Muertos

It's Nov 2 again. Time to remember the grandparents, light some candles, and enjoy a piece of dead bread (pan de muertos). All of this is done best, of course, with some musical accompaniment...


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la dibaólica:

a few months ago, se murió mario benedetti. he was a beloved uruguayan poet & leftist militant, whose work is still recited from memory all over the americas. here he is with his camarada, musician daniel viglietti, performing "refranivocos" as viglietti plays "the devil in paradise" by violeta parra. ¡viva benedetti!


refranivocos / el diablo en el paraíso: mario benedetti / daniel viglietti

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La Cumbiambera:

The original plan for this post was to honor people who have in the last year gone on to the spirit world. Blame it on the baby, but La Cumbiambera just couldn’t get focused. So I went back to an old favorite – Quetzal – and this song “Limones Agrios,” which was composed after the passing of two of the band members’ grandfather. The song is dear to my heart because the old man lived in Oxnard, CA, which is just down the road from where my grandparents live, and because the song's central metaphor is the lemon tree. The area surrounding Oxnard is home to a huge agricultural industry, and in particular citrus orchards, so the metaphor is not random. Neither is my attachment to it as my family, beginning with my great-grandparents, has worked for many generations as laborers in the very orchards referred to in this song. Today I remember those who work the land. La tierra pertenece a quien la trabaja.


Limones Agrios: Quetzal

free the sf8!!

today was the beginning of the (re)trial of the sf8.

in 1973 eight black community activists, now known as the sf8, were arrested & charged with the 1971 killing of a white san francisco police officer. in 1975 those charges were thrown out after it was revealed that police in new orleans, who conducted interrogations for the case, used torture to extract confessions from the detainees. interrogations lasted several days and new orleans police employed electric shock, cattle prods, beatings, sensory deprivation, plastic bags and hot, wet blankets for asphyxiation.

the defendants, now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s are right now fighting the charges again. the sf labor council (above the noisy objections of the police officers' union) has passed a resolution in support of the men, desmond tutu & the world council of churches have issued an international call for charges to be dropped, and tomorrow the sf board of supervisors will consider eric mar's resolution for the same.

see more about the sf8 and their case in freedom archives' legacy of torture (audio-only version via the national radio project). print propaganda to distribute & sign the open letter in support of the defendants! show up at the steps of the sf court house (850 bryant) on july 6th at 9am, the next court date, for the rescheduled preliminary hearing!!

todo el poder al pueblo!! all power to the people!!

foto : free sf 8 (east oakland). thank you, tuff. see more of her beautiful mural & graffiti captures here...

3x mojado

a few days ago i made a post about a recent film sin nombre. like the famous corrido by los tigres del norte (tres veces mojado / three times a wetback), it tells the story of immigrant workers coming to the u.s. from central america. before they make it to the 3-tiered fence, armed border guards, dogs, barbed wire, and scorching & freezing desert temperatures that welcome them on the u.s. side, central americans have to get through central america and into mexico first. with few other options, most people do this by riding on top of freight trains... more checkpoints, more armed border guards, more detentions, pouring rain...



¡abajo las fronteras! ¡¡que viva la dignidad rebelde!!

¡justicia para victor jara!

from today's guardian:

It was the atrocity which symbolised Chile's descent into dictatorship: soldiers used rifle butts to smash the hands of Victor Jara, a political activist and folk singer, so he could not play guitar. Then they shot him 44 times.

Yesterday, almost 36 years later, justice caught up with one of killers. José Adolfo Paredes Márquez, a former conscript in Augusto Pinochet's army, was charged with murder.

The burly 54-year-old was tracked down in San Sebastian, a spa town outside the capital Santiago, where he was working as a waiter and gardener.

Activists who have campaigned for the case to be reopened welcomed the announcement but urged authorities to focus on arresting commanding officers. "There are other people responsible – those who ordered the torture and the execution," said Joan Turner Jara, the singer's English-born widow.


¡¡no a la complicidad!! ¡¡¡justicia para el pueblo chileno!!!

¡¡¡que viva victor jara!!!

**

ni chicha ni limoná : victor jara

bds paris

:) i love these. this one used pink floyd for the soundtrack (i prefer the ramones), but still a very good advertisement for boycott divestment sanctions against israel. bravo, franceses! viva viva palestina!

laila's birthday

i saw this excellent film by rashid masharawi the other day, about a taxi driver attempting to get his daughter a present & a cake on her birthday in occupied ramallah. it's a really beautiful film-- an affectionate portrait of palestinians and a compelling reflection on occupation & resistance-- with the perfect dose of dark humor thrown in for good measure. i imagine it's difficult to catch, but do try to see it, ok?

laila's birthday (eid milad laila) : rashid masharawi

¡palestina será libre! ¡que viva la resistencia del pueblo!

patricia

had the great honor last month of meeting patricia isasa. as soon as she started her presentation i knew i was going to like her. there was a video of george bush signing the military commissions act and when it started (re)playing on a loop she took off her shoe and aimed it at the projection screen.

patricia was disappeared in argentina in july 1976 when she was 16 years old. a student organizer in santa fé, she was designated a terrorist and held for more than two years in a clandestine detention center. she is a survivor of torture who has relentlessly fought state violence & its many accomplices for decades, ever since she was released.

lo que mas me ha impresionado about patricia is her unwillingness to let those crimes that happened to her & to so many people, be understood as aberrations in history, as some dark moments when things got out of hand. she traces the legacy of state repression from her torture in argentina by u.s.-trained milicos in the late 1970s to the present-day torture of detainees in u.s. custody at guantánamo, and in occupied iraq & palestine. she insists upon discussing these acts not in isolation (as the discourse on "human rights" so often encourages) but within the context of the economic system that they serve.

she won't let people forget the role of the ford motor company for example. in addition to providing an endless supply of ford falcons, which became notorious as the favorite automobiles for forced disappearances & political assassinations during the argentine dirty war, ford's complicity in persecuting the labor leaders in its own factories there is well-documented. just outside buenos aires the main ford factory housed a clandestine detention center within the factory walls itself, an excellent metaphor for the entire dirty war. human rights violations, yes of course. but human rights violations in the service of upholding capitalism & imperialism, and of protecting the interests of the argentine, u.s., and european ruling classes.

this is patricia's democracy now interview from 2006, in which she recounts some of the details of her case. (her interview starts at 12:00 minutes.)



gracias, gracias, patricia, compañera. por compartir tu historia y por seguir siempre luchando por la justicia y contra la complicidad... 30000 desaparecidos ¡¡presentes!! ¡¡ni olvido ni perdón, juicio y castigo a los culpables!!

eewww!

fuck you, flaming lips! i never did like you or your music...



from the guardian :

The Flaming Lips' 2002 song, Do You Realise?, will be named the "official state rock'n'roll song of Oklahoma". And Wayne Coyne wants everyone to know that the band are not communists.

"Some minority of religious wackos are trying to make it seem like [we have a communist] agenda, which we don't," Coyne told Rolling Stone. His comments came after two whirlwind months, when Do You Realise? was chosen as the state's official rock song, rejected due to the band's "communism", then finally reinstated by governor Brad Henry.

...

The online vote was ratified by the Oklahoma senate and Flaming Lips seemed set to enter the Sooner State's history books. Until, that is ... the T-shirt.

Flaming Lips bassist Michael Ivins happens to own a red T-shirt with a hammer and sickle, symbols of communism. And he happened to wear this shirt on a visit to the state capital last month. And some members of Oklahoma's house of representatives happened to notice.

Livid, these anti-communist politicians rejected the song.

"It's really just a few religious wackos that think they can tell everybody what to do," Coyne told Billboard. "It's not even Democrats v Republicans. It's just a couple of these small-minded guys who are the most popular in their church and their little towns. In some ways it's so absurd, it can only make us look good and them look stupid."

"Honestly, it's just a dumb shirt," he continued. "We're not communists."

eeeeeewwwww!!!!!! los flaming lips me dan asco.

rock en catalán

you know, there has been a lot of good (and left!) music that's come out of the països catalans...


viure sempre corrent
avançant amb la gent
rellevant contra el vent
transportant sentiments
viurem mantenint viva
la flama a traves del temps
la flama de tot un poble en moviment

: la flama


obrint pas : la flama




mesclat : el burgès




brams : brindis







republican militia training. barcelona, cataluña. 1936.
foto : gerda taro

tributo a the clash

llama a tu viejo, llama a tu vieja
y todo, todo, todo va a estar bien
escúchalo, no lo ignores
y todo va a estar bien

: revolution rock


barbican in london is bringing together some musicians (rock en español ++) for a tributo en vivo a the clash.

it's called spanish bombs: tropical tribute to the clash. and this is the description :

In a highly-anticipated world-premiere concert, appealing to fans of both The Clash and Latin music in general - the legendary band’s repertoire is brought to life by guest vocalists and musicians from some of the hottest Latin bands on the planet.

god. really? i'm not gonna lie, if i was in london right now, i would be going to this show. i love the clash, i love clash covers. and how cool to see rubén albarrán (café tacuba) singing joe strummer (sigh...)?!

but... "latin" is a dead language not a musical style, and spain (nor austin, texas nor monterrey, mexico) is not in the tropics, ok?

**


revolution rock : los fabulosos cadillacs (original, the clash)




this is radio clash : the clash

¡¡¡rock en árabe!!!

we saw rachid taha last night! i don't have time now to write very much except to say : 

1. i absolutely loved the show, every single minute of it. he is very roquero, very dramatic, very hilarious, and really an excellent performer. and the music was sooooo good. 

2. he plays again tonight. i would go again if i could, but i can't make it :( if you can swing it you really should! 

3. la pachuquita danced with him!! 

she took a few pictures & video so we'll add to this post later but for now here is the info & a little taste...

rachid taha 

tonight! 

friday, april 24th

yoshi's in sf @ 8pm

$30 

rachid taha : ecoute-moi camarade

desapariciones

this video was taken on the 30th anniversary of the 1976 coup d'etat in argentina. in buenos aires the day was commemorated by an enormous march under the banner: memory, truth & justice.

the music is desapariciones (disappearances) by los fabulosos cadillacs (original by rubén blades. gracias, eepdlryed ;) some lyrics & translation below...




que alguien me diga
si ha visto a mi esposo
preguntaba la doña
se llama ernesto y tiene cuarenta años
trabajaba de peón
en un negocio de autos
llevaba camisa oscura
y pantalón claro
salió de noche y no ha regresado
y yo no sé ya que pensar
pues esto ante
no me había pasado

someone tell me
if you've seen my husband,
the lady was asking
he's called ernesto & he's 40 years old
he's a worker at a car dealership
he was wearing a dark shirt
and light pants
he went out at night and hasn't returned
and i don't know what to think
this has never happened to me before

llevo tres días
buscando a mi hermana
se llama altagracia
igual que la abuela
salió del trabajo para la escuela
llevaba puestos jeans
y una camisa blanca
no ha sido el novio...
el tipo está en su casa
no saben de ella en la policía
ni en el hospital

i've spent 3 days
looking for my sister
she's called altagracia
just like our grandmother
she left from work to go to school
she was wearing jeans
and a white shirt
it wasn't her boyfriend...
that guy is at his house
they don't know anything about her
at the police station
or at the hospital

que alguien me diga
si ha visto a mi hijo
es estudiante de medicina
se llama agustín
y es un buen muchacho
es a veces terco cuando opina
lo han detenido...
no se que fuerza
pantalón blanco camisa a rayas
paso ante ayer

someone tell me
if you've seen my son
he's a medical student
he's called augustín
he's a good boy
sometimes stubborn about his opinions
they've detained him
i don't know which force
white pants, a striped shirt
it happened the day before yesterday

...

anoche escuche
varias explosiones
tiros de escopeta y de revólver
autos acelerados, frenos, gritos
ecos de botas en la calle
toques de puerta,
quejas, por dioses, platos rotos
estaban dando la telenovela
por eso nadie miró pa'fuera
avestruz

last night i heard
various explosions
shots from rifles & revolvers
engines accelerating, breaks, shouts
the echos of boots on the streets
knocks on the door
cries of "for god's sake", broken dishes
they had on the soap opera
so no one looked outside
ostrich

en negro y blanco

recently i've come across some photo & film documentation from the dictadura years in argentina, before the restoration of democratic elections in 1983...

the following film was released in 1979 by raymundo gleyzer's cine de base (cinema from below). gleyzer was an argentine filmmaker & journalist and leader in the third cinema movement, and had already been disappeared by the time this film was made.

the narration comes from the text of a famous open letter to the dictatorship by rodolfo walsh, a journalist and militant, written on the first anniversary of the 1976 military coup d'etat. the letter is a scathing indictment of the dictatorship, its repression of dissent and pursuit of neo-colonial economic policies. walsh was shot in an ambush and disappeared the day after writing the letter.

the film is called las aaa son las tres armas / the armed forces are the aaa. the aaa, the argentine anti-communist alliance, began operations as a right wing clandestine death squad in 1973. with the escalation of the dirty war the lines between this paramilitary organization and the official armed forces in control of the executive branch of the state were increasingly blurred.

of course all this had the blessing and assistance of the u.s. government. kissenger in 1976, a couple months after the coup: we have followed events in argentina closely. we wish the new government well. we wish it will succeed. we will do what we can to help it succeed... it is a curious time, when political, criminal, and terrorist activities tend to merge without any clear separation. we understand you must establish authority."


las aaa son las tres armas : cine de la base





**

the following are images from en negro y blanco : fotografías del cordobazo al juicio a las juntas, an excellent archive of photos which trace the development of state terrorism in argentina from 1969 to 1985 (in black & white : photographs from the uprising in córdoba to the trials of the military junta)...



foto: gerardo horowitz, 1975. the military occupies tucumán province.



foto: archivo clarín, 1976. prisoners in the month following the coup, under federal juristiction.



foto: archivo clarín, 1979. military police break the floor of a house, looking for a guerrilla hideout.



foto: jorge durán, 1981. raids in the villas miserias (shantytowns) around buenos aires are commonplace.



foto: jorge rilo, 1982. during a violently repressed public demonstration against the dictatorship some demonstrators reach the door of the casa rosada.



foto : adriana lestido, 1982. various generations participate in demonstrations to demand justice for the disappeared.

la misma porquería iii

tomorrow the obama administration is to name alan bersin as border czar. ¡pero que carajo es eso! i don't approve of czars of any kind, and especially not a czar to police the perimeters of this land that's stolen anyway. the expansion of the drug wars, the taking of more lives, the diverting of more weapons to the corrupt & murderous mexican army & police. ugh. also alan bersin, during his time at the u.s. attorney office, is responsible for operation gatekeeper, which is responsible for the militarization of the us-mexico border and an ever-multiplying number of immigrant deaths. vete al carajo, alan bersin.



foto : 3 mil corazones. between 1994 & 2004, the first 10 years of operation gatekeeper, more than 3 thousand immigrants died or were killed trying to cross the border between mexico & the united states.

**

los de abajo : la fuga



buscando el chivo expiatorio
te van a buscar en el directorio
si no copartes sus ideas
te has metido en un gran problema
encuentra la forma de correr
no importa si eres inocente van a proceder
en plan chingativo
llegan provocando buscando un motivo

bds milan

hurray!! look at this!!! it's one of many boycott-divestment-sanctions actions taking place in supermarkets all over the world in solidarity with palestine and in opposition to israeli apartheid. specifically it is a coordinated call to consumers to boycott israeli goods.

appropriately, the video is set to the ramones beat on the brat. i love it! ¡bravo milán! ¡que viva palestina libre!





i wish more video footage from protests would be set to punk rock and posted on youtube.

beat on the brat
beat on the brat
beat on the brat with a baseball bat
oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh.

what can you do?
what can you do?
with a brat like that always on your back
what can you do?
...
with a brat like that always on your back
what can you lose?


gracias, otra vez, mv.

souad massi

liiiiindísima.


raoui : souad massi




hayati : souad massi




khalouni : souad massi



and this very sweet tribute... a cover of le bien et le mal captured on cell phone for the el país movilfilmfest convocatoria.

diablos blancos

jajaja. did you hear lula's recent remarks? from friday's financial times:

Speaking in Brasília at a joint press conference with Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, Mr Lula da Silva told reporters: "This crisis was caused by the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes, who before the crisis appeared to know everything and now demonstrate that they know nothing."

He added: "I do not know any black or indigenous bankers so I can only say [it is wrong] that this part of mankind which is victimised more than any other should pay for the crisis."

Mr Brown appeared to distance himself from Mr Lula da Silva's remarks. "I'm not going to attribute blame to any individuals," he said.

eric said lula's probably tired of being the most right of the latin american left so it was time to say something clever & inflammatory. jeje, maybe so. in any case, that's some hugo chavez-quality comedic style. i like it. and anyway, he's right. as the argentinos were singing in their popular demonstrations about the economic crisis when i was there last december... ¡¡¡¡que pague el patrón!!!!



mafalda by quino :)


las casitas del barrio alto : la pozze latina (original victor jara)



¿por qué los ricos? : los prisioneros

malas vidas

cada día se la traga mi corazón...

hmm... little manu chao is so much easier to appreciate than big manu chao, que no? here is mano negra, featuring a little manu chao circa 1992. oh man, que rola! good for all times.

mala vida : mano negra



and did you know there is a gypsy-punk version? ahh, gogol bordello. i didn't know they covered this song, but look here it is. something undeniably delightful about hearing them yell gitana mía over and over again into the mic...

mala vida : gogol bordello

¡bienvenida primavera!

looks like rain...

parece que va a llover : kumbia all-starz



ay, put a shirt on, young man, que parece que va a llover ;)

victory to the fmln!

oh my goodness, i just almost cannot believe it. ¡ganó el frente! a half hour ago the right-wing arena candidate conceded defeat to mauricio funes, and the frente farabundo martí para la liberación nacional (fmln) in el salvador's presidential elections.



foto : reuters

¡¡¡felicitaciones!!! so many people have waited so long to see arena finally fall, and today they showed up to the polls in record numbers. people are celebrating in the streets of el salvador right now :)

¡¡adelante, américa latina!!

years ago my friend diego said to me: you know, memory, like blood, is inherited. he was telling me about his mother and grandmother and their participation in the popular mobilizations in colombia for land reform & workers rights in the 1930s & 40s, and explaining his own concientización in the legacy of those same fights in the 60s. because we fight not just our own fights but also those of our parents and grandparents which are also ours...here is the story of farabundo martí (after whom the fmln is named)...