bolivia ♥ palestina

from página 12:

Bolivia se suma así a Venezuela, primer país de la región que expulsó al embajador israelí y varios funcionarios de la sede diplomática en rechazo a la acción militar.

Morales condenó los ataques en Gaza, que desde fin de 2007 ya causaron más de 900 muertos, incluyendo numerosos civiles y niños palestinos, y anticipó que su gobierno presentará una demanda en la Corte Penal Internacional por genocidio en contra del presidente de Israel, Shimon Peres, y del primer ministro, Ehud Olmer.

"Quiero informar que Bolivia tenía relaciones diplomáticas con Israel, frente a estos hechos graves de atentado a la vida y a la humanidad, Bolivia rompe relaciones diplomáticas con Israel"...


hurray, bolivianos! ¡viva viva palestina!

venezuela ♥ palestina

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caraqueños protest at the israeli embassy
foto: ap

last week chavez gave the israeli diplomats in venezuela 72 hours to leave the country. expelling them was, he said, a "gesture of dignity". yesterday venezuela's cargo planes left for gaza via egypt carrying 12.5 tons of medical supplies, with 80 more tons of aid to follow this week. and the palestinian flag will fly in their national assembly for one month. ay, venezuela ¡me haces latir el corazón! and i'm not the only one...

viva venezuela : tambor urbano

slum kids v. cops

ok, by now you know of the cinematic delight that is slumdog millionaire.

here's a chase scene from the beginning of the film, and aside from the very compelling content, slum kids v. cops (gooooo, kids!!!), it combines some very kick-ass music. here are a.r. rahman (superstar composer of a zillion indian film scores including lagaan) + m.i.a. (leftist sri lankan pop-electronica-dancehall star), together at last. hurry up and watch it before youtube takes it down for "violation of terms"!

o saya (in slumdog millionaire) : a.r. rahman + m.i.a.

A mommy-to-be rediscovers Andrea Echeverrí

There is something bumping around in La Cumbiambera’s belly, and it’s not New Years tamales. When I discovered I was pregnant a couple of months ago, I decided to whip out Andrea Echeverri’s self-titled 2005 solo album, which she dedicated to her daughter Milagros. I purchased this album new when it first came out and liked it, but now my appreciation of the album is growing right along with my waistline.

Lyrically, this album offers a refreshing alternative to the tortured songs about unrequited love that saturate most popular music. The songs are all about fulfillment, the type of fulfillment that only a profound love—such as that of parent to child—can provide. Apparently, the album was also inspired by Echeverri’s amorous relationship with her partner, but in many songs the line between amorous and filial love is blurred. This may sound creepy; however, the sexuality expressed in Echeverrí’s lyrics is nothing more than a celebration of body and soul, of body as a celebration of soul, whether that soul is manifested through a mature love for a partner or a spontaneous love for a child. Here the female body is not a sexual object but instead a source of power, knowledge, and inspiration.

Musically, the album is a treat. It is easy to listen to and features the folk-pop sounds characteristic of Echeverrí without being sappy. One of my favorite tracks is Lactochampeta, which is a satire of the sexually explicit Columbian musical genre champeta, and as you can guess, the song is about breastfeeding. The explicit lyrics (“chúpatela tetita, tómatela lechita, así, así, durito, y con ritmo”) are set to an infectiously rhythmic tune that mimics the actual rhythms of a breastfeeding baby (sucksucksuck. breath. sucksucksucksuck. breath.) Other favorites are those with audibly latinoamericano influences such as “A Eme O” (see video), a folkbachata of sorts, and “Imán” which listens like a son jalisence with a spirit appropriate for a pre-school sing-a-long.

There are also a couple of blusesy tracks like this one:


“Ya yo no” – Andrea Echeverrí

In short, the album is a collection of lullabies for grown-ups, sans the sleepy effect. Echeverrí’s songs relax and uplift. They are a reminder of the best possibilities of love. They celebrate life and femininity is ways that are at once tender and empowering. And, in this historical moment in which so many of the world’s mothers are separated from their children or are unable to provide for them due to crimes of the state, this album infuses La Cumbaimbera with a sense of purpose, and of course, makes me shed a tear.

apartheid wall v. reyes magos

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...sent along by the argentinos.

no complicity

update: new article on the egyptian people's resistance to mubarak's love affair with zionism in electronic intifada. ¡que viva la resistencia del pueblo!



an egyptian national burns his passport outside the egyptian embassy in beirut, 2 january. foto by matthew cassel, posted on electronic intifada.


i've been thinking a lot about complicity...

in argentina, the court system has yet to process decades-old cases against the majority of the country's dirty war criminals. just last month in fact, the courts were set to release alfredo astiz, one of the most notorious milicos from the esma, the largest of the ex-clandestine centers for detention and torture. he remains in custody (just barely) but the case against him is stalled despite mountains of evidence. 25 years after the formal end of the dirty war, and sectors of the state & civil society are still its active accomplices. it's been up to the popular organizations, the mothers and the recovered children of the disappeared, to call out this complicity with the dictadura & its legacy for what it is. in recent years that's taken the form of escraches, noisy protests that publicly identify these asesinos, exposing them to their neighbors & acquaintances, and shining a light on the blood they have on their hands. so they are not permitted to go about their daily lives as if nothing has happened, as if 30,000 people were not disappeared and 300,000 more were not exiled. perhaps the courts are too lazy & slow to hold these murderers and torturers accountable. but the people are not!




last week the egyptian embassies in yemen, syria, and lebanon were attacked in popular demonstrations as symbols of the mubarak dictatorship's hand-holding with the murderous israeli state. in addition to hosting tzipi livni a couple days before her government unleashed this ongoing massacre on the palestinians, the mubarak regime has maintained a sealed boarder with gaza, and has its troops positioned there ready to fire upon people whose desperate circumstances have forced them to flee. egyptians have come out to the streets in the thousands, facing police assaults and arrests at every turn, to express solidarity with the people of gaza, and to denounce mubarak directly for his complicity with the genocide mission against palestine.

for sure it's time to call out the collaborators, the vendidos, and the apologists. no business as usual!! no complicity with the imperialists or their puppets!

next gaza solidarity action in sf:

tomorrow
monday : january 5th
8am rain or shine
market & montgomery in sf


**

and now for some relevant attaque...

resistiré : attaque 77

criminales disfrazados
seres sin razón ni piedad,
no hay palabras en el mundo
que describan vuestra maldad,
por dinero asesinás,
por placer aniquilás,
por poder nos destruís,
suciamente mentís.

aunque siempre vigilés
y mis datos procesés,
no es tan fácil hacerme callar,
resistiré,
resistiré hasta el fin
resistiré
resistiré hasta el fin...

nos hablás de sumisión,
nos pedís resignación,
pero no me dejaré engañar,
resistiré,
resistiré hasta el fin.
resistiré
resistiré hasta el fin.

cuba, que linda es cuba

¡quien la defiende la quiere mas!



foto by korda

today is 50 years since the overthrow of the u.s.-sponsored batista dictatorship in cuba by the movimiento 26 de julio. ¡feliz 50 años! en cada barrio... ¡revolución!

banda bassotti : que linda es cuba--cuba sí, yanqui no