/or project housing in fact hold a deep scholarship about the use and distribution of resources. Similarly, that values of caring, interdependence and eldership as defined by indigenous folks and folk of color aren’t just nice ideas but actually need to drive the core values of organizational development and funding initiatives for poor communities of color.
Finally, to even consider a new form of philanthropy and giving, it must be cleansed of its eugenicist, racist past and redefined as a form of reparations that centers giving within the concept of reparations and the redistribution of the wealth, resources and land that was stolen from indigenous communities and poor communities of color locally and globally. The people who in the beginning of time were the stewards of the now very sick earth, who remain invested in its thrival and growth and who survive directly on its gifts and harvests.
Revolutionary Change Session June 19-21
Register now for the upcoming Revolutionary Change Session: Crumbling the Myth of the Gift, Deconstructing Donor Denial and Dismantling the Non-Profit Industrial Complex … One Outcome at a Time, a three-day seminar June 19-21 at the Westbay Conference Center, 1290 Fillmore St., San Francisco. It is presented by the Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute (RPMJ) at POOR Magazine.
This session is designed for conscious folk with race, class and/or education privilege from across the globe who are interested in exploring, implementing and practicing truly revolutionary expressions of giving, equity sharing and change-making. We will deconstruct the lies intrinsic in philanthropy, reconstruct the truths of humanity, care-giving, sharing and community and practice a new form of equity sharing we at POOR Magazine call “Revolutionary Giving.”
To register and learn more, go online to RPMJ Program Seminar.
Lisa Gray-Garcia aka Tiny is a poverty scholar, welfareQUEEN, revolutionary journalist and the author of “Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America.” She co-founded POOR Magazine and Poor News Network with her Mama Dee.
Victory for Afrikan Diaspora
Victory for Afrikan Diaspora Reparations Movement at Durban Review Conference
by Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at
As we commemorate Afrikan Liberation Day – and the 84th birthday of our revolutionary ancestor, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Minister Malcolm X), as well as the 87th birthday of his and our dear friend, Elder Mother Yuri Kochiyama – we encourage our communities to recognize and celebrate another key victory for our reparations movement.
This past month, representatives of nations, states, non-government and grassroots organizations from around our earth gathered for the Durban Review Conference (DRC). Held at the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the DRC was a follow-up to the Third World Conference Against Racism (WCAR). That important event took place eight years ago in Durban, South Africa.
Most significantly, the 2001 WCAR process brought forth the strategic and passionate organizing of reparations advocates, particularly those from the U.S., which led to a monumental victory. Despite the initial threatened boycott, then intense pressure and interference on numerous heads of state and, later, withdrawal by then U.S. (P)resident George W. Bush, powerful language was adopted into the final document.
The Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA) stated that slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism and apartheid were crimes against humanity. Furthermore, it called upon the U.N., its member states, and international financial and development institutions to develop capacity-building programs for the economic and social development of people of Afrikan descent, i.e., reparations.
So we fast forward to this year. While the non-attending imperialist states, including the U.S. under new President Barack Obama, the corporate media and numerous talking heads were pontificating about who was not in Geneva in April, our focus was on reaffirming the DDPA, addressing reparations more specifically and establishing a Permanent Forum for African Descendants.
While the ever-offending colonialists and their mouthpieces were loudly objecting to positive language which humanized the suffering Palestinian people’s right to their land, nationhood and self-determination, we were busy building a strong multi-national and multi-racial alliance with and for Palestine. Though the class of vicious warmongers feigned condemnation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s very presence at the DRC, some of us reminded folks that it is the sovereign nation of Iran that is being encircled by the dangerous nuclear U.S., NATO and state of Israel occupiers in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and, of course, Palestine and other parts of the Afrikan continent.
And, to put matters in their proper context, we should emphasize that even with the highly publicized absence of only 10 European or Euro-settler states, more than 95 percent of U.N. member states did, indeed, play a part. One of our old Chicago community organizing strategies was if the criminals wouldn’t show up to a public gathering, it was then our sacred duty to take our mass mobilizations to properly serve, try, convict them and promote justice wherever they reside. Ase`. Amen.
Therefore, in spite of the disrespect shown by what the newly-appointed Attorney General Eric Holder has correctly called “a nation of cowards [in] race related issues,” our movement prevailed. The DDPA was reaffirmed! Though we were temporarily unsuccessful in our challenge to representatives from member states and current U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Judge Navi Pillay for a Permanent Forum for Afrikan Ascendants, we did achieve the full support of our Indigenous allies who recently gained that success after decades of struggle.
Special praise goes to the Africa (Diaspora) Group representatives and NGOs such as the African Descendants Caucus, Global Afrikan Congress, Civil Society Forum, December 12th Movement, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations of America (N’COBRA), World Against Racism, United Against Racism (in the U.S.), US Human Rights Network, TransAfrica, New Black Panther Party and many, many others. Our gratitude should also be extended to progressive media such as Free Speech Radio News, Pacifica Radio Network, The Final Call, Black Star News of London, San Francisco Bay View newspaper and many, many other non-corporate outlets from around the world which provided honest reporting of the proceedings leading up to, during and after the Durban Review Conference.
It is my feeling that, as we collectively advocate for a Durban-plus-10-year conference in 2010 or 2011, the reparations movement can put itself in a much stronger position to gain even greater achievements. Even with the worsening monopoly and financial capitalist depression, the issue of reparations is now receiving more traction throughout the African Diaspora.
Our task is to continue our multi-national discussions, unity-building efforts, mobilizations, challenges to governments and corporations for past and continuing crimes against humanity and thorough evaluations of member states’ implementation, or lack thereof, in carrying forward the DDPA.
Upcoming events
In the Bay Area, reports from the Durban Review Conference will be made during the 51st year commemoration of African Liberation Day in Oakland, sponsored by the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP). Those events take place on Friday, May 30, at Laney College and Saturday, May 31, at Bobby Hutton (aka Defremery) Park at 18th and Adeline.
Foundations for Our New Alkebulan/Afrikan Millennium (FONAMI) will host a Juneteenth Freedom Days event at the Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., between Broadway and Telegraph in Oakland. We will also be screening Brother Al Santana’s powerful film highlighting our collective reparations victory in Durban, South Africa.
Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at (former European enslavement name, J. “Harry” Armstrong) is a past National Co-Chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), author of the books “Reparations Sasa, Volumes One and Two,” and composer of the “We Demand Reparations” and the new “Rise UP You Mighty Afrikan People” musical CDs. To order books and music CDs, arrange speaking engagements or participate in our petition drives to the United Nations and President Barack Obama, write to FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, Oakland, CA 94610 or email support@wedemandreparations.com.
Race and Recession Report
Race and Recession Report
While all Americans worry about economic insecurity during this crisis, its most damaging effects have been
unevenly distributed. People of color are unemployed, hungry, homeless and without healthcare at alarming
rates. Many have already fallen through the widening cracks in the social safety net, and countless more are
about to go under. This dire and worsening situation amounts to a state of emergency. Examining the disparities
reveals patterns that are not simply coincidental. Indeed, people of color face barriers to opportunity at
every turn, and the impact is devastating, not just to them, but also to struggling white people. Ultimately, to
ensure a stable and growing economy for all will require solutions that directly address these disparities.....Continue
June 08, 2009
Soca Gold 2009
Soca Gold 2009
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Soca Gold 2009 |
2009 CD/DVD release that brings the hottest new sounds of Caribbean carnival to the world! Includes bonus DVD with music videos and live footage from the Trinidad and Barbados Carnivals.
Soca Gold 2009 features new music from; Edwin Yearwood; the `People's Monarch' and Road March King of Barbados. Skinny Fabulous and Zoelah; the Road March King and Soca Monarch Queen of St. Vincent. Kenneth Salick; this year's `Chutney Soca Monarch King of Trinidad, Bunji Garlin and Beenie Man; the all time Raga Soca King of Trinidad and the `King of the Dancehall'.
Get your party started with Soca Gold and prepare to Jump and Wine all night!
Born Dead With Life
Born Dead With Life - Perfect
perfect perfect rastaman live up!
| By | Paul R. Austill |
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Born Dead With Life |
Yo Ras, dis likkle tune here a spin fi mek I and I feel irie. I wish I could meet Greg Rose or talk to him about this. This is one of the best modern reggae albums (along with Taj Weekes and Adowa) that have come out recently.
There is no secret here, the music that backs up Mr. Perfect is not all electronic, it is a band, and they are a SICK reggae band with the jam to move you inside. The drummer and bassist are bad, the lead guitarist plays some really soulful and jamdown guitar licks, and of course the singjay style is truthfully better than Sizzla. Not to diminish anything from him, but I've seen Sizzla live, and heard Perfect live, and Perfect seems to put more into it because the band finishes their songs, while Sizzla usually cuts in and out of songs in the dancehall style, and in a way, you can do that when you have 100's of songs like Sizzla does.
In any case, I love this concept album idea, and if they don't do another one of those, I hope Perfect and the same band will do a second album of some sort. I heard it on XM radio, their song "Hanging Day," and immediately wanted to check out the album. When I got it at first, I didn't know what to think, because it is truly different. The way it mixes reggae and dancehall, and the subtle but spritually arousing way it makes you feel about the struggle of black people to live together in peace and freedom.
A lot of reggae has that Jamaican, or Caribbean theme, but the one that best describes this album would be a worldly theme. If you like classical reggae with singjay lyrics, some grand piano, a little dancehall and rap, then check this out. It is definately one of the top 5 reggae albums so far in this century.
June 07, 2009
H.A.P.H. of THE RANJAHZ SET FOR DIGITAL SOLO RELEASE
H.A.P.H. of THE RANJAHZ SET FOR DIGITAL SOLO RELEASE
With first effort since The Ranjahz
The Epitome
New York, NY (May 23, 2009) – Javelot Music/EarthStrong Productions/WorldSound Media is slated to release
H.A.P.H.’s The Epitome. H.A.P.H.’s first major solo project since The Ranjah’s 2005 LP will be hitting the internet May 15th.
The Epitome shows H.A.P.H.’s musical range as a producer, with both feel good music and hard hitting street bangers.
The 14 tracks feature super producers VSharp, S Class and Nic Diamonds. H.A.P.H., along with these visionaries, crafted this masterpiece.
The Epitome is an original, innovative, long-awaited release from H.A.P.H.
About H.A.P.H.
During the mid-90’s, The Ranjahz were affiliated with a collective known as Team Roc – a group of rappers associated with Roc-A-Fella Records.
At the time, this included Jay Z, Sauce Money, Memphis Bleek, and Jaz-O. The Ranjahz made their debut on “If I Should Die” off of Jay Z’s Hard Knock Life, Volume 2. Since then they’ve made countless records, one of their most popular being “Insp Her Ation”, featuring Cee-Lo (of Gnarls Barkley)
Release Date: May 15th, available on World Wide Web
Contact: Javelot Music Ent., info@javelotmusic.com http://www.myspace.com/hiprokrazymusik
African Village Survival Initiative
Uhuru Movement launches the African Village Survival Initiative
UhuruNews Published Jun 4, 2009
Food, water, energy and self-sustaining economic institutions in the African community are the focus of the African Village Survival Initiative (AVSI), the Uhuru Movement’s recently launched programmatic response to the impact that the current imperialist economic crisis is having on the African community in the U.S. and around the world.
AVSI is a joint effort of the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP) and the African People’s Education and Defense Fund (APEDF), two organizations with track records for transforming the conditions in African communities throughout the U.S. and on the continent of Africa, building institutions, programs and campaigns.
Through AVSI, the Uhuru Movement is organizing local committees in African communities throughout the U.S. in order to:
1. build networks of individual and collective African community gardens
2. promote the use of rainwater harvesting and simple water purification techniques for domestic purposes and garden irrigation
3. organize collective bulk food-buying clubs
4. develop self-sufficient economic institutions
5. provide regular community workshops on such topics as renewable energy, organic gardening, rooftop gardening, water purification, ecological sanitation and other appropriate, sustainable technologies
6. network with other like- minded people and organizations
7. promote sustainability- using practices that sustain the people and land for generations to come.
AVSI kicked off with daylong conference
AVSI was launched on March 22, 2009 with a daylong conference at the St. Petersburg, Florida Uhuru House, the headquarters of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP). The AVSI founding conference, part of which aired live on UhuruRadio.com, opened with an overview presentation from Ironiff Ifoma, Director of Finance and Economic Development for the African People’s Socialist Party and President of APEDF.
A dynamic powerpoint presentation by Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC) helped to lay the basis for the development of AVSI by providing the Uhuru Movement’s analysis of the rise of parasitic capitalism and the current economic crisis as both being rooted in attacks on Africa and African people.
The conference also featured a presentation from AAPDEP Director, Dr. Aisha Fields, and workshops on various models of backyard vegetable gardening from African master gardeners and local permaculture proponents.
The Village must come together!
With the slogan “If we combine our efforts, we’ll come out stronger!” AVSI works against the capitalist concept of “every man for himself” and instead seeks to win Africans back to building real community recognizing that the village must come together to get through this crisis!
Already, subprime mortgage schemes targeting the African community have cost Africans in the U.S. tens of thousands of homes and hundreds of millions of dollars in combined wealth. African unemployment, homelessness and poverty are skyrocketing, even as energy and food costs soar, and it is almost certain that these conditions will worsen as the economic crisis continues to unfold.
In true form, the U.S. government response is not to develop programs that would provide relief to the people, but instead to offer up trillions of dollars to Wall Street and millionaire corporate CEOs.
The Uhuru Movement understands that we must not work to solve the crisis of imperialism but that we must organize and help to provide solutions for our people who suffer as a result. Therefore, key to AVSI’s work and success is to win the understanding of the masses of African people that it is not in our oppressor’s interests to solve our problems — problems that they created. Rather, we must pull our village together and share our vast knowledge, resources and skills in the critical areas of food, water, energy and economic development.
AVSI organizes community and collective gardens
AVSI brings African farming and gardening skills back to the community by building networks of organic backyard and collective Uhuru “freedom” gardens. An economic development component will be establishing African Farmer’s Markets with extra produce from the gardens.
In St. Petersburg, AVSI has already established a growing collective of organic backyard gardens where Africans share tools, labor, knowledge and seeds. A variety of greens, cabbage, lettuce, onions, carrots, mangos, eggplant, cucumber, peppers, strawberries, okra, squash, pineapple, beans and more are being grown and the harvests are plentiful.
The Tyron Lewis Memorial Peace Garden, established by the Uhuru Movement as a memorial to 18-year-old Tyron Lewis who was murdered by St. Petersburg police in 1996, is being revived as an Uhuru Freedom Community Garden where members of the local community participate in the collective growing of tomatoes, peppers, greens and other vegetables.
Ground has been broken at a second community Uhuru Freedom Garden on land donated by a member of the St. Petersburg backyard collective. This garden will be used for an AVSI summer program that will offer area youth an opportunity to learn gardening and other skills related to the initiative.
While growing organic gardens and going “green” have become fashionable for some and have been put forward as a way in which imperialism can rescue itself from its economic crisis, AVSI engages in such activities as a means of creating healthy independent, sustainable African communities.
Rainwater harvesting and renewable energy
AVSI addresses the critical needs for water and energy independence with a program for rainwater catchment, installing wells, water purification systems, and developing the model for green sustainable energy.
Where appropriate, AVSI promotes and helps participants set up rainwater harvesting systems for garden irrigation and other household purposes. Simple well-building techniques, rainwater harvesting and water purification, renewable energy and other workshops are offered once a month at the St. Petersburg Uhuru House.
Economic self-reliance
Through AVSI, the Uhuru Houses are being positioned as the working centers for African economic development. The St. Petersburg, Florida Uhuru House has the infrastructure, and we are now working to outfit our recording studio as an economic institution of international African culture and create a fully equipped commercial kitchen for community based economic development projects.
Become a part of AVSI today!
Traditionally, African culture is a culture of collectivism, not individualism. We are confident that if we come together as a community and combine our efforts, African people can not only survive this crisis, but we can come out stronger!
Plans are underway to immediately expand the programs of AVSI in Oakland, California and Baltimore, MD. AVSI committees can and must be built in African communities throughout the U.S.!
For more information on AVSI, or to find out how to start AVSI in your area, contact us at 727-821-6620 or info@developmentforafrica.org, www.developmentforafrica.org
source:http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=uhuru-movement-launches-the-african-village-survival-initiative
U.S. Occupation of Afghanistan
U.S. Occupation of Afghanistan: A “New” Direction?
Dr Renee Levant
By Dr. Renee Levant
Is Obama setting a new course for U.S. foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan?
In May alone we have seen three million people forced from their homes and land on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, on a scale and at a speed not witnessed in human history since the European sponsored genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
Also in May we watched 200,000 more people in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region who could not escape the U.S.-sponsored invasion and bombardment and were left without medical care, basic utilities or food. We saw the U.S. massacre of over 140 civilians, 95 of them children, in Farah, Afghanistan, and have witnessed the murder of over 1,200 people in Pakistan.
It is clear that the Obama administration is strongly escalating its attack on the region, as Obama promised during his campaign. Last month Obama requested and received $83 billion in supplemental funding for this brutal war of occupation. Since day-one of his administration Obama has spent millions of dollars on unmanned Predator and Reaper drones, which kill several hundred civilians each year.
Obama’s war government is preparing to send 17,000 more troops into Afghanistan, a number likely to increase. Obama recently reassigned Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal—head of the Joint Special Operations Command, a unit believed to be responsible for assassinations, torture, and prisoner abuse in Iraq—from Iraq to Afghanistan. This use of covert action is not surprising at a time when we are seeing growing militancy and resistance against the U.S. occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan.
History of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan
To understand more about the current U.S. attack on the region we should look at what the U.S. was doing in the region in the 1960s and 70s, when revolution was the main trend throughout the world. The crisis of imperialism was profound in that period because former colonized peoples were rising up in anti-colonial movements everywhere on the planet.
In the 60s and 70 Arab revolutionary movements were strong throughout the region, working in alliance with the African Revolution and other anti-colonialist movements around the world.
Attack on African and Arab Revolutionary Alliance
Throughout the revolutionary 1960’s and 70’s, the primary opposition to U.S. colonialist power in the Middle East was not Islamic fundamentalism but Arab Socialism.
In the early 1950s and 60’s Arab Nationalist and Socialist governments came to power in a variety of countries, among them Algeria, Egypt, Southern Yemen, Syria and Iraq. These anti-colonial movements in the Middle East and around the world seriously damaged U.S. power and its ability to control resources of working and oppressed peoples.
U.S. and imperialist powers met this resistance with violent repression and counterinsurgency programs aimed at anti-colonial movements around the world and inside the U.S.
In the United States these attacks focused on assassinations of leaders such as Malcolm X and Fred Hampton, and the fostering of division within the African Liberation Movement. In Africa in places like the Congo the U.S. government used former colonial powers and African petty bourgeois forces to foster contradictions and support its assassination of Patrice Lumumba.
In Arab nations this counterinsurgency took the form of fostering divisions between U.S.-backed, Saudi-grown reactionary radical Islam and the nationalist and socialist aspirations of Arab people.
A U.S. and Saudi-sponsored alliance of reactionary Islam and the U.S.-backed International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave this counterinsurgency its start and its power.
Reactionary Radical Islam: Created in USA and Saudi Arabia
The spread of radical Islam can be traced to deliberate efforts to create a reactionary Islamic organization that could win the Arab and Asian people away from their support for the socialist and anti-colonial struggle. One way to trace this development is to look at the creation of the World Muslim League (WML) by Saudi Prince Faysal in 1962.
Said Aburish explains:
“The league’s conservative membership included the anti-Nasser Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and its first proclamation left no doubt as to its purpose: Those who disavow Islam and distort its call under the guise of nationalism are actually the most bitter enemies of the Arabs, whose glories are entwined with the glories of Islam. At long last the riches of Saudi Arabia allowed it to draw a wedge between Arabism and Islam” The Rise, Corruption and Coming Fall of The House of Saud (Palgrave Macmillan, 1996)
The United States gave full financial, tactical and political support to this project which had the potential not only to stem the rising tide of Arab nationalism and socialism but also to appeal to over 40 million Muslims in the Soviet Union. The league also sent missionaries to foster counter-revolution in Africa. It created tensions between Arab and African revolutionaries and implemented counterinsurgency against revolutionary African regimes.
Indeed the purpose of this alliance was to work together to gain support for its opposition to the nationalist and socialist movements and instead direct people’s attention toward a fundamentalist and anti-revolutionary version of radical Islam.
The IMF steals indigenous wealth
One of the main institutions deployed against people’s movements in the 1970’s was the International Money Fund (IMF).
The Fund provided monies to developing nations at tremendous cost. Like the usurious fees inflicted on African homeowners today, these loans to developing nations were provided at rates that guaranteed continued indebtedness and fostered absolute dependency, and exploited these nations’ natural resources for the benefit of the U.S. and its allies. Instead of using the land to grow food for their people, the IMF required borrowers to use their rich agricultural resources to provide cheap food to U.S. and European consumers. As if this was not enough, the IMF also demanded that borrower nations privatize education and public services and open them to foreign ownership and foreign profit.
CIA/IMF and Reactionary Radical Islam Join Together
Meanwhile the CIA encouraged fundamentalist groups such as the World Muslim League to fill in the gap left by this privatization; without public education it was easy to establish reactionary Islamic schools for the children of the poor and working class in many nations. Indeed, the U.S. and its allies learned from the African Revolution the power of dual and contending institutions of power among ordinary people. With this knowledge, the CIA trained the WML in counterinsurgency to attempt to destabilize those nations, mostly socialist, that resisted the push of imperialist privatization.
This combined effort by the CIA and IMF made possible deep cultural shifts in these regions. These shifts were designed to strengthen neocolonial power controlled by imperialist forces.
Afghanistan Revolution: Torn Apart by U.S.Imperialism
Afghanistan is a perfect example of such global U.S. efforts. In July 1978, socialists gained power in Afghanistan. Considered the most progressive regime in the Middle East at the time, the People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan took dramatic steps to ensure the well being of Afghan peasants and the rights of women. They immediately cancelled all debts held by peasants and attempted to transform feudal lands toward serving peoples needs. They also began massive programs educating and empowering women. However, these noble ideals were poorly implemented.
The socialists were primarily urban petty bourgeois intellectuals and idealists with little understanding of the key role of a revolutionary movement led by a party of the working class. This made it very easy for US-sponsored counterinsurgency to foster divisions and resentment of the revolution in the countryside and eventually to destroy the fledgling socialist government of Afghanistan.
The CIA - with the assistance of the reactionary Islamic military dictatorship in Pakistan, Israel, and the reactionary Arab states of Egypt and Saudi Arabia – funded, trained and armed the Afghan Islamic extremists in war and psych ops against the socialist government of Afghanistan.
Counter Revolution in Afghanistan; the U.S. Plan for Unilateral Power
The greatest impediment to U.S. domination of the region’s wealth and resources was the Soviet Union, Afghanistan’s neighbor to the north. U.S. geopolitical interest in the region was not merely control of the land but total control of the wealth, including the oil wealth, of the Middle East and South Asia. Fostering uprisings in the Afghan countryside was not enough to achieve this goal.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, who is today a key advisor to Obama, was at the time the National Security Advisor to President Carter. Brzezinski came up with a deadly plan for killing two birds with one stone: winning Afghanistan and overturning the Soviet Union. Brzezinski explains:
“Indeed, it was July 3, 1979, that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention… We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would… That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, in substance: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.” Le Nouvel Observateur, Jan 15-21, 1998, p. 76.
At the same time the United States launched a well-funded media public relations campaign in North America to be sure news presented the insurgents as “freedom fighters” fighting against communist oppression. This helped to cover up U.S. involvement and encourage anti-socialist and anti-Soviet sentiment among North Americans.
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained to Congress last month, this policy was created and intensified under Ronald Reagan, who increased the role of Pakistan in this project:
“It was President Reagan in partnership with Congress led by Democrats who said you know what, it sounds like a pretty good idea. Let's deal with the ISI and the Pakistani military, and let's go recruit these mujahidin. And great, let's get some to come from Saudi Arabia and other places, importing their Wahhabi brand of Islam, so that we can go beat the Soviet Union. And guess what? They retreated. They lost billions of dollars, and it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. There is a very strong argument, which is: It wasn't a bad investment to end the Soviet Union, but let's be careful what we sow, because we will harvest.”
Of course, this was not to the benefit of Pakistani people either. Clinton continues:
“So we then left Pakistan. We said, okay, fine, you deal with the Stingers that we've left all over your country. You deal with the mines that are along the border. And by the way, we don't want to have anything to do with you.”
Parasitic Capitalism Needs Arab and Southern Asian Oil
Ten years after the Soviet Union engaged in defense of the U.s. assault on Afghanistan in 1979 its government was overturned. With the demise of the Soviet Union the United States became the “world’s sole superpower.” However, despite great losses and setbacks, the movements of national liberation did not end.
As we enter the current period of profound crisis for imperialism, the United States has become desperate for the oil and other resources of the Arab world and Southern Asia. U.S. control over these resources is essential if the United States is to maintain power over the rising nations of China, Russia and Japan and control over the actions of its sometimes unruly European allies. Simply put, controlling the resources of the Middle East, combined with superior military force, would give the U.S. unrivaled power to advance the interests of parasitic capitalism.
Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Capitalist Crisis
Despite the success of this plan, it had an unintended consequence: the counter-revolutionary Islamic forces created by the U.S. gained a sense of themselves as freedom fighters against imperialist aggression who itself was seen as another “infidel.”
Now the United States faces an anti-imperialist enemy of its own creation: reactionary radical Islam. In Afghanistan before the U.S. counterinsurgency, these forces were no threat to anyone. Many would be fine with secular and socialist governments and/or secular capitalist governments as long as they were free to live their more conservative Islamic lifestyle.
The United States has now united these scattered groups into an anti-imperialist front whose primary enemy is now understood to be United States of America. While this movement is far from a revolutionary movement, it is part of the historic trajectory of struggle led by colonial peoples against their oppressors. As such, radical Islamic fundamentalism is part of the profound crisis that U.S. imperialism is facing today.
It is clear that the U.S. geopolitical strategy for the Middle East under Obama is proving to be far more aggressive than under Bush, as the crisis of imperialism deepens daily. The change of style and tactics ushered in by the Obama administration was forced upon the United States by changes on the world stage. Not the least among these changed conditions was the fierce resistance of the Iraqi people to Bush’s invasion and occupation and the resulting economic crisis of capitalism. At this time the resistance in these areas lacks a unified strategy beyond that of opposition to colonial domination. As a whole it lacks the awareness of how reactionary radical Islam was built, funded and developed to serve White Power and Imperialist interests.
Now What?
Today the U.S. ship of state is more vulnerable than ever as heads full speed into the invisible iceberg called Afghanistan, just as the U.S. lured the Soviets to do thirty years ago, ending up in the collapse of the USSR. The U.S. sounds a lot like the Titanic which was responding to conditions and warnings through a slight alteration of its direction. When it finally tried to reverse course, it was too late.
It is in the interests of working or oppressed peoples of the world to do everything possible to deepen this crisis and bring that ship down.
Support the Iraqi and Afghani Resistance to Occupation!
African, Arab and Asian Internationalists Unite! Build The African Socialist International!
source: http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=us-occupation-of-afghanistan-a-new-direction
Isaac Haile Selassie
Direct links to the King of Kings; Isaac Haile Selassie
In the annals of reggae music and its devotion to Emperor Haile Selassie, one thing becomes striking by its absence: the lack of Ethiopian voices giving thanks and praise to the Almighty God through the teachings of His Majesty. Now, from Addis Ababa, by way of Southern California, comes a striking new voice whose direct links to the King of Kings are stronger than any other singer and player of instruments this century has known.
If that seems hyperbole, consider the fact that Isaac Haile Selassie not only carries the Imperial name, but was, in fact, raised under the supervision of His Majesty. "I have been blessed," recalls the singer from his cozy hillside cottage in Los Angeles, "to have been raised in the care of His Imperial Majesty personally, at his boarding school a few miles from the palace. I used to see him at least once a week throughout my childhood."
When Selassie was deposed, Isaac recalls sadly, "I felt like I was cut into halves and I had no place in my own land. War and destruction surrounded me. So I decided to walk out of my country through the desert of Eritrea, all the way to the Sudan. My companions and I slept in the daytime and walked in the night, hiding like hyenas. I eventually found my way to Khartoum, Sudan, and one day I encountered a group of Ethiopians who were lying in the 120 degree heat under a fan in a small room, listening to Bob Marley on the radio."
This initial encounter with Jah music came as a visceral revelation. "His voice sounded like truth, although none of us could understand what he was saying. I'd never heard of dreadlocks or Jamaica or Rasta. I never knew there were these people abroad who loved Selassie I. But the spirit of this man just hit me like he hit the rest of the world."
Isaac eventually arrived in the United States in 1980 and by 1983 he had reached Los Angeles where he began performing publicly, starting in an Ethiopian restaurant, singing Ethiopian songs and reggae both in English and Amharic.
Isaac's message of unity, love and peace took off and he began playing at many of the local universities, popular clubs and venues like the African Marketplace, Beach Fest, Coconut Teaser, Kingston 12 and the Music Machine.
More recently, Isaac has performed at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival (Marysville, CA) Roots Mountain Reggae (Tonasket, WA), Northwest Reggae Fest (Seattle, WA and Portland, OR), Roots Revolution Festival(Montana), Lake Casitas World Music Festival (Ojai, CA), One Root World Music Festival (Sacramento, CA) and was a headliner on the 2000 Annual Bob Marley Exodus Festival, traveling and performing throughout Texas and Arizona. He has played shows in Toronto, Canada, Boston and Cambridge, MA, Virginia, Boulder and Denver, CO and continues to tour and perform.
His debut CD, "UNITE" was chosen as one of the Top Ten reggae releases of 1999 and 2000. Ethiopia's history has been a struggle toward unity during the past millennium. I contribute this music for Ethiopians at home and abroad who starve for peace and unity and for Africans and the rest of the world who pray for happier times to come for all of us."
SOURCE:http://www.isaachaileselassie.com/frame3.htm
Garnett Silk - Babylon Be Still
Garnett Silk - Babylon Be Still
(G Smith / E Robinson)
Babylon be still while I blow this trumpet.
Babylon be still.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same that was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not...
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God...
Jah Rastafari, Haile Selassie the First.
Who was born not of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of the will of God. Full of grace and truth. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among I and I and I and I.
And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
King Haile Selassie I
King Haile
Oh God, he is Christ
Christ in his kingly character
Christ in his kingly character
Tell...
There is no other
There is no other
There is no other
His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord God Jah the Almighty loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of
God. Selah. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold
Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said,
This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The Lord
God Jah the Almighty Haile Selassie, our Father's chanted redeemer shall count, when he
writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. As well the singers as the
players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.
Oh well now...
Babylon be still while I blow this trumpet.
Babylon be still while I blow this trumpet.
Bobalon be still.
Can't give I your pill.
Want to see I be killed.
Oh well now...
Give thanks and praise to the Most High always!
And I know Jah will help in your days.
This is no time to gaze.
No, no, no.
No time to gaze.
Play rasta song
All the day long
And you'll be strong
To carry on, yes...
June 05, 2009
Montego Bay
Montego Bay - Queen Ifrica
Montego Bay
Montego Bay
The voice of Queen Ifrica is inspiring Reggae fans around the world. Many are discovering this talented 'newcomer' who has been on the scene for years. Ventrice Harriott was born into Reggae. The daughter of Rocksteady legend Derrick Morgan began singing as a child. Recording and performing as Queen Ifrica (a tribute to the motherland Africa) since 2003, her major breakthrough came with the smash 'Below The Waist' in 2007. Developing a wider audience with the socially conscious follow up hit 'Daddy', she has focused her talents with the well rounded Welcome to Montego Bay. Album producers include Reggae veterans Donovan Germain and singer Tony Rebel with whom she has toured extensively.
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry, on March 20, 1936, in Kendal, Jamaica) is a reggae and dub artist, who has been highly influential in the development and acceptance of reggae and dub music in Jamaica and overseas. He employs numerous pseudonyms, such as Pipecock Jaxxon and The Upsetter.
Perry's musical career began in the late 1950s as a record seller for Clement Coxsone Dodd's sound system. As his sometimes turbulent relationship with Dodd developed, he found himself performing a variety of important tasks at Dodd's Studio One hit factory, going on to record nearly 30 songs for the label. Disagreements between the pair due to personality and financial conflicts, a recurring theme throughout Perry's career, led him to leave the studio and seek new musical outlets. He soon found a new home at Joe Gibbs's Amalgamated Records.
Working with Joe Gibbs, Perry continued his recording career but, once again, financial problems caused conflict. Perry broke ranks with Gibbs and formed his own label, Upsetter, in 1968. His first single "People Funny Boy", which was an insult directed at Gibbs, sold very well. It is notable for its innovative use of a sample (a crying baby) as well as a fast, chugging beat that would soon become identifiable as "reggae" (the new sound did not really have a name at this time). From 1968 until 1972 he worked with his studio band The Upsetters. During the 1970s, Perry released numerous recordings on a variety of record labels that he controlled, and many of his songs were popular in both Jamaica and the UK. He soon became known for his innovative production techniques as well as his eccentric character.
In the early 1970s, Perry was one of the producers whose mixing board experiments resulted in the creation of dub. In 1973, Perry built a studio in his back yard, The Black Ark, to have more control over his productions and continued to produce notable musicians such as Bob Marley & the Wailers, Junior Byles, Junior Murvin, The Heptones, The Congos and Max Romeo. With his own studio at his disposal, Perry's productions became more lavish, as the energetic producer was able to spend as much time as he wanted on the music he produced. It is important to note that virtually everything Perry recorded in The Black Ark was done using rather basic recording equipment; through sonic sleight-of-hand, Perry made it sound unique. Perry remained behind the mixing desk for many years, producing songs and albums that stand out as a high point in reggae history.
By 1978, stress and unwanted outside influences began to take their toll: both Perry and The Black Ark quickly fell into a state of disrepair. Eventually, the studio burned to the ground. Perry has constantly insisted that he burned the Black Ark himself in a fit of rage. After the demise of the Black Ark in the early 1980s, Perry spent time in England and the United States, performing live and making erratic records with a variety of collaborators. It was not until the late 1980s, when he began working with British producers Adrian Sherwood and Neil Fraser (who is better known as Mad Professor), that Perry's career began to get back on solid ground again. Perry also has attributed the recent resurgence of his creative muse to his deciding to quit drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis. Perry stated in an interview that he wanted to see if "it was the smoke making the music or Lee Perry making the music. I found out it was me and that I don't need to smoke."
Perry now lives in Switzerland with his wife Mireille and two children. Although he celebrated his 70th birthday in 2006, he continues recording and performing to enthusiastic audiences in Europe and North America. His modern music is a far cry from his reggae days in Jamaica; many now see Perry as more of a performance artist in several respects. In 2003, Perry won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album with the album Jamaican E.T.. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Perry #100 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. More recently, he teamed up with a group of Swiss musicians and performed under the name Lee Perry and the White Belly Rats, and made a brief visit to the United States using the New York City based group Dub Is A Weapon as his backing band. Currently there are two feature length movies made about his life and work: Volker Schaner's "Vision Of Paradise" and "The Upsetter" by filmmakers Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough.
In 2006, Perry met "king of party music" and television personality, Andrew W.K. at SXSW, forging a friendship bolstered by mutual artistic appreciation. In 2007, Perry invited Andrew W.K. to co-produce his upcoming full-length album, "Repentance". The album was released on the 19th of August 2008, on Narnack Records and features several guest artists including renowned electronic musician and producer Moby, seminal producer Don Fleming, drummer Brian Chippendale of staccato noise duo Lightning Bolt, bassist Josh Werner of Matisyahu, and adult entertainer Sasha Grey.
Pulse of The People
Dead Prez - Pulse of The People
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Stic.man and M-1, the revolutionary duo that comprise dead prez, combine forces with DJ Green Lantern for Pulse of The People, a new LP
and third installment of their critically acclaimed independent series, Turn off the Radio Vol. 3.
Due in stores June 23, 2009, Pulse
of The People will be released through Green Lantern's new label, Invasion Music Group/Boss up Inc. Pulse of The People features guest
appearances from Styles P, Bun B, K'Naan, Chuck D, and Invasion Music Group's own Johnny Polygon. Includes a bonus DJ Green Lantern download card featuring 15 minute Invasion Music Group mix and
access to DJ Green Lantern's ringtone store.
This album one of the first in the hip-hop community to recognize the necessity to for the hood to go green. dead prez is taking steps toward sustainability in its packaging of Pulse of the People. Each album will carry a recyclable logo. The packaging will be made with 30% recycled paper and 100% recycled plastic.
Dopium
U God - Dopium
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Dopium |
Direct from the smoked-out dens of Shaolin, UGOD returns with his third full-length solo album, Dopium. The one and only Golden Arms has packed the pipe with top-to-bottom bangers, delivering high doses of dope on every verse.
Set to release June 23, 2009 on Frank Radio / Babygrande, Dopium features an all-star supporting cast, including Wu-Tang affiliates GZA, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Raekwon, Cappadonna and Killah Priest, and heavy hitters like Jim Jones, Large Professor, and Sheek Louch of D-Block. The album also includes exclusive bonus tracks by Yuksek and The Bloody Beetroots.
THE E.N.D.
THE E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies)
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THE E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) |
The new album by The Black Eyed Peas is off to a blazing start! The first single from The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies), BOOM BOOM POW was also the Peas' very first #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart!
With The E.N.D., The Peas are poised to continue with the success of Elephunk and their fourth release Monkey Business - they have had multiple hit anthems, such as "My Humps" "Pump It" and "Let's Get It Started" along with "Don't Phunk With My Heart" "Where is the Love?" and "Don't Lie".
In the midst of the success of the Black Eyed Peas, FERGIE released her debut solo album, The Dutchess, in 2006. To date the album has sold over six million copies worldwide and spanned five Top 5 hits. Moreover, Fergie became the first female artist in history to have four consecutive #1 singles (Billboard).
Will.i.am is also a Grammy nominated producer - nominated for the Producer of The Year Award in 2007 and nominated again at the 2009 Grammy's. He has lent his services to some of the biggest superstars in the business; Fergie, The Pussycat Dolls, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Ricky Martin, Justin Timberlake, Diddy, Nas, Michael Jackson, Usher, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and U2. Besides his music endeavors, will.i.am is committed to social activism and is an outspoken advocate of progressive political initiatives. His "Yes We Can" video won an EMMY and a Webby Award and has over 19 million views on YouTube to date.
The Black Eyed Peas have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, have won three Grammy awards and have been nominated for 11 total as well as awards won at Teen Choice, MTV, American Music Awards, among many others from around the world!
No Security
D-Block - No Security
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Comprised of LOX members Jadakiss, Styles P, Sheek Louch - D-Block have had the streets on lock for years. "No Security" is the latest in their line of releases. The new album features that trademark sound that LOX fans have come to know and love. This is a brand new studio album, no outtakes, no old songs. This is official new music!!!
Relapse
Eminem - Relapse
Slim Shady's shadiest: how to like the scariest album ever and why | By | Kristin Grace Parker (Mountain View, CA) |
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Okay, here we go with draft #101 of my ever-evolving review of this endlessly enjoyable album. Yep, that's right. Endlessly enjoyable. Sorry to disappoint kind readers who gave me points for feeling an internal struggle over this album in previous drafts, but the more I listen to it, the more I like it. Hence my now one-sided review which gives this album two thumbs up. For the principled and faint-hearted, this album will be too nasty to stomach. But the rest of us are in for a treat: tight raps, catchy beats, and hooks. Long-time Eminem fans, who "get" his signature vile sense of humor will know when to laugh and are surely callous now to disturbing tales of rape, murder, drug abuse, profanity, homophobic fantasies, and all-out lascivious. So if you've already been converted to the dark side, don't worry! You can handle it.
First off, this album is not only catchy, it is packed with a rage and ferocity only Eminem can summon, e.g. songs like "8 Mile," that are bursting with so much intensity they give you goosebumps. That is the vibe (only creepier) of this album and it's Eminem's signature sound; no one else does it quite like him. As a songwriter, I know that it is next to impossible to write material that is so striking; in fact, I've never achieved it, and that's why my hat goes off to Eminem. Eminem invested a lot in this album. Deep beneath all the profanity and sensationalism, all the flinging of every taboo in my face, I sensed an artist who just *had* to get it all out, an artist hell bent on expressing himself, freaking the bejesus out of everyone, and doing it all in the most ear-catching way musically possible.
Some people are criticizing this album as mere pandering to a sensation-starved public, but I disagree. The songs are just too potent. If it were mere mass-produced fluff, the material would sound apathetic and be easier to digest, but it isn't. Eminem keeps you guessing. It sometimes sounds like he's rapping for the masses, but more often it sounds like he's rapping for personal catharsis. Sometimes his raps are alarmingly direct, sometimes camped up and ironic. Lyrics pertaining to the exterior world, (pop culture references and social commentary), are intertwined with twisted, personal tales from deep inside his brain. Misogynistic stories are juxtaposed with statements of concern about his daughter and parenting. Tracks riddled with sleaze, innuendo, and silliness mingle with deep tracks about believing in yourself and finding purpose. At varying points he demands respect, makes fun of himself, or plays the victim. And when he spits a tight rhyme using an incongruently bratty, whiny, juvenile voice . . . yep, that's what I'm talking about. Who in the heck is this guy? Lesser artists are more transparent; you instantly know what they're all about. But with Eminem, his persona and tone are constantly in flux. Offensive as it may be, a riveting personality emerges from the madness.
In conclusion, buy this album to be guided by a mesmerizing MC with some of the best chops in the business who will lead you down a dark path you (hopefully) would never find on your own. Eminem is so good at conjuring up all the ugliness in our society that you feel confronted by it, you stare at it straight in the face. The experiencing is kind of jolting, definitely exhilarating. But Eminem's always been good at that. What I like about this album in particular is that he sounds less bratty going about it. I revisited the Slim Shady LP after listening to Relapse and found it (only slightly) annoying. On Relapse, Eminem tackles the dark tales with more imaginative scope and maturity. Another reviewer, J. Berger, felt that this album was more about "art for art's sake" and I think that sums it up. Eminem tackles the same old topics here, but the effect is more probing and less whiny. His voice even sounds a little deeper. I love it.
Eminem . . . if you read this . . . don't you think I maybe deserve an autographed Relapse for working ever so hard on this review and shining a bright light on the strengths of this, your latest and heavily contested album? Why don't your people call my people, etc. etc. ;)
Be a Father to Your Child
Be a Father to Your Child: Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love, and Fatherhood
BE A FATHER TO YOUR CHILD
By | Jasmyn Harris |
I found the book "BE A FATHER TO YOUR CHILD BAF (REAL TALK FROM BLACK MEN ON FAMILY, LOVE, AND FATHERHOOD)" to be very intriguing & enlightening. It opened up alot of emotions within me about my own relationship with my father who became an absentee dad when I was a year old. Having that experience as a black female certainly allowed me to be able to relate to some of these gentlemen.
Some of the gentlemen addressed the issue even dating some viewpoints all the way back to slavery. I have asked myself what happened as well. I grew up in the 50's and then our black men were in the home in my community down South. Just like some of the accounts in the book, I recall that somewhere around the 70's or 80's things changed. Was it Women's Liberation, the hippy period - the age of Aquarius? I don't know that much about the HIP HOP era, but what I do know is that this book has changed my life.
It wasn't surprising for me to read in "BAF" that the men were angry and sometimes selfish & immature when not being raised by a father in the home. This book gives me a greater appreciation for any young black male who has & is being raised without their own father (or a good father figure)in the home. It must be exremely hard to not know how to grow up to be a man with everyone looking at you acting as if you should already know. Plus, this makes me realize that we black women should try to recognize some of these issues with our black men & try to help them, not degrade them because of it. That phrase "you're just like your father" is mainly a putdown not a compliment.
I feel that the author, April R. Silver & the gentlemen interviewed has served the African American culture well from the accounts documented in "BAF". The book really shatters society's and even our own Black culture's protrayal sometimes of our Black men as uncouth men without exploring the bigger picture of why are there so many absentee Black men/fathers in the home. Better still - what can be done to positively eradicate this dilemna?
Being single & over 50, I know that I must treat my fellow Black man openly & gently. I must listen & be more sensitive to HIS world. The caucasian women aren't marrying our wealthy Black athlete's, movie stars, businessmen, & etc just by coincidence! They are treating them like the Kings & Priests that they are! They are listening to them, understanding them, not blaming them for everything that's wrong with THEIR world. They are not telling them that "I DON'T NEED A MAN, because I was handling things before you came... If you don't, I know someone else who will". What about that my ebony sistas?
I am proud to be an African American female who has read "BE A FATHER TO YOUR CHILD" which came from the minds of some intelligent, brave, courageous, thoughtful, endearing, engaging, & honest, Black men who unselfishly shared their past with us. How forthcoming they were. I did not want the book to end. Thank you to each gentlemen for sharing part of your heart & soul with me. Most of all, thank you April R. Silver for bringing this masterpiece of art altogether and being the "mastermind" of it all. Two thumbs up! I recommend this book to all counselors, African American women & men, teachers, principals, librarys, scholars, ministers of the gospel, book clubs, Boys & Girls clubs, debate teams, coaches/athletes, & anyone else who comes in contact with OUR young, Black, male children. Do you hear me Oprah
The Father of Black History
Carter G. Woodson: The Father of Black History (Great African Americans Series)
expose your children to this hero!| By | Wyslawa |
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unfortunately, carter g. woodson does not grace the halls of african-american history like the names harriet tubman, fredric douglass or sojourner truth. but he should! this book is a fresh start to those parents and teachers interested in teaching their children about the legacy of Carter G. Woodson - the world-renowned historian and creator of African American history month. the vocabulary section at the end of the book is helpful and can be used as a classroom teaching tool. my only complaint is the "amateurish" format of this book -- perhaps colour pictures or a more refined font would have been a better choice.
My Baby's Father
A Politics of Black Love Novel (Buford, G. Dan. Politics of Black Love Novel, V. 1.
4 years of college in 351 pages, July 2, 1999 | By | E Rob |
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I am not a book devourer; however, I read My Baby's Father in 4 days. I simply could not put it down. That's probably because I knew so many of the characters in the book. Not personally, but they were all too familiar reminders of my college years. G. Dan Buford should be praised for his vivid portrayal of collegiate life and the ever so delicate balance of male-male and male-female relationships. Especially at a time when so many students are just trying to find themselves.
Two thumbs up!!!!
Whatever Happened to Daddy's Little Girl?
Whatever Happened to Daddy's Little Girl?: The Impact of Fatherlessness on Black Women I see myself,
I see myself, By | Gina E Davis |
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This book was given to me by a friend and prior to starting it, I had uttered a few words to a good friend about myself. Then I read this book and the introduction echoed what I had decribed and I was able to give it a name, The Fatherless Woman Syndrome. I am the product of a divorce and it was uplifting, yet sad to see that this had an impact on my life.
My incorrect choices in men, my fears, and my bringing a child into this world alone and my successes. Every factor they decribed I fell into, from the successful woman who can do it alone, to the woman who made sure she ran from every relationship she was in. I saw myself in this book.(I admit I drove myself hard just so I could prove to my father that I was worth his love and that he lost out on a good deal.) This book has given me insight into myself, and I trust, every woman, that had been abandoned, in some way by her father, will learn to understand her plight and work toward healing. I encourage all women to read this book and look inside themselves and discover who they are. Jonneta's book had starting the healing process. Thank you for showing me, why I am me.
Loso's Way
Fabolous - Loso's Way
After nearly one full decade at the absolute pinnacle of the rap game, Desert Storm/Def Jam artist Fabolous will deliver the most personal, confessional album of his career when LOSO'S WAY arrives in the physical and digital marketplace on June 30th. The new album provides an intimate glimpse into the rise of the Brooklyn-born rapper, one of today's most important and controversial players, exploring the perils that come with managing the transition from a street life to one of legitimacy. Underscoring the autobiographical portrait of LOSO'S WAY is Fab's first long-form video project, a 30-minute film to be released in conjunction with the album. Several trailers from the film have been released, creating a huge buzz for the project online. Known for keeping his personal life separate from his rap career, Fab was inspired by Carlito's Way (Al Pacino), as he told SOHH.com recently: "I think we had some similarities. Carlito was a street dude trying to make the transition from the streets to something better. That's where I felt I was at....transitioning from the streets to a hip-hop artist."
In advance of LOSO'S WAY, two singles are building simultaneously at radio: "Throw It In The Bag" featuring fellow Def Jam artist The-Dream (produced by Tricky Stewart) was #1 Most-Added at Rhythm formats; and "It's My Time" featuring brand new Def Jam artist Jeremih (produced by the Runners) is currently exploding at the Urban format.
Loso's Way is Fabolous' fifth studio album, to be released in June 30, 2009.
The album will have a similar concept to Jay-Z's American Gangster album as the album is supposed to be based around a concept of a film. Fabolous has stated that it will be based on the 1993 film Carlito's Way. In an interview with MTV, Fab said that he's not planning on many guests for the album. The album was initially thought to be titled Working Hard, Playing Harder.[5] Confirmed guests include Keys, Red Cafe, Paul Cain, Jay-Z, Marsha Ambrosious, Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, The-Dream, Ne-Yo, Kobe, Jeremih, Ryan Leslie & Keri Hilson.
The first official single is "Throw It In the Bag", featuring The-Dream. The second single is "My Time" featuring Jeremih.
Track listing
The track listing was confirmed by Def Jam.
# | Title | Producer | |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Way" (Intro) | StreetRunner | |
2. | "Feel Like I'm Back" | J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League | |
3. | "My Time" (feat. Jeremih) | The Runners | |
4. | "Imma Do It" (feat. Kobe) | DJ Khalil | |
5. | "Everything, Everyday, Everywhere" (feat. Keri Hilson) | Ryan Leslie | |
6. | "Throw It In the Bag" (feat. The-Dream) | Christopher "Tricky" Stewart | |
7. | "When the Money Goes (Remix)" (feat. Jay-Z) | Jermaine Dupri | |
8. | "Salute" (feat. Lil Wayne) | Miguel | |
9. | "There He Go" (feat. Paul Cain, Red Cafe & Freck Billionaire) | Blackout Movement | |
10. | "The Fabolous Life" (feat. Ryan Leslie) | Ryan Leslie | |
11. | "Makin' Love" (feat. Ne-Yo) | Jermaine Dupri | |
12. | "Last Time" (feat. Trey Songz) | Jermaine Dupri | |
13. | "Stay" (feat. Marsha Ambrosius) | Syience | |
14. | "Pachanga" | Sid V | |
15. | "Lullaby" | The Alchemist | |
16. | "Never Let It Go" (feat. Keys) | DJ Khalil | |
17. | "I Miss My Love" | Sean C & L.V. |
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loso%27s_Way
June 04, 2009
UNFINISHED HOUSE
FLIPPA MAFIA AND BOUNTY KILLER UNFINISHED HOUSE
Flippa Mafia performed at the Best of the Best concert in Miami over the weekend, making a direct reference to Bounty Killer as he closed his set with Unfinished House. He explained why he did such a truncated set at the event and where his lyrical feud with Bounty Killer is headed.
“Mi do three songs and cut because mi never pleased, dem turn down the mike pon me because Jabba and Bounty Killer dem a friend. Mi walk onstage wid ’Mi No Waan No Man Like Me’, then me do Dem Yah and get a nice response. Then mi do Unfinished House and mi say ‘Bounty Killer ah hype over Unfinished House’ and left the stage. Since him ah tek it up on him head, mi just do it,” Flippa said.
“The song was never about Bounty Killer, the only song mi do directly for Bounty Killer was Walk Wid Liquor because Bounty walk wid Hennessy and mi see Notnice dem tek it up so mi do a song about it. I have a next song called Mi No Fraida Dem on the Style Dem riddim that sick too. Three quarter of the man dem fraida Killa, but mi nah war wid Killa, mi ah the flossing king, mi nah stop be me, I am not a clash deejay, but mi nah back down from Killa.”
Flippa said he respected Bounty Killer as an ‘elder’ in the business and for his contribution to the music industry but he would not back down from a challenge.
“Him no like see yute shine, him cannot be happy for them and stop bad mind dem especially if a yute nah say Alliance. Killer is not anymore elder than me in the business, ah just through mi never get the break like him. Mi deejay ah Sting inna 1991, ask Killer if him ever work at Coney Park. Buju Banton call me up over de and mi call up Little Wicked, and mi de round Capleton before him rass and me ah the only one around him from dem time de who never ras when him say rastafari. So Killa is no more elder than me, if him diss me, me ah go diss him back.”
Word on the street is that Bounty Killer promised that the Flippa friction is far from over when he remarked at the party: “mi no fight my war a foreign, wait till yu reach ah Jamaica’.
“Bounty Killer is a talker, if yu stand up to him, him back down. Mi nah follow up Killer. Him call mi name over Best of the Best and get boo. Anno walk over ting, and when the war start, anno talk over ting. Eye for an eye, tooth fi a tooth,” Flippa said confidently.
Flippa Mafia scored two top ten hits, including the breakout hit, Dem Yah and Dem Yah. He has continued that torrid pace with the hit, Unfinished House which is vaulting up the Jamaica Music Countdown charts.
“I want to change my life, music inna me from day one. Mi used to name Little Flippa, ask Admiral Bailey from dem time de, mi used to pick up bottle after Heatwave dance ah Waterhouse, mi love the music. Mi grow up poor but mi used to clothes, mi uncle was Zion Dread, one of the biggest higglers pon Princess Street, downtown. But right now, the world is in crisis, and me ah try tell the yutes dem fi make money and enjoy themselves, dem nuh haffi sell out dem soul, just see things in a different way, and enjoy yu life. Mi no proud of certain things inna mi life, but mi a try change and elevate myself. So why that must be a problem to Killer. Him no respect people and how hard dem have to work fi mek dem money.”
SOURCE: http://www.one876entertainment
ETANA BAPTISED
ETANA BAPTISED AT THE EMMANUEL APOSTOLIC CHURCH!
Rastafarian reggae singer Etana made an important step towards bridging the idealogical divide between Rastafarianism and orthodox Christianity yesterday when she was baptized at the Emmanuel Apostolic church on Slipe Road in Kingston.
Etana, speaking in an exclusive interview with one876 this morning, said that the move was spontaneous and that most people in the congregation were shocked when she stepped forward to be baptized.
“No one knew…everyone was thrown off; they were shocked. When they saw a Rastafarian walking up the aisle then to see me embrace them as a Rastafarian, that was unseen,” she said.
She described the actual baptism as an ongoing conversation between herself and God.
“Minister Blackman said ‘yu know yu can’t turn back?’ and I said ‘turn back from what?’ Because when you think about it,the way I live my life is not unclean, the way I speak, what I express through my music. I don’t wear pants. If I embrace Christianity as I would my mother, or my brother or any member of my family, it makes a statement. If I say ‘love’ just as a Rastafarian, then you expect it, but if I embrace Christianity and preach love, it makes a bigger statement about how things ought to be.”
Etana said that she is hoping that this move will help to unite
“We speak of unconditional love and unity yet we are so separated and divided. I want to do my part to help get rid of the prejudice and division, and convey the message that no matter your class, race, creed or colour, it should be about one love and we should leave the judgment to God,” she intoned passionately.
“Why are we confusing the youths? If there is only one God, why the division? What kind of doctrines are we supporting?”
Etana said that the content of her music will not change because of her new-found faith.
“Don’t expect me to sing only religious Pentecostal songs, I shall remain the voice of the people. I will continue to sing about real life situation and the experiences of our life together as a people.”
SOURCE: one876entertainment
SASSA STEP CONTEST & VIDEO SHOOT
MR.VEGAS - SASSA STEP CONTEST & VIDEO SHOOT
The latest dance craze from Jamaica, the Sassa Step, is sweeping the Caribbean and North America like a flu virus this summer. All your friends know that you are one of the best dancers in your community but you’re not getting the props for your talent. Well, here’s your chance to grab your 15 minutes of fame. Now is your chance to show that you have mastered this nifty dance move for the whole world to see. Super-talented ‘sassa steppers’ can now record themselves doing the Sassa Step and send it to sassastepcompetition@gmail.com The best entries will be flown to Jamaica for the shooting of Mr.Vegas latest video Sassa Step, with Mr. Vegas footing all the expenses for your trip to the siland. Each entry must be no more than 60 seconds in duration. "Internet world, send us your video clippings. Who do the best Sassa Step dance move ah come inna the video with Ravers and the whole ah the dancers dem. Just ketch the dance, and anywhere you come from in the world, we're going to bring you to Jamaica to be a part of this video. Even if you come from Africa, we're going to bring you from Africa to Jamaica to be a part of this video, so check it out and don't miss a move, watch Mundo and the Ravers Clavers family," Mr. Vegas said. If you want to brush up on the steps, just log on to http://www.dancehallreggaeweseh.com, http://www.youtube.com/khoolray or http://www.myspace.com/mrvegas to learn the dance move. The competition ends on June 28, 2009, and the top 10 entries will be posted on Mr. Vegas’ myspace website where the voting public will choose the winner and you must be 18 years and over to enter. The Sassa Step was originally created by Mundo of the Ravers Clavers.
Source: http://www.dancehallreggaeweseh.blogspot.com/
Senate Votes to Ban Bisphenol
California Senate Votes to Ban Bisphenol A in Baby Food and Beverage Products
Despite heavy industry lobbying, Senate votes on the side of science and children’ health
SAN FRANCISCO – Today the California state Senate passed the Toxics-Free Babies and Toddlers Act (SB 797), which would ban bisphenol A, or BPA, from food and drink containers designed for children ages three and younger. BPA, a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to breast cancer and other serious health problems, is used in some plastic baby bottles and sippy cups, as well as in the lining of infant formula cans. The bill will now be considered by and voted on in the Assembly.
The vote follows media reports of notes leaked from a May 28 meeting of BPA industry representatives, during which these representatives discussed plans to thwart the California legislation by “befriending people that are able to manipulate the legislative process.”
The bill’s advocates see the Senate vote as not only a vote for kids’ safety, but also a vote against the BPA industry’s tactics. “Senators got an ear-full from BPA industry lobbyists, but ultimately decided that the science against BPA is just too strong, and that kids had to come before lobbyists,” said Gretchen Lee Salter, policy manager at the Breast Cancer Fund.
“Millions of babies and toddlers are exposed to the toxic hormone disruptor BPA on a daily basis through their baby bottles, formula and baby food,” said Renee Sharp, director of Environmental Working Group’s California office. “If the Pavley bill becomes law, this will finally end.”
The bill, introduced by Sen. Fran Pavley, is a response to mounting scientific evidence that exposure to even extremely low levels of BPA can impact health. More than 200 scientific studies show that BPA exposure, particularly during early infancy, is associated with a wide range of adverse health effects in later life. In addition to breast cancer, BPA has been linked to prostate cancer, birth defects, infertility in men, early puberty in girls, diabetes and obesity. A main route of human exposure is through the leaching of BPA from food and beverage containers. Once in food, BPA moves quickly into the body. Babies and young children are particularly vulnerable because their bodies are still developing.
The compelling science has led to a flurry of legislative activity. In April, Minnesota became the first state to ban BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups, and in May, the Connecticut legislature passed a similar ban, which now awaits the governor’s signature. Congress and 22 states and municipalities are also considering legislation to regulate the chemical.
There has been significant action in the marketplace as well. In March, Sunoco became the first chemical manufacturer to acknowledge health concerns when it announced it will sell BPA only to companies that guarantee the chemical will not be used to make children’s food and water containers. Leading formula companies are beginning to use packaging that doesn’t contain BPA, six baby bottle manufacturers have pledged to stop using the chemical, and retailers from Toys R Us to Kmart have announced they are phasing out BPA-containing baby bottles.
# # #
EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC with offices in Oakland, CA. and Des Moines, IA that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment.
CONTACT: Jovana Ruzicic, Environmental Working Group, 202-939-9144, jovana@ewg.org
Shannon Coughlin, 415-346-8223 x14 / 415-336-2246 cell, scoughlin@breastcancerfund.org
Hormone-Altering Cosmetics
Hormone-Altering Cosmetics Chemicals Found in Teenage Girls.
Teenage girls across America are contaminated with hormone-altering chemicals found in cosmetics and body care products, confirms a new study released today by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
The first-of-its kind study found 16 toxic chemicals in blood and urine samples from 20 teenage girls from eight states and the District of Columbia, aged 14-19, including preservatives, fragrance and antimicrobial compounds. Many of these are linked to serious health risks in lab animals, even at low-dose levels.
“Hormone-altering chemicals shouldn’t be in cosmetics, especially in products used by millions of teenage girls,” said Rebecca Sutton, Ph.D, author of the report and Staff Scientist at EWG. “Their bodies are still developing and may be especially vulnerable to risks from these exposures,” added Sutton.
The young women participating in this study were recruited from locations across the U.S. and represent diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They used an average of nearly 17 personal care products per day that contain a total of 174 unique cosmetic ingredients.
The study provides the first data available from teens on levels of synthetic chemical musks, common fragrance ingredients that accumulate in people and act like estrogen in the body, and preservatives called parabens that also mimic estrogen.
“The Teen Body Burden Study is proof that something needs to be done. My results serve as permanent motivation to fight the chemical battle and win,” said Jessica Assaf, one of the teens tested.
Federal health statutes do not require companies to test products or ingredients for safety before they are sold. As a result, nearly all body care products contain ingredients that have not been assessed for safety by any federal agency, and are not required to meet any uniform safety standards.
“Most parents don’t know that the eyeliner, lipstick or shampoo they allow their daughters to use probably contains at least one chemical linked to a number of serious health concerns,” said Sutton. “Teenage girls are at a particularly vulnerable age and these exposures could trigger a subtle sequence of damaging effects that leads to health problems later in life.”
Teenagers and their parents can consult EWG’s Skin Deep online database to help them make informed decisions about their products.
Source: http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/09/25/hormone-altering-cosmetics-chemicals-found-in-teenage-girls/
Brooklyn Music Festival: "In Brooklyn We Go Hard!"
Brooklyn Music Festival Organizers Take No Prisoners with Power-Packed Line-Up
Brooklyn Music Festival Organizers Take No Prisoners with Power-Packed Line-Up
New York, NY (Ms. RAINE INC.) - It's no holds barred for the organizers of the Brooklyn Music Festival, as they tout what is no doubt going to be the biggest line-up among Caribbean music festivals this summer. Slated for Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field on Sunday, June 21st, the Brooklyn Music Festival features the biggest names in Reggae and Dancehall, as well as celebrated names in Hip Hop, Ska, Soul, and Rhythm & Blues.
The 'Gully Gaad' Mavado, Dancehall singing sensation Serani, the 'King of the Dancehall' Beenie Man, the 'Poor People's Governor' Bounty Killer, the 'Energy God' Elephant Man, 'King Shango' Capleton, 'Jamaica's Stevie Wonder' Frankie Paul, roots Reggae star Tarrus Riley, and Hip Hop legend Big Daddy Kane round out the list of the festival's heavy hitting headliners.
"When you are putting together a summer festival, especially in the current economic climate, you either come hard or don't come at all. You have to pull out the big guns," states well-known promoter George Crooks, founder and president of Brooklyn Music Festival. "Big Daddy Kane told me there ain't no half-stepping," jokes Crooks.
Engineering a music festival that bridges the gap between Brooklyn's various Caribbean and ethnic communities, while also providing entertainment for the borough's residents, many of whom will be forgoing expensive vacations this year and looking toward the local scene for recreation, Crooks sought out the top-of-the-top Reggae performers as headliners, while creating an eclectic blend of Roots, Ska, Jazz, Dub, Soul, and R&B to start off the vibes right. Asian fusion Ska band Brown Rice Family, acclaimed Actor Leon and the Reggae Soul band The Peoples, Guyanese roots crooner Natural Black, Soca's Patch and Berbice, the New Kingston Band, the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble, King Django, Jamaican dancer Ding Dong, R&B songstress Kendra Granville, the original 'Jewmaican' Benny Bwoy, and righteous roots Ska band The Rudie Crew are among the artists scheduled to perform. More artists will be announced.Hip Hop Legend Big Daddy Kane
"We are not done yet," says Crooks. "You know what they say, 'in Brooklyn, we go hard!"
The Brooklyn Music Festival will be held at the Aviator Sports and Recreation's Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY, on Sunday, June 21st. Featured acts include Mavado, Beenie Man, Serani, Elephant Man, Bounty Killer, Capleton, Tarrus Riley, Big Daddy Kane, Frankie Paul, Ding Dong, Brown Rice Family, Patch, Berbice, Natural Black, New Kingston Band, Benny Bwoy, King Django, Leon and the Peoples, and Kendra Granville. More acts to be announced. General admission tickets are $45 in advance. To purchase tickets log on to www.brooklynmusicfestival.com . For ticket or vending information contact Jammins at 718-282-8041 of brooklynmusicfestival@gmail.com.
View Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6sNL7cdtlc
Source: http://www.trinijunglejuice.com/tjjnews/articles/488/1/Brooklyn-Music-Festival-In-Brooklyn-We-Go-Hard/Page1.html
Lady Love
LeToya Luckett's "Lady Love"
Only the rarest make those fledgling first steps count. LeToya Luckett is one such triumph. Part of the global groundswell known as Destiny's Child, LeToya counts two Grammy Awards and co-writing credits to the group's smashes "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name" as milestones in her rearview mirror. But her solo efforts have been no less emblematic. Riding smash single "Torn," which topped BET's 106 & Park countdown for 25 straight days, her self-titled debut astonishingly debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. From there, the album cruised to platinum status. LeToya had arrived; a tour with R&B demigoddess Mary J. Blige would follow. The child of destiny had blossomed into a self-starting female star.
By all appearances, LeToya's transitions have been both smooth and satisfying. But growth is never without struggle. "Having endured a lot of separations and divorces —and I don't mean just marital— from people that you love takes its toll," she reveals, herself a veteran of the music business though still in her twenties. "These experiences left me stronger.
Now in 2009, on the verge of her second solo release Lady Love, LeToya is wiser and worldlier. Her subject matter, no longer restricted to the "safe" stuff of her first album, tackles real issues: love, fidelity, defiance, and ultimately, hope. A self-proclaimed "hopeless romantic," Luckett knows that sincerity is not limited to relationships, but music as well: "If I don't connect to a record, if I can't feel it and if I can't sell it, I won't do it." In some favorable ways, LeToya Luckett is very much the modern-day Millie Jackson: relatable, authentic, audacious and adept in capturing the everywoman hiding behind closed shutters and curtains. Her first single, "Not Anymore," speaks to breaking free. Penned by songwriting savant Ne-Yo, "Not Anymore" tells the tale of a tenacious young lady determined to leave her disloyal boyfriend. The song's mantra of "not settling for less" echoes LeToya's drive and determination away from the microphone.
The second single, much more deliberately an impact record, is the brash "She Ain't Got Sh!t On Me." Featuring a staccato synth intro and imprudent, irrepressible drums, "She Ain't Got Sh!t On Me" is destined to end up on dance floors and video countdowns everywhere, as the song delivers one of those rare moments LeToya terms "walking on water." Moreover, it's a leaps-and-bounds progression over her debut record, complete with cheeky, chiding vocals and delivery. "In the song, I'm not saying I'm perfect, but my man shouldn't bring another girl home," she chafes. "The song's not really about whether this girl he's cheating on with me has a fat ass or anything! It's more about the quality that I bring; how much I care for him. It's really a song for every middle-class woman. It's speaking for them." Other songs of note: "Don't Need You," a female anthem that's wholly LeToya's, in both demeanor and writing credits; the brilliantly poetic yet radio-friendly "Lazy;" "Good to Me," which details the quest for the perfect man, one who doesn't merely appease women by offering materialistic gifts known as "pacifiers." LeToya has a head on her shoulders for sure. And that head is certainly on straight.
Elsewhere, LeToya Luckett has still other ways of speaking to fans. Look for her on in the upcoming Warner Premiere's first theatrical movie Preacher's Kid, due in theaters this fall. Her casting was fortuitous in more ways than one; on set she filmed with singer/songwriter Tank, with whom she collaborated for "Regret" and "Good to Me," both found on Lady Love. But her big screen bonanza is just beginning. She's currently filming the Lionsgate feature Five Killers alongside über-stars Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl. Expect a mid-2010 release date. Additionally, LeToya keeps busy minding a pair of Houston clothing and accessory boutiques called Lady Elle. Luckett aims to stock the shelves with her own brand of clothing as well. And given her track record, there's no reason to doubt her resolve or her results. "If she can do it, I can do it," Luckett says as the rhetorical fan. "If she can go from being in one situation that a lot of people thought was a devastation, and then grow as a solo artist, I can make my dreams happen—there is hope."
Wake The Neighbors
R City Wake the Neighbors
Hailing from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, R. City (comprised of brothers Theron a/k/a Da Spokesman and Timothy a/k/a Don't Talk Much) have created a sound that blends Caribbean twangs of consciousness and struggles of street and island life coupled with hip-hop/pop appeal. They realized their immense talent and started honing their craft at an early age. By the time they reached 10 and 11 they were winning local talent shows and used their prize money to pay the family's household bills. Plain and simple, R. City was born to be on stage. "We definitely are first and foremost artists more than anything else," states Timothy. "We were getting a lot of love from the people in the streets from us performing."
Fast forward to their late teens; by the time they graduated high school; they had a big choice to make. Their parents said "continue in school and we will find a way to help you, continue music and you will need to fend for yourselves and become men." They obviously chose the latter and came to the U.S. to test their potential for "making it." "We've always been writers for ourselves. Then me and my brother were like, let's try to write for other people", states Timothy. Landing in Atlanta after a short stint in Miami, they began penning songs for other artists and placed their first song "The Rain" for Akon via his DJ, Benny D. In a short time, they've amassed a staggering number of tunes for renowned artists. "We built a lot of relationships, got cool with a lot of people, networked and found ourselves in a lot of doors we never thought we were going to enter. When we started doing the writing thing, everybody started messing with us," says Timothy.
Aggressive and hungry tactics – play up their strengths. Theron is a bundle of energy that bounces off the walls; their dichotomy creates a splendid musical union. "We're night and day but we mesh perfectly together," says Theron, the soulful Yin to his brother Timothy's Hip-Hop flavored savvy. The fact that their music is a genre bender isn't lost on the siblings. "Give us the opportunity to be ourselves because what we doing, nobody has ever done." It's never been about money with us, to be honest… Trust me; nobody is going to outwork us. We don't drink or smoke, or go to clubs. So when people in the club partying, we work, when they sleep, we work, when they work, we work. So at the end of the day, we are going to get more work done than anybody", says Timothy
That said, their eclectic debut Wake The Neighbors is anything but a work in progress. They are clearly masters of lyric, melody, harmony, hooks, and performance. Their first single ‘Losin' It' smoothly tells a story of unexpected lust/love. Their St. Thomas upbringing is also evident on the Madd Scientist produced, Calypso influenced party anthem ‘Wave', Theron says "as soon as we did it we called Akon. When he heard it, he went crazy and set up a meeting with Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair to hear the song." Then there's the reality checking hip-hop banger ‘Stop Lying' produced by Shondrae (Ludacris). It challenges the hip hop community to stop boasting about how they are living and things they are doing because it just isn't true. It can be described as a hard but positive song.
R. City is about a musical movement. Wake The Neighbors is a perfect blend of all the right elements and will be highly regarded and respected as R. City aim to change the face of music. "It's hard to explain our music because what we are doing is something that is rarely done." Once you experience them and their live show, you are sure to leave a fan. Go ahead, put in the cd….Wake The Neighbors. It is guaranteed to bang hard enough to keep any neighborhood party going all night long.
Source: http://www.thinktankmktg.com/projects/more/292/r_city_wake_the_neighbors
Confetti
Vistoso Bosses drops "Confetti"
Vistoso Bosses, comprised of Taylah.P and Kelci, is a high-energy girl group with infectious lyrics and sweet moves to match. "Our music is unique and eclectic, mixed with a little hip-hop," explains rapper Kelci. Taylah.P, who sings vocals, further expands upon the group's sound. "We have a new sound. We're influenced by everyday teen stuff – school, boys, and having fun." Both are careful to explain that Vistoso Bosses is a strong concoction of music and image. Their witty personalities accompanied by a multihued fashion sense, makes them an easy eye catcher to tweens and teens alike. Vistoso, defined as bright or colorful in the Spanish language, is the perfect adjective for the brilliant twosome. "Anybody can be vistoso," says Kelci, "We're all about having our own style." Taylah.P excitedly agrees, "Most people think we're all about not matching, but it's about being yourself. We like being colorful. We wear what we feel."
Kelci is quick to expand upon her state of bliss as the group celebrates being labelmates with Soulja Boy, Collipark Music's most successful artist to date. "It feels great to be on one of the hottest record labels out." Michael "Mr. Collipark" Crooms was introduced to the group by means of the Internet's social networking magic. The girls' homemade videos to their popular debut songs "Delirious" and "Boy Crazy" were instant faves on YouTube and Myspace. "[Delirious] is a happy song," says Taylah who details how the track came about. "We wrote the song along with St. James, a very talented producer." The group has since received the Myspace Artist of the Week accolade due to an overwhelming response from almost one-half million online fans. Mr. Collipark is enthusiastic about the debut of the self-proclaimed Bosses. "These girls are a breath of fresh air for the music industry. They're positive, bright, and just all around creative," describes the industry veteran responsible for the recent record-breaking success of Soulja Boy reaching the highest number of digital downloads ever in the history of music.
His assessment of the two as a teen girl-power group makes room for the pair to be artistically free of today's misogynistic driven culture. "We want to be viewed as role models," Taylah wholeheartedly explains. "We want to be an inspiration and positive light for girls of all ages." Their melodious vocals and lovable look make this goal easy to achieve. "Don't be afraid to be yourself," both girls advise, "Being different is being cool."
CATEGORY F5
Twista's CATEGORY F5
Deeming himself the Jason Voorhees of rap, Twista is resilient in the industry as he continues to slay tracks. Chi-town has a major influence on Twista - everything from K-town to downtown, his friends and family, as well as his fellow Chicago artists all play a part in establishing his intense yet mellow vibe.
Twista's quest to become Chicago's dominant MC began in the 80's. He recalls, "Around the Krush Groove days, that's when I knew I wanted to be a rapper to the fullest. Doing talent shows or trying to be part of things to where I could possibly get my foot in the door to become a rapper. Once I got that visual aspect that's when I went in harder." Twista would then compete in and win numerous talent shows around Chicago. Honing his skills through battle rapping, Twista proved to be a force to be reckoned with as he constantly won. He remembers, "I usually won the battles. The thing that got my foot in the door was having a different rap style."
Twista's journey to fame began in 1991 a DJ from a local radio station, saw him perform at a talent show held at the Golden Dome on Chicago's west side. This DJ , who had a credible reputation for shopping Chicago artists and getting Chicago recognized by the music industry, became Twista's manager. Twista soon began to conquer the talent show circuit, and eventually his manager would give a demo tape to a Chicago promoter from Loud Records. The promoter was so impressed with what he heard that he took the demo to artist reps in Los Angeles. Amazed by the Twista's fresh and dynamic style, the artist reps contacted Twista immediately and asked him to demonstrate his lyrical ability. The reps were won over and flew Twista and the manager to LA. It was only a matter of time before Twista became the first artist signed to LOUD Records.
Twista explains his talent, "I was just trying to come up with something different besides the metaphors, at first it was different rhythms and rap styles, then I flipped the words. Once I heard somebody else doing my rap style, then it was over, I started going crazy with it; doing whole songs and tearing it up." He further elaborates, "People just think it's about how fast I can spit; it's about how clear I can spit and how beautiful the rhythm is."
Over the years, Twista refined his lyricism to become more structured and more funky. He incorporated melodic syncopations that added depth and complexity to his already unique style. It was on the Do or Die single "Po Pimp"(1996) that Twista introduced this style to the masses.
Twista is an artist who was respected from the start. His underground album Resurrection (1994) received three and a half mics in the Source magazine. He would then go on to release Adrenaline Rush (1997) on Atlantic Records. With the success of first singles "Get It Wet" and "Emotions"; the album would go on to be certified gold. Following that was the release Mobstabilty (1998). The next album for Twista would be the double platinum Kamikaze (2004), which topped the charts at number one. It featured the hit singles "Slow Jamz" with Kanye West and "Overnight Celebrity". The Day After (2005) released a year later peaked at number two and hit platinum status, producing the hits "So Lonely" featuring Mariah Carey, and "Girl Tonite" featuring Trey Songz. Adrenaline Rush 2007 (2007) was the last album he released for Atlantic. Twista has collaborated with some high profile artists in the business such as: Jay Z on "Is That Your Bitch", P. Diddy on "Is This the End", Ludacris on "Cut Up", Three 6 Mafia on "Smoked Out", and a new track with Sting.
Under his new record label GMG (Get Money Gang), a subsidiary of EMI/Capitol Records, Twista is now completely in control of his music while introducing some fresh faces in the process. New artists that Twista wants to put in the spotlight through GMG include: B-Hype, Skoota Choose, Liffy Stokes, Anya, and Mello Tha' Guddaman. With GMG, Twista works to make his acts brand name, so they can survive in the ever-changing music industry. "GMG is the bridge between the music industry and the mid-west." Twista explains.
Currently, Twista is finishing up his new album Category F5. The album is a statement of his newfound creative liberation. Twista explains that the title of the album is a natural evolution of the titles of his previous works - "Category F5 is the highest level of a twister. Once I came up with the title, I felt it was appropriate because coming from the standpoint of Adrenaline Rush, I was trying to stay within that whole zone, and Category F5 sounded like some cold shit." The power of an F5 "can throw cars through the air like bullets, while breaking houses and foundations", and Twista wants to convey that destructive force lyrically. The fierceness on display in Adrenaline Rush reaches a profound intensity on Category F5. As far as the music is concerned, Twista hopes that his music provides an escape for listeners. "My music is like a good movie, it's meant to take listeners away from their problems. It's meant to make people say Wow, that's a dope ass rap," says Twista. Through his verbal prowess, Twista wants his fans to hear him dismember his haters.
Twista does to rap what Coltrane did to saxophone solos. In a rhythmic rapid-fire succession, lyrics flow from one verse onto the next in a dazzling fashion. He has carved out a legacy for himself as a premiere Chicago artist. Though he is an artist with many accomplishments under his belt, he feels that his recognition for being an innovative pioneer will come in due time - "some artists put out the big records, some put out the best records, but Twista's legacy will be that of longevity; being a timeless artist."
Twista's new album Category F5 will be released on June 16, 2009
Source: http://www.thinktankmktg.com/projects/more/285/twista_category_f5
FThe E.N.D
The Black eyed Peas presents The E.N.D
The first single from their upcoming release, The E.N.D. gave the Peas their first Hot 100 chart- topper of their career. "Boom Boom Pow" debuts with 469,000 digital downloads for the week catapulting the track to the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart. The weekly download total is the best-ever by a group.
The video for "Boom Boom Pow," directed by Mathew Cullen & Mark Kudsi of Motion Theory (Weezer's "Pork and Beans" and Beck's "Girl") premiers everywhere next week. In the first video from The E.N.D., The Black Eyed Peas' imagine 3008; their birth into the digital afterlife.
The E.N.D. is the Black Eyed Peas' first original new album since Monkey Business (released May 2005), with sales of over 4 million in the U.S. and worldwide sales of more than 9 million copies. Monkey Business generated Grammy Awards for "Don't Phunk with My Heart" and "My Humps."
The Energy Never Dies.
Source: http://www.thinktankmktg.com/projects/more/279/the_black_eyed_peas_the_e_n_d
June 03, 2009
Researchers unveil imprints made 20 years before Edison
Earliest Known Sound Recordings Revealed
Researchers unveil imprints made 20 years before Edison invented phonograph
June 1, 2009
By Ron Cowen, Science News
WASHINGTON—The muffled sounds from more than 150 years ago resemble the “wa wa” of the unseen teacher in the Peanuts cartoons. It would be impossible to know that someone was playing the coronet and guitar, although other fragments, from a dramatic speech from Shakespeare’s Othello, might be discerned if you knew the lines by heart in French.
Yet these sound bites and other snippets, unveiled May 29 by historians at the annual meeting of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, are the earliest known recordings. A bunch of wavy lines scratched by a stylus onto fragile paper that had been blackened by the soot from an oil lamp date from 1857. That’s 20 years before Edison invented the phonograph.
Parisian inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville never intended for the soot-lined imprint of the sound waves to be played back, the historians reported. But the inventor hoped the visual patterns of the sound waves he had recorded using a hornlike device with the stylus attached resembling an artificial ear — called a phonautograph — might one day be read like sheet music to recreate a singer’s voice or the timbre of a musical instrument.
Instead, these visual renditions of sound, known as phonautograms, languished at the French patent office and elsewhere in Paris for some 150 years. In 2008, record historian David Giovannoni of Derwood, Md., and his colleagues, part of an informal group of researchers known as First Sounds, uncovered the first cache of them. Last year, he and First Sounds colleague Patrick Feaster of Indiana University in Bloomington played what appeared to be a recording of a young girl singing a 10-second snippet of the French folksong “Au Clair de la Lune,” which Léon Scott had recorded in 1860.
But a group of thought-to-be-lost Léon Scott phonautograms was found late last year in Paris and dates from 1857. “It was immediately apparent that this would be some of the most important [phonographic] excavations to date,” Giovannoni said.
Sound historian Sam Brylawski, former head of the Library of Congress’ recorded sound division in Washington, D.C., and now affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara, said the new findings are important on several levels. These are not only the first known recordings, Brylawski notes, but are “providing the full picture of the history of recorded sound.… This is a biography unfolding.”
Yet until last fall, Feaster said, he and his colleagues weren’t sure they’d be able to play any of the oldest phonautograms. Among the problems: The wavy lines etched by the stylus sometimes looped back on themselves. And the side of the stylus, instead of the narrow tip, sometimes seemed to have scraped the surface of the sheet.
Using a technique employed in producing audio for movies, Feaster managed to coax some fuzzy sounds from the 1857 recordings. He also realized that phonautograms his team had previously transcribed, using a laser as a virtual stylus, had been played back at twice the actual speed. What sounded like a girl singing the French folksong was actually Léon Scott singing, Feaster now concludes.
In 1878, some two decades after his invention, Léon Scott was devastated when Thomas Edison received accolades from around the world for the invention of the phonograph. “Come Parisians, don’t let them take our prize,” Léon Scott exhorted in a memoir. “I beseech all stout-hearted men and I thank God some still remain to proclaim my name in this matter. For I am getting old, the father of two sons, and all I can leave them is my good name.”
Léon Scott died a year later. Now his unearthed recordings have finally found acclaim.
This is the only phonautogram Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville identified as made with an "amplifying lever," his last known phonautographic design change. It is therefore presumably also his last known phonautogram, dating from late September 1860 or maybe even later.
As of mid-May 2009, this phonautogram of the opening lines of Torquato Tasso's pastoral drama Aminta is the earliest audible record of recognizable human speech.
Source: http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/06/01/earliest-known-sound-recordings-revealed.htmlNo help for Black, Latino or Poor Communities
Obama's Plan for Home Owners - No help for Black, Latino or Poor Communities
Published May 14, 2009
Obama's Plan for Home Owners
- No help for African, Latino and poor communities
Barack Obama's recent plan to bail out 9 Million Home Owners falls far short of coming anywhere near the current need.
So who are these 9 million who will be helped? The claims made by the current administration that relief is on the way obscures the reality that few of those most in need will find any relief from the Obama Plan.
In particular few in the African community, which has been the target of more subprime loans than any other community, will benefit from these programs.
A careful look at the plan reveals who benefits and who will not. It also reveals how the Obama plan protects the interests of the banks at the direct expense of great suffering and loss of income in the black community.
Far from ending the predatory practices which have ravaged African communities in the U.S. the Obama plan continues to support additional profits earned through criminal activity by predatory lenders.
The Obama Plan: Who Will Qualify?
The details of this plan can be found on the website “www.makinghomeaffordable.gov.” Here we find a deceptively simple and user friendly website complete with a tool to allow people to check if they are eligible for either of the two programs which make up the Obama recovery plan.
The first plan is not relevant to most people in crisis. It is a plan to allow homeowners to refinance their homes at excellent rates. In this case the value of the mortgage must be the same or LESS than the current value of the home. It is clear that this will only serve those in a limited number of well to do and mostly white communities where real estate prices have not plummeted. In addition, those who are deliquent on payments or have been 30 days late more than once in the last 12 months do not qualify.
So in reality this option will not apply to subprime borrowers and will leave out the vast majority of those in the African community.
The second plan seems at first to be a real option. According to the website this plan is intended to help only 3-4 million homeowners – a significantly smaller portion of the program than the refinance option.
This plan involves modifications to a mortgage which may lower interest and principle and change the terms of the mortgage so that payments do not exceed 31% of the applicants income. This sort of relief would indeed make it possible for many to stay in their homes.
A closer look at how the plan works reveals, however, that this is deceptive. First, this plan is not administered through the government but through the lenders. The government offers no direct relief to homeowners. Instead, it gives additional money to banks as “incentives” for them to make modifications.
This means the lenders control the process. They determine which modification agreements would be most profitable to the bank given the government assistance they would receive for making the mortgage.
Again, a house that is already underwater and whose value has dropped significantly and whose owner has a low income is an unlikely candidate for a loan modification under the program. It simply would be less profitable for the banks. As the white middle class begins to feel the squeeze of the mortgage crisis there will be a limited number of these who might benefit from the program.
Most significantly this plan fails to address the more than 16 million estimated homeowners whose loan balances are more than 5% higher than the value of their homes. This alone eliminates most Africa and Latino and other poor homeowners.
An Alternative Plan
What plan would work to alleviate the current forclosure crisis? The 13 trillion dollars of tax payer's money that the government has given to the Wall Street bankers is far more than it would take for the government to pay off ALL “bad” mortgages for private homeowners.
Imagine the boost to the economy when people's money no longer went to mortgage payments! And this would eliminate all the “bad” mortgages plaging the banks books. It would inject lots of money into the economy and create prosperity and economic development in many previously devastated African communities. So why not?
It is simple. The banks make their unreasonably high profits based on interest paid over a very long time. The higher the interest and the longer the payment period, the greater the profit made. Paying off people's mortgages would serve to stabilize the economy and serve the welfare of the vast majority of people in the US. It would help reverse the harm done by subprime lenders who have leeched unreasonable profits to serve their lavish lifestyles at the expense of African and poor communities.
What this sensible alternative would not do is serve the needs of those who are determined to continue to reap huge profits from oppressed and working people
At first glance it is not exactly clear that this alternative plan would be a serious challenge to the capitalist system. After all, once the toxic mortgages were off the books of the banks they could in theory go on lending money to new homebuyers and continue to make profits. Yet this fails to consider the absolute dependence of capitalism – which was built on the enslavement of African people and the genocide of the Indigenous people – on the continuing exploitation of oppressed communities in the United States.
A recent event in Massachusets brings to light the inherent link between Obama's so called plan to “eliminate foreclosure and help struggling homeowners”, the need of the contemporary capitalist system to continue to extract of weath from African and oppressed communities, and the current Economic Crisis.
Sub Prime Loans, Goldman Sachs and Contemporary Capitalism
Bloomberg Press reported today (May 11, 2009) that “ Goldman Sachs Group , Inc agreed to pay about 60 million dollars to settle a Massachusets investigation into the packaging of mortgage securities at the root of the collapse of the US housing market.
Massachusetts has led the country in forcing potential African home buyers who qualified for standard fixed interest rate or "prime" loans into the far more profitable subprime loans. Subprime loans start out with a low teaser rate but then increase to outrageously high interest rates. In the words of the Attorney General of Massachusetts , Martha Coakley, they were “destined to fail”.
In fact, according to the article on the website Bloomberg.com, through bundling up these subprime mortgages and investing them into hedge funds, Goldman Sachs actually bet on the decline of the value of homes to which it offered these loans and thereby made great profits from the plummeting home values at the expense of the homeowners.
It is unclear how many of the thousands of homeowners who suffered from this criminal activity will benefit from Goldman Sachs' settlement. It appears, however, that at the very most SOME of these homeowners whose loans are serviced by Goldman Sachs' Litton Serving LP will have their loans reduced by about 25 -30 percent.
There is no agreement to make reparations for the losses of the thousand who lost their homes and wealth due to Goldman's practices over the last several years. The Massachusets Attorney General made it clear that she had no intention at this time to examine earlier loans made under these parasitic terms. So while the exact terms of the agreement have not yet been disclosed to the public we know that the Goldman Sachs settlement is likely only to help homeowners who are among the most well off.
We also know that 60 million dollars does not come close to making up for the wealth lost in the African and Latino communities of the state due to these parasitic practices.
According to Bloomberg reporters Kathleen M Howley and Christine Harper, 60 million dollars is “about one and a third day's revenue for Goldman Sachs' fixed-income, currencies and commodities division in 2007 when it made a record 16.2 billion dollars. Sixty million dollars is also less than the incomes received by Goldman's top three executives in 2007.
At the present time Goldman Sachs is also being investigated for similar activity in the Cleveland Area. The Massachusetts agreement sets a precedent. We have no reason to expect any significant reparations to black and oppressed communities in the Cleveland area, where last year more than 77,000 homes, mostly in African communities, were in foreclosure.
Without criminal charges, admission of wrong doing or any legislation against such practices, Goldman Sachs and other predatory lenders will simply continue to pillage African and oppressed communities with impunity.
This case is another example of the revolving door between the US Treasury, The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs' executives. This is the same Goldman Sachs that received the bulk of tax payers' bailout funds. This is the same Goldman Sachs whose previous CEO, Hank Paulson, developed and guided the bailout funds under President Bush, and the same Goldman Sachs for whom Obama's current Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner was employed as a paid lobbyist!
The Obama administration has enlisted a mob of criminals and gamblers to lead the current recovery efforts. They do not wish to gamble with their own money. Despite the current economic crisis these parasitic bankers continue to make billions of dollars by exploiting the African people in the U.S. and oppressed peoples around the world.
The Obama administration and those put forward to resolve this current economic crisis of imperialism cannot solve the problems they created and benefit from. The only solution for African people is the reunification and liberation of Africa and African people around the world and the end to this parasitic system built at the expense of African and oppressed peoples. Build the African Socialist International!
Source: http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=obama-s-plan-for-home-owners-no-help-for-black-latino-or-poor-communities
program for African unity & liberation
African revolutionaries adopt program for African unity & liberation
Published May 29, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC — African revolutionaries from throughout the United States, Canada and South America have adopted a revolutionary national democratic program aimed at forwarding the uncompromising liberation and unification of Africa and African people under the leadership of the African Socialist International (ASI), a single party of African workers and peasants from around the world.
Speaking at a two-day regional conference held on May 23-24 at the Carlos Rosario Charter School in Washington, DC to build the North America region of the African Socialist International, Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the ASI, said the revolutionary national democratic program responds to the reality that all African people constitute one people and one nation who cannot achieve genuine freedom without the total liberation and unification of Africa and African people worldwide.
“The revolutionary national democratic program is a program that distinguishes the interests of the vast majority of African people within the United States of North America from the interests of the U.S. North American ruling class and state and from the interests of reactionaries and opportunists within the African nation itself,” he said, while adding that the United States and its citizens constitute an oppressor nation state that holds a substantial sector of the African population as part of a colonially oppressed nation.
“As colonized people inside the United States since the time of enslavement, African people long for total liberation and the ability to join humanity as a free nation equal among other free peoples of the world,” Chairman Omali Yeshitela told the gathering of African revolutionaries present at the conference.
He added that the program shows that capitalism, which is born of the enslavement, colonization and division of Africa and African people, must be defeated and replaced with a just social system in which social production of the means of existence is accompanied by social ownership of the means of production.
“The laboring producers must collectively own and control the means of production, controlling the power necessary to guarantee social progress and protect and advance the interests of the workers and toiling masses,” he says, adding that the program calls on the exploited African workers and peasants to end the colonially imposed divisions between African people inside the United States and North America.
The 50-point revolutionary document, unanimously endorsed at the conference, calls for among other things, the rejection of United States President Barack Obama as a representative of the aspirations of African workers and toiling masses within the United States, the exemption of Africans in North America from paying taxes to the United States and Canada, the institution of a plebiscite that will allow Africans in North America to determine their will on questions around reparations, a program for free access to educational opportunities, and an end to the discriminatory, humiliating and expensive immigration laws and procedures that limit or prohibit the entry of Africans into the United States.
It also called on the international community to support and recognize the legitimacy of the World Tribunal on Reparations for Africa and African People (WTRAAP), established to put imperial white power on trial for the offenses committed against African people.
The program also demanded the immediate removal of all western intelligence agencies and military forces deployed in Africa and called for the immediate release of all conscious African political prisoners and an internationally supervised investigation of every police killing of an African person within the last ten years.
Conference part of worldwide mobilization campaign to build ASI
Speaking at the conference, ASI Director of Organization, Chernoh Alpha M. Bah said that the North America regional conference is the third in a series of regional conferences scheduled to occur this year as part of an international mobilization campaign to unite and galvanize the efforts of African revolutionaries and progressives into the African Socialist International.
“It is our hope that by the end of 2009, we will be able to have the African Socialist International consolidated throughout the African world as part of a process to build a single international movement of African workers and peasants to fight for the speedy liberation and unification of Africa and African people,” he said.
The ASI North America conference is a follow-up to the first two regional conferences of the African Socialist International that have been held in Africa within a six-month period.
In October 2008, representatives of African revolutionary movements from across West Africa and beyond met in Freetown, Sierra Leone for the first of this series of regional conferences of the ASI. The three-day conference, attracting more than 500 participants, was reported as the most significant gathering of African revolutionaries since the 1930s.
It brought together representatives from the labor and trade union movement, students union, youth organizations, civil society movement and progressive academics to discuss the tactics and strategy of African international as the guiding theory and ideology of the African working class in its struggle to become the new ruling class.
The conference passed a 23-point resolution calling for action against multinational corporations in Africa, the removal of western military forces, reparations and the right of return for Africans dispersed around the world.
Luwezi Kinshasa, Secretary General of the African Socialist International observed that the “ASI West Africa conference has reintroduced the working class into actual political life in the region.”
East Africa ASI conference shook political terrain in region
The international mobilization campaign to build the African Socialist International reached a climax with the convening of the East Africa regional conference in early April this year.
The meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya has been the single most important event in that region since the British defeat of the Mau Mau in the 1950s. The conference attracted participants from throughout Kenya and East Africa and for two days they examined various questions relating to African unity and liberation and also reaffirmed the need to build the African Socialist International to provide leadership for the struggle of African people around the world.
At the ASI North America conference, Chairman Omali Yeshitela underlined that the revolutionary national democratic program of the North America front of the African revolution is influenced by the ASI regional conferences held in West and East Africa respectively.
He says the process is the response of the African working class to the growing crisis of imperialism particularly the collapse of the U.S. capitalist economy.
The ASI North America conference occurred in parallel to the European regional conference which occurred simultaneously in Manchester, England to build the ASI European region.
Both conferences were held as part of the 2009 African Liberation Day events to mobilize African people towards the trajectory of revolutionary struggle.
Other ASI regional conferences are scheduled to occur later this year in Central and South America.
In July this year, African revolutionaries will again be meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe for the Southern Africa regional conference to build the ASI.
“We can confidently say that by the end of this year, we will have the ASI in any place where African people are located in the world,” the ASI leadership stated.
Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture
National Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture
Mon Jun 1 2009 Protests at 9th Circuit Court in SF Demand Judge Bybee Be Disbarred and Prosecuted
In the face of the Obama administration's refusal to release a reported 2,000 more photographs of detainee abuse — in spite of being ordered by a federal court to do so — torture opponents in fifteen U.S. cities held protests to demand that the government make the photos public. These protests also called for prosecution of those who ordered, legally justified, and carried out torture in US detention and secret prisons during the Bush years.
On May 28th in San Francisco, protesters rallied outside the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals court house to call for the prosecution, impeachment, and disbarment of "Torture Judge" Jay Bybee. Bybee's 2003 lifetime appointment to the federal bench was his reward from George Bush for his work as head of the Office of Legal Counsel. There, Bybee issued the 2002 torture memo which authorized torture including waterboarding, walling, sleep deprivation and other torture techniques.
Source:http://www.indybay.org/antiwar/
Antiwar Protests
Antiwar Protests: 6 Years and Counting
by Sharat G. Lin
Thursday Mar 26th, 2009
Demonstrations on the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq were smaller than during the Bush years owing to the “Obama factor,” but more unified than ever against the occupations of Afghanistan and Palestine. The most visible opposition to antiwar has shifted from flag-waving ultra-nationalists to the defenders of Israel. Despite this, far more American Jews demonstrated against the occupations than in support of Israel.
In the wee hours of March 20, 2003, U.S. bombs began falling on Baghdad and other “high-value” targets inside Iraq. In the United States, it was still the night of March 19th. The second U.S. invasion of Iraq had begun. U.S. military commanders predicted that within weeks or months the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein would be toppled and the war would be over.
Six years later Saddam Hussein is long gone. An Iraqi insurgency has risen and then accepted payoffs to sequester its guns to patiently await the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops. Yet a low-level conflict drags on, and a majority of Iraqis continue to be outraged at the continuing U.S. occupation of their country. With the gradual U.S. troop drawdown in Iraq now a foregone conclusion, their continued presence in the country well beyond the dates set forth in the Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA) agreed to between the U.S. and Iraqi governments is now becoming equally certain as the Obama administration settles into the White House / Pentagon bubble.
Six years later, people around the world are still demonstrating against that war, and there is no clear end in sight. Meanwhile, President Obama, who has promised “change we can believe in,” has signed an order to send 17,000 more American soldiers to Afghanistan and is actively considering raising that number to 30,000 additional troops. Meanwhile, White House political and military support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and the Israeli blockade of Gaza continues unabated. In addition, U.S. cross-border missile strikes from Afghanistan into Pakistan are increasing in frequency and stirring outrage among Pakistanis against the U.S.
One protester summed up the situation as, “New president, same old war.”
Six years ago, the U.S. antiwar movement was profoundly divided over whether to include ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as an issue in antiwar actions. With the departure of MoveOn.org and other liberals from the protest scene after the election of a Democratic president, antiwar demonstrations have become smaller than during the Bush years. Yet the remaining antiwar movement has become more unified than ever against the occupations of Afghanistan and Palestine.
The San José Peace and Justice Center (http://www.sanjosepeace.org) and the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center (http://www.peaceandjustice.org) held demonstrations against war and occupation on March 19th in San José and Palo Alto respectively. Though much smaller than in previous years, there was much to talk about with the crises in the economy, financial system, healthcare, state budget, racial profiling by police, immigration raids, and relentless sanctions against Iran.
Stanford Says No to War (http://antiwar.stanford.edu), a campus group of concerned students, faculty, and staff, held a candlelight vigil in White Plaza in Stanford University on March 19th at 10:15 pm – the approximate time in California when U.S. bombs started falling on Baghdad. Participants reflected not only on the ills of war, but also on the significance of Condoleezza Rice’s return to Stanford and her role in justifying the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and torture.
The largest demonstration was led by ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and Racism, http://www.actionsf.org) in San Francisco on Saturday, March 21st with an opening rally in Justin Herman Plaza, a march up Market Street, and a closing rally in Civic Center Plaza. However, the approximately 4,000 participants were substantially fewer than the 8,000-10,000 people who showed up on January 10th to protest the Israeli invasion of Gaza when President George Bush was still in office.
Antiwar protest actions were held in cities around the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the nation. In San Jose and Santa Clara, One Voice (http://www.one-voice.info), South Bay Mobilization (http://www.sbm4peace.org), and Students for Justice (http://www.studentsforjustice.org) held antiwar demonstrations on March 21-22 at the busy intersection of Stevens Creek and Winchester Boulevards, where weekend vigils have been held weekly without interruption since the Iraq War began.
The only local counter-demonstration was by some fifty Israel supporters in front of San Francisco City Hall. The new primary opposition to antiwar appears to no longer be flag-waving right-wing Christian ultra-nationalists, but the unconditional supporters of Israel. While a section of American Jews have played a visible and vocal role in supporting Israel with its military occupation and blockade of Palestinian territories, it is worth noting that far more Jews (hundreds) participated in the antiwar demonstrations in the San Francisco Bay Area than the fifty who stood in front of City Hall.
Police aggression and racial profiling
While the smaller protests were completely peaceful, in San Francisco police aggressively targeted Arab youths under circumstances that remain unclear. Immediately following the arrests on Polk Street, a phalanx of police thrust its way into the antiwar rally from the southwest. ANSWER monitors in yellow vests responded immediately, not by confronting police, but rather by forming a human barrier between police and rally participants, thus averting a potentially violent clash. Meanwhile, western regional coordinator, Richard Becker, appealed through the ANSWER public address system to police to “get out of Civic Center Plaza” and “get out our rally.” After some hesitation, the order came down from police command to withdraw from the plaza back into Polk Street. Another ANSWER speaker then called upon rally participants to “leave the police alone” and get back to our rally, making it abundantly clear that averting provocation and violence was of paramount concern for rally organizers.
The second set of arrests took place in the Civic Center BART station where eyewitnesses said that Israel supporters taunted Arab youths for wearing kafiyehs and head scarves, and then reportedly sprayed the Arab youths with mace. Police cordoned off the entire BART station and arrested several Arab youths, while taking statements from the Israel supporters and letting them go free. Under such circumstances, racial profiling cannot be ruled out.
A potential reason for increased police aggressiveness now and in the coming years in Democrat-dominated San Francisco Bay Area cities is that local Democratic leaders may come under increasing pressure to squelch protests against the Democratic administration in Washington, DC. New president, same old struggle!
http://www.sanjosepeace.org
Source: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/26/18583436.php
Militarizes Coastal Waters
Navy Militarizes Coastal Waters
by Christina Aanestad
Tuesday Mar 24th, 2009
The US Navy’s is facing criticism for its training operations in the Pacific West Coast. Trainings include the use of sonar, aircraft and missles and underwater bomb detonations. Environmental groups says some areas should be off limits to weapons testing, and some criticize the militarization of the sea.
The US Navy wants to use nearly the entire US coast line for weapons and warfare training, including the pacific west coast. North West Training Range Complex stretches more than 134 thousand nautical miles, from the US /Canadian Border to Northern California, into the waters just off Mendocino county. The US Navy is claiming this entire area for its weapons training-that includes, under water bomb detonations and mining, and the use of aircraft, missiles and sonar. John Mosher project manager for the North West training range says the area could be used for sonar and bomb trainings.
Mosher says the US Navy has conducted its naval trainings since world war 2. According to Mosher the Us Navy has already claimed Northern California for its weapons training, but this is the first time they’ve actually mapped out the boundaries, which extends into the northern tip of Mendocno County’s coast. Mosher says most of the training occurs off the coast of Washington. But environmental groups say the use of sonar and bombs will impact the marine life that makes Northern California so special. Taryn Kiekow an attorney for the NRDC, Natural Resources Defense Council, says sonar has long range effects on marine life including fish.
“Sonar has a huge impact on fish anything from outright frying of fish eggs, to permanently damaging the ears of fish, to of course when you’re talking about underwater explosions and mining fields, the navy’s proposing outright death from the explosions.”
Environmental groups and Northern Calfornia officials say marine resources need to be protected. The Mendocino county board of supervisors sent a letter to the Navy stating concerns of the impacts on the marine environment. John McCowen, a Menodicno county supervisor, says he’s against the training.
“I’m opposed to the further militarization of the ocean. They already have an extensive training range. It’s not clear to me why it’s necessary to take further areas of the ocean and subject them to bombing and sonar and missiles and all the rest of it. None of that can be good for the marine environment.”
Pat Higgins, a consulting fisheries biologist who serves on the Humboldt bay harbor recreation and conservation district in Humboldt County says the use of sonar in particular will negatively impact migrating endangered whales. Kiekow says the impacts on marine mammals can be devastating.
“The loud noise just really disorients marine mammals who basically rely on sound in the ocean the same way we use sight . So, they use if for everything to find mates, to navigate, to find food to communicate. All these basic life functions are being disrupted when the navy’s using sonar. And then of course we see the more serious impacts like temporary hearing loss, and permanent hearing loss and then of course the most serious which is when their dive patterns become so disrupted that they actually strand themselves on beaches and die.”
The Navy has drafted 13 environmental impact statements or EIS's for each of it’s training ranges. The NRDC has submitted a 57 page response to the North West Training Range, lambasting the Navy’s EIS. Keekow says the report ignores scientific knowledge.
The NRDC’s 57 page report refers to numerous studies on the impacts of sonar on marine life, including reports from the Navy, stating that in 1999, four beaked whales stranded in the U.S. Virgin Islands as the Navy began an offshore exercise. A wildlife official from the Islands reported the presence of “loud naval sonar.”
John Mosher project manager for the Northwest Training Range says the navy has established mitigations from its sonar impacts.
“We post lookouts on all the ships when they are operating with the active sonars. These lookouts have been trained specifically to identify marine mammals, obviously if they identify them, then it’s reported and within certain distances the sonar is powered down to a lower level. Additionally if aircraft are operating if there activities that involve ordinates dropping munitions, and if these were going to go to the water or impact the water then those areas are surveyed in advance to ensure that they are clear prior to doing the training.”
The NRDC’s 57 page response also refers to a study from the federal agency, NMFS-the national marine fisheries service. Citing the NMFS report, the NRDC resonse states, "Studies have shown that killer whales engage in dramatic flight behavior in response to mid-frequency sonar Yet the DEIS fails even to consider the feasibility of avoiding the whales’ seasonal habitat. Omitting even the mere consideration of any alternative that recognizes the need to protect endangered and sensitive marine life is unacceptable." Kiekow says the Navy's mitigations aren't enough.
“They put somebody up on board who has many other duties with binoculars.
And they’re supposed to spot these really deep diving marine mammals that come up every 5 minutes to every half hour. Well, what scientific studies have shown is that only about 5% of the time do monitors actually see the mammals that are in the water. So, that’s why what the Navy needs to do is avoid the areas where the mammals are concentrated.”
The NRDC also cites a navy report in 2000 that said quote, quote, “sixteen whales from at least three species— including two minke whales—stranded over 150 miles of shoreline along the northern channels of the Bahamas. The beachings occurred within 24 hours of Navy ships using mid-frequency sonar in those same channels.”
The NRDC is requestign the Navy designate sensitive areas that will be off limits to sonar use in it's training ranges. But Mosher says because marine life navigates throughout the coastal waters it’s difficult to pin down sensitive areas.
The green party of Mendocino county has petitions to oppose the navy’s claim to use Northern California for it’s trainings. Kiekow says the NRDC is ready to take the US Navy to court again over it’s use of sonar in sensitive areas. But some think it’s silly to put the needs of marine mammals over national security needs. John Pinches is a Mendocino County supervisor.
“What would it have been like in world war 2 after the Japanese attacked us on pearl harbor if we had to fill out an environmental statement because we was going to attack the Japanese in the pacific islands? How long of a process would have taken?”
The US Navy has filed 13 EIS’s for all of its warfare training ranges, essentially covering the entire US coast line and its territories. The navy has completed 3 so far, for it’s Southern California Complex, Hawaiian Islands Complex, and the Atlantic Fleet Active Sonar Training (AFAST) Study Area, including the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Several more are in the works including, the Marianas Island complex, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport, Point Mugu Sea Range, and Gulf of Alaska.
Source:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/24/18581843.php
If They Knew the Truth, They'd Hate Us Even More
If They Knew the Truth, They'd Hate Us Even More
by Ciaran Dubhuidhe
Wednesday May 13th, 2009
Obama doesn't want us to see our soldiers at work.
We Americans like to think of ourselves as civilized people. Historically, we have supported our government in war under the belief that our government and our soldiers are honorable and that we do not engage in unjust wars. Ugly things like genocide, torture, naked aggression, raping, pillaging, and scorched earth policies are things that others do, not us. Since we are so good and virginal in every sense, we reason that others hate us only because of our goodness and purity. If they knew the truth about us, we think, they would love us.
Yet, if this is so, why is it that we need to hide from the world the activities of our soldiers and intelligence agents over seas? Why cannot we, the “liberators” of Iraq, show the world the lovely photos of our soldiers at work Abu Ghraib? Why must the CIA consider destroying the records of American conduct in the prisons at Guantanamo? We are so pure, clean, honorable, and all, aren't we? What have we got to worry about?
Could it be that those baby faced soldiers we praise and pay tribute to are not as honorable as we would like to believe? According to the latest body keeping the Oval Office seat warm, release of photos showing the activities of our soldiers, activities ordered by George Bush and Dick Cheney, would make the world hate us more than they already do and would, as a consequence, endanger the lives of our soldiers. Just how horrible are these images? We shall discuss that shortly, but before we do, let us consider this claim itself by translating it into smaller statements:
If the world knew what we were really like, they would hate us more than that already do.
If the world knew what our soldiers do, they would rise up and kill our soldiers.
Our government cares about the lives of our soldiers, and so we cannot release the photos.
These are interesting assertions. The first assertion implies that anyone who knows the truth about us, would hate us, not because of who we are, but because of what we do. This contradicts strongly Bush's assertion that “they hate us for our freedom.”
The second assertion implies that our soldiers are monsters, on an order equal to that of the worst soldiers history has known, for I know of few cases in history where populations have risen up to fight only because a nation's soldiers were monstrous brutes. In short, this statement implies that the soldiers we are told to support unconditionally are war criminals. Said differently, supporting our troops is aiding and abetting war crimes.
On the third assertion, I ask you this. If the lives of our soldiers are valued by our government, why are they fighting two unnecessary wars? Why do we throw away their lives in defense of a lie and then recoil when their lives are endangered by the truth? Does anyone out there see the irony in that?
The next question to ask ourselves is what exactly did our soldiers do in Abu Ghraib? According to those in the know, our soldiers, on order of Bush and Cheney, raped children in front of their captive mothers. Their brutality was so monstrous that their mothers begged to be killed rather than live with the memory of what was done. Add this to the knowledge we already have of beating innocent captives to death, raping female captives, and torturing captives. The next time you see an American soldier, picture that in your mind – picture that soldier raping a little boy in front of his mother in a prison cell. That is what the world sees when the world sees our soldiers.
I can think of no offense that a soldier could commit worse than those committed by our own. Future generations will watch movies retelling the stories of our soldiers and those stories will be more brutal than the Nazi era movies we grew up watching. Just as you and I vividly see the image of Nazi madmen lining civilians up at a wall and gunning them down, the next generations were see American G.I.'s in uniform raping little boys and girls in front of the mothers while mentally defective Americans stack naked bodies of men in piles and pose before the mountains of flesh for personal pictures. It is hard to see the Romans or Mongol hordes as worse than us. We are at the pinnacle of human depravity.
Moreover, given that our analysis above shows that this government does not care in the least about American soldiers, you can be sure that there is one reason and one reason only that they do not wish the world to see these images. The absolute truth is that they fear their own prosecution. In a just world, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, John Yoo, Jay Bybee, Steven Bradbury, Alberto Gonzales, John Ashcroft, Dick Cheney, and George Bush would be summarily arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced for crimes against humanity. However, this is not a just world. Our President is the unjust Barrack Obama, a man who is more concerned about his future plans as President of the United States than he is about the rule of law, morality, ethics, or humanity. Mr. Obama has become a accessory after the fact to the crime and a willing participant in its cover up. Mr. Obama has joined the ranks of war criminals.
Sadly we live in a country whose history is much like this current scandal. Our self image is a deception based on denial, cover ups, and delusion. We cannot progress unless we look ourselves in the mirror, not for a quick glance, but for a long and painful self inspection. They do not hate us because we are good. They hate us because we are a selfish and evil people consumed with our own comfort and drowning in the fetid smell of our own decay. We are a depraved, unproductive, and brutal empire on the brink of collapse. They hate us because they should and if they knew the whole truth, they would hate us even more.
http://insolentmediacenter.com/node/35
June 02, 2009
A note on Solidarity
A note on Solidarity
by Dharshan Chandramohan
Brothers and sisters,
I am an ஈழம் தமிழர் -- For those of you who don't know, that means that I am Tamil by ethnicity; and that my roots are unshakably and unmistakably planted in the Northern land
of the country called Sri Lanka. I have to say this -- over and over -- because like in
Palestine, there are droves of people who claim that I do not exist, that my people are not
indigenous to the land that we have lived on for centuries, that they have a legitimate claim
-- moreover, a religious, sacred claim to that land. I am sick and tired of the bullshit justifications that greedy
nationalists throw around for the murder of innocent people.
The Sri Lankan Government has heralded this year as the year that they get rid of the Tamil Tigers -- read "Tamil Problem" -- read "Tamil People". And as a result the Sri Lankan Military has burnt the LTTE out of their de facto capital, out of their last stronghold, and into the jungle where, at most recent estimate, they have been confined to an area of 115 square miles -- within which 250,000 Tamil civillians are at risk -- and being bombed daily--
with over three hundred civilians killed this week. The Sri Lankan Army calls them human shields. Further north, the Tamil people of யாழ்ப்பாணம் --in English, Jaffna-- where my parents were born, are living under military occupation and over one million Tamils are living as internally displaced people. That's one million out of an estimated total population of 3 million - of which 250,000 are being systematically carpet bombed.
I'm sure all of this sounds disgustingly familiar. But I'm not trying to say it's the same. Because when the bombs started -- or should I say resumed -- falling over Gaza last year, my heart broke into two pieces. One half bleeds for every Palestinian who suffers while the other cries out to Tamil Eelam. And if somehow I woke up from this nightmare and someone said, "Here's Tamil Eelam on a silver platter!" I'd say that it was a dream within a dream and that I was still living the nightmare if Palestine wasn't free. And I lied, because my heart isn't broken in two - It's broken into hundreds of pieces - a splinter for Palestine, one for Tamil Eelam, one for folks dying of cholera in Zimbabwe, for Oscar Grant, for Leonard Peltier who was recently assaulted in prison because of his imminent eligibility for parole, and for all native brothers and sisters who have been massacred, assassinated, lied to, and cheated for over two hundred years, and who continue to suffer--their grievances un-addressed!
This is what Solidarity means to me: a broken heart that will never be whole until the world turns over and everyone gets justice. But also, the solace of knowing that other people's hearts are broken too; and knowing there's a job to do. So I need to say thank you. To everyone who support Palestine, to everyone who said they thought of me when they heard about what's happening in Sri Lanka, to everyone who thinks the world is coming apart at the seams but won't stop holding it together. Thank you.
In my own words, in the language of my people: "ஞாயம் இல்லாமல், நிம்மதி தாங்காது!" -- without justice, peace can't bear it. One more time, from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.
Dharshan Chandramohan is a senior at UC Berkeley, this was written as a statement of support to Palestine and to those who are doing solidarity activism for justice in Palestine.
Source: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/12/18594410.php
San José Police Department Targets Latinos, Photo Survey Shows
San José Police Department Targets Latinos, Photo Survey Shows
by Sharat G. Lin
Tuesday May 19th, 2009 12:50 AM
Photographic documentation of 14 daytime vehicle stops per hour within a 4-block section of Santa Clara Street during Cinco de Mayo celebrations substantiates a deliberate policy of targeting Latinos by the San José Police Department. Only a citizen police review board can represent a broad range of community interests and ensure police accountability.
With Mexican flags and music, Cinco de Mayo was celebrated in San José on May 3, 2009 with the usual pride and enthusiasm. People were just trying to have some safe fun driving slowly down Santa Clara Street, the main thoroughfare from Mexican Heritage Plaza and the east side of the city into downtown. Some were showing off their lowriders and colors of Mexico. Others came by foot, bicycle, bus, and lightrail. The crowds were smaller than previous years, but that did not stop San José police from targeting Latinos.
This writer walked along Santa Clara Street from Fourth Street to Market Street for a half hour from approximately 6:10 pm to 6:40 pm and again from about 7:10 pm to 7:40 pm. The time in between was spent walking down Market Street to San Carlos Street and Almaden Boulevard. Standing well out of the way of police and the stopped vehicles, I photographed each incident to document the police stop and also to let police know that they were being monitored. Police behavior is known to be better whenever citizens are deliberately watching. Grassroots organizations such as Copwatch and Silicon Valley De-Bug use these tactics to monitor and discourage police abuses.
During those two half-hour intervals on four blocks of Santa Clara Street, there were no fewer than 14 separate cars stopped by San José police in what appeared to be deliberate fishing expeditions. This amounts to nearly one stop every four minutes. In the majority of cases, a citation was issued. One case led to an arrest, with a passenger being asked to drive the car home. Another case involved a time-consuming inspection of the rear of the vehicle. Several cars were eventually released without citation. Due to keeping a distance from the incidents, in only one case could I overhear the police conversation. It was a case of driving without a license, which resulted in a citation and calling for another family member to come and drive the car home.
Driving without a license is a justifiable citation and serves to remove untrained and untested (hence, potentially unsafe) drivers from the road. But in the case of undocumented immigrants, it has drastic and virtually irreversible consequences. Undocumented status is believed to be the leading reason for driving without a license, because undocumented immigrants are not currently eligible for driver licenses in California. In sprawling suburbs, working people need to drive to work and to perform family errands. Yet a single citation for driving without a license could trigger judicial proceedings leading to referral to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and eventual deportation. It could also disqualify an immigrant from any future application for legal immigration or permanent residency.
The campaign for driver license eligibility for all residents was an early trigger for the immigrant rights movement in California, and a major initial campaign for such local organizations as Voluntarios de la Comunidad, which has been perhaps the single most visible and persistent leader of the May Day immigrant rights marches in San José since 2006.
By contrast, during the half-hour walk along Market Street, San Carlos Street, and Almaden Boulevard from 6:40 pm until 7:10 pm, there was not a single police car on patrol. Yet the largest single gathering of people on the street at that time was the crowd of mostly non-Latinos gathering for a public event at the Montgomery Theater at Market and San Carlos Streets. So why was the police presence so intensely focused on just four blocks of Santa Clara Street where Latinos were out to enjoy Cinco de Mayo? Why do San José police not implement the same sorts of random checkpoints during other crowded festivals like the Saint Patrick’s Day parade, Veterans’ Day parade, Tet Festival, Independence Day, Amgen Tour of California, or Christmas in the Park?
The most troubling observation on Cinco de Mayo was the police stop of a lowrider Chevrolet station wagon in the median of Santa Clara Street near First Street at around 7:25 pm. The San José police officer apparently asked for the driver licenses of all persons in the vehicle, not just that of the driver. The lead photograph shows him holding three California driver licenses in his right hand. If the stop was for a potential traffic violation, only the license of the driver should have been requested. If the passengers were in violation, for example, for possession of open alcoholic beverages, they would have been cited. The car was eventually released without citation, suggesting that no violation was found. Alternatively, if the stop was for a general identity check, then it was a fishing expedition. Finally, if the stop was effectively an immigration check, it would presumably be under the 8 CFR 287 (g) program, in which Chief Rob Davis has never publicly agreed to participate.
What was going on here? Chief Davis and the City of San José owe residents in general, and the Hispanic community in particular, an explanation.
The controversy over alleged San José police targeting of Latinos began years ago with charges that police made more arrests during Cinco de Mayo celebrations than at any other time of the year in apparent response to a few years of reported rowdiness and public drunkenness. These allegations against the police were given more weight when the San Jose Mercury News (Sean Webby, “Drunkenness arrests in San Jose outpace other California cities,” October 18, 2008, http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-public-drunkenness/ci_10755739) reviewed arrest data, showing that San José had by far the highest arrest rate for public drunkenness in California in 2007. The 4,661 arrests for public drunkenness in San José exceeded both San Diego and Los Angeles, which have much larger populations.
Still more troubling was the revelation that 57 per cent of those charged with public drunkenness in San José in 2007 were Hispanic. Yet Hispanics represented only 32 per cent of the city’s population in that year.
The attitude of San José’s Chief of Police, Robert L. Davis, has also changed dramatically over the past two years. While Davis went out of his way on March 31, 2007 to walk with the Hispanic community on César Chávez’s birthday and promised that good relations between the police department and the Hispanic community were more important than helping to enforce federal immigration regulations, the current practice of fishing for misdemeanor violations in the Hispanic community is doing just the opposite – alienating the community and pushing many undocumented immigrants (even if unintentionally) into deportation proceedings.
At the same time, community activists emphasize that the community is not against the police, but really wants to work with the police to ensure public safety for all.
Finally, it is worth observing that difficulties in appointing and retaining an Independent Police Auditor at $170,000 per year in San José illustrate that the IPA may be neither the best nor most cost-effective solution to police oversight. The cities of Oakland and Berkeley have successfully used citizen police review boards (CPRB) to process complaints, conduct hearings, mediate complaint cases, analyze operational deficiencies, and make recommendations for change. The Oakland CPRB released its 67-page report in March, detailing 74 complaints received in 2008 and their resolutions. In view of San José’s present difficulties with the community, San José should strongly consider this approach.
http://www.sanjosepeace.org
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/19/18595858.php
The Trial of Johannes Mehserle Heads to Week Three
Preliminary Hearing for Former BART Police Officer in the Murder of Oscar Grant III
Sun May 24 2009
The preliminary hearing in the trial of Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant III on January 1st, 2009 began on Monday, May 18th at the Alameda County court house. To be decided in the preliminary hearings are such issues as if there is enough evidence to proceed with a trial of Johannes Mehserle, if the murder charges should remain or be reduced, if the venue for trial should remain in Alameda County, and so forth. Indybay has thorough reports from the first two weeks with defense and prosecuting attorneys presenting video evidence and questioning witnesses as they establish their cases.
Outside the court house, demonstrators have gathered in the mornings and afternoons in order to press for an effective prosecution of Johannes Mehserle, for justice for Oscar Grant and other victims of police violence. Activists have noted that if a conviction cannot be secured for a police officer who shoots a citizen in the back on video, then police everywhere can act with impunity and no community will be safe from police abuse. The hearings will continue on Wednesday, June 3rd, and the family of Oscar Grant and community activists are asking supporters of justice for Oscar Grant to rally at the court house from 9am to 1:30pm on hearing days. Source:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/24/18597663.php
Global Day of Action for Death Row Inmate Troy Davis
Bay Area, Fresno Activists Demonstrate for Troy Davis and Against Death Penalty
In 1991 Troy Davis was found guilty of murdering an off-duty policeman and sentenced to death in the state of Georgia, despite a total lack physical evidence. The bulk of the prosecutor’s evidence presented at Davis' trial was based primarily on that of prosecution witnesses who later recanted their testimony. Most of the witnesses have claimed repeatedly that they were pressured by police to point to Davis as the perpetrator. So far, no court has been willing to hear the new evidence. He lost his most recent appeal and his execution date is expected to be set soon.
On Tuesday May 19, activists in Fresno sang solemnly and carried placards calling out for re-consideration of the case and elimination of the death penalty. In Palo Alto, members of Amnesty International Chapter 19 gathered signatures for clemency in the city's downtown Lytton Plaza. They were encouraged by an outpouring of support from citizens of all ages in the busy city square.
Sorce:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/22/18596788.php
Protest the Nigeria mass deportation
Group condemns unprecendented second deportation with a month
Residents Against Racism is preparing to protest a second mass deportation to Nigeria within a month - a move the group describes as unprecedented.
Supporters will be gathering at the Garda National Immigration Bureau, Burgh Quay, from 10.30 a.m. Thursday 28th May after growing evidence has emerged of further deportation plans. They follow on from a joint Irish-British operation staged on 29th April where 25 asylum seekers were removed, at least one of whose legal process was ongoing at the time.
Residents Against Racism spokesperson Rosanna Flynn says "Every time these deportations happen it means families being torn apart. Once again we are seeing a number of fathers of Irish citizen children under threat. These children need their fathers, yet the government seems to care more about maximising deportations than it does about families."
"The idea that Nigeria is a safe country to return people to, as the government would have us believe, is nonsense," adds Flynn. Nigeria is one of several 'countries in turmoil' named in a March 2009 UN report as experiencing unrest or conflict in 2008, reflected in a rise in asylum applications internationally, despite a fall in Ireland.
Residents Against Racism, established in 1998, is a long-standing critic of the politicisation of the asylum process in Ireland. It argues that it is fundamentally a human rights issue and should be given over to an independent body, like the Human Rights Commission, operating free from political interference.
Source:http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92474
Foreign fighters invade Somalia: president
Foreign fighters invade Somalia: president
AFP
Published: Monday May 25, 2009
Somalia's President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed condemned Monday what he termed as an invasion by foreign fighters as rebels battle to oust him in weeks of clashes that have killed more than 200 people.
The latest round of violence erupted on May 7 when hardline Islamist insurgents launched an offensive against government troops, wounding hundreds and forcing tens of thousands of others to flee.
"Somalia is being invaded by foreign fighters, whose main purpose is to turn the country into an Afghanistan or an Iraq," Sharif said at a news conference in his office.
"We call on the international community and the Somali people to help us in fighting against them," he added.
According to Somali security officials and foreign intelligence sources in the region, there are up to 500 foreign jihadist fighters in the troubled country, most of whom arrived over the past few months.
The rebels themselves have admitted to receiving the support of foreign fighters believed to be from Arab, Asian as well as European countries in their latest offensive against Sharif's fledgling administration.
At least 208 people have been killed and 700 wounded by the fighting, Humanitarian Affairs Minister Mohamoud Ibrahim Garweyne said Sunday.
"I can tell you that 80 percent of the people killed and injured are civilians who were caught in the crossfire," Garweyne said.
"The clashes have also displaced 8,367 families, who have reached temporary camps outside the capital where their livelihoods are very precarious," the minister said.
Over the weekend, the United Nations
put the number of people displaced by the latest fighting at 57,000.
The rebel push is spearheaded by two armed groups: the Shebab, a hardline military movement with suspected links to Al Qaeda, and Hezb al-Islamiya, a more political group loyal to influential cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.
The Shebab, the former youth wing of an Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopia-backed Somali government forces in 2007, also claimed Sunday's car bomb at a military camp in the violence-wracked city.
"The attack was carried out by one of our young fighters who detonated his car inside the camp where the enemies of Allah are stationed," Sheikh Hussein Fidow, one of the group's officials, told reporters.
In February, they also claimed the single deadliest suicide attack on a base hosting the Burundi contingent of the AU forces.
The hardliners have rejected peace overtures by the government and even spurned the introduction of sharia (Islamic law) which has been one of their key demands.
Ethiopian forces withdrew from Somalia in January, but their pullout caused concerns of a security vacuum and fears that Somalia risked becoming a haven for jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda.
Eritrea has been singled out as one African country backing the Somali radicals.
The AU wants UN sanctions on Eritrea, as well as an aerial exclusion zone in Somalia and the blockade of ports and airports to prevent the entry of foreign fighters and weapons shipments.
But Asmara rejected the call, blaming an east African regional grouping, whose sanction call last week was endorsed by the AU, for the chaos in Somalia.
The seaside capital has been ravaged by 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil conflict and hundreds of thousands of people had already fled following Ethiopia's invasion in late 2006.
Source:http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Foreign_fighters_invade_Somalia_pre_05252009.html
Israelis want immediate
Poll: 51 percent of Israelis want immediate attack on Iran
Published: May 24, 2009
Just over half of Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of arch-foe Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy, according to a poll released on Sunday.
Fifty-one percent support an immediate Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, while 49 percent believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University.
But 74 percent of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obama’s efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons.
Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its arch-foe after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map.”
Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.
Opinion is split among left- and right-wingers about whether to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, with 63 percent of those leaning to the right favoring a strike, compared with 38 percent of those leaning to the left, the poll said.
It was carried out by Tel Aviv University’s Centre for Iranian Studies among 509 Israeli adults and had a 4.5-percent margin of error.
Israelis want immediate
Poll: 51 percent of Israelis want immediate attack on Iran
Published: May 24, 2009
Just over half of Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of arch-foe Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy, according to a poll released on Sunday.
Fifty-one percent support an immediate Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, while 49 percent believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University.
But 74 percent of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obama’s efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons.
Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its arch-foe after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map.”
Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.
Opinion is split among left- and right-wingers about whether to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, with 63 percent of those leaning to the right favoring a strike, compared with 38 percent of those leaning to the left, the poll said.
It was carried out by Tel Aviv University’s Centre for Iranian Studies among 509 Israeli adults and had a 4.5-percent margin of error.
Source:http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/24/poll-51-percent-of-israelis-want-immediate-attack-on-iran/